Detective Conan Love Bullet AU
Summary and concept text taken directly from original Tumblr post (5/17/2025).
I had the idea for a Love Bullet AU since the end of October and finally finally got a tiny digital piece for it. As a result I have so many (perhaps too many) thoughts about this.
Love Bullet is an ongoing manga by inee with the concept that those who die with unrequited love will be reborn as a cupid. As cupids, if they make enough matches, they're given a second chance at life to fall in love again. Also as cupids, they use guns instead of bow and arrows to make matches because that's fun
Gallery
Concept
Focus on the Girls
So with this AU I thought it would be fun to focus on Kazuha, Ran, and Shiho as the main characters! The general idea is that all of them died at separate times as a result of an escalation with the Black Organization. Each of them are reborn as cupids years after the Black Org is taken down (Let's say in this AU neither Kazuha nor Ran gets confessed to before they're killed). I figured having Kazuha as the main POV for this story would be great since, of the three girls, I feel like she'd be the most clueless about the Black Org. Just as Kazuha learns more about what has happened so does the audience. (I also just think she deserves the main spotlight once in a while!)
The three find and recognize each other (asides from Kazuha and Ran with Shiho) as cupids and work together to make matches. In the meantime, they watch over the friends they left behind. (The story would mainly follow Heiji and Shinichi dealing with the fallout of the takedown, but I also have many side story thoughts about how Ran watches over Sonoko (I haven't met Sera in the anime yet but I'll keep her in mind when I get the critical info) and Shiho keeping a look out for the Detective Boys) I also think this AU offers a good opportunity for Shiho to directly interact with Ran and Kazuha in her real body. In particular, I really want to explore how she navigates her guilt for indirectly causing both of their deaths (unbeknownst to the two girls).
Design
The hair of cupids are white and curlier compared to their original hair. I took the liberty of adding red streaks or soft gradients of red in their hair as well because I thought it'd look cute!
Story Overview
Before the Start
Kazuha dies in a case Heiji is trying to solve before he gets to confess to her. The case has relations to the Black Organization but Heiji doesn't realize that yet. Kazuha was shot after Heiji knocks out her captor. The captor used his last bit of energy to shoot her and takes a cyanide pill.
Ran is killed by the Black Organization when she figures out that Shinichi is Conan and inadvertently gets killed when tailing Conan. She does end up saving Conan by warning him that there's a set up ahead. Though she sustained wounds in the process. Her last words, "you don't have to hide from me anymore Shinichi." Conan becomes reckless after the death of Ran and feels terrible realizing that Kazuha's death is related to the organization as well. But Haibara keeps him grounded and focused. They manage to takedown the organization and regain notes to create an antidote. However, Haibara is killed by stray members of the Black Organization. Dr. Agasa is able to recreate the antidote in her place to save Shinichi.
Shiho surprisingly wakes up with her grown up body. Feeling it was a strange twist of fate that she'd have her body back in death. She meets Kazuha and Ran later and they don't recognize her. It feels strange on her tongue but she introduces herself as Miyano Shiho. She doesn't tell them that she knows them and how their deaths occurred. Shiho also feels guilt for their deaths.
By the end of the Black Organization takedown, Shinichi and Heiji are both broken down by the loss of their childhood friends and crushes. They're both unwilling to find new love and are stewing in guilt for not saving them.
The girls wake up 5 years after their deaths. Ran wakes up first, then Kazuha, then Shiho. Kazuha dies first but took longer to wake up. Her initial death and the case she got caught in tipped Ran off about Conan. Ran wakes up first since she came to terms with everything faster as she had suspicions about everything. Shiho wakes up last since she was the last person to die at the Black Organization's hands but she has the most knowledge and accepts the circumstances the fastest to wake up comparatively quicker than the others.
The girls work together to help people fall in love. Soon their main task is to help Shinichi and Heiji to move on as the girls try to conquer their grief.
Main Events
Ran finds Kazuha when she wakes up. Kazuha is still grieving the loss of her confession but is comforted by the presence of a familiar friend. Though she has a quick realization. If Ran is here then she must be dead too. Ran doesn't go into the details of what happened to her but gives Kazuha a run down of their life as cupids.
Later on after some missions as cupids they meet Shiho. Ran recognizes her a bit but she doesn't know why. On the other hand Shiho is surprised to see the two again. Shiho is skilled right from the get go and joins their troupe to matchmake together, though not without any guilt from what happened in their lives.
Side Stories
Shiho learns of what the Detective Boys were told for Haibara's disappearance (+ Conan's). They were told that the two of them moved to the States but since they're junior detectives they find out the truth. They figure out Shinichi was Conan and wheedle out the truth that Haibara was killed. They all regularly visit Dr. Agasa's where a small shrine for Haibara was erected. Ayumi visits the most and Shiho watches over her.
Ran watches over Sonoko to see her relationship with Makoto develop. This is a fun chill time because they're both goofy. Though at the end there's a moment where Sonoko visits Ran's grave and cries about not having her attend her wedding.
Writing
Kazuha
Written May 23rd, 2025.
The first thing Kazuha felt was the lightness that comes from waking. It was as if she was rousing herself up in her bed to start another school day. There was no rush, no urgency. It was simply the gentle wave of routine she was familiar with that nudged herself to consciousness.
The second thing she felt was the sharpness in her abdomen, her neurons demanding her attention, as if she mustered a concentrated focus she could stop this. The pain was immediate, intrusive, and unrelenting. Her hands move to abate the pain when suddenly-
When suddenly, she felt nothing.
With a gasp of air, Kazuha opens her eyes. A warehouse... she was in a warehouse. She rises to her feet with ease as she takes in her surroundings. Dilapidated and empty. The sound of water dripping from a leaky ceiling. The dark and dusky dust layering the floors and leftover machinery. She never did well in old places such as these but strangely enough, Kazuha couldn't bring herself to feel frightened. There was a sense of familiarity that prevented fear from taking hold and yet she can't seem to remember a single thing about it.
"...Kazuha?” A call for her name, suddenly all the adrenaline rushes into her system.
"Heiji?!" Kazuha's head turns to the source of the voice and finds a strange woman. Long ivory colored hair and pale skin. She wore a school girl's uniform while adorning a bulletproof vest. A bright red tie completes the outfit, complementing the highlights of red in her hair. She looked ethereal. A calming presence standing out in this forgotten place.
"...Ran?" Kazuha chokes out. She had just seen her the other day but the stinging feeling in her chest tells her otherwise. The woman gives her a warm smile.
"Yeah" she grins with tears rimming her eyes, "it's me, Ran."
Before she could even think, Kazuha rushes forward to wrap her arms around Ran. A cry scraped out from her throat and a torrent of tears flooded out. An immense weight tightens in her chest, but it lightens as Ran reciprocates the hug. It was as if her arms were shouldering a bit of that burden for her.
Kazuha had a feeling that today was going to be a long day, but with Ran it wouldn't be too bad.
Sniffling and wiping away her tears Kazuha takes another look at Ran. Her eyes have lost that distinct orchid purple. In it's place, a rose red fills her iris. She knows in her heart that this woman is Ran and yet...
"You must be wondering why I look like this. It's... A long story." Ran grabs a strand of her own hair and runs her hand through it in thought. "You see, I'm a cupid now."
Cupid? Like the beings that shoot arrows and stuff? Kazuha furrows her eyebrows.
"Right, I figured that wouldn't really explain much." Ran gives a small smile. "This," Ran gestures to her hair and eyes, "is what happens when you become a cupid. By becoming a cupid I've been given a second chance at life to help people fall in love."
"Ran... What do you mean by second chance?" The woman before Kazuha gives a sympathetic look.
"Oh Kazuha... I'm already dead." Kazuha's eyes widen and she grips Ran's arm.
"Dead?!" Kazuha lets out a chuckle in disbelief. "What do you mean dead? You're right here with me, aren't you?" As if to prove a point, the girl pats Ran's arm repetitively. No ghost would feel this firm!
"Ah-” Ran's eyes light up in understanding which swiftly dim in hesitation. "Um... Kazuha, when did you wake up?"
"Wake up? Well just now I guess?" Kazuha tilts her head.
"Have you gotten the chance to... Look at yourself?"
"Well now that I think of it, no? What is it, don't tell me there was a bug on me this whole time!" Kazuha reflexively starts shaking around to get rid of the non-existent assailant when something catches her eye. A puddle.
And her reflection.
Kazuha freezes. Oh.
Oh.
"Ran?"
"Yes, Kazuha..?"
"I'm dead, aren't I?"
...
"...yes."
"Oh." Another beat of silence passes between the two. "Well, that would explain a lot."
...
"You're taking this better than I thought you would."
"Ah no, I just don't think this is sinking in quite yet..." She takes a closer look at herself. These aren't the clothes she remembered wearing. Her hair is white as snow with ribbons of red and it looks way curlier too. "So I'm a cupid too?"
"Seems so."
Shiho
Written May 23rd, 2025.
Awakening
Death isn't unfamiliar to Shiho, far from it. Whether she likes it or not she seems to be well acquainted with it. The people she killed with her poison. The people she killed by association. And finally death had her in its grasp. For something that she yearned for for so long, Shiho finds it rather cruel. In the moments where she thinks she finally can be at peace with living, the tablecloth is pulled from underneath her. Perhaps it was her sins finally catching up to her. Maybe it wasn't worth dreaming.
And yet why is Shiho still here? Living in a purgatory where she watches the world pass her by. Was it punishment? Was it wishful thinking she'd at least see her family once again?
These are questions that don't have answers.
To exist outside of the role you're given. To know that there's something more than the flesh and ligaments holding together the being that is you. Perhaps she should be happy that the end doesn't always mean the end.
Mission
"Kudo-kun, you have to get yourself together!" Haibara grabs onto Conan's shoulders. The boy's eyes are glazed over. That recklessness of his finally caught up to him. Haibara remains firm. "It's not over yet, you can't stop here. You can't." They need to run. They received crucial information from this operation that could blow the organization wide open.
But they have to fight to live another day to see it.
Footsteps, and they're coming quick. "Damn it, Kudo..." She grabs onto the boy and drags him into the shadows. This isn't like him, not at all. Haibara's been so used to his courageousness. What did he even see? She peers over the edge of the warehouse shelf to see the intruder. It's Jodie and Akai. If they're here, that means the operation's a success.
Post-Mission
It feels like a gnarled gash in her chest. Something so near and dear torn asunder. Yet shouldn't she be used to this by now? So many had been taken from her. Perhaps she gotten too comfortable. In a way it felt like she lost Akemi again. But she couldn't leave. She's different from then.
And she has someone to save.
Ever since the operation, Conan has been walking in a daze. He reminded Haibara of herself. The absence of his typical vigor was abnormal, strange. It didn't suit him. Not at all.