31_days | [September 14, 2008] [Detective Conan/Case Closed] A Brain-attic that Holmes would Approve of

Title: A Brain-attic that Holmes would Approve of
Day/Theme: Sept. 14: Me, myself, I, and the space left for you
Series: Detective Conan/Case Closed
Character/Pairing: Shinichi/Ran
Rating: G/K

-o-

“You see…I consider that a man’s brain originally is like a little empty attic, and you have to stock it with such furniture as you choose. A fool takes in all the lumber of every sort that he comes across, so that the knowledge which might be useful to him gets crowded out, or at best is jumbled up with a lot of other things, so that he has a difficulty in laying his hands upon it. Now the skilful workman is very careful indeed as to what he takes into his brain-attic. He will have nothing but the tools which may help him in doing this work, but of these he has a large assortment, and all in the most perfect order. It is a mistake to think that that little room has elastic walls and can distend to any extent. Depend upon it there comes a time when for every addition of knowledge you forget something that you knew before –”

“Conan?”

Shinichi jumped, shutting the volume in his hands, pushing it back onto the shelf sheepishly. Ran had enlisted his help in cleaning out ‘Shinichi-niisan’s house’ early that morning, going so far as to borrow the key from Agasa-hakase. Starting with the library was proving to be a near-insurmountable task, and Ran had called Sonoko for help not a few minutes ago…which is when ‘Conan’ had started the ‘Complete works of Conan Doyle’ section of shelves.

“You remind me of Shinichi sometimes,” Ran scolded, coming over to where the miniaturized detective stood, taking the volume he’d pushed into the shelf and glancing at the cover. “Except he’d be looking at ‘The Sign of Four.’”

Sure enough, the book was ‘A Study in Scarlet.’ Shinichi laughed uncomfortably, casting about for a change of subject.

“We’re supposed to be cleaning the shelves, not reading,” Ran continued, though she, too, was now flipping the pages of the well-read book, smiling nostalgically.

“Sorry, Ran-neechan,” Shinichi said, trying his hardest to look like the cute first-grader he appeared to be.

“It’s all right,” Ran said, snapping the book shut and re-shelving it. “But I would have thought these books were a little hard for you, Conan. Isn’t the kanji hard for you?”

Shinichi’s eyes widened, and he began to stutter out half-formed disclaimers…but Ran smiled. “Silly me. You’re named after Conan Doyle! You’ve probably read all about Sherlock Holmes!”

“Y-yeah!” Shinichi agreed vehemently, nodding until Ran, apparently satisfied, went to wring out her cleaning rag.

Shinichi sighed, considering what Holmes had been explaining to Watson. If my mind were an attic, he mused, it would have to be divided into sections. Sections for things he knew, and things he wasn’t supposed to know as Conan; things he knew but couldn’t tell Ran, things he should tell Ran, things that he had to say someday at the end of all of this, not just to Ran, but to Genta, Ayumi, and Mitsuhiko…

That would make for a really cluttered brain-attic. Holmes wouldn’t approve.

Perhaps then, he just needed a few sections; a section for Shinichi’s knowledge, a section for ‘Conan’s’ knowledge…and a section for Ran. That would keep it somewhat tidy, would it not?

He groaned internally. This…this just gave new meaning to the phrase ‘Me, myself and I.’

“I can’t believe you’re honestly doing this, Ran!”

Shinichi glanced toward the source of the voice – Sonoko.

“It’s summer. And you’re cleaning Kudo’s house?”

As Ran chatted with Sonoko, Shinichi started to banish the thoughts from his mind. After all…if he sectioned his brain in such a way…he would no doubt be in good company.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

A U T H O R S N O T E

Umm… the above quoting is, indeed, from ‘A Study in Scarlet,’ by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The prompt for today practically begged me to get it out again, so…yesh.

Sorry for my little mini-hiatus, but I hurt my shoulder…sliding down a stair-banister/rail-thing… and I had to make some adjustments as to which themes I wanted to do, because I couldn’t type very well at the time…

But I’m back! And I have just a handful of themes left until I reach 31 days! :D

~Ayaia