Chick Flick

Scenario #7: Frivolity… guy and girl spend the afternoon together, forgetting all worries.

Building to the Future

Shinichi/Ran

Ran was speechless. Her cell phone rang earlier and he requested for her to meet at the Beika City Park, a few blocks away from the detective agency. She couldn't quite understand why her best friend/fiancé was standing there in the middle of the sandbox, bucket in hand, smiling like a big dumb kid. "Shinichi, you want us to…?"

"Build a sand castle," he said quite matter-of-factly. "Take off your shoes and socks; you don't want to walk around later with sand in them, right?"

She was completely taken back by his request. How could he ask this out of nowhere? Obviously, seeing too many dead bodies has loosened some screws in his head. But there he was, standing with his pant-legs rolled up, sleeves to his elbows, with plastic tools and molds laying on the sand, ready to be handled… Goodness, he was really ready for this. She couldn't really refuse him, now could she? Ran smiled and bent down, taking off her sneakers and socks. "It's been a while since you and I have played in a sandbox, huh?" she asked as she joined him on the yellow sand.

"Yeah… how old were we? Five? Six?"

"Seven. The very last time was right here, a murderer ran by, destroying the castle I was half done with," Ran recalled, picking up one of the bright green castle molds. "I think it was Megure-keibu asking you, and you gave him perfect details. The height, build, sex, what he was wearing… usually, seven year olds don't pay attention to those types of details."

"Well, I'm a son of a detective turned author," Shinichi dug out a small ditch at the corner of the box, fitting the bucket he was previously holding. "Here's some water if you need any."

"Okay," she said as she scooped sand in her mold with a yellow hand shovel.

"Anyway, I guess because of that, my attention to detail was pretty refined," he reasoned, then adding, "Also because I'm a genius."

Ran narrowed her eyes at him. "You and your ego." She took a bit of water and mixed it with the sand she collected. She packed the mold tight and turned it right side up, patting the sides to loosen the sand from the shape. "Do you remember what happened after that?"

"Yup. You were upset because you worked so hard to make the ratio of sand and water right to get your castles to stand. And then when you finally did, the perp stomped on it," Shinichi couldn't hold back his smile. "You were so upset. Near crying!"

"Well, it's like you said! I was working so hard to get my castles to remain whole!" Ran gently lifted the mold up and stared at the shape that stood before her. Within a few seconds, a side collapsed. She frowned at it, and then re-packed it in the mold, purposely ignoring Shinichi's grin.

"Do you remember what I said after I saw you so upset?" Shinichi lifted his own mold up, revealing his tiny sand structure.

Ran thought for a moment before answering. She added a little bit more water. "You promised that we'd make strong castles again someday. But… well, it's been over 10 years since we've been here."

"I know," Shinichi picked another mold from his collection and began pouring one scoop of water for every two scoops of sand. "I didn't mean for it to take so long."

This caused Ran to freeze for a moment. Wait a minute. Was this why…? "Shinichi? Why did you want to build sand castles all of a sudden?"

"Because I promised, remember?" Shinichi leveled the sand off the edge of his mold. "I always keep my promises. Granted, I take a while for them to happen, but at least I try, right?"

"Mm-hm," Ran smiled, "I remember at the restaurant. Conan, er, you promised to come back. And you did," she turned the mold upside down and the structure collapsed again.

Shinichi chuckled at her leveled castle. "Ran, it's two part sand, one part water."

"Yes, yes," she sighed, disappointed that she had to start from scratch for the third time.

The sun was falling into the horizon when she managed to finally create a sturdy structure, rivaling Shinichi's first. Ran smiled at her accomplishment. "Hah! It's perfect!"

Shinichi smiled. "Yeah." He turned his mold right side up in the sandbox and gently drummed his fingers on the mold. "You know what would make this more fun?"

"What?"

"If there were others," he said lifting the orange mold.

"Others?" Ran scooped some water in a blue car mold. "You mean our friends?"

"Maybe. But I was thinking more on the lines of little ones..." he scraped an extra chunk of sand away to even out his walls. Ran looked down and realized he just molded a house in front of her. She looked at it, then at him. Ran caught the tint of blush on Shinichi's cheeks as he averted his eyes to picking up another mold. "Maybe a boy or a girl… or both. Whichever."

Ran felt a blush creep up her neck and form in her cheeks. The topic of children was never discussed between the two of them. At first, she didn't even know if he wanted any; he had not shown any paternal signs. And besides, he attracted murder cases like a magnet; what if their son or daughter witnessed such crude images? Or what if, heaven forbid, he or she wanted to become a detective? Was it a hereditary thing? Even so, Ran wanted children so much, but she never knew what Shinichi wanted. Until…

"Shinichi? When we have a family of our own, let's bring them here."

Shinichi looked up at Ran and nodded. "I promise."

Thank you, MARS, the series for this little gem.