Won the karate tournament today. Mama was there too and she and Paps got on well, for once. I hope the two get together again and dad doesn't break everything again. I was hoping you'd come too, but I'm sure you've been working on your case again and will have to tell me more about it at our next meeting. I miss you and hope you come back soon. XXX Ran

At first she didn't dare to send this message to Shinichi. She became quite embarrassed when she realized what the X meant and thought about what Shinichi would say about it and how he would react. Sonoko had said that she was just afraid that he would throw out the X at the end of his message.
That was bullshit. No, she didn't think about that, she was more concerned about what Shinichi would think if he read 'Kiss Ran'. She had already sent him a message with the X, but he hadn't responded explicitly. Maybe he was uncomfortable, Ran kept telling himself, and accidentally pressed send. She didn't want that, she wanted to go back to the text menu, but instead of the red button on the cell phone, she got the green one. It was too late now. 'Message sent' appeared on the display and Ran immediately put the cell phone away again, much to the disadvantage of Sonoko, who was curiously standing next to her friend.
"What's going on? Well tell me," she hacked and tried to grab the cell phone. Too late. Ran kept it like treasure.
"Come on, Sonoko, it's not that important," the other girl muttered. She obviously tried to get out of the situation, which failed because Sonoko, in her opinion, was very knowledgeable about matters of the heart. Since dating Makoto, she no longer looked or looked for all the guys. Unless he was super cute, she changed her mind quickly and only to find out that she belonged to Makoto.But that's how Sonoko was and you had to like her even with her little quirks.
"And why does my best friend have a red tinge on the tip of her nose? Are you thinking of Mister Oberwisser again?", The brown-haired wanted to know.
Ran, who felt caught, wanted to change the subject, but she knew Sonoko far too well and knew that Sonoko would take it up again. "How did you come up with the idea? Shinichi isn't everything and if you want to know, I'm just happy because I won the competition and my parents are slowly getting closer," answered Ran.
"You're not fooling me, I've known you for far too long for that and during the competition, you kept looking into the ranks, there was hope in your eyes. The guy didn't even have to refuse you," Sonoko clenched his fist. She wasn't going to let Shinichi go through that.
"It wasn't like that at all. Shinichi wrote to me from the start that he wished me good luck. Surely he couldn't come because of his case," Ran tried to appease her best friend.
"It's all just excuses. If he gets my hands on it, he can experience something," threatened Sonoko. Through her look, Ran sensed that she meant it quite seriously and that Shinichi would have nothing to laugh about.
"But Sonoko ... you don't do that, I'll talk to him and show him how much I care about his absence," Ran's eyes sparkled, which was threatening. She put all her energy into her leg and kicked a post with full force. This slowly began to crumble and it reminded her of the time when he actually dared and forgot her appointment in Tropical Land.
"As long as you don't kiss him wildly around the neck, everything is fine," Sonoko teased and noticed how determined the girl actually was.It's good that she's not angry, she said to herself and held back with further comments for the time being.After all, Ran shouldn't get angry and use it as a post next time.
"Will you tell me when he gets in touch with you?" She asked cautiously, still getting ready to take cover.
"But yes," agreed Ran. She had no secrets from Sonoko, even if this sometimes tended to be exaggerated. Sonoko groaned in relief and then went home with Ran.

"I'm back home," Ran said happily when she came into the apartment. It had been quiet outside and since Eri's car was still standing in front of the door there was still hope. Eri and Kogoro had been to the competition and walked back together, faster than Ran and Sonoko, but at least the two of them had come home together.
"I'm sorry, Ran. I can't take another minute with your father. Don't be angry with me and come over to my place tomorrow," said Eri, while she got dressed and Kogoro mimicked her.
"But mom", Ran mumbled perplexed and looked at her father. "Dad, what have you done again? Can't you even be kind to mom?" Was that really too much what Ran asked of him? Her parents had loved each other before, the feelings couldn't go away so easily, especially because Ran felt that they were not indifferent to one another.
"Then Eri should also be considerate of us and finally stop wanting to cook for us. I wouldn't even give this food to an animal, but your mother doesn't understand ... you can talk to her," sighed Kogoro while he was now disposed of the food. Again the two had quarreled over a meal. Kogoro sighed and thought that Eri would never learn anything about her, nonexistent or, as she described it, her humble cooking skills.
"Try not to argue about it for once, it won't do anything. Mama will definitely not come back home like this," put in Ran.Her parents had been separated for so long and it would be nice if they could get back together.
"Oh, mouse-legs, it's not always easy, especially when Eri is so complicated," said Kogoro and got ready for a rub, but Ran simply disappeared into her room.

"Hmmm ... a message on the second phone," Conan muttered to himself. He was lying on the bed in his room and took out the said cell phone. "Oh Ran", at first a smile crossed his lips. He was a little happy that she was still thinking of him and giving him all the important information about her life and he was annoyed that he couldn't be there for her, that he could hug her when she felt bad or when she had a win. He wanted to do all of this, but as Conan he was bad at it, it just wouldn't have been the same. Besides, he couldn't put Ran in danger, if she could figure it all out, then he could surrender himself to the organization. Sighing, he read the text in the SMS again. Only then did he notice the X.
"X ... forbidden?" He sighed again. What did that mean, had it been forbidden or why did Ran write this letter in front of their name?
He didn't know, he had such an enormous amount of knowledge, but what the X meant, he hadn't known and the way Ran explained it to him, he didn't believe it. She had reacted too strangely for that when he asked. But what did the X really mean?
Great, Ran ... what does the X mean? What only?
Conan just couldn't figure it out anymore, it confused him too much and he wanted so much to know what that X meant. Ran certainly wouldn't tell him and so he decided to ask Ai. He couldn't do it well on the phone, the others would listen too curiously, so he had to go to her himself.
"Ran ... I'm going to the professor", Conan called and got dressed."Yes, it's good," she said. Ran was still in her room and it looked like she didn't want to get out of there in a hurry. Since Conan could guess why she was doing that, he let her have the fun, only he actually wanted to see Kogoro's face when he would ask for dinner and Ran was still stubbornly sitting in her room. A slight grin crossed his face and with the permission of Ran, which he would never have needed as a high school student, he made his way to Professor Agasa.
Since he knew his way around very well, he simply opened the door and went inside. "Professor ... are you there?" He asked calling.
"If you're looking for the professor, he went shopping earlier," said Ai. She was behind Conan. Not exactly, but she had seen him from the window of her room and went downstairs. Since she knew him, she also knew that he would just walk in without ringing the doorbell. So she positioned herself next to the door and when Conan closed it and peeked into the front of the professor's house, she just had to be quiet to watch the right time. And she did it. Conan grimaced.
At first he thought the Men in Black had found him, but then he heard Haibara giggle softly, something that was seldom heard.
"You think that's funny again," he cleared his throat, adding an angry undertone. He wasn't serious, but wanted to show her that she couldn't do everything with him.
"You always say I should behave more like a child and children scare each other," interjected Ai with a raised eyebrow. The expression on her face did not change. "I'm just doing what you wanted me to do so often ... don't you like it?" The girl asked, slightly contrived.
"Sometimes you're pretty ... terrifying," Conan countered. He shook his head and looked at her. Should she be like that, he couldn't do anything about it and as he knew her, she wouldn't change, but that was probably the case with him too."You sure didn't come here for free, so what's going on? Has Ran found out that you are Shinichi again?", She asked immediately. After all, she wanted to know why he was here and whether he needed a prototype of the antidote or whether his visit was just that. However, he wanted to speak to the professor, maybe he just wanted to talk to him or pick up a new invention.
"What does the X mean?", Conan wanted to know immediately. If Agasa wasn't there, then maybe Ai would know, after all, Jodie, Takagi and Sonoko knew too. Only he didn't know again, but he had never dealt with the subject either.
"You are not serious," laughed Haibara. She could barely hold on, but then she got more serious again. "So you really want to know what the X means?", She repeated his question and just wanted to make sure that she understood everything correctly.
"Yes, so tell me, you know it", nodded the little one.
"Well ... the X is the 24th letter of the Latin alphabet and a