1Shades
Shades are the barely there ghosts of people who died but were unable to first form in the ghost zone, unable to be touched or heard they float around following people they care for or just interest them
Kudo Shinichi had a lot of these ghosts following him as his work in solving cases, stopping crime, and bringing justice to the dead. Means he has many thankful shades following him around in his day to day... but today every shade by his side is crying as their helpless to stop the fact he was poisoned.
25 shades were following Kudo Shinichi when the BO hit him with a baseball bat and force-fed him an experimental poison. 25 shades search the nearby area for other shades willing to give comfort to a dying hero of the dead. 25 shades find three more shades each willing to give comfort, weirdly the 100th shade was almost about to say no when he suddenly changed his mind
100 shades end up trying to comfort Kudo as he laid there poisoned by the experimental drug APTX 4869, leaving behind a bit of their essence with every attempt it wasn't a lot about the same amount as person breathes in dust in a single breath, but with 100 shades each doing multiple attempts at comfort it added up fast. Fifty shades could only comfort him twice before they were spent, Forty shades could comfort him three times before they were spent, and the last ten each one a shade that Kudo personally helped bring peace too could do almost five each.
As each shade spent their energy giving comfort they left not willing to see Kudo actually die... but if they stayed they would have seen something odd.
You see Kudo was never going to die form the poison he was naturally to ghost-like too do so instead of dying he was going to turn into a six-year-old but with all that built up ghost essence also known as ectoplasm to those who study it and ghosts. You see APTX 4869 is a very strange drug especially if you're unaware of the supernatural element that exists in this world, and APTX has this weird quirk of being able to bind itself to ectoplasm and multiply it.
If their was just one less shade giving comfort that night this couldn't happen, but given that their was something rare happened. A threshold was reached and APTX instead of shrinking Kudo changed his species instead...
"hey there's a dead body over here" I hear called out as the world starts to come back into focus, surprisingly given that I was sure I was supposed to be dead. The poison was painful enough for it.
I hear the loud thuds of two sets of boots getting closer. "Weird that the body is glowing." I hear one of the people say, likely a security person for the amusement park given the context.
'Glowing?' I question as the other person says, "I'm glad it is we might have had a hard time seeing it in the dark" I hear someone leaning over me. "Yay, very dead there is no breathing and I can feel the cold it gives off from here."
'What? I'm not breathing? But I feel fine just a little sore' The other set of boots walks closer, "come on lets flip it over to see who it is."
'HEY! Don't call me an it.' I can't help but think. I feel them standing over me and when they touch me I get a full body flinch, and for the first time since I came too, I open my eyes.
The first thing I notice is the two amusement park security people that found me. They seem afraid going by their shaking knees, and horrified faces. Second thing I notice, I seem to be higher up then I should be and looking down I find out I'm floating… six inches above the ground… and I'm glowing… I check my neck for a pulse… nothing… check my pulse point on my wrist… nothing…
I absentmindedly notice a strange keening noise, while I check my chest for any movement… nothing, not even the rise and fall of breathing. I feel myself hug my legs to my chest as my thoughts race with denials, the strange keening noise that I now realize is my own doing is swiftly developing into full-on sobbing.
"GHOST!" the security guards cry out interrupting my thoughts as they both run away from me. Well rude, plus ghosts aren't real, I think while I dry my tears, This must be a strange side effect of the poison I was forced to take. I absentmindedly push down the thought that I'm in denial, because GHOSTS DON'T EXIST! So, I can't be one.
'This glowing is going to be a problem. I wonder why the criminals bothered to change my clothes, especially if they're just going to put a color inverted version of my outfit on me again.' I push down another thought that's pointing out that the criminals wouldn't bother to come back to the crime scene just to change my outfit, and that I'm still floating in place like a ghost, because again ghosts are. not. real!
I stand up ignoring the fact that I'm still floating, because human's don't float , and I can't be anything other than human because ghosts aren't real. The shifting around makes something bright white land in front of my eyes. Tugging at it made me wince in pain as it turned out it was my hair. 'Strange my hair is white now, it was brown before, but I heard stress can bleach hair so I think I can safely blame the poison for this.' I willfully ignore the thought that stress bleaching only works on freshly grown hair and doesn't apply to the already grown stuff.
The white hair is an issue though, but luckily I decided to wear a hoodie today so I zip up the odd purple hoodie I'm now wearing and put the hood on. Effectively hiding the white hair, and concealing my face from a casual observer. Should help hide the fact I survived. I ignore the snarky thought that sounds a bit like Sonoko for some reason, that says that I don't exactly survive .
Because I'm not a ghost, Ghosts don't exist, even if I currently don't have a heartbeat or even need to breathe. The mental Sonoko says 'The Detective Geek is in denial.'
"No I'm not," I hiss out loud before I can stop myself, and cold races to my face when I realize I was talking to a voice in my head… but cold? Nevermind not important. As I power walk out of the amusement park, I need to head home before I can do anything.
The walk back is nerve-wracking and I'm left jumping at shadows. I know I'm being paranoid but I can't help this heavy feeling of fear in my mind. I must have been distracted because I didn't even notice I was being followed until some lady grabbed my shoulder and circled me around to face her. Though instead of confronting me she instead became really pale as she looked at me in the eyes.
She wasn't a threat, not like those people in black that tried to kill me. The 'There is no try about that, Detective Geek' from the voice Sonoko was systematically ignored. I tried to pull away but she held fast, but she seemed to come to her senses with my attempt to escape.
"What are you?" she asks.
"Um, I think human," I reply, trying to pull away from the strange lady. A strange feeling goes through my arm and I'm able to get away, she must have let go I think. As I sprint away I get a little curious at what that lady saw. Thankfully, I turn into an empty side street so I can easily use one of the closed store fronts as a makeshift mirror.
The first things I see are the stuff I already knew about, the inverse clothes, glowing body, and white hair, but when I look myself in the eyes I stumble and fall backwards. Right there, instead of my healthy blue eyes are two toxic looking glowing green eyes, unnatural shade and unnatural glow.
'I don't want to see anymore, get it away. Ghosts Don't Exist Ghosts Don't Exist.' echoes in my head as I become frozen in place. By the third 'I don't want to see' something happens and a strange cool feeling comes over me as I start disappearing from the mirror. I bring my arm up in front of my face and I can see through the limb… I… just become invisible… that is not possible. 'Unless your a ghost, no heartbeat, no breathing, unnatural glowing, Invisibility, Intangibility, Flight, face it you're dead mister de-tec-tive'
I booked it back home… I don't want to see right now… I wish I could hyperventilate right now… the evidence is clear but I really wish it wasn't true…
My house came up quickly after that, not sure how I got here so fast it's really all a blur… Oh Kami, all I want to do is curl up into a ball in my bedroom. I search my pockets for my keys just in case, ya no. No luck there. Just my luck today.
I lean against my door wishing I could get inside to hide, and try to come to terms with things. Next thing I know I'm falling THROUGH the fucking door. I'm basically trying not to cry at this point. My life is gone and I have no idea how to go from here. I pull myself the rest of the way through the door and I just curl up and cry, not even bothering to do it in my room.
I'm not sure how long I stayed there, as not needing to breathe really messes up on timing that kind of thing. All I know is that it was likely for a while but I eventually did calm down. Uncurling from my place on the floor, I slowly stand up. Moping around all day is not exactly useful and staying in willful denial even less so.
I walk to the nearest mirror. I saw earlier but I was in too much denial to really pay any close attention… Which as a detective is quite bad but I am not going to be too hard on myself for that… It's been quite a day you know what with dying and all that… wow my morbid jokes suck.
I shake my head as I enter the bathroom. I'm honestly surprised I'm so solid I can so easily move things around. I thought as a ghost I would have a much harder time. Granted my body was missing at the crime scene. Maybe my ghost fused with my body? I shake my head again to clear my thoughts and really look at myself for once.
'I look really creepy with my chest not moving. And wow do I really glow. I'm my own flashlight now. I look… surprisingly human. If it wasn't wasn't for the eyes and the glow anyone looking at me would think I was a normal person that dyed his hair white for some reason and other than the color change for my hair and eyes… I'm still me'
"Shinichi! Shinichi! Where are you?" I hear from outside the door, and my body runs cold.
'Ran! I forgot about Ran' I think to myself in panic, 'what do I do! Ran is horribly afraid of ghosts! I don't want her to be scared of me. I have to talk to her though she should know, but I really don't want her to see me like this.'
I hear Ran messing with the doorknob, "It's locked? Shinichi… You better be okay, Detective Geek. Please prove my feelings wrong, please be fine." that sentence made me feel like ice and I'm sure if my heart still beat it would have skipped at that moment.
Next thing I know I'm outside my house seeing Ran from the side. She has tear tracks running down her face, and she's leaning against my front door. She can't see me because I'm clearly too much of a coward to stand visible in front of her. It feels like I'm being ripped in two directions as two different parts of me fight each other on what to do next.
The part of me that's a detective wants to just tell Ran, to just get the truth out of the way. But my more Emotional part doesn't want to see the tears that will surely happen, doesn't want to see the fear in Ran's eyes, and definitely doesn't want to see her broken down in grief and loss. For once I'm at a loss at what to do.
I watch as Ran as she wipes her tears, and starts to walk out of my yard. I quite quickly find myself literally hovering behind her, apparently my emotional mess allowed me to figure out how flying works… yippy not.
I helplessly watch as Ran tries to not have a breakdown. She's muttering to herself and I wish I could bring myself to talk to her, or at least turn around so I'm not forced to watch. She's power walking to her home, I can tell because we take this route every time we spend time together at my house and I walk her home after.
About half way back to her home her muttering get loud enough to over hear "Stupid deduction freak, can't even call to let me know he's okay." Ran's words are angry but the tone is sacred. I really wish I could comfort Ran, but in this case her fears are well founded given my current state of existence.
We're almost at Ran's place when I see Mouri-san run out of the Detective Agency he runs calling out to Ran about a kidnapping case he just got called in for. A mental switch is flipped and I find myself in the front seat of the cab with Mouri-san in the back… still invisible, and for some reason Ran is in the cab with the both of us.
I spend most of the ride to the location half listening to Ran and Kogoro-san arguing on why Ran decided to join him in the car. Something about chasing a cold spot I really wasn't paying much attention though. The other half was making sure I stayed solid and invisible for the whole trip. I really didn't want to find out what falling out of a taxi would feel like, and I really didn't want to freak out the Taxi driver and the Mouris with my ghostliness… Mostly Ran really if I'm being honest to myself.
The case itself turned out to be extremely unusual. As I was able to solve the case and tell it to others by whispering into Kogoro-san's ear who then confused them for his own thoughts… I may have purposely worded my whispers to encourage that line of thinking, but things took a turn for the worse when the previous fake kidnapping turned into a real one.
The girl, Tani Akiko-chan, did manage to give a hint to her location that manages to narrow down her possible locations, and after taking a map and freeing the dog from his leash. Weirdly the dog seems to still be able to detect me even when I'm invisible… So maybe the stories of animals detecting spirits have a real-life basis… why is this my existence now
The dog follows me as I check the schools around the local factory. When none of them have the girl inside, I almost panic before I figure out that one of the high rise buildings looks like a giant chimney from just the right angle. Narrowing down the school she could be inside to just Futatsubashi Middle school. I know I'm on the right track when the dog starts racing ahead of me barking. Jumbo the dog likely picked up on her scent meaning I'm close.
The dog and I quickly find the girl in the school storeroom in the back of the school. The dog attacks the greedy man about to stab the little girl, and I have to fight myself to keep from joining in. Luckily my instincts relent to the hard logic that the girl is more important as I work to free her. Thankfully the knots easily come undone with barely any effort on my part.
I absentmindedly notice that I had dropped my invisibility while freeing the little girl, as she is currently gazing at me with wonder. I hear the yelp of a dog in pain as Jumbo runs away after the kidnapper kicks him in the chest. Akiko-chan hides behind my legs and I stand protectively in front of her as I release a deep growl, honestly surprising myself at my actions.
The kidnapper and potential murderer apparently really does not know what he's dealing with because the idiot litteraly asks, "What are you supposed to be?" Like the fact that I'm glowing and literally floating an inch above the ground doesn't make it obvious enough. I know I'm a detective but I expect more people to have more than three brain cells to rub together, but apparently this criminal is both greedy and stupid.
So instead of answering his stupid question I just end up saying, "No one else will die today on my watch." And apparently after I say this something about my appearance actually cues him in. As he takes a step back tripping over one of the many boxes carrying sports equipment, and ends up falling flat on his ass dropping his knife in the process.
Luckily our weird stalemate ends when I hear Ran's voice outside the room so I quickly turn invisible again to the girl's happiness, and the idiot criminal's fear. Just in time to, as Ran races in with her father not far behind, and picks up the girl in a hug. Who then happily talks about the Guardian Angel who came to save her while Kogoro-san uses zip ties to restrain the criminal for the cops.
As the group starts the long walk back, I put my hands behind my head as I bask in the feeling of a job well done, at least I can still solve cases like this. Ghost or Human I'm still a detective at heart. I absentmindedly listen to Mouri-san take credit for solving the case on the phone with the CEO Director, and it takes all my self control not to laugh. If it was just this morning I would have probably jumped in and taken credit myself, but given I'm a ghost I don't really have a need for it anymore. 'Huh so it's 11:30?' I think as I look over at Mouri-san's phone, 'I've been dead for about six hours then.'
"Shinichi?" I hear Ran's questioning tone and looking down from where I was floating. My body runs cold as I see Ran. staring. right. at. me. I must have dropped the invisibility sometime during my basking.
My mind breaks. I'm not ready to talk to Ran to explain, so I do the first thing I can think of which is turn invisible and fly home. I hear Ran calling out my name again as I fly away, but I'm really not ready for that conversation so I just… fly faster.
11:45
I got a bit lost because travel by flying is very different then travel by foot or car but I managed to find myself back on track
11:55.30
Made it back to the general area of my house. Not far now. For some reason I'm starting to feel tired. No idea why.
11:59.59
I made it back to my house, I'm hovering over the profes-
12:00
White Flash of light and I'm falling out of the sky, and suddenly utterly exhausted and surprisingly struggling to breathe. I land rather harshly in the mud from the earlier rain. I'm barely able to keep myself from face planting in the mud as I keep myself up with my hands and knees.
I can't breathe. I need to breathe. Why do I need to breathe?
I'm choking on both my tongue and my saliva as I struggle to get air inside me, and a familiar pounding sound is in my ears. A sound I never thought I would hear coming from myself again. I'm shaking like a leaf and struggling not to pass out or fall into a panic.
My brain seems to finally remember that I can use my nose as well as my mouth to breathe, and finally a significant amount of oxygen is reaching my body. It feels so good. I'm still struggling not to pass out and still choking a bit but seventeen years of living muscle memory is quickly helping me recover enough to think again.
I throw myself to my left side. I remember that you should lay near-drowning victims on their left side so air can reach the lungs easier, something about the position of the heart and other major organs. I think so anyway my mind is a bit fuzzy because of the exhaustion, but I know anything is better than collapsing into the mud and basically drowning.
Black spots edge into my vision as I breathe greedily, I have thankfully finally stopped choking. I have no idea what's going on with me. It's like a switch was flipped and suddenly I go from a ghost to whatever I am now, I think it's alive going by my heartbeat that I can still hear in my ears, granted it's slower then it should be. I just-
"Shinichi" I hear called out paired with the sound of a door opening. My vision swims as I try to see who it is, thankfully it's just Professor Agasa who comes to my side. The professor is shaking me but I can barely move and the black is creeping into my vision even more.
The world finally fades away completely as the professor picks me up, telling me it's going to be okay.