Chapter Forty-Three

"WHO NEEDS ARMS WHEN YOU'VE GOT LEGS LIKE THESE?!" *coughs violently* So guess where I am in Undertale.

"The Angel Smile Slayer strikes again," Ruri read aloud.

She had picked up the newspaper out of curiosity only to find a serial killer on the front page.

"The only thing connecting the victims were that they were female and had reportedly beautiful smiles..."

"What are you reading, Ruri?" Sonoko asked, walking over.

"The newspaper," the girl replied.

"Why?"

"Well... it became a habit after always watching for KID heists..." Ruri scratched at her cheek meekly.

"Oh? That's right, you seem really close with him... I'm so jealous!" Sonoko sobbed dramatically.

Ruri laughed a little as she watched the other girl's antics.

"Oh my gosh, not you too, Ruri-chan," Ran's voice made the two girls turn.

"Me too?" Ruri repeated.

"Conan has been reading that newspaper for forever, and I can't get him to stop! He always finds it, somehow..." Ran sighed, placing her bag on her desk.

"I don't know how healthy that would be for a little brat..." Sonoko commented.

"Perhaps he just likes puzzles," Ruri tried to reason.

"But reading about a serial killer is just- ugh!" Ran put her face in her hands.

"W-Would you like me to talk to him about it?" Ruri asked.

Ran looked over at the girl with sparkling eyes. "Really? For some reason, he won't listen to me, no matter what!"

"Maybe he just needs to hear it from someone he doesn't live with?"

"So Ran-san is getting worried about you reading about the Angel Smile Slayer cases..."

"I know, I know, I won't read it in front of her," Conan sighed.

"Thanks," Ruri smiled.

"Ruri-chan?" Ran called. "Could you come here? I need your help!"

"Coming, Ran-san!" Ruri replied.

"And bring Conan-kun too!"

Ruri snickered a little as Conan looked less than thrilled.

She took his little hand in hers as they walked out of the room and into the kitchen.

"What did you need help with, Ran-san?" Ruri asked.

"I need some help with the curry, so could you keep an eye on it while I run to the store? I forgot to buy a few things," the other brunette told her. "Conan-kun, I need you to peal some potatoes, ok?"

Conan looked a little nervous. "Ne, Ran-nee-chan? Couldn't Ruri-nee-chan go with you?"

"Why?" Ran asked, confused.

"He's worried about the Angel Smile Slayer, and frankly, so am I," Kogorou walked up to the trio. "Bring Ruri with you."

"If that's it..." Ran pursed her lips and turned to Ruri. "Are you ok with going out?"

Ruri nodded. "I'm fine."

"I'm worried about you since you just got over your cold..." Ran's eyebrows knit together.

Ruri and Ran walked down the street to nearest supermarket, passing by multiple shops, including a little music box shop.

Ruri paused momentarily as she spotted a little box with a white dove being displayed in the window.

"Ruri-chan?" Ran walked over.

She saw what the other girl was looking at and smiled softly. "It's pretty, isn't it?"

Ruri nodded without saying anything.

"Do you want to go inside for a little bit?" Ran asked.

"I'll come back later..." Ruri finally smiled and she turned to leave.

"You sure?"

Ruri nodded. "There's always next time."

As Ruri walked out of the supermarket carrying a plastic bag, she felt her skin crawl.

She turned towards an alleyway where she saw a figure watching from afar.

"You ready to go?" Ran's voice made Ruri jump.

"Yeah..." Ruri looked back at the alley but the figure was gone.

"...?"

"We're back!" Ran called, as she opened the door. "How's the curry looking?"

"Still good," Kogorou told the girl, stirring the pot.

"Good. I just needed to pick up some carrots," Ran pulled out the orange vegetables from the bag and quickly rinsed them.

"Could you get started on this one?" Ran handed Ruri a carrot.

"Sure," Ruri took a small knife and began to peel the vegetable.

When Ruri finished with the peeling, she handed the carrots to Ran to cut.

Very quickly, the curry was finished and dinner was served.

"It was awfully nice of you to invite me for a sleepover, Ran-san," Ruri told the other girl.

"You looked like you needed a girl's night," Ran replied, smiling.

"Ruri-nee-chan is staying over?" Conan asked.

"That's right," Ran turned to her charge. "So behave yourself, ok?"

"Do you want me to do your hair?" Ran asked, pulling out a curler.

"I'm ok," Ruri shook her head.

"Y'know, you've been really depressed ever since we went to that museum with the Ryoma artifacts... did something happen?"

The shorter girl turned away, unsure of what to say.

"Ruri-chan?"

"It's... I ran into a... a friend at the museum... and... he got angry at me b-because... I... had been keeping secrets..." Ruri managed to choke out, big fat tears rolling down her cheeks.

"Secrets..? He got mad at you for having secrets?" Ran looked shocked. "Of course you would have secrets! It's not like everyone tells everything about themselves!"

Ruri laughed without humor.

"But... I'm being a little bit of a hypocrite myself..." Ran hung her head.

"...eh...?"

"Shinichi... I know something is wrong with him but... he won't tell me and he disappears so suddenly whenever he comes back," the taller girl scrubbed at her eyes a little. "Stupid, right?"

"...I don't think so... it's natural to want to know everything about the one you like," Ruri smiled softly.

"It's not like that!" Ran cried, pouting. She then turned away, mumbling, "...well...maybe..."

"I'm sure he cares about you too, Ran-san. You're a sweet girl who puts her all into everything," Ruri put a hand on Ran's shoulder.

"Thanks, Ruri-chan. You too," Ran hugged her friend.

Ruri was the first one to wake up that morning. It was a Sunday so there wasn't any school. She got up and dressed quickly so she could make breakfast.

As she started making a good 'ol American breakfast of pancakes, bacon, and maple syrup, she noticed a small familiar figure watching her.

"I guess you overheard last night?" she asked Conan.

He nodded silently as Ruri placed a plate of pancakes and bacon in front of him.

"I won't tell anyone," she reassured.

"I know," he whispered, so soft that Ruri would've missed it had she not been so close.

"I should run down to the market to replace their food," she said to herself, glancing at the time. Almost 7.

"By the way, we should probably tell Hattori about you and Natsuki... he keeps messaging me about it," Conan sighed, taking a bite of the pancakes.

"That's true... we can trust him. Should we arrange a time?" Ruri smiled.

"Probably next week," the not-child started to eat the food a little more quickly.

"Well, ok, I'll run down to the market and grab the Mouri's restock of food and you can set up a time with Hattori, ok?"

Conan waved her goodbye as she headed for the door.

"I'm glad you liked the pancakes," Ruri called as she shut the door.

MMMMMMMMMMMM That's another chapter done! Ohmigosh, this was a little bit of a trial because I kept having to rewrite that scene with Ran and Ruri having their girl-talk. The first time, it seemed a little too out of the blue, while every other time didn't seem right, so eventually, I just wrote it and told myself, "I am not going to re-write this, you are sticking with this one, got it?" And here we are. Hattori is gonna be back, just you wait. We are also going to have another heart-to-heart with Ruri and Heiji, because AH, I love that hot-headed Osakan. Also, this arc will take a while to build up and might end up being my longest arc yet so I'm going to call all the subsequent chapters (in the arc) The Angel Smile Slayer (Part _). This will help me keep track with where I'm at in this story. Also, I got asked on how finished I think I am with this. My answer? Probably around 40%. Yeah, there might end up being ~100 chapters... ehehehe... oops. (I never intended this to go as long as it has, but hey, it has so I'm rolling with it)

NEXT TIME: THE ANGEL SMILE SLAYER (PART 2)

DFTBA, ALL YOU LOVELIES!