#i'm sorry if you accidentally clicked read more when you dont intend too because it's gonna a hell of a scrolling

[balancingdiet]

Civilian

Characters: Kaito/Shinichi, Aoko Words: 11.2k LMAO!!! (recommended to open new browser tab before clicking “Keep Reading”) Note: 9 months ago I made this prompt, and I finally did it. Sort of, or at least closely related enough hahhaha Other reading link: AO3

Investigating a supposedly abandoned building shouldn’t be too much of an effort for Kaito, that is if he didn’t have to try hiding his identity from a certain detective as well.

//"It looks so difficult and complex," Kaito lied and heaved a sad sigh. "But I think I can try to unlock it, even though I'm obviously just a normal civilian."

"Aren't you a magician?" Shinichi drawled. "Don't you know how to unlock things?"

"Oh— Yes. A civilian who happens to be a magician." Kaito gave a thumbs up. "That's why I THINK I can do it."//

---

Kaito's life had been flipped upside down more than a hundred times, but if he had to choose the one that remained constant, it would be Aoko's inquisitive senses.

She was easily fascinated in nature. Feisty too, much to Kaito's chagrin. But to be fair, he did leverage on her curiosity plenty of times for his heists' sake, and because of that, he hadn't figured how he would explain all his wrongdoings to her after his life as Kid ended.

So taking one step at a time towards that possible path of forgiveness, he tried by agreeing to most of the things she asked him to do, like trespassing into their high school in the middle of the night, joining that stupid Kid Capture Brigade club she created…

And now this: accompanying her to investigate an abandoned building for their university's student newspaper.

If Kaito had to complain, it would be how far the building decided to abandon itself away from town; the travelling already took them a bulk of their afternoon. But comparing this to the other requests Aoko made in the past, this was no biggie for Kaito. He could already imagine how the day would play out; probably a couple of self-paranoia scares, some trips and bumps over the old floorings, and maybe having someone joining in their investigation—

Wait.

What?

Kaito's life had been flipped upside down more than a hundred times, and one of the reasons was his uncanny luck to meet the people he didn't wish to see right now.

Aoko gasped, just two seconds slower than Kaito's realisation to their new visitor.

Standing by the broken door in his iconic unbuttoned blazer and pants was Kudo freaking Shinichi.

If newspaper articles and television didn't count, it would be three years since Kaito last saw the detective (in his other smaller form). And frankly, Japan wasn't that big, so Kaito should consider that quite a miracle. But compared to those 2D prints, seeing Shinichi in real life struck a heavier chord in Kaito's memories, and there was an equal balance between the fond and not so desirable ones…

Bullets. Blood. Debt

"This isn't an illusion, right?"

Kaito snapped out of his thoughts and glanced at Aoko over his shoulder. He hadn't wished for something so bad since he checked the gem for Pandora last week, but there was no point in trying to delude himself, or Aoko, when standing right there in the flesh was definitely that detective.

But before Kaito could confirm it, Aoko was already standing in front, her lips pursed to bite back her giggly excitement (and maybe to stop herself from exposing her scrapbook filled with Shinichi's articles and whatnots).

"You're Kudo Shinichi!" Aoko clicked onto her pen rapidly. "Like the Kudo Shinichi? Right? Detective of the East!"

"Just Kudo Shinichi." The said man afforded a small smile. "I'm quite over with that alias."

Alias… hah, Kaito thought wryly. And what about the others? Like the reincarnation of Sherlock Holmes, Silver Bullet, once-upon-a-time Edogawa Conan and also the Kid Killer—

"Nice to meet you!" Aoko placed a hand over her chest. "I'm Nakamori Aoko."

Kaito inwardly groaned.

"Nakamori?" Shinichi clarified.

"Yes."

"…Is your father a Police Inspector?"

"You're right!" Aoko's face brightened as she nodded. "He's the Inspector of Kaitou Kid Task Force."

"What a coincidence."

"How did you figure it out? Nobody ever says I look like my dad." Aoko tilted her head. "Is it by my name?"

"That's half of the reason." Shinichi pointing to her belongings. "I noticed you have an interesting Anti-Kid charm, and also the pen you're using was a gift to commemorate the founding anniversary of the Metropolitan Police Department. Only people affiliated to the police will have that."

"As expected of the detective," Aoko said in awe. "I really can't help but admit I'm a big fan of your work!"

Kaito couldn't roll his eyes any further behind his head. "Oi, Ahouko…"

"Sorry." Aoko hastily gestured over at Kaito, as if remembering his existence. "Anyway this is Kuroba Ka—"

"Kuroba is fine."

Aoko snapped a disapproving look and nudged Kaito in the ribs. "Can you sound any less rude?"

"Maybe it's a symptom whenever I'm close to any detective."

Obviously hearing their conversation, Shinichi raised an eyebrow. "Symptom?"

Kaito shrugged. "Like allergies."

"I guess it's better to say he's allergic than repulsive," Aoko muttered.

Shinichi shook his head. "That's fine; it's normal for some people to be repulsive against this line of job."

"Yeah, and maybe because Kaito is also a magician—"

"OKAYYYY that's too much information given. And you also just revealed my name, Ahouko." Kaito tugged Aoko's sleeve, pulling her a step away from the door Shinichi was still standing by. "We're here to do your work, not to chit-chat. Much less with strangers."

"What work?" Shinichi asked, and at the moment Kaito felt like he had fallen into the hole he dug.

"I'm currently helping to write a column for our university paper and I asked Kaito to accompany me," Aoko replied. "There seems to be some rumours going around about this abandoned building so I thought it'd be an interesting topic."

"And those rumours might be?"

Aoko parted her lips, ready to say everything because she was so easily pulled into any conversation like that, but Kaito cleared his throat, stopping her.

"What about you?" Kaito gestured a hand to Shinichi. "What are you doing here?"

Aoko looked excited to know Shinichi's answer too.

The detective, however, shook his head, but at least he had some kind of heart to explain after witnessing Aoko's shoulders fell. "It's police matters and not something I can share with the civilians."

Kaito cheered at the thought of Shinichi regarding him as a civilian, but the first part of his sentence sent a feeling of uncertainty to his gut. Police matters?

"If it's police matters, I'm not sure if the rumours we heard are going to be helpful." Aoko laughed sheepishly. "People said they heard some kind of activities happening at night here, and they think there's… ghosts."

Shinichi finally entered the room, one arm crossed while the other hand touched his chin. "Ghost, huh..."

Aoko tilted her head. "Do you believe in ghosts?"

Mulling for a while, Shinichi spoke, "There are many things one would wish to have a choice to not believe."

Kaito blinked.

Right. Having been shrunk by ten years from ingesting a pill, even Pandora's myth would have a hard time competing for the first place of bullshits that Kaito wished he had a choice to not believe in…

The room had grown too quiet for Kaito's taste. He glanced at Aoko knowingly; she looked lost in her own thoughts too.

He wondered what she was thinking, yet at the same time, he was a little afraid to know.

Kaito cleared his throat, snapping the other two attention back to earth. "Since we have nothing to do with each other and we're about done, shall we go home?" he said to Shinichi and then to Aoko.

Aoko glanced at her pink notebook and clicked her pen absently. "But we haven't been to the remaining floors. And there's also the roof too."

"We've seen nothing new for the past three levels." Kaito waved a hand around. "I bet it's gonna be the same — old and dusty."

"I would also advise you to leave as soon as possible," Shinichi said, stopping Aoko's attempt at a retort. "And if you don't mind, I have a couple pictures of those floors and the roof for you reference. I can send them to you via email."

"Really?" Aoko beamed. "That'll be nice!"

"Why do you need Aoko's email? Can't you just send via Bluetooth now?" Kaito drawled, though Ask was already scribbling down the details on a paper from her notepad.

"My battery is dead." Shinichi fished out his phone, because it was in every detectives' blood to show the evidence no matter what.

Whatever. But at least Shinichi did something right by advising Aoko to leave as soon as possible, and Kaito couldn't help but be thankful for it.

While the two were fussing about the email exchange, Kaito slipped half of his body out of the room and stared at the growingly dark corridor that led to the stairs up the next floor.

Kaito didn't feel it earlier, but after all the things Shinichi said, he wondered if he had been missing some signs.

"Thank you!" Aoko snapped her notebook shut and kept her materials back into her bag, her handmade Anti-Kid charm dangling loudly. "Are you also leaving too, Kudo-kun?"

"Not yet. I still want to explore this room."

"Alright! Take care." After Shinichi acknowledged her words with a nod, Aoko skipped towards Kaito.

"Thought you'd never leave," Kaito said with an eye-roll.

Aoko stuck out her tongue. "Let's go. And don't call me heartless because I remember the promised ice-cream treat after this."

It was never for the ice cream, but he grinned anyway. "Good."

As Aoko walked out of the room, Kaito gave Shinichi a last glance.

To his well-kept surprise, Kaito found Shinichi to be watching his conversation with Aoko, but when their eyes met, he turned away, showing only his broad (and albeit a little lonely) back for Kaito to see.

What a reunion, Kaito thought, before he finally turned on his heels, leaving the man tied to his many forgotten memories behind.

.

.

In the next three days after that chanced meeting, Kaito poured more time researching about Kudo Shinichi than he ever did for his project assignments in his entire university life.

The detective did appear on the media sometimes when he solved murder cases that shook the nation, but other than those, he was often in the back shots or nowhere to be found in the pictures; and easily counting these numbers, he had appeared much less periodically compared to the time before the Organization he dealt with fell apart.

But there was nothing Kaito could find — not from the recent news or about Shinichi — that would make the detective turn up at that abandoned building.

Was he there for his private investigation? What if it was related to the not-so-fallen Organization? A supposedly undetected rat that then grew an army under the sewers?

An email pinged on Kaito's computer, showing a notification about the student newspaper Aoko was a part of being published. It could serve as a small distraction for now (but he knew those thoughts would always be on the back of his mind).

Kaito clicked on the link and kept scrolling till he reached Aoko's column.

"Building lies abandoned, or not?"

As expected, Aoko had mostly written about the things she shared on their train ride back home. The building was abandoned, yes. And it looked too run down to be inhibited by anyone, yes. But what Kaito didn't expect was the way she concluded the mystery with a quote:

"There are many things one would wish to have a choice to not believe."

- A renowned detective who preferred to not be named.

Kaito rolled his eyes.

He guessed the pictures wasn't the only thing Aoko asked from Shinichi, and he wondered if they talked about anything else. Like the weather? How Hakuba sucks? Or…Kaitou Kid?

Kaito sighed and resumed browsing through his 'research', scrolling through pictures of different angled Shinichi looking back at him…

"What am I even doing?" Kaito said aloud to himself and shook his head. "Why should I even care about this, him, and that stupid building? I have my own problems to worry about."

Willing himself, Kaito shut his computer and headed to bed (not while spending the next intervening hours thinking about everything more than once every ten minutes).

.

.

As a reward for completing three assignments and his heist (though it wasn't Pandora) in a night, Kaito decided to give himself a break and take a solo trip to the abandoned building.

(There was no denying he needed to find better ways to spend his free time.)

Kaito parked his bike under a tree, a short distance away from the building's front yard. He usually planned six steps ahead, but given this unfamiliarised environment, he might have to improvise his decisions and timings along the way, which meant trusting the periodical public transport wouldn't be a wise choice.

Twirling his bike keys, Kaito kept them inside his pocket. He skipped past the cracks and rocks and arrived at the front of the building. It looked exactly like how it was, but without Aoko's blabbering and presence, there was nothing to distract him from the sudden unsettling feeling in his gut, like Kid's instinct; a phantom's sense…

Or maybe it was just Kudo Shinichi's fault.

Slipping past the cracks of the door, Kaito entered.

The building had five stories, but due to its extremely high ceiling and long stairs, its true height was way taller than such. Maybe ten? Perhaps. Even at his pace, Kaito was heaving a little when he reached the fourth floor, where Aoko and him didn't explore. He decided to start from there.

Kaito didn't ask Aoko to send him what Shinichi gave her, not that he didn't want to see what it was. He was afraid of her follow-up questions to his curiosity, and if she happened to figure out his intention of revisiting, it would do no good for him or her; he couldn't afford to risk her safety for anything.

But anyway, everything seemed perfectly normal for now. Normal in a sense that Kaito hadn't whipped out his card gun and smoke bombs and started running down the corridors for his life. This was also the fifth room he had explored so far on the fourth floor. Nothing much different from the others he had investigated... except for its size.

Kaito frowned at the new discovery, wondering if he was imagining it before he checked the windowpanes. Yes, definitely smaller. The other rooms had nine windows, but this only had seven. His attention grew high on alert as he looked at every inch of the room more carefully—

Kaito squinted his eyes at the top of the wall. "Is that a switch?" he wondered aloud. The old, cracked paints and cobwebs had covered it well.

Even with the biggest jump, it was still an impossible height for Kaito to reach the switch. He glanced around the room, trying to improvise, but there were only a couple of broken chairs, glasses and debris, which Kaito couldn't make out what they were.

Nothing useful.

If Aoko was here, he could imagine her pulling out her selfie-stick and calling it her secret weapon. But Kaito came just as prepared too; he just wasn't sure if his secret weapon liked to be called in the middle of its napping time.

Adjusted his arm to a right angle, a dove popped its head out of Kaito's sleeve.

"Hello Mochi." Kaito grinned.

It cooed, and if Kaito didn't know better, he would have missed the dangerous intent in its voice. He quickly took out the secret weapon for his secret weapon — some sunflower seeds. Thankful, it worked as Mochi finally came out of its den and flew to his wrist to get its little treats.

"So easy to please..."

After it was done, Kaito pointed at the wall. "Ok, go and flip that switch for me."

It would be a joke if it only switched on the lights or something lame like that, but everything was worth a try.

Mochi fluttered its wings... before flying past Kaito's head and towards the door behind him.

"Oi!" Kaito yelled and ran after it.

Secret weapon or not, his doves could be erratic at times, especially Mochi, which was why he decided out of all his doves, he would bring it with him so they could have a better bonding time—

Kaito froze by the door.

Standing in the middle of the corridor was Kudo Shinichi, his body tensed as Mochi settled on his shoulder. He glanced up, his stunned face turned into a scowl when he noticed Kaito.

"You—" Shinichi snapped, "Is this your dove?"

What on earth... "Fancy seeing you again," Kaito managed to say without giving away the feeling of wanting to jump off the building.

"Get it off me."

Biting back a smile, Kaito pulled out another fistful of sunflower seeds. "Come back Mochi, I'm the real owner with treats here."

Knowing its bargain, Mochi flew away from Shinichi and onto Kaito's wrist, pecking its beads on the seeds.

"You greedy little pig," Kaito muttered.

Shinichi closed their distance, his face still plastered with the disapproving scowl. "What are you doing here," he asked.

"And what are you doing here too?" Kaito shot back.

At least Shinichi was mature enough to not play the I-asked-you-first game. "I'm reinvestigating the scene."

"You've been coming down since?"

"No, I was busy. I'm only free to come down today."

Oh right, Kaito suddenly remembered the news (coincidentally, and not because he was searching up Kudo Shinichi again) about a series of murders that happened all around Tokyo, though those cases were solved within a day or two. At that rate, it got to be Shinichi doing the work.

Definitely very busy for Shinichi.

And definitely very unfortunate, for Kaito, that of all the days to come, he just had to choose the one when Kudo Shinichi was free.

"Your turn."

Kaito blinked. "My turn to?"

"Answer the question."

"Oh." Kaito scratched the side of his nose. "I lost something and came back to find it."

Shinichi eyed Kaito, in a way that brought him back memories of the earlier days when there was nothing but doubt and uncertainty during the beginning of their temporary truce and partnership.

(Kaito wondered how those memories came to him when he thought he had forgotten them all.)

"And you realised it only after two weeks?" Shinichi deadpanned.

"Yes," Kaito said, totally free of the irony.

"What did you lose?"

"Something." Kaito stroked Mochi's feathers when it showed signs of agitations after finishing the seeds. "But please don't mind me. I'm sure your investigation is more important than my lost item."

Shinichi obviously didn't seem satisfied with his answer, but he said nothing else as he walked past Kaito and into the room (while glancing warily at Mochi). Or maybe the detective wasn't even feeling anything in the first place, and those furrowed brows were becoming a default expression of his.

Kaito stood by the door, hesitating. Should he just leave? Then what about his so-called lost item? And more importantly... Kaito stared at the wall where the almost-hidden switch was. He still hadn't figured what its purpose was.

Heck it.

"Anyway, what is there to investigate here?" Kaito entered the room and inconspicuously followed Shinichi around. "I thought you've been to the upper floors already."

"I haven't."

"You haven't?" Kaito raised an eyebrow. "Wait, does that mean you lied to Aoko and I that day?"

Kicking over a debris, Shinichi didn't hesitate to admit. "It was late and dangerous for two civilians to continue loitering around."

Still regarded as a civilian, huh? Kaito grinned to himself at his appointed identity. "Then those pictures you sent—"

"Were duplicates from the lower floors."

"What a liar," Kaito said, though he couldn't help but inwardly wince a little at his own hypocrisy. "I'm gonna tell Aoko and smash your reputation."

"But you didn't hesitate to ride on the lie either." Shinichi raised an eyebrow back in a form of challenge. "You wanted to leave too, no? I helped you."

I wanted to leave because you were there, Kaito thought drily.

But Mochi cooed, as if agreeing out loud for Kaito.

"Oi." He scowled at his dove. "Are you—"

Kaito's little chiding had stopped him from noticing Shinichi halting in his tracks, causing him to knock into the detective's back. Kaito jumped away quickly, hoping their accidental contact didn't change Shinichi's mind in any way about his identity... (He might be getting a little paranoid.)

But Kaito's worry was unnecessary as Shinichi looked too preoccupied with his new finding to care about the bump — he, too, had noticed the switch.

"Oh! What an interesting switch you found, detective!"

With narrowed eyes, Shinichi glanced at Kaito before staring at Mochi on his wrist. "Were you going to ask your dove to help you with the switch earlier?"

"What? Of course not. How would I, a civilian, even notice the switch in the first place? Mochi is here only as my companion."

The side-eye continued. "Then I suppose you wouldn’t know if your dove is capable of flipping the switch on command?"

"Are you asking me, a civilian and his very normal dove, to help you with your investigation?”

"My question only requires a yes or a no."

"I'll take a maybe. Because we'll never know unless we try." Kaito chuckled, turning away from Shinichi and whispered to his dove, "Please don't embarrass me."

That said, Kaito raised his hand and Mochi flew up on cue and towards the wall. It hovered over the switch for a second, head tilting curiously before giving a peck.

A hiss, like a rush of escaped air, came from behind a large cracked mirror hanging on the wall. It turned unhinged on the side and swung open, revealing a secret compartment behind.

"Damn," Kaito breathed out, and this time his surprise was real.

Done with its task, Mochi landed and settled on a debris on the floor, watching.

Shinichi took out his phone and turned on his flashlight. There were stairs leading all the way further up, but it was too dark to see where it led to. Shinichi took a step in.

Kaito followed.

The detective turned, shining his light onto Kaito's face and nearly blinding him. "Aren't you busy with finding whatever you've lost?" Shinichi asked, with a hint of contempt that Kaito couldn't blame him for, given his previous dismissal to Shinichi's concern for his missing item.

"I figured this might be a little bit more interesting." Kaito grinned in reply. "And who knows, maybe you'll need my help again?"

"If I remember correctly, it's your dove that did most of the job."

"I raised it with my blood, sweat and tears so that has to be something."

Shinichi gave a mild roll of his eyes and finally shone his phone away and towards Mochi's direction. "Is your dove not following?"

"Mochi hates confine spaces."

"Hm." Shinichi made a noise that sounded neither happy or upset and continued his way up the dark stairs.

At the last second, Kaito ducked out from the compartment and scattered more sunflower seeds on the ground. "Stay here okay, Mochi. Don't go around finding any poisonous worms."

Mochi was already busy eating to even acknowledge whatever Kaito said.

He just prayed it understood and hurried to follow the light; to where Shinichi was.

.

.

The long stairs eventually led to a room, which was pitch black at one second but lit up the moment Shinichi first stepped inside; the ceiling lights switching on one by one.

Kaito squinted his eyes, trying to get use to the sudden brightness. "Judging by the sensors, does it mean we're the only one here?" 

Shinichi didn't answer, but he stood there, as if waiting for something to happen.

Kaito was almost tempted to hum just for the sake of it.

"I can't guarantee that," the detective finally admitted when nothing seemed to be able to confirm his speculations. "But keep close to me, in case anything happens."

Kaito considered feigning scared, but he didn't want Shinichi to legitimately think he was and send him out of the secret hideout. "Ok, detective."

"And don't touch anything."

"Yes yes."

Shinichi kept his phone and surveyed the room while Kaito quietly did his own.

The room looked way more decent than any of the ones outside; there were signs of people staying here, or been here, keeping the dust and cobwebs away. In the middle were three chairs surrounding a large table, and on it were two ashtrays full of burnt out cigarettes, a couple of files and some empty water bottles.

Shinichi pulled out a pair of gloves from his pocket and put them on before picking up a file. His frown deepened every time he flipped to the next page.

Kaito strained his neck, trying to peek at the file's content. "What's that?"

"Records on some trades they made, though it's in codes so I have no idea what the trade is about, for now," Shinichi muttered. "The most recent trade happened last week. It also states another one is happening in three days."

"Maybe it's drugs?"

Shinichi stiffened.

"Or weapons." Kaito quickly added.

"Either is likely." Shinichi shut the file and placed it back where he found it. He left the table and began scrutinizing the shelves against the walls, though there was nothing but rubbish on them, as far as Kaito could tell.

Kaito looked back at the file, contemplating. Giving his civilian status, he couldn't possibly ask whether everything here was related to the Black Organization...

"Is this the police matter that you've talked about?"

Shinichi hummed. "Not what I expected."

Huh? "What do you mean?"

"...Besides the ghost rumour that Nakamori mentioned, there were others that were circulating and keeping people away."

Is he changing the topic? "Like what?"

"Witchcrafts, curses, or... experiments." Shinichi paused. "Witnesses claimed they saw the lakes that goes downstream from this building turned black or green a couple of times."

Kaito was almost tempted to believe in those rumours if he didn't know Akako was currently in England with Hakuba right now... Unless she knew some spells that could teleport herself back and do her weird things here. But given the evidences of these illegal trades and whatnots, Kaito trusted Akako enough to know she wouldn't be a part of it, despite how creepy she could be sometimes (he was still dumbfounded to this day to why Hakuba was willing to accept her like that).

"So... What were you expecting in the first place?"

Shinichi stared at Kaito over his shoulder.

Seconds passed so long it felt like minutes. Kaito cleared his throat. "Uh... Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Nothing." Shinichi glanced away.

"You didn't answer my question."

"I don't see why I have to tell you either.

Kaito inwardly sighed. "Fine. Whatever it is, maybe there's something more we can find in there." Kaito pointed at the rounded corner of the room that led to another door.

Shinichi abandoned the crushed soda can on the shelves and followed the direction to where Kaito pointed. There was a door like Kaito mentioned, but it was passcode lock; not as easily accessible as it was to the room they were in.

"It's locked," Shinichi grumbled out the obvious and leaned an ear towards the door. "I can't hear anything from here either."

"Let me try." Kaito bent down to the glowing keypad. Ha. Easy peasy lemon squeezy. He recognised this system like the few museums he had broken into before. He just needed to disable it and it should do the trick.

The only problem was Shinichi's intense gaze on him.

"It looks so difficult and complex," Kaito lied and heaved a sad sigh. "But I think I can try to unlock it, even though I'm obviously just a normal civilian."

"Aren't you a magician?" Shinichi drawled. "Don't you know how to unlock things?"

"Oh— Yes. A civilian who happens to be a magician." Kaito gave a thumbs up. "That's why I THINK I can do it."

"Ok," was all Shinichi said (and Kaito thanked heaven for that). He pulled out another pair of gloves from his pocket. "Use this."

"Thanks." Kaito accepted it, though he had his Kid's gloves on him as well.

He made a show of trying to put the rubbery and sticky gloves on that Shinichi grew bored and went back to the shelves to inspect those soda cans again. Taking the opportunity, Kaito whipped out his tools from his sleeves and began his habitual tinkering.

Ten seconds. Three dying beeps. The glow disappeared.

"Done."

"That's fast," Shinichi commented when he returned to Kaito's side.

"Beeeeeecause luck is on our side." Kaito laughed. And not waiting for Shinichi to say anything more that could risk his identity, Kaito pushed open the door.

The sensors acted again, lighting up the next pitch-black room and revealing rows and rows of guns, grenades and boxes of bullets. And on the other side of the large room were piles and piles of blank paper, which were going to be used for creating counterfeit money with the big printing machine behind. Next to the machine were big bottles of black and green ink.

"I think this should explain everything," Kaito said.

They headed to different direction; Shinichi checking the weapons and Kaito looking at the papers. Kaito had to admit these were of good quality and the criminals would definitely reap what they harvested from their investments. But too bad their dreams were gone and they would be spending at least twice of their lifetime in jail for all these smuggling and counterfeiting crimes—

Make that thrice if Kaito count in the fake paintings and jewels too.

At the blind spot of the room, Kaito found a high stack of famous paintings, and next to them on the floor were at least three dozen of Big Jewels encased in a large transparent glass box. Being more familiar in this line, he could tell with one look they were all fakes.

"Jewels?"

Kaito jolted from his squatting position, his heart nearly leaping out of his mouth. He half turned, scowling. "You scared the hell out of me."

"Why? Are you planning to steal something?"

Kaito tried to look offended. "Of course not."

"Are they real?" Shinichi gestured his head at the gems.

"The answer is obvious, isn't it?" Kaito muttered (whilst trying not to choke on his nervousness). "If they are into the business of printing counterfeits, these stuffs got to be too."

Shinichi looked amused. "A nice deduction."

Kaito scowled at Shinichi's head after he turned away. Is he being sarcastic or what?

Whatever. Kaito whipped out his phone and took a couple of pictures. Regardless if Shinichi were to bring down these bad guys or not, he should at least keep a note on these forgeries; if a similar jewel came up on the news, he would double check its authenticity rather than holding a heist for nothing—

A sudden slam from the door.

A series of gasps.

Kaito turned.

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?!"

Remaining in his squatting position, Kaito crawled across the room and peeked his head from behind the money printer.

Aw crap.

Two men. Two guns. Both pointing at Shinichi.

"I SAID WHO THE HELL ARE YOU!" and "RAISE YOUR HANDS!" were both screamed at the same time.

Shinichi obeyed the second command while keeping his lips sealed.

No Soccer ball this time to save your life. Kaito thought mockingly as he ditched his rubbery gloves.

One of the men turned to his partner. "You know what, let's just shoot him before the others find out that someone came—"

A flick of his wrist and with his card gun in hand, Kaito shot at the ceiling lights.

The room turned to an abyss.

"What the?!" A cocking sound from a gun.

"Oi! Don't shoot! Unless you want to accidentally set the grenades off, idiot!"

Memorising every position, Kaito rushed out from his hiding spot and grabbed what he knew was Shinichi's wrist, pulling him along as he made a dash towards the door.

Before the lights in the first room flickered back on, Kaito shot them out again; they weren't needed anyway. He continued running past the table and out of the room, the only comfort he could find amidst this havoc was the warmth of Shinichi's wrist and his mint-scented breath—

"Shit." Kaito clicked his tongue, staring at the darkness on the other end of the stairs. "The mirror door is closed."

"Look." Shinichi flashed his phone's light to their right. "There's another stairs here."

"I guess it's a risk we have to—"

Multiple gun shots rung in the air, and Kaito thought he felt a bullet flew past the top of his head.

No words were needed as they rushed up to wherever the stairs led them too. But like the other stairs in the abandoned building, it was long and seemingly endless. Kaito was two seconds away of giving up when he felt a faint wind brushing his cheeks before the pale light from the dark sky touched their skin.

They reached the roof.

Slipping his card gun up his sleeves before Shinichi noticed, Kaito panted, "Now what?"

Another gunshot rung in the quiet night and the echoes of the thunderous footsteps continued, only that they were getting louder.

It was Shinichi's turn as he pulled Kaito's wrist, dragging them to the roof's ledge; five level of floors but with the height of ten. Kaito gulped, his surprise turned wary as the tip of their feet inches away from nothing. There was no way they would go without at least a broken spine if they jump down.

Unless...

Shinichi grabbed the front of Kaito's shirt.

"Use your damn glider."

"Uh— Huh?" Kaito blinked rapidly. "My what?"

"Kaitou Kid's glider! I'm sure you have it on you now!"

Shinichi was right on the mark, but what Kaito didn't understand was how he figured about his identity? Did he notice the card gun?

But there was no more time to think or waste.

Two sounds of gunshots.

It was do or die.

Kaito knocked his left shoulder, sending his hidden cape flying out from the back of his shirt before solidifying into wings. Aoko's weight worked before, but Kaito wasn't sure if Shinichi's would. He kept the hesitation to himself and showed a smirk.

"Bridal style?"

Shinichi scowled. "Are there other options?"

"Nope."

Scooping Shinichi up, Kaito jumped off the roof and glided his way towards the forest that stretched infinitely beyond the dark horizon.

But Kaito's worry wasn't unwarranted — the glider indeed couldn't manage both of their weights. And Mother Nature hadn't been kind too. The wind's direction was going against their favour, and before they knew it, they flew down instead of straight after a distance and went crashing into the forest below.

.

.

"Thanks. I owe you one."

"My only request is don't meddle with my future heists anymore, little detective."

"...Ok." .

.

Kaito had no idea how long he passed out, or maybe he didn't and felt like he did, but no matter the case, the first thing he saw when he opened his eyes was Shinichi, his face dark and earnestly serious as he stared at whatever that was in front of the bushes they were currently hiding in.

It was one of the men earlier.

"So did you find anything?" the man said into the walkie talkie.

A static. "I found a bike. Maybe it belongs to Kid and his accomplice."

"Get rid of it."

"Of course. And what about you? Found anything?"

"No. The ground's all messed up and I can't tell what any of the marks are."

"...Why do you think Kid is here anyway?"

The man shrugged, as if his partner could see it. "Maybe he wants to find a new hideout? But we got it first."

A static laugh. "Anyway, should we tell this to the others?"

"No. What if they pretend to make a big fuss and use this opportunity to cut our shares in the profit?" The man lowered his voice. "It's not like that thief can report us when he's a criminal himself."

"You're right."

"Let's forget about it." The man gave his surrounding one last look. "I'm going back to the hideout right now."

"Ok. I'm coming back too."

Until the sound of the man's footsteps was completely gone, Kaito heaved out a sigh of relief.

Shinichi did too, but more discreetly. "The coast is clear." He glanced at Kaito. "And you're awake."

"So I did pass out."

Shinichi nodded. "You landed headfirst."

Kaito groaned, the thumping headaches coming as if cued. "No wonder."

Shinichi brushed the leaves away from his face and stepped out of the bush, not without checking the direction where the man left once more. He put out a hand for Kaito.

"Thanks for the offer but I can't move," Kaito admitted much to his reluctance. His entire body was aching so much that he had trouble lifting his arm.

Surprisingly, Shinichi didn't complain. He bent forward and pulled Kaito up by the arm, but now all of Kaito's aches turned to jolts of pain.

"Ow, ow." Kaito made a dying whale noise as he struggled to keep his balance. The last thing he wanted was to fall on Shinichi.

"Your leg is bleeding." Shinichi widened his eyes. "I didn't notice it when I drag you behind the bushes."

"Bleeding? It must be just a scratch— Oh damn I am bleeding." Kaito sighed. He couldn't tell from the darkness, but he could feel the dampness of his blood soaking the bottom of his pants. "This sucks.”

"Clearly."

"For your information, my landing is always perfect. This is the only exception."

"I didn't ask."

"Just thought you should know."

Ignoring him, Shinichi helped Kaito out of the bushes and set him down on the forest floor. Kaito didn't notice before, but when the sky cleared and some light miraculously managed to cast through the forest overhead, he spotted a bruise on Shinichi's right cheek.

He didn't go unscathed either.

"Are you okay though?"

"Nothing as bad as yours." Shinichi unclipped Kaito's cape.

"What are you doing? That's our only mode of transport."

"Based on the current circumstances, there is no point for the glider now." Shinichi put out a hand. "Give me a pen knife. Or whatever tool you have to cut your cape."

"Why?"

"A bandage for your injury."

Jii would be so mad, but was there really a choice? Kaito sighed and flicked his wrist, producing a penknife like what Shinichi wanted.

There was no warning or whatsoever when Shinichi began wrapping the cape around the opening of Kaito's wound. He dug his fingers into the ground and suppressed a groan. He needed a distraction from the pain, but Shinichi wasn't giving him any either so Kaito had to find it himself.

"He— Hey, how did you know that I'm Kid?"

"Why don't you guess?"

"Don't you love to show off their deductions?" Kaito mumbled. "Just enlighten me."

"I don't mind seeing your confused face."

"What you're seeing now is my super-in-pain face, not confused."

"Sorry," Shinichi suddenly said, which ironically made Kaito confused.

"For what?" Kaito asked warily.

"For this."

Shinichi finished the bandage with a tight knot and it almost sent Kaito's soul out of his body. He grabbed the remaining cloth of his cape and pressed it into his face, muffling his groan.

"Okay, I'm done."

"You— You're going to kill me first before I even bleed to death," Kaito snapped. When Shinichi ignored him and returned the penknife, Kaito continued, "Was it my card gun that gave it away?"

Wiping whatever off his forehead, Shinichi slumped onto the floor next to Kaito and heaved a sigh. "It's before that."

"So that jewel question was a taunt?"

"Yes."

Kaito gave Shinichi a withering look. "Then was it the lock? When I managed to disable it so fast that even the Detective of The East couldn't believe it."

Shinichi rolled his eyes. "Before that too."

"What?" Kaito sighed irritably. "Just tell me already."

"I can consider, if you tell me why you came back to the building in the first place."

Kaito blinked. That was an unexpected trade. "Didn't I say I lost—"

"You and I clearly know that I don't believe in the lie at all."

Kaito scoffed. "Why do you want to know anyway? I'm there for my own business."

"Did that man hit the jackpot?" Shinichi raised an eyebrow. "Are you really looking for a new hideout?"

"No."

A tug played at the corner of Shinichi's lips. "But that's the only reason I can think of for you to be there."

The question suddenly got Kaito remembering about the unspoken reason to why Shinichi was there, too. He said it was police matters, but it all didn't turn out to be what he expected...? Since Shinichi already knew his identity, Kaito supposed it was alright to be frank:

"Are those people related to the Black Organization?"

Shinichi's face turned into a blank. "What?"

"The Black Organization, or whatever that you used to call them."

Shinichi lowered his gaze. "No. But maybe they are inspired by them. Who knows?"

That didn't sound comforting. Kaito frowned. "So were you investigating if these jackasses are part of the Black Organization?"

Shinichi nodded, much to Kaito surprise — Not by his answer, but his willingness to admit it so quickly.

"I've never stopped finding any possible traces of them even after their downfall," Shinichi explained. "So when I heard the rumours, I thought it might be plausible... with the experiments and all. But seeing their operations — the sloppy hideout and the way they handle their trades — I figured it wasn't them, though that doesn't mean they aren't my concern too."

Hah. That was why. Kaito nodded. Shinichi's reason totally made sense, and now Kaito only feared for his embarrassment if he explained his. So why was he here? Because his gut senses told him there was more to the abandoned building. But why did he care? Because Kudo Shinichi was also investigating this. And how did that matter?

Kaito honestly didn't know.

But it was more important to make sure Shinichi didn't know.

"Speaking of which..." Kaito jabbed a thumb towards the direction of the building. "What are we going to do about them? Do you have your police mates to call for backup?"

"I lost my phone."

"It's okay, I have—" Kaito's grin faded as he stared at his cracked and black screen after fishing his phone out of his pocket.

Shinichi didn't bother waiting for Kaito to finish his sentence. "We might have to stay over the night and figure it out tomorrow."

"Isn't it too late?"

"Their next trade is three days later; there's still some time before anything goes out of their hideout."

"So are we gonna stare at each other until the sun rises?"

"You should sleep," Shinichi suggested after glancing at Kaito's bandaged leg, his face, and then his leg again.

"I don't need sleep," Kaito said, and shook his head. "Or more like I can't sleep with you around me."

"I'm not interested in you."

"Touché. But what I meant was because you know I'm Kid."

"I'm not going to do anything about your other identity." Shinichi crossed his arms. "I promised you, didn't I?"

"Thanks. I owe you one."

"My only request is don't meddle with my future heists anymore, little Detective."

"...Ok."

Ah. The realisation came a little late, but now Kaito remembered it and not as a dream. The blurriness of the memory and the throbbing pain in his head definitely didn't help, and maybe sleep was really what Kaito needed.

"Are you not going to tell me how you figured my identity out?" Kaito tried for the last time.

"No."

"Fine. The conversation is now boring and I'm really going to sleep." Kaito scooted his butt and laid on his back, not before gathering his cape and crumbling them into a ball to use it as a make-shift pillow.

After getting comfortable in his position, Kaito glanced at Shinichi, who was still sitting cross-legged by his side. "Anyway, it might be tempting, but don't watch me sleep."

"That's the last thing I'll ever do."

"Before you die. So it means you'll rather watch me sleep than die."

Kaito turned on his side, back facing Shinichi as he began pretentiously snoring.

It was nice to have the last word in.

.

.

"Kid."

Kaito — Kaitou Kid — glanced away from the night view, his cape flapping wildly as he made a suave turn to his new companion on the roof.

"Hello, little detective."

"It's all done," Edogawa Conan said.

With all that scuffle earlier, it was amazing to see Conan only with a bandage on his cheek. Even Kaito suffered worse when he wasn't the main star of the show; he managed to temporarily fix the large gash on his right arm after stealing some supplies from a nearby hospital, though Kid's costume covered his imperfections perfectly.

"Is that Shuichi guy alright?" Kaito asked, while keeping his tone nonchalant for the better part. "He received quite a nasty shot in the stomach."

"He's fine."

"That's good."

That Shuichi guy was one of many people Kaito disguised as per Conan's request during the final showdown with the Black Organization. But even though Kaito didn't interact or personally know him, it would still disturb him if something bad had happened to the person he copied his face from.

"So... it's really done, that Organization of yours."

Conan nodded, his face remained solemn. Even after three hours had passed since everything, he still seemed stuck in that war.

"Are you going back to your original self soon?" Kaito smirked, trying to dispel their current mood to a better one. "I'll miss staring down at you like this. And also, a pity that I can't disguise you so freely anymore."

"Funny," Conan sneered.

"Shouldn't you be thanking me instead?"

That put things back into perspective for Conan. He gave a resigned smile. "Thanks. I owe you one."

"My only request is don't meddle with my future heists anymore, little detective."

"...Ok."

"I guess this is the last time we will ever talk like this." Kaito tipped his hat up. "Don't miss me."

"On a serious note," Conan said, looking very seriously so. "If you ever need my help, I'm willing to give it to you, just as much as you did when I asked."

"Thanks, but as a Kaitou, I prefer to do things alone."

"My offer still stands."

Kaito raised two fingers to his eyebrow as a salute. "Take care, little detective."

He leaned back, falling off the roof with grace before his cape turned to wings.

It was an amazing exit.

But most important of all, his landing was perfectly done.

.

.

"...roba. Oi Kuroba. Wake up."

"Ugh, give me five more minute…"

A sigh. "The two men seem to be on the move."

Kaito flung open his eyes.

Everywhere was still dark—

Like on that roof.

"De— Detective?" Kaito blinked, staring at Shinichi's face above his. "You've grown... bigger."

Shinichi frowned, moving his face away from Kaito and stood up from his squatting position. "What are you talking about?"

"Uh, nothing." Kaito sniffed and sat up. "What happened?"

"I said the two men seem to be on the move." Shinichi gestured his head over to the building's direction. "I thought to ask you to come and... see." He suddenly looked hesitant as he glanced at Kaito's bandaged leg. "I hope your sleep rejuvenated you a little."

"Yeah, I'm feeling better now," Kaito said, which was the truth. "But I need a hand."

Shinichi stuck his arm out for Kaito to lift himself off the ground. He dusted his legs and attempted a stretch. The bleeding had stopped for now, but it still ached when he tried to move, though it was nothing that Kaito or Kaitou Kid couldn't endure.

Shinichi took the lead as they manoeuvred their way down the forest path and towards the building. The sun hadn't risen, but there were signs of activities from the birds and bugs in the forest. It made Kaito wonder how long he had slept.

"Have you been keeping a lookout the entire time?" Kaito asked.

"Yes."

"You didn't sleep?"

"No." Shinichi gave Kaito a glance. "Your snoring was too loud for me."

A second ago Kaito was feeling bad, but he wasn't anymore. "I can sue you for defamation."

"By all means—" Shinichi stopped and raised his hand (and this time Kaito was quick to realize before he knocked into Shinichi again).

They were a few steps away from the end of the forest.

Exchanging a silent signal, they crouched together before making a dash out of the forest, past a small field, and towards the row of thick bushes that surrounded the side of the building. Ignoring the pain from his leg, Kaito kneeled on one knee to elevate himself better and observed from behind their hiding spot.

True to what Shinichi said, the two men were standing in the front yard outside the building, one looking at his watch while the other was on his phone.

"Are they waiting for something?" Kaito whispered. "Do you think they changed their trading time?"

Shinichi shook his head next to Kaito. "They don't have any goods with them, but I can't say for sure."

The sun was slowly rising, taking shadows and darkness away with its light. Kaito used the opportunity and peeped at Shinichi. He looked tired but focused, but what Kaito couldn't believe was how his hair remained the same throughout the entire day and night.

Life's fair like that.

"There's a van."

"Huh— Oh, yeah. A van." Kaito regained his composure, acting as if he totally wasn't distracted and thinking about Shinichi's hair three seconds ago. He looked over just in time to watch the said van driving into the front yard of the building. After parking, three men got off; the driver twirling with the key like how Kaito did for his bike.

Aw, Kaito missed his bike.

"I think they are changing shifts," Shinichi said.

"If only there is a way we can get onto that van." Kaito pulled out his card gun from his sleeve and checked his cartridge. "Hm, I only have two shots left. Should I try?"

"No," Shinichi snapped. "You're injured. They are armed. Or at least two of them are. It's a risk we can't take."

"Is that concern I hear, detective?"

"It's dread." Shinichi sent Kaito a disdainful look. "I don't want to carry your dead body back."

Kaito kept his card gun grudgingly. "Then now what?"

Shinichi touched his chin, thinking. "We can—"

"What the hell!"

In sync, they looked at each other before raising their heads like two rabbits looking out of their burrow, trying to detect the cause for the yell.

Kaito gasped.

Mochi?!

Failing for who-knows-how-many-times, the driver's comrades tried to swat Mochi away as it flew up, out of their reach, before swooping down to peck the driver's face again and again until he finally dropped his key onto the ground. Before they could react, Mochi snatched the keys with its beak and angled its flight towards Kaito and Shinichi's direction.

It dropped the key onto Kaito's hand and flew away again.

"Wh—Who is there!" one of the men exclaimed, noticing Kaito and Shinichi's heads above the bushes.

"Shit, is it Kid?"

"Kid? Like Kaitou Kid?!"

But their conversation didn't continue, and neither did they manage to pull out their guns to start a war, because at the very next second, they were all swarmed by a flock of birds; their hands too busy trying to protect their face and eyes from being pecked on.

"Mochi!" Kaito exclaimed to the sky. "Our life saviour—"

Shinichi grabbed Kaito's wrist, pulling him up. "Let's run already!" he yelled.

Registering the chance, they jumped over the bushes, sprinting across the front yard and towards the van.

One of the men was a little smarter than the rest — he suddenly laid flat on the ground, his face briefly away from the attacking birds as he whipped out a gun from the back of his pants.

But Kaito noticed it too. Before he pulled his card gun out, he tossed the key to Shinichi and then shot, hitting the man's gun away and out of reach.

As if realizing what they missed, more birds swooped down and attacked that man.

"Get on!" Shinichi already started the van.

Kaito did.

As Shinichi reversed the vehicle to get back on the road, Kaito unrolled the window and whistled a special tune only his trained doves would recognise. A flutter of white, and in a second Mochi flew into the van and settled its wings on Kaito's headrest.

Shinichi sped off.

Kaito let the silence fully sink in before ruining it with a heartfelt sigh.

"What a fantastic morning exercise." Kaito waved his card gun in the air. Maybe he should save his last card shot as a memento.

"…How many doves do you own?" Shinichi asked.

Kaito watched the wing mirror. The birds were still attacking, but after Mochi left the group, some started to disperse, as if the fun was over for them.

"12."

"That looks nowhere close to 12," Shinichi retorted. "The number's got to be at least three times of that."

"None of them were my remaining 11 doves." Kaito laughed and patted Mochi's head. "Mochi probably made some friends in the forest and gathered them for help."

Shinichi looked like he wanted to comment on something but didn't in the end.

"Oh." Kaito snapped his fingers. "I know the answer now."

Shinichi's eyes remained on the road. "Know what?"

"It's Mochi, isn't it?" Kaito grinned. "Because clearly, only the amazing Kaitou Kid can raise a dove so smart and well. That’s how you figured my identity out."

"I won't deny that your dove is smart, but no. It has nothing to do with it."

"Can't you just tell me already?" Kaito grumbled.

Shinichi shook his head, but a small smile danced across his lips until they disappear. "Why don't you be useful and find me a phone. I need to call for backup before they take everything and escape."

"Oh, right." Kaito straightened, deciding to focus what was more crucial on hand. He leaned forward and patted around the bottom of his seat, trying to feel for a secret phone. But remembering Shinichi's opinion about these men in comparison to the BO, he opened the glove compartment, revealing a dozen of phones, probably stolen.

"Nice," Shinichi said, which was a little funny because it sounded like what Kaito would say instead.

"Lady Luck is really shining on us." Kaito picked one out and switched it on. "The day can't get any better."

Shinichi gave Kaito a side-long glance. "Your leg is bleeding on the seat."

"...Damn. I almost forgot about that."

.

.

"Abandoned building discovered to be a criminal hideout." (Click More to Read)

It had been two days since that crazy night and three hours since an official statement was released to public. And given that time gap in announcement, there were more rumours than legitimate news online, but Kaito read them all, even though the details were either repetitive and the same.

And that was good, of course. Because what he feared more was finding something new, like the possibility that one of the criminals mentioned Kid was at the scene or something.

But so far there was none; either these men had completely forgotten about his existence and blamed the birds for their downfall or Shinichi had kept everything perfectly under wraps—

"Kaito!"

"Aoko?" Kaito scooted himself to the side of the campus bench so his childhood friend could sit beside him. "What are you doing here? Don't you have lessons now?"

"It's cancelled and I'm on my way back to the dorm." Aoko tilted her head. "And what are you doing here?"

"I finished my assignments so I'm just chilling outside." (He had been in bed all day yesterday because of his leg and he needed a breather.)

"Oh— Did you change your phone?"

"Yeah." Kaito twirled his new phone around for show. "I accidentally broke my old one." Though luckily, he had everything on cloud, including the photos he took yesterday.

"I see that you're also reading the recent news too; I was actually going to text you about it." Aoko stared at Kaito's phone screen, snorting. "Finally something that isn't about Kaitou Kid."

Kaito grimaced and tilted his screen away. "I have the freedom to read whatever I want."

Aoko stuck out her tongue, but her cheeky expression didn't last when she returned her attention to the news again. "Anyway, who knew the abandoned building we explored just two weeks ago would house such dangerous people! Gosh."

"Well—"

"Luckily we heeded Kudo-kun's advice and left." Aoko rubbed the side of her arms nervously. "Although it would be a great scoop, the risk is too much."

"In case you forgot, it was I who suggested to leave first."

"Fine, fine, Bakaito. Don't be jealous." She gestured her head to his phone. "I'll leave you to your reading and we can text later. I'm going back to finish up my projects first."

Kaito still had a lot of things to say, and one of the things was that he was not jealous. But he arranged the priorities in his head and pulled Aoko's bag, stumbling her back again.

"Wait, I have a question."

"What?"

"You and that Kudo detective exchanged emails, right? Did you tell him any weird info about me?"

Aoko raised an eyebrow. "What is there for me to say?"

"I don't know. Just— Anything. Did you tell him anything?"

"I didn't. In fact, we didn't talk much. He only sent me the photos and I asked for his permission to use his quote."

"Really?" Kaito frowned. "That's it?"

The glint in Aoko's eyes made Kaito a little uncomfortable. "Is there something you want me to tell him for you?"

"No."

"Or you can tell him yourself if you want. I have his email address—"

"Bye Aoko." Kaito waved her off and pretentiously stared his phone, as if it contained the answer to the existence of the universe.

Aoko chuckled. "Bye Kaito." She waved and skipped her way towards the direction of her dorm.

Kaito glanced up, watching Aoko's back disappear behind the school building.

Besides worrying if Kid's presence at the abandoned building would be exposed, Shinichi's early discovery about his identity was also bugging him as well. He had been betting all on the chance that Aoko had mentioned something crucial to Shinichi, but if she didn't, then how on earth did he figure it out?

A chime came from Kaito's phone and he almost didn't recognise it as his ringtone since he just changed it. He looked at the caller ID.

Unknown number? Kaito frowned, alert on the rise.

He picked up the call. "Hello?"

"Is this Kuroba Kaito?"

Kaito blinked, his heart lurched. "...Detective?"

"We found your bike."

"Holy shit." Kaito flung up from his seat, earning curious stares from other students. That was two surprises in a row, the first being receiving a call from Kudo freaking Shinichi. "You serious?"

"Do I sound like I'm kidding?"

"I thought it's a goner," Kaito said. "Or even if it's not, it'll be kept as an evidence to prosecute Kid."

"I've settled the Kid problem. Don't worry."

"Oh." Kaito managed to hide his third surprise well. "Thanks for that."

"When are you free?"

The question got Kaito a little more flustered than he should be. "Why?"

"You need to come to the headquarters to fill in some forms before you can take your bike back."

"Right, of course." Kaito was tempted to slap a hand over his forehead. "I can come over now." He paused. "But are you free? Is your murder magnet not activated today?"

Kaito could perfectly imagine Shinichi's eye roll. "I'm free now."

"Okay. See you later."

Cutting the call, Kaito made his way towards the metro station (and till this day he wasn't sure if he was actually excited to reunite with his bike or at the thought of meeting Kudo Shinichi in a while.)

.

.

Even if all the other officers around them were busy shouting around and finding clues to solve their cases, there was no telling who would be watching, listening or both. So during the entire documentation process, Kaito burrowed his face deep into the papers while Shinichi silently watched across the table.

And it didn't help when their faces looked alike—

That thought gave Kaito a new guess.

So the moment when they were alone and standing at the parking lot outside the headquarters (and also after Kaito had spent three minutes cradling his bike and looking for scratches), Kaito spoke:

"I know the answer now, and this must be it."

Shinichi stuck a hand into his work pants, eyebrows raised. "You're still guessing?"

"Duh."

"Didn't you mention there are some things that are best to remain a mystery?"

It was such a long time ago since they had that conversation during one of his heists, and Kaito briefly wondered how Shinichi remembered his words so well. Kaito cleared his throat. "That doesn't count when the mystery involves my identity and my ability of hiding it."

"Fair point," Shinichi said. "So what's your guess?"

Kaito pointed at Shinichi before tapping a finger on his own cheek. "It's because we have the same face."

Shinichi blinked.

Did I get it right?

Shinichi took a step back and scrutinised Kaito from head to toe. "To be honest, I don't see how we are that similar..."

Kaito wrinkled his nose. "What are you talking about? I don't need to put on a mask to disguise you and fool everyone."

"Yes, but no. This so-called similarity of our faces wasn't what that made me figure out your identity," Shinichi said, before he muttered almost incoherently under his breath, "besides, it's not only you that have the same face as me. That Okita..."

"What?"

Shinichi sighed and run a hand through his hair. "It's not the answer," was his final verdict.

"I officially give up." Kaito stuck his hands into his pockets. "Please. Just tell me already." (He barely refrained himself from admitting how he had been thinking about this the entire time.)

Shinichi bit his lip.

A pause.

An intake of breath.

"It was the way you stood when I saw you and Nakamori that day," Shinichi said. "It screamed to me that you're Kaitou Kid."

Kaito was too dumbfounded to even speak.

"Even the way you stand now." Shinichi gestured a hand over at Kaito, continuing, "You look just like the first time I met you as Conan and the last time I met you as Conan, too. You've been Kaitou Kid for years, Kuroba. You're not just Kaitou Kid; you've become Kaitou Kid — his essence and everything."

Kaito straightened, feeling extremely conscious with all the movements he was making now. "Just.. from this?"

Shinichi nodded. "It was the first thing that ignited my suspicions. The following things that happened only continued to confirm my theory... Especially the lock. Your acting is ridiculous."

Kaito scowled, whatever tension in the air he felt vanished. "Wow, thanks."

"Are you satisfied with my answer?"

"Of course not," Kaito muttered. Raising a hand, he copied one of Kid's signature wave movements. "But I always made sure there's a difference in whatever I do as Kid." An ace of heart between his fingers and gone the next. "Kid is still him. And I'm still... me."

"So Kaito is Kaito after all!"

He recalled Aoko said that to him after that stupid Sun Halo incident a long time ago. Kaito clenched his fist and stuck it back into his pocket.

Could it be that she also...?

"You may not notice, but those differences you created have turned into a part of you now." Suddenly, Shinichi looked tired as his eyes drooped at whatever memories that flashed across his mind. "It took me a long time before I got rid of Conan's manners and routines; I understand what it feels like."

Kaito crossed his arms. "But what if I don't mind it?"

"Given that you're good friends with Nakamori, I don't see why you'll be. Unless you're planning to admit your identity to her anytime soon." Shinichi lowered his voice. "She's honestly smarter than you think."

There was nothing Kaito could say to argue back.

"To stop the change, you have to stop being Kid." Shinichi face turned solemn, almost a replica of the Edogawa Conan that Kaito met on their last encounter:

"If you ever need my help, I'm willing to give it to you, just as much as you did when I asked."

"My offer still stands, you know." Shinichi finally said.

The arms around Kaito's chest tightened, and his thoughts stretched as long as the growing silence. Even after so many years, Kaito never failed to wake up every day and wonder if he could ever bring Snake down, avenge his father or even find Pandora; he still had some trouble putting trust in himself that he didn't see a point to put it in others.

But there was something about the way Shinichi stood before him, looking so determined as if he was born to be, and it made Kaito think, crazily, that if he really had to choose one person to put his trust in, that person would be...

"Regardless, I've said what I wanted to say." The determination in Shinichi's eyes faltered and he looked... deflated? Kaito couldn't tell, or understand, why the detective would be feeling that too—

"How is your injury?" Shinichi said instead, already changing the subject.

In return, Kaito observed the fading bruise on Shinichi's cheek; he supposed he didn’t have to ask back the question.

"This is definitely concern I’m hearing, right detective?" Kaito smirked, though Shinichi remained unamused. He wiggled his leg for show. "As you can see, I'm better now."

"Good."

Kaito leaned against his bike, hoping for both physical and mental support. Every second that passed was making it harder for Kaito to return back to that moment...

He bit his lip.

A pause.

An intake of breath.

"Thanks, detective."

"...For what?"

"For that offer of yours again." Kaito nodded. "I'll think about it."

Shinichi blinked, surprised.

But just when Kaito thought it was the end, Shinichi smiled, and it was completely unexpected that Kaito almost thought he imagined it.

"You know where to find me."

Kaito needed a while to regain his composure. "…But how will I know if you're free for me to find, murder-magnet?"

"Given your lovely intel, you should know better."

This time, Kaito allowed Shinichi to have the last word in, and he only grinned back in return.

.

.

Even though Aoko knew Kaito since childhood, it was still hard for her to understand him completely at times, especially given his erratic behaviours and attitude. But at least out of everything, Aoko did know one thing consistent about him, and it would be his love for his dad, magic, and doves...

And a specific bench on their campus too?

As usual after Aoko was released from her afternoon class, she spotted Kaito sitting alone on that same campus bench again, helmet by his side and phone in his hand. It wasn't as if he didn't have a dorm to rest in or friends to find, but then again, this was just another behaviour of his that Aoko didn't understand.

(But maybe it was partially her fault, because she never found the need or courage to ask Kaito for answers too.)

Aoko slowed her pace, trying to tiptoe her way towards the bench and give Kaito a scare. But when a white figure swooped down from the sky and landed on his lap, she was the one that got a shock instead.

A dove!

"Kaito!"

Kaito glanced up, his eyes widened and mouth parting about to speak.

"Wait!" Aoko raised a hand, stopping him before pointing at his dove. "Let me guess. Is it Pocky?"

Kaito grinned. "Nope."

"Mochi?"

Mochi cooed.

"Impressive. Not bad for your second try."

Aoko showed a peace sign and sat next to Kaito after he shifted in his position. "What is Mochi doing here?"

Kaito indirectly answered her as he pulled a string and unrolled the note that was tied to Mochi's foot.

Aoko leaned over, trying to see what was written on the note. But besides catching a glimpse of the neat handwriting, she couldn't derive anything else as Kaito turned half of his back towards her and covered the note in his hand.

"Please respect my privacy, Ahouko."

"But I want to know what that is!"

"No."

"Why?"

"Not going to tell you."

Aoko snickered. "Is it a love letter?" 

Kaito rolled his eyes. "Whatever you want to think." He stood up, taking his helmet and releasing Mochi back into the sky. "Anyway I have to go. Say hi to your dad for me when you visit him over the weekends."

Given the recent announcement of Kid's upcoming heist, Aoko wasn't sure about the plan anymore when she knew her dad wouldn't be at home much, but she didn't bother telling Kaito either. "Where are you going?" she asked instead, watching him from her seat.

"Finding the sender of the love letter."

Aoko crossed her arms with a huff. "Really?"

"Really."

"Fine, if that's the case. Please help me to tell that person I said hi too."

Kaito grinned. "Sure."

With that, he sped off. /end