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Transparency
Chapter Eight
Moon Kitty 2005
May 25th, 2006
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Shinichi threw his book bag in the abandoned living room, watching in amusement as dust flew up. Someone seriously needs to clean up this mess.
He ran up the stairs, surprised to see the Ran wasn't where she usually was. "Ran?" he asked hesitantly, scratching his head when she didn't answer. He ran down the steps, becoming slightly worried.
Something pulled at his gut, and he ran into the master bedroom, opening the door to the hidden room, smiling in relief as he saw Ran sitting on the small love seat, writing in her book.
She looked up, curious, her eyes wide. "Welcome back, Shinichi," she smiled.
He ran forward and enveloped her in a hug, causing both of them to blush with the boldness of his actions. "I missed you."
She bit her lip and stared down at her book, her eyes sad. "I missed you, too, Shinichi. It was really boring."
He looked at her for a second. "Anything wrong?"
"Not really. Just reading over my old diary entries. I'm just thinking of what it was like when I was back in high school. What would've happened if I hadn't forgotten my karate things... of Sonoko... but I was just thinking... if I had remembered my karate gear that morning, I would've never met you." She looked up at him then, blushing.
He smiled sadly. "I would've rather you not met me than had to have gone through all that pain."
She stared at him in shock and looked down at the yellowed pages. "I really do miss Sonoko, though. She hasn't even come to the house since I died. Not even for the funeral. I wonder if she's okay."
"Did you say Sonoko?" He blinked at her when she nodded. "What was her last name?"
"Um... I don't remember... Isn't that really pathetic?" she giggled.
"There's a boy in my class, Yoshi, who once did a report on who he most admired a while ago. He did on his mom... and her name... was Sonoko."
Ran's eyes widened.
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"Hey, Yoshi, sorry to bother you outside of school, man," Shinichi apologized as he crossed his arms, smiling companionably.
The younger boy nodded, a smile on his face as well. "No problem. You said you wanted to talk to my mom?"
Shinichi nodded. "Yeah, if that's okay. I just need to ask her a question."
Yoshi looked at Shinichi suspiciously but shrugged his shoulders. "Lemme go get her. Hold on."
A few minutes of anxious silence passed before a short woman came to the door. She had shoulder-length dirty blonde, almost brunette, hair and turquoise eyes. She didn't look so old for her age, and she held a polite smile as she gazed at him. "Yes?"
Shinichi looked around nervously before glancing straight into her eyes. "I have a question to ask... and I hope I don't seem too forward and I don't seem ridiculous in asking it..." Here he hesitated, and the woman smiled encouragingly and ushered him to go on. "When you were in high school... did you know a young girl named Mouri Ran?"
The woman's eyes widened and her face paled considerably, her hands shaking as she brought them up to her mouth, looking utterly terrified. "Mouri... Ran?" she asked fearfully.
Shinichi bit his lip and nodded. "Yes... Mouri Ran."
And with that, there was dead silence a moment before Sonoko's eyes rolled back in her head and she collapsed in a dead faint, Shinichi catching her before she crashed to the floor.
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Authoress Notes
Mmkay, I just wrote this. It wasn't pre-written or anything, so I hope it didn't suck. I think there's about either 4 or 5 chapters left, maybe less. I dunno, but I guess we're just gonna have to figure out, huh? (lol) Byez!
