Chapter 12: A Sense of Normalcy

"Well, we're off," said Heiji. His bag was carelessly slung over his shoulder, and Kazuha hovered by his side. She sent an apologetic look to Ran.

"Sorry I couldn't be more helpful," she said glumly. Ran allowed a small smile to cross her face as she shook her head.

"Don't worry about it. I'm not much help either, and I'm the one with the… problem," she said quietly. Kazuha sent a sad smile her way before both Osakans left. Ran closed the door when she was sure they'd gone, and sighed.

"This weekend felt really… strange," she admitted when she spotted Shinichi staring inquisitively at her. "Or… well, I guess stranger than the past few weeks have been…"

"How so?" He hadn't noticed anything out of the ordinary aside from the obvious. Ran puffed out her cheeks for a moment in mild irritation—it sent a painful twinge to his heart. It was a very 'Ran' expression, and he wondered if he'd ever see it on the proper face again.

"Well, it wasn't that long ago that you were still just Conan-kun," she explained a bit sheepishly, "and everyone was treating you as such. Suddenly you're not, and I just spent the weekend with people who weren't pretending, even though they used to." Shinichi grimaced.

"Sure, if you can call what Hattori does 'pretending.' But Toyama-san didn't know, either, and only just found out as well." He scratched his cheek. "But I guess I can see where you're coming from."

"You sound so formal when you address Kazuha-chan like that," said Ran with a frown. "It's not as if you're strangers." Shinichi huffed, mildly irritable, as he turned and headed for the living room, Ran following behind him.

"Technically, we are strangers," he said glumly. "She's only met 'me' a few times, after all. Up until now I've only spoken to her as Conan, so I'm not exactly sure how to address her." Ran blinked a few times before snorting.

"I guess being little has done you some good, after all," she remarked at his confused expression. "You never considered stuff like that before, so you always came off as rude." Shinichi rolled his eyes.

"This situation doesn't count," he said coolly. "After only treating her as a 'neechan,' where exactly am I supposed to go from there? I don't think she'd particularly like a more familiar form of address."

His words were meant as a denial, but they only served to make Ran laugh harder, much to his bewilderment. Not that seeing her in a good mood was bad, per se, but…

"That right there!" she said with a knowing smile. "Before Tropical Land, you never would have been so considerate. You'd have called her however you liked regardless of how she felt about it." He opened his mouth to refute that, but promptly shut it again when he realized she was right.

"I-it's lunchtime!" he exclaimed loudly in a clumsy attempt to change the subject. "When are we eating? I'm starving!" He could hear Ran stifling a snicker behind him as he hurried to the kitchen.

He looked around as Ran came to a stop behind him, half expecting to see Subaru cooking something. Although it was Sunday, the man was nowhere to be found. Well, at the very least, Ran would be more comfortable without him around, but Shinichi just hoped he was laying as low as possible. After the Bourbon incident, he worried the agent would be caught if he went someplace other than here or the university. Not that Akai couldn't take care of himself, but all of that careful planning could potentially be wasted. Amuro proved that.

While Shinichi was busy with those thoughts, Ran side-stepped around him and checked the fridge and the pantry, frowning a little.

"… We have packaged curry and instant ramen," she said flatly. Shinichi blinked.

"Huh?"

"We were running a bit low on ingredients, and I'd planned on shopping for more sometime next week, but," she said with a bit of a sigh as she closed the pantry door, "we did have unexpected company, and Hattori-kun eats a lot more than I'd realized."

"In that case, we'll go with the Ramen, and then head to the market later this afternoon," said Shinichi rather dismissively. Ran's expression turned sheepish.

"Actually, could we go to the department store, instead?" she asked hesitantly. Shinichi blinked. While they could still get groceries from the department store, it was a little out of the way.

"I guess? Why?" he asked. She flushed and averted her gaze.

"I… I don't want to keep using the guest soap," she replied in a tiny voice. Shinichi blinked again, an amused laugh threatening to bubble out of his chest.

"What's wrong with the guest soap?"

"… I think you might be allergic to it…" came the unexpected reply.

"Are you sure?" he asked incredulously. She gave him a flat glare.

"Have you ever used the guest soap?" she asked.

"No, I haven't. Why are you only bringing this up now, though?"

"I wasn't entirely sure at first—mind you, I'm still not sure. The reaction's mild enough to dismiss a couple of times." She shifted uncomfortably on her feet. "I just… don't really like being itchy all the time…" Her cheeks flushed lightly. Shinichi frowned despite his own warming cheeks.

"What kind of itchy?" he asked hesitantly. "More importantly, what kind of guest soap did my parents get? I didn't think I was allergic to anything…" He mumbled to himself, puzzling over what he could possibly have an allergy to. It was a nice distraction from everything that was going on lately, and he really didn't want Ran to be even more uncomfortable than she already was.

"I'm not sure what the brand is," admitted Ran as she followed him to the bathroom. "But it smells nice." Shinichi stifled a laugh, so it came out sounding like a snort.

"With my mom, it would have to smell nice," he said as they entered the room. "Where is it?"

Ran pointed to a block of soap that was rose pink in color, and Shinichi got closer to analyze it better. There were letters engraved in the bar, mostly worn away from use, but he could still make out what it said.

L'ESSENCE DE BEAUTÉ

"… Of course, she would buy French soap for our guests," he scoffed. He mussed his hair. "It's guest soap. It's not supposed to be that fancy!" Ran gave an almost apologetic smile.

"Isn't it okay? It makes the guests feel special," she said quietly.

"Or itchy," Shinichi pointed out. She flushed, and averted her gaze. He hid a smirk as he coughed into his fist.

"Anyway, I guess we're going to the department store after lunch," he said off-handedly as he walked back to the hall. Ran quickly ran to the kitchen ahead of him to pull out the cup ramen.

Instant ramen, huh? He thought idly. It's been a long time… I wonder if I haven't been spoiled by Ran's cooking…

While Shinichi wasn't a picky eater, living with Ran for so long made him acclimated to her cooking or eating out. The two weeks she'd gone missing, he'd eaten nothing but takeout—when he could eat through the anxiety, that is. When was the last time he'd even had instant food…?

He let out a laugh of disbelief. Why was he even thinking about this? It's not as if he was even going to pay attention to the taste.

It's another distraction, said a small voice in the back of his head that sounded disconcertingly like Haibara. You're latching on to anything that will take your mind off of this hopeless situation.

Of course, then he reprimanded himself for thinking things were hopeless. They weren't hopeless, just… they'd just hit a road block, that's all. Don't be pessimistic—that's Haibara's job.

By the time he settled his inner thoughts, he was surprised to find they'd already eaten and were headed out the door.

I guess it didn't matter, huh?

"Shinichi? Are you okay?" asked Ran, snapping him out of his thoughts. "You've been quiet for a long time—are you still thinking about the soap?"

The innocence of the question caught him off guard, so he let out a snort to hide his discomfort.

"Oh, that," he said, slipping on a mask of indifference. "I'm not sure it's an allergy—a lot of those expensive soaps use different perfumes that can act as an irritant to some people." Ran blinked a few times.

"And people still buy it?" she asked. He nodded.

"Essentially, they're just paying for a brand name to show off how much money they have, or pretend to have—no one buys Prada because it looks good."

"I'm pretty sure your mom's not like that."

"Maybe not in front of you, but she does do it… I'm not sure she even knows she's doing it, to be honest. In this case, though, I think that soap was probably a gift from a company she modeled for when she was in France, or she bought it because she's supporting the company. Knowing her, it's probably the second one."

Ran gave a thoughtful hum as they walked, having opted not to take a taxi. It was only a little farther than the market, and they could always just take one back if they ended up getting too much stuff.

As they walked, they properly caught up with each other—something they hadn't been able to do since Shinichi revealed his identity. Since Shinichi had been living with Ran as Conan, they didn't talk about life at home. Instead, Ran caught him up with everything that had happened at school before her disappearance. Who was dating who, who broke up with who, how well the soccer team was doing. Even though Shinichi wasn't actually on the team, he appreciated knowing anyway.

It was all trivial, everyday stuff he never really cared about or paid attention to before he was poisoned, but he'd eventually hear about it because Sonoko would come to gossip with Ran, and he'd always stuck close by Ran while pretending not to have feeling s for her. He didn't realize how much he missed hearing this stuff.

And now that Shinichi could be truthful, he could talk about more than just the latest mystery book he'd read. He told her what it was like attending elementary school for a second time, and about the shenanigans the children in his class got up to. He told her about Kobayashi-sensei's obsession with Edogawa Ranpo, playfully ignoring when Ran made a jab at his own obsession with Sherlock Holmes.

It felt… nice. Normal. Or as normal as it could be given the circumstances. There was no pretense, no trying not to screw up and give himself away, no fake names. There was just them.

This was how it should have been. How it could have been if he'd told the truth that first day as Conan. How it would have been if he hadn't been shrunk in the first place. Just two teenagers being teenagers together. The nostalgia that hit him was painful, but he found he didn't much care. Right now, he was him and Ran was Ran, and that was all that mattered in that moment.