DUALITY || Kudo Shinichi x OC ||

CHAPTER SIX: EDOGAWA CONAN.

The feeling that lingered in Akira's chest didn't feel right, not after Shinichi's abrupt leave. She allowed her green eyes to trail down towards the ground, chewing onto her bottom lip, the sentences that spilt out of Ran's mouth turning deaf on all ears. It wasn't like Shinichi to leave so abruptly, and it has never been for as long as she remembers. Without realising it, Akira stood still with her feet planted on the ground, a hand clenched over her heart,

"You know Akira, if you're that worried about Shinichi, we can check on him," Ran spoke up in the midst of her concern, tenderly placing a hand on Akira's shoulder.

"Is that okay with you?" Akira mumbled out her sentence, her green eyes meeting with Ran's worried blue ones.

"Of course, I'm sure he's safe Aki," Ran patted her back, rushing after Akira when she realised the girl had started to walk ahead.

Akira slammed the front gate of Shinichi's house open the moment she arrived, throwing her shoes off the side of his front door as she ran inside, yelling for him at the top of her lungs. Ran, who had trailed behind her picked up the shoes Akira had thrown and placed them in an orderly manner, taking into account the two familiar shoes at the entrance.

The green-eyed girl slammed the door to his study open, her eyes trailing up and down the figure that stood nervously in front of her, scratching the top of his bald head and fiddling with his moustache. His round spectacles reflected the dim light from the chandelier above them, his large body slouching down slightly.

"A- Akira-chan! Nice to see you again," Agasa waved at the girl, nodding towards Ran who came in after her.

"Professor! Have you seen Shinichi?" Akira questioned, her eyes moving around the study,

"Ah- I head he was called to solve another case somewhere," he scratched his cheek.

"Really? He just ran off today at tropical land," Ran walked up next to Akira, commenting on the professor's statement, "I guess that's reasonable. Should we head back Akira?"

No. Something still didn't settle quite right with her, the feeling n her chest has not yet died down. Her locks of black hair messily settled onto her shoulders, eyes stranded with worry. The professor's lips pulled into a tight frown, his eyes observing the girl, fiddling with his hands.

"Maybe I should-" Akira sighed out, her ears perking up when a sudden thump echoed from behind the table Agasa stood at, "Shinichi?"

She stormed forward, pushing past the professor despite his protests, slamming her hand on the wooden table and leaning forward. She was greeted with the sight of messy black hair, a similar hairstyle Shinichi wore. But, except, this figure was a lot smaller. 

Her hands reached forward, gripping onto the little boy's shoulder, turning him around to face her. The boy had blue cobalt, strikingly similar to Shinichi's, accompanied by the large round glasses that framed his face. The boy looked no younger than six, laughing nervously and avoiding her gaze. 

"You..." Akira started her sentence, her words trailing off slightly. He looked so similar to Shinichi that she could even be fooled it was him.

"You're so cute!" Ran exclaimed from behind Akira, patting the boy's head twice while crouching down, "what's your name boy?"

Akira turned her head curiously to the side, watching the way the little boy's cheek dusted pink as she leaned in in order to hear him better, the boy backing into the bookshelf behind him. A moment of silence fell between the four of them, the boy's breath hitching.

"Shi-" he slapped his mouth when the professor shook his head, gaining Akira's attention. She turned her head around, only to be interrupted by a loud, "Conan! Edogawa Conan!"

Conan? Akira questioned in her mind, isn't that a strange name for a Japanese kid? And is that last name from Edogawa Ranpo? The renowned mystery writer? Akira's eyebrows furrowed at the little boy.

"My parents really loved mystery books!" The boy abruptly explained, waving his arms around.

Ah, I might be overthinking. She slapped her forehead, pushing herself up to stand straight, crossing her arms over her chest and shaking her head. 

Conan observed her quietly, his heart stabbed with a knife of guilt, blue eyes lingering on the floor. He couldn't tell her, even if he dreaded to. He wanted to tell her about what happened, about how he was forced to swallow a drug prototype, how the men in black were criminals and how his body shrunk from a teenager to a mere primary school kid. How Shinichi's identity had abruptly turned into Conan in a matter of three hours.

He had woken up by a torch shining right in front of his eyes, surrounded by massive policemen, who had originally been his height. Shinichi had denied it over and over again when the policemen didn't listen to his proclaims, about the men in black and that he was a high school student. The moment he realised he had shrunk was when he stared himself straight on in the mirror, mortified by his sudden appearance, and most of all about how he'd tell Aki.

He wanted to tell her, more than anyone in the whole list of people he knew. Realization dawned over him that he would be putting her at risk as well if she knew of his identity, and she could be... Conan gagged, covering his mouth at the thought, snapping his head up when Ran patted his back in concern.

"Ah! That's right! Akira-chan, Ran-chan!" Agasa snatched Conan by the arm, his hands roughly pushing onto the boy's shoulder, "Conan's parents got into an accident, and since I'm so old I don't think I can take care of this poor boy by myself. So, do you think you two can let him stay at your house? Like, rotate between each other's houses."

"Oi oi, what-" Shinichi yelled, his words muffled by the Professors hand covering his mouth.

"Akira and Ran-chan's dad are both detectives," Agasa started to explain.

"And maybe... They could have something to help me about those men," Shinichi mumbled back to Agasa, eyes blown wide when he nodded at Shinichi'sn words.

"Um, that's fine with me," Akira spoke up, cutting the two males off from their whisper session.

"I'll have to ask dad, but I'm sure it's fine," Ran nodded to her own words, looking at Akira.

"Well, perfect!" Agasa grinned, pushing Conan into Akira's arm, snickering when he watched Conan's face explode into a bright red colour, "welcome your new roommate Ran-chan! Akira-chan!"