KudoEdogawa presents...

""Memories""

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pt. 2.

Ran, Sonoko, and Kazuha walked slowly out of the door. A single tear trickled down Ran's face, she's waited so long for this day, and it couldn't be more perfect.

~~~

"Ran-chan!!" The five year old shouted at the opened window. He can hear distant footsteps..., is it Ran? A woman appeared, "Yikes!" Shinichi hid behind a bush and listened intently.

"Mommy, who was it? Was it Shinichi?" Came the voice of Ran.

"It was no one, now come on, your lunch is getting cold."

"But I don't wanna eat lunch! I wanna play with-" Her voice died out and Shinichi heard the slam of a door.

This sucks! Shinichi thought to himself. What is up with that old witch? Now I have to think of a new method to get Ran's attention...

Footsteps...Yikes! Is she coming down to give him a good lecture? Shinichi stared at the foot of the steps..., a pair of red, children's shoes appeared. "Ran?"

"I sneaked out when Mommy went to help Daddy with his tie." The little girl giggled. "Where are we going today?"

"How about the park?" Shinichi suggested.

"We always go to the park, it's no fun..."

"Then where do you think we should go?"

"Let's go check out the big kids' school!" Ran said excitedly.

"That sounds fun, let's go!!"

They arrived at the schoolyard, Shinichi was awed by it right away and ran around, exploring. Ran walked up to the swings and started swinging herself when a group of third graders came up.

"Hey, little girl! Get outta here! This is our playground!" One of the shouted.

"Little?" Ran said. "I'm not little, I'm five years old!" She held out five fingers.

The third graders roared in laughter. "Whatever, get you gone! You dwarf! You bead, you acorn!"

"No!" Ran said, and went back to swinging. "I was here first."

A chubby kid, most likely the leader of the gang, walked up to the swing and grabbed Ran's wrist violently. "Now, either you get off nicely, or we'd have to hurt you!"

"No!!" Ran screamed as the fat kid twisted her wrist and she burst into tears. "GET AWAY FROM ME!!!"

The scream reached Shinichi, who was checking out the cafeteria. "Ran?" There was another scream as Ran was pushed off the swings. "Ran?" He ran towards the front of the school.

He saw the bullies laughing at Ran, who was on the ground, sobbing, and with mud all over. Shinichi grabbed a stick and charged. "LEAVE HER ALONE!!!"

"Aw..., look, the bwaby girl has a bwaby bwayfwaynd..." The leader said mockingly. "C'mon, let's go..."

Shinichi ran towards his friend and helped her up, "Are you okay?" He asked.

Ran started to bawl, "I DON'T WANNA DO THIS AGAIN!! I'LL GO WITH YOU TO THE PARK FROM NOW ON!!"

Shinichi accompanied his friend back to her house. "Thanks, Shinichi-kun!" She said, wiping a tear and said goodbye.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~