Chapter Text
“Haibara-senpai, would you please go out with me?”
A boy in their middle school male uniform bowed a 90° angle before her very blue eyes. His hands were tuck neatly on both sides, slightly quivering from the anxiety her heavy silence brought to the air. The boy, whom she barely knew his face, was waiting nervously for her reply without tilting his head even half a degree.
Who was his name again? Haibara thought. Was he someone from among the second-year students? Was he there on their school’s opening ceremony?
Reverting her sight to the white clouds in the sky, she threw a mocking smile at no one in particular. She then closed her eyes, and sighed this irony feeling out from her chest.
Today was just another day at the beginning of another school term.
And this was just another love confession she received from another indistinguishable boy at school.
How predictably boring her normal life was.
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“Oh, Ai-chan!” Ayumi waved her hand from her seat once she saw the strawberry blonde enter their classroom. It was as if she had been waiting impatiently for her best friend to return from wherever she was called to during the first half of their lunch break. “Here, I got you a juice.”
Seeing that the sweet girl was alone in her desk, it seemed that the other two members of the detective boys had gone back to their respective classes to get ready for the afternoon lessons. With a small smile plastered on her lips, Haibara walked to her own desk by the window which was right in front of Ayumi’s and sat facing the said girl. She reached for the small purplish carton box, taking out the straw from its plastic, and stuck it to the straw hole.
“Thanks, Yoshida-san.” She said sweetly as she began sipping whatever liquid inside so hungrily. It was, after all, the only thing she could have to fill in her empty stomach given the lunchtime was almost over. Damn it.
“So, how was it?” Ayumi began to prey with twinkling eyes. However, the other party was showing the opposite enthusiasm.
“What’s how?” Haibara asked her back stoically.
“Ugh, you know… the confession.”
“Well, it was just the same.”
“Geez, how many times does this one make then? You’re such a heart-breaker.”
Listening to Ayumi who complained with a cute pouty mouth, Haibara only replied her with a light chuckle.
Junior high school years, the golden age for every boys and girls to seek for their self-identity and independence. It was the time when they strived to fit themselves into the world they lived in. Getting involved in some social groups in search of acceptance and acknowledgement were what they did. Then, with more noticeable differences in their physical appearances which stretched out further the gap between males and females, they began to learn about gender roles and its enigma. And so did everyone realize that they had taken a step into the sweet and sour of their adolescence.
Haibara was no exception, at least physically speaking.
Having repeated her childhood as Haibara Ai, it was inevitable that she had to go through puberty for the second time. She enjoyed it to the fullest nonetheless. After all, this was the normal transition teenage years that she couldn’t get in her previous life as Miyano Shiho.
Things such as getting her own separated bedroom on the second floor of the Professor’s house, having day outs with someone other than her sister, discussing girls stuffs with the best girl friend she had never had before, receiving piles of mysterious love letters in her shoe box, hearing out numerous kokuhaku behind the school gym. She had got to experience every little ordinary things that a typical high schooler would have had; things that were stolen from her previous fifteen-years-old-self.
Along with the wipeout of the syndicate that took more or less a year to complete, she could say that the last seven years of her life was pretty much calm. No more hiding in the shadows, no more running away in fear, no more shackles that bound her ankles. She had gotten the relaxing settled life that her deceased sister had been longing for the both of them to have.
It was too peaceful that at a certain point it became too plain, too dull, too monotonous.
If only he were here–
“That only proves how greedy a human can be, doesn’t it?” Haibara muttered so lowly to herself as she squeezed the now empty carton in her hand.
She finished her juice just in time for the school bell to ring.
And so, the seemly long afternoon school periods were starting.
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The chairs in the classroom made scraping noises against the floor as the students stood up to give the teacher their last greeting. The class had been dismissed for the day and now everyone was packing up their things to go on their way to their after-school activities. It was either that, or they went with their groups to hangout outside the school.
Unlike the rest of the detective boys who were genuine over-active teenagers inside and out, Haibara belonged to the go-home club. Despite the bunch of offers that came to her from other various club presidents, she insisted by telling them off that she had something to do at home.
Well, she wasn’t lying. It was true that the Professor needed to be checked all the time considering his age and his health. Not to say, he still did his experiments which often led to accidents here and there within his premise. When it came to that, Haibara’s assistance was required, especially to apply the first aids.
However, it wasn’t solely for that purpose that she kept her entire after-school hours free.
“Hey, did you see that guy by the school gate?”
“Yes, yes. I saw him! Hasn’t he been standing there since half an hour ago?”
“Perhaps, he’s waiting for someone from this school? He keeps holding his phone and checking his watch.”
“Don’t tell me he’s a creep…”
“No way! He’s too good-looking to be a stalker.”
“But don’t you think his waggish cowlick seem familiar?”
“Really?”
Some female students were chatting gleefully to each other while changing out to their outdoor shoes. Their voices reached up to Haibara who was also standing there in front of her locker. The strawberry blonde didn’t usually take interest in someone else’s talk but this conversation of theirs somehow tweaked her sensitive ears.
Waggish cowlick? Her mind started to get restless and without her realizing, her legs began to move on their own toward the gate. Could it be–?
“Ha-i-ba-ra~” She heard his voice spell her name playfully. It caught her slightly off guard as she stepped out from the school ground. Exactly like what she had suspected that it was him, the detective, who had been mentioned all along by those girls.
“Kudo-kun.” Turning her head to the direction of the voice’s owner, she greeted him with her usual flat face. “What are you doing here?”
Even so, the faint blush on her cheeks failed to hide the excitement that was building up in her chest. Her stomach churned feverishly, holding up the delight her heart felt from bursting out.
“Inspector Megure called me and I’m on my way to the station.” Shinichi answered with a big grin, not noticing her contradicting facial expression. “So I’m here to get you in case I need your help with something during the investigation. Would you please come with me?”
Looking at his contagious happy brazen smile, she bored her glare at the boy– the man– who was physically ten years older than herself. How could he be this happy-go-lucky? She thought while her rosy cheeks remained. She then closed her eyes, and sighed a heave amount of breath out from her lungs.
“Keep in mind that my commission isn’t for free.” She smirked, teasing him as she approached his side. He chuckled, agreeing to whatever she would ask out of him in return for lending him a hand.
Surely, today was just another day at the beginning of another school term.
And this was just another bothering request for another case’s investigation she received from the former renowned high school detective.
Yet, only because it was him who came to her that such a simple thing could feasibly bring unspoken thrills to her colourless repetitious normal life. Because every moment she spent with him had always never been so predictable.
How intriguing that was.