I had a lot of things I couldn't decide on for this story...
The first was whether or not killing Conan would actually fix everything. I had debated for a long time whether I wanted Shinichi to go on wreaked with guilt as he jumped at shadows that were no longer there, or if I wanted him to have committed the crime and it all have been for nothing. The second big decision had been whether or not he would go to jail... And at this point you see the decisions I came to.
This chapter marks the end of the story for this Shinichi, all that remains is an epilogue.
Chapter 15: Atonement
In the days following my realization of the truth I tried my best to clarify my memories. There were still a few gaps, but I was starting to have enough pieces that I could see the bigger picture of what all had truly happened.
More troubling still was the fact that some of the memories I seemed to possess should have rightfully belonged to the deceased Conan.
I had been trying to sort it out and understand what that may mean but as of yet there didn't seem to be an answer available to me.
When the flow of time tried to correct itself had his memories been reallocated to me since we were both Kudo Shinichi? Or perhaps it was the laws governing the universe saying I hadn't suffered enough and in order to right that ensuring that I would have memory of having been murdered. Maybe there isn't an answer at all.
It was as I pondered this that Haibara came to visit me in the detention center.
This place must be either really relaxed or really incompetent to be letting a child visit someone that was arrested on murder charges without there being a gaurdian present… but I suppose I was her guardian in this timeline so maybe it's a bit of a special case.
"You look awful." She stated bluntly in lieu of a greeting.
"It's the jumpsuit, not my colour at all," I respond dryly in turn.
She had a point, I hadn't been sleeping well the past few nights, the food was far from generous in its nutrition or portion, and I wasn't exactly popular with the other inmates as several of them owed their stay to my deductive reasoning. I probably looked a bit pale compared to last time she saw me.
She cast a quick glance to the guard standing in the corner of the room watching to ensure I didn't get up to any funny business.
What does she want to talk about if she's concerned with the fact that there are another set of ears in the room? The company, was there something she knew that she hadn't told me?
"I'll get straight to the point, how much do you remember?"
Why is she asking this? Moreover, how does she know that that's a question that needs to be asked?
"Nearly everything," I answered quickly despite my surprise, "How much do you know…?"
I know I talked to her a little about time travel so I suppose she may know I've been having time travel related memory problems. But she shouldn't know that I really was the one that murdered Conan… she's sharp though, so perhaps she already deduced it on her own.
"Enough."
She should at least know that that kind of vague answer doesn't really tell me anything. I wordlessly convey my lack of amusement with her cheeky answer by way of a stare.
She remains silent for a while before adding, "... This story you've written, I don't like the ending."
Story? Is she saying it this way as a means of speaking about things without the guard suspecting anything? It's a bit forced and I'm sure they'll see this as a suspicious conversation anyway, but fine, I'll play along.
"What can I say… I guess I didn't inherit my father's writing skills."
"That's for sure… The protagonist completely broke character."
"He was stuck in a timeloop what else was I supposed to have him do..."
"Well, it was definitely a plot twist if nothing else… you didn't ever even properly explain if he successfully escaped the loop."
"Ah… he did. Having taken an action he normally never would was enough to free him from the cycle… but like you saw, that didn't solve everything, there were still loose ends."
"Like the witch who cursed the protagonist to begin with."
A witch…? Is that how she sees herself?
Are we pretending this story we were talking about was a fairy tale now even though we already mentioned time loops? Wouldn't sci-fi make more sense? … Well I suppose we did say it wasn't well written.
If she's a witch then I'm….. a knight championing justice? No, that hardly fits… so maybe…
"Right… the prince gave the witch a normal life like he promised, but if all had gone well she should have no longer been a witch… I guess he failed her in the end."
"He did his best…" She says softly, "The prince isn't free of guilt for what he did, but isn't the witch more at fault for creating such a curse to begin with?"
I don't like where this is going. My eyes narrow a little, "What are you suggesting?"
"I think she should play into the ending a bit more… So I'll be taking the liberty of rewriting the story for you."
