Case Closed Fan Fiction ❯ When Pandora's Box Is Opened ❯ The Unsaid Truth ( Chapter 56 )

Chapter Fifty-Six

The Unsaid Truth

“Geez,” Heiji complained, hefting up the shopping bags. “Trust Ofukuro ta ferget alla the stuff fer dinner until half an hour beforehand...”

“It was nice of ya to volunteer ta get it for her, though,” Kazuha said cheerily, swinging her considerably lighter bag.

“Yeah, “volunteer”...” Heiji muttered. Kazuha just giggled.

Then she frowned. “Heiji? What's up?”

“Hmm?” Heiji had been glancing over his shoulder, but then he looked back at her. “What?”

“You've been kinda nervy today,” she commented. “Ya keep lookin' around...”

“It's nothin',” Heiji said, glancing around slightly again. “I just got this funny feelin'... Like...”

“Like?” Kazuha prompted as he trailed off.

“Like nothin',” he insisted. “It's nothin', really. Jus' thinkin' about the kiddo. Might head down ta see how he's doin' soon.”

“I'll come with!” Kazuha said. “I wanna see Ran-chan, too. She's so worried about the poor kid, an' last time I called she mentioned that Kudo-kun ain't called her recently either... I mean, they're together now, so shouldn't `e call more often? Might be hard to get a flight down or anythin', though, the temperature's been droppin' again and I think we're due a blizzard soon...”

“Yeah...” Heiji muttered distractedly. More subtly, Kazuha started glancing around too.

“It's kinda weird for him ta be this paranoid,” she thought. “It's like he's watchin' out for somethin'... Is it somethin' to do with all of that “research” he's been doin'?” she glanced over at Heiji, still glaring at his surroundings as if expecting something to leap out of them at him. “Heiji... you ain't gettin' yourself into anythin' over your head, are ya...?”

She shivered, clutching at her charm under her coat, and feverently prayed that he was wearing his.

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“That was a long story,” Eri sighed, sipping at yet another cup of tea. “But it makes a strange amount of sense. I thought there was something oddly familiar about “Conan”, the first time that I saw him... well, I guess it was just that I hadn't seen Shinichi-kun since he was actually that age.”

“I'm so sorry for deceiving you two,” Yukiko sighed. “I just... had to see that he was all right...”

“I should apologize for nearly stabbing you,” Eri laughed. “Well, we had heard that the one who kidnapped Conan-kun... I mean, Shinichi-kun... was a disguise specialist as good as the Kaitou Kid...”

“She is,” Yukiko sighed sadly. “Well, we all had the same sensei, after all...”

“It's another very long story,” Yuusaku said to Eri's questioning look, “and I don't think we have time for it tonight.” He was looking, with a little smile, at Ai, who seemed to have fallen asleep from exhaustion shortly after finishing the story. Ran stroked her hair softly.

“The poor girl,” she sighed. “She's been so afraid, all this time... and so lonely...”

“We'd better put her in her bed,” Agasa chuckled, reaching over to pick her up. “She rarely gets a decent night sleep... If I've told her once I've told her a thousand times, no matter how important the research is, coffee is just no decent substitute for sleep for any length of time...”

“Goodness, look how dark it's gotten!” Ran gasped. “Okaa-san, we'd better head back... I hope Otou-san and Conan-kun went out for ramen or something, it's well past dinner time...

“So Ran-chan... what do you intend to do now?” Yukiko asked. Ran, tying on her shoes, said nothing for a minute.

“I'm not sure,” she said quietly. “I mean... now I know for certain, and he doesn't. I want to just tell him, in the hope that it'll somehow make him remember, but, well... I don't know. It might be too much for him to take...”

“It's really up to you, Ran-chan,” Yukiko said softly. “Even if trying to explain things hurts him, or scares him... if anyone can heal him, it'll be you.” She smiled, even though there were tears pooling in her eyes. “Please look after him, Ran-chan. He needs you.”

“Don't worry,” Ran said, hugging the older woman, “Maybe I'll bring him back here tomorrow, after school. See you then.”

“See you, Ran-chan,” Yukiko called as she and Yuusaku returned to their own house. Ran and Eri started walking down the dark streets towards the agency.

“It's true, you know,” Eri chuckled. “Ever since he returned, even when his memory was gone... he's always seemed happiest around you. Haven't you noticed? He always sticks to you, and always looks so frightened when he isn't...”

“Yeah,” Ran said. “I just hope... he remembers soon... that's why he's so confused and frightened. The memories that he's getting... Shinichi's memories... he must have realized that Edogawa Conan couldn't possibly have them...” she paused, frowning, as the agency came into view. There was a white car parked out front. “Isn't that Dr. Ariade's car?”

“Did something happen?” Eri said worriedly.

“Shinichi! Ran cried, running up the stairs. She nearly ran into Dr Ariade as he opened the door to the flat.

“Oh, I'm sorry,” he said in surprise.

“It's all right,” Ran said. “Did something happen to Shi... to Conan-kun?”

“He collapsed,” Dr Ariade explained. “Your father said he heard him screaming, and came up here to find him have some kind of fit in the kitchen... then he passed out.”

“Kami above,” Eri gasped, covering her mouth in horror. Ran felt her heart stop.

“Is he... all right?” she croaked, her throat suddenly drying.

“Well, he hasn't woken up yet,” the doctor replied, glancing over at the bedroom. “I suspect he had some kind of flashback... either there was some large-scale recall which overwhelmed him, or...” he looked down. “He remembered something truly terrifying. Possibly to do with his kidnapping...”

Ran was done there. She ran through to the bedroom, faintly hearing her mother talking to her father and the doctor. She stood in the doorway for a long moment, staring at the little body on the futon.

Her father must have removed his glasses; his sleeping face seemed so peaceful, and without the fake glass the resemblance to Shinichi was truly unmissable. She knelt down next to him, brushing his unruly little bangs out of his face.

“Shinichi... you were here the whole time...” she thought, feeling tears pool in her eyes. “You didn't leave me alone, after all...”

When she'd been most upset, most lonely, Conan had always tried so hard to cheer her up... and Shinichi always seemed to call just when she needed him most. Because he was there, watching her wait and worry, and he'd done all that he could to stop her from worrying; all he could to keep her safe from...

She frowned as she remembered something, standing up again and heading into the kitchen. Her mother was cleaning up in there, and she could hear her father talking to Dr Ariade downstairs. She walked straight over to the countertop where a couple of her father's empty liquor bottles had been left.

“Ran? What's wrong?” her mother asked as Ran picked up a bottle that had been lying on the edge of the countertop.

“Gin,” she said, showing the bottle to her. “That's what Ai-chan... Shiho-chan... said his name was, right? This killer that... did this to him. His codename was Gin. Shinichi could have seen that and remembered... that's why...” “That's why he was screaming...”

“Well, we'll see what happens when he wakes up,” Eri sighed, rinsing off the chopping board. “What I'm more worried about is having to explain to Anata that all of his “Nemuri No Kogoro” deductions weren't his at all...”

“Awww....” Ran giggled. Eri pinked.

“What's that supposed to mean?” she said hotly.

“What's what supposed to mean?” Kogoro grumbled, wandering back in. “He said to call him back if there's any major problems when the brat wakes up, not that he anticipates any... anyway, what's got you so hot and bothered?” he asked Eri.

“It's nothing!” she insisted, blushing more as she turned back to the sink.

“You wouldn't go that colour for nothing,” he prodded. Ran rolled her eyes as she went back to watch over Shinichi.

“It's a little weird, thinking of him as Shinichi now for certain,” she thought with a little smile. “Is it too much to hope that when he wakes up, he'll have remembered...?”

“Mmmm...” Shinichi moaned, closed eyes twitching and a frown forming as he started to wake up. Ran placed a hand on his forehead, smoothing away the little wrinkles, and he calmed before opening his eyes.

“Ran... neechan?” he said uncertainly. Ran looked into his eyes and felt her heart break. She hated seeing him look so lost, so fragile, so scared...

“How are you feeling... Conan-kun?” she said, also a little hesitantly, unsure of who he thought he was.

“I...” he rubbed his eyes. “It's all wrong, Ran-neechan...”

“What is?” she asked gently.

“When I start to remember things...” he whispered. “It's wrong... I remember... things that I know I shouldn't know, or... scary things...”

“What do you mean?” Ran asked. He looked frightened, his face paling, but he swallowed and found the voice to tell her.

“I remembered you, Ran-neechan,” he said quietly, “but you were so little... and you're ten years older than me, I couldn't have known you when you were that little, but... and I remembered a man, a killer... and a dead woman... and...”

“Memories that you don't think are yours,” Ran finished softly. He nodded feverently.

“What's going on, Ran-neechan?” he whispered.

“It's...” Ran hadn't been planning to tell him, not yet, but... he looked so afraid, and she knew she couldn't just brush it off; he wouldn't buy it. He was as sharp as ever; sharp enough to know that something was very, very wrong. “They are your memories.”

“But...” Shinichi muttered, confused. Ran held a finger up to silence him.

“Listen, Conan-kun...” she said, keeping her voice calm. “It's... kind of hard to explain, but those are your memories. They can't be Edogawa Conan's, no... but that's because you're not Edogawa Conan.”

“What do you mean?” he said, sitting up with a frown.

“I only just found out myself,” she said, taking his hand to soothe him, “but it's a pseudonym. The killer that you mentioned... you remembered him when you saw the Gin bottle, didn't you?” his inadvertent flinch at the word “Gin” answered her question for her. “He tried to kill you, two years ago. You escaped, but you had to hide... so you took on a false name and hid here.”

“That's why...” he muttered. “Okay, makes sense... so who am I, really?”

“Your real name...” Ran closed her eyes for a moment, steeling herself. “Your real name... is Kudo Shinichi.”

Shinichi blinked, staring at her. “I thought Shinichi-niichan was your age...”

“He is... I mean, you are, really,” Ran said, speaking fast in an effort to explain. “But he tried to kill you by using a poison and... it went wrong. You... shrank.”

“What?!” Shinichi said. “That's impossible...”

“That's what I thought, but...” Ran whispered. “I know you, Shinichi, and the signs are all there...”

“No way!” Shinichi yelled, jumping to his feet, now looking even more frightened. “So I'm actually some shrunken adult who's being hunted down by murderers? What is this, a sci-fi manga?”

“Shinichi, please calm down, I know it's frightening...” Ran begged, but the use of his name just seemed to confuse and frighten him even more; and before Ran had realized what was happening, he ran out of the door. Ran sat there, staring at the door for a long moment, before grabbing his coat and shoes and running after him.

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“No way! That's bizarre, impossible, it's... no way!”

Conan kept running, though his feet froze. His head was spinning. First the confusing memories; then the dark, frightening ones; and now this...

He stumbled down a path in Beika Park and Ran was in front of him, his fingers cupping her chin, and her eyes hardened with some resolve as she stepped up on her tip-toes and...

“No way!”

He stumbled again, suddenly shivering. He'd run out of pure fear, and baka that he was hadn't brought a coat or shoes. It was freezing...

“For all of your creepy brains, sometimes you're just a stupid kid, you know?”

Conan squeaked in surprise as someone picked him up, wrapped an adult's coat around him and dropped him on a park bench. Whoever it was sat down next to him. He couldn't see the guy's face because he was wearing a dark baseball cap with a grey hoodie pulled up over it, but he seemed young. And... familiar.

“Don't suppose you remember me either?” he commented. Conan shook his head.

“You seem familiar, kind of...” he said, then sighed heavily. “But I don't know what I remember at the moment.”

“Here, take my card.” Conan reached out to take the card. As he pulled it away, a little string of flags followed. “Damn... I only carry those things out of professional habit. Here.” The flags vanished. Conan peered at the card. It resembled a playing card, but instead of any of the usual four symbols in the middle there was just an odd little drawing, like a smiley face with a hat, a monocle and an unusually demented grin. At the corner, instead of a normal number, was the number 1412. The number and drawing stirred something in his mind.

“International Criminal number 1412...” he said thoughtfully. “The Kaitou Kid?”

“The only and not quite only,” the guy said, a dove popping out of his sleeve and sitting on his hand. “And sometimes not any more sure of who I am than you are right now. You wanna talk about it?”

“... I probably should have talked about it to Ran... neechan,” Conan said uncertainly. “But I don't know... It's funny, but even though nobody else on the planet knows anything about the Kaitou Kid, I would have thought that you at least would know who you are...”

“Call me Kaito,” the Kid said, stroking the dove. “Spelling optional.”

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I think it's going into the eighties, KageNoNeko, but I still haven't finished... I've been getting through TFWITW first, though that's only going to have about seventeen chapters... I'm not always going to publish them every fifth WPBIO chapter, when the time comes for the story to be told, I'll put them all up. It's just a sort of teaser for now.

I'm back on track, Kayla Edogawa! ^_- The funny thing is, you don't actually have to learn the language of the country that you want to teach in, or even technically get a qualification. Many of the countries that are more desperate for English teachers (which apparently includes Japan) will take anyone who's a native speaker, although if you're unqualified it'll quickly become obvious that you haven't a clue what you're doing XD But you don't actually have to know the local language, since apparently you're to insist on a policy of “English only” in your classroom. I really want to know Japanese, though. I'm going to look for some proper classes in college. About all I know so far is what I've picked up from manga and the fandom XD To Hell and back, I cannot escape thee! XD True- Hakuba's a slightly more mouldable character than the others, since he appears so rarely and so little about him is known, so he's very up to independent interpretation. Besides, he probably would be cute as a kid XD they all are! Ahhh, the dubbing for Conan is even worse... I was cringing away when playing the video game until I realized that the options let you put the voices on Japanese *sighs in relief* XD what will he do...? And back in chapter three; yes, I like it too, and I want a chance to say it in real life XD

Glad you think so, BobbyNeko ^_- Glad you liked the Kaitou vs Lupin oneshot, too. It was a ton of fun to write :D

Well, in a way, Mel72000...

Plot time, Kairi922! XD I wanted to give Ai a hug myself when I was writing this, but I couldn't so I made Ran do it instead ^_^ Now, should I set her on Gin...? XD

Technically, Marie Ravenclaw, any native English speaker is qualified, although whether you know what you're doing in a classroom or not is another matter XD A chemist? Cool! I always failed hard at the sciences... I want to be an actress or an author (no! Really? XD) Good luck to you! Bit more than a panic attack... pure, numbing dread-fear attack, perhaps...

Yep, everyone thought Shinichi would tell Ran, not vice-versa , International DCFanfic Nut 1207... I DON'T KNOW! I'm still writing, but I have less time to write these days so it's not going fast...

Reversal of everything you expected, Desperatembrace XD translators... HAVE DONE IT! IT'S UP! OMG... NOOO! KIIIIR! *is scared*... CHOCOLATE! *jumps on chocolate bar* yahoo! :D

Yukiko had a close one there, Sharishima... If anyone can help Shinichi properly, it'll be Ran... You're right, it'll be easier to worry about one person rather than two.

Not quite the final, YoshimiKurosaki... I'd say not at all... Definitely on the wrong track with the code. I know only marginally more than bugger-all about kanji, if that helps, so I could never write a code in it XD The boy, eh? Well, what do you think? All I'll say is that his name was Kurosawa... Don't worry, I love long reviews and critiques! Reviews are the reason I write ^_-

XD run, Eri and Ran! JapaneseAnimeFreak16 is after ya! XD The act could only hold up for so long... Poor Shinichi! T_T

I'm writing so well that Hybrid Speed crawled out of the woodwork? XD Nice to finally hear from you! Glad you love it! There's much more to come...

No, up at 6am, Yuki Taiki, which means woken up at 6... arrrgh... SLEEP! All is revealed to Ran, and soon to Shinichi...

HaibaraDaiFan has returned with her words of love! :D I missed you, but I'll forgive you because I luffs you and you're working on Little Secrets (Right?RIGHT?!) I should've known Ai would draw you out XD A website? Ooh, what about? Good luck with that! I forgive you for your words of LUV! *hugs*

I wonder how Eri'll handle telling Kogoro that his greatest deductions aren't actually his, eh, A Midsummer Night's Dream? XD

I do not claim to own any of the characters in Meitantei Conan. They are the intellectual property of Aoyama Gosho. All characters, couples and locations, if Canon, will be faithful to the manga, so if you're into fics with weird pairings like Shinichi and Heiji, the back button is at the top there. The fic may not make sense if you have not read up to chapter 698, which you can do at a site called (read between the lines) O/n/e/ma/n/g/a, but I advise you to buy the official Tankoban novels (up to volume 30 are out in English at the time of writing) so that Aoyama-sensei can afford to continue gracing us with his imagination. Now, I hope you enjoy the fic! (If you don't, please see my previous comments re the back button).