(no subject)
Title: One Truth, Countless Lies
Rating: Teen+
Chapter: Chapter 3 -- Remembrance Circle
Pairings: None as of now
Story Summary: The BO has been destroyed, but any data that might lead to a cure, as well as Haibara Ai, have perished as well. With this setback, Kudo Shinichi plans to make a move that could be more painful to Ran than telling her the truth.
The sunny weather betrayed the somber mood of the day. The memorial service for a very much alive Kudo Shinichi was about to progress.
Shinichi's mother, Kudo Yukiko, only invited a few people; only four people there were aware that Shinichi wasn't really dead. Those four included Shinichi's mother (his father, Kudo Yusaku, refused to take part - and his mother told those who asked about him that he was too stricken with grief to attend), Hattori Heiji, Agasa Hiroshi, and - of course - Edogawa Conan, who in actuality was Kudo Shinichi. A few of the others there included Megure Juzo; Mouri Kogoro; Mouri Ran; Kisaki Eri; Suzuki Sonoko; Toyama Kazuha; and, surprisingly, Hakuba Saguru - who was leaning against the wall and coolly observing his surroundings. The others were a few friends of Shinichi's from school and some of the people he had helped while on his cases.
Shinichi stood around his few friends and reflected on how precisely he had plotted to set up his “untimely demise”.
The plan was virtually foolproof. The “official” story was that Shinichi had been in an automobile accident so severe that his body couldn't be recovered. His mother had demanded that he fake his death in an open-ended way in case he turned back to normal and wanted to reclaim his name. Shinichi thought it was unnecessary to do so, but his mother insisted he do it that way or she wouldn't go along with it.
Heiji had the idea to make Shinichi's death similar to the first victim in the ”Holmes Lovers” case that they had solved together. In that case, the murdered victim had been set up to drive his car off of a cliff, which resulted in an explosion that made it unable for his body to be recovered. They tweaked it until the story was that the car Shinichi was in crashed through a barrier and went off a cliff. In order to make things as realistic as possible, his mother hired a stunt-man friend to carry out the act as well as a few “eyewitnesses” to “confirm” that Shinichi was in the car that went over as well. It also helped that Shinichi chose a district where there were some really incompetent police officers as well; they basically took the whole “accident” at face value and did no further investigations into the matter.
It had been a lot of work; a lot of deception. But, as far as Shinichi was concerned, it was necessary. This chapter in his life had to end; he could no longer make Ran wait for him by leading her on nor did he want the world to find out about his shrunken state. There was virtually no chance of him turning back permanently, not even now that he had let on what happened to him to those he worked closely with to bring the Black Organization down. Through blood work, research, and speculation, no one came up with an antidote. There was no trace of anything to show he had been poisoned in the first place. If not for DNA evidence, one would come to the conclusion that his story about being shrunken was an elaborate lie and that he was not Kudo Shinichi.
If only it were so, he thought to himself. He craned his neck around to catch a glimpse of Ran. She was sitting with Sonoko on one side of her and Kazuha on the other.
Shinichi thought about the past few days. Ran hadn't said many words since finding out he was “dead”. She also hadn't smiled, nor laughed. It was as if she was an automaton; just going through the motions of her life without a thought about what she was doing. She hadn't even cried since that first night.
He still felt bad about the deception. He knew that he always would. Yet, he was determined that this was the best way. This way, Ran can find someone else that can love her without any obstacles in the way, he thought. His attention was diverted from his thoughts when his mother spoke up.
“Since we are all gathered due to Shinichi's death, it is time that we discuss Shinichi's life,” she said. “Everyone, please take a seat.”
Shinichi's mother had decided on a non-traditional Japanese funeral. It wasn't surprising to anyone who knew her. She had, personally, felt that going through the traditional funeral would be overdoing it, plus she claimed to not feel right about it. Shinichi had felt the same way, so they had decided on a small “Remembrance Circle”. This was so that those who knew him in life could share their stories about him to others, if they chose to do so.
“I'll start us off,” said Shinichi's mother, who had remained standing while everyone else had sat down. She walked towards the front of the group, and faced the small crowd. She took a deep breath, and started.
“As you all know, Shinichi was my son and my only child,” she started. “He was always an inquisitive little boy, far too mature for his own age. While other children were out playing, he could be found inside reading books that were far too advanced for him,” she said as she gave a slight grin. Tears had started to well in her eyes.
Shinichi knew his mother was a good actress. She had told him that she would get into the role of “grieving mother” by pretending he had really died. Shinichi (and Heiji, who was there at the time) had both looked appalled and had protested, but she laughed lightly and claimed that “she still had it, and she'd show them a thing or two” before going off into a tirade about how she would act. Shinichi and Heiji both had to talk her out of a few excessive things (like fainting, or going into hysterics), but other than that her plans had been good.
He listened to her continue on for almost ten minutes. She talked about how he had come to love Soccer. She spoke of how he had discovered his love for solving cases. She injected a few humorous (and embarrassing) stories of times he had gotten in trouble for doing things he shouldn't. She paused to regain her composure at set intervals. She played her part well.
She wrapped up her speech. “My son had all too short a time here on Earth, but I truly believe that he had lived his life to the fullest up to that point. I miss him so much, there's no one that can replace him in my heart,” she said. “If there's anyone else that wants to come up here and talk about him, feel free to do so,” she remarked, as she went to sit down.
The people there looked around to each other. A lot of them were too shy to go up there after such a speech. After about thirty seconds, Dr. Agasa slowly stood up and walked to the front.
“I've known Shinichi since he was a small child,” he started. “He was more serious than most children, but he was such a vibrant child.”
Dr. Agasa spoke about Shinichi for about five minutes. He related a few stories about Shinichi helping him with failed experiments that had the small audience chuckling (and Shinichi fuming at the embarrassment of it all). He wrapped up his speech as well, and sat back down.
The next person that stood up was Heiji. He walked to the front of the audience.
“Though I didn't know Kudo Shinichi as long as most of you, meeting and working with him had a major impact on my life,” he started. “Though a lot of you don't know it, we had crossed paths many times while working on the same case.”
Heiji's speech had been plotted out between him and Shinichi. Another part of the meticulously calculated plan. However, planning one thing and enacting it successfully are two different things.
Heiji looked at Shinichi and started. “The Kudo I knew wa... was intelligent, and had a quick wi... wit,” Heiji stuttered.
Shinichi looked up at him. He knew that Heiji had memorized the speech, so why was he stuttering? Maybe he's just nervous and not good at public speaking, he thought.
Heiji continued. “People were oft.. often comparing us, so ini...initially I saw him as a rival,” he stated. “I even ca... came all the way from Osaka to cha... challenge him one time,” he stuttered out.
Heiji made the mistake of looking over at Shinichi again. It was the worst thing he could have done. Shinichi mournfully had his head slightly bowed and was shaking his head from side to side as if he were completely sympathetic and wasn't the one being talked about.
“That first time we met, he hrmppt,” Heiji had to clamp his hand over his mouth.
Shinichi looked at Heiji, who had his hand clamped over his mouth and had a horrified expression on his face. He rolled his eyes. Don't tell me this idiot actually took to heart my Mother's suggestions on acting this out, he thought to himself. He hoped that Heiji would quit his horrible acting long enough to look at him and see him shake his head no, but the other boy refused to meet his eye.
Heiji took a deep breath, and started to continue. “As I was saying, the first time we met, he showed me that solving cases wasn't about competition, it was... it was... was... hrupth!”
Shinichi looked up sharply at Heiji. He had clamped his hand over his mouth once again, and had turned away from the audience. His shoulders were slightly shaking, and there was a muffled and indistinguishable sound coming from him. A horrifying realization washed over Shinichi's mind.
This IDIOT is trying not to laugh! Shinichi thought, angrily. He quickly (and fearfully) looked around to see if anyone else had caught on. No one else had; to them it looked like Heiji was just all choked up. This idiot is going to ruin everything! Shinichi fumed.
Heiji regained his composure, and turned to face the audience. He had tears in his eyes, but not for the reasons they thought. He glanced over to Shinichi, who was sending him a death glare. Heiji resolved, in his mind, not to look at Shinichi for the rest of his speech.
“I'm sorry, just thinking about this loss has me all cho... choked up,” Heiji said. The tears (from laughter) in his eyes overspilled, making it seem to everyone around him that he really was grieving. Everyone was touched that he, a boy, was crying in public over the loss of his friend. Even Shinichi's mother had been fooled into thinking that Heiji had taken note of her coaching and beamed slightly at him.
Shinichi knew better, however, and was not amused. As Heiji continued his speech, Shinichi thought about all the murders that he had witnessed and tried to decide which one would be most fitting for Heiji.
Heiji rattled on a few more minutes about Shinichi, and sat down. Kazuha had given him a look of sympathy, and was patting his shoulders. This made the matter worse, and before long he was shaking again and tears were rolling down his cheeks. He refused to look over at Shinichi, who was still plotting Heiji's “untimely demise” in anger.
After Heiji's “touching” speech, person after person got up to talk about Shinichi. Megure-keibu, Sonoko, a few of his schoolmates and Soccer team buddies, and even Ran's parents, Kogoro and Eri. When it looked like no one else was going to make a speech, Ran stood up.
Ran, he thought as he watched her slowly make her way to the front. He didn't believe that she would get up, and marveled at her courageousness. I'm so sorry for putting you through this Ran, he thought as he mentally berated himself.
Ran faced the crowd, and started to speak. “Um... as you all know, Shinichi and I were very good friends,” she said, softly. “I still can't truly believe that he's gone.”
Shinichi watched as her bottom lip quivered and her eyes filled with tears for the first time since that day she found out he was “dead”. She started to speak again.
“We grew up together... we went to school together, we played together, we did a lot of things together,” she said. “When I was sad, he would cheer me up. When I was mad, he'd make me laugh. When I was bored, he'd do something stupid to snap me out of it.”
Shinichi smiled. He remembered all those times as if they happened yesterday. Ran had been everything to him. Even when he tried to act all grown up and like he didn't need a “girl” friend, she had managed to rein him back to her.
He continued to listen to her. She talked about how they grew up together. She shared some of the moments they had at school together. She talked about how he had saved her life a few times. The tears that she had in her eyes threatened to spill over, but never did. She concluded her speech, and went to sit back down. No one else got up after Ran.
It was with her commentary that the memorial service for Kudo Shinichi ended.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
That night, Shinichi couldn't sleep. He went into the living room only to find Ran was there as well. She was sitting on the windowsill and staring out at the night sky. He walked over to her and sat opposite of her.
“Ran-neechan, are you alright?” he asked. She had a look on her face that was pensive and pained at the same time.
She looked over to the small boy. “I'll be okay, Conan-kun. I'm just thinking about something.”
“What are you thinking about?” he asked. He already suspected what her answer would be, but he thought that if she talked about it, she would feel better.
“I was just... regretting a few things,” she said, softly.
“Regretting what?” he asked, curiously.
“I was regretting... that.. that I didn't tell Shinichi a very important thing,” she said as her voice started to quiver.
He didn't want to push her too hard, but he knew that she needed to get it off her chest. “What important thing?” he asked.
Ran took her eyes off the night sky and looked over at him. The look on her face was heartbreaking for Shinichi. “I was regretting that I didn't have the courage to tell him that I loved him.”
Shinichi watched as tears rolled down her cheeks the first time since she found out about his “death”. There was no sound coming from her, no sobbing or anything. Just silent tears. He decided to speak up one more time.
“Ran, for what it's worth... I'm pretty sure that Shinichi-niichan loved you as well.” There. He had said the words that he had longed to say to her for so long. Even if it wasn't from the “real” him, at least he had said it to her.
Ran smiled at him for the first time in almost a week. “Maybe you're right, Conan-kun. Maybe you're right.”
She pulled him over into her arms, and held him against her until the sun came over the horizon.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The two months since Kudo Shinichi's funeral had flown by. Life moved on, however painful, for Mouri Ran. Shinichi, who was not actually dead, was now to be permanently known as Edogawa Conan.
Shinichi had been there watching Ran for the past two months. She was still not back to normal, but he could tell that she was doing better. She hadn't cried since she had confessed her love for Shinichi that night, but she also has not laughed. She has smiled a few times, but those smiles were usually tinged with sadness.
Yet, Shinichi knew now that she would be alright. Ran was strong, stronger than most girls he knew. Physically, and mentally, she could handle tough situations that were thrown at her.
It was for that reason why Shinichi decided to enact his secondary plan.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Author's notes: Whew... LONG chapter there! I totally didn't intend on making this chapter that long, but I also didn't want to split it up due to the purpose of the next chapter. Hope you all enjoyed it, and thanks to everyone who's reviewed so far!
And, poor Heiji. I couldn't help messing with him, mwuhahahaha.
Note on Japanese: The only Japanese I use in fics is honorifics, given names, place names, and anything that doesn't have an English equivalent name. If I got something wrong, kindly let me know and I'll change it. I've been watching anime and reading manga for less than a year, so I'm still a little wet behind the ears.
Next Chapter: Edogawa Conan says his goodbyes.
Rating: Teen+
Chapter: Chapter 3 -- Remembrance Circle
Pairings: None as of now
Story Summary: The BO has been destroyed, but any data that might lead to a cure, as well as Haibara Ai, have perished as well. With this setback, Kudo Shinichi plans to make a move that could be more painful to Ran than telling her the truth.
The sunny weather betrayed the somber mood of the day. The memorial service for a very much alive Kudo Shinichi was about to progress.
Shinichi's mother, Kudo Yukiko, only invited a few people; only four people there were aware that Shinichi wasn't really dead. Those four included Shinichi's mother (his father, Kudo Yusaku, refused to take part - and his mother told those who asked about him that he was too stricken with grief to attend), Hattori Heiji, Agasa Hiroshi, and - of course - Edogawa Conan, who in actuality was Kudo Shinichi. A few of the others there included Megure Juzo; Mouri Kogoro; Mouri Ran; Kisaki Eri; Suzuki Sonoko; Toyama Kazuha; and, surprisingly, Hakuba Saguru - who was leaning against the wall and coolly observing his surroundings. The others were a few friends of Shinichi's from school and some of the people he had helped while on his cases.
Shinichi stood around his few friends and reflected on how precisely he had plotted to set up his “untimely demise”.
The plan was virtually foolproof. The “official” story was that Shinichi had been in an automobile accident so severe that his body couldn't be recovered. His mother had demanded that he fake his death in an open-ended way in case he turned back to normal and wanted to reclaim his name. Shinichi thought it was unnecessary to do so, but his mother insisted he do it that way or she wouldn't go along with it.
Heiji had the idea to make Shinichi's death similar to the first victim in the ”Holmes Lovers” case that they had solved together. In that case, the murdered victim had been set up to drive his car off of a cliff, which resulted in an explosion that made it unable for his body to be recovered. They tweaked it until the story was that the car Shinichi was in crashed through a barrier and went off a cliff. In order to make things as realistic as possible, his mother hired a stunt-man friend to carry out the act as well as a few “eyewitnesses” to “confirm” that Shinichi was in the car that went over as well. It also helped that Shinichi chose a district where there were some really incompetent police officers as well; they basically took the whole “accident” at face value and did no further investigations into the matter.
It had been a lot of work; a lot of deception. But, as far as Shinichi was concerned, it was necessary. This chapter in his life had to end; he could no longer make Ran wait for him by leading her on nor did he want the world to find out about his shrunken state. There was virtually no chance of him turning back permanently, not even now that he had let on what happened to him to those he worked closely with to bring the Black Organization down. Through blood work, research, and speculation, no one came up with an antidote. There was no trace of anything to show he had been poisoned in the first place. If not for DNA evidence, one would come to the conclusion that his story about being shrunken was an elaborate lie and that he was not Kudo Shinichi.
If only it were so, he thought to himself. He craned his neck around to catch a glimpse of Ran. She was sitting with Sonoko on one side of her and Kazuha on the other.
Shinichi thought about the past few days. Ran hadn't said many words since finding out he was “dead”. She also hadn't smiled, nor laughed. It was as if she was an automaton; just going through the motions of her life without a thought about what she was doing. She hadn't even cried since that first night.
He still felt bad about the deception. He knew that he always would. Yet, he was determined that this was the best way. This way, Ran can find someone else that can love her without any obstacles in the way, he thought. His attention was diverted from his thoughts when his mother spoke up.
“Since we are all gathered due to Shinichi's death, it is time that we discuss Shinichi's life,” she said. “Everyone, please take a seat.”
Shinichi's mother had decided on a non-traditional Japanese funeral. It wasn't surprising to anyone who knew her. She had, personally, felt that going through the traditional funeral would be overdoing it, plus she claimed to not feel right about it. Shinichi had felt the same way, so they had decided on a small “Remembrance Circle”. This was so that those who knew him in life could share their stories about him to others, if they chose to do so.
“I'll start us off,” said Shinichi's mother, who had remained standing while everyone else had sat down. She walked towards the front of the group, and faced the small crowd. She took a deep breath, and started.
“As you all know, Shinichi was my son and my only child,” she started. “He was always an inquisitive little boy, far too mature for his own age. While other children were out playing, he could be found inside reading books that were far too advanced for him,” she said as she gave a slight grin. Tears had started to well in her eyes.
Shinichi knew his mother was a good actress. She had told him that she would get into the role of “grieving mother” by pretending he had really died. Shinichi (and Heiji, who was there at the time) had both looked appalled and had protested, but she laughed lightly and claimed that “she still had it, and she'd show them a thing or two” before going off into a tirade about how she would act. Shinichi and Heiji both had to talk her out of a few excessive things (like fainting, or going into hysterics), but other than that her plans had been good.
He listened to her continue on for almost ten minutes. She talked about how he had come to love Soccer. She spoke of how he had discovered his love for solving cases. She injected a few humorous (and embarrassing) stories of times he had gotten in trouble for doing things he shouldn't. She paused to regain her composure at set intervals. She played her part well.
She wrapped up her speech. “My son had all too short a time here on Earth, but I truly believe that he had lived his life to the fullest up to that point. I miss him so much, there's no one that can replace him in my heart,” she said. “If there's anyone else that wants to come up here and talk about him, feel free to do so,” she remarked, as she went to sit down.
The people there looked around to each other. A lot of them were too shy to go up there after such a speech. After about thirty seconds, Dr. Agasa slowly stood up and walked to the front.
“I've known Shinichi since he was a small child,” he started. “He was more serious than most children, but he was such a vibrant child.”
Dr. Agasa spoke about Shinichi for about five minutes. He related a few stories about Shinichi helping him with failed experiments that had the small audience chuckling (and Shinichi fuming at the embarrassment of it all). He wrapped up his speech as well, and sat back down.
The next person that stood up was Heiji. He walked to the front of the audience.
“Though I didn't know Kudo Shinichi as long as most of you, meeting and working with him had a major impact on my life,” he started. “Though a lot of you don't know it, we had crossed paths many times while working on the same case.”
Heiji's speech had been plotted out between him and Shinichi. Another part of the meticulously calculated plan. However, planning one thing and enacting it successfully are two different things.
Heiji looked at Shinichi and started. “The Kudo I knew wa... was intelligent, and had a quick wi... wit,” Heiji stuttered.
Shinichi looked up at him. He knew that Heiji had memorized the speech, so why was he stuttering? Maybe he's just nervous and not good at public speaking, he thought.
Heiji continued. “People were oft.. often comparing us, so ini...initially I saw him as a rival,” he stated. “I even ca... came all the way from Osaka to cha... challenge him one time,” he stuttered out.
Heiji made the mistake of looking over at Shinichi again. It was the worst thing he could have done. Shinichi mournfully had his head slightly bowed and was shaking his head from side to side as if he were completely sympathetic and wasn't the one being talked about.
“That first time we met, he hrmppt,” Heiji had to clamp his hand over his mouth.
Shinichi looked at Heiji, who had his hand clamped over his mouth and had a horrified expression on his face. He rolled his eyes. Don't tell me this idiot actually took to heart my Mother's suggestions on acting this out, he thought to himself. He hoped that Heiji would quit his horrible acting long enough to look at him and see him shake his head no, but the other boy refused to meet his eye.
Heiji took a deep breath, and started to continue. “As I was saying, the first time we met, he showed me that solving cases wasn't about competition, it was... it was... was... hrupth!”
Shinichi looked up sharply at Heiji. He had clamped his hand over his mouth once again, and had turned away from the audience. His shoulders were slightly shaking, and there was a muffled and indistinguishable sound coming from him. A horrifying realization washed over Shinichi's mind.
This IDIOT is trying not to laugh! Shinichi thought, angrily. He quickly (and fearfully) looked around to see if anyone else had caught on. No one else had; to them it looked like Heiji was just all choked up. This idiot is going to ruin everything! Shinichi fumed.
Heiji regained his composure, and turned to face the audience. He had tears in his eyes, but not for the reasons they thought. He glanced over to Shinichi, who was sending him a death glare. Heiji resolved, in his mind, not to look at Shinichi for the rest of his speech.
“I'm sorry, just thinking about this loss has me all cho... choked up,” Heiji said. The tears (from laughter) in his eyes overspilled, making it seem to everyone around him that he really was grieving. Everyone was touched that he, a boy, was crying in public over the loss of his friend. Even Shinichi's mother had been fooled into thinking that Heiji had taken note of her coaching and beamed slightly at him.
Shinichi knew better, however, and was not amused. As Heiji continued his speech, Shinichi thought about all the murders that he had witnessed and tried to decide which one would be most fitting for Heiji.
Heiji rattled on a few more minutes about Shinichi, and sat down. Kazuha had given him a look of sympathy, and was patting his shoulders. This made the matter worse, and before long he was shaking again and tears were rolling down his cheeks. He refused to look over at Shinichi, who was still plotting Heiji's “untimely demise” in anger.
After Heiji's “touching” speech, person after person got up to talk about Shinichi. Megure-keibu, Sonoko, a few of his schoolmates and Soccer team buddies, and even Ran's parents, Kogoro and Eri. When it looked like no one else was going to make a speech, Ran stood up.
Ran, he thought as he watched her slowly make her way to the front. He didn't believe that she would get up, and marveled at her courageousness. I'm so sorry for putting you through this Ran, he thought as he mentally berated himself.
Ran faced the crowd, and started to speak. “Um... as you all know, Shinichi and I were very good friends,” she said, softly. “I still can't truly believe that he's gone.”
Shinichi watched as her bottom lip quivered and her eyes filled with tears for the first time since that day she found out he was “dead”. She started to speak again.
“We grew up together... we went to school together, we played together, we did a lot of things together,” she said. “When I was sad, he would cheer me up. When I was mad, he'd make me laugh. When I was bored, he'd do something stupid to snap me out of it.”
Shinichi smiled. He remembered all those times as if they happened yesterday. Ran had been everything to him. Even when he tried to act all grown up and like he didn't need a “girl” friend, she had managed to rein him back to her.
He continued to listen to her. She talked about how they grew up together. She shared some of the moments they had at school together. She talked about how he had saved her life a few times. The tears that she had in her eyes threatened to spill over, but never did. She concluded her speech, and went to sit back down. No one else got up after Ran.
It was with her commentary that the memorial service for Kudo Shinichi ended.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
That night, Shinichi couldn't sleep. He went into the living room only to find Ran was there as well. She was sitting on the windowsill and staring out at the night sky. He walked over to her and sat opposite of her.
“Ran-neechan, are you alright?” he asked. She had a look on her face that was pensive and pained at the same time.
She looked over to the small boy. “I'll be okay, Conan-kun. I'm just thinking about something.”
“What are you thinking about?” he asked. He already suspected what her answer would be, but he thought that if she talked about it, she would feel better.
“I was just... regretting a few things,” she said, softly.
“Regretting what?” he asked, curiously.
“I was regretting... that.. that I didn't tell Shinichi a very important thing,” she said as her voice started to quiver.
He didn't want to push her too hard, but he knew that she needed to get it off her chest. “What important thing?” he asked.
Ran took her eyes off the night sky and looked over at him. The look on her face was heartbreaking for Shinichi. “I was regretting that I didn't have the courage to tell him that I loved him.”
Shinichi watched as tears rolled down her cheeks the first time since she found out about his “death”. There was no sound coming from her, no sobbing or anything. Just silent tears. He decided to speak up one more time.
“Ran, for what it's worth... I'm pretty sure that Shinichi-niichan loved you as well.” There. He had said the words that he had longed to say to her for so long. Even if it wasn't from the “real” him, at least he had said it to her.
Ran smiled at him for the first time in almost a week. “Maybe you're right, Conan-kun. Maybe you're right.”
She pulled him over into her arms, and held him against her until the sun came over the horizon.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The two months since Kudo Shinichi's funeral had flown by. Life moved on, however painful, for Mouri Ran. Shinichi, who was not actually dead, was now to be permanently known as Edogawa Conan.
Shinichi had been there watching Ran for the past two months. She was still not back to normal, but he could tell that she was doing better. She hadn't cried since she had confessed her love for Shinichi that night, but she also has not laughed. She has smiled a few times, but those smiles were usually tinged with sadness.
Yet, Shinichi knew now that she would be alright. Ran was strong, stronger than most girls he knew. Physically, and mentally, she could handle tough situations that were thrown at her.
It was for that reason why Shinichi decided to enact his secondary plan.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Author's notes: Whew... LONG chapter there! I totally didn't intend on making this chapter that long, but I also didn't want to split it up due to the purpose of the next chapter. Hope you all enjoyed it, and thanks to everyone who's reviewed so far!
And, poor Heiji. I couldn't help messing with him, mwuhahahaha.
Note on Japanese: The only Japanese I use in fics is honorifics, given names, place names, and anything that doesn't have an English equivalent name. If I got something wrong, kindly let me know and I'll change it. I've been watching anime and reading manga for less than a year, so I'm still a little wet behind the ears.
Next Chapter: Edogawa Conan says his goodbyes.