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Chapter 8 Uncertain Future

"Perhaps you know already about the plight I suffer. Then again, you have been with me since the beginning, right Hanyuu?" Furude Rika asked as she took a sip of her Bernkastel wine that she had sitting next to her perch on the window sill. She breathed as she took in the night air that always seemed to be eternally relaxing. Hinamizawa had a peaceful climate and that was why she loved it so much, however she knew it would invariably change. This, too, was something dictated by fate.

Her friend gazed sadly at her and whined. "Rika...please don't get so depressed. This is the last world. We have to fight on for the sake of a better tomorrow. I know how much you want to save your friends...but a pessimistic attitude will do nothing." Furude Hanyuu whined, pushing a strand of her lavender hair back with her fingers.

"This is very ironic, coming from the whiny god who has always been a pessimist. It wasn't that long ago that you were the whiny one. What caused you to change your mind, Hanyuu? Was it the way everyone worked so hard in the last world?" Rika asked, sipping her wine again. The wine was sweet as always, her favorite. It was aged well. Satoko had no idea about Rika's secret stash of wine, and even if she had any recollection, she would forget every time a new world began. So that was an advantage for Rika to take advantage of.

She remembered virtually every world that had happened, and so did Hanyuu. The others rarely remembered their experiences in other worlds, except for the last two worlds, where they had recalled their past experiences and had teamed together to stop another tragedy from happening. It had failed, of course, but it had stirred up a little bit of hope in Rika's closed-off heart.

She knew that it was pointless to hope because every world would end up being doomed. This one of course, would fail. Somehow, she would just die alone and forgotten while her world would die. The two new transfer students couldn't change fate at all, she knew. Little did she know that she was literally wrong about how much she underestimated them.

"Rika, do you remember the last world? Also, seeing those two new students brings up another surge of hope. I feel like those two are also going to contribute their fair share of happiness and sorrow to this world. I hope Takano doesn't get to them first with her lies." Hanyuu said.

"I remember the way she acted towards you tonight. Certainly I would have hit her if she had kept up her tirade. However, I felt no desire to. Doing so would simply make me just as evil and creepy as she is." Rika replied. "By the way, those two kids don't live around here, do they?"

Hanyuu shook her head. "I know they live in a distant place far away from here. It's almost like they come from a different world. It's a strange feeling, Rika. I don't quite know how to explain it. They fill me with a sense of hope. I listened to some of the things that boy was dreaming about a few days ago. It sounds like he has had a lot of bad experiences in the past, like everyone here."

"Do you think that the Syndrome will get him? He is an outsider, after all..." Rika trailed off, not certain how to finish her thought. Certainly, the boy was quite nice, but Rika barely knew anything about him aside from his name and his hobbies. She knew that she could never trust outsiders.

"I'm not sure, Rika. So long as he's around you, he should be fine. So far, none of them seem to be too paranoid." Hanyuu reassured.

"Yes, that's a small comfort. I know that pretty soon, things will get worse."

"Rika...don't give up now. You can save everyone this time around." Hanyuu reassured.

"That's what you've ALWAYS told me, in every world we've ever been in, and yet, nothing ever changes. Do you really think that by reassuring me every time a world ends will always work? I'm getting sick of being here and suffering through this hell! There's no reason at all for me to exist..."

"Rika, don't think that way. I don't know what I would do without you being here! You know that we cannot give up just yet! I think Kudou Shinichi has the answers we need. We just need to keep him away from Takano and TOKYO's lies. We can't let him get paranoid." Hanyuu reassured, almost looking like her heart was going to break.

Rika sighed, and frowned upon realizing that she had just woken up Satoko, who was rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. She realized that they had been too loud. This wasn't the first time her talking with Hanyuu had caused her best friend to wake up. She had to keep her true nature under cover as much as possible, even though she really, really hated putting on a fake smile and pretending that everything was okay when it wasn't. If only there was some way out of this endless cycle of hatred and despair and pain. Somehow, she had a feeling that Kudou Shinichi was the key to the end, even though she didn't know what he could possibly do to make her life better.

He's nothing more than a fool. He can't help me.

Shinichi Kudou sneezed suddenly as he sat in his library. He wiped his nose all of a sudden and frowned upon seeing that Ran was laughing at him. "What's so funny, Ran?" He snapped.

"Shinichi, was someone criticizing you? Who was it?" Ran asked. "Maybe it was Sonoko."

"Why do I get the feeling that SHE was criticizing me?" Shinichi muttered under his breath. Somehow, his mind flashed back to the blue-haired girl by the name of Rika Furude. There was something very interesting about her. Somehow, those purple eyes of hers seemed far too mature for those of a child's. He had to know why she acted so much like an adult. Was it possible that there were more victims of APOTOX out there than he imagined possible? It was a possibility-though it was a highly unlikely one. Shinichi knew that people with his sort of condition were extremely rare.

The odds of her being a victim were about as likely as lightning striking him inside his house, or Sherlock Holmes coming to life and wanting to sign his autograph. However, somehow even while he had been Conan, he still hoped vainly that someone would sympathize with his plight and understand the tedium it had been to go through first grade again, to be treated like a child and never listened to, no matter what he tried, to have his best friend holding his hand and not calling him by his name...alas, no one besides Haibara understood the feeling. Why did he get the feeling that Furude Rika understood that feeling completely?

"She sure is a mysterious girl." He whispered. Ran stared at him in confusion.

"Who is?" Ran asked. "Who are you talking about, Shinichi?" The brunette turned to stare at her childhood friend curiously. He had been acting rather odd lately. It had still been hard for her to get over the fact that Conan was really Shinichi-the similarities between the two had been so obvious-why she had never confronted him about it was beyond her. She still remembered the day she had found out...it was hard to believe that it had only been around three weeks since she had seen Conan...turn into Shinichi. That was a horrifying image that she would probably never get out of her mind.

To think her childhood friend had suffered this entire time and had never even asked her to help him shoulder that pain-much less confide in her the way he did in the professor, Hattori-kun, or any of the others who knew his little secret. It hurt a lot knowing that she had treated him like a child who didn't know anything when she really should have listened to Conan instead of babying him. Then again, when he looked like a seven year old, who would not rationally assume that he was just a child?

She couldn't help but remember the disturbing day...to think it had all started when she had found out that Conan was headed back overseas. She wanted to go and say farewell to him because she would most likely never see him again, and that fact had made her very sad. Now, she would just laugh at the memory of her being so concerned about "Conan."

"Ran, are you all right?" Shinichi said, snapping her out of her reverie. His blue eyes peered into hers for a few moments until she blushed upon realizing he was extremely close to her...she remembered how he had declared his love for her only months ago in London.

"S-Shinichi...you don't have to be so close to me. It's kinda embarassing." She moaned, stepping away from him. By now, her face was bright red.

"Gomen, Ran. I-I-I- didn't mean to...uh, you know, stand so close to you. I was thinking about a girl I met in this village..."

Ran's eyes narrowed. "Shinichi...are you in love with this girl?" She cried. Suddenly, she looked very demonic and Shinichi jumped back in fear.

"Iya, Ran...it's not what you think...at all. This girl is only eleven years old...she just acts like Haibara and I used to...that's all! I'm not a pedophile or anything!" Shinichi shrieked.

"Oh...I'm sorry. I would never think you would be like that! So, tell me about this girl!" Ran said.

"Well...her name is Rika Furude. She's so mysterious and she gives off an air of...knowing more than she should for her age. She acts a lot like an adult. I'm just curious about her, that's all." He replied simply.

"Oh..." She said, stopping.

"So, can I come with you the next time around?" Ran asked, but Shinichi shook his head.

"I'm sorry, Ran...but this is a mystery that Kaito and I must solve. Well, he sort of forced me into it...but I don't want you getting hurt, all right?" Shinichi said softly.

Ran's eyes widened. "I was just thinking about how I found out you were Conan...that wasn't a very happy time for me."

Shinichi blushed slightly. "Ehh...that wasn't a very happy time for me, either...especially since you saw me changing back...you certainly acted like a demon then. Well, you had every right to, especially since I was lying to you for so long...almost like how I'm lying to the kids...there. I do want to be honest, but I just can't. You know how bad it got for me...it's hard for me to be honest with anyone anymore. But I have to do it. I will talk to that girl. I want to know the truth behind why she acts the way she does."

"Shinichi..." Ran trailed off, stunned by his words. She had never known him to be this sad, and she never, ever, ever, liked him being saddened by anything. She had always been worried over his constant disappearances and somehow, the second that Edogawa Conan had turned up at her doorstep, she knew that he was Shinichi. Somehow, it was like a sixth sense...she knew Shinichi so well, but the entire time she had just denied the truth and had attempted to make herself think that he was a different person.

"I must know...the truth behind Kudou Shinichi, Hanyuu. I need to make sure they don't run into Takano. They must not get swallowed up by her lies and deceptions. This time, I will conquer my destiny. Will you stand by my side and fight, Hanyuu?"

This time, Hanyuu nodded and the two of them both smiled.

"Rika...stop making so much noise." Satoko whined.

"Sorry, Satoko. You can keep on sleeping. The two of us'll go to bed soon enough, that is so. Nipahhhh!" She said cheerfully.

It was an incredibly hot afternoon, and the entire village of Hinamizawa could feel the heat. Rumiko Chie had the air conditioning blasting in the classroom the entire school day, and still the heat lingered much like an oppressive phantom on everyone's shoulders. Rika was practically panting and desperately she wished that she had somehow cut her hair. She hated having long hair in the summer, but seeing as summer eternally repeated itself, she should have at least attempted to get it cut sometime in the repeating worlds.

Poor Mion...

Mion was probably the one who was faring the worst. The poor girl was sweating visibly...even though she had tried to tie her long hair back, it was still escaping the braid and slipping down her shoulders. "I'm so tired..." She moaned.

Hanyuu was fast asleep. She had grown bored very fast. Rika sighed. Hanyuu's attention span was not very long, so something like school had never interested her very much. Satoko was barely awake while Rena was daydreaming. Keiichi was the only one who really seemed to be paying attention. Rika knew the reason why - he wanted to study so much, and a pained look made its way across her face. The other two, Kuroba Kaito and Kudou Shinichi, weren't doing that well, either.

The Kuroba boy was flirting with the girls by entertaining them with various magic tricks, including making his pencils, erasers, and school books disappear, reappear, and summoning bouquets of flowers out of seemingly nowhere. He sure was a womanizer, Rika thought, and sighed. Her gaze went to Kudou, who was at least trying to pay attention. His gaze fell on hers for a moment. Those blue eyes of his were intense. It was as if he could see through everything. She shivered slightly, but then smiled slightly. He stared at her in bewilderment and then raised an eyebrow.

I think I managed to ward him off for now. I don't know why he's staring at me, but I do want to talk to him.

During lunch, Rika was not surprised to see Kudou come walking towards her desk. "Can we talk for a moment, Furude-san?" He asked seriously.

Rika nodded. She exchanged a look with Hanyuu and smiled. "Sure thing."

Once they got in the hallway, he turned to stare at her.

"What did you want to ask me, sir?"

"Furude-san...no, Rika-chan, who are you? You're definitely not a child, not by the way you carry yourself. You seem far too mature."

Rika's mouth dropped open for a few moments. She chuckled slightly. "True. I am no mere child. How did you manage to see through my disguise?"

"It's so simple. You wear your heart on your sleeve. You're too bad at acting, Furude Rika. Have you ever heard of APOTOX 4869?" He asked sharply, but before he said the last part, he glanced around surreptitiously in order to make sure no one was listening in.

"What?" Rika asked in bewilderment.