Two weeks passed and Ai suddenly disappeared. No one came for her. No one heard from her. She was just… gone. Nobody knew what’d happened.
Shinichi began to wonder if she’d gotten tired of them and left, or maybe, maybe THEY were still out there.
He was immediately on full alert and much more cautious than usual. The last conversation he’d had with her had him slightly on edge but prepared just in case some of them were still out there.
A few days after her disappearance he received a letter in the mail. It didn’t have anything on it but his address and postage. No return address. ~Kiel95
He questioningly opened the letter and read it carefully, eyes growing wide as he did so.
“Hey Kudo-kun. Sorry I had to disappear so suddenly on you guys. Something came up and I had to leave for a while. Don’t worry because I’m fine. I’ll get in touch soon. So calm down a bit. I know you’re most likely worried and becoming overcautious. Yes, it’s good to stay cautious, but don’t become like me, paranoid as I was. That’s plainly a bad idea as you’ll become an introvert like me. Anyways, I’ll contact you soon – Haibara Ai.”
He let out a sigh of relief. She was safe. That took a huge amount of tension off his shoulders.
He placed the letter down on his nightstand and was able to rest easy and drift off to sleep without worry.
The next day he woke up with a smile and prepared for school. He met up with Ran as usual and the two smiled and talked on the way to school, their hands brushing up against each other but neither saying anything nor stopping it.
As they entered the school grounds they were treated like a couple, but something was amiss that morning.
People were whispering and gossiping about something new and weren’t paying as much attention to the high school detective and his childhood friend.
Curious as to what it could be, he joined a group of friends and asked, “Hey guys, what’s up?”
“You mean you didn’t hear?” someone asked in shock.
“Of course he didn’t hear,” another guy interjected, “He has no reason to care since he has Mouri Ran!”
A light blush painted his cheeks until someone else said, “Anyway… Dude… there’s this new third year who transferred in. She’s a real beauty and she’s smart to top it off! I hear it’s only her second day and ten guys have confessed and been rejected already! She’s already being called the ice queen since she does it so emotionlessly! I really want to see what she looks like, but I still haven’t gotten the chance!”
The others agreed and Shinichi just shrugged it off. Didn’t mean anything to him. He didn’t care for rumors and gossip. He was more of a hard fact guy. What they were spreading had nothing to do with him.
He slipped out of the group and told Ran the gist of things, who was just happy he didn’t’ have an interest in seeing their supposedly beautiful sempai. ~Kiel95
They headed off to class where they were greeted by Sonoko. Of course they were teased, but it ended sooner than normal since the topic was soon changed to the sempai they’d just heard about.
Sonoko suddenly stopped the flow of the conversation going on in the classroom by suddenly saying loudly, “I forgot!”
Her classmates looked at her quizzically.
Sonoko pointed an accusing finger at Shinichi and said, “The new sempai also mentioned Shinichi-kun!”
All eyes immediately turned to glare at him.
He was just as shocked as them and he hurriedly said in his defense, “Oi, Oi! I’ve never even met this sempai you’re talking about! Much less do I even know what she looks like or why she mentioned me!”
Suddenly a cutting voice said from the doorway in a seemingly suggestive tone, “Is that so Kudo-kun? And I thought we were closer, much closer, than that.”
They spun around in surprise and Shinichi’s eyes widened. “H-H-,” he cut himself off right before saying Haibara and correcting himself saying, “M-Miyano-san?!”
She smirked and said with an overly sarcastic tone, “Kudo-kun, I believe it’s Miyano-sempai to you.”
He seemed flabbergasted and his mouth moved but no words came out.
Shiho slowly walked into the room and stood before Shinichi with a cool gaze. Then she leaned towards him and said with a childishly mischievous smile, “Oh, you seem to be quite at a loss for words. I must say you never would’ve believed I was here unless I came to see you myself would you?” She giggled and said, “You needing to call me ‘Sempai’ after all we’ve been through must be quite a shock no?”
Shinichi was finally able to shut his mouth and regain his composure, and once he’d done so he spoke as calmly as possible, “What are you even doing here, Miyano-SEMPAI?” he stressed ‘Sempai’ and had to grit his teeth through saying it. ~Kiel95
“Oh, nothing short of trying to learn a few new things,” she said with a teasing smirk.
“You’ve graduated college in America, what could you possibly wish to learn here?!?”
She shrugged and moved towards the window and stared up at the sky a bit before responding in a distant manner, “I figured I’d see if there was something I’d missed in school that I can learn here. Besides, I was never able to learn Japanese culture first hand in America. Also, I need to oversee my… Experiment, to make sure it’s permanent. What better way than to go to school?”
Shinichi’s eye twitched.
Without looking at him Shiho said with an annoyed sigh, as if playing with him had become a hassle, “Cool off Kudo-kun, it’s not like we’ll be in the same class. I just stopped by to say hello to let you know I’m doing fine.” Then she slowly turned and headed for the door saying just as she left, “See you around Kudo-kun, and don’t mind me. We don’t have to talk now that we’ve finished this conversation. It’s about time class starts and I really must get back.”
She left before he could retaliate. Within moments he was crowded by his classmates, all asking him thousands of questions at once. He couldn’t answer a single one since they were speaking altogether and much too fast.
When the bell rang and the teacher entered, the others calmed down and went back to their seats, still stealing glances and glares at Shinichi whenever they had the chance.
When lunch came around, Shinichi stretched a bit before getting up, but before he stood, Sonoko and Ran stood above him with twitching expressions. They wore smiles, but it was quite obvious how angry they were.
He pulled back slightly but had nowhere to go since he was seated against a window.
“Explain,” Sonoko and Ran said in sync in a simple yet stern and angered tone.
It was obvious that everyone else was waiting for an answer as well and weren’t leaving until they heard.
Shinichi muttered, “Shit,” under his breath. He then inhaled deeply and calmed himself down before starting, “Remember when I was on that really long case where I had to leave school?”
~Kiel95