A/N:Here is the next chapter of OLC! It mostly centers around the Detective Conan characters, with a little bit of Rika and Hanyuu mixed in.

Chapter 7 The one who waits

Ayumi Yoshida was always waiting for someone. No matter how many times she tried to deny it, she was always doing so; whether she was waiting for Genta and Mitsuhiko to come walk home with her from school, or waiting for that letter from Conan-kun to come, she always was. Wait, maybe she was waiting on a specific person more than anyone else.

Conan-kun, the light that warmed up her life and made her life enjoyable, was gone. All of the Detective Boys suffered whenever he had left. It had been so sudden that Ayumi thought that maybe it was just yesterday, instead of a few months that he had seemingly vanished. How long, she thought, had it been that Conan-kun had been smiling with them, laughing at their jokes, and patting her head?

As she walked to school alone (Genta and Mitsuhiko had stayed home because both of them were sick), she felt the loneliness overcome her like the wind; fast, quick, and ruthless. She shook her head and decided to pretend that she wasn't alone and that Conan-kun was still with her. She must stay strong, for his sake! After all, she loved him and he probably did love her-after all, why would he send her letters if he didn't feel the same way, right? The eight-year old sighed and kept on trudging along.

She stopped upon noticing something very familiar along the ground. A red bow tie was just lying there lazily; as if its owner had just dropped it and hurried away somewhere. Her eyes widened. Was it possible that this bow tie was...his? She picked it up and studied it, and her eyes watered up with tears upon realizing that she was mistaken. This wasn't his. It was different; one more suited for an adult. A few tears slipped down her face. "No...I was mistaken? But this looks exactly like Conan-kun's..."

She stopped and brushed her tears away with her hand, embarrassed that she had even let them slip and walked timidly by a group of adults who stared at her with curious and sympathetic stares. They probably thought that she had been picked on by a group of bullies on her way home, or that she was just lost from her mother and father. Well, she couldn't take it any longer-she wanted to have companionship so bad that she could almost taste it.

"Are you lonely, girl?" A soft voice whispered, almost as light as the wind itself. Ayumi looked around in confusion for who had said it. She couldn't find anyone until she bumped into someone. She looked up and was surprised to see a young girl around her age standing there with sadness permeating her features.

She had long blue hair that fell past her shoulders and lonely purple eyes. She gave off an air of loneliness as well; and it reminded her of Conan for some strange reason. "Are you all right, girl?"

"Who are you?" Ayumi asked, and was shocked to see the girl smile slightly before staring at her wistfully.

"Merely an observer of humanity, girl. I am Rika Furude. You are Ayumi Yoshida, right?" The girl asked gently.

"Y-Yes. Do you want to play with me?" Ayumi asked childishly, but when one child meets another, what do you expect them to say?

The girl laughed slightly, and then smiled. "It's been a long time since anyone has ever said that to me in such an innocent manner. Do you wish to grow up someday, girl? Don't lose your childhood too fast now, or else it will never come back." She said vaguely. She spoke so calmly and her words were even, almost like an adult's.

"What do you mean?" Ayumi asked, but then the girl shook her head and walked beside her. Suddenly, both of them bumped into someone. Someone who was much bigger than they were.

"Are you all right?" A gentle voice asked. It sounded so familiar; so reassuring, that Ayumi started to cry slightly. She felt a pair of strong arms pick her up and cradle her in them. The person holding her was strong and brave. She looked up into the face of the person who was holding her. Her eyes widened.

A teenage boy was holding her in his arms. He was wearing an ordinary school uniform. His bag was on the ground; obviously he had to put it on the ground in order for him to pick her up. His brown hair was spiky and messy in the front. Brilliant blue eyes blinked at Ayumi for a few moments before he responded. "Hello, ojousan. You are...?"

"C-Conan-kun?" Ayumi stammered, staring at the boy intently. For a second, he had almost resembled Conan. Well, he did have the same hairstyle and eye color, but he was much older, so there was no way he was Conan-kun.

"Gomen, I think you've mistaken me for someone else." The boy responded nervously. His gaze moved to the bluenette standing on the ground regarding him with wary eyes. "Ah, Furude-san! Where's your...cousin?"

"She's at home." Rika replied simply. "Besides...don't you have more important things to discuss with Yoshida-san, Kudou?"

"Can you put me down, please?" Ayumi asked, blushing slightly. She was embarrassed at the fact that an older boy had picked her up, after all she had just humiliated herself in front of her new playmate, but Rika-chan didn't seem to mind that much.

"Ah, if it isn't Ayumi-chan!" A female voice exclaimed. Ayumi turned around to see a brunette behind the brown-haired boy, staring at her with friendly eyes.

"Ran-onee-chan!" Ayumi exclaimed. "Who is this?" She asked, as the brown-haired boy set her down gently, careful not to let her fall or get herself hurt. He had such tender hands and the warmth that was coming from him was contagious. She knew this feeling very well. He was someone very familiar to her.

"I'm Kudou Shinichi, Ayumi-chan! Conan told me all about you in his letters!" Shinichi said proudly, smirking slightly at her, but upon seeing her sad face, he stopped.

"Do you think...maybe I could write a letter to him? I've been writing him letters and he's never returned any of them. Since you know him so well, could you maybe give them to him for me?" Ayumi asked slowly, feeling tears again rising to life in her eyes.

Rika's eyes grew sad slightly upon seeing the girl crying. She didn't know that much about Kudou Shinichi, but it appeared he, too was battling his own inner demons. She knew the look of being haunted by a past that one could not overcome-since she herself had dealt with it so many times. The look in his eyes was one of eternal sadness, which was why she felt a strange bond between the two of them, even though they had just met. She had asked the latter to take her to his hometown for a bit, and not tell the others. Satoko would worry too much about her, she knew.

Shinichi's eyes saddened. It was just like before. Even though he thought that by returning to his old life that all the lies associated with being Edogawa Conan would go away, they haunted him like ghosts. Now he had to lie and say that he wasn't Conan even though Conan had never really existed at all-and had merely been a lie concocted at a desperate time in his life.

"Shinichi, are you...?" Ran asked slightly, whispering in his ear. She shot a curious look at the blue-haired girl beside them. She gave off an air of not being a child. There was something slightly creepy about her. "Who is she, Shinichi?"

"Nipah, I'm Furude Rika!" Rika chirped, putting on the old mask back on. She had already spent too much time without it, especially around this boy. She had to hide her true nature a lot more than she had done so far. She had left herself wide open and she didn't want to risk putting more people in danger.

"She's so cute, Shinichi!" Ran said, starting to talk in a childish tone towards the blue-haired girl.

Shinichi sighed. Now she was acting exactly like the brown-haired girl in that strange class. He wondered whether that girl had figured out his secret. He didn't know what she really wanted from him, but he knew that there had not been a simple reason behind why she had invited him out here.

"You look just like Conan-kun, Shinichi-oniisan. You remind me a lot of him." Ayumi remarked.

"...Ayumi-chan...I-I..." Shinichi began, but stopped. "We were just on our way to school. Furude-san is a friend from a distant town and I have been visiting there for a while. She wanted to come with us-"

"Shinichi-niisan, you know where Conan is, don't you?" Ayumi remarked pointedly.

"Mii, who's Conan?" Rika asked.

"He's an old friend of mine. He disappeared a while ago. I miss him a lot." Ayumi explained briefly.

Rika's purple eyes darted over to Shinichi for a moment. "Was he your first love? If so, find out how he feels about you."

"Huh? But he's-"

"Never mind." Rika responded sharply.

"Ayumi-chan, can I talk to you for a moment?" Shinichi asked.

Before Ayumi could respond, she felt someone shaking her.

"...Wake up, Ayumi-chan!" A male voice said.

"Conan-kun...?" She asked, lifting her head up in order to meet Genta's worried face.

"You were dreaming in class again." He responded. "Was it about that stupid Conan again? I have to admit, I do miss him. What is that idiot doing anyways?"

"Sort of." Ayumi said, staring out the window thoughtfully.

Shinichi sighed as he was dragged into yet another one of the crazy Hinamizawa Club games. So far, he had won around three games and had lost to the rest. The first two were deduction games, which he excelled at, so those were easily won. The last one was a card game. They seemed to play a lot of card games.

Right now, Kaito was busy arguing with the brown-haired boy, Keiichi, over some sort of bad move he had made that had caused Kaito to lose most of his cards and the tactical advantage he had held over him. Both of them seemed to not like the other very much.

Shinichi sighed, and his gaze turned to the window. He was so busy doing that that he didn't even notice Hanyuu grab one of his cards until it was too late.

"Hau au, you dropped your guard!" She chanted.

"Kudou-san, you seem to space out a lot. Rena has noticed that, and she wonders what you're spacing out about." Rena said, forcing him back into reality.

He blinked a few times in confusion before he realized that he'd lost several of his cards due to his inattentiveness. "Dammit!" He cried.

"Mii, you mustn't lose focus at any time in the game, sir." Rika scolded.

"Why are you always so serious, Kudou-san? This old man thinks you should lighten up!" Mion cried cheerfully.

Shinichi stared at her with weary eyes. "I can't. I lost the ability to genuinely lighten up years ago."

"Stop being so grouchy, Mr. Pessimist!" Kaito yelped, before jumping over Keiichi's head and landing on Shinichi's desk. "Cheer up! I bought you some flowers, my beloved!"

"Cut it out." Shinichi responded coolly. "I'm not in the mood."

Kaito knew there was something wrong when Kudou Shinichi was not lighthearted. It probably concerned Ran or a murder case he couldn't solve. "What is it?"

"I was out walking, and I heard people screaming and it turns out that a woman has been found dead with nails sticking out of her arms." Shinichi whispered. Kaito's face hardened.

"Your magnet is sticking out again, hmmmm? Just can't escape those cases, can you?"

"Shut up. I had to tell you twice to stop touching the jewels on the display case of the store we were in yesterday, and you call me crazy?"