Detective Conan
The Friend We All Need
By
Sgamer82

Ayumi Yoshida steeled herself. She had a job to do, and she was going to do it. It was not a pleasant chore, but it needed doing and she wasn't going to let her growing nerves stop her. Ayumi Yoshida understood that today she was the only one everybody could depend on to do what needed to be done.

"Ai-chan, it's time to get up."

Ayumi bent down on her knees and gently pushed on Ai Haibara's shoulder. Ai moaned then turned in her sleeping bag to face away from Ayumi. Ayumi sighed. She'd known from the start that was never going to work, but it was worth trying anyway.

It was always fun when Professor Agasa took Ayumi and her friends on outings. Day trips to some neat place or other or, as in this case, an overnight camping trip. The overnight trips, however, brought with them a rather frustrating chore: waking up Ai Haibara in the morning.

According to the Professor, Ai was not what he called a "morning person." It was typical for Ai to be the last to get out of bed. She never completely woke up until she found her way to the coffee pot and got a cup. Even after that, she would likely still yawn her way through most of the morning and would definitely be grumpy the whole way through.

With gently waking Ai having failed as Ayumi had known it would, it was time to step things up slightly.

"Ai-chan, you need to get up." Ayumi shook the sleeping girl harder this time. "We need to take down the tents after breakfast."

The mention of breakfast seemed to get a response. Ai turned to Ayumi.

"Coffee...?" Ai asked in a half-asleep daze. Ayumi gulped.

"Um, about that..." Ayumi said hesitantly, "There isn't any more coffee."

At the age of seven, Ayumi had not yet learned the word "feral", but the growl that escaped Ai at being told "no more coffee" ensured she would immediately understand its meaning once she did learn it. That reaction was actually why Ayumi in particular was on what Conan called "Haibara Duty" this morning, rather than deciding by turn or Rock, Paper, Scissors or something. She was the one least likely to have her head bitten off by a caffeine-deprived Ai. She was possibly also the only one who didn't think Conan was serious when he described the situation in those terms.

"The Professor shared it with that couple we met hiking yesterday, remember?" Ayumi said.

Ayumi heard Ai mumble other words which, while she didn't yet know what they meant, she did know she'd get in trouble if she ever repeated them out loud around any adults.

"Ai-chan, we need to start breaking down the tents and we can't do it with you in here," Ayumi tried explaining again. "You're going to cause trouble for everyone else if you don't get up."

In Ayumi's experience, Ai usually responded well to reason. In fact, one of the things Ayumi admired about Ai was the way she could talk about and debate things with grown ups even though she was the same age as Ayumi herself. When Ai pulled her sleeping bag over her head, Ayumi realized that Morning Ai was not Reasonable Ai.

"Ai-chan, you need to get up," Ayumi said, crossing her arms and trying to sound stern. "And if you don't, then so help me-"

"You'll what?" a groggy voice demanded from the sleeping bag.

"I'll... I'll..." Ayumi's momentum was thrown off by Ai's interruption, but she plowed on. "I'll tell the Professor you're being naughty and shouldn't get any breakfast."

Ayumi clearly heard Ai snort in response.

"I'll live," she told Ayumi.

Ayumi frowned. Not only was Ai being stubborn, but she was treating Ayumi's attempts to get her to do what she was supposed to be doing as a joke. Now she was casually brushing off a threat that often worked on Ayumi, though with dinner rather than breakfast.

"Fine. Then... then... then if you wanna stay asleep you can." Ayumi declared. "I'll take the sleeping bag and you out of the tent and you can finish sleeping outside! In front of everybody!"

Ayumi saw the form inside the sleeping bag flinch. Ayumi didn't have the strongest grasp of "pride", typically brushing it off as a "boy thing," but she understood that nobody liked being embarrassed and that Ai hated it more than most. Ai usually avoided anything that she thought looked or felt silly if she could get away with it. In this case, all she had to do was get out of bed. Except what Ai did instead was peek her head out of her sleeping bag and look at Ayumi.

Thanks to TV shows and playing video games with her friends, Ayumi was familiar with the phrase "death glare." This was, however, the first time she could claim to have seen one in real life. The fact that the eyes glaring at her were slightly bloodshot did not help.

"You. Wouldn't. Dare." Ai whispered dangerously.

Ai believed she was calling Ayumi's bluff. That assumption carried several major flaws.

The first was that the idea of bluffing had never occurred to Ayumi to begin with. It wasn't because she didn't understand the concept. She simply associated it exclusively with card games and was too basically honest to think of tricking something into doing what she wanted them to do.

The second thing Ai failed to consider was that Ayumi had grown up with the influences of people like her parents, Conan Edogawa, Ran Mouri, and even Ai herself. All of whom were people that, if they said they would do something, would definitely do it no matter what.

Third was that Ai was relying too much on her ability to intimidate the others. She could make Genta Kojima, a boy much larger than her, regard her as more frightening than his own mother. Given that, for many seven year olds, their mother was the authority in their lives, Ai regarded this as an achievement. Even Conan Edogawa, who would have found doing what Ayumi was threatening amusing, would have at least thought twice when faced with that glare.

Ayumi didn't. While she had found Ai intimidating when they first met, she had also perhaps seen more of her kinder side than even Conan or Professor Agasa. Because of that, Ayumi knew instinctively that Ai was the one who was bluffing.

Finally, Ai had badly underestimated Ayumi's patience. Even the kindest individual had a limit to how much they would willingly put up with and Ai's obstinance was pushing Ayumi towards hers. She was also hungry herself, since she had decided not to eat breakfast until after she woke up Ai.

Ai thought she could just glare her problem away, all the while failing to realize she was up against a girl who was honest, determined, annoyed, hungry, and held no fear of Ai Haibara. As a result, Ai never saw it coming when Ayumi stepped over to the foot of Ai's sleeping bag, gripped it with both hands, and started pulling. Ayumi didn't pay attention to the others as she did so, or she would have noticed Genta and Mitsuhiko staring slack jawed, Conan barely containing his amusement, and Professor Agasa looking bemused. She did notice Ai's head retreating back into the sleeping bag like a turtle going into its shell.

"Er... Ayumi-kun?" Professor Agasa said.

"Just... a moment... Professor," Ayumi grunted between pulls.

Ayumi dragged Ai, sleeping bag and all, out of the tent and to her right, leaving her friend under the shade of a nearby tree.

"Perfect." Ayumi nodded in satisfaction. She left Ai where she was and went to get breakfast.

Much later, Ai Haibara opened her eyes to find Ayumi sitting next to her.

"What time is it?" she asked as she sat up.

"Nearly twelve," Ayumi answered. Ayumi giggled at Haibara's surprised expression. "I checked on you after breakfast and you'd gone back to sleep."

Haibara checked on the campsite, making sure to look at anything other than Ayumi's eyes.

"Looks like everything is packed," she observed. The tents were down and everyone's bags and camping gear had been set aside to be taken to the Professor's beetle. The Professor was again sitting before a fire while the boys kicked a soccer ball around.

"Yep. It took a bit longer than it usually does," Ayumi said. "We're taking a break for lunch before we get everything in the Professor's car."

"Well, you were one person short." Haibara sighed. "I suppose I should apologize to everyone for that."

"You really should," Ayumi agreed.

"Then I'll start with you." Haibara took a deep breath. "Just like you said, Yoshida-san, my behavior troubled everyone else; you most of all, since you're the one who had to put up with everything. For that, I apologize."

"I forgive you, Ai-chan," Ayumi replied with a smile. Haibara couldn't help smiling herself.

"Before I go to the others," Haibara said, "I have to say, you surprised me."

"I did?"

"Dragging me bodily out of the tent," Haibara reminded her. "What possessed you to do that?"

"Well..." Ayumi surprised Haibara again by blushing. "I kinda... I thought 'what would Ai-chan do if she were me?'"

"What would I do if I were you trying to wake myself up because I don't like mornings and have no coffee?"

"Yep." Ayumi nodded.

Haibara could only assume "irony" was a concept that Ayumi had not yet grasped.

"And you decided I would just say 'the heck with it' and just get the problem out of the way altogether?"

"Um... kinda..."

Haibara laughed.

"You weren't too far off," she told Ayumi. "If anything, the one thing you got wrong just proves you're a better person than I am."

"Huh?" Ayumi blinked in confusion.

"I wouldn't have been considerate enough to remember the shade," Haibara said. "Thank you."

"Of course!" Ayumi replied.

The pleasant moment was interrupted by a sudden gurgling sound. Both girls' eyes turned to Haibara's stomach.

"Well..." Haibara began, mustering as much dignity as she could. "...I haven't eaten at all, today."

Ayumi got to her feet and held her hand out to Haibara.

"Then let's go get lunch, Ai-chan."

"Yeah." With a nod Haibara stood up and accepted Ayumi's hand.

"After you apologize to everyone," Ayumi added.

"Y-yeah..." Haibara replied with much less enthusiasm.

The idea was inspired by the end of my story "A Mystery of Their Own", where Subaru Okiya suggests that of all the characters present (himself, Conan, and the Detective Boys) Ayumi was the only one Ai would likely pay any heed to. From there I now have the mental-image-slash-headcanon that Ayumi is the only one capable of keeping Ai in line. The title was a bit of last second thing, mostly from the thought that we all need that friend who's willing to tell us when we're being an idiot.