The Sleeping Prince Awakens

One week later after the incident...

"Oi, Haibara!"

Haibara Ai just entered the school gate when she heard her classmate, Edogawa Conan, called her. "Good morning, Edogawa-kun," she said placidly as she continued to walk towards the school building.

And then she heard her name being called again. This time, a bunch of kids called her.

"Ai-chan!"

"Haibara-san!"

"Haibara!"

She stopped in her tracks and turned around. And then she saw Ayumi, Genta, and Mitsuhiko approaching her. "Good morning," she greeted with a faint smile.

"Good morning," Ayumi said, and then she noticed something. "Where's Rin-san?"

"Now that you mentioned it, I haven't seen her with Conan-kun. She usually sticks to him most of the time."

"Rin-san is having an early appointment with Yanai-sensei and Miyuzaki-sensei about Ryoma-san's current condition."

"By the way, how is he?" Conan asked.

"He's still unconscious until now and two days ago, he was having a high fever but it all went down this morning. Rin-san was the one who's taking care of him during those days."

Conan frowned. "Rin did?"

"Rin-san sure is patient in taking care of Ryoma-niichan ever since we found him floating on the river a week ago," Mitsuhiko commented and glanced at Conan.

"But I thought-" Conan paused abruptly when Haibara spoke.

"I also thought that Hakase was the one who's taking care of him. The reason why we never knew that was because her room was used for Ryoma-san. It automatically became soundproof at 8:00 in the evening and it goes off at 5:30 in the morning. She probably requested that to Hakase," she said in a bland tone.

They all continued to walk and the moment they had entered the classroom, they placed their bags on their respective tables. After that, they decided to head out to Class 4-C to check if Kourin was already there. And they were surprised to see Kourin sleeping on her seat. Conan woke her up.

"I thought you're having an appointment with Miyuzaki-sensei today," Conan said as soon as she woke up. The others glanced at her.

Even though she was a little sleepy, she yawned and showed a faint smile to them. "Sensei said she'll stop by at Hakase's and he'll inform me about Ryoma-niichan's condition after that."

Ayumi sighed. "But seriously, even though it's late at night, you're still the one taking care of him. Why are you doing this much to him?"

Kourin fell silent and looked at her bandaged left palm... which bears a mark that reminded her of something about what happened to her a year ago.

'It's because... he bears a resemblance to my brother. And those bullets used to shoot him... I guess the people who are after me were the ones who are chasing Ryoma-niichan a week ago. But why? What do they want from him?'

"Oi, Rin! Wake up!"

Her thought was disrupted by that call and the sound of the school bell. And then she saw her friends' worried eyes looking at her. So she laughed, a soft one, and smiled faintly to them.

"Are you okay, Rin-san?" she heard Haibara ask her that question. She nodded.

The rest of the kids were wary of leaving Kourin like that but they had no choice. They still had their respective classes to attend.

XXXXXX

At the Miyuzaki Pharmaceutical and Chemistry Laboratory (a), near the Beika Central Hospital...

It was 4:00 in the afternoon. Doctor Yanai and Doctor Miyuzaki had been working on the chemicals for almost a week. They have tested it three times already but all of the results came in to be the same.

They were the same chemicals that paralyzed Kourin's left arm and leg during the robbery chase a month ago. And to make things even worst, they were the same chemicals found in the bullets used in a massacre a year ago that has a connection to Rin's past.

And Doctor Miyuzaki couldn't help but to feel scared for Kourin's life. And God! She was just a nine-year-old girl who was tried to be killed by some organization because of a family's secret.

She clenched her fists because so many emotions overwhelmed her.

'Are we chasing the same culprit once again? Oh, God! Rin-chan's just a child... she doesn't deserve this kind of life. She's supposed to be living happily like a normal child. And now, if my intuition is right, Echizen-kun was only used as bait to lure someone out of his hole. But who are they after? His life revolves around tennis. He doesn't deserve to face this kind of predicament. Why does it have to start again?'

Doctor Miyuzaki couldn't find an answer to her question so she just sighed to calm herself down and stood up. Doctor Yanai, however, only watched her as she gets her phone inside her coat.

'Shouda, I know what you're thinking. But right now, we don't have anything in our hands for us to finish this. They need to deal with this by themselves. Rin-chan and Echizen-kun maybe are still young but it's up to them to do this and face it. We just have to help them in the shadow...'

As he glanced at her, he saw her dialing. And as she heard it ring, Doctor Miyuzaki looked at him.

"We should tell Agasa-hakase about the result of the tests."

He just nodded. And then he fixed the equipment used and cleaned himself before he took his things.

Doctor Miyuzaki heard the phone being picked up and she began telling to the person on the line about the results.

XXXXXX

The clock has chimed for 10 minutes when Ryoma slowly opened his eyes. The place seemed to be a little dark and his eyes became blurry for some seconds. He closed his eyes and opened them again. This time, his sight became a little clear.

He winced as he looked at the ceiling of that room. It was made of clear glass that was why he could see the stars. As he took a glance at one side of the room, he noticed a lamp switched on which the color of the light was light blue. It was placed on a study table.

But it surprised him to see that a little girl was sleeping there. That was why he forced himself to sit up from the bed to take a good look. And then he looked around the room. 'Where am I?'

He glanced at the sleeping girl again but then, he heard the chime of the clock beside the girl.

"Meow!"

He was startled when he heard a cat's meow. He then smiled when the Himalayan cat jumped onto his master's bed. "Karupin!" The cat gave a soft purr as he felt Ryoma's hand stroking his fur. "How come you're here?"

"Your cat must have sensed that you're in danger the night of the storm."

Ryoma froze when he heard that voice. And when he glanced at the study table, he saw the little girl who was sleeping there a while ago sitting and now, she was smiling at him.

The cat then left his master and approached the girl. She carried it and went towards him t hand him the cat.

"Good morning. And welcome back." She was still smiling at him as if trying to calm him down and saying to trust her.

"Morning?" Ryoma asked with a small frown and a hoarse voice.

The girl nodded. "It's already 1:30 in the morning." And then she drew open the curtains and slightly open the window to let the air in.

"I'm sorry."

The girl was surprised by his apology. So she turned around and glanced at him. "Why are you apologizing, Ryoma-niichan?"

"Well..." he paused to think of how to explain it. "I disturbed you from your sleep. You're supposed to be sleeping and yet--"

"Don't mind it. It's okay." She abruptly stopped him from explaining. And then she suddenly chuckled. "Oh! You might be wondering why I know your name."

"Not really. Anyway, where am I?" And then he looked around the room.

"Well, we're at Agasa-hakase's house. We found you holding tight to a tree trunk while floating on the river. If I hadn't noticed your cat bleeding because of shrub thorns, I wouldn't know you're under the bridge."

Ryoma smiled faintly. "Thank you."

The cat meowed and the girl smiled. "By the way, I'm Kourin. Shinomiya Kourin, nine years old and currently in 4th grade at Teitan Elementary."

"You don't look like a nine-year-old girl, though." Then he became quiet after mumbling that. He said those words because he noticed the girl's height. She was taller than her supposed height at that age.

But he chose not to say anything about that. Of course, his silence was something that Kourin noticed.

Kourin sighed. "You must be worried about your family." Ryoma didn't speak. "We're not sure if we should call your parents because of the conclusion we had when we saw the gunshot wounds on your body."

Ryoma faced Kourin after she said that. "You just did the right thing. I don't want to involve them in any danger that I'm facing now." And he felt his cat's soft fur brushing off his hand, and then it meowed as if trying to comfort him.

He tried to move his feet, but for some reason, he couldn't. Ryoma then looked at Kourin, the girl saw fear and confusion in his eyes. She shook her head and glanced at him sadly.

"What do you mean?" he asked, even more confused.

"The bullets used to shoot you the night of the storm contained some chemicals which can paralyze the organs if they penetrated through the body. The gunshot wound on your thigh had those chemicals. Though some of it was removed, some of it had managed to penetrate your nerves, thus making you unable to move your feet. But don't worry. It will only be temporary, according to Miyuzaki-sensei." Kourin smiled and then she switched on the lights, automatically switching off the lamp.

"I'm hungry..." Ryoma whispered but Kourin heard it.

She walked towards the door. But before she opened the door, she turned around and looked at Ryoma. "I'll bring you some food here so please wait for it, Ryoma-niichan." He slightly blushed for he never thought the girl heard him.

And Kourin went out of that room.

'That girl...' he thought. 'Even though she's smiling, her eyes still looked sad...' But he brushed it off his mind and looked outside the window on the ceiling.