Chapter 6 - The Play
In the next few days, Ran was quite busy with learning the text for the play and preparing for the play in general, with much help from Yukiko of course, who was delighted to help Ran. Unfortunately, Ran didn't have much time to talk to Shinichi because of that, not to speak of having that talk. Besides, Ran was still a bit grumpy after his reaction on the roof, but only a little bit. She never held grudges for a longer time; after the play was done, she would have to start another attempt, if he didn't do it first, but Ran had a feeling that he didn't want to avoid the topic, but rather that the timing was never quite right. So, they both lived alongside each other, in their usual fashion, with the important topic on hold until further notice.
However, the upcoming kiss live on stage, in front of so many people she knew, including her boyfriend and her father, still made Ran nervous, regardless of whether or not Shinichi cared about it. Although it still irked her that he didn't.
"I still don't know what to make of his reaction..." Ran said to Yukiko during break in their text practice. "I should've questioned him further on the roof..."
"You could still talk to him..." Yukiko replied. "I mean, this issue will come up outside of your control, so, while talking what happened between you two on that night is maybe not the best idea right now, I feel that avoiding the talk about the kiss scene at the moment, could create more problems than it may avoid..."
"I don't know...I'm worried that I also might create more problems... maybe he'll take it the wrong way and gets angry when he really wasn't before..."
Yukiko gently squeezed her shoulder. "Hey, we should continue... it's no use to concern yourself so much right now." Ran nodded and the two of them continued.
Faster than Ran would've liked, the day of the play arrived. Teitan High was busting with visitors, who were here to see the various attractions that the students organised for their school festival. And the play of Ran's class drew quite a bit of attention; the seats in the audience were rapidly filling, even though there was still quite a bit of time before the play actually began. It seemed like nobody wanted to miss it.
Ran peeked around the curtain into the already big amount of spectators. "T-there are really a lot of people here... are there really so many interested in our play...?" She asked.
"Sure, why shouldn't they be interested?" Sonoko grinned. "They probably heard that our lead actress is one of the most gorgeous girls in school and everyone wants to get a look." She added with a wink.
"S-Sonoko! Stop saying such things, I'm nervous enough already!" Ran hissed at her best friend, who continued to shamelessly grin at her.
"Hey, Ran-chan!" The two of them heard a female voice from behind them. Ran and Sonoko turned around to see Kazuha approaching them, with Heiji in tow.
"Kazuha-chan, Hattori-kun!" Ran exclaimed. "It's so great that you two were able to come, even on such short notice."
"Of course! How could we stay away, especially after ya specifically invited us?" Kazuha smiled. "After all, when will we be able to see you on a stage like this again?"
"Next year, aho." Heiji sighed. "Summer festivals are annual events, ya know?"
Kazuha slapped his arm. "Yer the aho, who knows if they'll do another play next year and if Ran-chan will be the lead actress there too, she's replacing the actress who was supposed to be lead this year after all. Did ya forget that?"
"Details, details... " Heiji burrowed his hands in his pockets and looked around, as if he was searching for someone.
"My, my... " Sonoko clicked her tongue. "The fabled detective of the west seems quite nonchalant. At least he's handsome... "
"What?!" Kazuha exclaimed in shock, while Heiji didn't even listen because he was still looking around the place.
"Don't listen to Sonoko, Kazuha-chan." Ran tried to calm her friend from Osaka. "Sonoko is just saying these things because she has a dark-skinned boyfriend who is currently in Europe... "
"You know, Ran, if I take a photo with that Hattori-kun and send it to Makoto, do you think he'll be jealous enough to come home a bit earlier...?" Sonoko wondered.
"S-Sonoko, stop saying weird things!" Ran yelled at her friend. "Don't worry, Kazuha-chan, she's just kidding; right, Sonoko?!"
The glare on Ran's face convinced Sonoko to stop. "Yeah, yeah, I'm just joking, hahaha!"
Heiji sighed. "I don't wanna interrupt yer incredibly witty conversation, but has any of ya seen Kudo around?"
"Heiji!" Kazuha chided her friend. "Don't tell me the only reason yer came here is to hang out with Kudo-kun again!"
Before Heiji could answer, Sonoko quickly answered Heiji's question, so the two wouldn't start to argue again. "Kudo-kun went off to the teacher's room; we need him to communicate some short notice changes in our organisation to the staff, I guess he's still busy running errands for that. But don't worry, Ran... " Sonoko turned to her best friend. "I'm sure he won't miss your big performance!"
Ran pouted. "Who cares about that?", she huffed. That earned her the confused looks of her three friends.
Just as Kazuha and Sonoko both had already opened their mouth to question Ran about what she just said, two adults came around the corner of the backstage area. "Yes, no need to care about that third-rate detective!" Kogoro exclaimed. He had arrived accompanied by Yukiko, who he of course still knew from his own time at Teitan High, when the two of them and Eri were all classmates here.
"Third-rate detective...? Watch your mouth, Kogoro-kun, he's still my son. And he outsmarts you six ways to Sunday..." Yukiko chided her old friend, including a pinch on his arm.
"Ow, ow, stop that..." Kogoro looked apologetic. "Yuki-chan is right of course, haha ... Anyway, Ran, good luck for your performance. We'll have to get back to our seats now."
Kogoro left the backstage area, Kazuha and Heiji following him. Yukiko wished Ran luck again and assured her that the practice the two of them had prepared Ran for everything. Ran hoped so; she went over some lines with Dr. Araide again before Sonoko hurried both of them into their respective changing rooms to put on the costumes.
Even as she said Who cares about that? in regards to Shinichi, she actually did care whether or not he would watch. She had hoped he would come to see her before the play began, just maybe so he could wish her luck and do something about her worries or anything. Ran hoped for that, but Shinichi didn't come. Even as the narrator began the opening speech of the play, Ran, at the side of the stage, waiting for he big entry, looked around the backstage area in search for him. Maybe the errands took longer than expected and he couldn't make until now and he could maybe lean against a wall by the back of the room, wave to her and give her one his confident smiles, to make her like everything would fine, but none of that happened. Many people were currently with Ran in backstage area, including Sonoko who was busy directing everyone, currently reminding Ran of the procedure that would follow the speech, but Shinichi wasn't one of them.
Thankfully, everything still went great. Ran remembered every line and her acting was spot on, at least that's what Sonoko and the others told her between scenes. What would follow now though, was the inevitable kiss scene. She wasn't feeling too well at this moment. Ran saw the play happen before her eyes and saw herself playing her part, but she was a bit out of it and her acting came from her inner autopilot. She was rescued from hostile soldiers, that had attacked her carriage, by the Black Knight. It was only a small action scene, nothing spectacular, but Dr. Araide was playing his part really well. Still, she was about to kiss him. She had to do it and everyone was watching. Panic started to well up in Ran, panic she had suppressed until now.
In the audience, Kogoro, Yukiko, Heiji and Kazuha were watching the play, all sitting next to each other.
Kogoro was beaming at this point. "Ah, this is it, this is it!" He whispered to the other three. "This is the kiss scene!"
Kazuha looked at him with a disgruntled look. "Spoilers! How do ya even know that?!"
"I read the script Ran had at home, I wanted to check out if the play was actually worth attending and when I read this kiss scene, I knew that it would be!" Kogoro grinned.
"I don't think ya should be this happy about that..." Heiji said. "Usually ya hate anyone getting intimate with Neechan... what's different now...?"
Kogoro whipped out the flyer of the play. "Because I read this!" He flipped the flyer open and started to read from the cast page: "Starring... Dr. Tomoaki Araide as Black Knight... this is perfect. As kiss from the handsome Dr. Araide and maybe Ran will forget Shinichi-kun and take him instead, a successful doctor. I offered him her hand once already, but she refused and he wasn't too comfortable either, but after this ... this could really turn the tide in that matter!"
Kazuha gasped. "That is why ya're happy?! Because it could throw a wrench into the relationship of Shinichi-kun and Ran-chan?! That's low, that's like really, really low... where is Shinichi-kun anyway, shouldn't he be in the audience?" Kazuha looked around, but she couldn't make him out in this darkness.
Heiji and Yukiko grimly observed the play. 'Shin-chan...' Yukiko thought. 'I hope you talked to Ran-chan about this... she was so worried...'
'Kudo...' Heiji thought. 'What the hell, Kudo? Where are ya? Why are ya letting this happen?!'
All the while, Princess Heart was rescued by the Black Knight, dressed in black clothes, a black cape and a helmet covering almost the entirety of Dr. Araide's face, except for the mouth. With the enemy soldiers gone, only the two them remained on stage. It was Ran's turn to address him. "Oh, stranger... I...I..." Not good, she was starting to stutter. Ran knew the text, but somehow... she couldn't say! Something inside her resisted proceeding with the play... out of fear what would happen next? "I...", she tried again, but words failed her. It all went so well until now, but... she just couldn't do it.
Just as Ran wanted to nervously glance around to see if anyone had noticed her hesitation, the Black Knight came forward and hugged her. This wasn't in the script, she was supposed to talk now. Why was he breaking the script? Because of her hesitation? To make her feel better? Her instincts took over and Ran hugged him back and... the embrace felt good. It felt great, to be precise. In this moment, she felt happy and safe in the arms of Dr. Araide. If his goal was to make her feel better, he certainly succeeded with that. Somehow, his embrace made all of her worries go away, all her doubts about Shinichi and the people watching were gone. But... why did Dr. Araide make her feel this way? Could it be...? Did she... actually feel something for him? This thought confused and scared Ran, as the embrace between the two of them ended. She looked behind him into the backstage area. The other students organizing the play, shielded by the curtain from the eyes of the audience, were mostly confused, when Sonoko emerged from them and held up a sign for Ran, reading Just keep going!, in addition to her usual smug grin and a thumbs up.
Ran was back on autopilot. "Oh, honorable Black Knight! Are you the man I made a promise with so many years ago? If you are indeed that person from my childhood, grant me a kiss, to prove who you really are!"
Dr. Araide as the Black Knight came closer, still remaining silent and wrapped his arms around her. Ran rested her hands on his chest in response and also came closer to his face. But... but this was not what she wanted... she didn't want to kiss Dr. Araide in front of everyone and Shinichi... but... she somehow didn't feel like resisting. She didn't want it, but somehow she did want to do it. Kissing the Black Knight... which meant kissing Dr. Araide felt right to Ran. Before she could think about what this feeling meant, Princess Heart and the Black Knight kissed.
And kissing the Black Knight felt great to Ran.
After what felt like an eternity, Princess Heart and the Black Knight parted. Their kiss, their real kiss, their deep kiss, their kiss that made Ran felt like she was in heaven right now, was over. Everyone was silent, holding their breaths, waiting for the intense scene to continue. Ran was looking like a deer caught in the headlights. She didn't expect to feel like this after kissing Dr. Araide, but she did. It felt just as good as kissing Shinichi... maybe even better? Could it really be... that she had fallen for the doctor?
Dr. Araide smiled and opened his mouth to say his next line, when suddenly...
"KYAAAAAAAH!"
A scream went throught the entire theater, coming from the front row. The Black Knight immediately went in front of Ran, shielding her with his body and his cape, protectively raising one arm. Even though the room was still completely dark, they could see it from the stage: in front row, someone had collapsed.
"Hey! Is he alright?! What happened?!"
"He just collapsed!"
"He's not breathing, oh god, he's not breathing...!"
"AN AMBULANCE, QUICKLY! SOMEBODY CALL AN AMBULANCE!"
These were just some of the screams Ran could really understand, as almost everyone was talking over each other, as the complete silence of the crowd turned into an overload of noise.