Chapter 51: Ran's Awakening
The underground tunnel.
Dark.
Damp.
The faint glow of the emergency lights barely illuminated the exhausted, terrified figures of the survivors. The chaotic shuffle of footsteps echoed through the passage, mingling with suppressed sobs and ragged breaths.
Dr. Agasa carried Ran on his back, with Conan supporting them as they moved forward.
Suddenly, Ran stirred.
She was awake.
She blinked, her purple eyes reflecting the swaying, dim yellow light ahead. Fragments of memory flooded her mind.
Explosions.
Fire.
Sonoko's terrified face.
Sera's empty gaze.
And her father… her father's resolute, unyielding final words.
What happened?
It was as if her brain had automatically blocked out the traumatic memories, or perhaps she was simply running from a truth she couldn't face.
"Dad…?" she asked, her voice hoarse and hazy with sleep. "Where's… Sonoko?"
Conan's body went rigid, his steps faltering for a split second. He forced himself to keep moving, his own voice dry and strained.
"Ran-neechan, you're awake? That's great! We… we got separated from Uncle Mouri and the others for now. We're on our way to a safe place to meet up!"
It was a lie. And even he knew how pathetic it sounded.
Ran fell silent.
A few seconds stretched into an eternity.
She could feel the unnatural tension in Conan's muscles. She could hear Ayumi's crying from behind them, a sound she was trying desperately, but failing, to suppress. She could see Genta's eyes darting away, unable to meet her gaze.
A cold, suffocating premonition spread through her heart like a leviathan rising from the depths.
She struggled, wanting to get down from Dr. Agasa's back.
"Conan."
Her voice was terrifyingly calm, laced with an icy quality Conan had never heard before.
"Look at me."
Conan didn't dare turn around. He was afraid of what he would see in her eyes.
"Look at me!" she commanded, her voice suddenly sharp and unyielding, cracking the oppressive air of the tunnel like a bolt of lightning.
Conan stopped and reluctantly turned his head.
The eyes he knew so well, the eyes that were always filled with a gentle warmth, were now a bottomless abyss. There were no tears. There was only a swirling, almost paranoid search for the truth—a gaze that threatened to tear through his every disguise and expose the cruelest core.
"Tell. Me. The. Truth."
Each word was an icicle stabbing into Conan's heart.
"What… happened?"
"Ran-neechan, I…" Conan opened his mouth, trying in vain to explain, to weave a more convincing lie.
But Ran's gaze had already shifted, landing on Genta and Ayumi. Ayumi immediately began to cry harder, burying her face in Dr. Agasa's coat. Genta flinched back, his body trembling like a leaf in an autumn wind.
"Genta."
Ran's eyes locked onto him. Genta felt as if he were prey, pinned by a predator, unable to move.
"Back there… during the fight… what exactly happened?"
"I… I…" Genta trembled all over. He remembered Conan's warning. Keep it a secret. Don't tell her. You absolutely can't tell her!
He desperately wanted to shake his head, to say "nothing," to say "you saw wrong, Ran-neechan."
But Ran's stare was too terrifying. There was no anger in it, no sadness. There was only a burning obsession, a resolve to incinerate every last falsehood. The immense pressure was suffocating Genta. Sweat dripped from his forehead.
"Sonoko-neechan… she… she…" Genta stammered, tears welling in his eyes, his voice choked with sobs. He tried to say, "She's fine." He tried to say, "She just got separated from us."
"What happened to her?" Ran's voice remained calm. So calm it was unnerving.
Beneath that calm was a volcano about to erupt, a world-ending storm.
"She… she wasn't… wasn't…" Genta was sweating profusely, his mind a complete mess.
Under Ran's crushing gaze, his last psychological defense shattered. The words tumbled out of his mouth.
"…Weren't they killed by those bad guys?! And Sera-neechan too! Uncle Mouri also… also…"
Before he could finish, Genta slapped a hand over his own mouth, his eyes wide with horror.
It was too late.
Everything was too late.
"Genta!" Conan's voice was a low growl, a mixture of anger and panic. "What nonsense are you talking about?! You saw it wrong!"
"Genta's making it up!" Ayumi cried out. "Don't believe him, Ran-neechan!"
Genta nodded frantically in agreement.
But Ran just listened quietly, her face completely blank, as if Genta were talking about something that had nothing to do with her. Yet that dead silence was more frightening than any violent outburst.
Genta's leaked fragments of truth.
Conan's pale, desperate attempt at a cover-up.
Ayumi's uncontrollable, mournful sobs.
Like scattered puzzle pieces, they all rapidly assembled in her mind, forming the one terrifying truth her heart had known all along but had refused to touch, refused to believe.
Slowly… very slowly… she closed her eyes.
When she opened them again, the last spark of light known as "hope" in her beautiful purple eyes was gone.
Completely extinguished.
Like a candle flame blown out by a gale, leaving not a single trace of warmth.
All that remained was a boundless, freezing darkness.
And…
In the deepest depths of that darkness, something else… had quietly ignited.
A tiny flame, yet powerful enough to burn all sanity to ash.
She knew.
Her dad.
Sonoko.
Sera.
They… were never coming back.
Ever.
A suffocating stillness descended. Ran lowered her head, her body trembling slightly, but she made no sound. In the depths of her eyes, where the last light had died, swirled a calm colder than ice.
Slowly, she rose to her feet. Her movements possessed a strange, almost inappropriate grace.
"Conan-kun."
She spoke, her voice soft and steady, betraying no emotion. But it was this very steadiness that sent a chill shooting up from Conan's feet to the crown of his head.
"You take Dr. Agasa and the others… and go on ahead."
Conan was stunned. "Ran-neechan? What are you saying? We're leaving together!"
He reached out to grab her.
Ran sidestepped him gently, evading his hand. She turned her back to them, facing the direction of the shelter, facing the chaotic, dark entrance that had swallowed her entire world.
"I still have some things… that I need to confirm."
Her tone was still calm, perhaps with a barely perceptible hint of… tenderness? But beneath that tenderness was a resolve as hard and cold as steel.
"Ran!" Conan panicked. "What are you doing?! It's too dangerous back there! You can't go back!"
"Don't worry," Ran said without turning around, leaving them with only the sight of her slender, resolute back. "It'll be quick. You don't have to wait for me."
With that, she took a step.
At first, it was a walk.
Then, a brisk pace.
Finally, she became a blur, an unwavering shadow, rushing toward the bend in the tunnel—rushing back toward the Witch's Labyrinth her father had become.
There was no blood-curdling cry for revenge. Perhaps she simply wished to be buried there with him. Or perhaps she wanted to see for herself if there was any chance he could be saved.
"Ran-neechan!" Conan's heart nearly stopped. He instantly understood the true intent behind her calm!
He broke into a desperate sprint, chasing after her.
"Don't go! Ran!"
Dr. Agasa and Akemi reacted too, trying to stop her, but they were no match for her speed.
With a heart-wrenching finality, Ran's figure vanished into the darkness at the end of the tunnel. Conan followed right behind, his heart pounding, fear and despair threatening to consume him.
"Haibara!" he yelled back over his shoulder to the equally pale-faced girl just before he rounded the corner. "Protect everyone! I'm going to bring Ran back!"
Then he too plunged into the unknown darkness.