Ran was worried.

Since this morning, she had this unshakable feeling that something was going to go very, very wrong. And as much as Shinichi loved to tease her about it, until now, her fifth sense always turned up to be right. Might it be when she felt that Sonoko wouldn't be there for her birthday in first grade, and the girl turned to be sick, or when she felt, that day in Tropical Land, that she wouldn't see Shinichi ever again…

Though for the last one, she did, in fact, see him again, it was in a condition specific enough for her fifth sense to be deemed right. After all…

It wasn't technically Shinichi, now was it?

She had realized it from day one, really. It was obvious; maybe he could fool a stranger, but they practically grew up together. She knew what her childhood friend looked like, and those big, ominous glasses were definitely not enough for a complete disguise. Not to mention the name, Edogawa Conan, pretty much sounding like a confession. No one else than Shinichi would ever even think about naming someone Conan.

Such a detective freak, really.

But she still remembered how she found him there, terrified, looking terribly small and weak. So she played along. She thought that, maybe, he needed time to tell her.

But then, he didn't. So she tried to confront him, several times. Every single one, he managed to somehow prove he wasn't himself, and Ran was almost convinced once. Almost. That is, before remembering that her childhood friend was a notorious detective, and thus perfectly able to find a way to trick her.

But all his attempts at hiding the truth also made it clear to her: he was in hiding, and it was from something big. Whoever it was that made him pocket-sized, she knew that if even Shinichi was so scared of them, they were more than dangerous and that she would probably put them all in danger if she tried to pry into his secrets further. So, she stopped, and decided to keep up with the act. To respect and trust his decisions.

Though, she would be lying if she said she wasn't annoyed at him tranquilizing his dad on an almost daily basis. Yes, they gained tons of money from it and yes, it made her father famous when he never would be would he have to solve the cases by himself–years of trying were more than enough proof for that. But come on, was knocking him out really necessary?

But that wasn't what mattered right now, she knew that much.

What mattered was that her mind wouldn't stop thinking about what kind of worst-case scenario could happen today, and that her guts kept on telling her that she needed to hurry, go home, now, or else…

She really, really didn't want to know how that sentence could end. May it be her dad or Shinichi, something was going to happen to one of them, and she didn't want to stay in here one more second. She really didn't want to arrive too late… Again.

So, as soon as classes were over, she rushed out of the room as fast as she could. She caught Sonoko's worried glance, but she didn't even give a second thought about staying a bit longer. Her best friend could wait for explanations. Her father or Shinichi definitely could not.

It took her half of the usual time getting back home, but the first thing she noticed when opening the front door was the nauseating, metallic stench. And she knew exactly what that meant.

She was too late.

Panicking, she searched the origin of the smell, and it didn't take her too long to find it, considering some sticky, red liquid had flown out of the bathroom. But when she opened the door…

She froze. A sight she never thought she'd ever, ever have to see, greeted her behind the wooden door. Shinichi, no, Conan, sitting there, emotionless, surrounded by blood and glass shards.

It didn't take a detective to figure out what happened from the broken mirror and his bloodied fists. He… Did that to himself.

And that's when she realized–she should've told him, all this time. Rather than playing ignorant, looking fooled by his act… She should have acknowledged him as Kudo Shinichi, and not as Edogawa Conan.

Because no one did. And that broke him.

One more mistake, again. She knew how terrible his situation was, she knew how his mind was probably overruled by paranoia whenever he got out, she knew how he needed to keep his act going no matter what. And yet, she failed to notice. She failed to see how being someone else was slowly burning him alive, how lying to everyone he knew felt like denying his very existence. How never being Kudo Shinichi, how having to be Edogawa Conan, was poisoning his mind and driving him a bit more insane in every moment.

And while all of that was just happening, what was she doing? Treating him like a 6-year-old and sending him off to play with his elementary school friends.

What did I do?

She could feel how her eyes were tearing up at the broken form in front of her and the realization. She couldn't let it continue like this. She was done with it, with the act, the lies. She was done with the hurt. She had to act.

Slowly, she got on her knees and hugged her detective friend as gently as she could. From how he suddenly tensed, she could tell he didn't notice her coming in.

"R-Ran-neechan, I'm so sorry for the mirror, I, uh, I…", he started talking, a guilty look in his eyes.

"Shhh, it's ok", she stopped him, causing him to relax a little, though not entirely, she noticed. "It's ok. It's just a mirror, anyway."

He didn't answer, starring at her with his big, wide eyes, almost expectantly.

"It's ok. I'm sorry I didn't notice before how you felt, but I promise, I'm not going to let you down ever again from now on."

"U-uh? Leaving me… down?" the teenager-turned-kid could only answer, blinking out of confusion. "What are you talking about…?"

"I know how much you suffered. Actually… I've known all this time. I'm sorry for lying to you, I really thought it'd be better this way. But now… No, I'm never going to leave you alone in this ever again. I promise you. No matter what happens, no matter who is after you, I'll always be there by your side to back you up, so…"

"It'll be ok from now on. It'll be ok… Shinichi."

"…And?"

The scientist gazed at them with that unimpressed, disapproving glare that defined her so well. Those ice-cold eyes fixated on the shrunken detective, who wished he could just disappear before he would have to endure the consequences of his actions.

The consequences currently looking at him as if she wanted to strangle him with a towel before throwing him down in a lake to get rid of the body.

"L-Listen, Haibara, it's not…"

"Don't you dare even try to get me with that stupid sympathy of yours, Kudo-kun."

She threw a quick glance to the teen in the room, before starting:

"So you're telling me that she somehow found out your identity… And you somehow managed to involve her in this whole mess?! And you're telling me that no, it's not your fault? Are you freaking insane?!"

"It's…"

"No, don't say anything. I know exactly what it's gonna be like, anyway. Sorry Haibara, but I couldn't predict Ran would find me, right? Well let me tell you, Kudou-kun, before you start breaking mirrors in someone else's house, around the hour they're supposed to go home, even, maybe you should think about the possible consequences to your actions. Because from how I'm seeing this, it looks exactly as if you did it on purpose. Which is exactly what I've been trying to keep you from doing since the start of it all. But noooo, of course you would have to go and tell your girlfriend something that would be enough to put her on the hit list of an international criminal syndicate! I knew you were idiot, but not that idiot!"

Kudou Shinichi, looking smaller than ever, just said:

"… I knew you'd be angry."

"Angry? Angry?! That's a very, very big understatement, Kudou-kun. Next time, try to make those gray cells of yours actually work, won't you? You know, that brain you're so proud of?"

"… I'm sorry, Haibara."

"You better be."

Ran just stood there, watching the duo that looked strangely as if a small, defenseless rabbit was being attacked by a ferocious wolf, and couldn't stop herself from snoring.

Even if those two actually were shrunk teenagers, them fighting like real kids was surprisingly cute.

In the end, Haibara Ai accepted her offer for help, not without sending threatening glances to Shinichi, and told her everything she didn't know yet because the detective decided that it "was not his tale to tell".

And maybe Ran understood how dangerous their situation was. Maybe she started herself to feel endangered on the street, searching for creeping shadows stanching of alcohol. But it wasn't that bad. Now, she finally understood him. And now, she finally knew what she had to protect herself from.

And somehow, that made it all harder, but also so much easier. She felt like she could finally be at peace with her own decisions.

Shinichi knew that dragging Ran into this mess was the worst idea he'd ever had, and yet, he couldn't find it in himself to regret it. Because no matter what happened, she was with him, by his side, and he knew that like this, he could conquer any hardship. He felt like this time, he actually had a chance.

And no matter what would happen…

They would be together. And that was all that mattered.