#although she said i could have called him kaitou kuroba but i went 'nah'

[brokenhardies]

i restarted p5r again and now have gotten to kamoshida’s boss fight... again

i have some rules im gonna use just for my own sanity;

dlc items are allowed, as are most dlc personas... EXCEPT for izanagi. he is BUSTED esp in early game so absolutely not

im gonna try to switch out party members each palace, with the current person affected by the palace in the party at all times (i.e. yusuke with madarame, makoto with kaneshiro etc.)

im not gonna replace arsene, at all. im gonna try to level him up and add things that will make him more useful, such as repel ice and bless!

im also gonna try to level up all my party member’s confidants, starting with ryuji and ann! this is why im planning on completing the palace in one in game day -- multiple out of game days are fine!

[balancingdiet]

Tabula Rasa

Detective Conan & Magic Kaito Characters: Shinichi/Kaito Words: 2000 ish Chapter: (1) ... (4) (5) (6) 

Shinichi always finds his neighbour weird. But he didn’t expect to find his neighbour lying on a patch of grass and donned in Kaitou Kid’s costume, too.

Shinichi had been so focused that he didn't realize the door opened until he heard it closed. He glanced over, watching as Detective Takagi approached him.

“How is it?” Takagi asked, staring at the suspect sitting in the interrogation room behind the one-way mirror.

Shinichi swallowed a sigh. Things weren’t good, and the interrogation was going nowhere. He had switched himself out and let Inspector Shiratori take over at the moment. Despite all the evidences already laid out in front of him, the suspect was still a tough nut to crack.

“The suspect isn’t saying anything," Shinichi explained.

“I see,” Takagi said, glancing at his watch. Out of nowhere, he started fanning himself. “Did they switch off the AC?”

Shinichi frowned. Now that Takagi mentioned, he did feel a little hot… He uncrossed his arms, considering to take off his jacket, but stopped mid-way as he crossed his arms again. 

“I don’t have the time to play games at the moment,” Shinichi muttered.

Takagi tilted his head. “What do you mean, Kudo-kun?”

“Detective Takagi doesn’t wear his wedding band during work.”

Silence fell, until Takagi laughed—with a pitch that Shinichi found all too familiar.

“Really?" Kuroba said as he fiddled with the wedding band. "But he was wearing it when I knocked him out."

“I lied,” Shinichi drawled and turned to the one-way mirror again. “It’s to bust you out, but I didn’t expect you’ll admit it so quickly.”

“I’d figured you have enough things on your plate at the moment.” Kuroba stuffed his hands inside his pockets and gestured towards the suspect sitting in the interrogation room, alongside with his lawyer, Inspector Shiratori and Inspector Megure. “Who’s he?”

“Do I really have to drag you out?”

Kuroba ignored him and pressed his face close to the mirror, eyes squinting at what Shinichi guessed was the name tag on the suspect’s hotel uniform. “Adachi Sakamoto...” Kuroba widened his eyes and looked back at Shinichi. “Adachi? He’s not the chairman of the hotel, but he’s related to the chairman?”

Shinichi really shouldn’t have said anything, but the word simply slipped, “Yes.” 

“Interesting,” Kuroba peered through the glass again. “Given his authority, he must have the master key to gain access into those victims’ room to see their holiday plans on their computer… That’s how he knew where the victims were going, killing them when they were alone...”

Shinichi narrowed his eyes. “How much have you read from the file?” 

“Till the part where the first victim made a complaint that her make-up kit was stolen from her room.”

“That’s already two-third deep into the case file.”

“Speed-read is my forte.” Kuroba smirked, which was weird for Shinichi when it didn’t quite fit Takagi’s features. “So what’s the thing you got from the hotel that made you think he’s the killer?” Kuroba asked.

Shinichi pursed his lips. He’d broken more rules today than he’d ever did since he worked here three years ago, and it puzzled him just how much he was growing less concerned about it. Maybe it was because Kuroba was wearing Takagi’s face, or maybe it was just Kuroba that he was getting used to—

No. Not ever. 

Shinichi watched as Inspector Shiratori slammed the table in the interrogation room, but the suspect didn’t even flinch.

Maybe he just had too much on his plate to care, like what Kuroba said.

“Adachi Sakamoto made a stupid slip-up,” Shinichi began to explain, “he managed to delete all the footages outside those victims’ room, but he’d forgotten to delete the one when he accessed into the security room to erase those footages.”

“What’s his excuse?”

“He said he went in there to take a nap.”

Kuroba scoffed.

They stood in their spots in silence, looking in vain as Inspector Shiratori and Inspector Megure dealt with the suspect, but nothing seemed to be able to rile him up enough to confess—

From Shinichi’s sidelong glance, Kuroba suddenly straightened.

“What is it?” Shinichi asked tentatively.

Stroking his chin, Kuroba glanced over his shoulder, his face split into a stupid grin. “In exchange for my information, I want the gemstone.”

Shinichi wished he was surprised at Kuroba’s demand, but he wasn’t, which made it all the more annoying; to think that he understood Kuroba well enough to see it coming. He looked at Kuroba warily. “How valid is your so-called information?”

“Very valid, which also explains why no one suspicious, much less anyone that looked like Adachi Sakamoto, was found following those victims in any of the security cameras around the crime scenes."

Shinichi closed his eyes and rubbed a thumb between his brows. “You’ve read the entire case file, didn’t you?”

Kuroba grinned and put out a hand. “Gemstone, or nah?”

“For the sake of those three victims, shouldn’t you share the information without any compromises?”

“For the sake of the three victims, shouldn’t you compromise and give me the gemstone, in exchange for the information?”

“…”

“…”

The clock ticked behind them as they began their staring battle. The lack of AC was not helping with the growing tension, but Kuroba showed no sign of retracting back his hand, and Shinichi, too, refused to move the arm that was pressing against the jewel in his jacket's pocket 

Another slam came from the interrogation room, and this time it came from Inspector Megure—

Kuroba suddenly turned, catching Shinichi off guard momentarily. Close to the mirror, Kuroba pointed at Adachi Sakamoto. “Look at his fingers.”

Unsure of what to say towards the change in Kuroba’s heart, Shinichi followed his instruction instead. It took him a while, but now that he realised, he figured it was natural for Kuroba to notice it faster than him too, given his disguise expertise; it wasn’t just his fingers Shinichi should look at—there was a slight, glossy tint on all of his clean and trim nails.

Adachi Sakamoto had painted his nails with clear-gel nail polish. 

Those four words was all it took to unlock all the locks Shinichi couldn’t break before.

Shinichi brushed past Kuroba as he stalked off towards the door, but he turned around right at the last moment, catching Kuroba’s stare.

“We’ll talk when I get back home,” Shinichi said, before gesturing a hand over Kuroba’s disguise. “And you might want to change out. Similarly to Hattori’s case, I’m sure Detective Takagi’s wife wouldn’t be pleased to know you disguised as her husband.”

Kuroba chuckled. “Is she going to throw me to the ground?”

“No, but she has a gun.”

With that, Shinichi dashed towards the interrogation room.

---- 

After Shinichi went into the interrogation room with the new information, Adachi Sakamoto broke down half an hour later. (He even took out his shoes and threw it at Shinichi in anger, revealing his red-painted toenails.) Adachi had been struggling with his gender identity for a long time and occasionally, he would resort to stealing visitors' make-up to let out steam. But soon after those desires and turmoils escalated into something darker, and so he disguised as a woman, followed three victims for the past one month and killed all of them.

Once the confession was made and the culprit was taken away, Shinichi let the rest deal with the press conference that would be held during the evening news slot. Although Shinichi’s colleagues had gotten over the shock of the entire Edogawa Conan’s mess, his reason to shy away from the media wasn’t known to most people, except for Inspector Megure. As a former colleague of Ran’s father, he understood Shinichi’s decision to keep a low-profile, and he agreed with his doing, which Shinichi was thankful for.

(Because unlike Inspector Megure, his mother, Professor Agase… they all wished he and Ran could get back together again.)

In the midst of the press conference preparation, Takagi suddenly trudged out from the toilet, his clothes a little wrinkled and eyes looking disoriented. But no sooner after hearing the outcome of the case, Takagi seemed too distracted to question why he fainted in the first place.

Ignorance is bliss, Shinichi thought.

(Though in his head, they were spoken in Kuroba’s voice.)

----

It was only till Shinichi reached home then he remembered he hadn’t eaten for the entire day, but his stomach seemed used to it, or perhaps it had given up trying to remind Shinichi it even existed. He shuffled his way to the kitchen and switched on the lights, wearily looking around to find something to eat (not drink i.e. coffee). 

He spotted the basket of fruits sitting on the counter—the fastest meal he could find—and reached out for an apple. 

His hand hovered over the fruit as he frowned.

The Kaitou Kid card, along with the little imprint that should be on the apple was gone; it was clearly a brand new apple. 

Shinichi turned to his fridge. The bag, which contained most of Kaitou Kid’s costume, was gone too.

Sighing, Shinichi grabbed the apple and gave it a bite. Now that he had some solid food, he wouldn’t feel too guilty for his non-empty stomach if he drank some coffee. He took a mug from the rack, and another bite from the apple—

Shinichi nearly choked.

Through the kitchen window above his basin, he spotted Kuroba squatting in his backyard.

He dropped the mug and apple and stomped outside.

“What are you doing?” Shinichi scowled over Kuroba’s shoulder.

Kuroba stood up and turned, dusting his hands and (Shinichi’s) shirt. “Your plants are dying because of your pathetic care.” Kuroba gave Shinichi the side-eye. 

Shinichi looked down to check Kuroba’s deed. The only two potted plants he had in his backyard were now neatly pruned, and they looked much alive and new, like the first time his mother gave them to him last fall. The dead leaves and stems were gathered next to the plants.

“I wouldn’t say dying when they’re growing,” Shinichi muttered.

Kuroba rolled his eyes. “It’s called overcrowding. And that’s bad.”

“Ok, plant expert. Now get out of my property.”

Kuroba put out his hand. “You promised to give me the gemstone.”

“I didn’t,” Shinichi reminded. “I said we’re going to talk.”

“The murderer confessed, and I saved your plants. I don’t think there’s any need for a talk. Just give me the gemstone.”

Shinichi couldn’t deny Kuroba did help in getting the murderer to confess, but he certainly didn’t ask him to save his plants. Still, he didn’t intend to bring that up and cause another pointless conversation, so he took out the gemstone from his jacket.

Under the dark sky with little light, the gemstone looked even more impressive than he saw earlier this morning. Shinichi glanced up, checking for Kuroba’s reaction. He looked unimpressed, though Shinichi figured the thief must have encountered much more valuable ones.

Which only made Shinichi wonder why Kuroba was so desperate to get this gemstone back. 

“I only have one question,” Shinichi said. Before Kuroba could argue, Shinichi continued, “Just tell me who stabbed you, and I won’t pursue the matter.”

Kuroba frowned. “I’m still not telling you.”

“Take it as that I'm curious. Once I know who it is, I’ll never speak about the stabbing incident again.” Shinichi waved the gemstone in his hand. “And you’ll have this back.”

Kuroba considered for a moment. “You have to delete the photos of me as Kid too.”

Shinichi pursed his lips. He was still hoping he could hold onto them and used it in the future for real threats, but he knew if he refused, this negotiation would go nowhere. Sighing inwardly, he nodded. “Ok.”

There was a few seconds of silence in which Kuroba readdressed the potted plants by their feet, and Shinichi wondered if he was going to back out on the deal again. But then Kuroba looked up, and something in his eyes changed. It wasn’t like the gutsy gleam Shinichi saw in the hospital, or the playful glint that could be found on a daily basis.

His eyes looked tired, and a little sad. And both seemed out of place and strange on someone like the ever-charming Kuroba Kaito and the invincible Kaitou Kid—

“It’s me,” Kuroba said. “I stabbed myself.”

Taking the gemstone from Shinichi’s weakened grasp, Kuroba raised it under the moonlight.