6:30 PM, Seishun Gakuen...
The practice was finished and the kids seemed to have enjoyed watching it since they never got bored in waiting for the Seigaku regulars like what they had agreed on. They've learned a lot about it since Shouko also explained to them all the terminologies used in it. The four kids agreed that they would watch the tennis tournament where the Seigaku regulars would be participating. But then they hoped that Kourin would be alright by that time so that it would be so much fun.
They waited for a few more minutes as the regulars changed their clothes and fixed their equipment before completely leaving the school. But then, Ayumi asked something to Shouko as she realized something.
"Miyuzaki-san, I'd like to ask something. Are we going to ride a train to get to the hospital? With these many people coming along, I don't think we'll fit in the car that you brought along."
"We'll be fine if we just ride the train. We don't want to cause any more trouble if we ride with you," Oishi said as he looked at the calmly smiling Shouko.
"I won't allow that."
All of them were surprised to hear that from Shouko.
"Why is that, Miyuzaki-san?" Mitsuhiko curiously asked.
The woman slightly sighed and then stopped in her tracks. It made the others stop in their tracks, as well.
"Because I promised my sister that I would accompany all of you when going to the hospital to visit Rin-chan."
"But Miyuzaki-san, how are you going to do that?" Genta asked.
Before Shouko could answer, Haibara heaved a sigh that made the others change their focus from the woman to her.
"I think you have forgotten who the Miyuzaki clan are."
While they were trying to think about what she said, Haibara just continued walking and all of them were surprised to see a bus parked in front of the school gate.
"That's..."
"That's the bus that we're going to use for all of us to go to the hospital. I did promise that I would accompany all of you to Rin-chan. I'm just fulfilling that promise."
With that, all of them boarded the bus excitedly.
Shouko was the last one to enter the bus. When she noticed the face of the bus driver, she smiled.
"Thank you for this, Ihara-san (a)."
The driver Ihara also smiled at her. "You shouldn't thank me. This is the least I could do to Kourin-ojousama. I wasn't able to give much help when the attack happened."
"It doesn't even matter now. At least Rin-chan is safe. And these kids..." Then she looked at the Detective Boys and the Seigaku regulars who were sitting as fun conversations seemed to keep them busy. "...these kids would somehow help us light up the princess' life again. I know that."
Ihara looked at the kids, as well and then he slightly nodded. "You're right."
-x-x-
7:00 PM, Beika Central Hospital...
As a part of her daily activities, Kourin wrote in her journal. It has become a habit ever since she began to write sentences. Now, one of the things she wrote there was her conversation with Ryoma's parents. But before they left, they had asked her not to tell Ryoma about their conversation, and somehow, she obliged even without knowing the real reason for that.
Just as she was done writing, she heard a knock. And then she smiled when she saw Doctor Miyuzaki enter the room. The woman was smiling and more than ever, Kourin felt that she was back with her new family—just like what she had promised to her own family.
"How are you feeling today, Rin-chan?" the doctor asked after sitting on one of the chairs placed beside the hospital bed that Kourin was using.
The girl smiled. "I'm fine. At least I'm back. How were the others while I was asleep?"
"They have been worried for the past three days. But I assured them that you'll be just fine as soon as you wake up from your slumber."
"It must have been hard for them, huh?" she commented, and then she looked outside the window. "Oh, well! At least I'm back now. That's what matters, right?"
The doctor nodded and looked at her seriously. "But in a normal situation, you should've been dead by now even with the performance of a blood transfusion. Still, you made it back here. How did you do that?"
That made Kourin look at Doctor Miyuzaki. She just looked at her for a while before she spoke after sighing.
"If it wasn't for my family leading me back to the living, I wouldn't be here. I mean, they did help me find my way and my lost spirit to continue living after what happened. All the while when I was lost in the dark, the only thing I could think of was to be with my parents and my brother, at long last. But then they warned me not to do that because..." she paused and then she sighed once more. "...because I still have my family waiting for me here. I have my new family now. Okaa-sama and Otou-sama were happy that I have you as a part of that new family, Shouda-sensei." Then Kourin smiled.
The doctor was surprised at the young girl's response. She really couldn't believe that she was talking to a nine-year-old kid. It had been quite obvious for a long time that a person rarely remembered an event happening while he was in his comatose stage. From what Doctor Miyuzaki could see, Kourin was among those rare individuals.
After absorbing what Kourin had said, the doctor smiled and then nodded as a sign that she agreed with it.
"I'm glad to hear that from our princess," she said to the girl.
"I finally learned all of that while fighting for my life. And I'll be glad if ever I see Ryoma-niichan have his real smile, after all, that predicament he had been through for the past week. That's all I need for me to know that I could finally move on from all that had happened out there. I'm sure my family would agree to that."
"You're right."
Kourin smiled again as the doctor said that. She never thought that after all that had happened, she would still have the desire to live. What she had been through was too much for a normal kid to bear all alone. But she knew all the while that she wasn't an ordinary kid and that she wasn't alone. She was never alone. She has always been special in many aspects, just like his cousin Kudo Shinichi. Along with the support of those people who still believed in her, she managed to overcome the fear of facing her life without her parents and her beloved older brother. It was undeniably hard but still...
'I guess I owe Ryoma-niichan a lot because of all these. If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't have the courage that I need to overcome this.' She smiled inwardly at the thought that entered her head.
Their conversation continued for a while and then all of a sudden, the two heard a knock. She could only see silhouettes on the glass part of the door but she could see familiar silhouettes from there.
"Come in."
The door opened. She wasn't surprised to see the Detective Boys and the Seigaku regulars entered. It made her greet all of them with a bright smile which caught her guests off-guard for some seconds. It would appear that they never expected something like that from a kid who nearly died from a sniper's shot just to protect someone.
"Hmm? What's wrong?" the kid innocently asked when she noticed them only staring at her with a somewhat surprised look.
They were snapped out from their surprised state and smiled as they approached Kourin. She saw them approach her one by one. But for some reason, she hasn't seen Ryoma and Conan among them. That was why she looked at her guests.
It was Oishi who answered her silent question. "They're having a serious conversation outside with Miyuzaki-san. They said that they'll just follow."
"Okay..." she answered. But what Oishi said had aroused her curiosity already.
It was something that Haibara had easily noticed.
"You shouldn't worry about anything, Rin-san. Edogawa-kun's not harassing him with so many questions if you're worried about that. Miyuzaki-san's probably telling him something quite important," Haibara said placidly.
Kourin forced out a laugh and then smiled as she looked at her visitors who were undeniably happy to see her well.
"I'm glad you made it here. And I'm sorry for the trouble I've caused to all of you because of that incident," she said sincerely and then gave a bow to her guests.
Well, it was another thing that caught them off-guard. That was what she noticed.
"Rin-san, you don't have to do that," Mitsuhiko said frantically. "You're not the one to be blamed for what happened. You didn't even ask for anything like that to happen at all."
It made the young girl raised her head and had a look at Mitsuhiko who was now looking down. It was as if he couldn't look her in the eyes.
"Mitsuhiko-kun..."
"He's right, Rin-san," Ayumi then said and held her hands placed on her lap. "No one is to be blamed for anything. You just did what you have to do to protect all of those people that you have left to care about with your life. The truth is, we admire you for what you did to Ryoma-niichan."
"Huh? What do you mean? I thought you would say that I'm a reckless kid or something."
Fuji laughed at her statement and then he looked at Kourin. "Well, you are quite like that. Especially for a vulnerable young girl." Then his face turned serious. "Recklessness or not, what you did was done for only one visible reason. And I know that Echizen would never forget what you had done for him for as long as he live. The same goes for you, I presume."
Kourin never said anything to comment on that. Then her mind already sank deeper because of that. Fuji was right. What she did for Ryoma's sake was done for a single reason that she had somehow explained to the said freshman just before she passed out after the gunshot. That might be what Shouko and Conan were telling Ryoma right now.
"It seems to me your mind had plunged deeper than what I expected, Rin."
It made her snap out from her musings and looked for the guy who said that. Honestly, she wasn't surprised when she found out who said that.
"Conan-kun..." she uttered and looked at the door. There was Ryoma, standing there looking at her. But then she noticed his eyes slowly revealing emotions as he kept on looking at her.
What she had noticed there had made her heart constrict. Guilt, sadness, pain—those were just some of it. But she also noticed signs of... gladness as he looked at her, as if happy that she was well and good after that predicament.
Guided by Shouko, Ryoma entered completely. Doctor Miyuzaki lent the seat she was sitting on to Ryoma. The freshman was quite surprised but he somehow understood what the doctor meant. He just gave a small smile and then he sat.
"I think it's quite best if we let them have a conversation first," Shouko said to the others. Knowing what was going on, they obliged and then went out of the room one by one. The last ones to get out were Shouko, Conan, and Doctor Miyuzaki.
When everyone was out, Ryoma heaved a heavy sigh before speaking. "How are you feeling right now?"
"I'm fine. At least I'm still in one piece even after that incident," she said, and then she smiled.
But Ryoma's face remained serious. It made Kourin look at him with a serious face, as well. Then she sighed.
"I know you're blaming yourself for what happened to me at Seishun Gakuen. But I'll just have to say it, still. Conan-kun might have said something like this, too. You don't have any reason to keep blaming yourself for something that I chose to do with my own free will. It was undeniably shocking, I know. I mean, seriously, a kid who would willingly take a bullet just to protect a middle school freshman from being shot by a sniper's bullet. But then I'm pretty sure I did that for a reason that might have helped me trigger to bring out my protective instincts." Then she chuckled. "I guess you could say that I'm a weird kid."
It took a while for Ryoma to absorb what Kourin had said. From what he heard from her, he couldn't let himself believe that she still had the guts to joke around like that after all that had happened to her that changed her life.
"How can you still smile and joke around like that after all that had happened to you?" he couldn't help but to ask her that question.
Kourin looked at Ryoma seriously once again but she maintained a calm expression. "I know you're still confused as to why I did such recklessness. But you see—"
"Because you can see your brother Hitoshi in me, don't you? We have the resemblance, after all that one would think he's my lost brother or something because of it," Ryoma finished her sentence. What he just said had shocked her.
"H-how did you...?"
"It's Edogawa-kun who told me about it, about your brother who looked a lot like me. The kid said that your brother was also killed along with your parents a year ago because he was trying to protect you, your brother's fiancee, and even your uncle and aunt. What happened that night made you come here to Japan. It came as a surprise to me at first. But then I came to understand everything when Edogawa-kun explained it all to me."
There was silence after that. Even her mind did the same. There was nothing she could say about that. That was when she remembered what Hitoshi told her while she was hesitating to go back to the world of the living.
"I see." After that, she looked outside and glanced at the night sky. She inwardly smiled at what she saw.
Stars were shimmering brightly as it was plastered on the night sky. Kourin didn't usually appreciate this kind of scenery after her family was killed. It was as if those stars would only bring back the intense pain she felt when she lost those that were extremely important to her.
But now, it was different. Extremely different. It was as if the stars were somehow... smiling as they shimmered down from the heavens. Now, she could appreciate them. When she reverted her gaze to Ryoma, she then knew the reason behind that.
'I owe a lot to you, Ryoma-niichan,' she thought, and then she smiled.
Ryoma was caught off-guard because of that but it was just for a while. He smiled back at her. When she saw that, she felt her heart lept because she was happy. Finally, she was able to see Ryoma smile. And it was a real smile, at that.
For Ryoma, he smiled because, at long last, he was able to see Kourin's true smile. It was just like what he had seen from the photos that Conan handed to him. But he never thought that he would be able to see it first hand and it was beautiful. After a few moments, he spoke.
"I thought it would be impossible for me to see you smile like that again," he said. Kourin didn't say anything, allowing him to continue what he wanted to say. "And I thought of something after I heard the real reason why you saved me. I hope you won't mind me saying this but... I don't mind if ever you treat me as your brother."
The kid's eyes slightly widened after hearing that. But before she could say something, he spoke once again.
"I know you can only see me for now as someone who resembles your dead older brother. But I don't mind that thought. I had never been close to anyone whom I met because of this kind of incident, let alone befriend a kid. With what you have done to save my life twice, I knew then that I had unconsciously allowed you to get close to me because I realized that I was being protective to you and constantly get worried about you like... like a family..." he said, saying the last phrase almost a whisper.
Kourin said nothing with regards to that. So what she had speculated before was true. He became attached to her without both of them knowing it. And now he was allowing her to treat him as a brother.
She then sighed. "I admit I had to bear all the emotional torture that I was constantly feeling for a year when I realized that I will not be able to see my family anymore. It was completely devastating on my part. I mean, I was only eight years old when all of those events happened to me. I'm always saying to myself that I don't deserve such a cruel fate. I never stop crying each time I was saying such things. But then, all of those thoughts gradually changed when I met you and Fuji-san and Momo-chan, especially when I learned that you're facing the very same predicament as I am. I said to myself that you don't deserve to suffer the same way I did for a year now. I didn't want you to experience the same pain and agony that I felt just because of some family treasure that you weren't supposed to be involved in. I almost went insane when I had those experiences. It's a good thing Shouda-sensei, Shouko-san, Yanai-sensei, the rest of the Miyuzaki clan, Yumemiya clan, and the Azuraya clan (b), along with my cousin, my uncle, and my aunt helped me and told me never to give up hope."
"I can't believe I'm talking to a nine-year-old kid," Ryoma couldn't help commenting and then he chuckled, which was a rare sight. "But that cleared things now."
"You're right."
For a while, they talked about some other stuff before the other guests entered her hospital room. They all had a great time conversing and doing other things together with everyone she met because of that incident that turned her life around, though she could say that it wasn't that bad. She found it... great. It was the same feeling she was having whenever she was with her family.
And that made her realize something.
The Dark Rose incident eventually led her to realize that she hadn't lost her family. She may have lost her biological parents and brother, but then she found a new family through Ryoma.
The Miyuzaki clan, the Yumemiya clan, the Azuraya clan, the Miyuzaki sisters, Doctor Yanai, Conan and the rest of the Detective Boys, the Seigaku regulars, particularly Ryoma...
They were the ones that she now considered a part of her newfound family.
Honestly, she couldn't be any happier than that. She wanted to thank her parents for convincing her to go back.
Finally, she has found herself a new home and a new family. And she owes all of that to Ryoma.
'Thank you... Ryoma-niichan...'
-x-x-
a... Ihara was the family butler of the Shinomiya and one of the seven important elders of the four families. He was first mentioned in one chapter wherein he was the one that gave authority to Kourin to the files about the Dark Rose members that she later on handed over to Conan.
b... The Miyuzaki clan isn't the only clan that protects the Shinomiya family. There are two more who had the same duty—which are the Yumemiya family and the Azuraya family. The Azuraya family and at least a bit of their true identity will be revealed in the sequel of this story "Tennis Court Murders".
-x-x-
That's it for Chapter 19. This is the last chapter, people! And of course, if there's a prologue, there's also an epilogue. Watch out for it, okay?