#SORRY FOR FOCUSING SO MUCH ON THE KAITO FILES | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

mintchocolateleaves · 6 years ago

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Cost of Freedom (40/52)

Summary: In which, Kaito and Aoko investigate the museum and Ran takes a look inside the fake rock.

A/N: Holy shit, we get an update that’s semi-quick this time! Wahooo! I hope that you guys enjoy the chapter!

[Chapter List]

Water flows from taps as Sonoko draws the bath offering white noise, something that keeps Ran’s thoughts from overflowing.

She sits on the small stool Sonoko brings forward before peeling her jumper off. Behind her, Sonoko kneels and assesses any damage from the glass. She lets out a small whistle, and then, after placing a hand on Ran’s shoulder as a form of warning, she pries the first bit of glass from between the knots of Ran’s shoulders.

Ran lets out a small hiss.

“I know it hurts,” Sonoko says, “but this is what happens when you get caught up in mystery work.”

There’s an element of disapproval in her voice. Worry. Ran doesn’t usually get such seriousness from her best friend, but she supposes being covered in glass and mentioning how she’d been shot at could be a sobering experience for anyone.

“You’re not angry at me, are you?”

For a moment, Sonoko is silent. She plucks another shard of glass from Ran’s skin, before pressing gauze against it, applying pressure to stop any potential bleeding. Then, she sighs.

“I knew you were looking to help Shinichi-kun,” Sonoko says. Her voice is quiet, like she’s not sure just how much she should say. “Your dad told me when I visited once how the two of you just… poured over the files together, looking for new leads. I knew you weren’t going to give up.”

Ran bites her lip. She knew, in some sense, that Sonoko had always known about her trust in Shinichi, but they’d never brought the topic up. Mainly because Ran hadn’t wanted to ask Sonoko what she thought, hadn’t wanted to bear the idea that her best friend didn’t trust him anymore.

“As soon as the news said Shinichi-kun was free, I knew you’d look even deeper. And it looks like you found the lead you were looking for.” She sighs again. “I’m not angry at you, Ran, I just wish you’d talked to me about it.”

Another small pause.

“About him.”

Ran shudders at the idea. Perhaps it’s selfish not to ask, not to talk about things, but she doesn’t want to. If they cross this divide, if they share their innermost thoughts and they’re contradictory… Ran doesn’t know what she’ll do.

Still, Sonoko might not be begging for the conversation, but she wants it. And it’s long since overdue.

“… I’m sorry,” Ran whispers. And then, “Do you think Shinichi is really capable of murder? Would you have told me to stop looking?”

There’s another tug against her skin and then, Sonoko pushes herself up. The tweezers make a small clink against the bathroom sink as she places them down. Ran turns, meets Sonoko’s gaze.

The expression is set, determined. Like it’s not something easily changed.

“I grew up with that nerd too,” Sonoko says, and for a moment her eyes soften. Then, they’re hard again, unrelenting. “Of course, I don’t believe any of the charges for a second. Ran – I’m not going to pretend I didn’t consider it, all that evidence against him is convincing, but I know him.”

Has she really been so foolish as to think Sonoko wouldn’t understand in the same way she did? Jeez, she really is an idiot.

“And as far as the investigating goes,” Sonoko says, “I… I don’t like the idea of you putting yourself in danger, and Shinichi-kun wouldn’t like it either, but I wouldn’t tell you to stop. I’d have helped, if I could have.”

Ran bites her lip.

“The bath is ready,” Sonoko says, “I’ll let you warm up – I’m going to go check on Hakuba-san.”

Ran turns, lets her lips tug upwards and offers a small smile. “Thanks, Sonoko.”

Sonoko flashes the same smile back and says nothing.

Aoko doesn’t like the way the exhibition room leaves her feeling cold.

Even with Kaito beside her, a warmth by her side, she feels frozen. She pushes her hands into her pocket so that he can’t see the way they shake, and grits her teeth, anticipating the shivers that wrack through her body.

“What do we look for?” Aoko asks, because it’s better than admitting that the place spooks her. That standing in here reminds her of how her father had bared firearms at the man she loves, how a red dot on her own forehead had led to Kaito’s injury.

“The night I was shot,” Kaito says, as if it doesn’t matter to him that he’d been injured, as if he can so easily leave it in the past. Aoko wishes she knew what he was thinking. “It wasn’t by the police. They would have never shot without a clear line of sight. Without a clear ID on me.”

Right. They’ve already gone over this. The shooter had been external, probably part of whatever case Kudo had gotten Kaito caught up in. Which was why they were doing investigative work, despite the fact neither of them are actually detectives.

“Okay,” Aoko says, “so what’re we focusing on first?”

“They didn’t dig a bullet out of me,” Kaito says, “it went through my arm. So somewhere, there’s a wall with a bullet imprint on it.”

Aoko pauses. Bites her lip and says, “I thought you said the bullet skimmed you.”

It hadn’t even crossed her mind that Kaito might have lied to her, to make his injury out to be less than it is. But really, that’s such a him thing to do – and she hates him for it.

“Skimming, going all the way through,” Kaito says, leaning forward to grab her hand, “they’re the same difference.”

She’s not pleased. Lips tightening, shaking her head, she wants to pull away, to punch him for not telling the truth. But she won’t. A lie from kindness… she can see how he’d been trying to be kind.

Even if she’d have preferred the truth.

“You better not be lying to me still,” she whispers.

“Nope,” Kaito says. “Let’s find my bullet fragments alright?”

Aoko sighs, and together they make their way towards the grate that Kaito had been meaning to make his escape by. They’ve since refastened the screws, keeping it in one place.

She doesn’t know where the vent leads, but she can imagine how cramped and dark it might be. That’s one thing she’s always found shocking about KID’s heists, that he doesn’t mind the sharp squeezes, that he trusts his plans so much that he’ll crawl through dusty vents just to procure his prize.

“Here it is,” Kaito says. He lifts his hand, points toward a hole in the wall. Dry paint has crumbled around it, but there’s a hole around the size of her little finger. Aoko leans forward, imagines the bullet going through.

Inside the wall, where cleaning hasn’t got to it, there’s specks of dried blood. This time, Aoko does shudder.

“I don’t know much about bullet sizes,” Kaito admits, finally, “but this one seems like it was small. It seems like the diameter was less than a few centimetres.”

Aoko blinks, nods her head.

“I’m gonna take a picture of it, use my finger as a reference.” Kaito says. “It would be easier if we had the bullet fragments, but the police have already taken them away as evidence.”

She shrugs.

“We can’t get out hands on that,” Aoko says. And then, turning her head, she considers the wall. “But we can figure out where they shot from, maybe?”

Kaito nods his head. He says, “we take the angle of where the bullet went into the wall and consider where someone could have shot from. Which vantage point.”

Aoko nods. She almost wishes that she had some ribbon, something that she could use to create a taut line, a path that the bullet could have taken. Instead, she shakes her head, tries to visualise a path instead.

“How much of an angle from the window to the wall?” She asks. “If we figure that out, we can figure out between the buildings too.”

Kaito hums. He says, “it’s not particularly steep.”

He runs his hand from the bullet hole, walks towards the window and slowly adjusts his hands, as if creating a triangle between the two and the floor.

Aoko can’t help but find it interesting, a vivid line of red in her vision, where the two points meet. She heads towards him, glances out at the buildings around her and takes a moment to consider. There’s a fire station and two multi-story flat complexes, not to mention office buildings and restaurants.

“How far can people shoot?”

Kaito shrugs his shoulders. He says, “It depends on the gun, really, but the longest shot is thousands of metres long. I’d say… in an area like this, someone could manage a couple of hundred?”

Aoko hums. Then, she points up towards one of the apartment buildings. If she imagines the path, imagines the trajectory, it seems like the roof of that apartment building is one of the only ones it could be from.

The other apartment building is too far left from the window. The bullet wouldn’t be able to hit the glass at the correct angle from that building. The fire station is out of the equation too, since the building isn’t high enough to create a downward slope.

Similarly, with the restaurants, they’re singular storied, no area for a sniper to climb up to, to offer a good enough vantage point.

“How about that apartment building?” Aoko says.

Kaito clicks his tongue. He says, “lets go check it out.”

The first thing Shinichi does as he races into the cabin, energy bursting as he’d forced his way through Osaka, remaining unseen, is check for any signs that he’s being watched.

Then, he searches for any signs of Hattori and Kazuha. They’ll be around soon, he knows. So, he takes some time to consider his next course of action. His mind has been racing since Vermouth left him in Kyoto, but now, he wills himself to slow down.

To think everything through.

To give them the time rather than to come to hundreds of conclusions, to drive himself insane. Shinichi sits down, presses his back against the wall, aching without having really done anything.

Vermouth’s plan echoes in his head, and he pushes away the guilt, the horror for what was meant to be her kindness, by breaking everything she’d said into facts.

She’d left clues for him. One that had been heavily guarded by a sniper – and if Hattori and Kazuha aren’t harmed, then that clue must have been found by Kaito and Nakamori. They’re the only other people, Shinichi knows, to be capable of finding the clue – because Kaito had been the only other person with access to his case files.

There are only two options for what might have happened. Either Vermouth knows about Kaito’s breakout from the hospital, insinuating that without proper medical treatment following his shooting, he might not survive. Or, in the hours following their breakout, they’ve been injured again.

Shinichi bites his lip, lifts his hands up and curls his fingers into a fist. He shudders, hopes that Vermouth means the former. Kaito’s been shot before, Shinichi’s seen the scarring, which means he’d had at least one contact capable of getting him the help he needs.

(Even though, well, he’d not been a wanted man back then.)

Heaving in oxygen, Shinichi pushes forwards. He doesn’t have enough information to do anything but worry, so he needs to trust in Kaito and Nakamori, trust them both to keep themselves in one piece, whether they’re injured or not.

It makes him wonder: What clue is so important that there’d been a sniper waiting outside?

He worries his teeth against his lip, until he can taste blood, metallic on his tongue. Another thing he doesn’t have an answer to.

He needed to focus on what he can answer. It’s frustrating because he’s lacking in them. There are barely any.

Shinichi startles at the sound of conversation, caught off guard. He closes his eyes, listens quietly enough until he can confirm the voices belong to Kazuha and Hattori.

Going over all the information – or, well, most of it – will help clear things up, offer much-needed clarity. He pushes against the wall, peers from the window, pulling the blinds open enough to see outside.

Hattori has driven them on his bike. Kazuha stands opposite him, brushing her hand through her hair, trying to rid herself from the static her helmet has caused. Hattori has taken both helmets, holds them in one arm each.

Even though they’ve told him they’re fine, that they’re not injured, Shinichi does a check up and down anyway. They don’t seem in pain, don’t seem to be guarding any area of their bodies more than another.

They seem fine, it helps some of the tension roll out from his shoulders. His shoulders are still tight though, and Shinichi lifts a hand, presses his fingers beneath his collarbone to try and release some of the rest.

It doesn’t help but, it’s something to focus on as he heads towards the front door, ready to meet them. They turn to look at him as the door opens, and as he makes strained eye contact, Shinichi offers a strained smile.

“So, what’s this about a clue?”

Ran leaves the bath behind and finally lets herself feel as worn down as she actually is. Adrenaline gone, her joints feel heavy, her skin bruised and cut from litres of water and a sharp flow of glass and the odd dead fish.

She sighs, pulls at the sleeves of the jumper Sonoko had left on the side for her, and pushes back into the sitting room. Sonoko sits on the couch opposite Saguru and the doctor, low conversation that fades off when Ran enters.

“Ran,” Sonoko says, patting the seat opposite her. She reaches over the side of the couch, and as Ran sits back, drapes a blanket around her shoulders. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” Ran breathes. As much as she aches, she is warmer now, doesn’t seem like she’s going to freeze over. “Yeah, I’m better now.”

She turns towards Saguru, and finds, with wide eyes, that he’s awake.

“Saguru-kun,” she starts, but he doesn’t turn to look at her. His eyes are wide, as he watches the doctor finish up his stitches. His lips are pinched shut, a wince spreading through him, and Ran can see the way he tenses, trying not to flinch.

“I’m okay,” he breathes, finally, voice light. “We’re almost done. Give me a… a second?”

Ran falls into silence, tries to consider everything that’s happened. She still can’t quite believe that someone shot Saguru, that they were in that situation little less than a few hours ago, but it’s true.

It means that they’ve gotten close to something. Right?

Something important?

“Araide-sensei gave Saguru-san some pain killers,” Sonoko whispers, nudging her foot against Ran’s ankle. She hums in response. “Nothing overly strong, but it should help. If you’re in pain, we’ve got over the counter tablets?”

Ran bites her lip, and then, shakes her head. “I’m fine, if I start hurting, then I’ll take one.”

Sonoko doesn’t push her, and Ran is thankful for that. Instead, she simply stays quiet, shifting to a more comfortable position when Ran leans her head against her shoulder, watching Araide apply a dressing to Saguru’s wound.

Finally, the doctor steps back, says that he’s finished and removes his gloves. He places the gloves in the bin, and to Saguru, he says, “I’ll write you a prescription for antibiotics, which should keep the wound from getting infected. But if you start feeling unwell, you need to go to a hospital.”

Saguru nods. “Thank you.”

Sonoko shuffles, and Ran finds herself shifting too, lifting her head to allow her friend to stand. Sonoko waits until the prescription is written out, passed over to Saguru, before muttering about how she’ll show him out.

With Sonoko gone, Ran forces her focus onto Saguru.

Finally, he turns to look at her. He’s pale, and he winces as he moves but he meets her gaze, his eyes steely and determined. The expression almost reminds her of Shinichi, of when she’d seen him at the heist days before. How he’d not wanted to give up on helping Kaitou KID.

It’s a determination, Ran realises, that only the desperate really ever manage to tune into.

She wonders if she’s wearing the expression on her face too. It wouldn’t be surprising to her if she is – after all, they’re injured. Maybe they knew people were out to hurt them before, but now they have proof, and the proof includes blood splattered against their clothes.

“I’ll have to take a detour to the pharmacy before we continue the case,” Saguru says.

Ran stills. She’s not sure why she’d had the thought that they’d step back now that they’ve faced danger, but it’s only now that she begins to realise that… they probably can’t.

Maybe before they’d stepped foot inside that apartment they could, but now they’ve been injured – which means they’ve been seen – and they can’t stop.

“Where do we go next?” She asks, “we can’t go back to that apartment again, and they saw us.”

Saguru shakes his head, and says, “I doubt we were any more than outlines to the shooter. I don’t think we need to worry too much about being tracked, as long as we don’t stand out.”

Ran thinks that maybe the fact that Saguru’s been shot might make them stand out, but well… maybe they’ll be able to pretend he hasn’t been. It’ll be difficult but if they can avoid having any eyes fall on them…

“That sounds dangerous,” she whispers.

“Probably,” Saguru responds, and his expression shifts. His eyes are bright, and he leans forward despite himself, lifting his hands up, “but it’s a little exciting too, don’t you think?”

“N-not really?”

He blinks and the brightness shutters, replaced again with a wince as he moves back. “The case I mean – if it’s dangerous, it means we’re closer to things than we ever were before.”

Ran isn’t one hundred percent sure that this is what he’d really meant, but she doesn’t want to press. Instead, she nods. Falls quiet.

“That rock,” Saguru continues. “The one we got from the fish tank. It’s about time we opened it up, right? There was something important about it.”

Reaching down for her bag, Ran unzips the pocket, brings out the rock and holds it closely enough to see it. It’s plastic, bound together by rubber bands. She loosens them, dropping the bands into her lap and slowly watching the plastic unravel, ever so loosely.

“Is that a…”

Ran doesn’t finish her sentence. Instead, she presses her nails into the space between the two halves of the rock and pries them apart. They fall into two, leaving behind a plastic bag that’s been wrapped up in a similar manner, to avoid any water damage to it.

“What is it?” Saguru says, as Ran unfolds the bag, removing more packaging. She bites into her lips, pulls the plastic open, and reaches inside.

“An address book?” She mutters. “Why would someone hide that in here?”

Kazuha doesn’t really think that they should be exchanging all the information and clues that they’ve come across, since it’s past midnight, they all need to rest, and Shinichi seems beyond spooked but… but it seems like they’re doing it anyway.

“I’m glad I brought coffee,” Kazuha mutters under her breath, as she sets the travel kettle on the heat, boiling water. She’d thought maybe coming would give them time to see how Shinichi’s doing, emotionally, mentally, after spending time in Kyoto, but there’s no time for that, apparently.

Which is a load of crap, but both of her detective friends are stubborn and apparently all talk about feelings is off the table.

Just because she’s not pushing the subject, isn’t asking the questions, doesn’t mean that she’s going to forget about it. Either way, she finishes coffee, stirring it and distributing it amongst the three of them.

“Thanks,” Shinichi says, and then, “you said about a lead.”

Kazuha wants to tell him to calm down and be patient, but at the same time: She really wants to talk about the notable sponsors list they’d found and what it might mean. So she shrugs, glances at Heiji and lets him take the lead while she rummages in her back, searching for the paper they’d scrawled each name down on.

“I started thinkin’,” Heiji says, leaning forward, capturing attention in the way he always seems to when offering a deduction. “About those pictures tha’ were sent in those messages. I think they weren’t just taunts, ya kno’?”

Shinichi’s expression shifts. Eyes glazing ever so slightly, his lips tighten, his brows furrowing. He says, “It was a clue, I know.”

Kazuha can’t stop herself from gaping. She says, “If you know it was a clue, then–”

“I didn’t – I – It doesn’t matter.” Shinichi shakes his head. “I hadn’t figured the clue out yet, so if you’ve figured it out.”

Blinking away any of his surprise, Heiji continues.

“Well,” he starts, “it’s uh – well, we kno’ the clue is tha’ sticker of the alcohol label, right? So we thought, if they’re masqueradin’ as this alcohol agency, then they’re gonna leave a trail. We thought maybe the agency website itself is a clue.”

Raising an eyebrow, Shinichi shifts. He sips at his coffee, waiting for an explanation.

“…Of course.”

“We looked on the site,” Kazuha says, taking over, passing the list over. Shinichi sets his cup down, smooths out the creases, without a word. “It had a list of notable sponsors.”

Heiji fidgets beside her.

“We thought it might o’ been your organisation,” he says, “so we jotted it down, thought maybe you’d know more ‘bout it than us.”

Scanning the list, Shinichi is quiet. He mumbles alcohol names under his breath, trying to place names to the drink, but doesn’t seem to figure them. Or at least, it seems that way at first.

Then, his eyes widen, and he glances back up, looking between them both.

“What?” Kazuha says.

“It says here, that the sponsor for Vermouth, is Sharon Vineyard.” He says. “That’s true. And Miyano – her younger sister – she’s on here too. Sherry.”

Kazuha blinks. Feels bitter spread across her tongue. She bites her lip. “This is what that woman told you? So, we can trust the list?”

“She told me bits and pieces,” Shinichi says, “I’ll explain later. But – I think this list is legit. It’s got the main players. I think the list gives us people we need to look into, we need to find the evidence.”

For a moment, they’re all silent. Shinichi reaches for a pen, scrawls notes onto the page.

Then, Heiji says, “I don’t get it.”

Shinichi lifts his chin, raises an eyebrow, a silent question. Don’t get what?

“Whoever left the list, committed those murders.” Heiji lifts his hand, runs it through his hair as he tries to think. “The point was to frame you, Kudo, so what was the point in leaving you a clue to solve who did it?”

Shinichi flinches. He blanches, skin paling in a way that Kazuha’s always does whenever Heiji suggests they watch horror movies together. No – he looks almost like the ghosts that terrify her.

Or… or almost like a corpse.

“I don’t get it,” Heiji continues, and he’s not noticed Shinichi’s expression, Kazuha knows, because you can’t see such an expression and not realise. Not realise that Shinichi has an answer to that question, that it horrifies him, that it’ll leave him awake tonight just thinking about it.

“Shinichi,” Kazuha says, “do you want to talk about it?”

He makes a show of checking the time. Shinichi shakes his head, and his lips are red, bloody, from where his canines have torn through the skin. He says, “Tomorrow, we’ll finish this tomorrow.”

“But everything tha’ happened in Kyoto–”

Kazuha rests her hand on Heiji’s shoulder, and when he turns to her, she mouths, ‘not now’ at him. He quietens – Kazuha is glad. Sometimes, he never takes her lead. She’s glad he’s taking it now.

They want to solve the case, yes, but making sure they don’t break their friend is far more important.

“Alright,” Kazuha says, “we should probably be heading home now anyway, it’s late. And we can only sneak away from our parents for so long, anyway.”

“Tomorrow,” Shinichi mutters again, and Kazuha takes the muttering as it’s intended to be: A plea for them to leave.

Fighting birds for ownership of the rooftop, Aoko shifts, making her way towards the side of the building that overlooks the museum.

“You sure it’s this one,” Kaito says, “and not the offices next door?”

Aoko nods her head, taps a finger on her chin. She says, “well, there’d be more cameras in the office building than inside the apartments, right? And if the police are already on high alert, you don’t want to go on to become suspicious.”

Kaito nods, moves forward to the edge of the building, kneeling down. He glances around and then, leaning forward, scoops up a small metal casing. Aoko blinks at the sight of the bullet casing.

“What’re the chances that multiple people have fired a gun from here?” Kaito says, clicking his tongue. “Because, this doesn’t seem like it should be here.”

It probably shouldn’t be, Aoko knows that much. The police should have guessed the trajectory of the bullet, should have led their search across the street to where the gun had been fired. They should have taken the bullet casing into evidence, but they’ve overlooked it.

Aoko’s pretty certain that her father wouldn’t turn around and make such a rookie mistake like overlooking the shooters location. So, either the investigation into the shooter isn’t as high a priority as it should be, or someone’s pulling the strings, keeping people away from looking too closely into the shooter.

She doesn’t want to consider why that would be, so Aoko shakes the concern away and focuses on the evidence they’ve got in front of them.

“Do you know what it’s from?” She asks.

A pause, and then, Kaito heaves out a sigh. He shakes his head. “No… but I bet that Shinichi would know. He knows all about this kind of stuff.”

Aoko scrunches her nose. She can’t imagine being the kind of person to memorise facts about guns and bullets, to be able to identify them based off their casings and the size of bullet holes in the walls.

Still, she has to admit that in a situation such as theirs, it will be beneficial.

“It’s probably for the best that we find him then,” Aoko says, “you know how to find him, right?”

Kaito pulls a face. Which means that he does, but he’s a little nervous to let Aoko know. Aoko supposes she understands, since she shouldn’t know anything about their accomplice, about how Hattori had helped them out. But she does, she’d figured it out days ago.

It feels almost longer than that. Somehow.

“I don’t know if he’s stayed at any of the safe houses,” Kaito says, “but we can check there.”

“No,” Aoko says, “I don’t think after you got injured, he’d stay in Tokyo. I think he’d go with the one who helped you two break out. Hattori-kun, right?”

There’s no point in lying, in pretending she doesn’t know. It’ll save them both time if they avoid a lengthy explanation.

“How did you–”

“He’s not as good at lying as you are,” Aoko says. She shrugs her shoulders. “As far as I know, Hattori-kun went back to Osaka the day after the heist. The likelihood of Kudo-kun remaining by himself in as populated a city as Tokyo – it’s unlikely.”

Kaito nods his head. He says, “I don’t know where he’d go, but I agree. Hattori is probably most likely to know where Shinichi is. We should rendezvous with him in Osaka.”

Aoko’s lips lift up. She says, “You know, taking me on a trip sounds like a pretty nice date idea.”

“We’ll be sure to stop off at a nice restaurant while we’re there,” Kaito says, a slight laugh to his voice. “I’ll see if we can get cheap enough tickets there.”

“What would someone be hiding an address book for?” Sonoko asks when she comes back into the room. Ran has moved to sit beside Saguru, the two of them poured over the book, trying to figure out its meaning.

“One would think because of the addresses written inside,” Saguru says, “but the words written inside are coded. They make little sense at all.”

Ran nods. She hates that they’ve risked enough to get a clue that they can’t immediately decipher, but it must be… important, right? Whatever is hidden inside the code must be vital, something that needs to be hidden completely, so the information can only be broken apart by a set person.

“So, you need to find the key?” Sonoko continues.

“Well,” Ran says, “yeah, I suppose we do. But there’s no clues here, nothing that we can use as a key.”

She pauses, shares a look with Saguru and shakes her head. The only information in the entire book that isn’t in code, are the words, ‘for you, Silver bullet.’ It’s hardly a key, just a message.

She says as much.

Sonoko leans forward, picks at her nails and says, “why are you assuming the key is in the book? Wouldn’t it be with the silver bullet person?”

Beside her, Saguru stiffens. Almost as if he’s angry at himself for not thinking of such. And maybe they should have – why would someone leave both cipher and key together when they’ve gone through all the trouble of keeping things hidden, impossible to decipher.

So, they need to find the silver bullet.

The address book is a clue then.

“Who could the silver bullet be then?” Ran asks, and it seems almost weird to consider someone as such a thing, to have that name in her head. It’s a weird label, hardly a name, more of a title.

Beside her Saguru is quiet. He shifts in his seat and finally: “Kudo-kun.”

“Huh?”

“It can only really be him,” he says. “If we think it over – we only found the apartment because of the lists. The lists about Kudo-kun. And there are only around six people who actually know Oogami is dead. Kudo-kun and I worked that case together, the fact I figured it out is pure coincidence.”

Ran bites her lip.

“This is linked intrinsically to Kudo-kun.” Saguru whispers. “So, I think… we’ve got the cipher, and he’s got the key.”

“So, we find Shinichi and we figure out what the coded message is?” Ran asks.

“Exactly.” Saguru says.

#Lemme know what you think about the update - It's a fun one I think!#DCMK #Kudo Shinichi #Kuroba Kaito #Hattori Heiji #Hakuba Saguru #Mouri Ran #Nakamori Aoko #Toyama Kazuha #Suzuki Sonoko #KaiAo #Detective Conan #Fic: Cost of Freedom #mywriting

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bastart13 · 6 years ago

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Bast Fanganronpa: Trial 5, Start

People were talking about using your fanchildren for fanganronpas and I knew I had to try my hand at it. Your designs are so good and the idea creates so many interesting and unique characters.

This is a short thing some way into a potential fangan, focusing on the following 6 characters:

Kasumi Kirigiri (Kyoko/Aoi) - Ultimate Sport Scout

Susumu Hinata (Hajime/Izuru/Chiaki)

Kouko Kuwata (Leon/Sayaka) - Ultimate Cheerleader (The brother)

Haruhi Amami (Rantaro/Kaede) - Ultimate Music Producer

Lisa Yonaga (Angie/Tenko) - Ultimate Physical Theatre Performer

Nobura Momota (Kaito/Korekiyo) - Ultimate Xenoanthropologist

It also mentions Kani (Seiko/Mikan), Otokoki (Mahiru/Ibuki), Erika (Sonia/Kokichi), Sonosuke (Gundham/Hagakure), and Aki (Fuyuhiko/Peko)

(It’s fairly long so is it possible to put under a ‘read more’? And for people used to the American translation, sorry for my British-ness)

Love can make people do silly, silly, stupid things.

After Aki and Sonosuke’s trial, the remaining six survivors had made their way to bed and in the morning, they’d made their way back to the canteen for breakfast as they had almost every day before. The air was heavy, suffocating every smile and attempt for conversation. Even Kasumi was silent. Instead of trying to lift everyone’s hearts and work to reclaim some joy, she sat with both legs up on her chair and her hand covering her mouth.

Haruhi glanced around the room concernedly, toying with a strand of blonde hair. “There’s only six of us now,” she said.

Lisa shook her head. “This isn’t fair!” she cried. She wrapped her arms to Susumu to her side and clung to him as if he was the last life preserver in the ocean. “You’re not going to leave me, right, Susu? You’re not going to leave me like Kani, and Otokoki, and Erika, and Sonosuke, and Aki!”

The names dug into the Kasumi’s mind.

Susumu shifted but Lisa’s grip was tight. Once he’d realised she wouldn’t let go, he attempted a reassuring smile. “I-I’m planning on a way out,” he told her. His mismatched eyes found Kasumi’s. “If we all combine our skills I’m sure we can come up with a solution eventually.”

“Idiots.”

On the other side of the canteen Noboru stood with such force he knocked his chair away. He scowled at the sight of Lisa and Susumu and threw up his arms.

“You’re all idiots! Anyone with a head could easily see we’re trapped here! We’re not leaving until we’re dead or we’ve killed someone and beaten the trial. That is clearly the only way to leave and you all are morons for thinking otherwise!”

“Dude, come on. Chill,” said Kouko, his feet up on the table. “If you keep talking like that, we’re going to know who to vote for in the next trial.”

Noboru’s face flashed with anger.

Haruhi addressed the room with a cool smile. “Even if another killing happens, we’ll survive. We’ve survived every time so far. Susumu figured out it was Aki and I’m sure he can do it again!”

Kasumi watched her face. Haruhi’s green eyes shone with confidence and she projected it for everyone in the room. Lisa beamed and tackled her in a hug. Susumu gasped in relief but he too straightened in his chair.

“We can do it,” he agreed.

Noboru balled his hands up into fists. Muttering more obscenities, he spun on his heels and stormed out of the room.

Kouko meanwhile sprang to his feet and shot two thumbs-up at the others. Kasumi, however, hadn’t missed the fear in his eyes when Haruhi had brought up Susumu in the last trial.

Meanwhile Kasumi’s own conversation with Haruhi swam around her head ceaselessly. ‘You can’t interrupt what I’m doing here. I need to do this. Don’t forget: accidents happen to those near people who don’t play by the rules.’

She hadn’t even threatened Kasumi herself but it had worked. Now Kasumi was helpless to watch Haruhi steadily nail Susumu’s coffin shut. She couldn’t expose the mastermind, she couldn’t stop the game, and after four trials she knew everyone too well to believe things wouldn’t go as planned…

“Kasumi?”

Her eyes flicked upwards. Susumu studied her expression concernedly.

“How are you feeling?” he asked.

Kasumi removed her hand from her mouth and smiled. “Just thinking.”

Kasumi had been thinking ever since the end of Aki’s trial, straining her mind for solutions. Now there was only one was left, one way to save Susumu and put an end to Haruhi’s killing game.

Sitting here in the canteen for tea, surrounded by her classmates and friends, Kasumi resolved to kill.

She wanted it to go like a dream, for every action to be forced along by a daze of emotions she couldn’t control, but Kasumi found herself utterly aware of everything. She made sure no-one followed her to the labs, chose the poison she needed, mixed it thoroughly with the protein powder from the kitchen, then she waited in her room for the evening announcement, her door fractionally ajar so she could hear when to return the kitchen.

Kouko leapt as she entered. His hand flew away from the cutlery on the shelves. He slapped on a cocky grin and leant on central counter. “You need a bell,” he teased.

Kasumi smiled back, somehow. “What are you doing down here?” she wondered.

Kouko shrugged. “Just getting a drink.” He stepped over to the cupboards and took out the mix for his protein shake. “I know you all think it’s gross but I’ve got to keep up this body somehow.” He flexed his free arm and Kasumi gave a small chuckle. “What about you? Your lot usually stays in past the evening announcement.”

“I wanted some food. I don’t think I’m going to sleep tonight,” she admitted. “After everything that happened…”

Kouko nodded. “Lisa and Tinfoil Hat aren’t helping. Hey, could you check Susumu’s okay for me? I’d go myself but I’m not as close as the two of you. He’d think I was weird.”

‘Could you be seen going in and out of his room?’ Kouko was asking.

This decided it. It was Kasumi’s job to read people and his intentions were so clear it was almost nauseating. She had to protect Susumu. So, she had no choice. Kasumi didn’t say much else. While Kouko made his drink, she grabbed a box of cereal. She even waved goodnight and complimented his shirt. Although, once she’d closed her bedroom door behind her she couldn’t stand it anymore. She collapsed against the wall and cried.

“I’m sorry.”

With the next day came the routine they all knew and hated. The body discovery announcement, the Monokuma file, the investigation. Kasumi had no idea how every person before her had survived them. Her mind felt connected by the barest threads of composure that any gust had the power to snap.

But she continued. Kasumi continued with Susumu as her partner and everyone’s eyes darting around with suspicion until finally, Monokuma directed them to the trial grounds. They lined up, barely breathing, and the metal hinges groaned. The door creaked open and the vast round hall came into view. Kasumi avoided Susumu’s eye as they took their places.

There were so many crosses now. They four trials they’d survived felt like four-thousand and this was going to be the hardest of them all. Susumu watched Haruhi who watched Noboru who watched Lisa.

Susumu took a deep breath. “I suppose…we should go through the Monokuma file first–”

“Don’t worry,” Kasumi said, interrupting him. She smiled at him then faced the others. “I killed Kouko,” she said, “and Haruhi is the one who masterminded this killing game.”

Her words unleashed waves of shock on her classmates but through the bursts of questions, Haruhi remained still. Her green eyes met Kasumi’s brown and darkness filled her expression.

“I should have known this was your plan.” She folded her arms. “But, like I said, you can’t interrupt what I’ve done here.”

#submitted #submission #dangan ronpa #writing #dr oc #not my art #hoooooly crap this is incredible

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ndrv3-writings-blog · 7 years ago

Note

Hiya! If it’s not too much to ask, can I request the boys reacting to getting into an argument with their S/O, then their S/O being killed while looking for them to apologize? I’m sorry if this is kind of confusing, I’m not very good at putting my thoughts into actual words. Thank you very much!!

It’s not a problem. I’m not good with angsty stuff but I hope you enjoy this.

~ Admin Maki

NDRV3 Boys Get in an Argument with Their S/O and Don’t Get a Chance to Apologize Before S/O Dies

Rantaro Amami

He didn’t expect his s/o to avoid him for so long, underestimating the impact of the fight.

After a couple of days, he knew that if he didn’t do anything the relationship could crumble.

Found the body first.

Once the others get over and the investigation begins, he tries to assist as much as possible.

Wipes his tears as other people walk by, trying to play it cool.

Does most of his mourning the privacy of his own room.

“I’m sorry.. If I could’ve been there for you, then…”

Kokichi Ouma

He acted as if he was the one who deserved an apology during and after the argument.

Not only does his s/o avoid him but to make things worse, he decides to avoid them too.

A body has been discovered.

Arriving at the scene of the crime, he quickly rushes to the front of the group.

The others tried to comfort him, but he played it off as if he never really loved them.

Tears that decorated his face told them otherwise.

He couldn’t bring himself to say anything during the class trial, he wanted to know the truth more than anyone else.

“A game like this isn’t just fun for me, you know! I have things I don’t wanna lose either!”

K1-B0

He doesn’t??? Know what to do?????

Half of him wants to go and clear up the misunderstanding, but the other half says to give his s/o some space.

Three hours seems adequate for a cool-down to him.

A body has been discovered.

Stands still as the others rush to find clues.

‘cry’ is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file.

Overheating detected, initiating shutdown sequence.

Gonta Gokuhara

He felt bad during the argument already, and it only got worse when he knew he couldn’t check on them.

Originally wanted to give his s/o space, but it didn’t take long until his emotions overwhelmed him.

The third to discover the body.

Only staring for a second and his eyes welled up immediately.

He didn’t want to investigate, even if the killer was still on the loose.

He just wanted to mourn without having his mind focused on something else.

It’s Gonta’s fault that they couldn’t have a happy end. Why did Gonta not say sorry sooner…?

Shuichi Saihara

He can’t even remember why he got so heated up.

Sitting in the peace of a quiet room, he was still gathering the confidence to confront his s/o again.

That is until someone rushes in, panicked.

Arrived at the scene not mentally prepared for a corpse, let alone his lover’s.

Tears roll down his cheeks as he helps the others with the investigation.

Despite the others suggesting he get some rest, he can’t seem to stop thinking about the case.

He doesn’t even know if he wants to find the truth this time.

Korekiyo Shinguji

Though at first he believed his opinion was superior, he reviewed the situation in his mind and came to an upsetting conclusion.

His s/o showed signs of many negative emotions which he seemed to have overlooked as he himself was also quite heated.

Just the thought of his s/o’s emotional well-being at risk because of his actions got him up and searching.

What he didn’t expect was a dead corpse in the middle of the hallway.

Just a few tears fall as he hovers over the corpse, rolling off the cold and still face.

“They were just another beautiful specimen, so why am I…?”

Ryoma Hoshi

He was quick to clear his mind, but decided to give his s/o a bit more time before they discuss the situation again.

Just walking around, he didn’t expect to see two of the other students rushing panicked around the building.

Followed the two to the scene of the crime and immediately decided to step out of the room.

He could’t think straight as the body discovery announcement sounded.

The shock and pain was so overbearing that he couldn’t seem to shed a tear.

He wants some fresh air.

Kaito Momota

God, he had no idea that he would feel this much guilt.

In the back of his mind, the image of his s/o’s tear-covered face made him feel worse and worse every minute.

Eventually, he couldn’t take it any longer and walked over to their room.

As he put his hand on the door knob, he heard a loud bang inside.

Sensing danger, he threw open the door in a panic, only to see the lifeless corpse of his lover.

“No no no no no no no…” He feels regret and sadness fill his heart as he holds the body, tears falling.

He’s sure to track down the killer, no matter what.

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tuwasduwillst · 7 years ago

Text

ch4 (pt 2)

Shuichi just logged off!

well, that’s probably why Miu’s avatar wasn’t moving.

i’m sorry, what

all of ‘em are in there already except for Kaito, who comes running in at the body announcement.

hm.

he actually would, he basically sentenced Kaede to death already and if he didn’t ~pursue the truth~ it’d be breaking his promise to her. he wouldn’t be happy about it or anything, but even if Kaito killed someone he’d tell the truth about it.

talking about stuff~ Kaito says he believes in Shuichi because he’s his sidekick and they’ll investigate together, etc.

Kaito says it’s not a problem because Shuichi isn’t the type to lie even if they work together, but since Kokichi’s being so persistent about it, he says that they won’t work together this time then.

Shuichi thinks that this is definitely some kind of trick of Kokichi’s, but he also knows that Kaito isn’t going to be convinced to just ignore him, so that’s how things are.

not a ton of information in the file. no external injuries.

apparently Kokichi’s going to be hanging around Shuichi to make sure Kaito doesn’t “bother him”. i’m fine with it! Shuichi is much less enthused.

if you spend so much time being suspicious of every little thing Kokichi does, all you’re going to do is wear yourself out, Shuichi! if he’s done something the damage is already done, so all you have to do is deal with it and figure things out.

let’s talk to people!

Tsugumi apparently saw Miu about 10 minutes before she approached Shuichi, and when she approached Shuichi was about the same time they heard that loud noise.

haha.

Maki was checking out the computer and found out that if someone’s avatar took fatal damage, they’d die from shock. that’s probably something that Miu should’ve told them from the start!

oh, Kokichi just brought up the fact that she didn’t tell them. now Shuichi’s wondering about that, too.

the red bear offers to help “avenge his mommy’s death” by checking to make sure the files haven’t been tampered with. they haven’t, and he also found something else:

log-in and log-out times! Kaito logged out well before everyone else (over an hour before anyone else), but otherwise nothing seems like it’s out of the ordinary.

oh, here it is bigger.

Kokichi was being mean to Gonta, so Shuichi stepped in, but after that...

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ at least you’ve got another person actively helping the investigation now, i wouldn’t really worry about why it’s happening until it becomes a problem

and then they found Miu’s avatar. she’d apparently volunteered to check the outside of the chapel, so that’s why she was outside.

hmm. he says he didn’t look at Miu, so he doesn’t know if she was alive or not before he left.

why wouldn’t you look at everyone else after being logged out of something like that, wouldn’t you want to see if anyone else had been logged out at the same time?? who the hell has something like that happen and just goes “gee, better go take a nap and not look at any of the other people to check if anything’s gone wrong”?

it’s possible, especially since it’s Kaito, but what the heck.

anyway, moving on... Miu’s body being the way it is makes it seem like she died a painful death and that she might’ve been struggling to breathe when she died. strangulation?

okay, calm down, mister.

hey, it’s poison! from Shuichi’s lab, probably, like Kokichi is saying. apparently it’s a very lethal poison when ingested directly (not mixed with anything else), and it gives the victim bloodshot eyes.

Shuichi doesn’t know who brought it in for sure, but he does know whose chair it’s in right now.

you can say Kokichi’s name in your own mental narration, Shuichi, it’s okay.

anyway, this might not be the crime scene, so they’ll have to go back to~

yes! Kaito says that he’s going along too, in that case. a handful of others say they want to go back as well; Maki, Gonta, and Kokichi say they’ll stay behind.

i wanna see your tiny little avatar again... Kokichi says he has to stay behind to keep an eye on Maki, since she and Kaito are so close.

Kaito predictably gets upset at pretty much everything Kokichi says, even though Maki tells him to just ignore him.

into the virtual world~

yeah, but the loading point is in the middle. it’s obvious that there’s a way to the left side of the map from the right, since the wooden sign went down the river and ended up getting stuck on a rock on the left side. also, when Tsumugi and Shuichi heard Kiibo, they looked to their left--so they can hear things from that side.

that’s just what you’re assuming, Shuichi!!

hey, i found that earlier and Shuichi wouldn’t look at it!

virtual crime scene! ...well, they’re all virtual crime scenes, i guess... since this is a video game...

the cell phone can log people out just by saying their name, so that’s important.

Kiibo overheard Miu and Kokichi talking about meeting on the roof before they all split up.

...did she go sliding off the roof and into the wall of the chapel? because if so, that’s terrible, but also kind of funny.

geez, Shuichi, what kind of a detective are you. the lattice was in here. you were standing right on it!

looking through the binoculars and Shuichi wonders why the map loading point would be in the middle. is it actually in the middle? if Miu made the maps, she can do whatever she wants with that kind of thing...

time to head back! Maki showed up and said that Monotaro is done with the computer stuff, so they should all gather back in the room.

why would you ever want to draw something on his stomach...

anyway, Shuichi wants to ask him about his meeting with Miu.

there was a lock on the roof door that could only be locked and unlocked from the roof itself. Kokichi can pick locks in the real world, but idk if he’d be able to in the virtual world...

the hammer was the only weapon-like thing left, and it must have been left intentionally. the cellphone was in the simulation originally and Miu just never told anyone about it.

Miu’s avatar was classified as a “non-human object”. is that why she was able to get from one side of the map to the other? if the sign board can and it can go into the river, maybe it’s just because it’s an object.

oh, apparently Miu added a wall to the world. and yep, non-human objects can pass right through it, so that explains that.

also, Kokichi’s avatar had a setting that made it so that if Miu touched him, he’d be paralyzed.

and finally, there was a weird user error when they first logged in. Monotaro can’t get more specific about it than that, but something weird was definitely going on with one of their avatars.

with that last bit of information, it’s time for the trial.

it’s starting off well, clearly.

anyway, Kokichi says that Kaito poisoned Miu after logging out before everyone else, but obviously he didn’t. Kokichi himself made sure that Shuichi knew what that poison did (wrt eyes--Miu’s aren’t bloodshot).

the cause of death was the simulator. something happened to her in there.

Maki and Shuichi both think that she was strangled.

...was she strangled with the toilet paper???? nothing can break there, so it couldn’t have broken off even if it was used for something like that.

oh, hey, that’s the next question.

i mean, she wasn’t that bad. did i like her? not particularly, for the most part. would i say she deserved to get strangled by toilet paper? no.

...was Miu planning on killing Kokichi with the hammer? if she had it with her and Kokichi would’ve been paralyzed just by her touching him, that’s kind of shady. actually, that’s super shady, since she was the only one that knew about the hammer and the paralyzing thing AND she knew how to get rid of Kaito and put him on the roof intentionally. what the hell, Miu, Kokichi is obnoxious and said some terrible things to you, but that doesn’t mean you should kill him in VR.

and yep, it sure does look that way. the hammer gets brought up, since the toilet paper is pretty sure to be the murder weapon, and they ask why she had it.

apparently Miu was the one that asked Kokichi to meet her, so yeah, she was definitely going to try to kill him. and the poison was put in his seat so it wouldn’t be obvious what happened. Miu logged in two minutes after everyone else, so she had plenty of time to do it.

a mini debate about ~trusting friends~ happens again. once that’s done, everyone wants to hear from Kokichi, since he was supposed to meet with Miu and she ended up dead.

makes sense!

Shuichi stops everyone from arguing about how suspicious Kokichi is so that actual facts can be focused on. he wants to figure out the mysteries surrounding Miu’s death before they move on.

like, for example, how she got to the roof. she definitely was over there--Tsugumi saw her through the window of the dining hall. she got through via her secret wall.

aaa, Kaito interrupted Shuichi’s explanation about the wall and it startled me. why, Kaito.

...he did interrupt. i don’t think he’s just holding Shuichi back or anything, though. he is legitimately trying to help and his support helps Shuichi.

wow! why. she’s already dead! you don’t need to do that!

him saying that does get some hints from the bears, though, so...

again: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

he’s helpful in his own way when he feels like it, i guess. he’s just trying to have a good time.

speaking of that, the group has figured out that the sign must have passed through the wall, but they’re not sure how it got to the other side of the map.

and he does help Shuichi, because he says that it’s the virtual world, so normal common sense doesn’t apply.

world loops! \o/

yaaay, i actually know exactly everything i need to in this trial so far without having any trouble at all \o/

after the intermission, they try to figure out how the culprit got Miu’s body to the chapel if she’d been killed on the roof.

(also, something random i was wondering about that i finally got to find out by paying attention and listening: Gonta and Kiibo seem to be the only two people Kokichi doesn’t refer to as “last name-chan”--he just uses their first(/only) names.)

Kokichi, giving Shuichi the roof slope and everything else as a hint... that’s making it too obvious, geez. he should be able to figure that out without any hints!

why does Shuichi remember the lattice being in the storage room now when he didn’t remember it before... what the heck.

oh, Monokuma hates Sonic the Hedgehog. o:

maybe?

~exposing Kokichi’s lie~

the one about him not going to the roof at all. he said that, but then he described the roof in a good amount of detail, so it’s bothering Shuichi.

she didn’t say anything about the roof...

:o aggressive Shuichi, huh.

wait, does getting aggressive mean lying back at him? i suck that that, Shuichi! i don’t know what you want me to lie about! uhhh... um. he could... pretend like he went into the salon and didn’t see Kokichi in there...?

oh! it worked on my first try! \o/

obviously everyone’s going to believe Shuichi over Kokichi. bu~t, Tsugumi would’ve seen Shuichi pass by if he’d actually gone to the salon, and she never noticed him.

he tried so hard... oh, never mind, she still believes him even though it makes no sense.

Shuichi could absolutely get away with murder at this point if that was something he actually wanted to do.

haha. what happened to being his ~partner~?

Kokichi figured out what Miu was planning and decided to work with Monokuma to make his own plan, is essentially what he confesses.

that’s not much of a revenge, though--

Gonta has no idea what he’s talking about. also, no one believes Kokichi. they still think he did it.

it’s true, there is. if Kokichi was touched by Miu he wouldn’t have been able to move, so there’s no way he could have killed her.

wah

chibi strangulation...

everyone still wants to say it’s Kokichi because they can’t believe Gonta is even capable of killing someone, but Shuichi thinks that something’s off. he knows how important it is to believe in people, but something just isn’t adding up for him right now.

aw, Gonta. :( but... i mean, Shuichi’s 100% right, they can’t just believe in Gonta and not pursue this. Kaito can get as upset about it as he wants, he’s the one that befriended a detective that promised to never turn away from the truth.

i didn’t get lost while picking the topics this time! \o/ this trial has been going pretty well for me; i don’t know if it’s because i’m more awake right now or if i’m just more used to the minigames...

anyway, everyone starts yelling because Kokichi yells at Gonta to say more than “i don’t know”, which is pretty much the only thing he’s been saying. Shuichi realizes that Gonta has been confused about things ever since they logged out.

and Gonta lost his memory because of it somehow. possibly because he put the cords in wrong.

wow, being a lefty really screwed him over there, didn’t it.

haha. that’s been Shuichi’s reaction to so much of what Kokichi’s been doing... that or just going “え?”

and honestly, by process of elimination, it is obvious who committed the crime. Kokichi and Gonta were the only two that weren’t accounted for, and Kokichi physically couldn’t have killed her.

i’ve got to be honest, i don’t want Gonta to die here, but i can’t help but be impressed by the amount of work Kokichi put into this and everything he’s getting from it.

he got to work with Shuichi like he wanted, he got revenge on Miu for trying to kill him, he drove a wedge between Kaito and Shuichi solely by using the truth against them, he got to plan a murder without getting punished for it, and he got to have fun with the trial while knowing all of the twists.

Kaito still refuses to accept it, saying that Gonta was outside the mansion when Tsugumi and Shuichi came outside, so he couldn’t have done it. but that’s not true, because he could have used the toilet paper to climb down from the roof.

he’s said it like 500 times, he’s there to face the truth. face the truth. you know, like he did when he essentially sentenced Kaede to death even though he probably really would’ve preferred to let her live somehow, because he knew how important facing the truth was to her and he basically promised to continue doing that so he (and everyone else) can get out of here.

it’s not about sides!

that alien...

anyway, apparently Kokichi came up with the plan of using the toilet paper to exit the roof. he told Gonta to put it back in the bathroom, but since Gonta ran into Shuichi and Tsumugi, he ended up tossing it instead.

Kokichi tries to get Gonta to confess, but Shuichi stops him. he says if anyone’s getting Gonta to confess, it’s going to be him.

he’s much gentler about it than Kokichi has been, that’s for sure. what a sweetheart.

Kokichi looks like an evil knockoff Precious Moments doll in that last panel...

the little chibi people are cute...

i’m guessing that Kaito is the one that voted for Kokichi there.

...the people that died in this chapter were the last two i hadn’t spent any time with... oops.

Monokuma just made that...

anyway, Kokichi saw the outside world due to the card key. he asked Monokuma to reuse the outside world in the virtual world and then showed it to Gonta, which made Gonta even more confused about what he could do to help everyone (which he’s been worried about for a while now).

hm.

he won’t explain more than that, though. he just honestly thought he’d be helping them.

oh hey, Gonta noticed Miu go through the wall and that’s why she ended up being slid off the roof.

hmm.

hmmm.

honey, if you really didn’t want him to go, you wouldn’t have messed up during the trial.

what the hell did i just watch

anyway, people are upset and crying now. Maki tells Kokichi to tell them the secret of the outside world, now, so they can understand.

Kokichi doesn’t want to tell them anything.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Kaito gets more pissed off the more Kokichi talks until he’s had enough and goes to punch him again like he did before. but...

Kokichi noticed that Kaito seems to be slower than before, too.

how is her hair doing that

anyway, everyone starts to ignore Kokichi in favor of helping Kaito.

oh, wow. that’s cold, Shuichi, you have his underwear in your inventory.

(i know that doesn’t change anything in the game, but it is kind of funny...)

Kokichi doesn’t seem too bothered by Shuichi saying that. he pretty much just says he’s bored and leaves after saying he’ll be the one to win this game.

after that, everyone’s 100% focused on Kaito, who doesn’t seem to be doing well at all.

that’s a lot of blood!

lmao “my cold just got worse” what kind of terrible lie is that even

he says he just needs something to drink and to rest in his room. Shuichi offers to help him, but Kaito doesn’t want his help.

oooh, did he go back to using Shuichi’s last name? did that trial actually do permanent damage to their friendship? :o i figured it’d cause problems, but i wasn’t sure if Kaito would actually hold a grudge like this.

seriously, how do you do that with your face

oh, his name is on there! i was wondering. that’s part of the reason i figured i’d be able to realize what it was if i saw it in Japanese, because if any part of “Ouma” was on there i’d at least know it had something to do with him.

...the reason why i started wondering about it is because i was going to make a stupid joke about grandmas in one of the earlier posts, since “Oma” is the German word for “Grandma”, and then i remembered that’s actually how they spell Kokichi’s last name here. >_>

that’s it for this chapter! idk what’s up with Kokichi, but i guess i’ll find out eventually. :U i need to go to sleep now because it’s almost noon. those trials always take longer than i think they do...

(next chapter!)

#game: drv3kh

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miskatsura · 8 years ago

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After the edition count results, a brief analysis.

Last week I posted a sum of all editions and character appearances in them, and I felt it needed something else to be complete and that’s why I’m making this post now. You’ll see a list of characters and some random stuff about editing those chracters, and here we go:

Conan Edogawa the main character is the easiest to edit since he's so versatile. he can be cool, funny, sarcastic, fooled, etc. That's why he is the most used character as well. Another reason is that Conan knows has interacted with almost all the characters in the series, so it isn't that hard to make parodies with the brat in glasses. Conan edits will continue at the same pace because the After Reading series will still have Conan on them.

Ran Mouri the main heroine. Ran is a cute and lovely character I have used the most in Shinichi-related situations, lots of edits with her mention Shinichi. but the ones I've enjoyed the most are aggressive Ran using her karate, even if those are just a few ones.

Ai Haibara the sassy character that inspired the editions blog. I get why Aoyama-sensei enjoys drawing Haibara, because something fun is always coming out from her mouth, usually sarcasm, and that's why I liked Haibara so much when I started watching DC. But I like to use her fear of the Black Organization to make parodies out of her.

Sonoko Suzuki Another character I enjoy editing. Since Sonoko is Ran and Shinichi's childhood friend I use that to make her make comments on their not consumed relationship, usually with comments not so favorable for Shinichi (or conan in most cases). Some editions show Sonoko as a character who can make the impossible possible (which are the ones I love the most tbh) and that I will continue making.

Kogoro Mouri Kogoro is a character that can be used to make others laugh, rarely he could be portrayed as a cool man. Most of the Kogoro's appearances are with Conan, making them a dynamic duo.

Ayumi Yoshida The cute Ayumi-chan. Almost all her edits are with the detective boys as a whole. almost all the kids have the same reaction to any other character's weird commentary, most of those coming from Conan or Haibara. So far I've tried to parody her interactions with Conan and Haibara, who she loves and respects respectively.

Shinichi Kudo yes, I usually separate Shinichi and Conan as different characters. Since in his Shinichi persona, he gains confidence to do what he does best (everything perfect). I've used Shinichi the most in ShinRan situations, other than that it's difficult to use him with other characters. The funniest thing is that Shinichi is actually the character with most mentions without appearances through all the editions, like everyone has something to say about him, including me.

Genta Kojima Genta is most used as a comic character, being him the one who is the target of the jokes most of the time. It's almost impossible to make him look cool.

Heiji Hattori Shinichi's rival. I use him the most for Heishin, and some times for Heizuha, but way less. There's little interaction between Heiji and other characters, and I wish I could come up with ideas to change that.

Eri Kisaki My favorite lady in the series. I've made sure to make editions with her a lot, even if she's practically a minor character with no inlfuence in the plot. Most of Eri's edits involve Ran much more than Kogoro. Although Eri's edits have been less in recent times, I'm planning to do some more for the future.

Jodie Starling My second favorite lady in the series, Another character I've used a lot, and recently with the scarlet arc I came up with lots of ideas for Jodie, that I couldn't make before. also recently are the RedStaling editions, which I didn't make early on because I didn't thought it as a ship at that time. I just would say expect more Jodie editions for the future.

Mitsuhiko Tsuburaya well, It's a mystery why I've used him the least in the Detective Boys group since almost all of them comes in a single package all the time. I've tried to make some MitsuAi stuff but it isn't enough. tbh It's difficult to make edits with him because he's too respectful to be the subject of a joke and he wouldn't say anything harsh so I would go out of character with him if he insulted anyone.

Wataru Takagi Takagi is another character that is easy to use, because he's also met with probably all other characters too, and is good with almost everyone, so ideas for Takagi are easy to make, but he's mainly used for TakaSato which is my favorite ship in the series, so it's only natural that I use them together a lot.

Masumi Sera Since day one, Sera has become one of my favorites, even if Sera was introduced so late in the series I've managed to make many editions with her, most of them involving Conan, Ran or Shuu-nii. I've used her tomobyish looks to make edits early on but now it's focused on her family.

Kazuha Toyama Sadly for Kazuha, I've used her almost only for HeiZuha edits. Her little interaction with other characters doesn't help me to change that situation.

Miwako Sato most of the time I've used her to be around Takagi, and sometimes with Conan which Miwako seems to respect a lot. there are a very few times I've used her with other characters alone and I wish I could do that more frequently.

Akai Shuuichi/Subaru Okiya If I used the fact that they are the same person Akai would have ranked top 10, even beating Heiji. but had to use them separate since they seem like the two sides of the same coin. As Akai I've used him as a serious person that is always in business mode, while as Okiya I could use him as a fun person who can be friends with anyone, including annoying kids, not so normal schoolgirls and adults.

Tooru Amuro/Rei Furuya/Bourbon Relatively a new character, but he's made a huge impact on me. that's why he has become one of my favorites, And that's why almost all the editions with him are about Amuro looking cool and never losing to anyone (even Conan). His grudge for Fbi agents has been a great pool of ideas which I enjoy making.

Yukiko Kudo I wish I could use Yukiko a lot more. The files are there, but the ideas aren't. Maybe reviving her actress days could be interesting.

Gin I tried to use him as the character he portrays, but almost the other characters who are involved on the same edit are out of character, so it's difficult to make good edits with Gin.

Andre Camel other than just appearing with Jodie because he's her colleague, I've had almost no other use for Camel.

Hiroshi Agasa Making edits with Agasa is so difficult, He's mostly appeared with the detective boys or sometimes just with Conan. The only way I could make more Agasa edits is that he invents more gadgets Conan and his friends could actually use.

Vermouth I've tried to use Vermouth, but sometimes it's just hard to come up with ideas for her. Maybe her disguised as other characters could work well for her character.

Kaito Kid It's very rare for me to use Kaito Kid. Kaito is already a cool character and I feel I don't need to make parodies to make him look good, but it's harder to make him look bad because there are a few characters who can do so, only Conan/Shinichi, Ran or Aoko could in my opinion. and to make things worse Magic Kaito is pretty much different than DC and I've had problems trying some parodies there. A fish could be the key to more Kaito edits.

Other characters who have 10 or less edits out of those 33 characters, I wish I could make more edits with Yumi, since she seems like another Sonoko to me and I like that, and her dating Haneda could make more interesting situations. Other characters would only appear if I take a panel from a chapter they appear.

Korn, Hakuba and the other characters that never made it to an edition I'm so sorry I haven't been able to make parodies with these characters. someday their time could come or become decayed from waiting.

well that was long. hope I wasn’t boring and repetitive with my words.

have a good day

#personal #super long post #ordered in number of character appearances

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imaginendrv3 · 8 years ago

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I wrote some proposal scenarios for some of the NDRV3 boys! This ended up much longer than expected, so I was worried about the quality of it if I went too much further. Very sorry...! Thank you to those who requested it, however! ~Mod Korekiyo

♦ ♦ ♦

Ouma: - Ouma doesn’t want any old proposal; he’s the evil leader of 10,000, so it has to be extravagant! - For the past few weeks, Ouma had been increasingly hinting at the idea of marriage, in his own roundabout way. - He’d talk about things like honeymoons and wedding rings, then pull back the moment you asked him if he was actually considering it. - “Nishishi! Juuuust kidding! You really take these things seriously, huh?” - Still, he had brought you to the most extravagant carnival around. It was amazing, really. The golden lights left imprints on your eyes, and the fireworks were so close you could smell the lingering smoke. He implied that he owned the whole carnival, too, but he was a liar, so you had your doubts. - Performances, fireworks, color! He was fairly confident that you’ll say yes, so he’d be willing to go all the way. - The time was almost midnight. You yawned, rubbing at your eyes blearily. It was probably almost time to go home. - He insisted on one more ride. There was something the two of you hadn’t tried yet, the centerpiece of the park - the ferris wheel. - You felt the cold air more intensely the higher the two of you went, but it wasn’t unpleasant. He held your hands the whole way, grinning brightly. - Just when the two of you were at the peak, the ride stopped. You looked outside the carriage to see what was going on. A mistake? - Ouma put one finger to his mouth, smiling mischievously. Your breath caught in your throat as he gestured to the view. - It was beautiful - the carnival’s gaudy colors were fairy lights in the night, as though the world below had turned to gold. - You looked back to Ouma, as though to make sure he saw it all too, but you were distracted by something else: the ring he offered you. - Inset with lavender gems, crowned with a diamond over twists of platinum, it was a ring fit for royalty. - Your hands flew to your mouth. - “[S/O], will you marry me?” - This had to be a prank. If you said yes, he’d just put the ring back in his pocket, and laugh about how hard you were fooled. - This time, he insists it’s not a joke. His expression is completely serious, with even the slightest hint of worry. - Hands practically shaking, you accept. - Ouma’s face changes in an instant, and he throws his arms around you. He’s kissing you over and over, and you laugh as you kiss back. - “From now on, we’ll always be together! Nishishi, you won’t ever be able to get rid of me!”

Saihara: - You and Saihara had been together for a long time. - He would often come home poring over his newest case - you often praised him on his efforts, but he always blushed and insisted it wasn’t anything special. It was just luck that had given him his title, and even more luck that let him keep it. - Tonight was different. When Saihara came home, he didn’t have a bunch of files haphazardly tucked beneath one arm. He seemed oddly distracted, and arrived an hour earlier than usual. He smiled at you from beneath the brim of his hat. “I’m back early, [S/O].” - He was always a hard worker - it was odd for him to be home so soon. - Usually, the two of you cooked dinner as a pair after coming home. - Saihara fiddled nervously with his hat the whole time. And, when he was adding the salt, was it just you, or was his hand shaking the slightest bit? It was a peaceful winter night, and by the time you two started dinner, it was already dark out. - The conversation started out halting and awkward, but slowly picked up speed. - The two of you talked about all sorts of things, from the new cases to recent events. - You could tell something was still on Saihara’s mind. When questioned about it, Saihara stuttered a little. - He stood up at the table, and you saw something glittering in his hand. It was an elegant wedding ring. Silver and diamond, simple yet beautiful, you gasped at the sight of it. - “S-Saihara…? Is this -” -- He nodded. He had been wanting to ask for a few months now, but nerves had kept him quiet. He hadn’t wanted to propose at a fancy restaurant - he wanted to make sure you were absolutely comfortable, so that you could easily decline if you wanted. - “[S/O], will you… marry me?” He made eye contact with a smile that was almost shy, as though he had already prepared himself for bad news. - “Of course!” You grinned, and hugged him tightly. You saw the relief in his eyes, and the doubt he had been holding in - he smiled, and hugged you right back. - The two of you had a bright future ahead.

Kaito: - Kaito had been excitable all day; he’d taken you to a stargazing sight nearby, promising it wouldn’t be boring. Of course, Kaito never found space boring, but he swore that you’d be blown away. - He packed his highest-power telescope. It was the one that he had always had, but only used during special occasions. That was your first sign that this wasn’t just any date. - At first, you thought there must have been something special going on in space that night: a comet? Maybe an eclipse, or an especially close moon? No results came up online. - He chattered excitedly the whole way there. No helping it, you supposed. Space was his passion! - He fell oddly quiet upon actual arrival. He shook his head vigorously when questioned, saying he was just fine - just thinking about something. - It was a warm night, and very clear. “Perfect for some star-gazing!” he had noted, grinning brightly to the sky. - He spent an hour or so fine-tuning the telescope - he said he wanted the night to be the best it could possibly be. - Really, he didn’t have to go through all that - being with him and seeing him get so passionate about space was kind of a nice experience on its own. - “There! Set and done!” Kaito proudly patted the telescope. “Wanna look?” You accepted - sure, you weren’t quite as into space as Kaito was, but it was still gorgeous to look at! - Huh…? - Something was off. You asked Kaito if it was focused right - it was dark blur, with something you could hardly make out in the middle of it. - You turned the dial on the side, hoping to see it more clearly. - Blearily at first, the fog left the image. Those were definitely not stars. And that wasn’t a sky either - it was a sheet of black paper, pasted carefully over the far lens. - In Kaito’s messy scrawl were the words “Will you marry me?” - Huh?! - Quickly, you turned away from the telescope to look at Kaito. - He was on one knee, grinning a little nervously. An open ring case rested on one hand in the classic position of a proposal. - The ring was silvery platinum, with a thick luster that seemed to swirl - it looked like a galaxy, and in the shock of the moment you wondered if he chose it intentionally. - It was so excessively romantic that it fit perfectly, and was definitely a Kaito sort of thing to do. You laughed, and kissed him. - This wasn’t just a happy ending - in its own way, you realized, it was a beginning as well.

Gonta: - Gonta was very, very nervous. - He had asked the others how to go about proposing, and in the end it’s possible that he found himself more uncertain than before. - Miu’s suggestion was probably… not very gentlemanly, judging by Shirogane’s horrified reaction. - Ouma’s may not have been too reliable either, as he outed himself as a liar immediately afterwards. - Korekiyo and Amami, for their parts, seemed to give sound advice. Red roses were good. And keeping strong eye contact, without seeming too desperate. - Angie cheerfully suggested having faith in her god - as she said, nothing would be too hard as long as Gonta prayed hard enough. - Gonta had considered making the ring himself, from tightly woven twigs and flower petals. Unfortunately, that didn’t seem to be the gentlemanly thing to do. - He settled on a ring he thought was very pretty - it looked like silver vines woven together, keeping the feeling of nature without the risk of it falling apart. - Still, it looked delicate. He knew how to handle things gently, having worked with bugs all his life, but he wrapped the ring in cloth just to be sure. - He had asked to meet you at sunset, but he had underestimated how quick the time would actually come. - You were already at the white gazebo. Gonta wasn’t prepared, but no amount of time beforehand really could’ve prepared him. - Gonta took a deep breath as he approached you. - “...G-Gonta wants to let you know that Gonta loves you very much!” There was a quaver in his voice that he tried to hide. - He was blushing deeply, grimly closing his eyes from nervousness. - The ring looked small as it rested on his hands - he had gotten down to one knee, and was still tall enough to be almost head-level with you. - He thanked you for teaching him how to be a gentleman, and asked you for your hand in marriage. - You happily accepted and kissed him - at this, he smiled and blushed even more profusely. - He embraces you with the warmest and gentlest hug a gentleman could offer! His heart was beating wildly, and it was clear how anxious he really was about it.

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entermates · 7 years ago

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🔥

uhhhh going under the cut bc it’s long (I’m very bitter about nd/rv3 & it’s the first thing that came to mind so I’m sorry omg)

ALSO this does contain nd/rv3 spoilers, so if you wanna avoid those then don’t read!! also there’s some mentions & screenshots of gross nsfw text & an incest mention so look out for that shit too.

there wasn’t a topic given, so I’m gonna assume it’s cool for me to scream about how much I hate nd/rv3. I’ll bring up other points besides the ending, because I know that’s the ONE point people all complain about.

so, In my opinion, nd/rv3 is the worst dr game. it’s predictable, it’s written badly, and the amount of unnecessary fan service & other gross shit is ridiculous.

the game stays true to the typical dr murder setups, save for chapter one. it has the blunt force trauma murder, ch3 is a double murder as always, ch4 is the “muscle-y character” dying, and ch5 has the “important info missing from the monokuma file / unsolvable murder” setup.

my point with this is: it’s predictable.

the thing I loved about danganronpa games was the unpredictability, and v3 was the complete opposite. I was never on the edge of my seat throughout my watch of the game. everything happened like I figured it would.

a HUGE contributor to this factor was the talent labs. when a character’s talent lab was unlocked, you knew they would play a crucial role in the upcoming murder. it’s like a huge, glowing sign that says “hey! x & x are gonna die this chapter!”

they did the same thing in the dr3 anime. when a character got a huge backstory/exposition dump, you knew they were going to die. (seiko is the big example)

when ch2 started focusing on kirumi so, so, soooo much I knew she was going to be involved in the case. once ryotara was revealed as the victim, I instantly knew she would be the killer. so on, and so forth for the other chapters.

chapter three as a whole was predictable. it’s so obvious that korekiyo’s the killer like, 5 minutes into the investigation?

(also side note this sickle under the cloth bullshit is impossible because the fucking dog would FALL OVER. also the incest shit korekiyo is ducking digesting fuck you nd/rv3)

the twists in the game are bullshit, not to mention chapter 5 COMPLETELY goes against the danganronpa rules set forth in the other games. since they’re all technically part of the same timeline, they should all abide by the same rules, right?

one of the big rules set forth, is the use of an accomplice. the rules state that accomplices to murder won’t graduate with the killer if the killer isn’t found guilty- but if the killer IS found guilty, they aren’t executed either. it sounds pretty simple, in theory.

but then nd/rv3 chapter 5 comes in. in the chapter, maki shoots ouma with a poisoned arrow. this poison begins to kill him slowly. instead of letting the poison kill him, ouma works with another character: Kaito.

ouma and Kaito work together to make sure that ouma’s cause of death isn’t the poison. by working together, they fake a video of Kaito getting crushed in a press (because ouma wants to create an unsolvable murder)

(he doesn’t actually die, it’s a fake out, but that leads to more bullshit)

the person that came up with the ENTIRE PLAN was OUMA. Kaito just did what he said. so, in this case, Kaito is an accomplice, and ouma is the killer. This is shown in the first FUCKING game with ch3. Celes comes up with a plan, and Yamada does EXACTLY what she says. Therefore, Yamada is referred to as an accomplice, instead of a killer (as he did kill someone).

but no, no Kaito is the killer for some bullshit dramatic effect.

(bc u kno. we gave this guy a dramatic illness so we can’t just have him get killed BY someone it’s gotta be dramatic. I’m not saying if Kaito died of his illness during a murder attempt it would’ve worked for a better plot twist, and setup for the characters to solve, but-)

god this is so fucking long would u believe me if I said I have more bullshit about nd/rv3? bc I do!

my other big issues with this game aside from the ending are the bullshit amounts of “fan service” and other gross shit:

it’s disgusting. in addition to the events you can unlock, there’s the love hotel scenes, and I’ll just let this one speak for itself:

there’s a bunch more but the majority of them are fucking terrible. I don’t care about the fact that these were apparently done by a different writer, and I don’t care about the fact that they’re optional. they’re still in the fucking game, and they’re all disgusting.

I get the game has an M rating, but this shit is still disgusting. stuff like this even carries over to free time events, notably Angie’s:

this shit is gross, and it’s spread throughout the game. most of it IS optional, and you can avoid it, but it’s still there.

it ruins the quality of the games, and it’s ABSOLUTELY unnecessary. these things don’t further the plot or add to the character’s development arc’s. it’s bullshit.

I’m gonna end It here because I’m tired and this is waaaaay to long and I’m burned out but wtf this is almost 900 words whoops I’m sorry my dude

#asks #nv3

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quarkie-blog1 · 8 years ago

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[Chapter index link] Chapter Title: Black Digital Hole Fandom: Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal Characters: Kaito Tenjo, Yuma Tsukumo

Along the way out of the hospital, Yuma followed Kaito quietly manoeuvring around the robots.

Chris had mentioned earlier that they were similar to nurses. Patients had to have their blood pressure, heart rate and temperature taken everyday were all taken care of by these machines. More sophisticated work would need a human to do.“It may not seem like it, “ Chris’ noise over the microphone had said, trying to ease Yuma’s mind by focusing on something else, “but it’s hard for a robot to even adjust the pillows for a patient. One of the notable difficulties for a robot is that it is hard to determine the right level of force to use.”

“Then how does it know how to pour a cup of water?” Yuma asked. He turned away to face directly up when the doctor had gave him the hand gesture to lie properly. He turned away from the glass windows and faced the machine within the observation room.

“Good question,” Chris commented over the sound of mouse clicking for starting up the machine. “Most of the robots here are modelled after humans. There’s been numerous experiments done to observe and measure how humans do these simple tasks. After that, they try to implement machines with similar features. It’s not really my field of expertise, but I do have the vague idea that they had been observing how humans would use their limbs and interact with the world around them.”

“Oh…” Yuma wondered. He wasn’t sure if he was expecting that kind of answer since Chris had the impression to know everything. Though there was a lot of information everywhere in the world.“I’ll start the test now. Would you mind closing your eyes, Yuma?”

Without complaining, Yuma closed his eyes, but remained wide awake as the hum of the machines got louder around him.

In the middle of this thoughts, back in the real world Yuma yelped when his nose and face bumped into Kaito’s back.“S-sorry!”, he immediately stepped back. Kaito looked like he was going to give some remark again about Yuma’s behaviour as he opened his mouth.

“Just… watch out.” He said finally, then tilted his head towards the car that was on the opposite side of the road. The boy scrambled after him, barely even watching either side of the road, before the two were both seated for the 10-minute drive.

As the car engine had started up, Yuma had asked a question about whether Kaito was busy with anything else for the rest of the day, to which the other answered with a simple “yes”. The boy had the impression that Kaito wasn’t really in the mood for small talk and distracted himself with the skyscrapers on the streets of the city. The night before, he had woken up from at Chris’ study. Here now in the city at broad daylight, similar to the trip to the hospital earlier, there were so many unfamiliar things to take in.

When the vehicle had rolled to a stop in front of traffic lights, from the corner of his eyes, Kaito saw Yuma pressing his face against the window. His crimson irises were focused on a pair of holograms for an advertisement. He almost was too distracted by Yuma’s look of awe at the screens that he had almost forgotten about the traffic light.

Soon though the car rolled to a stop, right in front of a building. Unlike most of the others that they had passed, this one did not have all of the large telescreens or holographic projections. Just plain windows and the glass door.

The black haired boy blinked a little, reading the words. “We’re going to the police station?” Kaito had gotten out of the car wordlessly and leaving him with no choice but to quickly follow.

… …

When Kaito had mentioned about finding somewhere to sit and ask questions, Yuma wondered to himself if this was always the place that he would have chosen.

He looked left and right to where he was now sitting. There were other desks, some of them occupied with men wearing the general black uniform. On their left side pocket, there would be the crest and the emblem for “Heartland’s public security police”.

“Do you just use the computer?” Yuma asked, turning back to Kaito’s rather clean desk. Other than a blank notepad and a computer there wasn’t anything else.

“Sometimes,” Kaito answered as he was setting up a fingerprint scanner device, borrowed from another table. “When I’m outside, the phones that we’re given can handle most of what I need anyway.”

Once brought to the office where he worked, the first thing that Kaito did was check the list of missing persons. None of the descriptions fit Yuma. The next that he could do was run a couple of finger printing scans, then see if there were any matches of registered citizens. Meanwhile the boy didn't make much noise, while giving undivided curiosity towards the machine as a red laser line was swiped slowly across the scanner surface.

To search through an entire database of all the local people in the city would take several minutes. Thus rather than waiting, Kaito chose to use that time to ask more questions. To Yuma’s confusion he was being asked his name, age, and whether he thinks he knows what sort of subjects he would have taken at school. If he went to school that is.

“Yeah… “ he shook his head once again at the last question. “Sorry… I really can't remember much. There are times when a thought comes, but I can't be sure if it's being put into my head or it's just my memory.”

At this Kaito turned to look at Yuma, as if searching for something in his eyes.“What do you mean by that?”

“Huh?” Yuma was confused.“When you say “put into my head”, what did you mean?”

Like before, Yuma didn't have to think very long for his answer.“Like as in… things that you know… but you don't know how you know? Or you don't know why… but you know they are true? As though someone or something else is telling you about it.”

There was no stuttering in his words; either he had practised to lie well or that he really was telling the truth.

“That's a interesting way to think of it.” Kaito commented carefully,” It almost sounds like telepathy…”

“Telepathy?”

Realizing the slip of his tongue, Kaito stopped himself from almost explaining about what Haruto had seen.

“Yes,” Kaito chose that moment to check the screen again, hoping the boy wouldn’t pick up his slight illogical leap of a thought. “It seemed as though you were implying as though someone was explicitly telling you in your mind?”

Yuma blinked, clearly confused. “Well… uh… maybe? You ever know the feeling like there's someone telling you something?”

“Not really.” Kaito frowned. “Give an example?”

Yuma didn't seem to be particularly bothered by the look on Kaito’s face. “Like.. umm… this morning! I was helping Mihael with heating the milk in the microwave. There was a voice that I should have used the timer. Like it told me that the timer button was supposed to be what I should press.”

Ideally, it wouldn’t be possible, if Yuma did not have any past recollections of using a microwave. Or if he was brainwashed thoroughly. But no comment was made, as the pause was interrupted from the beep from the computer. The search for the fingerprints had been completed. To add further to Yuma’s confusion though, Kaito wasn’t in a hurry to open the results.

“One other question. Does the name “Doctor Faker” mean anything to you?”He watched carefully whether there would be any response from Yuma’s eyes. Similar to before it was the blank look before the red irises.

“No. I don't know.” Yuma shook his head. His eyebrows crossed closer together, concentrating, but with no result. “Why? Who is he?”

“He's my father” Kaito answered curtly, before cutting in when he saw the boy about to say something. “I suppose it may be a little early since it’s only been half a day. Let me know if anything new comes to mind.”

The tone of those last words were enough to tell Yuma that Kaito didn't want to talk about it any further. He had also chosen that time to turn towards the screen.

No results matching the scanned fingerprint.

A frustrated sigh was exhaled from the security police. Kaito leaned back against his seat, now his face distorted into a glare at the screen as though it would change.“Oh…” Yuma didn't know anything else to say. He fiddled with his thumbs a little over the quiet but uncomfortable silence.

“That could just mean that you aren't a registered citizen, so you could be an immigrant. Or someone from the red-light district. “ Kaito suddenly spoke up. His eyes were closed while pondering on the next choices. “I'll file in a request with the immigration office. They keep records of the visitors and foreigners entering the city. Though… it would take a day or so on weekends.”

Yuma gave a small affirmative nod, while lowering his head for a moment.“Is something wrong?” Kaito asked.

“Huh?” The black-haired boy whipped his head up. “Uh. No! I was just thinking… that it's a lot of work… you're doing a lot to help me find who I am… and Chris as well… like… it sounded like he would have to do a lot just to run a couple of scans for my memory loss,“ he gave the sheepish laugh that was on his face since all morning. “I… guess I'm just happy… that you're helping me look for my family. I don’t know how to thank you all…”

For a split moment, there was a small feeling of uneasiness mixed with guilt at the pit of Kaito’s stomach. If only the boy knew. Kaito's motivation was merely because he had possible clues to his missing father. It was just an added trouble that the boy knew nothing about himself, and he needed to get that sorted before even tracing for other hints.

“It's my job…” was all Kaito had said as he turned back to the disappointing computer screen. “Anyway. It doesn't look like there's anything we can use to find out about your identity. “

“Ok. But Chris will be able to tell me about the scans later tonight?”

Kaito almost let out a whispered curse. He had forgotten that Yuma was still under the impression that the results weren’t out yet.“Yes… Hopefully we will know later…” he said, “That has just reminded me. You don’t have a home at this moment.“

Yuma’s eyes widened in realization. Kaito was right. Until he knew who he was, he didn’t have a clue of where he was going to stay. Wasn’t his family worried? The previous night, talking with Mihael and Haruto had made him forgotten about it.

“I’ll have a talk with Chris later if he can spare a room for a little longer.“Kaito said. Having checked the “missing persons” list earlier, he wasn’t even surprised. “But for sleeping arrangements, you won’t be left here at the police centre.” The police station did have places for people to stay overnight. Most of it were cells though, more for troublemakers. At this moment he had no reason for locking Yuma there.

Yuma repeated himself with words of thanks for the umpteenth time. Kaito didn’t reply at this. He got up, but one can see his ears were getting pink. Policemen weren’t thanked for their job many times.

“We should leave for lunch. Mihael would have finished his classe, and Haruto with his weekend sports activity. “

“Awesome!” the boy jumped up from the seat, earning a few looks from the other policemen in the office as Kaito walked out.Yuma looked more than eager to meet Mihael again, and also with the mention of more food.

#kaito tenjo #yuma tsukumo #zexal #yugioh #fanfiction #quarkie's writing

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mintchocolateleaves · 7 years ago

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Cost of Freedom (35/52)

Summary: In which, Shinichi arrives at the meeting point, and Aoko visits the hospital.

[CoF chapter list]

“There’s no need to be afraid,” Jii says, as they sit in his car, an old beaten up thing, with a speedometer that doesn’t register anything past thirty miles an hour, and a clutch that never wants to reach the biting point on the first attempt. “You’ve not done anything wrong, they won’t suspect you.”

From the passenger seat, Aoko shudders. She attempts to breath, closes her eyes for a moment and nods her head. She says, “and they won’t suspect me even after we do anything wrong, because we won’t let them.”

She can’t see the older man nod, but she can hear the movement. It gives her enough courage to lean down to unbuckle her seatbelt, opening her eyes and staring down the hospital.

“We’re not doing anything illegal today anyway,” Jii says, offering what can only be a comforting smile. There’s a calmness in his voice that shows that he’s obviously used to this sort of pressure – obviously he is, if Kaito had trusted him enough for help in the past – and Aoko finds herself wondering if there were ever any signs in the past that he was much more than a bar owner.

There probably isn’t, and part of that bewilders her. How good a liar did he have to be to fool everyone, even after the police had investigated Kaito’s associates, aiming to catch any accomplices?

“Exactly,” Aoko says, nodding, “I’m just worried about my friend. I just want to make sure he’s alright before they send him back.”

Jii nods his head. He says, “exactly. And if we happen to get the layout of the hospital room, of the guard rotation, that’s completely legal as well.”

She nods. And then, after a pause, acid rolling in her stomach at the thought of Kaito wounded, – “And the medication he’s on. I need to pay close attention to that. Along with any machine’s they’ve got him on…”

It’s all too much, and there’s no way of writing down notes, but Aoko nods her head anyway. She’ll find a way to remember all of this, even if it seems impossible. For Kaito’s sake she must.

“Exactly,” Jii says. And then, he reaches into his pocket, presses a small black button into her palm. Except, Aoko knows for certain that it’s not really a button. “Just be calm and everything will be alright. This is the easy part.”

Aoko nods her head. As soon as she’s finished pocketing the ‘button’ into her palm, she pushes open the car door, pulls herself out of the car and focuses on the hospital entrance.

She walks.

“Saguru-kun,” Ran says, as he turns, making his way back towards the computer he’s no doubt been typing into for days now. “When was the last time you slept?”

He’s so pale, and part of her thinks it’s because he’s entombed himself in the dark of his room. She enters further into the room, makes her way towards the windows and draws open his curtains.

Saguru hums his displeasure. Ran isn’t sure if it’s because his bedroom is suddenly bright, or whether he simply doesn’t want to answer the question, knowing that she’ll dislike the answer.

“I haven’t slept well recently,” Saguru admits, “not since the escape. I’ve had a lot of… thinking to do.”

He leans forwards, squinting at his screen, and lifts a hand up to tap at the monitor. The light flickers for a moment, before settling on the picture it’d been trying to show. Ran takes a step closer.

“It’s difficult, yes, but we can’t afford to be exhausted for this case.”

Another hum, it’s low in his throat, and Saguru doesn’t respond with words, decides simply to focus on typing out more, trying to learn more.

“Okay then,” Ran says, grabbing a foldable chair from the side of his desk and pulling it towards the desk. She sits at the edge, peering onto the screen, “we’ll focus on the case instead of you. Ogami Shukuzen, how are we going to learn more about him.”

Saguru turns, meets her eye and says, “we steal the any files relating to his current life. Case files, bank statements, bills.”

Ran bites her lip. Coming from his mouth, this all seems wrong. Saguru has always been one to play by the rules and hearing him so much as suggesting that they… no.

“We can’t steal personal files,” Ran hisses, hating how unsettled the idea makes her feel. “What was it you told me when I suggested reading Shinichi’s statements? We’re doing things by the book, so we can declare the evidence if we can get Shinichi acquitted.”

“We’re not going to catch Ogami’s imposter if we do things by the book.” He says. “And seeing as Kudo all but admitted to you there were people trying to kill him… I don’t think that there’s enough time to go by more conventional methods.”

Ran bites her lips, “this isn’t like you at all.”

“I don’t feel much like myself right now,” Saguru admits, “so you’re probably right.”

He runs a hand through his hair, and Ran can see him absentmindedly chewing on the inside of his cheek.

“I talked to Kudo once,” Saguru says now, “on the phone about three months before I helped to catch KID. I hadn’t visited, because well – I said I wouldn’t until I got him free, and I’d started to lose faith in him.”

She doesn’t know why he’s saying this now, when he could have during all the nights they’d spent looking into the case. Maybe he hadn’t thought it was important – but Ran knows Shinichi, he always leaves clues to those he thinks are capable. And Shinichi had trusted Saguru to pick up on clues.

“What was it about?”

Saguru says, “he said that he didn’t need me to look into the case anymore. That he knew I was too involved to be able to offer a fresh perspective. Someone else was looking over the case with him, and he said I’d never been confident with murder scenes anyway. I excelled with catching thieves.”

Ran can only imagine who had taken over the case, looking into it. There’s only one name she can think of: Hattori Heiji.

“Part of me wonders whether he wanted me to catch KID,” Saguru continues, “so he’d be able to escape. I mean, I used to complain all the time about how I was so close to him. Do you remember?”

Ran nods.

“And if he wanted me to catch KID, and if he wanted to escape,” he continues, “then he probably knew that I would be there to catch KID again, and him. That I’d look into the lists and figure out who’d been linked to the various cases.”

“Saguru-kun,” Ran mutters, “don’t you think this is a little far-fetched? I mean, I doubt Shinichi would have thought that far ahead, he’s not capable of scheming things like that by himself–”

“I think, if you put someone into solitary confinement as much as they did for Kudo,” the detective says. “I don’t know how much Kudo did plan, but he created an opening for us to get these lists, and now we have a name. And… I promised him I’d solve this case, so – that’s what I’m doing. No matter how much trouble I get into.”

Heiji takes a deep breath, tries not to think about everything that has happened up to this point, and finds that it’s impossible, because just like the previous events – his own emotions are out of his control.

He should be focusing on his classes – he can’t afford to avoid studying now, golden week is over, and his life needs to continue, even if he’d put it on hold temporarily to break Kudo out – but it’s too difficult to focus on physics when all he’s thinking about is their situation.

What will they do now?

How can he offer help to someone in Kyoto, all the way from Osaka?

His mind is whirring so much he’s pretty sure people can hear the sound. Looking up, Heiji sees that his classmates are all looking at him, so they must be able to hear. But no – he’s just been asked a question by their teacher and is taking too long to answer.

“I’m sorry,” he mutters, asking for the question to be repeated after Kazuha pokes him in the arm, bringing him back to the present.

He gets the question wrong.

Seconds later, when their teacher has gone back to writing on the whiteboard, Kazuha sends him a look that’s a mixture of worry and ‘get yourself together’. It feels almost warm in his chest, that he’s finally sharing this secret with someone else, but there’s also discomfort there too.

Probably because part of the secret involves a dead man.

Heiji offers her a smile that tells her he’ll try to focus more, but it’s weak, worry gnawing on him, locking it’s jaws around his stomach and refusing to let go. Heiji feels almost… lost.

Is Kudo alright? Or has Heiji left him to walk into a trap? Is Kyoto really a good idea?

God, Heiji doesn’t know, and the uncertainty is killing him. He’ll have to phone Kudo later, after class has let out and they’re no longer trapped by the weight of their teachers. Until then, he’ll have to deal with the temporary freedom their lunch break gives, send off a text to check in.

“Hey Hattori,” it’s one of his classmates, Ryu from the volleyball team. Heiji turns, slows his gait so the other boy can catch up. They’re both walking in the same direction it seems, both ready to buy food from the cafeteria.

“What is it?”

“Well,” Ryu says, “that serial killer tha’ escape. We’ve been thinkin’ about where he would go, and since yer like, a detective an’ all we were wonderin’ what you thought about it?”

Heiji takes a moment to feign thought. He can’t exactly go around telling lies, not if people are going to talk about said theories. Heiji’s just paranoid enough to know he needs to deal in half truths. Not completely spreading falsehoods – he can’t ruin his reputation, or make it seem like he’s covering for Kudo, but not quite the truth he knows.

They are just entering the cafeteria when he says, “I’m not sure where, but I’d say he’s gonna be in plain sight, ya know?”

At the puzzled expression he receives, Heiji continues. “Well, ya know those spot the difference puzzles that ya can get? It’s kinda like that – until your told there’s any differences there, ya don’t really realise any are there. So I reckon Kudo’s doing that – no one’s expecting him to be out in the open, so they ain’t lookin. They’re tryin’ t’ find hiding spots instead.”

Ryu gives a small nod. “So since they’re expectin’ him to go into hidin’, they’re not going to search in the open?”

Heiji nods. And then, as they’re about to join the queue, stomachs rumbling for food, he pauses. Hiding things out in the open…

He has an idea. A way to find some more evidence.

Kudo needs to hear this… No, Kudo has too much to worry about in Kyoto, and this lead isn’t necessarily going to be as successful as he suspects it will be. Heiji needs to talk to Kazuha instead, and together, they’ll be able to figure things out.

Heiji starts to count the hours down before they’ll be freed from class, ready to plan things through.

It’s a little difficult for Aoko to gain entry onto the floor Kaito’s being kept on.

The police guarding the corridor Kaito’s staying in are sceptical when they see her, uncertain of whether they should let her in or not. On one hand, she’s the daughter of their inspector, the man who’d put the handcuffs on KID’s wrists, not once, but twice now, a girl with an outright hatred for Kaitou KID. On the other hand, she’s KID’s childhood best friend, and the bullet proof vest she should have been wearing during the heist, had been found around KID instead.

Aoko crosses her arms at their indecision, shakes her head and says, “KID saved my life. All I want to do is thank him before you send him to prison.”

It only seems to intensify their worry.

“Oh please,” Aoko continues, “I’m not asking to go in there for a private conversation. Kaito’s dangerous, I know that. I just want to say thanks so I can forget all about it.”

Now, they seem more sympathetic. A young friend wanting to say thank you for being saved, wanting to get the words out so she never has to see someone suspecting of being an accomplice to murder again…

“Okay.” They relent. “But make it quick.”

And now, for the final push. Aoko doesn’t want to seem to eager, so she hesitates, just long enough that one of the police inspectors – what was her name? Sato? – asks if she’s alright.

“…I don’t…” Aoko shakes her head, crosses her arms around her waist. She says, “I don’t want to be alone with him. Will you..?”

The detective’s eyes soften. Good – Jii had suggested trying to get some sympathy from her, an easy feat, if turning things against Kaito. After all, she’s one of the police officers who Kaito had knocked unconscious during his break in to the police station.

“Of course,” Sato says.

Aoko nods her head. She whispers, ‘thank you’.

Shinichi reaches Kyoto at midday.

He’s not meant to meet Miyano until four, so he spends his time searching for a cheap place to stay. Somewhere without cameras, but big enough that people won’t remember his face when he tries to stay.

And even then… no… Kaito wouldn’t risk staying in a hotel, would he? Did he ever mention having a safehouse in Kyoto?

Shinichi can’t remember. But that’s alright, he knows how to pick basic locks, so he’ll just find a house that’s currently on the market with no residents and stow himself away there. He’ll have to do that later then, it’s not exactly something he can do properly during the day.

He finds himself walking through neighbourhoods anyway, eyes flittering from ‘to let’ signs outside houses. Some of them, he notices have CCTV cameras above them, and he resists the urge to pull his hat down lower, knowing that it’ll only draw more suspicion to him if people were to start looking.

Others have alarms that Shinichi isn’t trained well enough to turn off. If Kaito were hear, then he’s certain they’d have a place to stay without so much as a second thought, but…

But he’s not.

Shinichi doesn’t want to overthink it. So he doesn’t, and instead, he turns his attention back to more houses, overlooking their security and how busy the surrounding roads seem.

Not wanting to overthink, and not overthinking are two different things though. He can’t stop thinking about how Kaito’s been caught – he’s alive, yes, but being mobile and conscious is different to being unconscious and injured. And for him to have just… left Kaito behind.

It leaves a sour taste in his mouth.

Maybe… Maybe before he returns to Osaka, he can find a way to break Kaito out of the prison again? True, Kaito has committed crimes, and Shinichi doesn’t necessarily agree with some of his methods, but Kaito hadn’t just been an accomplice to the prison break. Against his original efforts, he’d let Kaito in – and now, well, now they’re friends.

And Shinichi knows how lonely it is to be imprisoned without any friends there to watch his back.

“Okay,” he mutters to himself, forcing himself out of the moment. He taps his fingers against his leg, tries to avoid scratching into skin as he glances at more houses. “That one seems alright?”

It’s a semi-detached house, not far from the train, and just on the edge of the road, overlooking the crossroads. No CCTV cameras overlooking the door, yet Shinichi eyes a contractor making his way indoors, taking out the alarms, as if getting ready to swap them over.

A bust then.

He hesitates, waits a moment. The contractor peeks inside the door, fiddles with the wires in the wall and seals them away – Shinichi assumes he’ll come back to fix it.

Waiting a few more minutes, he observes as the contractor drives off.

Maybe he could…? Shinichi picks a leaf up from the floor, pushes it through the side of the door, using it as a temporary wedge. He’ll have to come back later, and if it’s still there… then he’ll pick this house to stay in.

Glancing around to ensure no one’s seen his quick movement, Shinichi shudders. Paranoia is eating away at him, and without Kaito to assure him it’s alright, he feels his throat tightening, panic making it difficult to breathe.

All Shinichi needs to do now, is find his way to the café Miyano’s directed him to, looking out for her again.

God, he hopes this isn’t a trap.

Kaito is awake when Aoko closes the door behind her.

She bites on her lip subconsciously, listens to the faint click of heels as Sato follows her inside. The detective sits at the end of the room, opens up her notebook and seems to pretend that she’s not going to be listening to everything they say.

Even now, Aoko knows that the detective is watching her from the corner of her eyes. She takes a deep breath, focusing on each movement of her muscles, the lack of control over her lungs as she exhales.

“Kaito.” She says, after a moment.

He’s been watching her since she came in.

“Aoko,” he says, offering the same nervous tone that she’d said his name in. “You came.”

Aoko glances away. As if she can’t stand to look at him.

Kaito frowns. But there’s also a glimmer of understanding in his eyes, and his gaze flickers across to Sato. He lets out a sigh, and continues: “but you don’t want to be here.”

“Aoko just came to say thank you.” She says, glancing anywhere but at Kaito. She wants to look at him, to study every inch of him and make sure he’s alright, but she can’t. Right now, she needs to understand the layout of the room, remember where the exits are, which machines he’s currently attached to. It’s not a lot – a heart monitor just as a precaution, and a drip with pain medication.

Aoko takes a moment to focus on the drip – it’s not dripping. It’s been turned off.

Kaito must be thinking through his own escape.

“Is that supposed to be doing that?” She says, before he can respond. She glances back to Sato, who stands, wandering nearer to his drip. She squints, shakes her head.

“There doesn’t seem to be anything dripping,” Sato says. “He’s turned it off.”

Aoko forces her eyes to widen, hopes that she wears horrified as convincingly as she wants to be. She says, “he’s going to escape…”

“There’s enough staff here that we’re always watching him,” Sato says. And after a second of contemplating her next move, she nods her head: “I’m just going to get a nurse. I think we might need some sort of… sedative.”

The moment Sato is gone, Kaito glares. He says, “thanks a lot.”

Aoko takes a step forward, grabs hold of his good hand and lifts it to her lips. Instead of explaining anything, she kisses his hand, and asks, “if you were to hide in this room, where would it be?”

His glare drops replaced only with confusion. He says, “There’s no point in hiding. They’d know.”

“But if you were to hide, where would it be.”

Kaito shrugs. He says, “there’s a medicine cabinet where they keep some of the equipment. I’d move the equipment and hide inside that, I guess.”

Aoko nods. For improvisation, it sounds like it could work. She’ll have to tell Jii about it.

“And how about your injury. Are you alright?”

Another shrug, although this time, Kaito winces slightly. He lets go of Aoko’s hand, and taking the message, Aoko steps back. He says, “it only grazed me really. The wounds deep, and I needed stitches, and a transfusion, but nothing ricocheted into bone.”

She hadn’t realised that she’d been holding a breath, but now Aoko breathes out, a steady calm flooding through her veins.

“Honestly,” Kaito says, “they’re only keeping me here for a little longer because they were worried it’d get infected if I went straight back to…”

He doesn’t say it, but the words linger. Prison. Aoko’s certain Kaito thinks she’s resigned to let him go back, that she won’t put up a fight when the police decide to resentence him, placing him back in an even trickier cage to escape from.

But Aoko is not cruel – she will not trap a dove inside it’s cage when it’s still strong enough to beat its wings. Maybe before she’d been willing to, but everything is… everything is different now.

“Right.” Aoko says. She hears the patter of footsteps, Sato making her way back down the corridor alongside a nurse. “Well… yeah, I wanted to say thank you… you didn’t have to risk your…”

Kaito offers a lopsided smile.

“Yeah,” he says, “I did.”

Aoko blinks. She hopes it erases any signs of the giddiness she feels hearing his words. She says, “you’re not going to like what happens next.”

His smile wilts. The temporary brightness in his eyes dulls, looking much more sardonic. “No? But I’ve got to go back, right?”

Aoko scratches the back of her hand. She says, “what you gave to me… I’m giving it away.”

Kaito’s expression goes blank. He shows nothing, but she knows he’s hurt. Even if he has no idea at all.

“You can have it,” Aoko continues, “I don’t want it.”

“What is it?” Kaito whispers.

Aoko shakes her head. She says, “tomorrow, will you hide in that cabinet? At around eleven a.m? Will you do that for me?”

Kaito nods. She can see it in his eyes, that he doesn’t want to, but he does anyway.

By the time Sato returns with the nurse, Aoko is gone.

As school ends, Heiji grabs her arm and drags Kazuha down the hall.

“What is it?” she asks, voice low in a whisper. She knows it’s probably about their little secret, but she can’t honestly see how things can have risen in their intensity just yet, when Shinichi’s probably only just going into his meeting now.

“Where did ya put the phone?”

She doesn’t need to ask which phone. Heiji’s got no interest in her own phone, so he’s probably talking about the phone Kudo had received his photographed messages on, the one with all the dead bodies captured in it’s memory storage.

Kazuha has kept it in her bedroom drawer since they’d returned from Tokyo. Heiji’s too linked to Shinichi for them to risk him keeping it with him. She tells him where, and waits for Heiji to answer the silent question in her gaze. Why?

“I was just thinkin’,” Heiji says, “how we’ve been thinkin’ entirely too complicated about all this. We’ve been lookin’ for a completely secret organisation, yeah?”

Kazuha bites her lip, nods. “What of it?”

“What if…” Heiji tugs at his sleeve. “What if that organisation isn’t as secret as we’re thinkin’ it is? What if it’s just hidin’ in plain sight?”

Shinichi feels almost like he’s drowning as he steps into the café.

It’s not too near the centre of Kyoto that there’d be cameras stalking the streets, but near enough that there’s a steady flow of customers. He will not stand out for being the only new face, something which leaves him with a state of calm.

Although, the calm doesn’t last that long. Not when he remembers why he’s here. His situation is too dire for him to simply forget.

Shinichi picks up a water, pays at the counter, before heading to one of the tables at the back. The entire time, he resists the urge to pull down on his cap.

“Huh,” he mutters to himself, “I don’t see her anywhere.”

And he can’t. Even though he’d only spent a moment talking to Miyano Akemi, he’s memorised the face, knows he can recognise her if he saw her. And yet, as he scours the café, he can’t see her at all.

“Kudo-kun?”

The name catches him off guard, and Shinichi glances around, his eyes settling on a woman – around the same age as him – standing by his table. Her hair is short compared to Miyano’s, but their eyes are the same. Are they…?

“You must have the wrong person,” Shinichi mutters, deciding not to risk it. He stands from the table, decides to call it a bust and just leave, when a hand shoots out, wrapping around his wrist and trapping him beside her.

“Unless there’s another alleged serial killer in this café,” the girl says, “then I’m pretty sure you’re the exact person I’m after. Akemi sent me to make sure you didn’t bring any friends.”

Shinichi narrows his eyes. “I was told Miyano would meet me here. Not someone else.”

The girl rolls her eyes, shakes her head. She says, “I’d have thought as a detective you’d have known the second you saw me. Perhaps I put too much faith in you. You’ve been met by a Miyano, just not Akemi. I’m her younger sister. Shiho.”

Shinichi crosses his arms. Something about this feels wrong. Two sisters asking for his help? But… well, there’s nothing really for him to do other than accept it.

“And is your sister around?”

Shiho nods. “Not in this café, but somewhere a little more private.”

She doesn’t wait for his response. Instead, Shiho pivots, leaving behind the café before Shinichi can ask where. For a moment, he indecision seizes hold of him – does he follow?

And then, his muscles push him forwards, as curiosity bears down on him.

“This way,” Shiho says, and Shinichi, without another word, follows the younger Miyano sister.

#Finally the next chapter I'm so happy!#DCMK #kudo shinichi #kuroba kaito #Nakamori Aoko #Hakuba Saguru #Mouri Ran #sato miwako #Hattori Heiji #Toyama Kazuha #Miyano Shiho #Haibara Ai #Detective Conan #Case Closed #Konosuke Jii #Magic Kaito #Fic: Cost of Freedom #mywriting

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