Chapter Ten: Reminiscing Memories (Unexpected)

Shinichi's POV

A bus stopped after a few seconds of waiting and we all went in. Luckily, our seats are were arranged near each other.

Me and Ran, Mitsuhiko and Haibara, Genta and Ayumi, and Sonoko who is alone in a two-passenger chair.

As the bus started to move, I looked out of the and put my cheek on my palm as I watched the reflection of Ran smiling brightly.

She seemed to catch my gaze. She looked at me with the most innocent look. My eyes widened as my mouth wide in awe. I felt my cheeks burning as I tried to look away.

Mouri Ran has been making me so crazy. My heart was like hers, like she's controlling my emotions so easily with just one smile, one gaze, and one look.

"Shinichi," she called. I can't help but to look at her. Her smiled faded and turned it into a pout. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

I'm surprised by the way she asked me. "Like what?"

"Like you hate me that I call you by your name. Your gaze shot daggers," she replied.

I blinked a few times before her words sunk into me. "Ahm, I... Ahm, well...er..."

She pouted even more and my heart beats fast erratically like my chest is going to burst. "You're mean," she said.

I frowned. "I'm not mean, stupid."

"Hey! I'm not stupid! And you ARE mean, idiot!" She stuck her tongue out making me gasped unbelievably.

"Now, you are the mean one!" I shouted at her.

"Am not!"

"You are!"

She shook her head. "Am not," she replied and stuck her tongue out again.

"Excuse me, we're in a bus, Shinichi nii-san, Ran nee-chan," Ayumi-chan suddenly declared making us froze in our seats.

Sonoko chuckled. "Well, well, the two lovey-dovey couples are leveling up. They are now arguing inside public transportation," she teased.

"Shut up!" I and Ran said in unison.

We both looked at each other and smiled then we suddenly laugh, oblivious to our surroundings.

"HEY! LOWER YOUR LAUGHS! MANY PEOPLE ARE HERE, KIDS!" an old woman suddenly shouted.

Ran puts her hand to her mouth and I bit my lip. I looked at her and I saw her looked at me. Our eyes smiled as we tried to hold our laugh to ourselves.

~~~

"Yay! We're now in Tropical Land! We're now in Tropical Land!" Ayumi-chan shouted excitedly as we got out of the bus.

"Mou, Ayumi-chan. Be careful to your steps," Mitsuhiko said.

Ayumi pouted. "I'm excited!" she exclaimed as she straight her arms to the air.

"Yoshida-kun, you're nineteen, not eight years old," Haibara said, making Ayumi pout even more.

She looked at Ran with begging eyes. "Ran nee-chan, they're bullying me," she said cutely.

Ran just chuckled in reply and shook her head but then, she turned her head to Mitsuhiko and Haibara and glared at them seriously.

"You two lovey-dovey should stick to your own business. Ayumi-chan's just excited. What's wrong being happy?" Ran interjected.

The two look at each other but then, they looked away with their cheeks blushing in beet red.

Something was up to these two... I could smell it... So fishy...

Suddenly, someone wrapped around my arms and when I looked, it was Ran.

She smiled. "Let's go?" I nodded and looked at the kids—Well, erm, teenagers to be exact. Mature teenagers except for the two teenagers among them.

We started to walk in the gates of Tropical Land and I was amazed how big the place was.

Third Person's View

"Argh! Why don't you pick up your phone?!" Hayley said irritatingly as she typed Shinichi's number again.

It was ringing again, but only ringing. No one is picking up.

"Argh! I hate this stupid cellphone!" she shouted as she throw the cellphone to the wall, making it crashed into pieces.

She sat down the couch and massage her head.

She had been stressed on her boyfriend these past few days ever since Shinichi saw Ran again and it's making her blood boil and making her head burn in anger.

"That stupid woman..." Hayley muttered. Sje stood up from the seat and walked towards a darting board.

She took one dart in there and threw it to tje picture sticked onto the darting board.

"Bullseye." She smirked and took the dart again that has been shot only a few seconds by her.

She looked satisfied when she saw a hole in the woman's head.

Yes, the picture was a woman.

She struck it again and it's bullseye once more. She grinned and walked towards the darting board again.

She was about to take the dart again when her hand stopped mid air as she stare at the woman's forehead.

Slowly, her lips formed into a smirk. "Mouri Ran, huh?" she muttered as she took the dart completely out of the board. She walked back to her position and play with the dart. "Rachel Moore, the international secretary who will take away Jimmy from me." Her fist clenched tightly with the dart as she looked at the picture with rage. "I'll put your head like this picture of yours and..." She shaped her hand like a gun and target it to the dart board and imagining a bullet strike in the bullseye. "...bang! You're dead."

~~~

"Wah~ That rollercoaster was like riding a rollercoaster to hell," Sonoko complained as she sat so tiredly on the couch. "If Makoto-kun is here, he wouldn't let me be this tired."

"There are only two left that we could go, Sonoko," Ran said as she sipped through the ice tea she ordered a couple of minutes ago.

"What?! Two left?! I'm not going! No, no, no, no!"

"Why? Scared to death that the ride will take out your sould from you?" Haibara said without any emotion and did the same action as Ran after.

"This kid is really mean," Sonoko complained. "Hey? I'm more older than you."

"To be specific, I'm stuck now in this body and decided to not longer go back to my original body but that doesn't mean you're the oldest one here," Haibara said, staring at Sonoko.

Sonoko rolled her eyes. "But technically, you're younger than me now because your files said that your age is nineteen."

Haibara shrugged. "Still, I was older than you, Suzuki Sonoko," she backfired.

Ran chuckled as the two continued bickering. She looked at Shinichi. His face was facing in the opposite direction.

"Shinichi," she called him. He flinched and looked at her. He hummed. "What are you thinking?"

"Nothing," he said playfully and played with the ice in the ice tea.

"I know you're thinking of something. You seemed deep into your thoughts," she said.

Shinichi gave her a glare and sighed. "You sound like my mother for a second."

She smiled. "I'll take that as a compliment then." She scooted near Shinichi. "Hey, were all of the rides clicked something?"

Shinichi shook his head. "None," he answered.

"Oh." Ran felt sad for a moment. She thought she had an improvement to make Shinichi remember every single memory he forgotten.

"But I do feel that those rides held something precious to my life," he answered. Ran looked up at him. Shinichi puts his head sideways to the table and stared at her. "You know, I don't know why I think you were always in those rides with me. It's weird."

She smiled and pinched his nose. "Well, thank you for that answer." I'll take that as an improvement then.

Suddenly, Ran saw an ice cream stall nearby. She remembered buying Shinichi an ice cream when he's still Conan.

She stood up and Shinichi frowned. "Where are you going?" he asked.

"Want some ice cream, Shinichi?" she asked. Shinichi gulped as he felt the fast thumping of his heart again. She stared at him. "So?"

Shinichi gulped again and sighed heavily to calm himself down before answering. "Sure."

Ran walk towards the ice cream stall. As she walk towards it, Shinichi is staring at her back, thinking.

Why is my heart beating when I'm talking with her? Do I... love her?

"Two please," Ran said politely as soon as she came into the ice cream stall.

"What flavor, Ma'am?"

"Two chocolate mint please," Ran replied and took one money on her small bag.

But Ran never knew, someone is waiting for her to take out her money from her bag. As soon as she took it out, that 'someone' ran fast as Flash and took her money.

Ran saw it in a flash. She was shocked but quickly recovered. As the ice cream man finished his last scoop, Ran ran towards the man as she says, "I'll be back soon!" to the ice cream man.

Shinichi saw the man who took the money and immediately take action. He also ran towards the man, oblivious that Ran is catching the thief.

Shinichi's speed go fast and Ran saw him coming. She stopped midway and searching for a shortcut to block the thief in front. Luckily, she saw a pathway between the restaurant and a tent. She ran towards it and jump when there is a rope.

While Shinichi is speeding up to catch the thief, Ran took the front and ran as fast as she could to find the thief.

She saw him in a distance with Shinichi running behind him. She ran towards the criminal.

The thief saw her and took a knife out of his pantaloon's back pocket and waved it dangerously in front. "Get out of my way!" he shouted.

All of the people in there ran to the sides, leaving Ran alone in the middle, the thief who has a knife on hand, and Shinichi runninng endlessly to catch the thief.

The thief came nearer and nearer. Ran sucked an air and breath it out heavily as her hands clenched into a fist.

As the thief took it a chance, he puts his hand with the knife in the air and was about to attack Ran when she opened her eyes and looked up at him.

The thief's eyes widened. Ran took that as an opportunity and kicked the man's wrist making the knife jumped out of his hand. She kicked the thief's chest after.

Shinichi stopped running and caught the thief's neck in his arms. He locked the thief's head tightly. The thief's hand slowly turning red.

"Give me the money," he ordered. The thief put the money in Shinichi's hand before Shinichi let him go.

The man ran away from them, scared that he might get in trouble with the two again.

Shinichi walk towards Ran and put the money in her hand. "Here. Next time, be careful. This is an amusement park. Anybody could lurk arouund, especially thieves."

She smiled. "Thanks." She saw Shinichi's forehead that have many beads of sweat. She took out her handkerchief to her bag and tap Shinichi's forehead making him flinched in surprise. "You're sweating," she said as she looked softly at Shinichi.

Shinichi's eyee immediately soften as soon as she saw Ran softly looking at her. God. This woman is really unbelievable. Then, something popped in his head.

"You kicked the man's wrist earlier," he stated.

"Yes, I did," Ran said as she comtinued to tap all of the beads of sweat in his forehead. "What about that?"

"Only people who learn martial arts could do that."

Ran chuckled. "I learned Karate. I'm currently Second Degree. And you? You semmed quite a bit strong to lock the man's head like that."

Shinichi gave her a glare. "It's not 'quite a bit'." He crossed his arms. "I learned martial arts when I was in America."

Ran's hand froze in the air as she looked at Shinichi unbelievably. "Really?"

Shinichi nodded and shrugged. "I don't know why but I always feel like I need to learn martial arts, especially karate."

Ran smiled when she heard that. The heart remembers what the mind can't remember.

"Really? What is your degree then?"

"Lower than yours but I currently learning to be a Second Degree," he answered. "I never thought you could execute martial arts, Ran."

Ran raised an eyebrow at him with a playful smirk on her lips. "Oh really? Want a full sample?" she said. "I'm ready."

He shook his head. "No. Not in the amusement park. Maybe some other time," he said making Ran smiled again.

They both went back to their spot. Ran spotted the ice cream vendor and walked towards the ice cream stall. She smiled as if nothing happened.

"Can you please make two chocolate mint ice cream again? We just ran to the thief to take the money back," Ran said sweetly.

The vendor smiled. "No problem, miss. But I don't think I need to make two again." Ran frowned in confusion. The vendor just smiled again in reply and go down and a second later, he appeared again with two cones with chocolate mint flavor ice cream on top. "Here ya go."

Ran took it and gave the money to the vendor while still looking at him confusingly. "How did you make that?"

"I have a machine that allows the ice cream to not melt. It's pretty useful. Here's your change, miss," the vendor said and gave the excess pay to Ran.

"Thanks." Ran turned around to Shinichi and gave the other ice cream to Shinichi. "Here you go. Your favorite ice cream flavor, chocolate mint," she said.

As Ran licked to her ice cream while they walked back to the restaurant where everyone was, Shinichi looked at her confusingly. "How did you know my favorite ice cream flavor?"

Ran just smiled and walked towards an empty seat where they were before. Shinichi sat across her.

"Well..." Ran licked in her ice cream again before continuing, "...when you became Edogawa Conan, I treat you ice cream for free. That time I was suspecting you to be you."

Shinichi frowned. "Huh?"

Ran smiled. "Well, your situation before was hard to explain but I'll tell it anyway," she said and licked on her ice cream once more. "You became small when the Black Organization forced you to drink the medicine who could make someone shrunk into a kid again, APTX 4869, as what Ai-kun said it was. You lived as Edogawa Conan for two years with me in my Dad's agency."

"I-I was Edogawa Conan? I-In the picture?" Shinichi was shocked. He never thought he the kid in the picture.

"Picture? What picture?" Ran frowned.

Shinichi took out his phone and scrolled through his gallery before putting the screen in front of Ran's face. "There. That picture."

Ran smiled when she saw the picture. "Oh. I know that. It was originally Ayumi-chan's," she said and crossed her legs and licked the ice cream then bit a little bit of the cone. "She gave it to you when you're still Conan-kun. Your parents get you to the agency because you need to go back to your original form, to be in Shinichi's body to be exact."

"So... this is a remembrance picture?"

"Precisely." Shinichi stared at the picture. "So... I'm the four-eyed glass kid in here with the blue suit and blue shorts?"

Ran chuckled but nodded in response. "Yes. And... you just bully yourself ten years ago as Edogawa Conan," she said and laughed again.

Shinichi pouted. "Mean," he commented. "But seriously, I looked ugly in those suits."

"That's what you look like before so accept it." Ran shrugged. Her ice cream was now gone in less than five minutes.

"Why do I need to pretend when I'm really your childhood friend in a kid's body? It doesn't make sense."

"It does because you wanted to protect me from the Black Organization."

"You are talking about these Black Organization. Who are them anyway?" he asked.

"Well, um..."

"They're an illegal organization. They have codenames of alcohol," Haibara butted in. She sat to the empty chair beside Ran. "The Black Organization is the one who makes the APTX 4869 and I heard there's a lot of projects coming in. Many unsolved cases were being reported to the police headquarters involving them but none of the group was found in the area, however, we still need to take action so I put Mouri-san in my side always so that she could observe any unusual happening."

"Wait, you're joining her to this kind of dangerous mission?" Shinichi asked unbelievably, worried. "What if you might be in danger?"

"My life is now on the line because now, I know your real identity. Even back then, there's a lot of threats here and there. I just can't stand watching Ai-kun solve all these dangerous activities. She might also be in danger."

"And you also made us promise to each other to protect each other," Haibara said. "We're just doing it."

"But that doesn't mean you can go to war!" Shinichi exclaimed, looking unbelievably to the two women in front of him.

Haibara shrugged and crossed her arms and legs and leaned in the chair. "We're fine."

"Fine isn't the definition of war. I can't believe you two."

"Actually, we're five. Me, Haibara, Ayumi-chan, Genta-kun, Mitsuhiko kun and oh! Make it six. We also have Sonoko on our side and also Professor Agasa and the police headquarters. I also have connections to your parents for some juicy pieces of information about the organization," Ran said.

Shinichi facepalmed himself. "Are you saying that I'm in danger before as Edogawa Conan because they knew I'm the real Kudo Shinichi and both of your lives in danger because of me and when I left Tokyo, you investigated the Black Organization for me and planned to get them behind bars? Is that it?" Ran and Haibara looked at each other, and then slowly nodded to Shinichi. "Okay. Okay. This is too much information. Are you saying this is my fault that you two get in these dangerous state?"

"Precisely, no but technically, yes," Ran answered. Shinichi facepalmed himself again. "I mean, Haibara's life is in danger when she came into your life so that's not your fault but mine was because you keep the secret but I accepted the danger anyway so let's get to another topic now."

Shinichi sighed heavily as he massaged his head. He can't take the TMI (too much information), so he considered it as the end of the conversation about Ran and the Shounen Tantei's plan to take down the Black Organization.

They started to talk about other things and Genta, Ayumi, Mitsuhiko, and Sonoko joined the other three. The conversation filled with laughter.

~~~

Everyone seems tired from the amusement park. They got home but Ran walked with Shinichi towards the Kudo Family's house.

They stopped in front of the gate. "Thank you for coming with me, Sonoko and the Shounen Tantei."

Shinichi smiled back. "No problem. Anyway..." He looked at his wristwatch. "...it's past midnight. I think you should get an eight hour sleep."

"I think I should really get home. Bye." She turned around and started walking but then stopped. She faced Shinichi again. "I forgot something," she said.

Shinichi frowned. "I don't see anything you could forg--" Ran sprinted towards him and kissed him on the lips, catching him off guard.

Ran pulled away and looked at him with love in her eyes. "That's what I forgot." She smiled. "Thank you for giving me your time. I'll be truly leaving now. Bye."

And she left Shinichi shocked as his heart keeps on pounding so loudly that his chest might burst in any second.

God. What's that woman literally doing to me?