Ran rested on the couch. She had been cleaning almost constantly these last few days, and there was very little left to do, if anything. She sighed and switched on the TV, flipping through channels without any actual consideration. Depression wasn't very familiar to her, and she was profoundly disturbed by the fact that she didn't know why. Ever since Conan and her dad left, the potent sense of foreboding wouldn't leave. Nothing was wrong…she repeated this mantra continuously, but it didn't convince her.
The door sounded loudly, forcing the depressed teen to break herself from those all too familiar thoughts, "Yes?" she spoke with her voice slightly hoarse. 'You don't speak much when you're alone,' she noted bitterly.
The knocking came to a halt as Heiji Hattori barged into the office looking slightly disheveled, "where'd da boy go?" he said out of breath, "I haven't been able ta reach 'im."
Ran smiled for the first time in a while. The utter mayhem surrounding Hattori was actually funny, especially considering he had nothing to worry about, "He's gone with my dad on vacation in the mountains somewhere…" she trailed off. Why hadn't she gone with them? She wondered.
"Why can't I call 'em?" he interrupted her musings rather harshly.
"Wherever they are doesn't have service." she replied grimly, "I've tried calling multiple times."
Hattori was finally beginning to calm down slightly, "wait…why aren't ya with 'em?" He noticed.
He collapsed onto the couch after this observation, and Ran jokingly wondered if he had run here instead of taking the train, "I'm not sure," she confessed, "I don't even remember them leaving. I can only recall the initial excitement I witnessed from my dad. Why am I here?" she almost devolved into her thinking again as Hattori spoke again.
"That's strange." he said suspiciously, "You're just missin' bits a your memory?" He began to question the situation. He knew Kudo, and surely his counterpart wouldn't leave without a clue, right? Especially alone with that oaf of a detective. He and the distressed girl shared a moment of contemplation. Maybe they were just overthinking? Ran did seem a little worse for wear. She may only have been too sick to remember…and Hattori didn't have a viable reason to worry.
The silent frustration built until, finally, they couldn't take it anymore.
"AH!" The western detective wailed, "THIS IS SO ANNOYIN'!"
Storm clouds gathered over the broken building, and Shinichi sighed contentedly as it began to downpour. Rain had always calmed him. His tray stood forgotten on the side table he was provided in this makeshift bedroom. While aware of the numerous cameras pointed towards him, he couldn't bring himself to care. 'Already past the point of no return,' he thought, amused.
For the second time that day, the door swung open. To Shinichi's surprise, it wasn't only Jodie. A few other FBI members had graced him with their presence as well. He felt as if he were about to be interrogated, and it wasn't a pleasant feeling.
"I'm sure you have questions." Jodie said joyfully," So shoot!" She enjoyed a moment of joking pride as she admired her unintentional irony.
"I think I've calmed down a bit.." he started, "but what I really want to know is simple. Why did you pick me? Yea, yea, I've heard the excuses of resourcefulness and survival skills, but what is your real goal?"
The adults looked contemplative, well, all except for the enthusiastic mastermind, "That! Also, we had the ability to bribe you. I'd suspect being a seven-year-old again isn't fun, hmm?" She explained with an impossible smile on her face. The rest gawked at her answer.
Shinichi was so done with the world right now. He almost wished he had already become an assassin. Maybe then he could shove that enthusiasm down her throat. His long respite allowed him to contemplate his choices. If he was entirely honest, he found himself becoming convinced. The world was truly better without some people in it, and he was becoming increasingly familiar with that line of thinking. The teen detective reprimanded himself. This is Stockholm Syndrome, and his chances of escape were severely limited.
Jodie brought the heavy silence to an end with her shifting. She reached underneath the cot and extracted a familiar toy box, "We couldn't forget about this now, could we?" she laughed.