Epilogue: Converge
A little girl opens her eyes to a foreign ceiling, and suddenly feels how different the bed she's lying in feels. Then it hits her, she ran away. She ran away and she's alive. She wonders if she's lucky—is surviving better than dying when her world is empty, her own self stained black, blood in her hands indistinguishable from her victims, her own and her sister's…
No shivers—looks like she's safe from the organisation for now, she thinks, but best to be careful. She takes in the rest of the room, and, when her gaze finally rests to her left, her eyes bug, and she doesn't know what to feel.
"Good morning."
She doesn't say anything. She stares at the man by her bedside, voice caught in her throat.
He reaches towards her. She flinches, but his movements are quick, his touch light. The man's hand is big against her small forehead. "Your fever's gone down."
Of all the questions in her mind, she asks, "Are you my guardian angel?"
Kudo Shinichi isn't the type to be so touchy, but such an innocent question from a little girl makes him ruffle her hair and chuckle. "Why do you think so?"
She sits up, carefully, and he assists her. She reaches towards him so he leans closer to the bed, and then, she places her hand on his cheek. He's confused as hell but she looks like she's concentrating, thinking, and it looks adorable, so he stays still.
She pinches him. Hard. "Ow!"
Not minding him, she asks, "If so, then why can I touch you? Am I the only one that can?"
He'd be angry if he isn't so amused. Rubbing his cheek, he denies, "I'm not an angel."
"Then what are you? How did you find me?"
"You collapsed in front of my home."
The girl's eyes widen a bit, her eyebrows raised in surprise. In a second, she lowers her eyes, not quite seeing anything, her tiny right hand poised on her chin and cheek in what Shinichi assumes is her thinking pose. She doesn't say anything for a while.
He prods, "Do you have anyone we can contact?"
She doesn't respond.
"Perhaps, your mother? Father? Sister?"
On his last word, he catches a glimpse of emotion in her eyes, gone quickly like many of her, and her, reactions.
She looks at him and says, "They're all dead."
Rain pours, and in a moment, loud thunder breaks their gazes. She looks away, turning instead to the window, and continues, "I have no one left."
This rouses the frozen Shinichi. He wasn't—isn't called a detective for no reason. The woman could be this kid's aunt or niece or be completely unrelated... no matter how improbable. It isn't impossible after all.
"No other relatives?" he asks, almost with bated breath, almost wishing she'd remember one, the woman, the woman, remember her...
"None..."
The little girl watches as the rain worsens into a deluge, big splatters on the window blurring the view outside. As bleak as her future from hereon, she thinks. But at least it's not black.
She feels empty.
The rain lets up a bit.
"Don't worry," he says, breaking the silence. She almost forgot he was there. She turns to him.
"Don't worry," he continues, "I'll find her."
Eyes resolute, he gazes at her with a conviction she wishes she has. Confused at his words, though, she asks, "Her?"
"Ah, a relative. Unless I confirm it myself, it's too early to judge it as true."
He's strangely adamant about finding her relatives. Almost a bit desperate. "If I don't know about them, I doubt they'd know about me."
"But just finding them would be good, no?"
Is he trying to get rid of me? "I'm a burden. I understand." I would have appreciated a straightforward comment, honestly.
"No, no, no! That's not what I meant!" Visibly frazzled, he slams his hands on the bed when scratching his head for answers didn't work. She scoots just a bit farther from the edge where he's acting up, clutching the blankets closer to her. "But we'll find her, I'm sure."
"Okay, Stalker-san, whatever you say..." She'll have to go soon. Can't have the organization discovering this place and whoever—whatever—this man is.
"Mmhmm. Don't worry okay? ...Wait." He freezes up. "What did you just call me?"
And it suddenly dawns on her why Stalker-san is so insistent on finding her relatives. And why he isn't asking anything about what happened since they last met. He doesn't recognize her. He doesn't recognize her because she turned into a kid.
She laughs.
"Stalker-san? Did you just call me Stalker-san?" He's completely bewildered now, she can only imagine what his face would look like if she told him what really happened.
Should she lie? Tell the truth? Would he even believe her if she did?
"Yes, Stalker-san."
Tentatively, he asks, "Did you… did your sister tell you to call me that?"
"No, she would never. She'd laugh if I told you I call you that though." Akemi-neechan would also tease her to death but, hey, she doesn't need to tell him that.
"Is it because... she calls me that?"
Does he think I'm… that my teen self is my sister? She laughs harder.
"Hey, kid!"
Speaking between giggles, she answers him, "No. No, she doesn't."
"Eh?"
She decides she can tell him. Not that he'd believe her. Or anyone would believe him if he told. "You're my Stalker-san. I'm the woman you were stalking. Except now I'm a kid. So you'd be charged with even more crimes if you continue stalking me, uncle."
"Eh? Then you're… Eh?"
"Yes, Stalker-san. And what the hell, you do cosplay even indoors? Stalker-san, I don't know if you're good or bad, or what you actually are, but you're certainly weird."
"Cosplay? What is it now, woman—or, kid? Ugh!"
His befuddled face is so comical, it's insane. She laughs. Outside the rain has stopped.
She continues, "Yeah, do you really have to keep that sword stuck in your chest even at home?"
He freezes up. She's confused. Suddenly it isn't so funny anymore.
A flash of light. And roaring thunder.
"What?" He asks her, unsmiling, staring straight into her eyes. It makes her nervous. Perhaps she shouldn't have questioned his fashion choices, his quirks…
"Nothing."
"You can see the sword?"
Shouldn't she?
"Woman, you can see the sword?"
She realized then she had taken for granted his comforting, familiar presence. He's intimidating. But she had faced worse.
"What if I can?"
Another flash of light and deafening thunder.
He cannot die. Even when he tried. Until he can find his Bride, who can free him from his curse of a life. Until his Bride can take out the sword impaled on his chest, which only him and his Bride can see.
A/N And... that's the end of this madness! XD I wish someone stuck through to the end XD XD XD