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“Shinichi?”
She called his name as she spotted him limp out of the room in which she told him to wait. Upon hearing her voice, the grip he had on the wall tightened, and he turned around to face her, eyes as wide as saucers.
Ran moved closer.
“You shouldn’t be walking around,” she remarked. Shinichi had moved from the wall, now gripping the railing of the stairs so hard his whole hand seemed to lose color.
“You’re sick.”
As Ran said this, however, Shinichi’s eyes glazed over and he took one step back. Then another. And then, his form became a blur as he tumbled down the stairs.
“Shinichi!” Before she knew it, she was bolting down the stairs. Her childhood friend lay at the bottom, now gripping his arm instead of his heart.
She vaguely heard the doctor’s footsteps behind her as she took in his appearance.
His hair and clothes were soaked in sweat, making him look like he had just jumped into a pool. Despite this, his skin had become dry and pale. His arm was mostly obscured by his jacket, but it did appear to be slightly crooked. He trembled, his eyes just barely open, and he tried to scoot away from her and towards the front door.
Gosh, he looked awful!
(She didn’t miss the sight of steam rising from his skin, though.)
“Stop moving!” She took hold of his uninjured arm- Geez, was his arm on fire? It was scorching!
“Ran…get away…”
“No, I won’t leave you, Shinichi!”
“You can’t see me like this!”
“I don’t know what’s wrong, but you need help-”
And then he started screaming.
His arm slipped from her grasp, leaving only an empty sleeve in her hand. But it wasn’t just that, his other limbs shortened too. And his torso. His head was also rapidly shrinking, his face growing rounder and softer as it did.
He…was shrinking.
And then it stopped.
Where Shinichi lay before, Conan lay now, his glasses poking out of one of his jacket pockets instead of resting on his face. The boy had fallen unconscious, and while he looked much better than before, he didn’t seem to be out of the woods yet. His breathing was quickened and he was still pale and trembling.
The doctor appeared at her side and began to examine Co-Shin…him. When his shirt and jacket were removed, a nasty purplish-black bruise had formed in the spot he had clutched his arm and had spread up to his shoulder and chest. Ran could hardly look at him, but she also couldn’t tear her eyes away.
“He needs to go to the hospital immediately,” the doctor commanded. “Severe dehydration coupled with a malunited fracture in his upper arm.”
“I’ll…I’ll call. The ambulance.” Ran said, pulling out her phone and dialing 119.
…
The phone call felt like a dream. She could hardly remember what she said to the operator, but it seemed to have worked because the ambulance was there. And then Shinichi was gone, and she was alone.
None of this was real, right? She was going to wake up any minute now, and everything would be okay. Shinichi and Conan would be separate people again, and he’d just laugh at the dream her silly brain cooked up.
…
“What are five things ‘ya can see right now, Ran-san?”
“...You, the police cars, that house, that tree, that cloud.”
“Good, now four things ‘ya can touch?”
“My phone, the gate, Shinichi’s jacket…” It was then that the fog in her mind seemed to clear, her eyes sparking to life.
“Shinichi! Is he alright?”
“He’s at the hospital by now, he’ll be taken’ care of.”
“That’s good.. Do you know which hospital he’s in?”
“Beika General Hospital.” She opened her phone to call a taxi, but before dialing, she sent a grateful look to the Detective of The West.
“Thank you, Hattori-kun.”
He smiled. “No problem, Ran-san.”
…
It was three days later when Conan was finally released from the hospital with his arm in a sling.
He sat on the couch in the Detective Agency, reading a book. Ran’s father was out at the moment, so it was just the two of them in the room. Ran had been busying herself with cleaning but had now paused.
She walked to the couch opposite Conan and sat down, causing him to look up from his book with a look of curiosity.
“Conan.”
“...Yes?”
“I saw you shrink the other day.” His gaze turned from one of curiosity to one of horror in an instant.
“Ran, I…”
“Why did you keep this a secret?”
“It’s dangerous, Ran. I didn’t want you to get involved!”
“Too late, mister. If I wasn’t involved before, I definitely am now. So spill.”
…
“I told you you’d get yourself in real danger if you kept poking your nose into these cases.”
“I know, I know.”
“You better not hide something like this from me again. Promise?” She held out her pinky finger.
“...Promise.” He muttered, linking the pinky of his good arm with hers.