SS 2016 [For Want of a Fail] for [Mystyreeyus]
Dec 25, 2016 0:19:10 GMT
kkrazy256, Csigabiga, and 2 more like this
Post by doublexxcross on Dec 25, 2016 0:19:10 GMT
[prompt picked (because i'll draw you the other one in the next week maybe): AU where Conan tells Ran that he's Shinichi from the very start and they spend the series working together to kick criminal butt (about half adapted)]
[summary: importantly, something was about to explode, and then proceeded not to. meanwhile, something else did.]
[characters: shrunk!shin'ichi, ran]
[word count: roughly 4193]
Shin’ichi was running.
It’d rained, and was beginning to rain again, and he was soaking wet, and his oversized trousers were slipping beneath his undersized feet and were bound to trip him any second. There was a bandage around his head to stop what was possibly a still-bleeding head wound, and he had, apparently, just lost about two feet of his height. It felt more like four.
But he'd taken an iron pipe to the head and been unconscious for who knows how long, and nobody at the park’s medical office had believed a word of what he’d told them, and they were going to throw him in a daycare while waiting on a missing person’s report for a grade school boy, and there was nothing about that scenario that didn’t make him not want to run.
Also, the police dog hadn’t helped.
If Tropical Land hadn’t been so close to his block, and he hadn’t known this area like the back of his hand - back when it was bigger, of course - then there was no doubt he would’ve been caught. Luckily, they still hadn’t fixed that gap in that fence and, goshdarnit, he was now small enough to squeeze through it.
Several grass stains later, he was collapsing in a back road, not even all that far away from the park but gasping like he’d run a marathon.
Well, when you’re…
…When you’re… six, as it seemed he was again, of course things took longer and wore harder. Especially if you were six and also hadn’t eaten in… however long it’d been.
Six, instead of sixteen. Unbelievable. If it wasn’t for the fact that he was literally getting splashed with very real cold water from a very real truck that had just very really nearly run him over, he’d think he were still unconscious.
And even if he wasn’t, bad head injuries caused brain damage, right? Maybe this was all the end result of a delusion of some kind. Maybe he was awake, but just thought he had shrunk, or something like that.
Or maybe…
That pill the horrible man had forced down his throat. That horrible pill. Maybe that had done this - no, it must’ve. Made his brain funny and made him think he’d shrunk. Or killed him as advertised, and as he was dying made him dream he’d shrunk. Or maybe it’d made him…
…actually shrink.
He wasn’t dreaming. He actually was six again, covered in mud and blood and soaked to the bone… and so cold he might as well have been in a dying dream anyway.
He needed to get inside.
Luckily, his house was only so far away now, and if he walked it, he’d make it…
…But, as he soon discovered, there was getting home, and then there was getting home.
He wished the problem was just ‘he dropped his keys when he got attacked’ or something at least a little dignified like that, but no. He had his keys. They were in his pocket. He was just too short to open the gate.
He was having to climb up the iron bars to even get close to the handle, and there wasn't even anything to stand on higher than a foot off the ground, and he couldn't stretch his arm far enough. Great if they wanted to shut out very small intruders who weren’t Shin’ichi at two inches tall, sure. And, as if insult to injury, the gate was also wet from rain and incredibly hard to grip.
He rued the gate. He rued his parents selecting the gate. He rued the manufacturer creating the gate. He may even have rued the very concept of a gate in its entirety. This darn gate stood in the way of all that was good and holy. He hated this gate.
Now, Shin’ichi didn’t know this, and never would, but importantly - crucially, in fact - something was about to explode, and then proceeded not to.
As a direct result of this, there was at least another good five minutes of tussling with an inanimate iron gate, before Shin’ichi quit, slipped off onto the increasingly damp ground, and began considering his options.
Well, it was the dead of night, though exactly what time, Shin’ichi had no idea, because his watch had fallen off. Walls around every house in this area. The gates had all their handles too high. Intercoms were the same. So, to summari- i- i-itCHOO!
Ow.
Oh, yes. It was also January and he was also tiny and injured and soaked.
There was nothing in the street that he could climb onto to get to Agasa’s bell, or to climb under to get some shelter from the rain. So, as much as it pained him, his best bet would be to get out of here. Abandon the house plan. He needed to get help, and fast.
Throwing his hood over his head (as if it were somehow dry) he started off down the street again, stomping off, making sure not to run just in case these jeans finally got the better of him and sent him face-first into the pavement. If he were lucky, somebody might actually be looking out of their windows and take pity on him.
Luckily, he was luckier.
Only a few minutes of laborious trek up the road later, a streak of blue and legs passed him on the street, then backtracked with a gasp, and Shin’ichi forced himself to look up from an admirable chest.
“Hey, are you alright?” said Ran.
Ran? “Ran!?”
Ran paused. “Excuse me?”
“It's me, Shin’ichi!”
Ran blinked. “What?”
“Can you let me into my house?”
Ran opened her mouth wordlessly, then closed it, then opened it again. “I'm… sorry, I must be mishearing things. Are you okay, sweetie?”
Pardon?
“Oh, you're soaking wet!” She knelt in front of him, pulling at his coat.
Oh, right. “Yeah, that’s because I haven’t been able to get into my house.”
“And,” she frowned, puzzled, “these clothes are way too big for you…”
“That’s because they no longer fit me because I shrank.”
“And,” she stared, “they’re an awful lot like the clothes that Shin’ichi was wearing today…”
“That’s because I am Shin’ichi.”
She continued to stare.
Shin’ichi screamed internally.
There was no way - not a chance in hell - that Ran was not going to recognise him, surely. They’d known each other since KG-2. She’d known him when he was this small - and even smaller. She, out of everyone, would be the one who recognised him. It wasn’t really that long ago, just ten years, please, please let R-rtCHOO!
Ow.
“I’m getting you indoors,” Ran decided, scooping Shin’ichi up in her arms like he was nothing - well, a heavy nothing that may or may not have been (read: was) her best friend - and rounding the corner.
Shin’ichi fished in his pocket. “Here’s the keys.”
Ran took them, looked them over, then shook her head, walked to the mansion and opened up the gate, and then the front door.
The moment they were inside, Shin’ichi jumped out of Ran’s arms and flung his coat on the floor. It was still cold indoors, but thank god for the dry. He followed it up with his trainers and overshirt, and then pulled his hoodie up over his head and-
The door clicked shut. “I’ll run the bath,” said Ran, kicking off her own shoes.
-turned bright red and pushed it back down.
“Come on.” Ran grabbed his hand before it fell, and gently led him up the stairs. She didn’t rush, but didn’t condescendingly wait around, and as soon as she reached the landing she dropped it and walked in the direction of the bathroom without a word.
She was back after a few minutes and the sound of the taps running, headed towards his parents’ bedroom this time. Shin’ichi caught a “kept some, I’m sure”. Which had to mean his parents, and which had to mean something they had that’d be useful in this situation, which had to mean-
“My kid clothes are in the drawers in the walk-in closet. Behind the ballgowns.”
“Right.”
She had a bundle in her hands when she came out this time, which she handed him before going into the bathroom again. Shin’ichi unravelled it a little, dusting it off. Just an old t-shirt and shorts, and a change of underwear. Apart from the dated print on the shirt and the underwear’s entire existence in his hands right now, nothing too embarrassing. At least she hadn’t got out that little suit and dicky-bow from the bottom drawer…
“Water’s ready.” Out again.
“Thanks- ah!”
She was now kneeling in front of him, examining the bandage on his head. “Do you mind if I…?”
“Huh? Sure. Go ahead.”
“Alright…” The bandage, though tight, was of the headband variety, so she managed to slip it off without much discomfort. She patted at the back of his head, and suddenly there was a sharp pain and Shin’ichi winced.
At least Ran’s fingers weren’t covered in fresh blood when she pulled them back, so that was a good thing. “Maybe I should be in there with you…”
“No! It’s fine!”
She narrowed her eyes. “You’ll be careful? I mean, you’re…”
Shin’ichi nodded - though not that hard, just in case, though sneezing hadn’t been that b-b-tCHOO!
Ow.
Ran frowned. “Okay…”
True to her word, though, Ran didn’t come into the bathroom at any point during the process, which was nothing short of a miracle. Without her there, he had the time to wash the blood out of his hair and think about what the heck was going on, though he didn’t exactly have much to go on. Also, it gave him a moment of promise, because Ran trusted him, and also gave him a moment of relief, because otherwise he would’ve been bathed by the girl he liked, and that, quite frankly, was a mortifying notion.
Sure, it was already kind of embarrassing. She’d run the water lower than usual, and she’d gotten out that step-stool from when he was an actual child (why hadn’t he thrown it out yet? Where had Mom even been keeping it? Why?); but that was only just embarrassing. But Ran? Directly involved in bathing him? Seeing him naked and using her hands? God. No. Why do this to him. Why.
It wouldn’t even be horrifying in the way it was normally horrifying. He had just seen the damage. This was not a drill.
At least he had the next ten minutes to get over it (as best as a guy can) before there was a rapping on the door, and he reluctantly let himself out of the water, towelled off and got dressed.
Ran was literally outside the door, but now carrying a book. Was that a photo album? He didn’t recognise it, but it was wide and thick enough. “Did you cope okay? How do the clothes fit?”
“I was fine. The clothes, uh…” Shin’ichi glanced down at himself. Children’s shorts were, well, shorter than he remembered them being. “…fit more or less.”
“Oh, thank god. I just found them in the top drawer and thought they looked your size.”
There was a weird look on her face. “Uh,” Shin’ichi began.
“Oh, this?” Ran held the book up. “It’s a photo album from ten years ago. It was by the clothes.” She turned the page and held it next to Shin’ichi, obviously scrutinising a photo.
“Uh,” Shin’ichi began again.
“Sorry, it’s just- it’s uncanny how much you look like the photos,” she said.
“Yeah, that’s weird, isn’t it?” Shin’ichi replied. “Like, whatever they did to me didn’t just make me smaller, it made me younger. That doesn’t even begin to make any sense.”
“No… it’s impossible…”
Wait, that tone - Shin’ichi looked up again. The look on Ran’s face - before, it’d just looked confused or something, but now, with that tone, he finally understood.
He hoped he didn’t. “Ran… do you actually believe I’m Shin’ichi?”
Ran winced quite obviously. “…Well - frankly - I kind of do. But I know I shouldn’t…!”
Huh?
“I mean, you talk like Shin’ichi, and you know where everything is in the house, and you even look exactly like him, but-!” She turned the book around to show a picture of them on the beach as kids. “But that’s the Shin’ichi from grade school. Ten years ago. And that’s not possible.”
…You know, as terrible as that felt, Shin’ichi couldn’t help but sympathise. Of course shrinking was impossible. Well, he knew now that it was only improbable - it couldn’t be impossible if it’d actually just happened, and he was beyond the point of justifying it as a fever dream - but the only reason he knew that was being the one who’d shrunk.
Hell, if the situation were reversed and Ran had been the one to get drugged and shrunk (and that thought was a unique kind of terrifying) the last idea he’d consider was the little girl being Ran.
But then why’d she let him in?
As if reading his mind, “You’re a little kid out in the rain at midnight. You had a bloody bandage on your head and none of your clothes fit. I wasn’t just going to leave you there even if you didn’t act and sound like Shin’ichi.”
Also sensible - wait, “Why this house and not Agasa-hakase’s next door?”
“Because I know where the bathroom and medical stuff is and knew Shin’ichi’s mom would’ve kept at least some of the clothes.” She handed him back the keys. “Also, you gave me these before I got there.”
Did he- oh yeah. After they rounded the corner. Agasa’s house wasn’t on the end of the road.
“Okay, that all makes sense…” Shin’ichi groaned. It did, after all. The only part of this entire scenario that didn’t was the bit with the shrinking - as in, the crux of his entire story.
“Listen, I do want to believe you, and I really want to help you,” said Ran, “but at the same time, my best friend is missing right now and I can’t afford to be on the wrong track. I need to call the police, or go looking for him or something.”
She began down the stairs. Shin’ichi ran after.
“How do I prove I’m Shin’ichi?”
“I don’t know!” Ran replied as she reached the bottom of the well. “You’d have to do or say something only Shin’ichi could do, and I don’t know what that is!” She made her way over to the phone. “Please, I’ll tell the police whatever happened to you. It’s okay. I’m not angry at you. I just want to know who set you up to this!”
“Set me up t- you mean, like a kidnapper?” Was that the track she was going down? Not that he totally blamed her for it - it was the easiest way to quantify a disappearance and assumed theft. That explained why just knowing things wasn’t doing it for her, then. She probably thought there were bugs in the house involved.
But that theory had its own massive hole. “Why would a kidnapper replace me with a little kid who looked like me ten years ago instead of an adult who looked like me now?”
Ran had the phone in her hands. “I don’t - I don’t know… I just know you actually being Shin’ichi doesn’t make any logical sense. People just can’t shrink.”
“Using a kid to replace a teenage kidnap victim doesn’t make any logical sense either. First off you’d have to get a kid who looks exactly like a six-year-old Kudou Shin’ichi who isn’t currently attached to a family or system and make that kid disappear, through kidnapping, adoption, whatever. The odds of that are minuscule, so to even continue along that thread, you’d probably have to get the kid plastic surgery, which is much more noticeable than some two-bit adult wanting to look like a celebrity. Then you’d have to either involve the kid in observing Kudou Shin’ichi, or teach him second-hand about things like speech patterns and an entire high school student’s life just to cover any further inquiry. And say you get past that-”
Deep breath.
“Once you have actually planted the child duplicate, first of all, it took you exactly zero seconds to not believe that I was Shin’ichi despite any evidence I could give specifically because it’s impossible. And say that the child did convince you somehow, then what after that? What does it benefit the child to keep up the charade for any longer than a day? What does it benefit any impostor to take on a role where there’s no chance they’ll ever be left alone? What does it even benefit the kidnapper to have to leave behind an impostor at all, at that point, considering leaving behind an impostor after kidnapping Kudou Shin’ichi suggests Kudou Shin’ichi is only a stepping stone to somebody else, and that my parents, who are the only people more famous than me with a current connection to me, don’t even live in this country anymore and therefore have no ability to be tricked or targeted by one?”
Deeeep breath.
“And even if we change the motive to just vanishing Kudou Shin’ichi, what changes? You’ve already got Kudou Shin’ichi, so what’s the point of even leaving behind a duplicate? Especially a child - children are rogue elements. But no, say you’re lucky and you’ve got a kid who’s somehow willing to do this and who’s also somehow smart enough to do this- question one - why wouldn’t this child immediately point out the issue with sending a child to play Kudou Shin’ichi instead of a person with the same apparent age, and therefore prevent the plan of sending a child to play Kudou Shin’ichi?
“But no, maybe there’s no alternative whatsoever to hiring a child to play Kudou Shin’ichi instead of an adult. The reason for it can’t be financial because you’d have to have enough money to maintain both a child and surveillance of a famous detective so extended you’d have to be somehow constantly breaking into their occupied house and tailing them throughout their daily life without leaving behind a trace of evidence. So say there really is no adult who can play Kudou Shin’ichi, and beyond all possible odds, the child is the mastermind.
“In which case, we have a fantasy child who’s - one, capable enough of an actor to be doing such a good impression of Kudou Shin’ichi that his best friend believes him - two, rich enough to be able to afford either home tutoring to make up for the schooling he’s missing raiding my house and tailing me or the spec-ops teams required to do the work for him - three, either looks exactly like Kudou Shin’ichi or already looked enough like Kudou Shin’ichi for plastic surgery scars to go unnoticed at close proximity - four, must have a motive for wanting to kidnap and or kill Kudou Shin’ichi as well as a motive to also impersonate Kudou Shin’ichi because he would still have the money to hire an adult to do the job for him - and five -”
Gasp, gasp-
“-still couldn't come up with a better idea than ‘Kudou Shin’ichi shrank’.”
…He didn’t know how he’d done it, but he’d winded himself. By talking.
“And we’re not - wheeze - we’re not even thinking about how long they would’ve had to rethink, either.”
Ran stood there, looking both terrified and confused. Really, at this point, those were kind of the same thing. “So… what you’re saying is, in summary… shrinking is impossible, therefore it’s the only thing that’s possible.”
Shin’ichi gave himself a minute to think it over.
“Yeah,” he gasped out. “Eliminate the impossible. Shrinking is impossible, therefore any overly-expensive plan dependant on getting you to believe I shrank is impossible.”
Ran set the phone down. “What evidence caught the killer we ran into today?”
“Her tears tracks ran sideways which proved she must’ve broken into tears on the roller coaster.”
“How did your mom get out of a speeding ticket during our vacation in New York last year?”
“Sharon Vineyard dressed up as the traffic officer’s superior and said Mom was a cop.”
“When did you start calling me Ran?”
“Pfft. Kindergarten, but only because you told me to.”
Ran dropped to her knees. “Shin’ichi.”
There it was. No question mark. No suspicious face. At least, as far as he saw, before he was suddenly swallowed up in a hug.
“But - what happened to you?” she got out after pulling back.
“It’s a… weird story.”
And so he told her about running off after the roller coaster; the guy from the case, and the blackmail deal; the other guy from the case, and being whacked over the back of the head with the metal pipe; the pill, though he de-emphasised the pain, because Ran’s cringing at the pipe was already bad enough; the event of being found, and realising something was horribly wrong; and, finally, the jerks in the first aid office, and running away.
It didn’t completely assuage Ran’s confusion over the whole situation, of course, but then again- “So how do you think the pill could’ve shrunk you?”
“Not a clue. Like I said, it’s impossible.”
“Maybe we could go ask Agasa-hakase about it,” Ran suggested.
“Had that idea in the bathroom. Agasa’s PHD is in mechanical engineering. Besides, the only sample we have is either inside my bloodstream or it doesn’t exist anymore.”
“Then we need to get more,” she reasoned, “but how…”
“Only one option. I’m going after them.”
“…” Ran just stared at him, utterly horrified. “…Like this!?”
“Do we look like we have a choice right now? They committed a crime tonight. Two crimes, actually. I’m the only witness and the cops I told didn’t believe a word of what I said. It’s my duty as a citizen to make sure those guys end up behind bars.”
She grabbed his shoulders. “But it’s not your duty to try and catch them, Shin’ichi. You are a detective. And like it or not, right now you are also a child.” He scoffed, but she grabbed his chin and pulled him back. “You said these guys had an organisation that develops poisons, Shin’ichi. What if they figure out what you’re doing before they’re stopped and come to find you? You haven’t got a chance! They’ll kill you!”
He hated to give her the point - especially so selfishly - but she was right. These men had killed before and were going to do it again. If he were still an adult, he might’ve had a chance with his soccer ball, but right now…
“At least let us protect you.”
What?
Ran was still staring him down, with the darkest eyes he’d ever seen her have. “You’re going to need help, Shin’ichi. Even if you can’t rely on the police directly. Agasa-hakase is a scientist; even if poison isn’t his field, he’s got to know somebody whose field it is. Your dad must have law enforcement contacts all over the world. And I just won the regional karate championship.”
Shin’ichi frowned. “What are you suggesting…?”
Ran held out her hand.
“I want you to stay with me. Please.”
He’d never seen her look so determined before, which was impressive considering the fights he’d watched her get in just last week. A shiny new trophy sat in Ran’s room in a sea of other gold cups, or so he figured, anyway. Her first regional. She’d fought almost tooth and nail for it.
This, on the other hand, was not a competition.
If you could blackmail a gun-smuggling CEO into handing over a briefcase full of millions of yen with a simple microfilm, you probably meant serious business. If you could afford to develop custom poisons whose accidental side-effects included the fountain of youth, you definitely meant serious business.
Did Ran know that? Did she realise what exactly she wanted to get into?
…Well, yeah. That’s what she wanted to save him from. But - him alone getting caught out? That was okay. Ran taking the shot, on the other hand - no. There’d just be blood, and bullet fragments, and a thing on the floor that used to be her.
His mental image was pretty graphic, but then again he had four years of field experience to work with.
Him being a kid - yeah, that made him pretty vulnerable. But it wasn’t like being an adult still would’ve saved him anyway. It definitely wasn’t going to save her.
“Don’t worry about me.” She was still reading his mind, apparently. “If we do this right, we don’t ever end up in the line of fire. If we end up in the line of fire, then we can figure out a way to get us both out of there - together. But you’re not going to be able to do it without a body, so Shin’ichi. Please.”
It was already too late. She knew him, and he knew her. He wasn’t going to give up on this case, and she wasn’t going to give up on him.
So he couldn’t give up on her.
“Deal.”
[summary: importantly, something was about to explode, and then proceeded not to. meanwhile, something else did.]
[characters: shrunk!shin'ichi, ran]
[word count: roughly 4193]
Shin’ichi was running.
It’d rained, and was beginning to rain again, and he was soaking wet, and his oversized trousers were slipping beneath his undersized feet and were bound to trip him any second. There was a bandage around his head to stop what was possibly a still-bleeding head wound, and he had, apparently, just lost about two feet of his height. It felt more like four.
But he'd taken an iron pipe to the head and been unconscious for who knows how long, and nobody at the park’s medical office had believed a word of what he’d told them, and they were going to throw him in a daycare while waiting on a missing person’s report for a grade school boy, and there was nothing about that scenario that didn’t make him not want to run.
Also, the police dog hadn’t helped.
If Tropical Land hadn’t been so close to his block, and he hadn’t known this area like the back of his hand - back when it was bigger, of course - then there was no doubt he would’ve been caught. Luckily, they still hadn’t fixed that gap in that fence and, goshdarnit, he was now small enough to squeeze through it.
Several grass stains later, he was collapsing in a back road, not even all that far away from the park but gasping like he’d run a marathon.
Well, when you’re…
…When you’re… six, as it seemed he was again, of course things took longer and wore harder. Especially if you were six and also hadn’t eaten in… however long it’d been.
Six, instead of sixteen. Unbelievable. If it wasn’t for the fact that he was literally getting splashed with very real cold water from a very real truck that had just very really nearly run him over, he’d think he were still unconscious.
And even if he wasn’t, bad head injuries caused brain damage, right? Maybe this was all the end result of a delusion of some kind. Maybe he was awake, but just thought he had shrunk, or something like that.
Or maybe…
That pill the horrible man had forced down his throat. That horrible pill. Maybe that had done this - no, it must’ve. Made his brain funny and made him think he’d shrunk. Or killed him as advertised, and as he was dying made him dream he’d shrunk. Or maybe it’d made him…
…actually shrink.
He wasn’t dreaming. He actually was six again, covered in mud and blood and soaked to the bone… and so cold he might as well have been in a dying dream anyway.
He needed to get inside.
Luckily, his house was only so far away now, and if he walked it, he’d make it…
…But, as he soon discovered, there was getting home, and then there was getting home.
He wished the problem was just ‘he dropped his keys when he got attacked’ or something at least a little dignified like that, but no. He had his keys. They were in his pocket. He was just too short to open the gate.
He was having to climb up the iron bars to even get close to the handle, and there wasn't even anything to stand on higher than a foot off the ground, and he couldn't stretch his arm far enough. Great if they wanted to shut out very small intruders who weren’t Shin’ichi at two inches tall, sure. And, as if insult to injury, the gate was also wet from rain and incredibly hard to grip.
He rued the gate. He rued his parents selecting the gate. He rued the manufacturer creating the gate. He may even have rued the very concept of a gate in its entirety. This darn gate stood in the way of all that was good and holy. He hated this gate.
Now, Shin’ichi didn’t know this, and never would, but importantly - crucially, in fact - something was about to explode, and then proceeded not to.
As a direct result of this, there was at least another good five minutes of tussling with an inanimate iron gate, before Shin’ichi quit, slipped off onto the increasingly damp ground, and began considering his options.
Well, it was the dead of night, though exactly what time, Shin’ichi had no idea, because his watch had fallen off. Walls around every house in this area. The gates had all their handles too high. Intercoms were the same. So, to summari- i- i-itCHOO!
Ow.
Oh, yes. It was also January and he was also tiny and injured and soaked.
There was nothing in the street that he could climb onto to get to Agasa’s bell, or to climb under to get some shelter from the rain. So, as much as it pained him, his best bet would be to get out of here. Abandon the house plan. He needed to get help, and fast.
Throwing his hood over his head (as if it were somehow dry) he started off down the street again, stomping off, making sure not to run just in case these jeans finally got the better of him and sent him face-first into the pavement. If he were lucky, somebody might actually be looking out of their windows and take pity on him.
Luckily, he was luckier.
Only a few minutes of laborious trek up the road later, a streak of blue and legs passed him on the street, then backtracked with a gasp, and Shin’ichi forced himself to look up from an admirable chest.
“Hey, are you alright?” said Ran.
Ran? “Ran!?”
Ran paused. “Excuse me?”
“It's me, Shin’ichi!”
Ran blinked. “What?”
“Can you let me into my house?”
Ran opened her mouth wordlessly, then closed it, then opened it again. “I'm… sorry, I must be mishearing things. Are you okay, sweetie?”
Pardon?
“Oh, you're soaking wet!” She knelt in front of him, pulling at his coat.
Oh, right. “Yeah, that’s because I haven’t been able to get into my house.”
“And,” she frowned, puzzled, “these clothes are way too big for you…”
“That’s because they no longer fit me because I shrank.”
“And,” she stared, “they’re an awful lot like the clothes that Shin’ichi was wearing today…”
“That’s because I am Shin’ichi.”
She continued to stare.
Shin’ichi screamed internally.
There was no way - not a chance in hell - that Ran was not going to recognise him, surely. They’d known each other since KG-2. She’d known him when he was this small - and even smaller. She, out of everyone, would be the one who recognised him. It wasn’t really that long ago, just ten years, please, please let R-rtCHOO!
Ow.
“I’m getting you indoors,” Ran decided, scooping Shin’ichi up in her arms like he was nothing - well, a heavy nothing that may or may not have been (read: was) her best friend - and rounding the corner.
Shin’ichi fished in his pocket. “Here’s the keys.”
Ran took them, looked them over, then shook her head, walked to the mansion and opened up the gate, and then the front door.
The moment they were inside, Shin’ichi jumped out of Ran’s arms and flung his coat on the floor. It was still cold indoors, but thank god for the dry. He followed it up with his trainers and overshirt, and then pulled his hoodie up over his head and-
The door clicked shut. “I’ll run the bath,” said Ran, kicking off her own shoes.
-turned bright red and pushed it back down.
“Come on.” Ran grabbed his hand before it fell, and gently led him up the stairs. She didn’t rush, but didn’t condescendingly wait around, and as soon as she reached the landing she dropped it and walked in the direction of the bathroom without a word.
She was back after a few minutes and the sound of the taps running, headed towards his parents’ bedroom this time. Shin’ichi caught a “kept some, I’m sure”. Which had to mean his parents, and which had to mean something they had that’d be useful in this situation, which had to mean-
“My kid clothes are in the drawers in the walk-in closet. Behind the ballgowns.”
“Right.”
She had a bundle in her hands when she came out this time, which she handed him before going into the bathroom again. Shin’ichi unravelled it a little, dusting it off. Just an old t-shirt and shorts, and a change of underwear. Apart from the dated print on the shirt and the underwear’s entire existence in his hands right now, nothing too embarrassing. At least she hadn’t got out that little suit and dicky-bow from the bottom drawer…
“Water’s ready.” Out again.
“Thanks- ah!”
She was now kneeling in front of him, examining the bandage on his head. “Do you mind if I…?”
“Huh? Sure. Go ahead.”
“Alright…” The bandage, though tight, was of the headband variety, so she managed to slip it off without much discomfort. She patted at the back of his head, and suddenly there was a sharp pain and Shin’ichi winced.
At least Ran’s fingers weren’t covered in fresh blood when she pulled them back, so that was a good thing. “Maybe I should be in there with you…”
“No! It’s fine!”
She narrowed her eyes. “You’ll be careful? I mean, you’re…”
Shin’ichi nodded - though not that hard, just in case, though sneezing hadn’t been that b-b-tCHOO!
Ow.
Ran frowned. “Okay…”
True to her word, though, Ran didn’t come into the bathroom at any point during the process, which was nothing short of a miracle. Without her there, he had the time to wash the blood out of his hair and think about what the heck was going on, though he didn’t exactly have much to go on. Also, it gave him a moment of promise, because Ran trusted him, and also gave him a moment of relief, because otherwise he would’ve been bathed by the girl he liked, and that, quite frankly, was a mortifying notion.
Sure, it was already kind of embarrassing. She’d run the water lower than usual, and she’d gotten out that step-stool from when he was an actual child (why hadn’t he thrown it out yet? Where had Mom even been keeping it? Why?); but that was only just embarrassing. But Ran? Directly involved in bathing him? Seeing him naked and using her hands? God. No. Why do this to him. Why.
It wouldn’t even be horrifying in the way it was normally horrifying. He had just seen the damage. This was not a drill.
At least he had the next ten minutes to get over it (as best as a guy can) before there was a rapping on the door, and he reluctantly let himself out of the water, towelled off and got dressed.
Ran was literally outside the door, but now carrying a book. Was that a photo album? He didn’t recognise it, but it was wide and thick enough. “Did you cope okay? How do the clothes fit?”
“I was fine. The clothes, uh…” Shin’ichi glanced down at himself. Children’s shorts were, well, shorter than he remembered them being. “…fit more or less.”
“Oh, thank god. I just found them in the top drawer and thought they looked your size.”
There was a weird look on her face. “Uh,” Shin’ichi began.
“Oh, this?” Ran held the book up. “It’s a photo album from ten years ago. It was by the clothes.” She turned the page and held it next to Shin’ichi, obviously scrutinising a photo.
“Uh,” Shin’ichi began again.
“Sorry, it’s just- it’s uncanny how much you look like the photos,” she said.
“Yeah, that’s weird, isn’t it?” Shin’ichi replied. “Like, whatever they did to me didn’t just make me smaller, it made me younger. That doesn’t even begin to make any sense.”
“No… it’s impossible…”
Wait, that tone - Shin’ichi looked up again. The look on Ran’s face - before, it’d just looked confused or something, but now, with that tone, he finally understood.
He hoped he didn’t. “Ran… do you actually believe I’m Shin’ichi?”
Ran winced quite obviously. “…Well - frankly - I kind of do. But I know I shouldn’t…!”
Huh?
“I mean, you talk like Shin’ichi, and you know where everything is in the house, and you even look exactly like him, but-!” She turned the book around to show a picture of them on the beach as kids. “But that’s the Shin’ichi from grade school. Ten years ago. And that’s not possible.”
…You know, as terrible as that felt, Shin’ichi couldn’t help but sympathise. Of course shrinking was impossible. Well, he knew now that it was only improbable - it couldn’t be impossible if it’d actually just happened, and he was beyond the point of justifying it as a fever dream - but the only reason he knew that was being the one who’d shrunk.
Hell, if the situation were reversed and Ran had been the one to get drugged and shrunk (and that thought was a unique kind of terrifying) the last idea he’d consider was the little girl being Ran.
But then why’d she let him in?
As if reading his mind, “You’re a little kid out in the rain at midnight. You had a bloody bandage on your head and none of your clothes fit. I wasn’t just going to leave you there even if you didn’t act and sound like Shin’ichi.”
Also sensible - wait, “Why this house and not Agasa-hakase’s next door?”
“Because I know where the bathroom and medical stuff is and knew Shin’ichi’s mom would’ve kept at least some of the clothes.” She handed him back the keys. “Also, you gave me these before I got there.”
Did he- oh yeah. After they rounded the corner. Agasa’s house wasn’t on the end of the road.
“Okay, that all makes sense…” Shin’ichi groaned. It did, after all. The only part of this entire scenario that didn’t was the bit with the shrinking - as in, the crux of his entire story.
“Listen, I do want to believe you, and I really want to help you,” said Ran, “but at the same time, my best friend is missing right now and I can’t afford to be on the wrong track. I need to call the police, or go looking for him or something.”
She began down the stairs. Shin’ichi ran after.
“How do I prove I’m Shin’ichi?”
“I don’t know!” Ran replied as she reached the bottom of the well. “You’d have to do or say something only Shin’ichi could do, and I don’t know what that is!” She made her way over to the phone. “Please, I’ll tell the police whatever happened to you. It’s okay. I’m not angry at you. I just want to know who set you up to this!”
“Set me up t- you mean, like a kidnapper?” Was that the track she was going down? Not that he totally blamed her for it - it was the easiest way to quantify a disappearance and assumed theft. That explained why just knowing things wasn’t doing it for her, then. She probably thought there were bugs in the house involved.
But that theory had its own massive hole. “Why would a kidnapper replace me with a little kid who looked like me ten years ago instead of an adult who looked like me now?”
Ran had the phone in her hands. “I don’t - I don’t know… I just know you actually being Shin’ichi doesn’t make any logical sense. People just can’t shrink.”
“Using a kid to replace a teenage kidnap victim doesn’t make any logical sense either. First off you’d have to get a kid who looks exactly like a six-year-old Kudou Shin’ichi who isn’t currently attached to a family or system and make that kid disappear, through kidnapping, adoption, whatever. The odds of that are minuscule, so to even continue along that thread, you’d probably have to get the kid plastic surgery, which is much more noticeable than some two-bit adult wanting to look like a celebrity. Then you’d have to either involve the kid in observing Kudou Shin’ichi, or teach him second-hand about things like speech patterns and an entire high school student’s life just to cover any further inquiry. And say you get past that-”
Deep breath.
“Once you have actually planted the child duplicate, first of all, it took you exactly zero seconds to not believe that I was Shin’ichi despite any evidence I could give specifically because it’s impossible. And say that the child did convince you somehow, then what after that? What does it benefit the child to keep up the charade for any longer than a day? What does it benefit any impostor to take on a role where there’s no chance they’ll ever be left alone? What does it even benefit the kidnapper to have to leave behind an impostor at all, at that point, considering leaving behind an impostor after kidnapping Kudou Shin’ichi suggests Kudou Shin’ichi is only a stepping stone to somebody else, and that my parents, who are the only people more famous than me with a current connection to me, don’t even live in this country anymore and therefore have no ability to be tricked or targeted by one?”
Deeeep breath.
“And even if we change the motive to just vanishing Kudou Shin’ichi, what changes? You’ve already got Kudou Shin’ichi, so what’s the point of even leaving behind a duplicate? Especially a child - children are rogue elements. But no, say you’re lucky and you’ve got a kid who’s somehow willing to do this and who’s also somehow smart enough to do this- question one - why wouldn’t this child immediately point out the issue with sending a child to play Kudou Shin’ichi instead of a person with the same apparent age, and therefore prevent the plan of sending a child to play Kudou Shin’ichi?
“But no, maybe there’s no alternative whatsoever to hiring a child to play Kudou Shin’ichi instead of an adult. The reason for it can’t be financial because you’d have to have enough money to maintain both a child and surveillance of a famous detective so extended you’d have to be somehow constantly breaking into their occupied house and tailing them throughout their daily life without leaving behind a trace of evidence. So say there really is no adult who can play Kudou Shin’ichi, and beyond all possible odds, the child is the mastermind.
“In which case, we have a fantasy child who’s - one, capable enough of an actor to be doing such a good impression of Kudou Shin’ichi that his best friend believes him - two, rich enough to be able to afford either home tutoring to make up for the schooling he’s missing raiding my house and tailing me or the spec-ops teams required to do the work for him - three, either looks exactly like Kudou Shin’ichi or already looked enough like Kudou Shin’ichi for plastic surgery scars to go unnoticed at close proximity - four, must have a motive for wanting to kidnap and or kill Kudou Shin’ichi as well as a motive to also impersonate Kudou Shin’ichi because he would still have the money to hire an adult to do the job for him - and five -”
Gasp, gasp-
“-still couldn't come up with a better idea than ‘Kudou Shin’ichi shrank’.”
…He didn’t know how he’d done it, but he’d winded himself. By talking.
“And we’re not - wheeze - we’re not even thinking about how long they would’ve had to rethink, either.”
Ran stood there, looking both terrified and confused. Really, at this point, those were kind of the same thing. “So… what you’re saying is, in summary… shrinking is impossible, therefore it’s the only thing that’s possible.”
Shin’ichi gave himself a minute to think it over.
“Yeah,” he gasped out. “Eliminate the impossible. Shrinking is impossible, therefore any overly-expensive plan dependant on getting you to believe I shrank is impossible.”
Ran set the phone down. “What evidence caught the killer we ran into today?”
“Her tears tracks ran sideways which proved she must’ve broken into tears on the roller coaster.”
“How did your mom get out of a speeding ticket during our vacation in New York last year?”
“Sharon Vineyard dressed up as the traffic officer’s superior and said Mom was a cop.”
“When did you start calling me Ran?”
“Pfft. Kindergarten, but only because you told me to.”
Ran dropped to her knees. “Shin’ichi.”
There it was. No question mark. No suspicious face. At least, as far as he saw, before he was suddenly swallowed up in a hug.
“But - what happened to you?” she got out after pulling back.
“It’s a… weird story.”
And so he told her about running off after the roller coaster; the guy from the case, and the blackmail deal; the other guy from the case, and being whacked over the back of the head with the metal pipe; the pill, though he de-emphasised the pain, because Ran’s cringing at the pipe was already bad enough; the event of being found, and realising something was horribly wrong; and, finally, the jerks in the first aid office, and running away.
It didn’t completely assuage Ran’s confusion over the whole situation, of course, but then again- “So how do you think the pill could’ve shrunk you?”
“Not a clue. Like I said, it’s impossible.”
“Maybe we could go ask Agasa-hakase about it,” Ran suggested.
“Had that idea in the bathroom. Agasa’s PHD is in mechanical engineering. Besides, the only sample we have is either inside my bloodstream or it doesn’t exist anymore.”
“Then we need to get more,” she reasoned, “but how…”
“Only one option. I’m going after them.”
“…” Ran just stared at him, utterly horrified. “…Like this!?”
“Do we look like we have a choice right now? They committed a crime tonight. Two crimes, actually. I’m the only witness and the cops I told didn’t believe a word of what I said. It’s my duty as a citizen to make sure those guys end up behind bars.”
She grabbed his shoulders. “But it’s not your duty to try and catch them, Shin’ichi. You are a detective. And like it or not, right now you are also a child.” He scoffed, but she grabbed his chin and pulled him back. “You said these guys had an organisation that develops poisons, Shin’ichi. What if they figure out what you’re doing before they’re stopped and come to find you? You haven’t got a chance! They’ll kill you!”
He hated to give her the point - especially so selfishly - but she was right. These men had killed before and were going to do it again. If he were still an adult, he might’ve had a chance with his soccer ball, but right now…
“At least let us protect you.”
What?
Ran was still staring him down, with the darkest eyes he’d ever seen her have. “You’re going to need help, Shin’ichi. Even if you can’t rely on the police directly. Agasa-hakase is a scientist; even if poison isn’t his field, he’s got to know somebody whose field it is. Your dad must have law enforcement contacts all over the world. And I just won the regional karate championship.”
Shin’ichi frowned. “What are you suggesting…?”
Ran held out her hand.
“I want you to stay with me. Please.”
He’d never seen her look so determined before, which was impressive considering the fights he’d watched her get in just last week. A shiny new trophy sat in Ran’s room in a sea of other gold cups, or so he figured, anyway. Her first regional. She’d fought almost tooth and nail for it.
This, on the other hand, was not a competition.
If you could blackmail a gun-smuggling CEO into handing over a briefcase full of millions of yen with a simple microfilm, you probably meant serious business. If you could afford to develop custom poisons whose accidental side-effects included the fountain of youth, you definitely meant serious business.
Did Ran know that? Did she realise what exactly she wanted to get into?
…Well, yeah. That’s what she wanted to save him from. But - him alone getting caught out? That was okay. Ran taking the shot, on the other hand - no. There’d just be blood, and bullet fragments, and a thing on the floor that used to be her.
His mental image was pretty graphic, but then again he had four years of field experience to work with.
Him being a kid - yeah, that made him pretty vulnerable. But it wasn’t like being an adult still would’ve saved him anyway. It definitely wasn’t going to save her.
“Don’t worry about me.” She was still reading his mind, apparently. “If we do this right, we don’t ever end up in the line of fire. If we end up in the line of fire, then we can figure out a way to get us both out of there - together. But you’re not going to be able to do it without a body, so Shin’ichi. Please.”
It was already too late. She knew him, and he knew her. He wasn’t going to give up on this case, and she wasn’t going to give up on him.
So he couldn’t give up on her.
“Deal.”