Case File: Pandora & The Universe

Mouri Ran

Edogawa Conan knew Kudo Shinichi because he was also Kudo Shinichi. Conan liked to think that he had the upper hand on his current predicament because he knew how to twist his old self to do his bidding. 

He heard a thump from the walk-in closet.

Mr. Cuddles agrees with Conan.

But Mr. Cuddles was also a traitor to Conan because Mr. Cuddles knew that Conan has no power over Shinichi-niichan.

It was proven a fact when Shinichi forced him to wear a black and blue striped socks, a blue plain loose long-sleeved shirt and a dungaree. He denies any accusation of having a tantrum after.

Mr. Cuddles only reasoned it’s because of their mother’s influence. Conan would also deny any accusation of throwing Mr. Cuddles across the room.

No one can accuse a child of attempt murder on a stuffed toy their guardian gave them as a peace offering before said guardian went to school.

Nothing else really happened after that. Agasa-hakase dropped by to give him lunch and snacks while Conan solves the puzzle of the day with Mr. Cuddles, then the man left 10 minutes after High School ends. Shinichi might be within the property by now.

“I’m telling you, I’m perfectly fine!” a voice exclaimed from a distance. Conan stopped solving his puzzle on the floor as he looked up to face the front door of the large library.

“Perfectly fine my hat! you’ve been acting really strange these past few weeks!” a much more feminine voice replied.

“What?” The other sounded incredulous. Conan twitched.

“You wait for me in front of your gate everyday--”

“Because I woke up early!” the voices are getting nearer now, and Conan wondered if he should hide.

“--which you never do! and the fact that you don’t even respond to half of what Sonoko and I are saying tells me just as much--”

“But I do that everyday!” Conan was pretty sure his older self was exasperated even though he couldn’t see him.

There was a crash, then, “I’m okay!”

“--Be careful! See? This is what I’m talking about! You’ve been clumsy all week and sure you still argue with the both of us twenty-four seven--”

Conan wanted to face-plant himself on the floor because yes, Kudo Shinichi does argue with the girls with anything and everything to irritate them, “--but never agreed to anything! for the past few weeks all you do is ‘Yes Ran’,”

Conan’s body betrayed him as he let out an involuntary snort when he heard the feminine voice go into a deep mocking voice,“--’Yes Sonoko. That’s good Sonoko. Okay, bye.’ what is up with that?!” she exclaimed.

Conan was still covering his mouth to avoid bursting into laughter and froze when the front door of the library opened, revealing a grumpy looking Shinichi and a worried but irritated looking Ran. Conan cursed in his mind when they saw him on the floor and wished he hid somewhere before they both came in.

They all stared at each other before Ran gasped and slammed her book bag on Shinichi then proceeded to pick Conan up from his spot on the floor. Shinichi yelped from the pain and rubbed the sore spot where the bag had hit his ribs.

“What the heck, Shinichi, you have a brother and you didn’t tell me?!” she asked as she looked Conan over, “He looks so much like you!” she said as she cuddled him.

“He’s not...” Shinichi hesitated.

Conan was feeling more and more uncomfortable with the way this Ran was handling him, but gosh darn it he missed his Ran-neechan so he was going to take advantage of this contact as much as he can and hugged her too.

“Hello little boy,” she gushed, “what were you doing on the floor, sweetie?”

“...it’s a long story.” Shinichi said instead, and Ran stopped her baby talk on the child to look at her childhood friend. When she didn’t received any further explanation other than a helpless shrug, she looked at the child in her arms. Conan only blinked owlishly at her.

“Oh well,” she dismissed, “You can tell me later when you want to. It’s not like I can stay here much anyways.” She bounced Conan up a bit, “At least now I know why you’ve been off lately.”

Shinichi could only nod and Conan suddenly felt bad not telling more about himself to him.

“What’s your name neechan?” He asked instead, his right hand coming up to his face to adjust his glasses... Which became awkward when he realized he didn’t have one and so his hand just poked the bridge of his nose. Conan hoped no one noticed.

Ran looked back at Conan and smiled, “My name’s Mouri Ran. How about you?”

Conan felt a bit like a five years old and his outfit certainly didn’t help him with keeping his sudden feeling of childishness in check, so he spreads his arms up, “I’m Edogawa Conan! Detective!” he exclaimed.

Ran turned to her childhood friend, “Edogawa?”

Shinichi shifted awkwardly and walked towards them, “Like I said, long story.”

Then Ran must have realized what Conan just said and her eyebrows twitched, “Mou~ Shinichi! what have you done to him?”

Shinichi only sputtered in response, “What now?”

Ran walked towards the door, still carrying Conan, “A detective!” she exclaimed as she proceeded to the kitchen and gently placed Conan on one of the stools, “He’s too young! he should be thinking about super heroes and cars! not crime scenes!”

Conan dislike that idea and pouted. He couldn’t help but to respond to her, “But Ran-neechan, superheroes are not real!”

She didn’t stop from whatever she was currently cooking as she replied back, “But you shouldn’t be involved with such violent stuff in the first place!”

“Noooo...” Conan was not whining, though he seriously needed a reality check. Why does it feel so natural to be this childish? he was fine earlier! “I want to catch bad guys!” and to add salt on the growing wound on his current guardian, “Like Shinichi-niichan!”

“Oi,Oi!” Shinichi exclaimed, though he couldn’t say anything else when Ran reprimanded him of being such a bad role model to Conan.

The rest of the day was spent watching Ran cook them food and talking to one another. Before she left to go home, she hugged Conan one last time, promising to be back tomorrow. It was a fun day that it almost made Conan forget that he wasn’t really a real child and that Shinichi wasn’t really another person.

When Ran was out of their sight, both was left in a silent atmosphere. Conan’s mind was buzzing with so many things. But first things first...

“We need to talk.”

Conan snapped out of his thoughts to look up at his guardian’s serious face. Conan could only nod, and they both went back inside the mansion.