Act 1 Scene 6 二人の花 [Futari-no Hana] 'The Two Flowers'
The days passed quietly and peacefully. Areku avoided Sonoko's family, especially her father. The girls, plus Sonoko's older sister and her husband, made use of Areku's knowledge of the island, and spent most of the time exploring. Shinichi made good use of Areku's 'bedroom' and was able to call his dad and give him a review, or critique rather, of his latest novel. The characterization was getting strained and unrealistic because he'd neglected several characters that he'd made important from the start. The Night Baron series hadn't been intended for serialization, his father reminded him, so such weaknesses were to be expected. It was the editors and book companies' faults for making him stretch out a simple story indefinitely. Then Shinichi gave him a cathartic rant about integrity as an artist.
Afterwards, as he walked along the beach back to the resort, he spotted Kogorou. He waved and called, "Go round up the girls; it's dinner time!"
Conan let his toes dig into the sand one last time before shaking off the grit and going inside. He could heard voices coming out of the bedroom as he approached the door. They were Ran and Sonoko's, and both were speaking softly, and slightly muffled. He heard Ran say his name, and stopped before entering, to listen in.
"—confessed, and I know I should answer him, but… I don't know anymore. We've been apart for too long."
Something in his chest panged, and he dropped to his knees. It sounded like… it couldn't mean… was she going to break up with him? Was she falling out of love with him? Paralyzed and ashamed, he listened for more.
Sonoko wasn't helping, she was agreeing. "I know, right? I've been in this relationship with Makoto for months now, and I've seen him only a handful of times. Long distance relationships suck. Half the time I wonder if our relationship is just some fantasy playing out in my head."
"Yeah, and when I do see him," Ran added, "he leaves suddenly, without saying goodbye, with nothing resolved. In London, if he'd just stayed around for a little longer, I probably would have said yes." She released a long sigh. "But when he vanished again, I was reminded, he's the one who isn't there. How can I have a relationship with someone I can't even touch?"
"Ugh, that! That so much that!" Sonoko said loudly. "Makoto doesn't really let me touch him when he's here, and he's always telling me what to wear or how to act… sometimes I think he's not in a relationship with me at all, but some caricature he dreamed up. If we could spend more time together, and he got to know me better, maybe we could start having a real relationship. We haven't even kissed yet, and we've been together for months!"
"Together being only in the loosest meaning of the term. At least he's honest with you. Shinichi is close by, always, but he doesn't show his face to me, and he lies constantly."
"Oh Ran!" Sonoko cried. There was sounds of movement on the bed, muffled sobs. Shinichi's heart sank further. He was making her cry. He leaned against the wall, his own tears dripping down his face. Why did this have to be so hard?
Finally Ran spoke again, her voice slightly choked. "I know I told him I'd wait, but it's been almost two years now."
"It's unreasonable." Sonoko's voice sounded a little husky, like she'd been holding back her own tears. "He hasn't thought about your feelings at all in this."
'Yes I have!' Shinichi wanted to scream. 'That's why I lie, why I beg you to wait for me!'
"It's as though he can't trust me," Ran said. "During Valentine's Day last year, he took this picture…" Sounds of her cellphone's beeps echoed about the room. "See? He was there, but he didn't let me see him."
"Do you know if," Sonoko began hesitantly, "He gets most of his information about you from Conan, right? It's like he's having Conan spy on you. Conan worships him so much that I bet he does it without realizing what it means…"
Is that what it seems like on the outside?
"For a long time, I've suspected, even though it seems completely implausible… and don't laugh at me when I say this! I sometimes think Conan and Shinichi are the same person."
A muffled laugh. "You're right, that is completely implausible, but it'd make sense, wouldn't it? You said it yourself: he's always close, but never shows himself."
"They have the same blood type too, same as me. I was able to give him a blood transfusion when he was shot… but that could just be a coincidence. It's statistically possible, as Shinichi would say, but improbable, because it's so rare."
"Maybe Conan is Shinichi's dad's secret love child."
It was Ran's turn to laugh. "I really couldn't picture Shinichi's dad cheating on his mom."
"Hey, it's possible they have an open marriage. They are awful weird, and they're also gone most of the time, so who knows what they get up to?"
"Then they'd have to lie about being polyamorous, lie about Conan being related to them; it'd be no wonder if Shinichi feels like lying is the way to go about things." Ran sounded a bitter at the last statement.
"Yeah, that makes a lot more sense. Also him name: Conan Edogawa. It's like a mystery nerd's username. Mr. Kudou probably named him," Sonoko giggled.
"Yeah… their family situation is weird." More squeaks of bedsprings and shifting of sheets could be heard. "His parents came by one time to pick him up, and he didn't even recognize them. He needs his real mother, and I don't think I can…"
"It's a lot of responsibility. I don't think I could do what you do. You're amazing, you know that?"
Something had changed in Sonoko's voice. It wasn't her tone when fangirling over something, this was more intimate. Do girls really talk like this to eachother when they're alone?
Sonoko continued, "You've made incredible accomplishments in karate, your grades are good, you take care of your dad, and a little orphan who's too smart for his own good and gets into trouble all the time. I don't think most people could do what you do. I wish Shinichi could see what I see in you."
"I wish that Makoto would see what I see in you too. You're always kind, always making everyone around you happier, and when you're excited about something, I can't help but get excited with you. Just being near you makes me happy. You're the best friend I could ever hope for."
A soft sound followed, like a large raindrop hitting the ground. Shinichi suddenly felt nauseous, and confused. That sound, why… why there… between them… He couldn't listen any more. He got up, and grabbed the door handle.
"Sometimes," Sonoko said softly.
He stopped. He felt dread hang over him, and he couldn't move. What if he saw them?
"Sometimes I think we're in more of a relationship than we are with our boyfriends."
"Yeah."
Stop agreeing with her Ran!
"I should call Shinichi, make things clear. I owe him that much."
"Ran," Sonoko said suddenly, a slight nervous edge to her voice. "Do you think that we're really… like… that?"
Shinichi… Conan couldn't take it anymore. He burst into the room and ran over to the bed. Ran and Sonoko jumped apart, but it was too late, he'd seen them lying side by side, their faces close, hands entwined. Their cheeks were red.
He needed to say something, anything… "It's time for dinner! They told me to go find you."
"Roger," Sonoko said, stretching her arms up in the air.
Ran leaned over and patted Conan's head, then stopped, her brow furrowed. She grabbed his chin and leaned in close. "Conan, were you crying?" She froze, something coming together in her head. "Oh no… you heard us, didn't you?"
Conan couldn't answer. His mind was blank and his tongue useless.
"Yikes," Sonoko said, covering her mouth, blushing even more.
Ran's eyes narrowed, and her jaw stiffened. "You shouldn't eavesdrop on people Conan, it's rude. What did you hear?"
"Oh my gosh," Sonoko muttered into her hand. "We're going to have to explain the birds and the bees to an eight year old."
He had to say something, but the last words he overheard, that was what he wanted to know. "What… does 'like that' mean?" Conan instantly regretted it. Their faces lost their façades. They were hurt and angry, and a little scared.
Sonoko spoke first. "We don't really know ourselves, yet." She glanced sideways at Ran. "I don't know how Ran feels, that's why I was asking her. I'm kinda confused myself."
Ran nodded. "You might be right, Sonoko."
More tears slipped out. He couldn't stop. He never wanted it to end this way. Maybe it'd have been better if he'd just died in that theme park.
"Don't tell anyone, especially Shinichi," Ran let go of Conan's chin, and started wiping the tears off of his cheeks. "It's something private that I need to tell him. It'd hurt him too much to hear it come from you."
"Does this," dammit, he couldn't stop crying! "mean that you don't like Shinichi anymore?"
Ran plucked him off the floor, and gave him a big, motherly hug. "I still like him, but I don't know if we can be a couple. It's too hard to be close with someone who you aren't close to. Especially if they lie to you."
"He has a really good reason!" Conan sobbed into her shirt.
"And he could tell a little kid, but not me."
This hurt too much. He wriggled free of Ran's grasp, and fled outside, not bothering to grab his sandals. A hedge was in the way, so he turned and found himself in the garden. He cursed and kicked the head off of one of the flowers, and it stung him back, as though to say, "Don't take it out on me!" He stomped over to a stone bench to take a look at his foot. As he climbed up, he felt his chest tightening. He couldn't catch his breath. His head spun, and his sense of balance seemed to think he was on a boat in rough seas. Nausea washed over him, as though he'd been thrown overboard. He closed his eyes, trying to steady himself, but his limbs stopped obeying his commands. He felt himself hit the ground. What was in that flower? He didn't care. He was tired, and wanted to sleep.
Author's Note
In Japanese poetry (Haiku, renka, and so on) you don't count syllables. You count morae. (This term isn't Japanese; it's a linguistic term, BTW.)
A "mora" (plural "morae" because Latin!) is a unit of comparative time in speech, measuring how long it takes to say something. In Japanese, this is expressed in their writing systems – Hiragana and Katakana. So, to figure out how many morae are in a word or phrase, just count the letters in the word.
This can be a bit confusing, because a syllable and a mora are different things in Japanese, while in English, mora aren't really counted at all.
So, let's look at a few names and count their syllables and morae, to get used to this.
Kudou Shin'ichi – 5 syllables (ku-doo shin-i-chi) and 7 morae (ku-do-o shi-n-i-chi)
You'll note that the long O in "doo" counts as 2 morae, and the N coming at the end of the syllable in "shin" gets its own mora.
Hattori Heiji – 5 syllables (hat-to-ri hee-ji) and 7 morae (ha-t-to-ri he-e-ji)
Please note that the T at the end of the syllable in "Hat" gives that syllable an extra mora.
Toukyou – 2 syllables (too-kyoo) and 4 morae (to-o-kyo-o)
Interestingly, the Cy- (CONSONANT+y) beginning syllables aren't given an extra mora; being in the beginning of the syllable rather than the end of it.
This has some other effects which aren't as obvious to non-Japanese speakers. In songs, the singers will sing according to the moraic structure of the words, not the syllabic structure. This has the fascinating effect of singers having to sing lone T's and N's.
It also effects the way one slow-emphasizes a name. You know when you're yelling at someone, and you break down their name into syllables, to make the person know they're really in trouble? In Japanese, you break the name into morae instead. Listen closely next time you watch the anime when Ran yells "Shi-n-i-chi!" or Kazuha yells "He-e-ji!" It's more noticeable then.
また来週！(See you next week!)
dreamingfifi