Dream's Masquerade - A Detective Conan fanfiction

The Second Dream - Mirage

Japan - that was the country that had been replacing her hometown. If the writing hadn't been a dead giveaway, the culture sure was.

Why Japan?

She had no idea.

After all this time, she still didn't know what had happened, or more like, what had been happening to her. How did she end up in Japan out of all places? Just what kind of sick mind-play was that...? She knew she never left her home and yet it was clear that this wasn't even close to the town she grew up in.

Was this real?

It couldn't be, yet nothing proved itself to be just a mirage. The things around here definitely weren't. She could wander around and enter buildings without a hitch. The people answered her questions when she decided to approach them... They had to be the real deal, which only confused her even more than she already was.

At least that way, she had managed to scratch together some information, seeing as reading wasn't an option to her.

She was in Tokyo, Beika to be precise... and she was homeless.

Great, just great.

Since the transition between her hometown and Tokyo had been so slow, she didn't consider that she would need a place to stay at once it was done and over with. Sleeping in the local park wasn't an option anymore now that it was gone. Until the very end she had held onto the belief that it was all in her head. Well, it could still be just a dream, but that didn't mean she would wait forever and hope that she would wake up. Now that she was actually standing outside, on the streets of a foreign country, filled with hundreds of people - that surely weren't only kind ones - she had to find a way to get by.

Food, a shelter, clothes... She needed money, but where was she supposed to start? She couldn't just apply to a random job without any identification, even less without any knowledge of the language. For a while she had been digging up the trash cans of shops that she was familiar with, but here? She didn't even know where to begin. She had been trying to avoid anything unfamiliar as long as it had been possible.

'I wish I had Crisis and Ari to reassure me. Or Yoki to help me out with the legal stuff... I don't even have my phone to google things anymore.'

Tiredly, she let herself fall against the wall of the building behind her, using it as a support as her legs began to wobble. Her hands made their way up to her face, burying it as if it was enough to hide away from everything, a bitter smile pulling on her lips.. The bustling sounds of people and vehicles rushing by, buzzed through the warm air, offering, at least some, comfort to her in the form of a distraction. This had been going on for way too long. A month perhaps? She didn't know. Time went by in a blur, day and night slurring together as she sneaked through the different locations, hoping to find a safe shelter. It was hard on her own. Nothing felt the same without anything or anyone she knew.

She was alone. She was alone and lost.

A soundless hiccup forced itself up her throat.

She had nothing. No possessions, no money, not even evidence that she existed in the first place. Did she? Had she ever been a part of this world?

The familiar eyes of her friends filled her head, staring at her with unfamiliarity lingering behind them.

'Do I know you?'

A burning sensation surged through her veins. It felt like her blood had turned into ice, freezing her from the inside.

Who was she?