Disclaimer: Detective Conan is not mine. This fanfic is a translation.
Enjoy Reading!
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Early summer had a way of making people drowsy. Not long after lying down on the bed, Ritsu had fallen asleep.
Faintly, he heard the chirping of cicadas outside the window. His long, raven-feather-like eyelashes fluttered a few times as he groggily opened his eyes, realizing he had somehow slept until nightfall.
His hotel room faced the street, and he could hear the distant sounds of the city outside.
Wearing the hotel slippers, Ritsu stood by the window and looked out at the scenery. Even a room on a lower floor wasn't bad, it felt closer to the everyday life of the city.
He turned and walked into the bathroom, tidying the hair he had messed up in his sleep and smoothing out the wrinkles in his shirt.
He wore a white T-shirt layered under a faded denim jacket. His pants were casual jeans in the same washed tone as the jacket, and on his feet were a pair of clean white skate shoes that clearly showed how carefully he took care of them.
He didn't bother bringing his backpack. After slipping the room key card into his wallet, he headed out lightly equipped, ready for a nighttime stroll through Shibuya.
He wandered aimlessly. Whenever he got hungry, he stopped at a street stall to buy a snack. After eating enough savory food, something sweet naturally sounded good, so Ritsu bought a freshly made taiyaki, still piping hot.
Instead of the traditional red bean filling, he chose custard.
Biting into the tail first, like a greedy little cat starting from the tail, he took a large bite.
The warm custard inside was generous. Even at the tail end, there was plenty of filling. The rich, milky flavor was smooth and delicate. The taiyaki batter seemed to contain a hint of fine salt, and the contrast between salt and sugar made the filling taste even sweeter.
In less than thirty seconds, the palm-sized taiyaki had completely disappeared.
Fully fed and satisfied, Ritsu wandered from Udagawacho all the way to Beika Town. When he passed Beika Central Bridge, he began to feel a little tired.
He walked alone along the lakeside beneath the bridge. The warm evening breeze felt pleasant against his skin.
Across the lake, the commercial district glowed with neon lights, while the residential area behind him was especially quiet.
He placed both hands on the railing and hoisted himself up to sit on it. Turning his head, he gazed at the calm lake surface as the breeze brushed through the bangs on his forehead.
In such a silent atmosphere, it was impossible not to drift into his own thoughts.
He had been suspended from school for a year. What should he do during that time…?
He had simply planned to leave the Honjo family and settle in Tokyo, but he hadn't thought about what would come after. A sense of uncertainty slowly rose in his chest.
Would his future end up like the lake before him.
Calm and without ripples.
A stagnant water.
"…"
Ritsu turned his body so that he faced the lake directly, still holding onto the railing. Closing his eyes, he tried to feel the evening breeze and clear his mind, thinking about whether he should spend the year studying hard or exploring some other path.
Before he could come up with even a single useful idea, hurried footsteps sounded behind him.
Suddenly someone yanked hard on the hem of his jacket.
Instinctively, Ritsu tightened his grip on the railing, pressing his body against it to keep himself from accidentally falling into the lake.
Seeing his posture, the person behind him assumed he had already made up his mind.
"D-Don't jump!"
"???"
Ritsu turned his head and saw that the one tugging at his clothes was a black-haired boy about half a head taller than him. The boy looked extremely panicked.
Jump? Did he really look like someone about to kill himself?
"Let go."
Hearing that, the black-haired boy quickly dropped the plastic bag he had been holding in his left hand and grabbed the jacket with both hands instead, pulling desperately.
"If something's bothering you, you can talk to me! Don't kill yourself! There are still so many things in this world—"
"Can you pause for a moment?"
"Huh?"
Ritsu raised one hand and pointed at his jacket, which was about to be torn off.
"You're about to rip my clothes," he said expressionlessly. "And besides…"
He jumped down from the railing and looked at the boy, who was still half a head taller than him.
"I. Was. Not. Trying. To. Kill. Myself."
"But… you were leaning halfway over the railing just now."
"I was just thinking about something. Aren't you overreacting?"
Leaning back against the railing, Ritsu studied the boy in front of him.
Under the dim yellow streetlight, the boy's skin looked darker than his own, though not quite tan. His hairstyle resembled that of a model student, the kind of well-behaved kid in class. His slightly upturned slanted-shaped eyes were strikingly beautiful, and his face carried an air of natural kindness, completely different from Ritsu's usual blank expression.
There was still a trace of youthful innocence on his face. He didn't seem much older than Ritsu.
A high school student, perhaps?
And now this innocent-looking high schooler lowered his head, covering his face shyly with his hand.
He seemed embarrassed.
A few minutes earlier, Morofushi Hiromitsu had been walking home along the lakeside path above the shore after buying something at a convenience store.
While looking at the lively commercial street across the lake, he suddenly noticed a figure standing by the water.
After looking more carefully, he realized it was someone not very tall. When he saw the person leaning forward over the railing with both hands on it, he immediately thought the person might be about to jump into the lake.
So he had sprinted over and grabbed the hem of the jacket.
'Oh no… what am I even doing? This is so embarrassing!'
"If I really wanted to kill myself, would you still try to stop me?" Ritsu asked.
Morofushi lowered his hands and looked up at him. His cheeks were still slightly red, but his expression was firm.
"Of course."
"But we don't even know each other. Is that really necessary?"
"You don't need a reason to help someone."
Ritsu frowned slightly. The boy in front of him seemed even kinder than he had imagined.
Thinking about everything that had happened over the past ten years, no one had ever reached out to help him, no matter what he went through.
He pulled his half-torn jacket back onto his shoulders. His pale blue eyes, backlit by the streetlight, resembled the dark surface of the lake behind him.
Seeing Ritsu staring silently at him, Morofushi blinked, trying to think of something to say to break the awkward silence.
In truth, he himself wasn't good at talking to strangers either. In the past, because of a certain incident, he had even suffered from mutism for a time.
"My name is Hiromitsu Morofushi. I'm seventeen. Now we know each other, right?"
He blurted out whatever came to mind.
Morofushi could feel sweat forming on his back. If he was just introducing himself, that was one thing; but why had he stuck out his hand too? If the other boy didn't shake it, that would be even more awkward.
'Man… if Zero were here right now, that would help.'
When there was still no response, Morofushi started to withdraw his hand.
But suddenly, a cool hand wrapped around his.
In the warm air of early summer, the chill actually felt rather pleasant.
"Sasajima Ritsu. Fourteen."
Ritsu himself seemed surprised by what he had just done. He hadn't expected the other boy to offer a handshake nor that he would end up accepting it.
Such treatment was completely new to him, and for a moment he didn't know how to react.
When he noticed the other boy about to pull his hand away, he simply grabbed it without thinking about what to do next.
"Sasajima Ritsu, that's a really nice name," Morofushi said curiously. "What are you doing here all alone? It's pretty late. Aren't you going home?"
Home.
He no longer had one.
Ritsu glanced at the plastic bag lying on the ground. Two cans of beer and a pack of shredded squid snacks had rolled partly out of it, clearly not something Morofushi had bought for himself.
He bent down, picked up the items, and handed the bag back to him, casually changing the subject.
"Isn't it bad if you don't head back? You're probably running an errand for someone at home."
"Ah! My uncle asked me to buy these! I need to get back!"
Ritsu had assumed Morofushi would leave right away, but instead the boy fumbled in his pocket and pulled out an old-style mobile phone. Smiling, he asked,
"What's your email address? Can I have it?"
"…Sure."
After exchanging email addresses, Morofushi ran ahead but turned back to call out:
"Sasajima! Be careful on your way home! Let me know when you get there safely!"
Was he this kind to everyone?
For some reason, Ritsu was reminded of his mother, whose memory had already begun to blur.
Shaking off the thought, he headed toward the commercial district across the lake. Amid the lively noise of the city, he hailed a taxi back to his hotel.
After returning home and giving the beer and squid snacks to his uncle, Morofushi lay on his bed holding his phone, staring at the ceiling in a daze.
When he heard the email notification sound, he immediately sat up and checked his inbox.
[Sasajima: This is Sasajima Ritsu. I've arrived home safely.]
"He talks so stiffly," Morofushi muttered, scratching his cheek as he typed a reply.
Just as Ritsu was about to wash up and go to sleep, he saw the response and sighed helplessly.
[Morofushi: You're still a middle schooler, so why do you talk like a little old man? Young people should use more emoji! Good night, Sasajima~ <( )>]
[Sasajima: 👍]