Chapter 9

"Sonoko?"

"Yeah, Ran?" We were still at the canteen, waiting for Shinichi-kun and Haruto-kun to come back. But obviously, they weren't. That meant I had to go back to class and wait for them there. I was eating my teriyaki sandwich then, and Ran was patiently waiting for me to finish.

"What were you, Kojima-san and . . . him talking about?"

I sweatdropped. "I-it's nothing, Ran! Don't bother about it."

"Sonoko."

"Come on, Ran ..."

"I'm not going to let you get out of this canteen until you tell me what you three are planning. And if you're planning to get me and Shinichi back together, I'll have you know that I will never do that until he apologises!"

I gulped. Good luck, Shinichi-kun. "Ran, really, it's nothing you need to know about. We were just talking about football and homework, as every other high school student does, you know?"

"Right. Am I supposed to believe that lame excuse? We're not five anymore, Sonoko. And only Shinichi talks about football. That's the first and lamest excuse that comes to his mind besides Sherlock Holmes."

"Um, well. . . ." Come back and save me, you two idiotic nuts!

"Sonoko. You're my best friend, right?"

"Y-yes, of course, Ran," I said absent-mindedly as I stood up to throw my sandwich wrapper in the bin and headed in the direction of class. Ran followed me.

"Then you'd tell me, right? What you guys are doing."

I sighed. "Ran, why do you want to know about it so badly? Shinichi-kun, Haruto-kun and I were just chatting. About normal things, like football and homework, and some of Shinichi-kun's cases. Especially the very recent ones. Would it really have been a big difference if you had been there?"

Ran's eyes widened. "What about Shinichi's cases? Did he tell you anything about the Black Organisation?"

I raised a brow. "Why are you asking about the B.O. all of a sudden?"

Ran fiddled with her thumbs. "Because . . . I feel that Shinichi's not telling me something important about them."

Huffing, I replied, "If that Holmes freak didn't say anything about the "important piece" you're wanting to hear, then I guess it's something that he doesn't want to tell you at the moment."

"But I want to know! And that's why you need to tell me. Please, Sonoko!" she insisted with a pleading expression.

I sighed. "Ran, you've got to give him some time to himself. You've waited for four months for him, despite me bringing you handsome "princes" to your "castle" and making you go on blind dates. You totally refused the blind dates and all of the attention from those "princes"! If you could wait four months with all those distractions, you surely can wait a few more days, can't you? And I'm not telling you anything for your own safety. Our safety. Okay?"

Something resembling a spark of fire flickered in Ran's eyes. "Safety? You think I care about my safety anymore?" She snorted a sarcastic laugh. "So now you're on his side, huh? After all that he did to me? You don't really care about my feelings, do you? Fine! Go ahead and defend him all you want!" With that, she stomped off.

"Chotto, Ran! I wasn't . . . ." I faltered as I watched Ran with a sober expression. Ran . . . Shinichi-kun, you'd better hurry up and figure out who's trying to shoot Ran and then finally tell her whatever she wants to know about the B.O, because I don't think either of you will survive this separation for long!