[Detective Conan Crossover] Reflections of Memories, Reforging Life

[If you die without being remembered, you are really dead.]

[This is your first death.]

'Hah!' I jolted awake, clutching my forehead as I gasped for breath.

Damn it, my head hurts so much...

'What's wrong?' I vaguely heard someone turn on the light. A moment later, its glare shone in my face, along with a worried-looking person with curly hair.

'...Nothing.' I wiped the cold sweat from my face and shook my head.

I didn't recognize the face in front of me, and that made me uneasy. But no one with an ounce of sense would say that out loud right now.

'You don't look fine. You're as pale as a ghost.' The curly-haired guy noticed me squinting uncomfortably and quickly turned the light back off. 'If you feel bad, why didn't you say so? Are your eyes bothering you again?'

'...I'm fine. I just need to rest a little.' I silently lay back down and closed my eyes.

The most standard way to refuse to talk.

'...All right. You're so difficult. If you really feel unwell, you have to tell me. The hospital's not far from my place.' The curly-haired guy yawned again and lay down.

I could faintly feel another worried gaze from the other direction, the same as before.

I pressed my lips together. My unease grew, but I kept my breathing at its usual pace when I slept.

After a while, the slightly hurried breaths on either side of me settled down. A little later, when I heard the two of them breathing again, both had returned to the steady rhythm of ordinary sleep.

I waited patiently a while longer, then quietly raised my head, keeping up the same sleeping breaths.

Sitting up, I looked down at the room from a slight angle. Moonlight filtered in through the gap in the window, and I used it to make out the two faces in the room.

The faces seemed somewhat familiar now, especially with the moonlight coming in through the window. The darkness blurred the surroundings and softened the shadows around their features, making their faces look flatter.

I compared the faces I'd seen with the memories in my mind, and all I could think was: How could life be such a pain in the ass?

Because if I wasn't mistaken, the pale, curly-haired guy was Jinpei Matsuda, and the long-faced guy with medium-length hair was Kenji Hagiwara. And they were both damn well the limited-edition childhood SSR versions.

But that shouldn't be possible.

Why?

My head hurt even more. I pressed my fingers to my temple, feeling the veins throb. Fragments of memory gathered together, forming a recollection.

...I see.

I rubbed my forehead.

No wonder I thought this was damn impossible.

Because, by all rights, I was a real-world person, while those two guys were from a fictional world.

I tilted my head back, feeling the pain start up again and grow worse by the moment.

Once I realized I couldn't remember most of my past life, and that my memories of this life were completely blank, I temporarily gave up on tormenting myself.

Now there was an even more ridiculous question to consider.

Namely:

What sort of person was I, with no memories at all, sleeping in a room with Kenji Hagiwara in the bed to my left and Jinpei Matsuda in the bed to my right?

P.S. The protagonist's ability is that as long as even one person remembers him, he can come back to life. The state he returns in depends on how vivid that person's memories are. The more he appears in someone's memories, and the more clearly they remember him, the more complete his resurrection will be. He'll have a wider range of time periods to choose from, and more of his memories will carry over. Conversely, if someone only has a vague impression of him, he can still come back to life, but he'll have some aftereffects, such as headaches. Large portions of his memories will be missing, and he won't be able to jump forward in time. He can only be set down somewhere within the flow of the present. Also, if two people have very strong impressions of him, with at least 70% recognition or familiarity, he'll not only come back perfectly, but will randomly gain all of one person's abilities. With three people, he can gain two people's abilities; with four, three people's abilities. The more people who remember him, the more ridiculous the bonus becomes, and the longer the time range he can choose from, even as far as choosing a future several years away. Of course, he can also give up the bonus and trade it, depending on his luck or the size of the bonus, for memories that disappeared because he hadn't made a strong enough impression before. But the protagonist will probably leave that until last.

P.P.S. The protagonist's current situation is because he wasn't prepared for his first resurrection. He'd only left someone with a brief impression of him, and he came back using that impression, that's all. But his blurred memories give him an advantage as a con artist. Nothing around him is real; it's all been completely forgotten. That means his own existence is the only thing that's real. Nothing else matters, everything can be abandoned, as long as he can keep on living.

P.P.P.S. The clarity of the reflections of his memories determines how completely the protagonist comes back. Part of the inspiration comes from 'Three Lives': 'Your final life comes from other people's memories. Only when the last person forgets you can you be said to have truly and completely died.'

P.P.P.P.S. If it's not your thing, click the X in the upper right and leave. Don't make things hard on me or yourselves. Let's all get along. Thanks.

Theme: Doing whatever it takes to make sure everyone remembers you.