"You're Shinichi, aren't you!?" Ran furiously yelled at Conan. "Admit it!"
Instead of panicking, like he usually would, he just looked at her with sadness. She'd been doing this lately and every time he'd manage to convince her with just some basic common sense. After, she'd always apologize or just say that she's been tired lately, but he could see the pain and fakeness of her smile. And, this time, he could tell she didn't actually think he was Shinichi and was just wishing for it to be true, by the pained look in her eyes. He really wanted to tell her, he truly did, but he also didn't want to put her in danger.
"Please, Shinichi..." The anger in her voice was gone, replaced with sadness.
Conan just looked at her with a pained expression. Each time she'd leave almost even more sad than before, and this time he just wanted her to, at least, be a bit more happy.
This may not be a good idea but.. he'll try anything at this point.
He let out the most dramatic sigh he could muster. "Ah... You've got me." He said with a slightly deeper voice. "I'm Shinichi."
"Huh..?" She just stared at him with wide eyes, although there was a hint of suspicion in her expression. "How..?"
"I, uh..." He put a hand to his chin, pretending to think. "I shrank because of a.. drug! Yeah a drug. I saw, uh.. something I wasn't supposed to, so they forced me to take an experimental drug from their organization." He spoke with an over dramatic voice. "It was supposed to kill me instead it shrunk me to the size of a child!" He said as if he was narrating the event (which for some reason came natural to him, but he couldn't place why).
Some of the surprise left Ran's face and he could see a hint of amusement in her expression now. "Oh..? An organization..?" The edge of her lips quirked up to the semblance of a smile.
"Yeah!" He cheerfully said, playing up the child bit maybe a bit too much. "They're this huge organization with members all throughout the world!" He emphasized with large hand gestures. "They've even got members in the police, FBI, and CIA! They're called the, uh..." He put a hand to his chin again in fake thought. "The Black Organization! Also commonly known by the acronym BO."
A giggle escaped Ran's mouth. "BO, that's good. Tell me more about this Black Organization."
"Ah, their members are named after, um..." He looked around the room, pretending to look for inspiration. He lingered his gaze on some empty beer bottles on Kogoro's desk. "That's it!" He pointed over at them. "They're named after alcohols, like Gin and Vodka."
Ran giggled again. "But.. if you're Shinichi, then who was that at the school play?"
"Ah, good point..." He trailed off as if he was stuck.
"What if it was.. Kaitou KID, disguised as Shinichi?" Ran suggested.
"No, no. That's too normal..." He blew off. "Ah! What if that was Haibara? Yukiko-obasan disguised her as me and I.. took a temporary antidote. Yeah."
Ran let out a laugh, which Conan couldn't help but smile at. "That's great! But don't you mean mom?" She sent him a sly look.
"Ah! Yes, yes. Yukiko, my mom. Of course." He corrected.
"And, what if Haibara was shrunk too!?" Ran laughed, playing along.
Wow. She got it exactly right.
Conan laughed (albeit a bit more nervously). "She must've witnessed a deal or something, so they tried to like her." He suggested, trying to stray a bit more from the actual truth. She was getting too close.
"No, we've used that backstory already." Ran said. "What if.. she used to be a member!? And she betrayed them!"
Okay, this was getting out of hand.
Conan laughed, thankful for his acting abilities making it seem natural. "That's really good!" Well.. if it'll make her happier. "And, they gave her the drug, thinking it would kill her, but instead it shrunk her, and she was able to escape!" He said with a flair of dramatics, still trying to steer her away.
Ran laughed. "But.. where would you get an antidote?"
"That's a silly question, Ran!" He laughed as if it was obvious. "Agasa made one for me!"
Ran giggled. "Yeah, that makes sense."
"Also.. you know Sleeping Kogoro?" Conan asked. He may be going a bit far but he was having too much fun. "That's been me the whole time! I've been knocking him out every case with, uh..." He didn't want to use his actual gadgets for this. "A.. tranquilizer dart shooter, that Agasa made for me. Yeah. And, of course he made me a voice changer too."
Ran let out an even more boisterous laugh before. "That's too good! I bet he wouldn't even realize it too."
The two laughed and their conversation eventually faded off into a comfortable silence.
Ran smiled down at the boy. "Thank you, Conan-kun."
Conan sighed as he walked home from school, the next day.
Haibara was going to kill him if she ever found out about last night's conversation. On the bright side, it seemed Ran was off his back about the whole being Shinichi thing, and she would be for a while. He doesn't think she'd even believe him now, if he ever told her the truth. But, it'll be fine. What Haibara doesn't know won't hurt her.
As Conan came upon the detective agency, he saw Amuro glaring at him, standing just outside Poirot. He greeted Conan with an obviously fake smile.
"Ran-san seems a lot happier, doesn't she." Amuro said with more malice than a phrase like that would typically come with.
And.. oh yeah. That must be it. He must've missed a bug from him. He'll have to find that later. And, no wonder he was mad; he did kind of tell Ran about the organization.
"Yeah!" He cheerfully said to Amuro. "Don't worry." He lowered the volume and octave of his voice. "She doesn't believe any of it."
Amuro sighed. "If you say so..."