Chapter 29
Ran, Kazuha, Sonoko, Sera and Shiho were hanging out in Ran's room, talking about the latest fashion, and celebrities.
Ran had called Sonoko to invite her into her house. Sonoko already had been with Sera, so she could forward Ran's message. Ran'd had to just call Shiho, she had been surprised when she'd heard detective boys' voices; she didn't know that Shiho had still been hanging out with them. However, Ran shouldn't been surprised after all, those kids, besides, Shinichi, were Shiho's only friends. Ran wondered if Shiho didn't miss her life as a child, although she seemed all right with her Shiho's life.
"Do you see what she's wearing." Sonoko pointed at a picture of a singer on the magazine, they were reading. "I wouldn't wear it, even if they paid me."
"Who knows maybe she had to wear it to promote the designer," Shiho said.
"I actually like the outfit."
"You can't be serious, Sera," Sonoko said.
Ran missed spending time with Sonoko and other girls, they always had fun together. It also helped her mind to distract from the thoughts about her mum and Shinichi, though not fully. Shiho must notice that Ran wasn't paying attention to them as she asked, concerned, "Everything is all right?"
"Yeah, it's just – today passed a week when I've found out about the truth about my mum." Kogoro's voice, telling her that Eri had tried to kill Shinichi, and Kogoro'd had to kill Eri in order to stop her, echoed in Ran's head.
"I'm so sorry, Ran-chan." Kazuha put her hand on Ran's shoulder. All girls glanced at Ran with their sad looks.
Ran sniffed, she rubbed her tears away. "I'm not going to cry. I think we should do something." Ran suggested, and smiled a little. "Maybe, a movie?"
The girls exchanged uncertain looks between them, and Shiho spoke, carefully choosing her words, "Look Ran, I'm sure it's hard to talk about – everything, but you can talk to us. About anything. We're here for you."
"Yes, we are!" Sera cheered.
Ran couldn't help but let her tears flow down on her cheeks. She was touched by her friends being so supportive to her. They all hugged her, and Ran was happy having them all as her best friends.
Of course, where Heiji and Shinichi went, there a murder went.
Heiji had gotten hungry, so Shinichi suggested a small restaurant. There weren't too many people, what Shinichi was happy about.
Fortunately, there hadn't been anyone in a street, who had interrupted Shinichi to ask him inconvenient questions, though Shinichi could swear that people had had pointed out at him, and had whispered something to each other. Shinichi was annoyed, he wished people could stop bother him, even with their judging looks.
In the restaurant, which, Shinichi and Heiji went to, only three tables were occupied including Shinichi's and Heiji's. By one table, a couple was sitting, celebrating their wedding anniversary. Shinichi and Heiji were sitting close to another table to hear the conversation among the man in his fifties, who was a president of some company, and his two employees. They were celebrating their increased revenue.
"Our company earned more money than last time! And it's all thanks to you, Matsushita-sama," Ito Shirou, one of employee, praised.
"I agree," the other employee, Fukui Takuma, said.
"Thank you for inviting me out for dinner, though I need to admit it, when you said the restaurant, I didn't think you meant one of those cheap ones." Matsushita's voice expressed a little of dissatisfaction.
"The food is still good here," Shirou assured.
"Yeah, totally," Takuma added.
"Well, since you say-" Matsushita stopped as his eyes lay on the couple, who, celebrated their wedding anniversary. "Oh, there are my nephew, Susumi, and his wife, Tomiko."
Matsushita turned towards the couple's table, and raised his voice as he called them, "Susumi, Tomiko, here!"
Shinichi and Heiji noticed that Susumi reluctantly stood up from his table, and it was his wife who pushed him to come to the Matsushita's table. In meantime, a waitress came to Shinichi's and Heiji's table to take their orders.
"What are you doing here?" Susumi asked, with a dry voice.
"We're celebrating our company's great performance," Matsushita wore a big smile. "If you had better business skills, I might allow you to work for my company."
"There are better jobs than those in your company," Susumi snorted.
"If you say so."
The waitress came and put the meals down that Matsushita and his employees ordered. Susumi felt as he didn't need to be anymore around his uncle, he went back, with his wife, to his table.
"Mm, it's delicious," Shirou excited.
Matsushita took some of his food on his fork. After he took it to his mouth, he caught for his throat, and collapsed on the floor. His employees, Susumi and his wife, Shinichi and Heiji immediately found themselves around Matsushita.
"You think what I think?" Heiji asked while staring at Matsushita.
"Yes, I do," Shinichi responded.
"What are you both thinking about!" Shirou shouted.
"Hey, aren't you Kudo Shinichi?" Tomiko asked.
"I thought, I saw him somewhere before," Takuma said. He glanced at Shinichi for a second, before he turned his eyes away.
Shinichi ignored them and revealed, "This man was poisoned and the killer is one of us!"
"I'm so happy to hear that Ran is better," Yukiko said, relieved.
Kogoro was talking to Yukiko and Yusaku, how Ran no longer stayed in her room, and she even decided to return to the school, on the trial day. Kogoro had to admit but this trial made him anxious. He would have to tell every detail about that fatal day, though he wasn't the only one. Kudo and Shiho also would have to testify.
"I think it's unfair that you need to have a trial. You didn't do anything wrong, it was self-defence!" Yukiko exclaimed.
"I'm sure the judge knows it," Yusaku assured his wife.
"If you ask me, this whole trial is held, because the court doesn't fully trust the police, after they lied to the court," Kogoro said. He wished he could avoid this trial, but mostly, he wished Ran could avoid it. She was coming back to school on the same day when the trial was held, so certainly her peers would be gossiping about it, and Ran would have to listen to them. Kogoro admired his daughter, she tried her best for him, and he had to return this favour.
"We're so sorry, you have go through it, Kogoro, but we're also very thankful." Yukiko looked downcast. "If it wasn't for you, our son would be dead." Yusaku grabbed Yukiko's hand, she smiled at him.
"I did what was right, and I'm also thankful to you."
"Thankful? For what?" Yusaku raised his eyebrows.
"For being there for me, after what happened with Eri."
When Shinichi, then, Conan came to Kogoro's house to reveal to him and Ran that he hadn't been a first grader, but a high school student, Kudo Shinichi. Kogoro had already known this, so he'd had to pretend about his lack of knowledge. It hadn't been too difficult considering he had been drunk, and he had been angry at Shinichi for lying to him and putting his and Ran's lives and everyone else's in danger, although, Kogoro's anger had decreased over the time.
After Conan had revealed everything, Kogoro had to leave the house, he'd felt if he would be longer around Ran, then she would start to suspect something. He'd went to Yukiko and Yusaku's house, who had been packed to their trip to Paris.
Kogoro wanted to laugh at his stupidity. How could he think that Yukiko pretending Eri was a good plan? It only made things worse. Kogoro wished he had been honest with Ran.
Yukiko and Yusaku had taken care of him and assured him they would be there for him. The same as they assured him, now.
The girls watched an action-comedy movie. They wanted to avoid any romance so it wouldn't bring any memories to Ran, and also, comedy seemed as a good choice. They all need fun in their life, even if it was just from a movie.
"Will you talk to us, Ran-chan? You said, you will," Kazuha reminded Ran.
Yes, she had promised them. Ran knew that if she would say everything what she felt in her heart, after the girls had hugged her, Ran would break down, and she wanted to avoid it, she wanted to stay strong. She'd thought that watching a movie would be a good idea to calm her mind down, and it indeed worked. Ran felt more relaxed.
"You don't need to, if you don't want to," Shiho said.
"No, I want to. The thing is -" Ran bit her bottom lip, after few seconds, she continued, "I'm afraid to see Shinichi, and I cannot avoid him, since I'm coming back to school on Thursday."
"Shinichi and I have a trial on this Thursday, so you won't see him," Shiho said.
That was right. Shinichi and Shiho would also give his testimony in the court. Ran almost forgot it about it.
"The media only talk about it, and the superintended Matsumoto's trial. Do you think the superintended will go to prison," Sonoko asked.
"Probably," Sera answered.
"Listen, Ran, as much as you're afraid to see Shinichi, he's also afraid to see you, and," Shiho paused for a moment, glancing at Ran, with her sad eyes. "I wish you and Shinichi could be together again or at least return to being friends." Shiho looked at her with a hopeful expression.
Nobody said a word, they all waited for Ran's response. Ran didn't show a surprise on Shiho's words. Ran must remind Shinichi about Eri and what she had done to him; and Shinichi reminded Ran about her mum not being a good person.
"I wish it, too," Ran whispered, although all girls heard her as a smile appeared on their faces. "But," Ran spoke louder, "I'm afraid I'll only think about my mum and how much pain she brought to everyone's life, when I see Shinichi, and he'll think about the same, when he'll see me, and we'll just bring misery into our lives."
"You cannot let your mum to ruin your happiness," Sonoko objected.
"Exactly," Kazuha added.
"It would be hard to see Shinichi, at first, but I'm sure after some time, it won't be hard anymore." Sera smiled.
Ran hoped Sera was right, and seeing Shinichi would become easy over a time. She really missed him, but there was one more issue. "Besides, I don't think, I'll be able to trust him. He lied to me. Twice."
"It was to-"
"Protect me? Yes, I know, Shiho, but he still shouldn't lie to me, and tell me how should I trust him. If he lied to me, before, then he can do it again," Ran said, firmly.
Maybe, after weeks or months, Ran and Shinichi would be able to be in the same room without thinking about Eri, but gaining Ran's trust back, Shinichi would need to earn it.
"I think Shinichi and I got our lesson, and we won't lie to you anymore, I promise." Shiho responded.
Ran believed in Shiho's sincerity, but she wasn't sure if Shinichi or even Shiho would be able to keep this promise.
It was a fortunate for Shinichi that he was involved in a case, and he could investigate it. He truly missed it. He hadn't been involved in too many cases, since he had returned to being Shinichi, but he hoped it would change soon. The cases were what he lived for, and besides it helped his mind to get distracted away from Ran, Eri, and everything else related to the Black Organisation.
Unfortunately, Matsushita was enough well-known person to attract bunch of reporters. When they saw Shinichi, they immediately throw questions at Shinichi. Fortunately, the inspector Megure, Takagi, Sato and other police officers pushed away the reporters, and Shinichi assured them that they would hear everything what they wanted to hear during the trial.
The inspector Megure and others agreed that Matsushita was poisoned, and after the tests, it turned out that the poison came from the Matsushita's fork.
Everyone in the restaurant was questioned. They were asked about what they were doing in the restaurant and about their relationship to the victim.
"Who first came to the restaurant?" Sato asked.
"It was us," Susumi responded, bored.
"Hah! So, maybe it was you who applied the poison," Takagi pointed out.
"It's impossible," the waitress said, before Susumi could object. "We put the forks and knives on Matsushita's table, after their arrival."
"But you still came to our, table, right, Susumi-san?" Shirou accused.
"In the case, you forgot, it was my uncle who called me." It didn't seem that his uncle death had a big impact on him. He just seemed as he was bored with this situation and wanted go home.
"But you still have a chance to apply it," Takuma pointed out.
"I give up, just finish your investigation, so I can go home after you find the actual murderer."
"There, there, Susumi-san." The inspector Megure calmed Susumi down.
The poison was applied on the fork, which meant that the culprit still could have a poison on him.
"I guess, we'll have to examine your stuff," the inspector said.
Susumi, his wife, and Matsushita's two employee took out their belongings.
"Excuse me, can I go to the restroom?" Takuma asked.
"Yes, but one of my men must accompany you," the inspector said.
"I'm so hungry," Shirou complained. He called the waitress over. "Please, can you prepare food for me, the same what I ordered, before."
"Here is the on-going investigation, you should wait later to eat your meal," Sato said with her firm voice.
Shirou grunted.
Shinichi realized something. "Takuma, wait." Takuma froze, he slowly turned away towards Shinichi, he still wore the same bored expression. "Inspector Megure, I think, we also should examine the suspects' hands. There is a chance that some of the poison could be left on the culprit's hands.
"Good idea, Kudo-kun, we definitely should do it," the inspector Megure agreed.
"You can examine mine and my wife's hands, but you won't find anything, if you'd, then we'd be dead, since we almost finish our meal," Susumi said.
"He's right," Takagi agreed with him.
"Where're you going, Takuma-san?" Shinichi asked.
"Err, to the restroom." Takuma looked away from Shinichi, and his voice seemed to be nervous.
"To wash away your crimes?" Takuma's face told Shinichi everything, he was the culprit.
Shirou tried to defend his co-worker, but in vain. As Shinichi was explaining how he came to the conclusion that Takuma committed the murder, Takuma confessed. It turned out that Matsushita had mistreated one of his employees who was Takuma's friend, and this employee had gotten depressed, and committed suicide, eventually.
As usual, people were blinded by their revenge.
After Takuma's arrest, Shinichi and Heiji were returning home.
"It was good to solve a case with you, even though, you did most of the job." Only now, Shinichi realized that Heiji hadn't try to make a competition out of them solving the case; and he pretty much had given Shinichi a free hand.
"I missed it, solving the cases, I hope more of them will come up."
Shinichi had to admit that, even though solving cases were a good distraction, he couldn't get himself distracted, forever. He needed to face the reality, too.
