"What the fuck do you mean you broke up with Ran Mouri?"

His friends were screaming and talking loudly over each other, but frankly, all of their voices blurred together as Shinichi tuned them out and took another sip of his drink, letting the alcohol paralyze his brain. It was a Sunday night and he's got work tomorrow, but he couldn't care less about that right now. He knew he should be talking about his problems right now, since he gathered Heiji Hattori, Kaito Kuroba, and Saguru Hakuba, three of the busiest men in Tokyo, at a high-end bar on short notice, but he simply sighed and turned back to his drink. They practically had the bar to themselves; Shinichi was friends with the owner, and there were barely any other customers around.

"Seriously, you're gonna have to do more than sit here, sulk, and drink your problems away," said Kaito, staring at him as if he were a madman.

"Yeah, man," said Heiji, shaking his shoulders. "Literally what is going on?"

"You were head over heels for her for fifteen years," remarked Saguru. "You dated her for almost two years. She was all you could think about for forever. What happened?"

Shinichi sighed and stared at his drink before answering. "I don't know," he said frankly. "I don't know what's gotten into me."

"Well, at least tell us what happened," said Heiji.

Closing his eyes, Shinichi thought back to just a few hours ago when he said goodbye to his first love forever. He could still feel the shaking of his hands as he let her go, and he wished he could erase his memory of her rueful gaze as she left. He'd seen this day coming from a long time ago, but now that everything fell from his grasp, the realization that he no longer loved her hurt, more than he ever expected.

It was a rainy afternoon, and the two of them were at his house, casually drinking coffee at the dining table and waiting for the rain to subside. The silence was nerve-wracking, and he fidgeted in his seat, dreading for the moment he had to say what was on his mind.

"Ran," he said quietly. "Can we talk?"

She looked up from her coffee and nodded. "What's wrong, Shinichi?"

He bit his lip as he stared at her, at the girl he loved for most of his life. He grew up with her and spent his teenage years yearning to protect her and be with her forever; he never thought that he'd have to part ways with her.

"Let's break up."

Voice shaking, he said it. He cautiously studied her expression; he knew that she was an emotional person, and he hated to see her cry. He never knew how to handle her tears, and he dreaded whenever he would have to comfort her as she was breaking down. Ran, however, didn't cry. To his surprise, she was calm, composed, as if she was expecting it.

"Okay."

That was all she said, and Shinichi stared at her in shock. He expected her to cry, to shout, to throw a fit, but she simply took another sip of her coffee and stared out the window at the rain that never seemed to stop.

"Is that all you're going to say?" asked Shinichi.

Ran gave him the saddest smile he had ever seen. "How else am I supposed to react?" Her voice was barely a whisper, and seeing her like this broke his heart.

"You're not going to ask for reasons? Or about anything?"

"I might not be as smart as you, Shinichi, but I notice things, too," said Ran as she stared at the ripples in her coffee. "I know that over time, we've started to drift apart. As we've gotten older, we have less things in common, and we no longer want the same things in life anymore; once all that's gone, is sentiment really enough to keep us in love?"

"Ran, I—"

"It's okay, Shinichi," said Ran with a brave smile. "I understand. We're not kids anymore; maybe it's time for both of us to wake up from this dream. We both know that someone else would be better for you — someone who's just like the mysteries you love so much. I just hope that we can still be friends after this."

"Of course."

"Thank you, Shinichi," said Ran. "Thank you for loving me so dearly. I'm glad my first love was you."

Shinichi blinked back tears as he stood up and walked towards her. "I'm glad, too," he whispered.

"Can you… Can you hug me one last time as my boyfriend?"

He pulled her into an embrace for the last time, and as he let go of her and watched her leave, he sighed as he sat back down at the table. Staring at the coffee that had now gone cold, he couldn't help but laugh at what just happened.

He couldn't explain all of it to his friends, because even he didn't understand himself fully, so all he could do was put the happenings of this afternoon in simple terms. "I broke up with her. I've been needing to do this for a while now. We've been… losing commonalities, and it wasn't working out. She didn't cry or throw a fit; it's like she fully expected it. It happened in a matter of minutes, and she was gone, just like that."

"So you just let her go?" Heiji shouted. "Just like that? You spent years chasing after her, and you let everything go just like that?"

"Whoa, dude, calm down," said Kaito. "Even though I'm just as shocked and confused."

"I had to do it," said Shinichi, running a hand through his messy hair. "There was no other choice."

"Aren't couples supposed to work through shit?" yelled Heiji as he grabbed Shinichi by the collar of his shirt. "Shinichi Kudo, unless you want Kazuha to literally break your skull, or mine, or both, you better have a good, solid reason for breaking up with Ran—"

"Because I'm in love with someone else."

All three of his friends froze at Shinichi's words. Nobody dared to move or pose any question at the fear of having heard him wrong. Slowly, Heiji let go of Shinichi's collar and sat back down slowly, staring at him with complete bewilderment.

"Wow, that got you guys to stop stressing, huh?" said Shinichi, chuckling as he downed the last of his drink and asked the bartender for another cup.

"What you mean you're in love with someone else?" asked Kaito slowly.

"I mean what I said," said Shinichi. "I broke up with Ran because I love someone else."

"You didn't… cheat on her, did you?" asked Heiji, his voice shaking.

Shinichi gave him a look. "Literally what kind of person do you think I am? No, obviously not. I would never. I just… I couldn't look Ran in the eye and say that I loved her and only her anymore. I couldn't lie to myself anymore. It would be unfair to Ran, and she deserves someone better. I can't give her the best that she deserves, and she's… no longer the person I love the most."

The boys stayed silent, lost in their own thoughts as they processed Shinichi's words. Finally, it was Saguru who spoke. "So who's the lucky lady that has earned your affection?"

"…Shiho Miyano."

The silence was deafening. Shinichi took a sip of his drink as he waited for something, anything, from his friends as a reaction. The three men stared at each other in shocked silence as they tried to formulate some sort of response.

"Shit, dude," said Heiji. "I can't say I didn't see that coming, but it's still just as surprising."

"What, so you've noticed?"

"I mean… The two of you were always something else," said Kaito. "You seemed to understand each other very well, and Miyano-chan was— is— your best partner. She's your best friend, but she always seemed like she was… something more than that."

"Miyano-san is a talented and wonderful individual," said Saguru. "If you ask me, you're very lucky to have someone like her around you."

"I know, I know."

"Why didn't you stop her from leaving for America?" asked Heiji.

Shinichi groaned. "I was stupid. I thought she would be better off somewhere she could really shine, and I thought I had no right to make her stay. I thought she didn't want to be here anymore, and so I had to respect her decision. God, I'm so stupid. I broke up with my first love and I have no way of even finding out if Miyano feels the same for me, because what good what it do me or her to ask her over the phone or like FaceTime? And honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if she just laughed at me or refused to believe me. But I'd be an asshole if I just continued being with Ran even though I didn't love her anymore, but Miyano's in fucking America and man, I just don't know what to do." He put his head on the counter and stared into the liquid that seemed to dance in his glass.

"Dude, you're drunk as shit," said Heiji. "Kuroba, what are you looking at? What's over there?"

"Huh? Oh, nothing," said Kaito. Even though Shinichi was losing his sobriety, he could see the mischievous twinkle in Kaito's eyes. "Here, Mr. Detective, I've got an idea. I'll bet you fifty bucks that you won't have the guts to talk to that pretty lady at that table over there."

"What are you talking about, Kuroba?"

"Come on, you've just been through a lot of shit; you should let loose for a bit. Relax, you know. Just tonight."

Shinichi raised an eyebrow. "Fifty bucks is a lot coming from you, thief. Watch and learn." With that, he stood up with his glass in one hand and walked towards the table Kaito had gestured towards earlier.

"Wait," said Heiji from behind him. "Isn't that—"

He was quickly cut off by Saguru's palm slapped over his mouth. "Don't be an embarrassment to us, Kudo," he said.

Shinichi rolled his eyes as he approached the table. With his gradual loss of sobriety, he could barely make out any of the woman's features except her hair, which was a familiar shade of auburn.

"Is it okay if I sit?" Shinichi asked, doing his best not to sound like a creep.

"Go ahead," said the woman.

"Thanks," he said. "Sorry. My friends there wanted to see if I had the guts to come talk to you. But you probably already heard our entire conversation, which is kinda embarrassing."

"I did hear your conversation," she said, trying to hide the amusement from her voice.

"Are you alone? I'm not taking someone's seat, am I?"

"Yes, I'm alone. I just got back from the States and was just looking for a quiet drink."

"Ah, then I'd have to apologize for our rowdiness. Sorry for disturbing your peaceful night."

"No worries," she said, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear. "You, however, sounded like you weren't having a very peaceful night."

"I wasn't," Shinichi admitted, sighing. "As you heard, I broke up with my girlfriend of almost two years today. Because I'm in love with someone else who probably doesn't return my feelings."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because she thinks I'm an idiot," said Shinichi, laughing. "She teases me all the time, and she's always sarcastic around me. I don't think she'll take me seriously. I don't doubt that she and I are close as friends and partners, but I've never expected her to look at me in a romantic way."

"Maybe she just… never thought she had a chance. Because of how much you loved your girlfriend."

"Well, ex-girlfriend, now."

"Still. Maybe she just kept it all inside because she never thought she deserved that much, if anything. So she never expected anything from the beginning, because she'd end up more disappointing if she had any expectations in the first place."

"Hmm. I've never thought of it like that."

"Then, why do you like her?"

Shinichi closed his eyes. "She's… someone I can trust completely. This might sound like I'm making this up, but we're… bound by fate, and we've been through life and death together. I'm a detective, you see, and she understands my work and my thoughts so much that she's able to finish my thoughts for me and allow me to reach the truth. With her, I've been able to grow as a person, and I've learned a lot about myself through her. She's someone I can confide in, someone who supports me as my partner, and someone I want in my life beside me forever. I've promised to protect her, and I'll keep that promise no matter what."

"That… must be flattering to hear. You should tell her when you're sober."

"She's in America, and she won't believe me, anyways," said Shinichi, laughing. "Maybe I was wrong about us being bound by fate."

"If she came back to Tokyo, would you reconsider?"

"That'd be a miracle," said Shinichi, smiling. "And I would absolutely make an exception for such a miracle. But hey, thanks for listening to me. I was able to be honest to myself for the first time in a while, just tonight."

"I'm glad I was able to help."

"I haven't asked for your name, have I?"

She paused for a second before smiling at him, mischief twinkling in her eyes.

"It's Sherry."