justonetruth | (no subject)

Conan hesitated. "How did that happen? If you've not answered enough of my questions, I mean."

"That he became a psycho? I don't know," Conan said.

"Not that. How you wound up hurt."

And there's the shut down.

"...he plays games. Don't play them." And his tone said he wasn't going to say anymore.

"Everyone else has been fine so far. Some strange people, but no one really evil, though supposedly there are some."

Conan had the strong feeling he knew that tone from the inside. He folded his notebook away, at a loss -- he liked challenges, sure. But this entire situation was just too big to handle at once. If there was a pattern here, it was lost among the sheer scale of it.

"Ah," he said, feeling very much at a loss.

((icon chosen for expression -- still has glasses etc.))

Conan blinked. Good thing he's rather good at suppressing bad thoughts and bouncing back.

Which probably isn't healthy, but...

"Are you trying to figure something out?"

"This entire situation."

"...I think everyone is. It's a weird place. Like the ghost Shinichi-niichan. Usually people can't see him in his world. Everyone can here."

"As long as I'm not the only one." Conan paused as a thought occurred to him. "What do you usually do here?"

"Nope. Actually, he's the nicest Shinichi-niichan in my opinion. At least he wanted to tell Ran-neechan where he was," Conan said.

At least that should tell Shinichi why he thinks Shinichi is a jerk.

"Explore the place. Sometimes weird rooms will pop up and it's fun to find them. Read in the library. Talk to new comers. Play soccer with the ghost Shinichi."

Sadly, this Conan is still missing some of the pieces. "Why wouldn't I tell Ran where I was?" he asked. "Sure, he goes on about the back-up system a bit too much, but it does work."

Trying very hard not to dwell on the 'soccer with the ghost Shinichi', Conan nodded. He was planning on doing some exploring himself. "Weird rooms?"

"Because you're worried she'll become a target or something for the Black Organization and don't want to endanger her. Or something silly like that," Conan said. "And of course I can't tell her because who's gonna believe a little kid about an evil organization?"

"Well, there's a theater. I found a pool once. A dressing room. That sort of thing."

"So what you're saying is that there's a version out there of me who decided that with a deadly crime syndicate wanting him dead, the smart thing to do would be to hide from his best friend? That's --" Conan struggles to find the right word. "Stupid."

"A dressing room? Whose?"

"Extremely. It's frustrating too. He calls sometimes, but it doesn't help near enough to calm Ran-neechan," Conan said, looking actually sad about this. He didn't want her to be sad.

"No name. There was a lot of stuff in there though. Maybe its meant for anyone who dresses up? Like auntie Yukiko and Kaitou Kid?"

This was -- weird. Like his situation but inverted, everything wrong -- "Let me guess. Hattori's a guy where you're from too?" And just think, when he'd woken up that morning everything had been normal.

As normal as things got when you were seventeen going on eight.

"Ran did say he'd seen both of them here," Conan said, resigning himself to the inevitable meeting.

"That's right," Conan said and beamed happily. "He helps me do work I can't do by being a kid! He's a very good detective. Even if he's hotblooded."

"He did? Huh, I didn't know a version of auntie was around."

... This was so weird. "I think that's one of her -- his strongpoints," Conan corrected himself. "Your friends? Does he get on with -- Shinichi?"

"Maybe we're lucky and she left already."

"Yep! It's actually been a pretty good thing at times..." Conan murmured thoughtfully. "And yeah! He thought I was you for a while. And yeah, he and Shinichi-niichan have worked together rather well before."

"....she's not that bad," Conan commented. He liked her better than his own mother.

"I'm glad that hasn't changed at least," Conan grumbled, worried despite himself. Maybe he owed that male Hattori an apology.

"Yes, she is." Though that raised the question who Conan's parents were. "Who are your parents?"

Conan laughed. "I don't think it COULD change. It's not Hattori-niichan if he's not hotblodded."

"Edogawa Fumiyo and Edogawa Kanji," Conan said and frowned. "...don't they exist at all in your world?"

"I meant more the friendship," Conan said, relaxed enough to smile at last. "But that's true too."

Conan hesitated then shook his head. "Fumiyo's an alias of Mum's," he said slowly. "But they're no more real than you are. Sorry."

"Huh? I thought you didn't trust him to help," Conan said, looking confused.

Conan didn't often prepare himself to hide his expressions in front of people who weren't criminals. So the actual hurt and almost lost look was quite obvious on his face when Conan said that.

"That's different," Conan said immediately.

Conan hesitated then reached out to put a hand on the other's shoulder. "I don't know if this means anything," he said quietly, seriously. "But I believe you're who you think you are. We'll find the explanation eventually. Until then -- try not to worry about the differences."

"It is? How?" Conan asked.

Conan looked away. "Of course I am who I think I am...it just...makes me wonder...what that means in other worlds where I'm not around. And Ran-neechan still doesn't know..."

"It just is." And Conan should recognise this tone as final too.

"It means that Ran's going to be very unimpressed with me when he -- or she -- does find out," Conan complained.