Twins

So Close

Twins

By Rei-chu Asakura

Chapter 15: So Close

"Have a seat." Shinichi said calmly despite panicking internally. He was trying to come up with a way to 'switch to Kaito' while Ran was here and his Twin wasn't. "My brother's still asleep, I think. I'll—" The phone in the living room rang all of a sudden.

"Shinichi," Megure's voice was loud enough to be heard by Ran. "I was calling your cell phone but it was unattended."

"Sorry, I left it in my room."

"Anyway, the team I asked to check the victim's school records just handed me the report."

"Just in time. I was going to ask you something about that," Shinichi's voice seemed a bit thrilled. Ran could only stare at him in his detective mode. Her trance was interrupted when Shinichi covered the phone and asked, "Would you like some coffee or tea?" His face was a bit embarrassed for having asked the question this late.

The startled Ran waved her hands and said, "I-I'm fine. No need to bother. Go on with that." Her hands gestured towards the phone he was holding. She felt her heart race at that moment as her cheeks got warm. It must be because of the embarrassed smile he was wearing or the fact that Shinichi Kudo showed her some sort of concern just now.

"Alright then," he replied. "I guess I'll just go and wake my brother up. Please make yourself comfortable."

With that, he went upstairs. Ran's eyes dreamily followed him as he continued relaying his deductions over the wireless phone.

In less than 5 minutes, the case was solved and Shinichi focused on the problem at hand – how would he make a Shinichi go out of the house for the supposed play rehearsal that Ran would probably be curious about, while being a Kaito at the same time?

His eyes then fell onto the wireless phone in his hand. "That's it! Answering machine!"

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"Sorry, I overslept," Shinichi, now dressed as Kaito, said as he walked down the stairs.

"No problem." Ran tried to stop a smile from coming. "Because of that I got to see your brother handle a case through phone."

Shinichi chuckled mentally. 'Funny, I am about to handle this case through a phone, too, right now.'

"By the way, Sonoko won't make it today," Ran explained. "Her mom asked her to join a meeting with an important client."

"That's okay, no problem. Uh, can we go to the study for a moment? There's something I want to show you." He tried to say it casually, but he was not yet sure of what to do there.

"Sure," Ran easily complied.

The moment they got in his father's study room, his eyes quickly searched for something to talk about or distract her with. When he saw a piece of paper on the desk, an idea hit him.

"Did you know," he said as he took the paper, "that no piece of paper can be folded in half more than seven times!" He handed it to her. "Try it."

"Really? Where did you learn that?" She said smiling, as she went on and folded the paper on the desk.

"Uh, just somewhere," he replied, a bit distracted behind her. While she was busy, he brought out his phone, dialed a number and hid it in his pocket again.

Just then, the two of them heard a voice from the living room, "Itte kimasu!" (Note: Japanese expression said when one is leaving the house)

"Oh! Shinichi's leaving. I think he has play rehearsals today." He found himself explaining quickly. He then yelled towards the door. "Bye brother! Itte rasshai!" (Note: The reply said by the ones remaining in the house)