A/N After I read the review asking for a continuation, in my happiness, I impulsively posted a promise on tumblr that I'd write one, so I did! I thought I'd have this up before the year ended but, well, here we are, ha ha ha.
With this, one promised extra chapter down, many more impulse promises to fulfill… Oh well, I dug this pit on my own… TAT
Also, if you could leave reviews or drop an ask on tumblr, it would really brighten up my day! It doesn't have to be about anything, really, I'm just lonely, haha! As always, thank you for reading!
Days pass by quietly—as quiet as life with Shinichi Kudo can be. That is, to say, it's not really peaceful, but it isn't really all that different from how the past few weeks have gone: a mix of school, cases, trips and more cases.
That doesn't mean it's been exactly the same though. Aside from the obvious difference that is the addition of a Miyano Shiho in class (and in their, Ran and Shinichi's, daily routine, Ran's mind unnecessarily adds), Shinichi just seems... brighter. He's as lively as before he pulled the whole on-and-off disappearing act for an entire year, but now just a notch more carefree, open and teasing. There's also a whole new level of sarcasm and dry wit about him, though Ran has this niggling feeling that he doesn't always throw replies laced in, what she thinks is light-hearted, mockery, only when—only when what? (Ran decides to think about that more tomorrow.) At the same time though, he's much more laidback, and she can see in his shoulders that have lost their weeks' worth of tension that there's a particular aura of security that's enveloping him.
But those are the little things that only Ran can see. If Sonoko were asked—and Ran did, of course—nothing's really changed. Ran can't blame Sonoko, since, after all, she hadn't been there when Shinichi looked like a ghost, or someone soon to be a ghost, frozen at the doorstep of the Kudo mansion. Now, he's nearly blindingly bright. Thinking back to Shinichi's empty gazes out the window before a certain event happened (Shiho arrived, her mind uncooperatively supplies), it's almost scary how quick the change was completed. As if the period of time where Shinichi just looked so lost, and empty—which she now refers to as Those Months—didn't happen at all.
Shinichi is back to being his normal self. Well, as normal as he can be, and, again, she finds that this normal Shinichi isn't exactly the same as before. It's a novel experience, acting like an observer. Well, that's not really true… Ran isn't entirely new on being the sidelines—she had done so after all during Those Months, but during Those Months, she had been an observer of one. Now, she's an observer of two. And she can't help it, she can't help but notice. Shinichi sitting beside Shiho. Shinichi eating beside Shiho. Shiho trailing behind Shinichi as he walks. Shinichi adjusting his pace and sliding beside her the moment he notices, which happens almost the instant she starts slowing down. Their shared glances. Their shared smirks. Their banter.
During normal days, only she can tell the difference. After all, all three of them are in the same class, eat lunch together, walk the same road home together. She can't help their class seating arrangement, but Ran eats her lunch beside Shinichi as well, the three of them forming a row, engaged in comfortable, light conversation about classes and classmates and teachers and schoolwork. During lunch, and on their way home, the conversation they share naturally includes her and her reactions, Shiho using her hand to cover the smile that tells of her increasing amusement as she struggles to keep a straight face whenever Ran gets so close to kicking Shinichi unconscious. Sonoko teases her when she asks if there's anything different—Ran, you're just getting territorial over your husband! Just get back together, honestly! But, then again, she thinks that maybe, maybe, it really is just her being over-sensitive. Perhaps, perhaps, she is just unused to being in a group of three.
But when Shinichi comes across a case, which, of course, he often does, the difference becomes so glaringly obvious that she wonders how the others are so blind. Shiho disappears as soon as Shinichi disappears. Or, when she doesn't disappear, she knows exactly where he is or what he's doing. She stays back most of the time, usually leaning on a wall or casually looking at trinkets or details in the background. But, when things get heated, she'll appear at his side in a moment. During these moments, Shinichi barks orders in short, sometimes unfinished, sentences, and she sometimes doesn't react, but everything gets done in a beat anyway. Shinichi doesn't look back once. And then, once the case comes to a close—dangers had all passed, his deductions relayed to the officers—he turns and walks a few steps back from where he had been, exactly beside where Shiho will be. And Ran might not be the brightest but she can definitely tell, he doesn't look because he doesn't need to.
Of course, of course, Shinichi has changed. A person doesn't stay the same all their life. And she can see, he's grown up. And perhaps that's the biggest reason for his change, and she's happy for him, for his growth, but—but, how come? How can Shiho seamlessly integrate into this new world of Shinichi's? And she gets this funny feeling that it's not even Shiho attempting to—she gets the impression that Shinichi is simply letting his world run with her already in it.
It's their world.
So, she waits. She waits for Shinichi to tell her: who is she? Who is she to you? This question, she finds she can't ask him herself. She doesn't really want to think why right now. She doesn't really want to think why in the foreseeable future either.
It makes sense that if she can't ask him, she should consider asking her. One afternoon, after Shinichi successfully convinced Shiho again to go out with the girls "and actually be a highschooler", and Sonoko rallied the group to ban Shinichi from tagging along this time after Shiho kindly reminded her that they would benefit from avoiding coming across a corpse, she finds herself alone with Shiho in the classroom while everyone else is chasing Shinichi away for them outside. She knows he probably bribed Shiho again to go, having watched their quiet banter by Shiho's desk from her seat shortly before the chaos, and having seen Shinichi's changing expressions: from teasing, to fond exasperation, then to fake resignation, and, there it had been again, that smirk they share.
Ran finds herself looking at Shiho's direction. She silently observes Shiho, who is currently moving with a calm and grace that Ran personally thinks is somehow wasted on the simple chore that is clearing her desk and packing up her things. The moment she's done, she lifts her head and her gaze instantly locks with Ran, who suddenly feels as if she's been caught doing something bad.
Before Ran can even think of dissolving the tension, though, Shiho has already spoken, "Sorry, Ran-san, I've made you wait."
The sunlight on her hair and the tiny apologetic smile on her face jolts Ran to automatically reply, "Oh, oh, it's nothing!"
Maybe she heard the stammer in Ran's reply, or maybe the loud beating that has somehow filled Ran's ears has reached the now too empty, too quiet classroom, but Shiho must have picked up something for her to ask, "...Is there something?"
Who are you? Ran wanted to ask, but she suddenly found that she couldn't bring herself to ask her either.
And so, they simply continue standing in their places. In Ran's silence, there must have been something again which prompted Shiho to say, "I'm just a friend, Ran-san." Ran admittedly did not know how long the silence lasted before Shiho had said—
What? Wait, what?
Is she a mind reader? Ran's eyes widen. She's confused—had she asked the question out loud after all? And then her mind parses what had just been said: a friend, is what she had said, but if you are just a friend then what am I?
"Hmm, I don't know how to explain it, Ran-san, just that you don't need to worry. He is my friend, as I am his." She quickly adds, "His friend, I mean."
She's a mind reader, Ran concludes, because she is a hundred percent sure she did not say anything just now. Her mind goes back on track in a moment: Shiho's words echo, you don't need to worry. It isn't like she doesn't see Shiho's casual avoidance, like she's making way for the two of them, for Ran and Shinichi. If there's anything Ran has noticed about Shiho, it's that she has this odd habit of gradually slowing down her pace or moving a few steps back once some kind of moment passes, making Ran feel like there's an imaginary line somewhere that she has drawn and doesn't dare cross. Of course, Shinichi doesn't know, or doesn't care.
Either way, it really isn't her fault that Shinichi practically gravitates towards her. That's how it is from Ran's point of view anyway, and, wow, just thinking about it kind of felt bitter. Her mind unhelpfully adds that they're not even in that kind of relationship anymore, so there isn't any real need for this bitterness, for these questions, and for any explanations. And of course that makes her feel even more bitter—
"And I am yours as well." Shiho's clear voice brings her attention back to the classroom. Now, she can see Shiho's warm eyes on her, and she just feels so guilty, so, so guilty that she would even harbor the slightest bit of bad feelings towards this girl. It is just too obvious that she's usually cold from her few attempts to be cordial, but she does it anyway, tries to be at least less chilly, more lukewarm to other people.
Somehow, she remembers her first meeting with Kazuha-chan.
Shiho continues, "If you'll have me, of course." The smile doesn't leave her face. Her warmth, when facing Ran, is real and natural and it always makes Ran wonder if they've met before. For now, though, Ran doesn't dwell on it, instead nodding and almost shouting an, "Of course!"
Ran idly thinks that she must have done something special in her last life for her to be special to this special person with a beautiful smile on her face, now a bit wider, as she now asks Ran if they should go together to meet the others now.
She agrees.
They walk together in companionable silence. Surprisingly, Ran finds that the unease in her heart for the past weeks had somehow calmed. She is aware that although the question she had not asked had received some kind of reply, in the end, it did not get answered, not in the way it mattered, at least. She knows it will return to plague her mind again, but for now... For now, she gained a friend. Or, rather, she felt like a dark fog had been lifted from her, allowing her to see that for the past days, beside her is a friend, her friend.
It doesn't take long for two of them to reach the rest. Waiting for them outside are the clearly triumphant group of girls, seeing that Shinichi is nowhere to be found in the vicinity. She catches herself sneaking a peek at Shiho, and she herself is unsure why she's even doing so. Shiho turns to look at her and their eyes meet. Almost in sync, the two of them smile. Ran smiles, feeling giddy at the release of some of the stress she had unknowingly taken on for so long. And Shiho smiled… why? Ran doesn't have an idea, but she isn't compelled to ask. They're friends after all, so she's sure she'll have time to get to know why. Right now, it just feels amazing, and she can't help but smile wider. Maybe, later, she'll think about it.
For now, though, they have a festival to prepare for.