Starting With The Sefirah Castle In The Anime World-Chapter 227: Bad-hearted Ran

After returning home, Ran began preparing dinner.

But today, she wasn't just cooking for herself and her mother. She also had to make meals for her father and that Edogawa Conan.

"Edogawa Conan... hmph."

Even now, just hearing that name made Ran feel a little irritated.

"Forget it. I don't want to waste my time thinking about him. He's already abandoned his past identity, and we won't have the chance to meet again like before. Just treat him as someone who's already dead. Edogawa Conan is simply Aunt Yukiko and Uncle Kudo's second son."

After a month of settling into her new routine, Ran had already come to terms with Shinichi's faked death and his underhanded attempt to sneak back into her life. At the same time, she had let go of Kudo Shinichi, the childhood sweetheart she once loved.

He abandoned his past identity to avoid being hunted by that organization. If that's the case, then she would respect his decision. Otherwise, wouldn't all of Shinichi's sacrifices have been meaningless?

Ran let out a silent scoff. But she quickly reined in her emotions, burying all her frustration deep inside.

She composed herself.

After a while in the kitchen, the clock read 5:12 PM. It was just about time for dinner. Ran finished packing the meals for the day.

There were two lunch boxes, one big and one small.

Of course, there were still other dishes that hadn't been packed. These days, Ran needed to eat a lot more than before. Eating two-thirds of a pot of rice in one meal had become a regular thing.

This was also something she planned to talk to her father about today.

"Alright, time to go."

She headed out with the two lunch boxes.

The distance between her mother's home and her father's place wasn't far. Just four or five stops by bus—pretty close.

After a short ride, Ran arrived at the building of the Mouri Detective Agency.

She checked the time on her watch. It was 5:30 PM—right on time for dinner.

Climbing the stairs, she caught a strong whiff of instant noodles.

Looks like Dad's been surviving on cup noodles ever since I left. He seriously can't go buy groceries and cook something decent for himself?

She sighed and walked up step by step, then pulled out the key and opened the office door.

Inside, two figures—one big, one small—were sitting in front of the long office table, noisily slurping instant noodles.

Perhaps startled by her sudden return, both of them froze mid-slurp.

"Ran?"

Kogoro looked stunned to see his daughter.

"Why are you back?"

That question really hit the wrong note.

But Ran already knew her father had been living off instant noodles for a whole month. She wasn't in the mood to nitpick.

"It's been a month. I've almost forgotten about that guy. The dead are dead, and there's no point in clinging to someone I'll never see again."

Ran's words made Edogawa Conan stiffen.

Yes, a month was long enough to forget someone. Especially someone who wasn't just missing but had effectively ceased to exist. No matter how strong one's attachment, it was normal to start letting go. After all, the living can't spend every day mourning the dead.

Although Conan knew she was talking about him, the current state of his elementary school body made it impossible to tell Ran the truth.

"And this child..."

Ran's gaze fell on Edogawa Conan. Her eyes carried no emotion, only deep weariness.

"This child still looks too much like Shinichi. I still can't accept him. But at least now, I can finally separate him from Shinichi. After all, Shinichi is dead."

Her words hit Conan like a blade, slicing straight into his chest and leaving a deep, invisible wound.

She seemed to be accepting Edogawa Conan's presence, but only because she had utterly erased Kudo Shinichi from her heart.

And what could he say now?

He was the one who killed off his former identity. Could he blame Ran for acting this way? Of course not.

She had been tormented for a whole month by the illusion of his death. Now that she had finally moved on, he couldn't just ruin everything by suddenly telling her the truth.

Thankfully, Ran had never truly treated him as Kudo Shinichi. It was only that his appearance resembled Shinichi's childhood self too much, making her unable to completely accept him as just "Edogawa Conan."

...Could he not resemble himself? But Conan had no way to argue and could only swallow the pain in silence.

"Ah..."

Kogoro had expected this outcome and didn't try to push his daughter.

"Alright then. You should keep living with Eri. I'll take care of this kid."

He understood how his daughter felt. She had been close with that brat. It was normal to react this way after hearing that he had died. He actually sympathized with her.

"Thanks, Dad."

Ran smiled and thanked him sincerely.

"No need for thanks between father and daughter."

Seeing her smile brought a bit of peace to Kogoro's heart.

As for Conan, watching Ran now only deepened his self-blame.

This is all my fault. If I hadn't been so reckless, maybe none of this would've happened.

Ever since that incident, he had been far more cautious when dealing with the organization behind him.

But no matter how careful he was now, the past couldn't be undone.

Ran walked over to the long table with her bag and placed it down.

"Dad, Conan, this is a little something I brought over. I can't help with breakfast and lunch, but if I have time, I'll make dinner and bring it by."

"Oh!"

Kogoro's eyes lit up the moment he saw the lunch box. He opened it right away. The food inside was still steaming, with a delicious aroma—completely different from the instant noodles he'd been surviving on.

"Finally, I can eat something decent."

At this moment, he really missed his daughter's cooking. A whole month of cup noodles was enough to make anyone lose their will to live.

Seeing dinner prepared by his daughter again almost brought tears to his eyes.

Even Edogawa Conan couldn't hold back anymore.

After all, he had been eating instant noodles for a month too. He was at his limit.

(To be continued.) fɾēewebnσveℓ.com

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