Disclaimer: "Detective Conan" belongs to Gosho Aoyama, and "Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon" belongs to Naoko Takeuchi.
This is an alternative story to my other fanfic "Encounter in Venice" and one of the possibilities of what could have happened if Ai had taken the antidote before Shinichi brought down the Organization.
Thanks a lot to my friends and betas Rae (Astarael00) and SN1987a and the Aicoholics on LiveJournal, without whom I would never have started this fic.
This chapter has been betaed by aritzen (SN1987a), who hasn't only kept me motivated for years but is even betaing the long fic now that it has ended. I can't thank her enough!
FS
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Ghost at Twilight
(edited version)
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"You really want..."
"You really want to hear the first fairy tale I've ever heard? But it's a dark one... All right, you annoying little brat! It's called 'Ghost at Twilight' and says that, if you love a person with all your heart and successfully hide your feelings from them, perhaps even from yourself, the person you love will die. At twilight, you will meet the ghost of your love for the last time, which is your very last chance to admit your love to them and bring them back to life. Now I've told you your bedtime story as I've promised. What about shutting up and going to sleep at once like you've promised?"
"If I didn't dare to admit my love to them while they were alive... where am I supposed to get the courage to admit it to them when they're already gone? And how the hell should I know that they're a ghost and that I should admit my love to them?"
"Haven't your parents told you that you mustn't curse? But you have a point there. You actually won't know that they're a ghost although you will feel that the day is special. And if you don't tell them about your feelings, they will stay dead, which is how most stories end. It will be better for both of you, anyway. Are you satisfied now?"
"...What are you drinking?"
"Sherry."
"Why are you drinking it?"
"Because I'm tired of the other wines. And this one has always been my favourite."
"Why is it your favourite?"
"Because it simply is. It tastes good, looks good, and I'm addicted to it. It's the only thing that makes life worth living before I get my own Porsche. And now shut up!"
"What is it called again? Your favourite wine—"
"Sherry."
"When I get a cocktail name, can I choose 'Sherry'?"
"Only if it doesn't already belong to another member by then. Otherwise you'll have to kill the other Sherry first... But little girls will only get their cocktail names if they can go to sleep when they're told to go to sleep. Now shut your eyes, just pretend that I'm not here, and sleep—for God's sake!"
"But there is a problem, Gin..."
"Hmpf!"
"There is a problem with your story. How will I feel that the day is special... the day when the ghost appears?"
"Now... I've forgotten that part of the story. Hmm... First, it will seem to you as if something inside you had died... But it's not only that: On such a day and on the following day, twilight will be at least three times longer than usual. Sometimes, during this magical twilight, you will have the chance to meet the spirit of a stranger who has just died and who you could have fallen in love with if you had known them... Their ghost will appear to you three times between the first and the second twilight. And you can bring them back to life by saying the right words, which will come to you at the right time, if you really want to save them."
"That sounds very complicated."
"It is complicated! Just forget it! It's only a fairy tale, anyway... Or remember only the first part to tell it to a stupid brat when she asks you for a bedtime story!"
"I think I'd want to save them. Would you save them, too?"
"No, of course not! There will always be a high price to pay if you save someone you could have fallen in love with... And why should I save someone I only might fall in love with if I wouldn't even save the one I love?"
"What price?"
"You will fall in love with them afterwards. They are your alternative future."
"...That means that, if I save my love's life, I can't save the stranger's, right?"
"If you met both ghosts at the same time and wanted to spend your whole life with the stranger after saving them, you could save both. But you won't meet both of them at the same time. That would be too much of a coincidence... if your love and your alternative future died on the same day, I mean. No, usually, someone else's love—who is also your alternative future—dies and returns as a ghost. And during the same twilight, you can meet them, your alternative future... Or your love, who is someone else's alternative future, dies and appears as that person's alternative future during that special twilight. If that's too complicated for you, just remember that you usually don't meet two ghosts at the same time."
"But if I really meet two ghosts during the same twilight... Will I need to give up my love to save the stranger?"
"Didn't you listen to what I said? You can save both people and then spend your life with the stranger. Of course you could still have an affair with the other guy if you like... But I guess you wouldn't want him anymore because you'd be in love with the stranger instead. You can also only save the stranger guy and let your secret love die. Two affairs cost nerves, money, and time—I wouldn't recommend it to anybody! But the probability that you meet two ghosts during the same twilight is as high as being struck by lightning and eaten by a shark at the same time, at least according to my version of the story."
"Are there other versions?"
"There is no story with only one version, idiot! There are always at least three versions of the same story and, usually, all versions are incomplete or even completely wrong. No one on earth knows the famous one truth. Only idiots or hypocrites believe in it. But... come to think of it... most adults are idiots or hypocrites, anyway. Don't ever trust anyone!"
"Not even you?"
"I can tell you now that I'm not lying to you, can't I? But, unless you can read my mind, you can't know whether I've told you the truth or not. Hence you shouldn't trust me either."
"...Gin..."
"Ah! Don't you ever dare to touch my hair again! Your fidgeting aggravates me beyond endurance!"
"What would you do if you met two ghosts during the same twilight?"
"I wouldn't save either of them. Neither of them would appear to me, anyway!"
"Why not?"
"First, I don't love anybody. Second, if I did, I wouldn't keep it secret from them... And third: if there were any dead body I could have fallen in love with if I had known them, I wouldn't want to complicate things by bringing them back to life. Life will be simple if you keep things simple. But I told you that two ghosts don't appear during the same twilight. Remember that and shut your eyes now."
"Gin..."
"I swear I'll shoot your ugly teddy to pieces if you don't shut up and leave me in peace!"
"You said that two ghosts usually won't appear during the same twilight."
"What's the problem with that?"
"But then there is absolutely no catch in that story. You will never need to choose between your alternative future and your love, right?"
"I'm so tired of this! If you try to find a meaning in such a story, you should try not to take it literally! It's not really about dead bodies or zombies that come back to life! It only says that people with too much common sense and needless moral principles will never allow their real feelings to emerge before it's too late. Having an authentic love in this world is impossible because most people are cowards in want of intelligence and fantasy. A secret love doesn't get enough energy to live and therefore will stay a ghost forever. Sometimes fate intervenes and, either way you choose, you cannot win, for example if you really had to choose between two different types of love. But I already told you it won't ever happen, because two ghosts simply don't appear at the same time!"
"So the first part of the story says that people kill their true loves with their cowardice and then can't bring them back to life while the second part basically says that people should open up and grab their chance when they meet a soul mate?"
"Nobody can give you the right answer if you don't know it yourself."
"...I think the story means that people would have more freedom of choice if they listened to their subconscious and were free from their self-imposed constraints. Twilight is the end of the day, when the light disappears. And you once told me that the darkness is a symbol for the subconscious."
"Perhaps we should send you to school as soon as possible to reduce your IQ. But you bore me to death because you're continually trying to say exactly what you mean. Overly honest people are always boring and helpless!"
"That means you're boring, too..."
"You got me there. But I'm usually not like that. It's all your fault! And I think I drank too much. Why won't you shut up and leave me alone now?"
"Have you ever been in love?"
"Never! I've never loved anyone. I simply have too much common sense. True love is only a stupid fairy tale and completely made up by some stupid guy who had to tell a stupid girl a stupid bedtime story."
"You don't even love sherry?"
"Ha! I'm sure you'll grow up to be a manipulative little wicked witch... Fine! I told you I'm addicted to it, which doesn't necessarily mean I'm in love with it. But it's still the closest feeling to love a guy like me will ever get. You're too young to know what love is, so just shut your eyes now and try to sleep!"
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A/N: This was the shortest chapter of the whole fic. But Young Gin wanted a chapter for himself. I let him.
PS: I've been told by Momo Cicerone (who writes lovely Shinichi/Shiho banters *points at Momo's FFNet profile) that the ConanAi-group on Discord had a channel for this fic, which really amazed me. O_o So, when I used the invite Momo gave me to enter that new world which seemed to me a bit like Ali Baba's cave complete with the forty robbers in there (yours truly is terrified of group chats since she fails at both scrolling and typing!), I discovered that two readers of mine (Dee and Poe) have discussed the plot and character dynamics of the fic with each other. It makes me feel a bit like a real author although I'm only writing for fun. XD
It was hilarious (and really cute) how Poe, while sharing snippets of the fic, cut out anything which wasn't related to Shinichi/Shiho for the Shinichi/Shiho fans and how she paraphrased (and commented on) what happened in the gaps. I was intrigued by how those snippets of the original story have been merged with a reader's reading of the story, resulting in a new version of the story, which is slightly different from the original.
I've only become slightly paranoid since both Dee and Poe change their names like other people change their clothes and have apparently reviewed under different names or left guest reviews without a name. As great as their Discord group it, I also regret that I've intruded on their place since they had fun discussing the fic with each other and certainly didn't expect that I'd find their channel someday.