Rating: Gen-
Genre: Ran-Ai Friendship. (I guess. Claude would argue otherwise, I'm sure.)
Word-count: 572
Title:
When one's loneliness flies away...
Still no news from him.
Ran sighs as she looks at the screen of her cell phone. He may have retrieved his true appearance, his freedom to move out in the open, Shinichi Kudo isn't going to change. The door to the agency squeaks and opens, the young woman turns, surprised, not daring to believe in case she ends up disappointed, but never the less she is. It is not her childhood friend she has before her, but that woman, that Miyano Shiho who helped him return.
"Kudo isn't here?" She asks.
Ran can only shake her head, a sad smile on her face."Ah..." Says Miyano, letting her answer be swallowed by the silence. The agency is void of life, with the exception of Ran. Her father is probably out solving some case or, more likely, playing mahjong.
An uncomfortable sensation runs along her back, as the atmosphere of the room makes itself felt. Heavy. Melancholic. Sad. No need to be a medium or a detective to figure out the cause.
Ran does her best to ignore her loneliness, and silently offers her unexpected guest a cup of tea. She accepts politely and sits on the agency's sofa... They're both in the same situation anyway, waiting for the same person.
Time passes with the ticking of a clock and the turning of magazine pages.
The moment of discomfort is gone, and Shiho feels her usual boredom come upon her... Till, that is, she looks up and comes across her comrade's gaze.
Ran may turn away, try to hide the tears with a smile and a wave of her hand, Shiho is not fooled. Shiho has way too much experience in this area, and after passing months in a child's body watching this woman from afar, she is not going to miss such undeniable signs.
Shiho remembers all those times where it was Ran, and not the professor Agasa or Edogawa, who had given Haibara the courage necessary to stand up again and believe in her future. Of all those insignificant yet vital little gestures...
She puts her magazine down, and in two strides she is by the detective's daughter's side. Before she can even protest or understand what is happening to her, the half-foreign woman is holding her in her arms, like a sister saying that yes, one can count on her, be it only to offer a shoulder to lean against. Ran takes a moment to overcome her surprise, to let herself go in the woman's embrace. Her friend's? Her friend's. It is good to feel comfort, she can't help but recall the time her mother was still living at home, the times Shinichi would protect her from the bullies in the class above or her father would protect her from the rain. Her loneliness flies away, leaving behind only a thankful smile.
The door squeaks and opens, but neither girl takes any notice. At least not until the shocked exclamation of a certain red-faced high-school detective. Thus their moment of intimacy ends, as Ran babbles incoherently away as she greets Shinichi, and the scientist let's free some sarcastic comment with a grin. Her words find their target, and, cursing at his far too vivid imagination, Shinichi can only smile, slightly embarrassed, at the two women as they laugh.
It is good to be able to laugh when one's loneliness flies away.
END