012. Orange.
"Conan-kun," a voice called out to him loudly from behind. It sounded vaguely familiar, evoked a sort of feeling of fondness from his past life. It caused him to halt his steps and turn around to see little Ayumi chasing after him. When she finally caught up to him, she was panting and out of breath. He just stood there, waiting patiently to find out what she wanted. After all, he wasn't in any hurry to get to a place he didn't really care if he actually got to.
"Conan-kun," Ayumi gasped out, still a little out of breath. "I know it's only been five days since you've become like this, but I feel like you're getting farther and farther away from us, and I'm afraid you're never going to come back. So, I have to tell you before you're gone." She stopped talking then, like she was afraid to say what she wanted to, and she suddenly seemed to find the ground extraordinarily interesting. Every several seconds, Ayumi glanced up at Conan as though she was hoping for him to ask her what she needed to tell him, but he said nothing. She would receive no prompting from him. If whatever she needed to tell him was so important, she could say it on her own.
"Conan-kun," she said for the third time, almost seeming to parallel that conversation with Haibara. He wondered if he should feel something at that similarity, but he really didn't. It didn't even pique his curiosity as anything more than a barely interesting fact. It wasn't even as interesting as the whole five days nonsense she'd spouted mere seconds ago. Really, how could a mere five days feel like an eternity? Well, it didn't matter. She had sucked in her breath, he supposed she was about to say whatever it was she meant to say. "Iloveyou."
Those words were rushed out in a single breath, but Conan could easily distinguish what she had said. Ayumi's face was bright red at this point, and her breathing had picked up speed, obviously from nerves and excitement. She was still staring at the ground, so she couldn't see it, but Conan still had an entirely blank expression on his face that said he really didn't care about what she'd just said.
"Is that all?" his tone was as harsh and cold as his words. Ayumi's head shot up as she stared at Conan with shock. Silence reigned for several moments before the young girl burst into tears and fell to her knees with her hands buried in her face. The bespectacled boy just stared at her for several minutes with emotionless eyes until something somewhere deep inside him finally cracked, and he suddenly realized with a jolt what he'd just done. He had always known that he would someday have to reject his friend's feelings, but he'd just broken her heart in a way a million times more cruel than the way he'd done to Ran. With a gasp of horror, he knelt down next the girl and hesitantly reached out a hand.
"Ayumi-chan," he said softly, and she flinched, causing a healthy dose of guilt to inject itself straight into Conan's heart. "I'm sorry, Ayumi-chan, I really am. I can't return your feelings. I like someone else. But I'm really sorry for what I just said."
For a long time, the only sound heard was the small girl's muffled sobs, and the shrunken teenager just continued kneeling next to her gently rubbing her back until he almost felt like crying himself. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity to Conan, Ayumi looked back up, her eyes locked with his, and she did something he truly did not expect. She smiled. It was a very small, very sad smile, but it was still a smile.
"It's good to have you back Conan-kun," she said getting up. "I'll see you tomorrow." With that, she walked away, leaving behind a very confused eighteen turned eight year old, but as he watched her turn the corner, Conan noticed that she was wearing an orange headband.