File Twenty-Seven: The Black Knight Appears
By the tenth day Conan was almost feeling like his normal self, besides the slight cold that made his throat tickle from time to time ─ the doctor had said that he had post-surgical symptom and that it was quite normal.
But, to be honest, the child pretty much prefered having a ordinary cough than a hole through his abdomen.
"Hey, that game is pretty good, huh?" Genta commented.
"It's all the rage at school right now!" Ayumi added.
"Ah, right there, there!" Mitsuhiko leaned closer to the screen. "Turn left there!"
Conan couldn't say anything, just grinned wider as he moved his character as he was told. His friends had, after all, just made him download a game into his phone, and it was pretty addicting.
A hand came suddenly and plucked the device from his hands. He blinked up at Sonoko, who stood there, putting his phone inside her pocket, before his eyebrow started to twitch. Don't just take things that aren't yours...
"Alright, playtime is over now," she announced, as Conan's three friends groaned. "The patient will go straight to his room."
Ran just giggled a bit at the children's displeasure, smiling apologetically at them while gently pushing Conan's wheelchair forward.
"And the kids should go home because it's getting late!" Sonoko added raising her fist in the air.
"Alright then, see you later, Sonoko-neechan," he said to the older girl, with a fake smile on his face.
She paused for a moment, before his words really dawned. "What did you say, little brat-?!" Sonoko stepped up and, just in that moment, the phone slipped out her pocket.
Before clattering into the ground with a sickening sound. Everyone paused at that, closing their eyes on instinct. When they opened, Conan saw his phone on the floor and gasped. "Ah!" he shouted, before glaring at the older girl. "You did it in purpose, didn't you?"
"Ah, no," she blinked. "It was an accident."
Conan gave her a long look, before scoffing. "I knew you were actually a kid, but didn't think you would have a level of coordination akin to those of a toddler."
"Now, now, Conan-kun, stop it," Ran spoke quickly, picking up his phone and giving it to him while gracing Sonoko with a long look, who scoffed lightly while looking away, offended. She really is a kid sometimes.
Conan gave out at annoyed groan, inspecting his phone. He wasn't happy to find out that there were scratches everywhere, as a product of such a fall. "Guess it's goodbye to you, guys," he sighed, turning to his friends, as Ran began to roll him away. They waved at him, big smiles on their faces, until they disappeared from his sight.
As the three went back to his room, Conan ignored the girls chatting above him, more preoccupied at the moment with his phone. He frowned, annoyed, when he noted the game app opening in a slower pace, bugging every once in a while.
Great, this thing is practically broken, he directed a dirty look to Sonoko, who remained unaware of it.
"If he's released in two to three days, it'll be during the festival," she commented. "Three days from now we'll be performing our play."
Conan's attention diverted to the conversation at that. He remembered Ran practising for the play a few weeks ago. She had been chosen for the role of the princess and had tried to act her part with Kogoro. At that time, Conan had confirmed that the man definitely wasn't fit for the role of the knight ─ he had decided that wearing a paper bag as a mask was a good idea, for goodness sake!
The scene of the kiss had worried the detective, but soon he was calmed down when she told him Sonoko had decided to dress as a man and do what she could ─ all boys had been cowards, Ran had explained.
"What are you going to do about picking up this kid?" Sonoko asked.
"Don't worry," Ran assured. "I'll ask my dad to."
"Oh yeah, did you call him?" she suddenly said, with a big grin on her face.
"Him?" her friend blinked.
"Shinichi-kun," she stated, as if it was obvious ─ which it was. "If you tell him you'll be the heroine of the play, he might fly back."
Conan laughed lightly, picturing that. "Be careful, Sonoko-neechan," he piped in. "He might steal your role as the knight to kiss Ran-neechan."
"Ah, not my role, actually," she laughed, awkwardly, as she raised her arm. Only then did Conan notice the bandages covering her arm. "I sprained it during the play rehearsal. I had to give up playing the knight."
"Then, who is it?" he asked, curiously.
"You know, Araide-sensei," Ran explained. "He was helping with the directing and decided to do the role."
"Eh?" he said, with a mischievous smile on his face, before turning to his phone. "Don't worry, Sonoko-neechan, leave this to me."
"H-Hey, Conan-kun..."
"Now we're talking the same language, kid."
"Sonoko!"
Despite Ran's loud protest, Conan managed to type:
"Remember that nice and cool doctor I talked you about last February?
He's going to play the role of the protagonist at your class' play for the Cultural Festival, along Ran-neechan, the princess.
... And now that I think about it, I believe I read something about a kiss at the end of the play..."
His finger hovered over the 'send' button.
"... Besides I know he won't come," he heard Ran say. "I haven't heard of him ever since I called to tell him about Conan-kun."
Conan hesitated, realizing he hadn't really heard about him for a long time either. Now, the child hadn't have the time to actually call him, but Shinichi certainly could've done it instead.
If he knew about his situation, why wouldn't the detective call? Conan frowned.
For someone who went all the way to Beika just because he had heard about an incident that he guessed Conan was involved with, almost six months ago, it didn't really make any sense.
His eyes focused on the text he had just written and frowned, not having the sightless idea of what to do.
At least until he spotted a male nurse on the end of the corridor, going the opposite direction from them, a facemask and a surgical hat tightly kept in place. Time seemed to slow down as he passed by them and, slowly, Conan began to turn his head towards his direction.
Every single thing around them seemed to stop moving as the two pairs of identical bright blue eyes met.
And then it came back to him suddenly, again. Those reassuring words and that calming warmth.
He didn't miss the way the nurse's eyes opened, slightly, when the kid reached for his own forehead. That confused him, greatly, for a moment until he remembered...
Those same eyes looking at him, with a rather tender expression, while their owner sat at his bedside.
So, without breaking his gaze, Conan pushed the 'send' button.
Ping.
The nurse went white at that instant, not failing to notice the way Conan's shocked stare turned into a rather angry glare.
Naturally, the teenager started running away before the child had the chance to say anything.
As if I would let you!
Impulsively, the kid jumped off his wheelchair and took off running, badly startling the two girls who, after recovering, shouted his name. He ignored them, in favour of going faster.
He didn't care if he wasn't supposed to run in the halls. He didn't care that his abdomen was hurting, clearly complaining about the rough treatment it was receiving. He really didn't.
All he cared about at the moment was about catching up with that person.
Conan couldn't let him go, not when he was this close.
Not again.
Sadly his little legs did not manage to catch up. The nurse took a sharp turn, then another, and soon he was out of Conan's sight, lost among the crowd of people in the waiting room. Damn it, he cursed, desperately searching for any hidden spots, doors but he was basically gone. He couldn't have gone too far.
People were beginning to stare at him, as he wandered around, mostly annoyed about a child roaming bothering all around them while playing what it seemed to be a game of hide and seek.
Any other day he would've cared, but not today.
His eyes fell on the restroom doors and opened, slightly. As he was about to go there, however, a pair of hands held him in place. "Conan-kun!" he heard Ran's unmistakable voice behind his head. "What do you think you're doing?!"
Panic settled in, as he turned around to face her. "Eh... I..." he struggled to come up with a decent response. "I... I needed to go to the toilet!"
Her eyebrow raised. "You just went there."
"But I really need to!"
"Conan-kun, you better-"
He didn't get to listen to the end of her scolding because he managed to get away from her grip and rush towards the restroom. There's no way I'm letting him away with this, he decided, looking through every single stall.
You can't hide forever, Onii... chan.
Or maybe he could, he realized as he stared with a blank expression at the completely empty stall, which happened to be the last one. He was the only one in that restroom.
He was alone.
He must have escaped when I was distracted talking with Ran-neechan.
So he just stayed there, silently still, until the quietness was broken with Ran's angry call. He didn't complain, as the girl took him by the hand and started to drag him away, promising to get a pot for him to pee instead if he didn't behave.
He didn't complain at all. That, above everything, got Ran seriously concerned.
"What were you thinking?! Why buy lilies?!"
"Man, you're annoying! Anything is fine as long as it's flowers!"
Conan felt his wheelchair stop moving as the two girls paused, looking at each other, confusion written all over their faces. At first, he was feeling puzzled as well, until he recognized those Osaka-accented voices coming from his room.
"You idiot! Lilies symbolize 'beheading', it's bad luck! We came to visit a sick patient!"
"If that's the case, say so from the start, dumbass!"
Evidently so, the child's confused stare shifted to a pretty blank look when he saw them both yelling at each other's faces, not noticing them watching the pair from the doorway.
"Hattori-kun and Kazuha-chan!" at Ran's voice, the other two finally turned around. "What are you doing here?"
"Ah, I heard the kid got injured so we got on a plane right after school," Heiji told her.
"So how is he doing?" Kazuha asked.
"They say he's recovering steadily and should be out in two or three days," Ran explained.
Kazuha was genuinely relieved to hear that, but her relief was soon replaced by annoyment when Heiji sent her to buy some different flowers, alongside Ran and Sonoko ─ so she wouldn't get lost, he had said.
"So, why?" Conan asked immediately after the girls were gone, climbing up the bed.
"How cold!" he grinned, sitting beside him. "After I came all this way to see you!"
"What I'm asking is why did you choose lilies on purpose?" the little boy replied, with a raised eyebrow. "Do you really want me dead that much?"
"So you knew," Heiji laughed a bit. "Of course you did."
Conan's expression did not change.
"I called you this morning because there was something I wanted to talk about, but Occhan picked up instead," Heiji told him. "He said you somehow managed to get shot and almost killed in a camp with your friends. Seriously, how do you-?"
"You're stalling," Conan pointed out, eyes sharpening. "What is it what you wanted to tell me?"
Heiji paused, giving the kid a long look, before sighing. "I investigated Watanabe Satoshi's death, just like you asked," Conan's eyes opened slightly wider at that. "I went to Ekoda Hospital and I found someone that witnessed something interesting."
"Something interesting?"
"The victim talking with some suspicious character late into the night. Long silver hair. Black clothes."
Conan frowned at that. Gin.
"The witness was Tanaka Taro," Conan's eyes lowered to the mattress as the older boy said that. "He was shot in the head a few days ago. Nobody could found the killer, not even me, no matter how hard I tried. It was like he had vanished into the thin air."
"He was silenced," the child concluded, stroking his chin in deep through.
Heiji settled the flowers in the spot beside him. "Before that, I saw the victim taking with somebody else," he explained, as he leaned back into the mattress. "He seemed to be threatening him and Tanaka-sensei refused, even if this person said they would kill him and his lover."
"Threatening him?!" Heiji was startled at the sudden exclamation. "What do you know about him?"
"Close to nothing, really," the teenage detective blinked. "Only that he's a highschool student... Oh yeah, and he was visiting a friend. His name is Kuroba Kaito."
Conan pondered about it for a moment. Kuroba Kaito. Now, that sounded familiar, for some reason. "Then again, that person..." he mumbled to himself, deep in thought. "Could he be Singani?"
"Singani?"
"I asked Haibara-san about the reason for my brother's murder attempt, but she refused to say anything more than the codename 'Singani'," Conan explained. "I suppose that member has something to do with Shinichi-niichan's disappearance, but..."
Heiji gave him a long look. "That guy couldn't be Singani," he said, with certainty. "When he said that his lover could die he was probably just bluffing to pressure Tanaka-sensei to do whatever he wanted him to do. Kato-san is still alive even if a long time has passed ever since."
For some reason that made Conan frown even more.
"You know, Kato-san came to me a few days ago to resume that investigation after her loved died," he told him. "She told me he had told her they were investigating him when Watanabe-sensei died, but he had been nowhere close to the scene of the crime. There wasn't anything that could make him a suspect either."
"So what?" the child replied, lowly, and with a tint of annoyment on his voice.
Hattori sighed. "He was interrogated by Kudo," he said. "Her lover had told her once and she hadn't given any further through, but..."
Now, Hattori had expected any kind of reaction from this kid ─ he had believed nothing could ever surprise him when it came to Conan ─ but indifference was none of them.
Then he realized, it wasn't that he didn't care. Probably, Conan cared too much.
"Say," Hattori spoke but Conan didn't even look at him. "How did you know there was something wrong with that fire?"
The child was silent for a few seconds, before sighing. "More than a year ago, Shinichi-niichan sneaked out pretty late into the night, so I followed him," he confessed, fists clenching around the blankets, tightly. "I saw him talking with Gin."
Hattori sat up at that, eyes wide as he stared at the young boy. "Kudo did?!" He really didn't like where this was going.
"Yeah," he nodded, slowly. "I was almost caught by Vodka and had to run away so I didn't hear much, but... I heard that. I clearly heard the victim's name. That happened the night before the fire."
None said anything about it. Conan could see Hattori was clearly shaken by the news as he quietly sat there, pale-faced, letting those news dawn on him. When his eyebrows were slightly brought together, the child directed his gaze towards the window.
Conan knew what kind of conclusion Heiji was coming to, and he didn't like it in the sightless.
"Hey, Conan-kun," he started, softly, but the child did not seem to be able ─ or want ─ to acknowledge him. "Conan-kun, look at me," he called, a bit louder. Conan's eyes closed tightly, refusing to do so. "Conan!"
"He is not, okay?!" the child suddenly snapped, angrily, as he turned to face him. When he noticed Hattori wincing a bit at his loud outburst, he paused, then gazed at his hands. They were shaking now. "He... He can't be..." Conan forced a smile, which only caused him to look even more miserable. "He wouldn't..."
Heiji did not find the words to answer.
Just sat there, staring at the little boy that had just pulled the covers above his head, hiding himself from the outside word inside the safety of a cocoon of blankets.
And he knew he couldn't help the young detective, even if he desperately wanted to.
Night had fallen hours ago, yet there he was. Not a soul was supposed to be awake in such an ungodly hour, besides a certain little boy.
The child paid no mind to the late hour as he continued to scroll down in his phone. His eyes rapidly read everything he could find in the web, but there was no difference. Watanabe Satoshi's dead was dubbed an accident, and Tanaka Taro's a mystery. Singani was still an ordinary alcoholic drink, and certainly not related to any scary criminal syndicate.
He knew his entire search would be fruitless, but he needed to find something ─ anything ─ that could prove Hattori wrong. Conan was sure there must be proof there ─ there had to be ─ and he needed to find it ─ he definitely would ─ so the mystery could finally be solved.
As he continued to look, his phone screen suddenly froze, and mentally cursed Sonoko for letting it fall. He tried to make it work again, anxiety gnawing him from the inside ─ he had to hurry ─ and finally, finally, it worked.
Then, in the silence of the night, he heard it.
Click.
Slowly turning his head to the side, he realized what the sound was at the sight of a gun muzzle pointed right at his forehead. Eyes opened, widely, he stared at the face of the girl he certainly didn't expect to be there.
... H-Haibara-san?!
"I'm sorry," she said to him, the grip of her gun unwavering. "It seems like the cruel, black blood still circulates inside me."
"What?" Conan managed to choke out.
"Ah, you don't understand? My identity has been discovered," Conan's eyes went wide at those words. "By those people you call 'men in black'."
The child remained perfectly still, frozen in place. He couldn't understand how this came to happen.
To think she would pull something like this...
"How?" he asked, struggling to keep his voice even.
"Singani," she said, and Conan frowned slightly at that. "Turns out he was close to you, very close to you, yet you had no idea. He figured out you were aware of the existence of the Organization and started investigating you. It wasn't long until he found out about me and my real identity."
"Then, why aren't you already dead?" Conan's eyes sharpened.
Haibara let out a very cold, yet amused laugh at his response.
"I also thought I'd be killed immediately but they told me that if I return to the Organization, they'd dismiss my betrayal and pretend it never happened. The reason is... they want to continue the Apotoxin-4869 research that came to an abrupt halt from my absence."
"So you came to kill me because I know about the Organization's existence?" Conan forced a confident smile, even if he was sweating profusely and had yet to move a muscle.
"Yes, that was the required condition for taking me back. Of course, all of those that are closest to you will be taken care of tomorrow," her head tilted to a side, and her smirk widened. "I'm sorry, the Professor is being held hostage. Right now, all I can do is try to save him alone."
Conan's teeth clenched. There's something wrong with what she just said... Very wrong.
"Too bad you didn't realize who Singani was before it was too late."
"... You're lying," he suddenly said, taking the girl by surprise. "He... He wouldn't do that."
"Oh?" her smirk returned. "How do you know?"
Haibara saw hesitation behind those blue eyes, but paid no mind as she placed the gun closer to his head. The boy flinched away, yet remained perfectly still after that.
"Sorry," finally, she said. "I don't have any other choice."
Blue eyes went wide with terror as her finger began to curl around the trigger.
Bang!
His heart did not stop, yet started pounding heavily due to the scare he had just gone through. He was shaken, terrified, out of breath and, above all, confused because he had suddenly found himself face to face to a bouquet of small white flowers.
"What would you do?" the flowers were moved away so Conan could be the faint smile on Haibara's face.
"Huh?" he raised an eyebrow.
"If I really was discovered and given the choice, I'd definitely do what I just did," she replied, her voice quiet and even, as she recollected the flowers from the tip of the gun. "Although if that really did happen, they'd probably just kill me and everyone else involved with me."
He watched her go and put them in a nearby vase and found his eyebrow twitching. She had played him like a song, yet again.
"Well, if that were to happen, you'd most likely die first," she laughed, amused. "Seems like even the brightest minds would not work properly if they are in panic, failing to make a escape plan even with a phone on their hands."
The boy blinked twice, before glancing at the device in his hand and groaning, loudly. God, he felt so stupid now.
"Did you come here to roleplay or just to laugh at me?"
"I came to help you face the truth," Haibara replied and at first, Conan did not understand what she meant with that. "It has been more than three months. There's absolutely no way you have no idea of who Singani is."
"I told you I still don't know."
"Ah, really?" Ai smirked. "But, just now, it seemed to me that you knew him pretty well, Kudo-kun."
She didn't get a verbal reply to that, but the way he stared at her for a long moment before his gaze flickered to the night sky behind the window gave her the answer she had been searching for.
So, quietly as ever, the little girl left him alone with his own thoughts.
And he just sat there, a serious expression on his face as he began to think over it again. His gaze fell on the lilies Hattori had brought before and remembered.
"Lilies symbolize 'beheading'!"
I recall Mom saying something about it before...
Then, beside them, stood those that Haibara had just left behind and slowly slid off his bed. Standing right in front of them, his eyes focused in the snow white, little flowers.
Hanakotoba, language of flowers.
Ai had brought him a bouquet of edelweiss.
Conan's lips twitched upwards as he read the ultra-girly sign in front of him. It didn't really take a detective to figure out who was behind that.
"The Super Love Romance That Surpasses Romeo and Juliet!
Shuffle Romance
Class 2-B"
Well, he had read the script before ─ courtesy of the one and only Suzuki Sonoko ─ and he could only describe the play as incredibly corny and sickly sweet.
Hadn't Ran been the protagonist and the fact that he had promised her he would come to see her, he would probably have just played the sick card and stayed home. As things were now, however, the child could only re-positionate his facemask and continue walking inside.
Even if his glasses constantly fogged up from his breath with the mask. So annoying.
Speaking of annoying, Conan couldn't help but sigh tiredly when he saw two people talking with Sonoko and Ran behind the stage. "Hattori-san and Kazuha-san are here, too?" he said with a plain voice.
Kogoro scowled behind him.
Grinning at him, Hattori waved his hand while Kazuha just smiled at him. Ran, on the other hand, rushed to him.
"Conan-kun, you came!" she smiled at him.
"I told him to stay in bed today since his cold isn't over yet," Kogoro leaned forward to mess with the kid's hair, which only earned him an irritated grunt. "But he wouldn't listen. He said 'I promised, so I have to go'."
Ran looked concerned for a moment before bending down to look at him in the eye. "Are you sure you're okay?"
He seemed to hesitate for a second. "I'm fine," he forced a smile behind his mask.
It didn't seem to convince the girl. "You don't have to force yourself-"
"Don't worry, I'm really okay," he hurriedly said, before glancing up to Kogoro. "Maybe we should get going, or we aren't going to get any good seats," before starting to walk away. "Good luck, Ran-neechan!"
"Don't get stage fright," Kogoro told her before following the child.
"Do your best!" Kazuha grinned, before pulling Heiji with her. "Come on, Heiji!"
"I'm going, I'm going... Geez."
Despite all their support, Ran didn't find herself smiling back. Instead, her lips pressed together in a thin line as she watched Conan's back.
Just now, his usually bright and lively eyes were dull and empty and she could see it, even if he had tried to hide it from her. He didn't look too sick but that made her even more worried instead. Because if it was just a cold, she might know what was going on.
As things were now, she had absolutely no idea of what was going through his young, bright mind.
"You need to do better than that, you know that, right?"
Conan blinked up at Hattori, who was sitting right beside him. "What do you mean?" he asked, genuine confusion plastered in his features.
"You aren't fooling anyone with those unusually awful acting skills," the detective of the West explained. "Anyone can see you aren't okay from a mile away."
Finally understanding the meaning behind his words, Conan looked away from him and towards the stage, even if the curtains had yet to be risen.
"What do you expect me to do?" the little boy replied, with an exasperated sigh. "I can't just tell Ran-neechan... It would break her heart."
"But what about yours?" Heiji frowned, slightly.
And as he had expected, the kid did not reply. His eyes were hidden by the light reflecting on his glasses, making it impossible for Heiji to know what he was thinking.
"Tell me, Conan," the child didn't even look at him, yet he could hear the genuine concern on the Osakan voice. It didn't make it better for him, though. "What's in your mind, at this moment?"
The fragments of old forgotten memories he would see in his dreams. Articles he had read about the incident from one year ago. Hattori's words as he told him about his investigation.
The gun. That sharp feeling on his neck. The scar on his shoulder. Blood transfusions. Pain. Fear. Tears.
"Oniichan!"
A hand gently stroking his hair as he fell asleep.
Shinichi's icy cold eyes.
It all came into his mind, jumbled together without making any sense, but managed to give the little child a mild headache.
"A lot," he simply replied, finally facing him, honest for the first time in a while.
Heiji's stared into those troubled eyes before his gaze softened and placed his hand on top of the child's little shoulder.
Conan did not flinch away at the contact, just smiled softly. "I'm sorry for snapping at you the other day. It wasn't right," his eyes closed and his hands clenched against each other. "It's just that... I don't know, there's so much going on."
"I know, kid," Heiji's hand squeezed his shoulder, trying to show his comfort. "I know."
After all, Hattori could tell. He could be a brilliant, mature and impressively perceptive child, but at the end of the day Conan was just that, a young little boy that had a far too heavy burden on his small shoulders. He shouldn't be dealing with all of this.
But Heiji knew that, even if it was still very young, Conan was a detective. If he, or anyone, tried to stop him, he would still find a way to search for the truth.
Heiji understood that feeling perfectly. Because they were the same.
Before he could say anything, however, the lights suddenly went off.
"We will now begin Class 2-B's play, 'Shuffle Romance'," a voice said over the speakers. "Please enjoy it."
Conan smiled to himself, leaning against the seat and watched the curtains open to show Ran, dressed as a princess, standing behind a castle's tower window, hands clasped together.
"Oh, almighty God Zeus, why do you ignore me like this?" Ran began, before pressing her hands against her face, sobbing. "Or are you saying that I should accept this cursed marriage I do not desire?"
"Yo, I've been waiting for your big entrance!" Kogoro's yell echoed in the entire school theater. As a result, every single soul stared at him, so he laughed awkwardly. "That's my daughter."
Laughter erupted in the room prompting Kazuha, who sat right beside him, to try to shrink away from sight. "How embarrassing," she blushed. "I don't like this seat."
Sighing tiredly, the child focused back on the play. Now Ran was sitting in a carriage, knights surrounding her as they advanced. Suddenly, a group of bandits attacked and Conan couldn't really be impressed. It was obvious this was going to happen.
"Who goes there?" one of the knights suddenly yelled. "Don't you know this is the Bridge Kingdom's Princess Heart?"
Heiji scoffed. "Of course they knew, isn't it obvious they want to attack her?" Conan watched as he rested his cheek on his open palm.
"Believe me, I have been forced to watch loads of plays by my mother," Conan rolled his eyes. "This is far from the most nonsensical one I had seen."
"Really?"
"It was an adaptation from the Greek myth 'The Golden Apple'," he commented. "Turned out Paris was actually the archangel Michael."
"That was so random," Hattori stifled a laugh. "Well, at least nobody died, right-?"
"The actor who played Michael. Shot in the chest. In the middle of the play."
"Ouch."
"Yeah," Conan frowned, turning back to the play. "I hope nobody gets killed this time around..."
"Hey, no need to be so gloomy..."
When Ran's bodyguards were all defeated and the princess dragged away from her carriage, Kazuha suddenly raised from her seat and started screaming. "Ran-chan, use your karate!" at that Heiji, who sat beside her, visibly winced. "You can take care of these freaks!"
Heiji sweatdropped. "Not it's me who doesn't like this seat."
A pitch black, crow's feather danced into the air in front of their eyes, causing the princess' kidnappers to look away from their victim. Then, a dark figure fell from the sky, slashing through one of the men's chest.
"T-The Black Cloaked Knight!" the other screamed.
The black knight said nothing as he slowly stood up, letting the audience to see a boy, covered in a black cloak and a helmet that hid his face to everyone else. Kazuha squealed ─ because he was oh-so-cool! ─ while Conan could only stare.
"What a show off..." Heiji commented.
Yet the child said nothing, as he gazed at the cloaked figure in the middle of the stage, completely dressed in black. Black, he sighed, with a resigned smile. Now that he thought about it, Ran had said that the knight's image was based on Shinichi's. How ironic.
"Oh, unnamed knight with your black cloak, if you will grant me my wish," Ran continued, once the enemy had retreated in fear. "Please take off that dark mask and show me your true face!"
The knight didn't do as he was asked and, instead, turned around to face the princess. Wordlessly, he walked closer to her and tenderly enveloped Ran in a hug.
The entire audience was thrilled. Kogoro was pissed.
And Conan was surprised. That wasn't in the script, was it?
It seemed like Ran didn't expect it either if the genuine shock on her face was something to go by, but then decided to play along. "Oh, might you be Spade?" she broke the hug to look at his hidden face. "Long ago, you were banned from this land by my father, but now you've become prince of the Trump Kingdom," she leaned closer. "If you have not forgotten about our childhood promise... Then please... please show me on these lips."
As they face slowly inched closer, Kogoro lost it so badly that Kazuha had to physically restrain him. Heiji only watched them, amused, before turning to the child.
There was a frown carved on his face. To suddenly change the script so he would hug Ran-neechan... It's so unlike Araide-sensei, he realized. Then... Then who is beneath that helmet?
Princess Heart and the Black Knight didn't get to kiss, however. A scream broke through the room, startling everyone.
And man laid dead on the floor, his empty cup open and forgotten at his side.
A/N:
ajjr12: They probably will in the future, but for now I'm not quite sure when. If Kogoro and Ran found out about it, I'm sure they wouldn't let Conan roam around that freely, so it's a bit tricky to figure out the right time.
Dy: Thanks for pointing it out my mistake! And I agree to what you said about how Conan calls Shinichi. In fact, I hestitated about putting it in the first time Conan called Shinichi 'Onii-chan'. What I wanted at the time, however, was to show a side of Conan that was a bit more childish, that he would only show around his brother once he began to warm up to him a tiny bit. I believed it was sweet at that time, but I don't know, lol!
XxThe-Crest-Of-AnubisxX: Yeah, I'm probably going to stick to the canon, with some changes here and there, until a bit towards the end of this story. I might change my mind before that, however.