Unsent Reply: A Reason to Live

The moment Gin pulled the trigger, Shuichi Akai arrived.

The bullet went wide. She didn’t die.

She lay in the hospital for three days and three nights, and he kept watch by her bedside for just as long. When she woke, her first words were, “Were you crying?”

He didn’t answer. But he held her hand and never let go again.

The Organization hunted them down, while the FBI protected them. They hid in one safe house after another, eating convenience-store rice balls and sleeping in narrow single beds. He said, “I’ll protect you.” She said, “I know.”

Later, the Organization fell. At last, they could live ordinary lives.

He tried to learn to say “I love you,” though he could never get the words out. She tried to believe “this time it’s real,” though in her dreams, the sound of gunfire still woke her.

Many years later, she came across his phone. The message was still there: “Would you be willing to date me as my real boyfriend?”

Beneath it was his reply: “I would.”

It had been sent the night before they got married.

The Unsent Reply: The Reason to Live | This time, he made it in time.

Detective Conan fanfiction | Redemption and healing | Happy ending | Rekindled romance | Mutual devotion