File Sixty: The Unluckiest Boy
"This is weird..."
"You are acting weird, Ayumi-chan."
"But I was so certain..."
"Would you please take your hand out of my forehead?"
"Oh, sure."
The boy's blank expression did not change, even when the girl retired her hand. "Thanks," he mumbled, unblinking, before he continued to walk.
The three children just stared at him, for a few moments, blinking confusedly at each other, while Haibara simply stood there, watching him go.
"He isn't sick," Ayumi pointed out, her face scrunching with a frown.
"But he has been acting oddly all day long," Mitsuhiko added. "And he looks so down, too..."
"Do you think he's turning into Haibara?" Genta looked genuinely concerned.
"Is that a reason to be worried?" Haibara deadpanned.
"A-Ah, no..."
Not giving him another glance, the young scientist passed by them and began to walk alongside the detective, silently, they could see.
Letting out a collective sigh, they started to move as well, keeping their distance from the other two.
"Should we tell him?" Mitsuhiko wondered out loud. "About what Ran-san asked us yesterday."
"I want to have a word with you, if you don't mind," all of them clearly remembered the worry in Ran's eyes the other time.
"What is it, Ran-oneesan?"
"It's about Conan-kun," she paused for a moment, the frown on her face replaced by a kind smile the next. "You all remember the other time at the Nishitamashi Twin Towers, don't you?"
Hesitantly, the three children nodded.
"Conan-kun heard about an unusual car he really wanted to see and ran off to check on it, right?"
"Yeah," Genta nodded. "He did that."
"Is there anything else about it?"
"Huh?"
Her smile tightened, and her eyes narrowed slightly, while she inched closer to the group.
"You were acting... differently when that happened. I would say you were worried," the three flinched, at the same time. "Why was that?"
They had managed to get away from her questions by playing dumb, but they all knew that Ran wouldn't give up there. It was a matter of time.
"Why wouldn't we?" Genta blinked, confused. "It's not like we told her anything."
The boy trailed off, however, when Ayumi shook her head. He waited for her to say something, as she gazed at Conan, who quietly walked alongside their other friend. "Conan-kun is stressed out," the girl observed, with a frown. "If we told him that Ran-oneesan is suspicious... I don't know how he's going to handle it."
The other two simply stared at the girl, before giving a jerky nod, realizing the truth behind her words. Genta shook it off right away, grinning widely as he wondered, outloud, about what he was going to have for dinner, while Ayumi lightly scolded him for thinking about food right away.
Mitsuhiko, however...
"If you know something, please tell me, okay?" Ran stood up, her smile still on place, even if all of them could see she wasn't entirely convinced. "That boy can be quite stubborn when it comes with it, so he is probably not going to tell me anything if he's in trouble."
His lips pressed together, thinking about the many, many instances when Conan had met with those scary people behind his back. Each and every single time he would reluctantly tell them about that, shrugging those dangerous moments as if it was not a big deal, Mitsuhiko would shiver. Then, he would feel bad for not knowing, for being unable to help.
But then, he would remind himself that he was only a child. There wasn't much he could do, unlike adults.
Then again, Conan-kun is also a child, his hands curled, tightly, around the straps of his bag.
All of sudden, the two children stopped walking, and the trio immediately realized that was where they had to depart ways from the other two. Haibara raised her hand, waving them goodbye with a small smile, which they reciprocated.
Conan barely nodded, his eyes meeting theirs, yet not connecting, somehow. Mitsuhiko noted they were gazing at something else, far, far away.
... Did we really do the right thing?
Haibara didn't say anything else the rest of the way home. Besides a knowing glance then and there, the young scientist kept her mouth shut, an action that the boy was incredibly grateful for, even if he didn't let it show.
Even as they separated. All she did was to say a quick "See you," before heading home, yet he barely heard it, far too immersed in his own mind to pay attention to anything else.
"Was it..." Conan frowned at the memory. "Was it my fault that you got involved with them?"
He could still see it, clearly as day. The initial hesitation after his question was asked, his lips gradually stretching into an incredibly big, yet tense smile, his loud and stained laugh.
"You're talking nonsense, Conan," and the reply that followed.
As I suspected, a humorless laugh bubbled up from him, as he slowly made his way up the stairs of the agency. Even then, you were lying to me. Like you always do.
Yet, this time around, I can't bring myself to be mad at you, he paused, silently standing right in front of the door. I would be a hypocrite if I did, wouldn't I?
His hand rested over the door handle. What a mess, he sighed, wrapping his fingers around it.
He didn't expect, however, the door opening on its own. Yelping in surprise, the boy stumbled inside for a few seconds until he managed to recover his footing.
"Ah, Conan-kun, right?"
Blinking confusedly, he looked up to see a face he honestly didn't expect to see there. "Hakuba-san?" he asked, not understanding a thing, only to receive a polite nod in return. "What are you doing here?"
"That brat keeps pestering me about some case I've worked on," Kogoro growled from his desk. "He doesn't seem to understand what 'case closed' means, apparently."
"Case?" he genuinely wondered. If it was recent, he had probably solved it instead of Kogoro. "Which one?"
"The Nishitamashi Twin Tower Buildings' terrorist attack."
Conan wished he hadn't asked.
"Actually, you could probably help me," Hakuba added. "I saw you were there, on TV. That move of yours was pretty reckless, I would say."
There was no wonder that he had been seen passing from one building to the other in a mere skateboard.
"H-How should I know?" Conan hoped his innocent smile was enough to cover for the slight shaking of his voice. "I'm not a detective like Kogoro-ojisan and you."
Hakuba didn't say something for a moment, just seemed to study him with his piercing gaze, before closing his eyes. And smirking.
"The Seventh Detective."
Conan frowned at that, which only caused Hakuba to snicker and Kogoro to blink, stupidly.
But the child recovered right away. "It was fun to pretend to be one," his bright, albeit fake, grin didn't take long to appear. "Now I know why you like being one. It's so cool!"
"I can imagine."
Not understanding a thing of what was going on in front of him, but noticing that the little boy was strangely uncomfortable, Kogoro decided to stand up. "You were about to leave, weren't you?" he gave the teenage detective a pointed look. "I'm expecting some guests."
"Ah, that's too bad," he said, before turning to the kid. "Maybe we should save this talk for later."
Or maybe not.
Thankfully the teenager left right after that, and Conan tried not to look so relieved. Ran-neechan is suspicious and now this guy, he closed the door behind him. What's next, Occhan suspecting me?
He could have snorted at the thought, if the man wasn't in the same room.
"What are you doing here, brat?" the person in question scowled, eyes fixing in his old TV. "You're early."
"What's so weird about that?" with a huff, he crossed the room. "My school day is over, so I went straight home, as I'm supposed to."
"You never come straight home," Kogoro lazily cradled his head against his hand. "Even when you're told so."
Conan rolled his eyes. Like I can help it, he though, sarcastically, thinking about the many times when his murder magnetism had acted up, or his friends had simply dragged him along to another crazy adventure. How did this become my life?
"Nevermind," the man stood up, straightening his jacket. "Run along, go to read or find something else to do."
To say that the child was confused was an understatement ─ he hadn't realized until now, but the man was well dressed, well groomed, for once in his entire life. "Do we really have guests today?" he couldn't help but ask.
"Ran invited a friend over."
That didn't clear things at all. "Sonoko-neechan?" he raised an eyebrow.
"Of course not, it's a new student," he scoffed. "We discussed it last night when you went to sleep."
Wisely, the boy decided not to comment on that. Last night he had been so exhausted ─ in every sense of the word ─ that he had gone off to bed awfully early, not uttering any word besides stating that he wasn't hungry. Both Ran and Kogoro had repeatedly asked what was wrong, but he hadn't been able to grace them with a proper answer.
It wasn't something he could openly talk to them about.
Right then, they heard the sounds of steps, climbing up the stairs. "Damn, they're coming," he rushed to the couch, grabbing a book from his office in his way. "You better behave, brat."
"... Okay?"
So he just stood there, staring blankly at the man, who sat cross-legged with a random Agatha Christie's book ─ had he even read it, anyway? ─ and a serious, professional look on his face. It remained like that, even as the door opened slowly.
"Welcome home, Ran. You're early," he greeted, with a deep voice. "Sorry for asking just as you come in, but could you make me some coffee?"
Taking a second longer to stare at the man, the child turned to look at the doorway, just to notice that Ran was standing there, next to Sonoko, who was giving him a weirded out look.
"My little gray cells cannot function correctly unless it's your coffee."
"... Why are you quoting Hercule Poirot to Sonoko-neechan?"
At the plain voice at his side, Kogoro finally looked up and, upon noticing who had just gotten home, he threw his book over his shoulder. "What's this?" he complained. "What's Miss Horse Carriage doing here?"
"Ah, good one," the child crossed his arms behind his head.
"... Huh?" Sonoko was confused at first, but then an outraged expression took place. "... Wait a second, you two-!"
"The classmate I told you about is coming over," Ran spoke over her, forcing a smile.
Conan honestly had no idea of why this random high school student wanted to meet Kogoro, but he couldn't genuinely bring himself to care much. Probably a fan, he shrugged, making his way to the empty spot on Kogoro's couch and dropping his bag there. Shouldn't that person be my fan instead?
... On a second thought, I'm glad Occhan is taking my place.
Experience told him that fans were a pain, frankly speaking. Shinichi seemed to enjoy having them, his father didn't mind... Conan, however, didn't think he would be able to handle them just as well as those two.
"But really," Sonoko commented, doing the same thing as the kid, while Kogoro went to sit again at his desk. "Are you worried about impressing a high school guy?"
"Eh? A guy...? A guy?!" he blinked. "Huh? Wasn't it a girl who looked like that announcer Mizunashi Rena?"
That was the moment Conan did actually start to care. Mizunashi Rena?! his blood became cold in his veins. That member with the codename Kir?!
As the rest of the people in the room discussed the misunderstanding, Conan frantically looked around. That guy, who was supposed to resemble Kir, was going to get here in any second now. What if they are related?
He could hear the sounds of steps, going up the stairs. Is there a way to lock the door or something? Conan wondered, inching closer to the door.
As expected, it opened.
Instantly after, Conan felt himself falling and landing, painfully, on the floor. What the...?
"E-Excuse me..." the person said, immediately sitting up and letting the poor child breathe. "I must have tripped on something."
Groaning, the boy sat up as well. There is absolutely nothing to trip on, he gave the unknown boy a dirty look, watching as he started to feel the ground. Did he lose his glasses or something?
Certainly, a few feet ahead of him, lied a pair of glasses but, before he could even think about grasp them and offer it in a sympathetic gesture for his bespectacled fellow, something stopped him.
That something being a hand pinching his cheek.
The teen immediately straightened and rubbed the back of his head. "It's great to meet you, Detective Mouri!" he exclaimed. "It's such an honor."
Conan stared for a moment.
"... Excuse me?"
Ran laughed nervously from behind him. "Umm," she offered a smile. "That's actually Conan-kun, who lives with us..."
She trailed off when both his hands pressed against Conan's cheeks, before they pinched, and stretched. Yelping, the boy desperately tried to get away from his grasp, but no avail. The boy just got closer, eyes squinting so much that they looked as if they were closed.
By some sort of miracle, the kid reached for the fallen glasses and managed to get them. The teenager finally released him upon feeling them pressing, rather roughly, against his face.
Geez, he rubbed his eyes, that had teared up due to the pain. And Haibara-san says I'm the blind one...
"A-Ah," his eyes went wide, once he put on his glasses. "I'm sorry!"
You better be, Conan rolled his eyes, feeling pretty offended by being mistaken with Kogoro, of all people.
Oniichan, Haibara-san and Occhan... What's wrong with people, confusing me with every single living, breathing being...?
Finally, the teenage boy was presented with the real Mouri Kogoro. "It's nice to meet you, Detective Mouri!" he beamed. "I'm Hondou Eisuke."
Standing up from his seat, Kogoro smiled at him.
"It's an honor to meet-!"
Eisuke went to bow to the detective, but he bent a bit too much. Pain didn't take long to make an appearance once more, causing an unexpecting Conan to hiss, stumbling forward while holding his sore head. I swear this guy is doing this on purpose, he glared at Eisuke from a safe distance away from him.
He tried not to flinch when Eisuke stepped backwards, groaning before his back slammed against a closet, tripping on air before a box fell on his head. Now he knew, he wasn't doing it on purpose.
Which was amazing nonetheless, on another whole level.
"He's just a little clumsy," Ran told his father, who was simply raising an eyebrow at Eisuke.
'A little'?
"I'm not clumsy, I just have no luck!" Eisuke argued. "When I drop my toast, the buttered side hits the ground one-hundred percent of the time. When camping, I'm the first to get attacked by bugs. When everyone takes a picture, my eyes are always closed. I think God hates me!"
Conan stared at the boy, with a very blank look, before shrugging.
When bodies start to drop all around you wherever you go, then we can talk about this 'being hated by God' nonsense...
"That's why I've come to you, Detective Mouri. I want to borrow a little bit of your luck!"
"Luck?" Kogoro looked at him as if he was crazy.
"Because, wherever you go, a case suddenly appears. And then, you have the chance to make a wonderful, breath-taking deduction. So lucky!"
... What's wrong with this guy? Seriously.
"Besides, you weren't such a good detective, but suddenly you became one of the best. Maybe God came to you all of sudden one day."
Hey, I'm actually flattered.
He felt Ran's nervous gaze on him for a moment, before she let out a laugh.
"God has nothing to do with this," she tried, pointedly ignoring the fact that her father looked annoyed by this boy's words. "Dad simply made a huge effort to be more observant because he wasn't getting many cases. Right, Dad?"
"Uh, yeah," he nodded, hesitantly.
"Anyway!" Eisuke insisted. "Show me your famous deduction show, please!"
"B-But..."
Conan gave the boy another blank look, before sighing. I'm not really in the mood for this, he realized, turning to face the door. Maybe I should go read something...
But before he could even reach the door, which had been left open since Eisuke had entered, someone walked in, holding his hand up as if he had been about to knock but was surprised to see Conan there.
"Umm," he said, gathering everyone's attention. "Excuse me. This is the Mouri Detective Agency, right?"
"It says so in the big sign outside," pointed out the child, unblinking.
Ran looked like she was about to reprimand him, but Eisuke interrupted her by rushing towards the man ─ running into Sonoko, who screamed because he had somehow slammed his hand on her chest in the way.
"Could it be a case?!" he beamed, standing right next to the child and in front of the client.
"Y-Yeah."
"Mouri-san, it's a case!" he was beyond delighted. "Alright-!"
Of course, the teen bowed in excitement. Of course, he accidentally headbutted an unsuspecting Conan, who cried in pain.
Really, he groaned, holding his head while wincing ─ he wouldn't be surprised if he got a concussion or something. The unlucky one is me, definitely.
There was a loud sound which caused him to look up, only to see Eisuke on the floor, after probably having tripped in Kogoro's box of wine bottles, buried in several papers that he had knocked off from who-knows-where.
... Though it would be a tough competition.
The more time he spent with Ran's new classmate, the less Conan wanted to deal with him anymore.
Not only had Hondou Eisuke become a safety hazard, specially to him ─ Conan ignored the motive of why this was that way, but guessed that it had to do with his own bad luck conflicting with his ─ but he had the nerve to call him stupid.
It had happened because of the client, Misumi Atsushi, who had claimed that he had argued with his girlfriend, Ami, and she had left, right after he had said something along the lines of 'I can't go back to being how I was when we met!'
Well, the guy apparently wanted her to come back as soon as possible because she had taken the car with her, where he had left some important documents, which said a lot about how he was.
So, in an attempt to get them to figure it out, Conan had suggested that they should go where 'they used to play backgammon' ─ because you can't go back when playing it! ─ thus, getting Eisuke to sat that he, a eight year-old child that was probably much more intelligent than him, was stupid, because he had meant when they first met.
Well, at least it had gotten them to realize they had to look there.
On the downside, she had been dead by the time they arrived, inside a car with its doors sealed with tape, and a cooking pot beside her. So, Atsushi had grabbed a baseball bat from the trunk of the car and shattered the front window, before taking a knife and cutting through the tape of the passenger door, but it had been far too late for her.
And his bad luck had only seemed to grow stronger. Not only because Kogoro had decided, again, that this was suicide, but because they were in Gunma.
Which meant that Inspector Yamamura was on the case.
I knew this was coming, at some point, Conan thought, massaging his temples. A headache is coming in.
He really, really didn't want to deal with this today.
More to the reason, he needed to solve this case as soon as possible. The culprit was definitely her boyfriend, but he couldn't still figure out how he could have gotten out of the car, and left it sealed.
There was yet another loud thud beside him, followed by a groan, that prompted him to look away from the car and to the source. Unsurprisingly, Eisuke was there on the floor, and Ran was nervously hovering around him.
"Are you okay, Eisuke-kun?"
"Ah, yeah, I tripped on something," he let out an awkward laugh.
"Hey, your finger is bleeding!"
"Oh," he took a glance at the little wound in question. "It's probably from a shard that came from the front glass."
Conan did not say anything, just rolled his eyes and was about to walk away when Ran suddenly looked for something in her pocket, probably a bandage. "Hold out your finger," then she said, causing the boy to blink, surprised.
Hesitantly, he did, and Conan noticed that Eisuke was blushing a bit.
... No way... Really?
Ignorant of what was going through both boys' minds, she finally took a bandage out.
"Maybe you should let him do it himself, Ran-neechan," commented the child, blinking innocent eyes at both of them, who paused at his words. "He's old enough, and he might be too embarrassed if you do it instead."
"A-Ah, no," Eisuke tried. "I don't mind-"
"He does mind," Conan gave him a pointed, almost dangerous, look. "By a whole lot," and it was gone when he smiled, brightly. "Right, Eisuke-niichan?"
"R-Right."
Almost hesitantly, Eisuke accepted the bandage from Ran, who simply blinked in confusion at the child. He seemed to glare at the boy for some reason.
As if I'm allowing this idiot to take advantage of Ran-neechan's kindness, he let out a sigh, focusing back on the scene for the crime that was getting more and more confusing as time went by. Araide-sensei is cool, even Oniichan is half decent... But this guy?
"But bandages are amazing, aren't they?" commented Eisuke, as he bandaged his finger. "Because my finger healed as soon as I put it on. Look, it's like there was no wound to begin with."
"Are you stupid?" Conan rolled his eyes ─ maybe he was still a bit salty when he called him that, but he didn't care enough. "Bandages do not make cuts to seal. They just hide the cut..." the boy trailed off, as his eyes gradually opened. "... from plain sight..."
Both teens stared at the boy, who had seemed to freeze in place all of sudden, before he took off running, then watched as he tugged Kogoro's sleeve to gather his attention, for some reason.
In a matter of time, the case was solved.
Listening as Yamamura complained about not being able to capture Mouri Kogoro's wonderful deduction on his camera only made Conan want to get to Tokyo faster, but as it was, he was stuck in between Eisuke and Kogoro, sitting on Ran's lap, as the patrol car took them back home ─ not that they had any other choice, considering that it was late already and that their driver was currently being taken into custody.
"But this case was solved thanks to Eisuke-kun," at some point, the girl commented, causing the boy in question to blink. "Because you mentioned the bandage, Conan-kun thought there was a problem with the car door's permanent tape," she turned to the child sitting on her legs. "And then you told Dad about it, right?"
Conan could only nod.
"He took your job," Ran smiled at him.
"Job?" Eisuke was confused.
Ran hesitated for less than a second, which Conan noticed but didn't comment on it. "It's always his job," then she added with a smile. "When he thinks he said something irrelevant, it coincidentally becomes a key to solving the case."
It took a moment more than strictly necessary for his words to ring through, but when they did, his eyes instantly fell on the new student in question, whose gaze had adopted an exceptical glint.
Could it be...?
"This kid, huh?" Eisuke's face inched closer, as he studied him.
Conan simply held on his stare with a glare, as he moved even more closer while inspecting him. Then, the hard look disappeared when the kid raised his hand all of sudden, a very blank expression taking hold of his features.
Before he flicked at him. "Too close," muttered the boy.
And the stoic look remained, even when the teenage boy jerked backwards with a cry of pain, only to hit the back of his head with the window behind him. Even as Kogoro shrugged and Ran scolded him for being unnecessarily rude.
He just stared as Eisuke cradled his sore head, wincing in pain.
There's simply no way.
Little did he know, that view he had in that clumsy, unlucky high school student was going to change, drastically, the next day.
That Saturday arrived soon enough, and Conan woke up feeling not refreshed in the slightless. If anything, he felt even more drained than the day before, but he wasn't that surprised considering that he hadn't had that much of a good night.
Dreams could be terrifying sometimes, the boy was well aware of that, since he wasn't exactly a stranger to nightmares. I hadn't had one in a long time, huh? he let out a humorless, dry laugh, as he sat up in his futon. Not since I have cleared things up with Oniichan.
He definitely did not miss them, he decided, as he stood up, dimly realizing that Kogoro wasn't in bed ─ which was unusual, considering he would be always snoring by the time he got up. I wonder if Ran-neechan or Occhan noticed something...
One look at his phone made him realize that they most likely did ─ 11 AM, they wouldn't have let him sleep until that late unless they had noticed he hadn't slept well.
With a sigh, he began to dress up. Hopefully, none of them would bring this up.
Luckily for him, Kogoro barely looked up when he stepped into his office before focusing back on the phone he held against his ear. Conan could hear the woman on the other side, and could tell she sounded angry.
Well, he couldn't care enough. Without any further thought, he plopped down on the couch and began to flip the pages of the manga book he had carried with him.
"I'm home," he heard Ran say and a quick glance towards her told the child that she had probably gone to the market ─ the plastic bags held on her hands were proof of it.
Not giving any other thought, the child went back to his book, absently listening to the conversation they were having ─ once the woman on the other side of the phone had hung up on Kogoro. There was something about Kogoro tasting the coffee Ran had prepared, and her admitting she had only bought it because she had wanted to win a cute coffee pot.
He had complained, and Ran had gotten mad.
There was a yelp, but it did not belong to any of them.
Looking up, Conan was shocked to see Hondou Eisuke there, trying to wipe the hot coffee Ran had accidentally thrown at him on his hair. Kogoro seemed to be as stunned as he was, but his daughter instantly explained they had met at the market and had decided to help the detective ─ somehow.
I-I didn't even notice him, the child blinked, dumbfounded, watching the teenager answer a call from a client, only to end up hanging up on them by complete accident. For someone that falls face-first upon entering a door, he can be rather silent.
... That doesn't make any sense.
Then again, nothing made sense lately. With a shrug, the child went back to his manga.
"Oh," it wasn't until a few hours later ─ after lunch, of course ─ that the kid had looked up. "This manga's taking a break next week. Man, I want to know what happens next!"
"It's for the author to collect information," he said to Ran. "It can't be helped."
"But this could require investigation as well, right?" Eisuke ─ who was still there ─ pointed out. "See, the only reason they ever give is that the author is collecting information. He could have just quit because he didn't like the work, or he could have caught the flu and is now unable to continue it. Or maybe he was kidnapped and is being held somewhere?"
Conan simply gave him a plain look. Now, how did all that escalate to that point?
"It's like that famous actor who disappeared half a year ago when they said he was taking a break, but he was actually sick. There was something recently, too... That person was one minute and gone the next! The name was... Let's see..."
The child's eyes widened, and didn't leave the boy even when Ran inquired if he meant Itaragi Roku, the famous singer that had suddenly taken a break after debuting last year, and him nodding with a nervous laugh. Or the little child that suddenly busted inside, claiming that the same singer was dead, and that he had seen someone dumping his body to the ocean.
He had to look away, though, in order to pay attention to the case in hand, but he couldn't help the feeling of dread cursing through his veins, as he wondered what this guy was really up to.
And it only got more prominent, the moment Eisuke kneeled down next to the kid, with an unusually serious expression and gingerly touched his neck. They stared for a long, long while, until the teenager finally smiled.
"Takumi-kun, it's true, right?"
"Yeah."
"You aren't... really lying, are you?"
"It's not a lie. I'm really not lying!"
Conan could only watch, stunned, as his eyes narrowed slightly and, all of sudden, he wouldn't see Eisuke and the child anymore, but rather Mizunashi Rena and himself in its place.
Hondou Eisuke... Who are you, really?
"I was just doing what my father did when I was a child." Eisuke had said when Ran had complimented his ability to tell the kid was not lying. "I just got lucky this time."
Still, Conan was highly suspicious, knowing that there was absolutely no way that was luck ─ Kir had used that technique on him. That, the way he looked, the way he acted... They all screamed Mizunashi Rena, loudly.
So he had kept his eye on him the entire trip on the car ─ they had decided that the kid would remember something else if they took him to the bridge he had seen the culprit disposing of the victim's body.
He had also noticed Ran giving him worried glances every once and then. He supposed he had been a bit too quiet.
Not that he could pay attention to anything with Hondou Eisuke around.
What if he is involved with the Organization? he frowned, watching him leaning against the bridge, at some point during the investigation. He has gotten too close. To Ran-neechan, to Occhan...
What should I do? If he's with them... If he realizes we're this close to the traitor Singani... I...
Something made his mind come to a halt, however, and his eyes open widely with shock.
Crystal tears were rolling down Eisuke's cheeks.
Now, more than ever, Conan did not know what to do, besides stare, in silence, the boy that was quietly suffering, for reasons he couldn't fully comprehend.
Even if, the tiniest, illogical part of him told him otherwise.
The culprit had been apprehended to long thereafter. Long story short, the culprit had been jealous that the victim had left the band for his solo debut, as he had confessed. He had planned to bury him in the mountains, but ended up dumping him there to avoid checkpoints at the end of the bridge.
So, after finishing telling their story to the police, all four of them headed back home.
Despite how he had looked before at the bridge, Eisuke was cheerfully talking to Kogoro now from his place in the passenger seat. This awfully bright behavior, however, made Conan feel even more wary of him, noticing that he was probably acting.
It made him wonder, actually, which of Hondou Eisuke's many faces was the real one.
"There must be more, right?" Eisuke insisted. "More cases with famous people. Or at least cases about them right?"
He keeps insisting and insisting...
"Of course," Kogoro replied with a smug smile. "A few for Okino Yoko-chan."
"Eh?! For that top idol?! You're a really great detective!"
I'm the great detective, actually.
"I bet there've been cases with famous people that didn't go public," the kid noticed that there was something, slight and almost imperceptible, that passed by Eisuke's eyes. "You know, like if a famous person asked you to do it in secret..." Kogoro's eyes flickered from him to the road again, his surprised expression replaced by a serious one. "... and before it made the news, you solved it."
"Has there been a case like that?"
Conan was grateful Kogoro couldn't remember that case.
"Don't be embarrassed to tell me, Detective Mouri!" he continued, not letting any kind of disappointment show. "Hey, why don't we talk about it over dinner?"
He was not having that, so he let out a loud yawn, which obviously gathered Ran's attention.
"Ah, sorry," Conan smiled, while rubbing his right eye. "I'm feeling pretty sleepy all of sudden..."
Of course, Ran's hand was already on top of his head. "Sorry Eisuke-kun, we'll have to do it some other time," she apologized to him. "Conan-kun's tired it seems."
"I see," replied the teen right away.
Despite it all, Conan could clearly see the moment Eisuke's gaze narrowed upon meeting his, which he held with quiet defiance.
Until he knew what Eisuke was up to, there was no way he was giving up any kind of information regarding Mizunashi Rena.
Soon, however, the teen gave up and focused back to the road, with nothing else but a disappointed sigh. Conan, on the other hand, never let his eyes stray away from the back of his head the entire way, until Kogoro let him off in front of his apartment ─ he had been reluctant to take him home and had said that he could just walk from the agency, but Ran had insisted.
I can't let my guard down around him. Not when everyone's lives are in stake.
The pressure was gone as soon as he disappeared from his sight, he realized while letting his shoulders drop.
This madness has to end... his head leaned against the window. This fear, this constant danger...
... This mess I got everyone involved in...
"Conan-kun?"
At the sound of the girl's voice, Conan instantly sat up straight, turning his head so to meet Ran's gentle, worried gaze. This caused him to pull his best, bright smile.
"What is it?" he asked, blinking as he didn't understand what she wanted.
It had become easier to lie, to put on a mask and pretend everything was okay, that nothing was wrong. The realization didn't bring him any comfort, and made him shudder.
That isn't how it used to be.
But it looked like Ran couldn't be tricked this time, because the furrowing of her eyebrows was her only reaction to his words. For a moment, she didn't say anything, and Conan waited patiently.
Even if, internally, he dreaded what she would say next.
"Look, I won't ask you what's going on, because you aren't going to tell me anything but..." she paused, as she thought over her words. "Will you tell me one thing, Conan-kun? One single, simple thing."
Conan worried. "What?" his heart was pounding heavily in anticipation, his mind already running, searching desperately for a way out of whichever situation she was going to put him in.
"Are you okay?"
That outcome wasn't anything he had expected.
For less than a moment, Conan just sat there, silently still, shock filling each and every part of his body. And Ran simply watched as that mask, for a less than a second, dropped to let her see.
Letting her see a child, a young boy. Lost, confused, hurting. Who didn't know what he was supposed to do.
But all those bare emotions disappeared instantly, and the sickly sweet smile made an appearance again.
"I'm fine, don't worry, Ran-neechan," he tried to reassure her. "I'm just a bit tired, that's all."
His wide, blue eyes just stared at her, as she let out a rueful smile. Silently, her arm went around him and, gently, pulled him to her. He didn't offer any resistance, just went along with the movement.
He was tired it seemed, Conan realized, while he felt all exhaustion he had gathered from that day, and the day before, crashing up on him. Without protesting, he let his head rest against Ran's shoulder.
"I'm fine," he repeated, softer this time. Ran's hand squeezed against his arm. "I'm... really fine."
Even though he was tired. Tired of lying, tired of feeling fear, tired of feeling guilty...
Tired of living like this.
His eyes closed, and his body pressed against the girl even more as if seeking comfort.
"... I'm perfectly fine..."
A/N:
Now, I wanted to mention something. Some mysteries that haven't been solved yet (such as Rum's identity or some stuff related to the Boss) will most definitely be different from canon when they get revealed. So, it probably will end up making no sense if you compare it with the original source in the future XD
Dy: I'm most likely going to make an ending of my own, even if somehow the manga ends before I finish this. I figured it's better this way than to wait for the canonical ending.
XxThe-Crest-Of-AnubisxX: It said 'ephemeral', which referred to the place where Haibara was hiding. Conan accidentally told the wrong people and she ended up being captured. That was part of the message, anyway, he hasn't figured out the rest.
Taziri cherry: That's from the Holmes Freak Murder Case (chapters 177 to 121 from the manga) if I'm not mistaken.