File Sixty-Five: By Your Real Name
"Ladies and gentlemen," Shindo's voice resounded from the speakers. "There has been a small accident on the plane. We will be diverting to New Chitose Airport. We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for understanding..."
"We're really going to Muroran, right?" Genta grinned, only to get scolded by Mistuhiko and Ayumi for being too loud.
Conan gave his friends a blank look before sighing, heavily, and resting his head against his open hand. With all of this, I have lost sight of that man in black, he studied every single seat in sight, only to see several, ordinary people either worrying or wondering what was going on. Haibara-san must be out of sight, however, so we should be safe, after all, she was sitting right beside the window, next to Ayumi, Agasa, Genta, Mitsuhiko and he sat beside them, in a long row of seats.
All of sudden, a chill seemed to run through Haibara's back, if the violent shivering or the way she turned to stare through the window despite the darkness outside was something to go by. Before he could even say or do something, Conan spotted something on the corner of his eye. Something black.
Sure enough, that person he was looking for was calmly making his way to the stairs, passing by him in the process. There you are, he frowned, quietly slipping away from his seat when the man disappeared from his sight.
"Conan-kun," Mitsuhiko whispered at him, with some sort of urgency. "Where are you going?"
"Won't be long," he replied, rushedly. "Stay here with everyone, alright?"
"Conan-kun!" he hushed, a bit more firmer this time, but deflated against his seat when the boy seemed to pay no mind and bolted off.
Worry etching his features, the freckled boy turned to see his friends. Haibara was still staring intently at the window, the others seemed to be chatting between each other. Nobody seemed to realize their friend had rushed off somewhere.
Somewhere dangerous, if his gut could be trusted.
Where? meanwhile, the boy in question had reached the second floor, lightly gasping because of the exertion ─ he had rushed upstairs in record time, so being exhausted should be expected. Where is he?
Warily, he moved more to the center, doing his best to ignore Juri's body, sitting there and covered by a white cloth. Did he hide in any of the washrooms? he glanced at the one on the back, before setting his gaze in the one in the front. He could have gone to the cockpit, too...
He hoped not.
Either way, he decided to check things out and try to hear through the door, so he could check for any weird sounds. He didn't get far, however, when it opened all of sudden and KID stolled out, a severe expression plastered all over his face.
"Oh," he noticed him, and all seriousness disappeared with a grin. "You shouldn't be here, naughty, naughty kid..."
Conan blinked, watching the thief getting closer to the plug door. "What-?"
"What do you think you're doing?!"
The sight of Sonoko running after him only confused the boy further. It only got more prominent, when all of sudden KID told them to grab onto something and opened the door.
He was almost knocked off his feet, but managed to stand upright by holding into a nearby seat, despite the blow of air that suddenly hit them. Sonoko screamed, Conan scowled.
"What are you doing, KID?!" the kid shouted.
"Eh...?" the girl blinked, before looking up. Upon seeing KID standing there, wearing his pristine white suit, she gaped. "Eh?!"
Conan paid no mind to her, and stepped further, closer to the thief. "You're not thinking of bailing, are you?!"
KID's smirk widened, causing him to boil. "You-!" he, impulsively, was about to lunge at him.
It all came into a halt the moment he felt something. Something cold, metallic ─ which he recognized right away ─ pressed against his temple and made beads of sweat to roll down his forehead. A familiar click sounded far too close to his ear, and caused a chill to travel down his spine.
Sonoko backed off. "Conan-kun!" she shouted, completely scared, about something the kid could not see, but could easily imagine.
"If you don't want a hole in this kid's head..." a gruff voice sounded behind Conan, who wouldn't do anything but stare at KID's deepening frown, frozen in place. "... you will hand the Jewel of Destiny over."
The man in black, Conan's brain quickly filled for him.
"Don't play dumb, I just checked in that dead woman's finger. It was fake," the man continued. "Give me the real one and we won't have to deal with a dead kid abroad."
Even if he wanted to, Conan was sure the thief wouldn't give it away because he had none. Which meant that, if he didn't think of something fast, he would most likely be dead before this plane could touch the ground.
But what could he do? He couldn't even move a finger. Not when that thing was still on his head.
He really, really didn't like guns.
"As much as I'd love to save this intrepid young boy from a head wound of nefarious nature, I'm afraid I can't hand the Jewel of Destiny over to you," he replied, with a mocking smile. "Since there was never one aboard."
"Do you think I will buy that?" he scoffed.
"Wouldn't be surprised if you didn't, but I can't really talk with you now... It's late, and I haven't even taken the trash out yet."
"Huh?"
When the magician stepped aside, Conan's eyes widened upon seeing the phone ─ the one that served as a communication to the cockpit ─ hanging from the receiver by the cord.
"Tango-India-Lima-Tango!" the thief exclaimed. "Now!"
Before anyone could tell what was going on, the floor they were standing at tilted violently, as a result of such a reckless move from the pilot, making the man who was holding Conan to lose his balance.
Sonoko, who had barely managed to catch herself, was horrified to see Conan, that man and KID stumbling down the plane, into a 5000 meter-fall.
And, from his spot close to the stairs, Mitsuhiko screamed, having witnessed it all.
The air furiously hitting Conan in the face barely allowed him to see much, but had noticed that throughout their fall the gun had slipped from the man's grasp ─ to which he would have been incredibly grateful of hadn't he been plummeting down to the ground without a parachute.
Yet, all at once, he wasn't falling anymore. An arm wrapped itself on his torso and then he felt himself going upwards. KID was holding him, grinning as he looked down at the man from before, holding a parachute bag on his other ─ briefly Conan wondered where he had gotten that, but considering he was both a magician and a thief he decided he was better off not knowing.
"Catch," with a cheerful tone, he let the bag drop.
It was almost comical how the man desperately moved through the air, until he finally took it. By the time the parachute had been put into use, KID had already flown away from him.
"Phew, that was close," KID sighed, looking down at the child. "Try not to pull this up again, okay?"
"As if I was begging to get taken hostage."
The thief let out a laugh, which annoyed his companion even more, huffing and looking back to the plane. Once out of sight, the magician's smile dropped, and looked ahead again.
Tantei-kun is still shaking, he had realized with a shudder.
It was disturbing, to say the least, to see this fearless, reckless kid so scared. Certainly, he would never forget the way his eyes had gone wide in horror, or the sweat that had started to make its way down his sickly pale, white face, but if there was something he would always remember was the fact that he hadn't shown a single sign of surprise.
As if he had been in that situation before, more than once.
"Take me back."
"Eh?"
"Take me back to the plane," he stressed out, growing more impatient the more time he stayed out.
"This is a hang glider. I don't have an engine, Tantei-kun."
"... How come someone like you never thought of adding an engine?"
KID did his best not to glare at him.
"Either way," the kid continued. "I can't just-!"
"Even if you were there, there's little you can do."
"Are we going to just watch?!"
"In your case, yeah. You will stay quiet like a good child," a smirk crossed his face. "While I do all the work."
Conan merely raised an eyebrow.
"You see the pier over there? It's a bit too dark for anyone to land there, right?" the kid did not reply, wondering what he was trying to get at. "I'll show you a magic trick. In less than a second, lights will guide all your friends home, safe and sound."
The young boy had absolutely no idea what he was talking about.
"What are you doing?!" shouted Ran, who hadn't yet put on her headsets, still holding into her seat with her two hands, even if the plane had already been stabilized.
"Sorry, my hands slipped," he grinned, sheepishly.
"Geez, be more careful..."
After apologizing again, the girl focused back on the dark night outside, and only then did he let his smile drop. What was all about?
Since he had come to live under the same roof as the thief, the boy had learned that Kaito was clever, maybe as much as he was. His ideas would be dangerous most of the time, but they ended up working out.
What did he need him to tilt the plane for? He didn't see any sense to it.
Unless he met with Snake, he honestly hoped not.
All of sudden, the door to the cockpit bursted open. "Conan-kun fell off!" they didn't expect Mitsuhiko, of all people, to shout, panic showing in his pale face. "He fell off the plane!"
"What?!" both Ran and the flight attendant cried in shock.
"He's right!" Sonoko appeared right behind the kid, looking more or less shaken than him.
Then she did her best to explain the story to them, despite the quivering voice, or the panic cursing through her veins. They did understand most of the rushed chain of words, somehow, and got a better grasp of the situation.
"It will be okay," the older boy assured them, with a confident smile. "You said that Shinjo-san was KID, right? I heard he never lets people die, and has a hang glider and everything. The kid must be safer than any of us at this very moment."
Both girls and little boy exchanged words, taking into consideration what he had just said, but unable to feel calm about it.
"Anyway, you should go back to your seat, kid," he then turned to Sonoko. "Suzuki-san, you should get going downstairs. We're going to land soon."
"But Ran..."
Ran offered her a smile. "I'll be just fine," she assured her best friend. "Go, Sonoko."
The girl gave her one last look, before giving up and nodding, heading back to the passenger cabin with the child in tow. Once she was gone, Ran let out a long sigh, before turning to the pilot.
She frowned slightly, and he worried.
"How did you know Sonoko's last name?"
He genuinely hoped he didn't flinch as bad as he thought he did.
"I... I saw her on TV," he let out a strangled laugh. "Her family is well known all over the world, so-"
"Why?"
All of his words came into a sudden halt.
"Why do you keep lying to me?"
His smile instantly vanished into nothing the moment her eyes fell on her lap, where her fists rested, clenching.
"Even now, you keep telling everyone that we will be fine, but I can see your hands are shaking..."
"Ran..."
"You always do that! Time and time again when I see you, you say you will be back soon, that you're just in a case... But a year has passed since you left," her eyes closed shut. "Don't you see I worry?! We all worry about you!"
Silence was her only answer. The boy beside her was quietly thoughtful, and she didn't dare to look at him. She could tell he was gazing at her, with those pained eyes that hid far too much for her liking, undoubtedly feeling guilty of hurting so many people, but resigned to keep that up.
Yet, did it matter, really? They were most likely going to die in less than five minutes now.
She opened her eyes, and a tender smile crossed her face. If he wasn't going to be honest with her, she would do it instead.
"I..." this would be her last chance to say it. "I like you, Shinichi."
At that moment, Shinichi was far too conscious of the fact that his voice had suddenly died down in his throat, and how stupid he must have looked staring at her, eyes threatening to bulge out his sockets. He knew he ought to say something ─ those words he had dreamed of hearing ever since he could remember coming from that girl...
But as things were now, he could only gape, like a fish out of water.
"R-Ran..." he managed, after a couple of agonizing seconds. "I-!"
"There's light..."
"... Huh?"
"Look at that, Shinichi! There are red lights moving around like an obi!"
Instantly, Shinichi looked down and was shocked to see that, indeed, red lights were making their way around the pier, circling the entire place until it resembled a runway for a plane.
The high school detective smirked.
"Ran, we'll begin landing preparations," he stated, confusing the girl for a second. "Those lights are probably the patrol cars that KID lured there."
It took her by surprise, but soon she nodded and looked back to the front, a focused frown trained on her features.
"So this was your trick."
KID didn't even look back at the child he was holding in his arms, just snickered a bit at the sight of the entire police, plus Inspector Nakamori, going crazy looking for him, even if he was standing right there, in the light pole, shielded by darkness.
"Impressed?"
"Hardly. That was not a magic trick, just a stunt you pulled off at the nick of time."
"It might be, but the path is lighted up now, isn't it?"
Conan decided not to argue, far too preoccupied on the airplane that was descending right in front of his eyes.
The police were running now, finally having taken notice of the plane coming their way.
It had to work. Please...
Please make it work, Oniichan.
When the girl pulled down the gear level, a loud beeping startled them both. They looked at the display and understood right away.
"Shinichi," stated Ran, eyes narrowing. "Looks like we're out of fuel."
The boy nodded in return, focusing back on the road ahead. "There won't be any second chances," he informed her. "It's one shot, do or die."
So, the plane continued to go down, shaking more than strictly necessary, but descending in a steady rhythm. Despite it all, he tightened his grip against the yoke and endured it.
It had to work.
"Please make it work, Oniichan," another voice, different from his own, intruded his thoughts, like lightning on the ground.
Maybe he had imagined it, he honestly didn't know, yet it made his conviction stronger. Not only the lives of many people were in his hands. Not only Ran sat beside him, and others he couldn't afford to lose were on that very plane...
He also had a brother. A young child that had suffered more than he should have. Whose only friends and more-or-less adoptive family was also depending on him.
And that boy was waiting for him.
The wheels hit one of the patrol cars parked around the pier, but his grip remained firm, lowering the nose. Next, a reverse thrust.
So that boy doesn't have to suffer anymore, his fingers curved round the lever. So that Conan...
Fingers resting on top of his hand caused him to momentarily look at his side. Ran was nodding at him, with a comforting, even if a bit tight smile, which he returned.
Like so, the two of them pulled.
Stop... Shinichi gritted his teeth. Stop, stop!
Stop... Ran begged. Stop, stop!
Just... Conan tensed, hands clenching as he helplessly watched from outside. Just stop!
KID gasped, however, upon the realization that there was a crane right in front of them and wondered if he should just take the child away before he could witness such a terrible accident, but then Shinchi seemed to press the rudder, because the airplane suddenly changed course.
It finally came to a stop, colliding against a dune of sand. In a single piece.
Only then, did Conan let the breath he had been holding. "He did it..." he sighed, mumbling more to himself than to the thief. "He really did it."
Letting another breath out of his system, he placed his hand on top of his chest, closing his eyes as in an attempt to get himself back into control. It felt like my heart was about to burst, really, he admitted to himself. In fact, even now it felt like it would jump out of his ribcage in any second.
So that must be how he feels every single time I get into trouble, somehow, he felt like he could understand his brother, just a tiny bit more. It's quite... the unpleasant feeling, isn't it?
He didn't seem to notice the small, tender smile adorning his features, though.
KID glanced at the grinning child briefly before looking back at the airplane. Well done, Meitantei, he felt the corners of his lips tugging a bit upwards. I knew you could do it.
Well now, since you finished your job, it's my time to do the same, correct?
So, he wasn't really that stunned when he felt a pair of small hands grasping his arm, with an iron grip. Or the seriousness in the miniature detective as he looked at him.
"My, what has gotten into you, all of sudden?" he didn't let his mocking smile vanish, though. "Are you still going to capture me, after everything we went through?"
His frown deepened. "No, I'll let you off the hook for now," KID smiled when he said that. "Only if you answer my question."
He didn't need a remainder, the magician was already aware of who the little boy meant, but didn't let his smile drop.
"Sorry, that's confidential," he stated. "That's nothing a young little detective should know about."
"Then, the deal is off."
"Oh? And how do you plan to catch me?"
Conan didn't speak, just raised his wrist and went to point at him with his clock. His smirk dropped, however, when he tried to press the switch, and shock filled his every expression.
Because his watch was gone.
He didn't even get to wonder what had happened to it before he felt the prick on his neck. "Did you really forget, Tantei-kun?" he managed to hear through the darkness closing in on him. "I'm a thief."
Just like that, Conan felt himself sinking in a sea of black ink.
"What do you mean you haven't seen him?!" her father's voice boomed through the entire place.
"Calm down, Mouri-kun," Agasa did his best to have him to calm down, before he would hit someone ─ namely Inspector Megure, who ended up in the receiving end of his anger just now. "I'm sure they are doing their best-"
"A child fell from a plane! Why aren't we all looking for him right now?!"
"Listen, you need to get checked-" tried Megure.
"How many times do I have to tell you?! I don't need to get checked!"
The four children watching the entire exchange looked at each other, concern etching each part of their faces, silently wondering where their friend was.
Ran sighed heavily, letting her hand fall on her lap, fingers wrapped loosely around her phone. His phone still off, she frowned, tightening her other hand gripping, tightly, the comfort blanket. Shinichi said he would be okay, but...
"Blood pressure and pulse are both normal," stated the paramedic standing close to her. "You seem fine to me, but we'll take you to the hospital just to be sure."
"Thank you very much," she nodded, eyes not straying away from her father, who now angrily arguing with another poor paramedic. "But I can't go."
"Oh, is that about that child?"
"Right! I won't go anywhere until I find-"
"Ah, speaking of which, I have something to deliver."
"Eh?"
Before she could even look at him, something was set on her lap, causing her to scramble to catch it before it could fall. Glancing downwards, she was beyond shocked that it was not a 'something', but rather a breathing, living being. "Conan-kun!" she gasped, after taking a better look at the sleeping boy.
"He passed out before I could catch him," her head snapped to the source, only to see a wide, shark-like grin flashed at her. "But he will be okay."
"K-Ka..." she stuttered.
"Well then," he said, with a bow. "Until we meet again-"
Before he could add another word, the magician felt pain, on his right cheek, momentarily dazing him enough for him to stumble backwards. "KAITO KID!" before he could even register the fact that the girl had punched him, hard, on the face ─ or admire the way she had done it without disturbing the slumbering child she was cradling ─ Ran had shouted, pointing at him with his free hand. "That man is Kaito KID!"
"What?!" Inspector Nakamori's attention was instantly on them.
She tried not to laugh too loud at the sight of the thief taking off running, panic settling on his face as he disappeared, the police following close. That's what he gets, she smiled, settling Conan into a more comfortable position. For leaving a kid alone on top of a moving train.
"Conan-kun...? Look, it's Conan-kun!"
"Conan! What did you think you were doing, acting so cool?!"
"Conan-kun, are you okay?!"
It was almost endearing, how the four children were instantly at his side, surprise morphing into worry when they realized he wasn't replying. Undoubtedly concerned, they called his name again.
"He's just unconscious," Ai's calm voice broke through the panic before Ran could say anything. "It happens sometimes when someone falls from such a high height."
"Oh," they chorused, blinking owlishly.
Giggling a bit, the older girl assured them that their friend would be alright, but pointed out that it would be best if they left him to rest for the moment ─ she could imagine the discomfort that it would bring him waking up to realize that four set of eyes, beside hers, were staring right into his soul ─ to which they nodded, rushing to tell Agasa and Kogoro what had happened.
Running a hand through his hair, Ran couldn't help the smile that drew itself on her lips while gazing at the young boy resting peacefully against her leg. We all are safe, aren't we? she let her shoulders drop at the realization. Or so I think. That stupid detective had already run off somewhere by the time I woke up at the cockpit...
... That idiot, after I said all that...
Her cheeks glowed red at the realization of what she had done.
The child shifted, causing her to jump slightly, jolted out of her own thoughts. Upon realizing that it was just him moving on his sleep, she sighed.
"... catch you..." that was what she could make up from the mumbled, jumbled string of words came out of his mouth. "... KID..."
KID? she blinked slowly before gasping. Could it be that KID-?!
Her phone started to ring, abruptly, and the girl instantly picked it up. "That call of earlier wasn't from you," she didn't even give him the chance to speak. "Was it, Shinichi?!"
"... Eh?"
"I knew it! That Shinichi earlier was KID!"
"Hey, Ran-"
"But wait, Sonoko had said that Shinjo-san was KID, if KID was with us the entire time..."
"That's-"
"I got it! The one that was with me was actually KID's apprentice!"
Shinichi did his best not to let her know that sentence right now had badly offended him. "What?" so he settled with that plain answer.
His eyes were heavy, that was the first realization that came to the child the moment he began to resurface from the dark void of unconsciousness. Really need to stop getting hit with my own darts, and that was the first fully coherent sentence that crossed his mind, while his dull senses slowly came back to him.
"Thank goodness it wasn't you, Shinichi!" he heard Ran shout, relieved for some reason ─ was he there?
When he finally managed to get his eyes to open, Conan realized that he wasn't. Slowly, he noticed that his cheek was resting against Ran's lap, so he turned to glance at her.
There was a bright smile on her face, as she held her phone close to her chest. "Safe," she sighed. "So close, but safe!"
"... Safe from what?" he wondered out loud. "Is that about the plane or...?"
Her eyes instantly darted to him and her smile widened even further. "Conan-kun, you're awake!" she exclaimed, as he lazily sat up. "How are you feeling? Does anything hurt?"
"I'm okay," he nodded, with a faint smile of his own. "And it looks like you all are okay as well."
"Yeah," she replied, looking ahead. "You should go tell your friends you're fine. Ai-chan and the others were very worried about you."
He turned to study his group of friends, who were talking with Agasa about something when, suddenly, Haibara glanced at his general direction, yet did not show any signs of acknowledging him beside the slight widening of her eyes. She said something, and the other three gazes fell on him.
A set of three bright smiles met him, which he replied with a small wave of his hand.
"... I don't think Haibara-san was too preoccupied," he said with a shrug. I would be surprised if she was, honestly.
Ran gave the boy a brief look, before she chuckled. "I wouldn't be so sure about that."
"What do you know?"
"I wouldn't expect a boy to understand."
Certainly, he did not get it. Blinking, confused, he gazed back at the young scientist in question, who was now talking with Ayumi, a small, barely noticeable smile drawn on her face.
For some reason, the bespectacled little boy frowned.
"Say, Ran-neechan," his voice came out soft, hesitant even. "Can... Can I ask you something?"
She was momentarily confused at the sound of his voice – he sounded genuinely shy, for some reason.
"What is it?" she took a glance at the direction he was gazing at, and felt her face breaking into a big smile. "Is this about Ai-chan?"
"... Of course not!" he tried not to let his embarrassment show, despite the pink hue noticeable on his cheeks. "It... It's about... Genta."
"Genta-kun?" Ran raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure?"
"Positive."
Shaking her head to side to side, Ran closed her mouth shut and waited for him to finally tell her what was in his mind. He gave him a side look, hesitant, and opened his mouth, taking her silence as a cue to talk.
"I kind... I kind of did something bad to him a long time ago. Like really bad," he shifted, uncomfortably. "I only found out about it recently."
"And you think this isn't something you can fix just by apologizing to her, right?"
"To him."
"Him, sorry."
The boy gave her a long, unconvinced look, before sighing. "He tried his best not to let me know what had happened," he confessed, eyes falling into his lap. "And she... he has stated more than once that he isn't mad. I believe him, but..."
Ran gave the child a thoughtful look, and stayed quiet for a moment. He watched his hands curling into fists, his serious gaze not leaving that random spot beside his feet, as if it currently was the most interesting thing to see in the entire world.
She could clearly see what the problem was even if she didn't know what exactly had caused it.
"If you really can't forgive yourself..." she began, after a while. "... You should think about it. Think about what you want to do ─ if you want to let it go, or if you want to do something about it."
The sight of his wide blue eyes suddenly fixing on her was both adorable and amusing, but managed to keep herself from giggling.
"Then approach her. Talk to her. Tell her how you feel," Ran could only smile at the clueless young boy. "Believe me, you will feel so much better once you do."
For the longest time, the kid said nothing, just stared back at her with his stunned gaze. Eventually, the surprise drained, he looked back at the ground and nodded.
When the boy closed his eyes and took a deep breath, Ran knew. She knew that he had already done all the thinking long before this conversation.
"Maybe it's a bit too late but..." he said in a quiet whisper. "After this, could I go visit Araide-sensei for a moment? I need to... ask him something."
The girl nodded, a smile still in place. She had an idea of what this kid might be thinking about.
After the ordeal they had gone through, Haibara had decided a shower was in order. Despite having managed to keep her face mostly straight for the whole duration of that terrifying trip, she figured she would have trouble sleeping.
Not only the thought of falling into their deaths ─ or learning that Conan had somehow managed to fall off from a plane ─ had been incredibly scary, but staying for hours to an end in the same room of someone that clearly had their scent had been beyond exhausting.
Not to say that she had been sweating a lot throughout it all ─ Haibara's nose wrinkled in disgust at the thought.
With a sigh, she opened the door to the living room, hoping that this night wouldn't become even harder for her, in one way or another.
What she didn't expect was what she saw in the middle of the room. Blinking, then blinking again for good measure, Haibara stared at the white and black little thing in front of her eyes.
It turned around and looked at her with bright, green eyes.
A kitten. There was a kitten in the Professor's living room.
She seriously needed some answers, like right now.
"Ah, Haibara-san," she guessed that seeing a certain bespectacled boy kneeling in front of that kitten should have been expected.
'Unpredictability' and 'Kudo Conan' worked just like synonyms after all. She had learned this fact a long time ago ─ the hard way.
"Kudo-kun, just..." despite this, Haibara stared. "... What are you doing?"
"Do you remember this cat? It's one of the kittens that Amamiya-san had tried to take care of."
Hesitantly, she moved closer to them. "She," she corrected him, absentmindedly, crouching down in front of him and close to the kitten. Only then, she noticed the small cat was drinking some milk.
"Araide-sensei couldn't get anyone to adopt this one," the boy continued, patting the kitten's head as he did so. "And Professor Agasa said he wanted to take her in."
Haibara's eyebrow rose, showing that she was not quite believing it.
"I'm telling the truth!" he argued. "Ran-neechan is with him right now. She said that she would help him organize his stuff so it wouldn't be a problem for this little one."
The girl didn't quite know how to react, staring at the boy with an indescribable expression on her face, until she felt something nuzzling against her side. She didn't need to look down to see who was responsible for this, but still did. As expected, the animal was nudging her head against her torso.
Smiling gently, she passed her fingers through the kitten's soft fur. Conan gazed at her, not quite realizing he was grinning as well.
"You never had a pet, even if you love animals," he commented, before fixing his gaze at the now empty milk plate. "It wouldn't be surprising, considering everything you have gone through."
"The past can't be changed, Kudo-kun," she stated, quietly, while closing her eyes. "I admit I was a bit mad when I figured it had been you... But you thought you were helping, in a way. You can't be blamed for it, it's not fair."
"I know... I know all that," Conan stated, eyes fixed on her. "But to pretend nothing has happened is not okay either."
She raised an eyebrow at him. "Are you deaf?" she said to him. "I said you can't change the past."
"I'm aware that I can't," he was serious, deadly serious. "I can't go back and stop my brother from joining them, I can't bring your sister back and, certainly, I can't undo the fact that I caused you to live through all this, but..."
Something akin to determination glimmered behind his glasses.
"But I want to do what I can," he stated, with an earnest expression. "So that my brother can get his life back," then, he grinned so brightly that she feared she would go blind if she continued staring. "And so that you can have the life you deserve."
The stunned expression on Haibara's face only made him smile even more.
"Because... that's what Akemi-san would have wanted, right?"
She stared for a few more moments, perplexed at his words before she let out a weak, startled laugh, head dropping until her eyes met with the kitten, who was nestled comfortably at her side.
You have a good heart, Kudo-kun. And, indeed, it's soft. Incredibly soft.
But I have to admit I was wrong. You are strong.
So unbelievably strong that I...
"Say, may I ask you something?"
"What is it?"
"What's your name?"
Haibara bit her lip, hesitating, absently caressing the feline as she seemed to debate with herself her next words. Conan waited patiently, until her movements came into a stop and she let out a heavy sigh.
Her next words came out in a soft, barely audible whisper:
"Shiho."
For a moment more than necessary, the boy stayed quiet, as if letting that new name register in his mind.
"... Shiho-san, huh?"
"Please, don't. Don't call me that."
Conan seemed confused at first, but looking at her uncomfortable posture, he could sort of tell. The fear, the sadness ─ she looked as if someone would jump at her by hearing that name, even though they were all alone.
Which was... rather sad, Conan realized. That girl had used many, many names to get by, so to think that she would feel so afraid of being called by her own.
... It wasn't right.
Despite this, he chose not to say anything about it. He closed his eyes for a minute and sighed.
"Ai-san then," immediately after that, Haibara's head shot up, perplexed eyes glued on him. He only let out an unusually sweet smile. "Until the day I can call you by your real name."
Blinking once more at the boy, her bewilderment dimmed and her mouth, that hung a bit open, closed to let the tips of her lips, little by little, twitch upwards, mirroring his expression without her fully realizing it.
... At times like this, I can't help but wish...
Wish I was a bit more like you.
"So," he just sat there, on the cold floor, eyes falling back on the kitten slumbering, contendly, on her side. "Aren't you going to name her?"
"I thought she belonged to the Professor."
"I don't trust him to name this poor creature. You do it instead."
She looked at her for a few moments. "Conan," she declared.
"Hey, you can't just-!"
"Just kidding, she's a girl. Besides, even if she wasn't, I still wouldn't. That name is cursed."
"Hey, hey..."
"Her name is Lucy now, in fact."
Conan's head tilted, considering it for a moment. "That's actually a cool-"
"Short for Lucifer."
"... Forget what I said. Here, I'll help you out."
"But you can't use any names you saw in any mystery book."
"Fine... I'll look for some on the internet."
It was closer to one in the morning that Ran and Agasa finished tidying the place up and went to the living room to check on Conan and the new cat. When they did, however, they stopped on their tracks, blinked at the scene, before smiling at each other.
Because, sprawled on the couch, two children were dozing, completely unaware of the people staring at them. Conan's phone on the floor, after having been dropped from fingers gone slack. The kitten was curled up in Ai's lap, the girl's fingers still resting on top of her fur.
But there was something in common between the two.
The two children, even in sleep, were smiling as they slumbered away, peaceful at last.
A/N:
Gamergail: Well, I wouldn't really consider myself a gamer. I like games a lot, but I'm more casual about it, so to say. And about the PM thing, yeah, my mistake. I was going to put 1 PM in there, then changed my mind because I thought it was a bit too much (and because I forgot to change the P for the A, it ended up being much later lol!) Thank you for letting me know!
CherryGirl 21-6: Yeah, I really like that pairing too! Don't know if I'll be able to put any moments for those two here, but I might try... For my part however, I'm positive they're going to be together at the end of the series. I mean, it wouldn't make sense if Gosho made all those moments together so just they didn't end together at the end (or maybe I'm just hoping here, I don't know XD)
ajjr12: Yeah, probably, I don't know. Will see about it later.