The New Façade
Disclaimer: You know the drill.
ShinichixShiho-san and Amyfowl-san, your questions will be answered as the story unfolds. But no, Shinichi does not know about Shiho or Ai or Sherry or whatever. But maybe… it will change once my twisted mind begins to work again…. Or no.
I defy
This was the only her second day at Beika High, and only 10 minutes since the third period started, but she was already bored out of her mind. Why bother listen to things she had already learned like, 3 years ago? But even that was better than staring at the ceiling for 50 minutes like some dysfunctional idiot. Then something snapped. She could always just sneak out and skip class right? And it would be a piece of cake with that big fat old jerk teaching on the front busy facing the black board, writing something illegible. Would the class tell on her? No, they wouldn't even care if she committed suicide now. The only problem is Ran, a girl who seemed to care too much about people for her own good.
Anyways, she nudged Ran on the elbow and whispered, "Mouri-san, I need to go to the toilet, and I'm not in the mood to interrupt Yamada-sensei about something as minor as that, so would you please tell him that I went to the toilet when he asked about me?"
"Sure go on!" even in a whisper Ran managed to still cling on her cheerful voice.
Without saying anything more, Ai packed her books and walked calmly out of the class room, ignoring whispers that seemed to be following her out. She got out and slid the door quietly behind her, hearing a piece of conversation between Ran and Yamada-sensei on the process.
"Haibara, answer question number 9. Haibara? Mouri, where's Haibara?"
"She went to the toilet"
"Why didn't she tell me?"
"Haibara-san is afraid that she'd disturb you for that"
"… Mouri… you're too innocent…"
Ai smirked at this. At least her air head-ness doesn't render her from being at least useful.
---
Somewhere along the long, winding corridors she bumped onto someone.
"Oomph, HEY! Watch out nerd!" That 'someone' was Makimura, not the best person to bump at, at her current state. Makimura was known as the biggest bully on the school, and why a 17 years old would still play bully, she had no idea. Apparently he caught her staring at him with a weird expression.
"Hey nerd, aren't ya gonna apologize? And what's dat looking at me for, HUH?" He massaged his fist, clearly meaning to intimidate Ai. She smirked inside, Him threatening me? Pity I can't test my Aikido skills on him now. Despite how much she wanted to just ram him onto the nearest wall, she couldn't risk her disguise to be exposed by doing such atrocious act. Well, at least there's always the other option. The subtle way.
"S-sorry, I-I didn't m-m-mean to. P-p-please forg-g-give me" And she was bad at it. What was originally intended to be an apology full of fear came out as mockery. She was a smooth liar, yes, but unfortunately she wasn't that good of an actress. Well, at least with this kind of thing that is.
Makimura yelled out curses (that I cannot repeat here due to kids probably reading this) and raised his fist, preparing to strike Ai. But before he had the chance to actually punch Ai, a ball came out of no where with the speed of a bullet train and hit him fair on the back of his head, successfully knocking the big meanie out.
She felt almost thankful to whoever that saved her from exposing her disguise. Almost. If only Makimura didn't just have to land on top of her and spoil the scene that was supposed to develop to a drama of love between the damsel in bully and the knight with a shiny soccer ball that we rabid Shiho x Shinichi fans would die to read about. Anyway, back to the story.
She let out a startled cry when she felt a huge impact on her body, knocking the daylight and breath out of her. She was almost sure that a few of her bones broke upon receiving the bone-breaking crush. Ai lied there for a few second to adjust her breath back. Then she tried to push the dead weight aside, but it was useless, Makimura would easily weigh twice her weight. After a bit of more struggling, she felt the weight being lifted.
Relieved to be finally free again, she immediately sat up and messaged her sore areas. It took a while for her to remember about her savior. She glanced up and saw Shinichi who was grinning his head off.
"Having fun discovering what being crushed under an elephant feels like?" He said teasingly and offered his hand to help her stand.
Ai ignored it and stood up at her own. She dusted of her clothes and replied sardonically, "Yes, thanks to you trying to save my life, Kudo-sama"
"Why did you have to act?"
She was about to leave when she heard this. She paused, her back facing Shinichi. "What do you mean, Kudo?"
"Well, it was obvious wasn't it? You were trying to act force out a shaky apology but slipped and it came out as mockery, rigth? And I suppose you've studied martial arts to a decent level too, looking at you body shape and how you raised your hand to a proper defense stance against his punch at the last moments."
"So?"
"The question is: Why did you have to act as if you're frightened at him when you can just K.O him in a few minutes?"
Ai remained silent, then said, "Don't butt into people's business, Kudo." She paused, then added, "And stop being a perv," and continued to stride away, leaving the confused and somewhat embarrassed Shinichi behind with Makimura still fainting on the ground.
You're already involved yourself too much as it is.
---
"And she said that, I mean, how can I be a pervert?" Shinichi retorted and kicked a rock out of the way.
"Well, you did say something about her body shape, a normal person would automatically assume that you're eyeing them a bit excessively to even take notice about something as minor as that," Ran replied with a hint of amusement hidden behind her oh-so-cheerful tone. She had to run a little to keep pace with the boy she secretly had a crush on since junior high.
They were walking home together after school and Shinichi had suddenly told her about what happened between him and Ai. Of course Ran had to practically explain why he was called a pervert because for a high school detective, he was a tad bit clueless about love and things connecting to it. Not that she minded though, he was just cute in his own way, even though she never admitted it.
They kept chatting until they reached the street where they would be heading the opposite way.
"Guess I'll see you tomorrow then," He bid Ran farewell and took the alleyway leading towards the park. He was having the urge to practice his dribbling there and maybe get some fresh air in the process. After three more turns the park came into view. He was about to run there when he notice a girl sitting on the swing.
Shinichi focused his view on the girl and noticed that she was crying. Moreover, that girl was someone he had met a few hours ago.
"Haibara?"
Continued…
I'm beginning to notice that my use of vocabulary has degraded. I seriously need to buy a thesaurus, lol.
I gave Ran a tiny paragraph of her own because I somewhat have the prediction that she'll only be Shinichi's sidekick if I left her that way and kept mentioning her air head-ness, so I've decided to give her a part. Besides, we wouldn't have a triangle or square or whatever love sequence if she's a mere coincidental character right? (Wink) Anyways, hope ya enjoy and R&R.
