justonetruth | (no subject)

It's not doing much for Conan's 'Convincing Ran there is nothing going on there' campaign.

He's trying very hard not to picture Hattori's pyjamas. "Everyone? So -- everyone was gathered in the one place? Was that deliberate?"

"And it was just the leftovers of a fight?" Ran queried further. "Nobody was actually playing?"

Oh yeah, and the nightgown wasn't even her's. Waaay more see-through than anything she owned. Hakuba had turned odd colors.

"Not in one place, but in different places 'n we were before. I'm never gonna be able ta talk ta that Hakuba again."

A grin at Ran. "Exactly."

"Why wouldn't you be able to--" Conan trailed off as the reasoning part of his brain filled in the blanks for him.

... he'd never liked Hakuba much to start.

Ran's thoughts had followed a similar line of reasoning, and the boy flushed. "What kind of pajamas were you in?"

She flushes dark red, protesting. "It wasn't actually a nightgown I owned. 'n it wasn't that bad. Jus'... Hakuba."

That wasn't much better. Especially not with Heij-- ahem. Hattori's blush. "You're friends with Hakuba-san?" Conan said politely, plotting the demise of this Hakuba -- or at least, the demise of any bits of Hakuba within Conan's range.

Ran took full note of how Hattori didn't actually say what kind of pajamas she'd been in, then took note of Conan's expression, and decided to just sit back and enjoy the show.

This conversation was turning out to be even better than he'd expected.

"No! I'm not friends wi' him."

But the blush isn't going away.

"Ya know how important both our dad's are in th' police. 'n both our families support arranged marriages."

The last sentence came as an annoyed mutter.

"What? But that's--"

From Conan's shocked tone it is only to easy to deduce that 1. Conan hadn't known anything of the sort. And 2. Hakuba might want to invest in knee protectors.

Ran apparently hadn't been expecting it either.

"You're engaged?!" he half-yelped, almost totally shocked. Hakuba and Hattori had never gotten along. It was a thing to boggle at.

"Not 'f I have any say in it."

They had met for the first time at the Koshien. It hadn't gone over well at all, both trying to one-up the other, both not liking the personality of the other, both coming out of it able to tolerate the presence of the other, but nothing more. Then, as she was retelling the case to her mother, she found out what their parents had been planning.

Heiji was resigned to the idea by now, nothing more than a token attempt at rebelling.

"Is that -- all right? They can't actually make you--" He knew this wasn't the Heiji he knew, but that didn't seem to make the slightest bit of difference to his reaction. He and Heiji, they'd never talked about this--

"Yeah, why would you put up with that at all?" Ran asked, just as bewildered. Hattori-san was the last girl he'd expected to get caught in an arranged marriage. He thought she'd be raising high hell all over half of Japan if it was even mentioned.

"'m not putting up with it."

She's already been through this with her Kudo, and doesn't particularly want to repeat everything.

"They're not gonna make me go through wi' it if it's obvious it's not gonna work."

That's -- promising. But all the same Conan cannot quite feel happy about this. And won't, not until he's had the chance to talk to their Hattori, something that given the mansion's state of celphone reception is unlikely to facilitate.

"So -- anyone from your world here?"

Ran just grinned slightly and turned back to the lingering remains of his meal. If Hattori-san was that sure about it, then everything would be fine. He almost kind of pitied her parents.

Conan's abrupt and not-at-all subtle subject change cause the grin to morph into a quiet snerk, but Ran managed to keep it under his breath.

The subject change was sudden, but welcome.

"No one I've met yet. Most people stare for a few seconds, then accept th' idea 'f alternate realities pretty quickly."

"Ah," said Conan, uncomfortably aware that his reaction to a Boy Heiji had not been quite so charitable. "It is a pretty good argument in favour of alternates."

"'Most people'? Our world isn't the only other one so far where you're a girl, is it?" Ran asked.

He was starting to get the feeling that he was from the only world where he was a guy. It was kind of disheartening. And annoying.

"Yeah, it is." A shrug, directed at both her dinner partners.

"Seriously? But--" I like you as a girl. "That's just weird."

"I know how it feels," Ran muttered, finishing up the last of his meal. He was seriously starting to consider having a sign or something to hang around his neck.

A sign sounds like a great idea.

"We could make signs. Yers would say 'Yes, I'm Mouri Ran. No, I'm not datin' Kudo Shinichi'."

"That had to be clarified?" It was worse than home.