Healing
The detective boys were suprised to see Conan in school. Ayumi ran up and hugged him, but was concerned when he stiffened at the contact.
"Conan-kun, are you okay?" the little girl asked.
Conan's voice was a dry whisper. "No. No I'm not Ayumi-chan."
Ayumi asked what had happened, but Conan wouldn't tell her. Later the detective boys followed Conan and Ran to her mother's. They were arguing whether or not to go in when Ran and Conan exited and walked away. Genta rang the bell and introduced himself to the woman who answered.
"Does Conan life here now?" Ayumi asked.
"Yes. Please come in." Eri said. She smiled. Good friends would help Conan recover faster.
"I guess you three would like to know what happened to Conan?" she asked. They nodded yes, so she continued.
Ayumi cried, Mitsuhiko looked sick, and Genta swore he was going to beat up Kogoro. Eri told them that the best thing they could do for Conan was to treat him normally. The boy in question soon returned with his nee-chan from shopping. He was supprised to find his friends waiting for him.
It took some convincing, but eventually he left to play with them.
Scene Change
It had been a week since the incident, and Eri was happy to see that Conan was getting better. But not as happy as Ran was to see her little brother going back to the way he used to be.
His progress had been truly remarkable. He and Ran were back in school and Conan went out with his friends every day after school. He was laughing and running and playing again. He still refused to sleep without his nee-chan, but he was growing more comfterable with being alone for longer and longer periods of time. And he still got scared when something reminded him of the incident, but his crying spells were happening less and less often.
Eri was more concerned right now with her daughter. She worried that Ran blamed herself for what had happened to Conan. She hovered over the boy as if danger lurked around every corner and got defensive if a stranger approached to close to him.
"Ran," Eri told her daughter when she came home from school, "You know that what happened to Conan isn't your fault?"
Ran shook her head no. "But it is. If I hadn't been so stupid as to set you and dad up to meet, he wouldn't have gotten so drunk and angry and Conan..."
"Stop it." Eri said. "You have no reason to feel guilty. You've done more for him then anyone else."
"But I..."
"No! You did nothing wrong. It's your father who was wrong. What he did is inexcusable. You've been there for Conan and cared for him and done everything you could."
Ran was crying softly now. Eri hugged her daughter, and stroked her hair. It wasn't fair. Ran shouldn't have had to deal with so much, so fast. But she had done well, both for herself and for Conan. And Eri made sure she knew it.
Scene Change
Kogoro lay on his couch. The phone rang, but he didn't answer it. Why bother? Why bother with anything? Ran and Conan were gone.
He had known how much Ran's absence would hurt, but he had had no idea how much he would miss Conan.
He drained his latest bottle, letting it roll of his chest. He had had it all, a good career, a beautiful daughter, and a little fan. And he threw it all away.
One dispicable, disgusting act of drunken violence, and it was all gone. He would never get it back, the life he had lived.
Nothing to do now but end it all.
He lifted the gun to his temple.
To be continued?