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[lovestartsat0.livejournal.com]

[Ran switches on the video feed. She is wearing a turtleneck with a colorful red scarf and shining red rose brooch. Holding a steaming cup of milk tea, her nose and cheeks have gotten rosy, nipped by the cold.]

Say, is there a postal service where we're at? I've got Christmas gifts I need to mail out within the next week or so if I expect them to reach their recipients.

[She shrugs her shoulders and her smile widens.]

And I've got a question for you - if you were a guy who liked mysteries a little too much, played soccer and was traveling all the time - what kind of Christmas gifts would you like?

[Waves a hand before reaching over to shut off the feed.]

Thanks in advance!

Comments

[Action]

[lovestartsat0.livejournal.com]

[Ran smiles and nods, walking back to her bed and sitting on her mattress.]

You can rest there for a bit if you like. I'm just going to get a few things together for to brainstorm for Shinichi's present this year.

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[kansai-ahou.livejournal.com]

*he laughs*

Ya know, ya never quite get th' hang of that.

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[lovestartsat0.livejournal.com]

[Ran looks up from a few pieces of paper she's collected - notes she wrote on a moment's notice when she came up with another possible gift idea.]

Eh? What do you mean?

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[kansai-ahou.livejournal.com]

Figuring out what t' give him. Every year, a good month before th' holiday and his birthday, ya always dig through magazines and ask us what ya could get 'im.

It's gotten to th' point where he usually remembers when his birthday is just by trackin' when ya start hidin' stuff and cuttin' off conversations.

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[lovestartsat0.livejournal.com]

[Ran nervously smiles, rubbing the bottom of her chin with a finger.] Is it really that obvious..? Or only to a detective..?

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[kansai-ahou.livejournal.com]

Believe me, a few years down th' line and not even a blind man could miss it.

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[lovestartsat0.livejournal.com]

[Ran holds her chin in thought.] ...maybe I should be working out a cover-up scheme...

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[kansai-ahou.livejournal.com]

Ya know he's smart enough t'see through that, right?

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[lovestartsat0.livejournal.com]

[Ran huffs and scoffs.] Well! Not when he's too busy solving cases elsewhere.

[Bitter, much?]

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[kansai-ahou.livejournal.com]

Things changed... he's not so bad, anymore. *now that it's just the one case and they're all together. Or they were.*

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[lovestartsat0.livejournal.com]

Well, that's good to hear! [Oh please don't say too much, Heiji, or her curiosity will be piqued.]

Will I--[Ran stops right there, and shakes her head.] No, I don't want to know. It'll just make the waiting harder.

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[kansai-ahou.livejournal.com]

*he so much wants to tell her everything is going to be okay, but he can't bring himself to lie about that*

I will tell ya this, where yer at right now? He's always thinkin' about ya. Above even his cases. He's just too proud t'tell ya.

[Action]

[lovestartsat0.livejournal.com]

[Ran pouts out her lips at that answer. She gives Heiji a look that is some odd mix between pleading and resistant in response to what information he'd just given her.]

...you say that but...[She casts her eyes down and furrows her brow in worry.] I just wish he'd visit more often. It's cruel, having grown up with him your whole life just to have them...not there one day without any warning.