The doorbell sounded.
"Conan-kun, could you get that?" Ran called and the boy answered the door to find Shinichi standing there, a bouquet clutched in his hand and a nervous look on his face. Conan stared at him solemnly, his too serious little boy eyes looking at the teen rather blankly, not counting the small spark of contempt blue them.
"Hey, Conan-kun, right? Is Ran home?" Shinichi asked and the boy looked at him carefully before easing the door shut and turning the lock.
The doorbell chimed again.
"Conan-kun? Didn't you get that? Who is it?" Ran called.
"It's just a door-to-door salesperson! They won't go away! I'll ask again, Ran-neechan!" Conan called, opening the door again.
"That wasn't very nice, Conan-kun. Please, can you tell Ran I'm here?" Shinichi asked, trying hard to be patient with the boy.
"No." Conan answered blandly. "Go away. Go away and stay away! You're a jerk!"
He closed the door again. He turned the lock. A few seconds later, there was a soft knock on the door and he open it again.
"Okay, I see how it is. Name your price, kid. I just want to see Ran, okay? What will it take for you to let me in?" Shinichi said, glaring lightly at the boy.
"My price? I'm not someone who can be tricked by extortion of all things Shinichi-niisan." Conan said, letting just a small amount of his anger seep into his words. "I'm not letting you away. She's better off without you."
Conan moved to close the door and Shinichi caught it.
"Please?" the older boy said.
"Give me one good reason, just one really good reason to let you in." Conan said and Shinichi hung his head, shadows falling over his eyes.
"Like what? I miss her? She misses me? I love her? What reason do you want?" Shinichi said.
"If you missed her, you would've come home sooner. She does miss you, but she's okay, she's strong. And if you loved her, you would've told her sooner. I love her. She's my neechan and all you ever do is hurt her! Whenever she thinks about you, she gets sad. Whenever you call, she cries. And who do you think has to be there and listen to it and know that he can't help? Not you, me. Because I love her. She takes care of me and I love her, my Ran-neechan. If you loved her, you would've been there. And if you come back, then it'll all be about you and there won't be anytime for me! Because you mean everything and I'm just Conan-kun who has to try and pretend to be Shinichi for her because that's who she wishes I was!" Conan said, angry tears in his eyes but he wouldn't cry, not here, not now, not in front of him.
"Conan-kun, I know you love her. I love her to. She loves both of us, but it different ways and she never forgets anyone, she'll still be around for you even if I come home. Please, Conan-kun. She'll be happy if I'm back." Shinichi said, his voice soft as he dealt with the child in front of him. The child who was rightfully angry with him.
"No, no, she...My parents are never around. They always leave me with someone else who doesn't want me but...she wants me. She loves me. And she'll never try to get rid of me and she takes care of me. She cooks supper for me and-and you can't have her back! I want her, so you can't have her. Not yet." Conan said angrily until his voice dropped off into a whisper.
"Please." Shinichi tries one last time.
The boy wavers at the door. "No. Go away. Come back later if you want, but just go away now. Come back later and ring and ring and ring the doorbell and I won't answer it. If she wants to answer it, then she can answer it. I won't do it. But go away now. Just go away."
Then the boy backed up, closed the door, and locked it. From outside, there was no noise, no chimes for the doorbell or soft knocks on wood. After several moments, Conan imagined he heard footsteps walking away.
"Did they leave yet, Conan-kun?" Ran said, walking into the room, a towel wrapped around her shower-wet hair.
"Yes, Ran-neechan, they did. They'll probably be back later, can you get it then?" Conan said, his voice pitched just right to sound boyish and bored.
"Of course. They need to be taught to leave alone when someone tells them to! What did you want for dinner tonight, Conan-kun?" Ran asked and Conan pondered over it for a moment.
"Can we have curry rice?" he asked and she smiled.
"Sure, we already have everything for it anyways." Ran said and moved to walk towards the kitchen.
"Ran-neechan?" he said and she paused. "I love you."
She smiled and bent to kiss his forehead. "I love you too, Conan-kun."
She walked away then and he crawled onto the couch, leaning back and closing his eyes tightly. "I know."