Detective Conan - Magic Kaito oneshots

Alone, together

Kind of sequel to 'Promises'

Shinichi stared at the black and white portraits of his parents, the picture frames decorated with matching black ribbons. It didn't compute. Why was it so hard to not only know that they weren't coming back, but to actually believe it too? The smell of burning incense and numerous flower bouquets and funeral wreaths everywhere was slowly making him nauseous.

A hand landed on his shoulder, a familiar one that had been placed there countless times over the last week since the plane crash that killed his parents had been broadcasted on the news, with all of its casualties listed. Shinichi looked up to Juzo Megure with an expression that he hoped managed to reassure the policeman that he was alright and he didn't have to worry about him.

Shinichi's mind might've turned into a minefield, one wrong metaphorical step away from exploding into a world of pain and incomprehension, but he knew how to navigate it.

He was competent. He was independent. His parents had put so much emphasis on his independence. It would be a shame to disappoint them now by becoming a burden to Inspector Megure, but it wasn't like they would be able to come by and check anymore, was it?

Still, Shinichi kept himself together best he could, quickly shying away from trains of thought that made that odd feeling of pressure inside his ribcage appear, a bit like standing at the edge of an abyss and dreading the way one could almost imagine the pull of gravity.

Inspector Megure's hand staying on his shoulder actually helped him to feel grounded in that regard. A voice in the back of his head that sounded a bit like his mother chided him that the gesture shouldn't be necessary.

He knew that he was being an inconvenience to those around him, ever since the news about his parents' death broke he hadn't spent even one night alone in the empty mansion that had suddenly felt so much more lonely than before and at the same time uncomfortably crowded with either Professor Agasa or Inspector Megure sleeping over.

Shinichi knew he was being a burden and yet couldn't bring himself to give the men sufficient signals to leave him alone beyond telling them that he was fine. They never once seemed convinced anyway.

And he also couldn't ever tell them to back off whenever their presence so close by felt like it would suffocate him where he stood. It would be impolite. They were just trying to help.

They couldn't know that Shinichi was used to having space, a lot of space, in the last few months before his recent tenth birthday his parents had gone on vacation or on business trips for a couple of days every few weeks when he was stuck at home because of school, aside from the fact that he hadn't wanted to go with them anyway.

He was perfectly alright with being alone in the large family mansion, please and thank you. It was perfectly fine that the vacations got longer after his tenth birthday, reaching up to a week and sometimes even ten days.

And now they were never coming back from the most recent one of these vacations. Their flight home had never gotten them there. The mansion would stay empty this time and Shinichi... he could deal with that, too. Alone.

He wanted to be alone. Another's presence in the house, especially a foreign one not belonging to his parents unsettled him greatly, cost him hours of rest every night.

But his parents' friends couldn't know that, they were just trying to help. So he let them believe that it was the grief alone that was responsible for the growing dark smudges underneath his eyes. It would be impolite to repay their efforts with rejection of said help.

They couldn't know that requiring help was not a good thing in Shinichi's books. Couldn't know that not only their mere presence but especially their coddling drove him up the walls, that he wanted to launch something at them every time they picked up the phone for him and told the people calling that he wasn't available.