#today is hakuba day i guess

[livmadart]

I raise you Ran and Hejii are clairvoyant with Hakuba is an empath. Would explain his fixation on motive (just because he can read the emotions doesn’t necessarily mean he can understand the reasonings behind actions that stemmed from said emotions especially if they’re conflicting and complicated like with Kaito and Kid) it could also explain why he’s the DCMK great detective least involved with murder cases especially if he can’t really use his powers to help him solve the case. Or at least not consistently enough to depend on it. Also find his introduction to Aoko having parallels to Kaito’s introduction to her being highlighted if he can feel/see her hurt at Kaito refusing to go to the concert with her.

I really like Putting Hakuba Into Situations so this is extremely appealing to me. Thank you for your ask!

[fuyine]

Prompt: When you are sick || Gosho Boys

warnings!!! excessive fluff, characters are highschoolers, endearments, and there are grammatical errors ahead. Please read with a grain of salt.

Pairings: kudo shinichi, hakuba saguru, hattori heiji, kuroba kaito x gn!reader (separately)

The moment you stepped foot in Poirot for a coffee day out with him—which happens once in a blue moon—he could tell right away that you were not in the condition to go out today.

From your choice of shoes to your odd color combination of clothes and your pallid face, drained of color and making you appear almost ghostly, he noticed. Adding to his concern was the way you walked: a sluggish, unsteady gait, as if each step was a monumental effort.

When you sat down across from him, before you could even greet him, he beat you to it.

"Change of plans. Let's head to my place and watch a movie instead."

At the Kudo mansion, he had both of you surrounded by blankets. He made sure to make up for your coffee date by having this movie marathon. With a fever patch on your forehead, he made sure to keep you hydrated from time to time.

Although you weren't burning up too much, he was cautious and insisted you stay on the couch while he got what you needed. He would spare some time for tales of Sherlock and watch the movie in peace with you in his arms.

At some point, his mom visited. Learning that you were sick, Yukiko spoiled you with her cooking and scolded Shinichi for not realizing that you were sick sooner before your date.

You sweat-dropped as you watched Shinichi getting scolded in the kitchen, he then walked back towards you with a cup of tea and placed it on the table.

"Mom made that. She says it'll help you feel a bit relaxed," he said, sitting down next to you and watching you curl up with a smile.

"Your mom is the best."

He let out a soft hum in agreement. "She is. Now drink up," he said, subtly checking your temperature by tucking a strand of hair behind your ear, his fingertip brushing softly against your forehead.

He was glad you weren't burning up as much as before.

Guess who would ditch their flight to London and come back to you?

Hakuba Saguru. The man of time.

When he received your call—where you were intending to check if he had arrived safely at the airport and apologized for not being able to accompany him—he heard you sneeze and cough multiple times, and concluded you were sick.

Reassuring him that you only missed a couple of classes and would get back to it with no worries worried him. The content of the call was less about him and more about you.

After ending the call to take a nap, you woke up nearly eight in the evening. Realizing you had missed dinner, you heard the door of your bedroom suddenly open.

There he was, walking through the door and toward the bed, in his white button-up blouse with its sleeves rolled up to his elbow, holding a tray of porridge.

Blinking not twice but thrice, you thought you were hallucinating that he was here.

"You're awake," he smiled at you and placed the tray on the nightstand before sitting on the edge of the bed and reaching to touch your forehead. "Mhm, you're not burning up anymore," he said, to which your eyes went wide as saucers as the realization hit you.

"Saguru?!" He's supposed to be in London by now, solving a case! you thought to yourself.

"Yes, my love?" he replied smoothly before cupping your right cheek, as if ditching the case wasn't a big deal to him. "You're supposed to be in London, why—"

"What do you mean?" he quickly intervened. "I can catch my flight again once you're better. I can't leave knowing you're bedridden, sick, dying, with no one to take care of you," he exaggerated.

Your lips formed a small pout, insisting that you were perfectly capable on your own, but he dismissed it with a chuckle.

"I insist on staying," he said, leaving no room for argument.

With that, the room felt a little livelier with his presence, tending to your weak condition with hot porridge and whispers of sweet nothings, reassuring you.

"My love, no time is wasted when it comes to you."

This guy… would take care of you with little snide comments, "How are you going to catch me, Kid, in that condition now, hmm?" He cutely pops out a rose and places it in the vase on your nightstand.

He visited you after school and has been doing so for the past three days of your absence. He would hand over Aoko's notes to you, which he borrowed since he knew you would just complain about his handwriting if he gave you his.

But it isn't about the handwriting; it's the thought that counts.

"You've been making origami? How is that going to catch— Oh, I see, they're cute," he hummed, throwing a ball into the air as he leaned against a table.

"Do you still have medicine? Do you want me to run down to the pharmacy for you?"

This guy is always attentive when it comes to taking care of you, with a few flirty comments here and there, no doubt. But you wouldn't complain about his company at all.

He would often lift the mood by showing you his magic tricks and would boast, "I am better than Kid," although he's Kid himself.

"Seriously, Kaito, you're making a clown of yourself at this point."

"Hah? No way! I'm taking care of you with my special performance. You should be grateful!"

Just like Kaito, he would deliver his notes straight to you right after school. His notes. He's a detective; surely his handwriting isn't as bad as the thief's.

He would accompany you, making sure you weren't gloomed up in your room, and would take you outside to the balcony for a little sun.

He would swing his kendo sword, letting you watch some of his moves. On other days, he would cuddle up with you and watch a police detective documentary in your living room.

At night, his mom visited you with dinner-packed boxes. They were warmly wrapped and really healthy for a sick person. She was also skilled in kendo and would gossip about Heiji from when he used to train and share funny moments from his childhood.

One of those moments was when Heiji slipped on the wooden floorboard when he swung his sword too fast, and his body didn't follow.

Heiji's brow would twitch, and he would say, "They don't need to know about that, old hag."

After some time, when you felt a little better, he would promise to take you to the ramen shop he had invited you to before you got sick.

He knew Osaka like the back of his hand; he would take you anywhere, just name the place.

[endekashi]

思ったより酷え。

It's worse than I thought.

ここ三日間、雨だった白馬ヴァレー。しかも今回はかなり上まで雨だったっぽい。さあて、どうしたもんかねえ。

The Hakuba Valley has been raining for the past three days. And this time, it seemed to have rained up to the very top of the valley. What should we go now?

本日のカスタマーはフロムノルウェー。

なんと皆さんまだ19歳！！高校の卒業旅行だそうで。そりゃあさぞ楽しいでしょうよ。皆さんもれなく巨人です。

栂池の高いところが安パイなのですが、既に他のガイドと行ってしまっていたので、あまりコンディションは期待できませんが、違う場所へ来てみました。

Today's customer is From Norway.

What a surprise, everyone is only 19 years old! They are on their high school graduation trip. It must be a lot of fun for them. They are all giants.

Tsugaike would have been a safe choice, but they had already gone with other guides, so we decided to go to a different place even though the conditions were not so good.

雨のおかげですっかりカチカチ山です。申し訳程度に5cm程の新雪が載っかってます。なんだよ〜、思ったより全然降ってないじゃん。

今年のノルウェーの雪はどうなの？と聞くと、多分こっちよりある、だそうです。ま、まあでも来たからには楽しまないとね！

Thanks to the rain, the mountain is completely icy. There is about 5 cm of fresh snow on the mountain. What the heck, it hasn't snowed as much as I thought it would.

How is the snow in Norway this year? I asked him and he said, "Probably more than here. Well, I guess we have to enjoy it now that we are here!

ひとまずドロップイン。

悲しいかな、この程度の積もり方なら雪崩の心配は全然ありませんね。寧ろ、滑落の方が怖いです。

ガガガガガガ!

凍った斜面を滑る音が谷に響き渡ります。

Drop in for a moment.

Sadly, with this amount of snow, I'm not worried about avalanches at all. I'm more afraid of slipping and falling.

Ga-ga-ga-ga!

The sound of slipping on the frozen slope echoes through the valley.

昨日の雨で急な斜面は全層で落ちてしまっているところ多数。そして谷底にはデブリちゃんが。

Many steep slopes have fallen in all layers due to yesterday's rain. And there is debris at the bottom of the valley.

標高が下がれば少しは氷の層も柔らかくなるんじゃ無いかと期待しましたが…

I had hoped that the lower elevation would soften the ice layer a bit…

結局、濡れざらめではなくしっかり凍ってしまっていましたね。斜度の緩いこの林がまだ一番快適でした。

After all, it was frozen solid, not wet granite. This forest, with its gentle slope, was still the most comfortable.

ひとまずここで休憩しましょう。

Let's take a break here for a while.

あ！鳥だ！！

Ah! It's a bird!

コンディションは良くないものの、普段味わえない景色を楽しんでいる3人。

Although the conditions were not good, the three were enjoying the scenery they could not normally enjoy.

結局下まで降りても氷の斜面はいまいち緩まずに終わってしまいました〜。残念。

In the end, the icy slope didn't loosen up much even though we went down to the bottom~. Too bad.

さて、ここでもう一つの懸念事項。いや、盛り上がりポイントというべきか？

雨で増水した沢の渡渉です。

Now, here is another concern. Or should I say, a point of excitement?

It is the wading of the stream swollen by the rain.

いや〜なかなかな状態ですよこれは。いつもの穏やかな流れではないです。水飛沫が半端じゃねえっす。

Well, this is quite a state of affairs. It is not the usual gentle current. The splashes are tremendous!

前半はまだ石の上を歩いていけましたが

We could still walk on the stones in the first half.

後半はもうバシャバシャダッシュですね！

The second half is already a dash through the water!

テンション上がってもうどうなってもいいやって感じで、途中で立ち止まり、写真撮ってくれーって言う人。ごめーん、水滴が〜。

Someone was so excited that he didn't care what happened to him anymore, he stopped in the middle of the road and asked me to take his picture. Sorry, there's a drop of water.

カメラアピールして振り返ってくれたけど水滴が…。ごめんて〜。

He turned around to appeal to the camera, but there was a drop of water… Sorry again.

更にもう一箇所の渡渉も際どくて、どこから渡ろうか、なんならジャンプ台作って飛んじゃう？なんて話してるうちに、

Another crossing point was also difficult to cross. Why don't you build a jump platform and fly? While We were talking about it,,,

サクッと一人が渡ってしまったのでそちらから行くことに。

One person crossed quickly, so We decided to go from there.

滑りより渡渉の方が盛り上がりましたね。ブーツはびしゃびしゃです。

The wading was more exciting than the shredding. My boots are soaked.

帰り道にも新たなデブリが沢山ありました。

There was also a lot of new debris on the way home.

後で聞いたら栂池も中間より上のゴンドラは止まっていたようで。なかなか難しい日でしたね。

雪は残念でしたがアドベンチャーは盛り上がりました！いい雪滑った思い出よりこういう日のことの方が覚えてるもんですよね。なんつって〜。

まだまだ若い3人。これから楽しいこといっぱいあるでしょう！！なんつって〜。

残りの旅も最高な思い出ができますように！

本日もお疲れ山でした！&おしょっ様でしたー！！

I heard later that the gondolas above the mid station of Tsugaike were stopped. It was quite a difficult day.

Sorry about the snow, but the adventure was a lot of fun! I think we remember days like this more than memories of good snow. haha.

The three of us are still young. I'm sure we will have lots of fun in the future! haha.

I wish you all the best for the rest of your trip!

Thanks again for your hard work today!

[justiceraffles]

About the Gosho Boys and literary crime fiction

This is a lengthy text wall in which I ramble about detectives. It started out with me thinking about the Gosho boys and their relationship with classic mystery fiction and literary/fictional detectives and it ended up derailing into a Hakuba rabbit hole in which I overanalyse details pointlessly for hours because I guess that is simply how most of my free time is spent.

(Fair warning that this is probably ridden with mistakes because I am capable of only 1.3 thoughts at a time)

So, when it comes to Shinichi, Heiji and Kaito, they all have a literary character from classic detective fiction that they’re closely associated with. Namely, it’s Sherlock Holmes for Shinichi, Ellery Queen for Heiji, and Arsène Lupin for Kaito. The relationship they hold with each of these figures (and with crime fiction in general) is very different, but it’s quite telling of their personality, character, their relationship with literature, and their respective approach to their profession. I talk about each of them a little bit and then just spend half the time talking about Hakuba. 

Shinichi is born in a household where mystery fiction is extremely important. He is surrounded by this type of story and his parents nurture this interest actively. Detectives and mysteries permeate his life wholly. For Shinichi, Holmes is seen as the maximum exponent of a genre. Holmes is The Great Detective. The archetype, the one that defines what it means to be a detective and the one later writers will seek to emulate one way or another. Detective fiction is what it is today because of Holmes, so it makes complete sense for Shinichi to have him as his idol. Holmes is what he strives to be and it’s what people associate him with. 

Heiji is a lot more subtle than Shinichi is, but he is also very much a lit nerd. Ellery Queen is both a character and a pseudonym for the writers that created him. As a character, Ellery Queen is such a perfect choice for Heiji’s favourite detective. He’s a mystery writer who doubles as a sleuth and helps his father, a police inspector, in solving crimes. Wonder if that sounds familiar, huh. Aside from similarities in the character (I could go on about some passages that have such strong Heiji vibes I’d be here forever) the Queen novels challenge the reader very directly. They tell you to pay attention, that you are presented with the exact same clues as the detective and should therefore be able to solve the mystery as well. The mystery story is a competition and the author issues a challenge by presenting it to the reader. I love this because Heiji has a huge competitive streak, and this is highlighted from his introduction. To find that the stories he’s passionate about also encourage this side of him is just so fitting and appropriate. 

The case where Shinichi and Heiji meet always makes me think of the contrast between reading a Holmes novel and a Queen story. Personally, I feel like the enjoyment of a Holmes story often relies on letting yourself be awed by the deduction. You can follow along with the mystery but a big part of the charm is based on the detective himself and the way he explains the thought process that leads him to his conclusion. You’re meant to sit down and enjoy as Holmes explains himself, and admire his brilliance. There’s a focus on the truth and the way to reach it, which is very, very Shinichi. A Queen novel, on the other hand, invites you to play along as you read. You are on equal standing with the detective, and it’s up to you to reach the same conclusion he does. These are the principles of “fair-play” in mystery fiction. As it implies, it is very much a game! So Heiji challenging Shinichi to a battle of wits and deductions goes perfectly in line with what he’s reading. Holmes is the genius detective you look up to with admiration, Queen is a sleuth that invites you to solve the crime alongside him. These suit the vibes that Shinichi and Heiji give off themselves very well. 

Kaito is much, much different for obvious reasons. He’s not a detective, and he’s not nearly as much of a mystery geek as the others are. The entire KID persona is closely associated with Arséne Lupin because Toichi fashions it accordingly. Even if phantom thieves aren’t quite the same as Leblanc’s original idea for the Gentleman Burglar, they still have a clear origin in Lupin and there’s important similarities to be made between them. Storytelling-wise, KID heists work on the same principles as Lupin stories. You know the criminal is there, hidden amongst the cast presented to you, and you know he will carry out the crime. And, regardless of whether you have an inkling of an idea of how he’s going to pull it off or not, you still allow yourself to be amazed by his methods regardless when the trick is revealed! Even when the schemes are outlandish and border on the fantastical and unbelievable, the stories are best enjoyed when you suspend your disbelief and allow the plots and characters to be over the top. But well, the connection between Lupin and KID is fairly self-explanatory. So, rather than KID, I think it’s more interesting to think about the relationship between Lupin and Kaito himself.  

Kaito doesn’t seek to be seen as a modern day-Lupin in the same way Shinichi wants to be a modern day-Holmes. Unlike Shinichi who becomes a detective in great part because he has Holmes as his idol, Kaito doesn’t become a thief because of his admiration towards a literary character, but because of his love and admiration towards his father. Kaito dons the KID suit with pride because it’s something his father left behind, and he embraces each part of it because it can lead to answers and understanding. But, always cryptic, Lupin doesn’t provide a whole lot of answers and understanding, and neither does Toichi. Lupin admits that he struggles to recognise himself under all the disguises and roles he has played. The truth behind his father’s character seems to become more elusive the more Kaito becomes involved with thievery. The “gentleman thief” persona, despite being charming and theatrical, has consequences on a personal life. 

...And then there’s Hakuba. 

Hakuba is complicated. 

But, Raffles! You say, Saguru is another Sherlock geek!

Well, yes. Of course he is. The deerstalker outfit and him naming his hawk Watson make that clear. Hakuba is an absolute Holmes nerd. 

I’m here to read too deeply into it when it’s most definitely not that deep at all. But, there’s never enough information about Hakuba and I have a blast overthinking stuff. So that’s what we’re gonna do! 

Despite obviously being a big fan, Hakuba’s relationship with Holmes is different from that of Shinichi’s. 

First, we don’t get to see Hakuba nerding out about Holmes novels and stories in the same way Shinichi does. He doesn’t quote Holmes at length or go on about how much he loves the books. Instead, we know Hakuba’s a nerd because he’s apparently passionate enough about this character to include things associated with him into his own personal image and identity.

Second, there’s the way others perceive him. Shinichi and Kaito (as KID) get “Heisei Holmes” and “Reiwa Lupin”. Despite irking a couple officers every now and again, Heiji is held in high regard and considered a great detective by the police force. Hakuba has a considerable amount of fame, but he doesn’t receive the same amount of trust people place on Shinichi and Heiji. It’s easy to forget because Hakuba acts with a lot of confidence and familiarity around crime scenes, but several of his appearances highlight the way his presence is tolerated at heists because of his father’s influence and is generally seen as an outsider. The police take orders from Shinichi and look up to him for advice— it’s not quite the same with Hakuba. More often than not, Nakamori treats Hakuba like a visitor or observer than a consulting detective. All of this rambling to say that even though he presents himself that way, Hakuba isn’t (or, at least, isn’t seen as) the Holmes he admires.  

So, if not Holmes, is there anyone that suits Hakuba better?

I’d say yes and no. 

As far as I can recall, the series never makes any explicit comparisons or references to other detectives when Hakuba is concerned. That said, much like you’d associate the deerstalker and Watson to Holmes, Hakuba has some other quirks and behaviours reminiscent of other detectives. Now, I’m not here to say that Hakuba was made deliberately as a compilation of references to literary detectives. These similarities are admittedly mostly coincidences. That said, deliberate or not, I think an argument can still be made that the connections exist! And well, considering the lack of concrete information about Saguru, thinking about them is fun. So this is what I think: 

One of Hakuba’s most prominent quirks is his fixation with time and exactitude. His pocket watch is a memorable prop and being precise about minutes and seconds is an important part of his character. You can find very similar behaviour in Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot, who also carries a pocket watch around and is extremely particular about punctuality and numbers. Another thing interesting about Poirot is that he’s most interested in the psychology behind a crime, in understanding the mindset of the killer. Poirot mysteries have each of the suspects explaining their own version of events, because the detective wants to understand everyone’s version of perceiving the truth. In other words, Poirot mysteries have a focus on the whydunnit. 

You can probably tell that now I’m going to gesture wildly at Hakuba’s “Why did you do it”

Speaking of Hakuba’s signature question, it’s probably also worth mentioning the Father Brown stories by G.K Chesterton. The sleuth is a catholic priest, and after his deduction and identifying the culprit, the stories usually end with the priest spending time with the criminal. Before an arrest is made, Father Brown has a private meeting with the killer (or thief). It’s implied that this is carried out as a personal confession of sins, and expresses a need to seek out an understanding of the motive as perceived by the criminal themselves. 

I say this because the catchphrase does come off as a little strange. It’s curious that Hakuba asks why when we usually expect the detective to be able to sort it out by himself. But, it’s really not that strange to find equivalents to it in stories that focus on the psychological part of the crime and empathy towards them. 

(Also worth mentioning that both Christie and Chesterton were presidents of the Detection Club, a group of writers during the golden age of detective fiction that based their stories around the concept of “fair-play” that I mentioned earlier when I was talking about Heiji.  

Back on track: Hakuba and Poirot share key similarities. 

HOWEVER! There are also differences between them. I’m referring to the fact that Poirot puts the most emphasis on this psychological level of a crime. Poirot says “I am not one to rely upon the expert procedure. It is the psychology I seek, not the fingerprint or the cigarette ash” On the other hand, I’d argue that out of all of the Gosho boys, Hakuba is the most fastidious about procedure. He has some level of knowledge of forensic investigation and places importance upon it.

Sherlock’s methods do draw inspiration from precursors of forensic science, so you could trace it back to that. You could also go to R. Austin Freeman’s Dr. John Thorndyke, who is inspired by Holmes, but places a heavier focus on the scientific method behind deductions. Thorndyke is probably the one to properly kickstart the forensic/medical sleuth subgenre that grows later with the improvement and development of DNA evidence and technology. We have Hakuba being observant enough to find one of KID’s hairs, and then use Hakuba labs to narrow his identity down. It doesn’t resemble Poirot’s methods, it also isn’t quite Sherlockian, but it does resemble other classic british sleuths!

OKAY, COOL. WHERE ARE YOU GOING WITH THIS RAFFLES. 

I’M NOT REALLY SURE! I NEVER KNOW WHAT I’M DOING! I JUST WANTED TO TALK ABOUT HAKUBA AND DETECTIVE STORIES. 

Alright. This is more of a personal interpretation/headcanon than anything else, but unlike the other three Gosho boys, who have one  clear inspiration/basis/model, I like the idea of Hakuba reading a vast array of detective novels and picking up the little habits, methods, that he finds interesting or comforting. The deerstalker, the name for his hawk, his pocketwatch, his signature question, his methods, his knack for competition, all of them handpicked from the things that he enjoys most about detectives. 

It’s also worth mentioning that all of the authors for these stories I’m associating with Hakuba are British. The thought of him being passionate about English authors as a way to understand his English side of the family is a headcanon I quite enjoy. And, technically, the same could apply to his Japanese side as well. I can imagine young Saguru reading Rampo’s Kogoro Akechi stories and also wanting a rival like the Fiend of Twenty Faces and jumping at the chance of chasing KID because how much he resembles the character. Or appreciating Akako’s cryptic clues because Rampo’s fiction also has supernatural edge to it. 

I don’t know. I just like the idea of Saguru learning about the world, his family, and himself through literature? This is pure, unapologetic self-indulgence on my part, I have to admit. 

Though, if I HAD to assign one specific detective to Saguru, I think it would probably be Poe’s C. Auguste Dupin. Poe’s stories with the character as seen as the start of detective fiction, and Dupin serves as the prototype for detectives to come — even Holmes, even if he doesn’t get nearly as much recognition as Conan Doyle’s detective today. Despite the fact that Hakuba is the original teenage detective in the series, and he’s also often forgotten and neglected by both Gosho and a big portion of the fandom. Even so, he paved the way for Shinichi and Heiji, and is very important regardless. 

Anyway! I don’t know why I wrote this and I am now very embarrassed but thanks for reading all the way!

[nxrthmizu]

disappearing trick — SaguKai

━━━━━━━

fandom | magic kaito 

pairing | kuroba kaito x hakuba saguru 

genre | angst to fluff :3 

w.c | 2.1k 

━━━━━━━

It was a heist went wrong. 

So, so wrong. 

There were explosions and gunshots, all of which Hakuba was about 99.99% sure wasn’t in KID’s itinerary of the night. He remembered catching a glimpse of a torn white cape, the grimace of pain clear as day despite the lack of helicopters overhead, and men dressed in black. 

“KID—!” Hakuba had yelled, which, looking back, was not the smartest thing he could’ve done. The barrels of two guns instantaneously locked on him, much to the phantom thief’s horror. 

It seemed like it was the end for Hakuba Saguru. 

But of course, KID always loved to meddle in things that didn’t involve him. And so he did what he always did best. 

KID was a performer, after all. He specialised in attracting his audience’s attention to him. Flashing a cocky smirk towards Hakuba’s direction, even though there was a stream of blood trickling down his cheek, the phantom thief disappeared into the night with a loud bang, taking the two men with him. 

Kuroba Kaito was ‘kidnapped’ the same night. 

According to Aoko, who had been in the Nakamouri house when the teen was attacked, there had been a loud crash, gunshots, and yelling. The girl had hid under the kitchen counter in fright, hoping and praying with all her heart that Kaito hadn’t been home at the time of the break-in. 

As it turned out, he was. 

The crime scene investigators turned Kuroba’s house upside down, finding multiple signs that the teen boy had been shot, if the splatters of blood (That all had Kaito’s DNA) was any indication. It was also concluded by the investigators that Kaito put up a hell of a fight, as there were signs of his magic tricks all through the house. 

Hakuba was still being treated for shock at the heist location when Detective Nakamouri received a call from his devastated, hysterical daughter, who sobbed so loudly through the phone that the blonde detective overheard.

It was only one disaster after another. 

For once, Hakuba chose to stay out of the crime scene, instead stroking Aoko’s back as comfortingly as he could, trying not to think about Kaito’s body, abandoned in some dark alley dumpster. His coat was soaked through with splotches of her tears, but he didn’t care much, because he himself felt like crying, too. 

━━━━━━━

School the next day was eerily quiet. Practically everyone had heard of Kaito’s kidnapping, and if they didn’t, Aoko’s swollen eyes were a dead giveaway that something had happened to the playful teen. The teacher kept glancing up, as if she was waiting for an interruption, only to flick her eyes onto the empty seat at the corner of the classroom. The topic lingered like a dark cloud above the classroom, and no one dared to even mention the name ‘Kaito’ when Aoko was within hearing distance. 

“He’s alive.” 

Hakuba glanced up after a few moments of silence, realising that Akako was talking to him. “What?” 

“Kuroba.” Akako continued impatiently. “He’s alive.” 

The blonde detective couldn’t help but snort. “And how did you come to that conclusion? Did your crystal ball tell you that?” 

Judging by the glare the female shot in his direction, she didn’t appreciate his snark, but Hakuba just couldn’t be bothered at the moment. “He won’t go down this easily.” Akako stated, as if she’d seen Kaito alive with her own two eyes. Granted, the image hadn’t exactly been clear when she used her seer powers on him, but she could go as far as saying that the magician was still breathing. 

“Look. He was shot.” Hakuba interrupted emotionlessly. “Even if the gunshot wasn’t fatal, he’s lost a lot of blood.”

“He won’t go out that easily. You’ll see.” 

━━━━━━━

Kuroba Kaito was pronounced dead after three months. KID went back into retirement— At least, that’s what the KID division announced after no sight of any heist in the horizon. 

After a long consideration, Hakuba decided to leave Japan behind— Along with the memories of KID and Kaito— And return to Britain. Some would call him cowardly, and he would admit, yes, it was cowardly of him to run away like that, but as far as he was concerned, he didn’t care what others thought of him. 

Sure, Aoko was a little upset, but Akako had reassured her that she wasn’t going anywhere. He did feel a little bad for leaving Nakamouri behind— All her friends were disappearing, one by one, after all— 

Disappearing. 

That was KID’s— Kaito’s last trick, Hakuba thought tearily, hastily ushering the tears away as he packed the last of his clothes into the luggage bag. A disappearing trick gone wrong— And the phantom thief KID, Kuroba Kaito— Two sides of the same coin— Dropped off the surface of the planet, never to be heard from again. 

But there was no point in crying over spilled milk anymore. 

“Saguru-kun, there’s a man looking for you outside.” His housekeeper knocked on the door, informing him monotonously. “He said he has a few things to tell you before you leave Japan.” 

A quick peer out of the window gave him a glimpse of dark brown hair— A familiar stature and height, a relaxed pose— 

Hakuba had never dashed out of his room that fast in his entire life. All composure and calamity was forgotten as he practically barrelled down the stairs, narrowly missing a few boxes of belongings he had wrapped up the days prior. The door burst open with a tremendous bang! as Hakuba hurried down the front steps of his house, hoping, praying, pleading that the face that he would meet belonged to— 

“Kudou-kun?” The tone of disappointment couldn’t be avoided as Hakuba remembered just how alike the detective and the magician looked. If he was asked, the two were definitely genetically related at some degree or another. “How may I help you today?” His tone was terribly strained; he had had expectations, and he had been let down. 

Kudou Shinichi, as the great detective that rivalled many others, took quick note of Hakuba’s inner turmoil. “Hakuba-kun. I have news that you might want to... Think about before you leave Japan.” 

“Go on.” Hakuba said bitterly. Nothing could stop him from leaving Japan, he thought. Not when every corner reminded him of the man that kept him on his feet. 

“Kuroba Kaito is very much alive.” Kudou said casually, with no prior preparation or whatsoever. Hakuba looked as if he was just hit by a freight train, stunned and dazed by the words that destroyed everything he knew about life. “He’s been staying undercover to help the FBI take down the Black Organisation, who, as if seems, was after Pandora as well. Because he’s been missing for three months, its’ going to be very hard for him to explain his absence— So he has requested for me to pass you this letter in his stead.” 

The thoughts running through Saguru’s head as the slim letter was received into his head were wild. Kaito was alive? He was involved with the FBI? What was the Black Organisation— And forget the Black Organisation, what the hell was Pandora? And why couldn’t Kaito have passed him the letter himself? 

“Well, I’m going to get going.” Kudou smiled gently. “See you around, Hakuba-kun.” 

━━━━━━━

It seems like your detective skills have mellowed since my absence, Hakubastard. Your observational ability is... Mediocre, to say the least. Anyway, I suppose I should provide you with an explanation (Although I would love to go world-hopping and leave you in pursuit of the truth for the rest of your life), but I guess I owe you this much after just upping and leaving like that. Those gun wounds hurt like hell, but they weren’t going to nuff this magician up that easily. I still had a couple tricks up my sleeve— It was nice seeing you all worried about me, though! So you do care~ 

Anyway, its still not too safe for me to appear publicly in Japan. I’ve sent a letter to Aoko, so don’t worry about filling her in. I left the meeting location in your bedroom. Exactly a month from now. Better set a reminder on that pocket watch of yours, tantei. 

With love malice, 

Kuroba Kaito

“My bedroom...?” Hakuba murmured to himself, realisation striking like a flash of lightning. A quick inspection of his room turned out with a slip of yellow paper: Rivals shall meet once more, in the romantic city people adore; When the clock strikes a quarter and by the Seine shop corner. 

Saguru rushed over to his bedroom window, eyes flicking up and down the nearby streets to find Kudou Shinichi’s silhouette, but he came up empty handed— For that wasn’t Kudou Shinichi at all... Because who else would break into his bedroom just to leave a riddle? 

It didn’t take long for Hakuba to figure out the time, date, and location— Kudou— No, Kaito had said so himself. Exactly a month from then— In the ‘romantic city people adore’— Which would be Paris— ‘clock strikes a quarter’— At a quarter of a day, which would be 6am— And by the ‘Seine shop corner’— So at a coffee shop next to River Seine. 

“Baa-san!” Saguru called out into the manor, a smile on his face. “Cancel my flight ticket and book one to Paris instead.” 

━━━━━━━

Paris at 6am was quite the pretty sight. The sun was barely rising over the horizon, little splays of light shimmying over the river surface, bathing Paris in a fine, gold threads of sunshine. Not that many cafes were open at the crack of dawn, which made it even easier for Saguru to track down his cafe. 

The little coffee shop by the Seine provided an amazing view as Saguru enjoyed his morning coffee. He had taken a seat outside the cafe, the streets silent in a peaceful, docile manner, early birds already leaving their nests for the worms that were promised. 

The latte in his hands felt warm, inducing heat into his frozen fingers. Hakuba had never felt that on edge in his entire life— Would Kaito show up? 

“Lovely morning, no?” An old man commented, plopping into the seat opposite Saguru. “I love watching the sunrise from here.” 

Hakuba raised an eyebrow, looking for details of a disguise. The fat seemed genuine— The voice was deep and velvety, a little rough and raspy around the edges— The wrinkles around the eyes looked authentic— But he had seen the quality of KID’s work, and he wasn’t taking his chances.

“Indeed,” Saguru agreed with a pleasant hum, French rolling off his tongue smoothly. “Say, mister, what do you think about magic tricks?” 

“Ah, I think they’re quite quaint.” The old man replied in his deep voice, eyes forming crescent lines as he smiled. “What do you think of them, young man?” 

Saguru placed his latte back onto the cup. “I think magic tricks are nice,” He started softly, making firm eye contact with the old man, French rolling off his tongue smoothly. “But I hate disappearing tricks the most.” 

“Oh?” The old man was confused, clearly missing the memo. “Why so—?” 

“Good morning, sir, can I take your order?” A voice pricked into Hakuba’s memory, triggering some sort of mechanism. It was the same tone, frequency, wavelength— The only thing different was the dialect and accent. 

Saguru looked up right into Kaito’s violet eyes, the latter dressed in a waiter’s uniform. A soft smile spread over the magician’s lips as he winked, Hakuba’s jaw dropping as his gaze returned to the man in front of him. 

“Ah, a cappuccino please. And one slice of carrot cake.” 

“Of course.” Kaito nodded pleasantly. “Right away, sir. And you?” 

Hakuba took longer to find his voice than he would’ve liked. “Just a cup of black coffee, please.” 

“Is that all?” Kaito hummed, scribbling down the orders on a piece of paper. 

“Yes, thank you.” 

Hakuba laid back against the chair, a sigh slipping from his lips as he smiled continuing his conversation with the old man, who was still very much confused. 

“Ah, but I find disappearing tricks interesting,” The old man commented, chuckling slightly. “It’s always so magical when the reappearance happens, no?” 

The blonde detective hummed, watching the dark-haired magician busy himself inside the shop. “I suppose I’ll have to agree with that.” 

━━━━━━━

this thing has been sitting in my drafts for four months and its time for it to see the light of day~ 

[sagurus]

04. caged

Prompt was: Running out of time: caged.

Using @whumptober2020‘s prompt today.

The original idea behind this is credited to @magpythe; I don’t believe he’s posted any of his writing for this au himself yet, but it’s inspired entirely from a scenario that he started, and then we talked about collaboratively. For some context, this takes place in a world much like our own in terms of scientific rules, except there are magical/supernatural beings (vampires, werewolves, shinigami, kitsune, etc) living among us as well. This was a well-kept secret from the general populace bc those magical beings didn’t want to deal with the backlash, but alas this facade couldn’t last. Humans aren’t handling their new understanding of the world very well :’)

Anyway, onto the story.

----------

Eighteen hours, fifty-seven minutes, and counting.

The cell was minimalistic and austere. Plain walls behind and beside him. Metal bars before him, looking out at a vacant wall. The opposite side of the holding area. His cell was one of about five in the short hallway, all lined against one side of it, with a door on either end. Each cell was a little under two metres wide and three deep. Saguru’s own cell was the second from the right.

Insofar as he could tell, he was the only one in this particular holding area. In the nineteen hours he had spent here, the only sounds he heard beyond his own breathing were those of officers. It would seem that most non-human individuals who displayed the clinically-induced violent reaction were swiftly neutralized without extenuating circumstances to protect them. He was lucky, he thought bitterly, that nepotism could guarantee him the civility of a holding cell rather than more immediate measures. For other, less fortunate individuals, Saguru imagined that containing them was seen as risky. Or a waste of resources better dedicated to human criminals who had willingly broken the law, rather than innocent non-human civilians forced into a hopeless situation.

How long they intended to hold him here, though, he didn’t know. For all he knew, it could be indefinite. Or he could be released tomorrow. Or meet some more final fate. The seconds ticked by.

Nineteen hours, five minutes. By his calculation, it was almost noon, assuming his timekeeping wasn’t too faulty without the aid of his pocket watch.

The heavy, industrial door fell open and then closed again, sounding out a dulled thud. Footsteps clicked against linoleum tile. Saguru estimated at least three officers, until he belatedly managed to pick out a fourth, much lighter set of steps. Someone slight. A child? He dearly hoped it wasn’t a child’s footsteps he was hearing. There was something strange about them, too. Something about the way that these steps struck and slided across the tile, making them sound…sharp?

The cluster came near enough he could just make out the line of one of the officer’s uniforms. He stayed seated on his cot, listening. He couldn’t see the majority of the group from here, let alone make out whether the owner of the smaller footsteps had, indeed, been a child. There was a solemn air as the door to the cell neighboring his own. Small footsteps padded inside. The cell door shut. A woman’s voice, strained and tense (not with fear—guilt? Stress?) said, “Someone will bring your dinner around seven.”

A beat, something like hesitation hovering in the air, and then the officers’ steps (all three sets) retreating down the hall. Saguru held his breath, waiting for the officers to be out of the holding area entirely.

Once they were gone, he continued to wait, listening in for any activity from his new neighbor.

Saguru’s own arrival into this situation had been a rather unexpected one for all parties involved. The issue was this: the world was rapidly becoming aware of the existence of supernaturally-inclined beings existing among them in society—generally referred to as youkai in Japan. Sensationalized media ensured that this was not well-received, but at the very least most inhuman individuals still managed to keep the truth under wraps and continue to assimilate. Until scientific innovation introduced a drug which garnered no reaction from virtually all humans, but revealed any magically obscured, glamoured, or otherwise concealed features that these other beings possessed. It also bore a few potential unfortunate side effects for some youkai. The most common of these was an uncontrollable violence, pushing the recipient into a dangerous frenzy. In other, rarer cases, the drug had even killed some. The kicker here was that Hakuba labs was a major proponent for the creation of the drug and helped pioneer it. Once the drug left clinical trials, it was determined that it needed to be administered to as much of the populace of Japan as possible, in order to catalog human and youkai population.

Hakuba Takahiro and his ex-wife, Rosalin Caldwell, were both humans. As far as anyone had been aware, Hakuba Saguru was also human. Saguru himself had never doubted this.

That didn’t explain the flurry of flame, the way he had tried to surge out his seat, the loss of sense or understanding, vision gone red in outrage. They had barely managed to restrain him. His father had almost been struck with the explosive fire, before Saguru had somehow managed to extinguish it.

On principle, Saguru had been opposed to the usage of the drug; frankly, the ethical implications were horrifying even without the potential for dangerous side-effects geared specifically toward one party of people. Nevermind the fact there were not yet any laws to protect youkai, nor any clear delineation of a plan to accommodate for them a place in society. He had considered refusing to participate in receiving it and thus being complicit in the cause, but his father had left him little room for argument.

Needless to say, it had all gone very badly. So far, Saguru had not been informed at all about what was being discussed with regards to his fate.

Hell, he still didn’t even understand why it had happened.

In the cell beside Saguru’s, his new neighbor seemed to be getting acquainted with the room. Those strange, precise footsteps seemed to walk its inner perimeter. A few moments later, he heard the sound of the cot squeaking and settling.

Breathing, even and measured, but in a forced way. A restrained way. Holding something in.

Saguru couldn’t think of a single thing he could say to improve the situation. He decided he would wait until he heard some indication that the other would even want conversation.

Hours of mutual silence later, the heavy door opened and shut again. Heavy footfalls approaching from down the hallway. Saguru guessed that it was probably for dinner.

“Who would have thought Beika city’s murder magnet really was a shinigami after all?” the officer observed with an amusement that Saguru found chilling. It seemed to be directed at the neighboring cell, as the officer hadn’t reached Saguru yet.

Beika city’s murder magnet… Dawning horror. There was only one person Saguru could think of who matched that morbid description.

Meanwhile, the officer was met with tense silence. After apparently handing off the food, he moved onto Saguru. Saguru started at him icily. He was silent, privately daring the man to breathe a word in his direction. The officer, this time, was equally silent.

Once the officer was gone, Saguru set his food aside. He didn’t have any appetite to speak of, right now. Instead, he needed to know. “Edogawa-kun, is that you?”

The response was a startled, stammered, “Haku—Hakuba nii-san?” Alarm colored his voice. Clearly, he was just as distressed to find someone familiar here.

Saguru’s heart sank. “Yes, indeed, it’s me.”

“What are you doing here?” Edogawa demanded.

Saguru laid back on the cot, exhaled long and slow. “I suppose I’m not human,” he said simply. “Believe me, it was a surprise to me, too.” He paused, and then ventured, “Are you unhurt?”

He tried to imagine what Edogawa must look like, now. The officer had called him a shinigami, but Saguru wasn’t entirely clear on what, visually, that entailed. Bat wings came to mind. He thought back to the strange sound of the boy’s footsteps. How much of his anatomy had been forced to change to its truer form because of the injection?

“More or less,” was Edogawa’s noncommittal response.

Saguru was still trying to get his head around the fact that the police had put a seven-year-old in a holding cell. Youkai or not, this was a child. What did they intend to do with him?

This had all been much easier when all Saguru had to worry about was his own fate.

Edogawa Conan, as it turned out, made a perfectly good neighbor, and even a pleasant conversation partner. The sheer amount of boredom that came with sitting in a cell with nothing to do for hours that stretched into days was almost enough to forget the horror of their situation. Either way, the only real escape—from the horror or the boredom—was to fill the space with conversation.

Fortunately, there was plenty to talk about. Old cases, literature, trading favorite Sherlock Holmes stories. The situation at hand. It was difficult not to discuss the problem they were in together, as they were both people who couldn’t help but try to study a problem from all angles in order to try to solve it. But inevitably the direction of those conversations turned dark too quickly for Saguru’s comfort. It wouldn’t do either of them any good to focus on the ways things could go wrong.

“Hey, Hakuba,” Edogawa said one day, apparently forgetting to use the honorific (or simply electing to drop it, there being very little bandwidth for Edogawa’s more childish act). “What are you, anyway?”

It was a blunt question, but over the past handful of days, they had mutually elected not to worry too much over politeness. Saguru faltered, before saying honestly, “I haven’t the slightest idea. I suspect one of my parents may not be biologically related to me, and whoever the other contributing party was, was some variety of youkai.” Yesterday, Saguru had been granted a visit by a scientist, who had studied him like a specimen and taken a variety of samples, all while Saguru remained restrained for the scientist’s safety. Never mind the fact that the more alarming skill he (apparently) possessed was manifesting fire without the use of any tools, so he wasn’t sure what good restraining him would do to anybody. Regardless, the examination had gone by without incident, and Saguru suspected that there had been some kind of DNA test conducted, although he had no confirmation as to the results.

Edogawa made a noise of consideration, lapsed into silence, then started again. “Did you change?” He asked, almost delicately.

“I don’t think I did,” Saguru told him. “As far as I can tell, visually everything is still the same as it had been. Admittedly, I haven’t seen my reflection since some time before the incident, so I can’t say with one hundred percent certainty.”

Quiet, again, and Saguru wondered if he should ask if Edogawa had changed, then decided against it. The other boy could tell him if he’d like, but otherwise Saguru didn’t want Edogawa to trouble him with it.

“So, they found out you were youkai because…”

“Because I had—an outburst, yes.” Understatement of the century.

Saguru could hear the grimace in Edogawa’s voice when he asked, “—Was everybody alright?”

“I—” Saguru recalled the violence of his reaction, the flames licking out and nearly making contact in a dangerous way with his father as well as one of the nurses. He recalled the feeling of a vicious snarl contorting his expression and the way he’d surged against the precautionary restraints.

He recalled going perfectly still as soon as he’d regained a handle on himself. The doctor approaching him with a new syringe, and the distant thought, Is he giving me a sedative or is he euthanising me? The foreign, turbulent rage churning inside of him until he’d gone under thanks to the shot (sedative, it turned out).

“Nobody got hurt,” Saguru assured him after a too-long silence. “It was—frightening. But nobody was hurt.”

“—I hurt a nurse,” Edogawa said, and his voice was the sort of stony that belied the great effort of holding in his emotions. “It could have been a lot worse, but I still hurt somebody. Really badly.”

“You can’t fault yourself for it,” Saguru said immediately, sternly. “It speaks volumes about your sense of accountability and responsibility, that you feel guilty for it, but it wasn’t your fault that it happened.”

“If you say so.”

It was their seventh day like this. Still, Saguru received no news any time he asked a passing officer for updates.

Earlier today, Hattori Heiji had visited, apparently to discreetly provide Edogawa some contraband (such as books). Edogawa had kindly requested that Hattori pass one of those books to Saguru. The other detective had been frankly shocked to realize he was here, and despite their usual animosity, the other boy had seemed mostly genuinely concerned for him. When Saguru asked if there was anything Hattori could tell him about the situation, it had been a definite negative. Apparently his situation was being kept well out of the hands of the media, at least for now. Saguru could only imagine his father must have told the school that he was on some sort of vacation, or had accepted a case which required him to head overseas again. Nobody would be worried about him, then.

Now, the visit was over and they had lapsed into silence while they, for the moment, privately entertained themselves. Rather than read, Saguru had tucked the book away for later, and was instead practicing what little exercise he could to keep his body active. Right now it was warm-up stretches. He desperately ached to go on a run.

At some point, Edogawa cut into the silence.

“What do you think is going to happen, Hakuba?” and then, hastily added, “—nii-san.” He sounded pensive, uncertain. He didn’t sound afraid, but Saguru thought that he might be anyway.

“I don’t know,” he murmured, opting for honesty rather than false hope. “It’s been a week and we’re still here. I don’t know what anyone’s plan for us is.”

“Yeah…” Edogawa trailed off, deep in thought. Saguru wondered if it would have been better to say that he was sure things would wind up working out. The problem was, he wasn’t sure. He had been under the impression that he would be placed under holding until they worked out the best circumstance to harness or otherwise stifle his apparent abilities, and then return him to something like normal life, but with a tight leash.

But now it had been seven days, with no developments, and Saguru was beginning to wonder if this was all much more dire than he had thought.

They both went quiet again, only for Edogawa to speak up just as abruptly as he had before. “—I need to tell you something.”

Puzzled, Saguru went still. “Proceed.”

“It’s pretty unbelievable, so I need you to bear with me. Okay?”

Edogawa seemed to do a lot of things that fell quite near the ‘unbelievable’ category, in Saguru’s experience. Much like Kuroba tended to, although they had different styles in the ways they defied reality. “I’ll do my best to keep an open mind,” he assured Edogawa.

“My name isn’t really Edogawa Conan,” he began.

And the sky was blue, and Kaitou KID was Kuroba Kaito. “Mm.”

“It’s actually Kudou Shin’ichi, and I’m really seventeen, not seven.”

So this is what Edogawa meant when he said it was unbelievable. He couldn’t help but wonder if Edogawa was engaging in a delusion to cope with the frankly traumatic situation they had found themselves in. “Is that so?” he inquired, honoring his promise to keep an open mind. Edogawa was right, though. This was difficult to believe.

Edogawa made an irritated sound, like he could tell Saguru didn’t believe him. “I don’t know what’s going to happen to us, and almost no one knows. I want you to know. I—a year and a half ago, I went with Ran to Tropical Land, and worked that case with the roller coaster beheading.”

Saguru recalled the news reports of that case all too well. Truly, it had been a particularly gruesome case, so he was eternally gratefully it hadn’t been him on the scene.

“There were these suspicious men there, and after I solved the case I left Ran so I could tail them and figure out what they were up to. But one of them surprised me from behind, knocked me out, and gave me this—drug,” allegedly-Kudou-Shin’ichi explained. “It was supposed to kill me via apoptosis, but instead it… de-aged me. ”

It was certainly a lot to process. It felt a little bit like the plot of a bad science fiction. But he spoke with urgency, and he was clearly being genuine. Although Saguru was still inclined to lean toward delusion, he decided to consider his way through the facts he had from his limited research into the whereabouts of Kudou Shin’ichi. It was true that the same day Kudou disappeared, Mouri Ran had wound up taking in Edogawa Conan. It would explain the strange amount of knowledge and understanding Edogawa possessed, especially in terms of investigating crime scenes and solving cases. It also clarified anachronistic errors—moments when Edogawa would say he’d seen something when it was first released, even though it should have come out well before his birth date.

After analyzing the facts, Saguru realized there was nothing (beyond his own understanding of scientific development) that disproved the claim. None of the facts he had specifically proved it either, though. He didn’t know the other detective well enough to quiz Edogawa in order to prove it for himself, either.

He thought back to their previous conversation. They didn’t know, really, what would become of them here. If they would make it out of here. Perhaps this was a delusion, but if so, Saguru didn’t think it would do any good to deny the other that. It certainly wouldn’t change anything for the better in the short term.

Saguru resolved that he would take the other boy at his word, and, should he have the means and opportunity if they got out of this, he’d pursue it more critically then.

“—I see,” he said, nodding slowly although Kudou couldn’t see him. “It is good to have gotten to know you, then, Kudou-kun. I’m sorry it wasn’t under better circumstances.”

When the other boy next spoke, it was obvious to Saguru that something coiled very tightly had unwound. The relief was nearly palpable. “It’s good to meet you too, Hakuba-kun. Here’s to hoping we make it out of this so that we can keep getting to know each other.”

They could only hope. “I’ll do my best to remain optimistic,” Saguru murmured in agreement.

[tsarisfanfiction]

WIP #23

(Send me a number 1-60 [or a fandom/character I guess] for the corresponding wip) because I’m bored and brain-fried and have too many wips that’ll otherwise never see the light of day.

For @thetwelvecaesars, who asked for wip 23, regardless of fandom.  So, this is a fandom I’ve written for a little, but not much.  I just ended up in a mood at one point where I wanted to write some AoKai fluff, so AoKai fluff happened.  Tsari writing shipping stuff?  It happens sometimes, I guess.

As this isn’t one of my main fandoms and therefore maybe not recognisable on sight - this is a Detective Conan / Magic Kaito 1412 wip

“It’s supposed to be the girl lying down, Kuroba!” someone taunted.  He didn’t care to identify them, more interested in working out what prank, exactly, would work the best to teach them a lesson.

“Says who?” Aoko demanded, derailing his train of thought.  She laid a firm hand on his chest, preventing him from getting up to do anything.  “Kaito gets tired too.”  Apparently that gave them food for thought as they paused.  Kaito added to it by letting out a yawn.  It was totally faked, but they didn’t need to know that. That seemed to convince them that he was just being his usual self and catching a nap wherever he could, and they left them alone.  Kaito didn’t fully relax for several minutes, despite Aoko’s coaxing, but eventually he sank against her bonelessly as her gentle fingers ran through his hair.

“Thanks,” he murmured. She smiled and pressed her lips to his forehead.

“Don’t worry about it,” she told him.  Her hand still hadn’t left his chest and he could feel the warmth emitting from it. “They don’t know anything about us. Forget about them and relax.”

“Can I prank them later?” Kaito asked.  She laughed but nodded, ruffling up his hair before starting to sort it again.

“Teach them a lesson,” she agreed.  Satisfied, he closed his eyes.  Despite what they’d told the other teens, he wasn’t tired.  But there had been gunshots at the last night’s heist, and only Aoko knew that one of the bullets had caught his shoulder.  It hadn’t been a major wound, but it was enough to make him think twice about using it.  There had been civilians nearby, too.  Even if he wanted to sleep, all he would have seen were nightmares where it was an innocent who got shot instead of him.  “It is hurting you?” she asked suddenly, as if following his train of thought. Honestly, it probably wasn’t that hard to do.

“A little,” he admitted and she sighed.

“I told you to stay at home today,” she scolded lightly.

“You did,” he allowed. “I’m not changing my mind,” he added as she opened her mouth to continue.  “Hakuba doesn’t need more reasons to suspect me.”  She sighed and he felt the arms around him tighten.

[dalissy]

Hey this is purplellamanator on my main 🙄 can you do “I don’t recall asking for your opinion on the matter.” For KaiAo please 😊💜

DJDJKSWN I’m so sorry it took so much time and it’s so poorly done BUT at least it’s here. And that’s what matters. Right? (´;ω;｀)Thank you so much for the request anyway, it was lots of fun to write it!

~

“GET! OUT!!”

If he hadn’t covered his ears in time, Kaito was pretty sure he would have gone deaf from the screech that escaped Aoko’s lungs. In a finger snap, she pushed him out of the room so hard and well he almost hit his head on the corridor’s wall. Thank God, his reflexes were good and he stopped his impulse in time.

“Oh, come on, Aoko! Don’t tell me you seriously believe in stuff like that!”

She shut the door in his face and locked it -but Kaito was convinced that if she could turn the key more than three times, she would to give him more than a harsh time trying to pick it up. She knew him as well as the back of her hand, after all. On the other hand, one smart man would easily understand that she was determined to be left alone. Unfortunately, whenever it was about Aoko, his own IQ drastically lowered, perhaps enough to reach Hell underneath.

He puffed up his chest and knocked three times.“Come on. Just how long are you going to stay in? They’re waiting for us, Ahoko.”

Her tongue went silent, but he knew she still was right behind the door. He could still hear her stamping feet right behind.

“Hey.”

“That’s very much like you.” She suddenly interrupted him, in a more bitter yet calm tone than an angry one. “Not even an apology -not even a sorry. Just how rude can you be?!”

“I don’t recall you apologizing for being late either, princess!” He gibed.

“Why didn’t you ask dad to come for me?! He would have understood.”

The image of inspector Nakamori stuffing his mouth with canapés while almost crying flashed through his mind. Damn, if they didn’t hurry, the party would be over before it even started, and the man would have another whole new reason to cry.

“He’s, huh, busy”, he stuttered scratching his hair, “And mom won’t stop blabbering with everyone. Keiko was the one who told me to go. She said you would just use her to gain some more time, so I had to do it.”

“What a fantastic idea. And now everything’s ruined when I’ve been hiding it from you for months. This is just perfect. Fine. Just fine.”

It wasn’t fine at all.

“I don’t know what holds me back from cancelling– whatever. Forget that.”

It was just a thought that came out of her mouth without her wanting to, a stupid thought that she did not mean in any way, they both knew it, but it shook him to the core. The wrath in her voice had faded away. She sounded sadder than she had any rights to be today.

Fuck.This time, he fucked up really, really badly.

“Y-You’re not serious, are you?” Kaito sputtered, before remembering the Poker Face did not only apply to magic shows. “Fine. Suit yourself then. If you’re calling it off for such an insignificant thing… I suppose you didn’t really want to do it in the first way anyway.”

Why did he have to say this out loud? Why did this one stupid brain-cell of his always had to manifest itself to say the exact opposite of what he wanted to say? He wasn’t a teenager anymore. Why couldn’t he be honest with himself, even now? Today? Right this instant? He waited for it literal years, and he managed to ruin everything in a second, just as she said.

Great job, Kaito Kuroba. Great job. He couldn’t wait to put it in golden letters on his resume: I perfectly fucked up my wedding before it could even begin.

“That’s not true, Kaito. And you know it.”

Kaito’s former frown disappeared immediately, but when he opened his mouth to replicate, no sound came out. He gulped, watching his feet lightly tap against the door frame a second, thoughts accumulating one after another.If he couldn’t be honest even with himself, there was no point in all of this in the first place.

He rested his back against the door, arms folded.She remained perfectly silent behind the door. He could feel his guts knotting inside.

She could insult him. She could yell at him. She could even open this door right now and throw a porcelain vase in his face -he’d accept it all with open arms. It’d be more than a relief. On the other hand, a silent Aoko was the worst thing that could be, especially when these last words of her still resonated within his skull.His mouth stayed agape, his tongue paralyzed, his fists clenched.

He was so, so stupid and too damn proud. He knew it. But if he had to be honest with her, just one time in his life, it had to be today. It couldn’t be any other day but this one.

He turned around and put his fist between his forehead and the wooden door.“Aoko, tell me to shut up or something. Because if I say one more word, I’m not going to stop. Alright?”

No answer -but the soft sound of her back snuggling up to the door was enough. He inspired deeply as if to give himself courage.

“You- You look absolutely stunning. Is this what you want to hear? Listen, I didn’t know the ‘no-peeking-before-ceremony’ was important to you, okay? But I get it now- and I’m sorry. But whether I see before or after doesn’t really matter, you know. I-I’d have thought of how beautiful you look regardless.”

Blood invaded his face as he kept talking, making his cheeks a whole new kind of red. He always thought this kind of lovey-dovey speeches in Hollywood movies was so forced and embarrassing, yet now, as shameful as it was, it’s exactly how he felt.

He saw it for no more than a split second, this blue and white satin dress that fell down to her feet, large and fluttering at her every movements. He saw it, this insane amount of blue roses sew on the edges of the embroidered fabric that covered her chest. He saw them, the resplendent flowers on both sides of her tied hair, their stems intertwined within the braids that maintained her haircut perfect and safe, and her gleaming bridal veil dancing on her white shoulders. He saw them, the white azaleas arranged in the nicest bouquet that could ever be, dearly held in her gloved hands. And he saw the joy in her cerulean eyes- or at least he did until she spotted him in the corner of the looking glass she was admiring herself in.

And in that pathetic split second, it was like his heart was mercilessly squeezed to no end.

Aoko was so beautiful, and it was really happening. It was no dream, or fantasy, or even a future nightmare in disguise. He said yes when she asked him, and soon enough they would be getting married, and no more than thirty minutes later she would be his wife. All of that was just so surreal. He could barely stand it. Quite literally too, because he turned around and pressed his back to the door again, letting himself slide down to the ground.

“If you decide to stop everything now”, he breathed painfully, “The next time -if there’s a next time but, I mean- the next time you ask me to marry you, I won’t peek on your dress before the ceremony, or be rude, or whatever things you don’t want me to do. I promise, okay? I promise.”

There was a faint silence, during which he held his breath, waited, then exhaled when he told himself it was already too late. Now he probably was talking to the emptiness of the room, and Aoko had escaped through the window like some heroine of a telenovela and-

“You never keep your promises, stupid. But I suppose it’s alright if you stay that way. And if you peek up on my dresses or even wear some. And I guess I can allow you to be rude, but only a little. Okay?”

The groom blinked twice at the faint whisper he swore he heard, but before he could answer anything, Aoko spoke again, soft and emotional.“You know I’m never going to cancel the wedding for that, silly. But it’s just so frustrating…”

He anxiously licked his lips.

“What is frustrating?”

“It’s so frustrating not to be able to surprise you, not even once.” She muttered. “You always pull up flowers or fancy dresses or doves out of nowhere and I never know how you do that. Not sure if I want to know, either.”

“Hey, you surprised me when you bought this hideous talking fish from the flea market the other day and dared to shove it in my face like some kind of savage!!”

“That doesn’t count. Beside, you totally deserved it.” She said, articulating each one of her words. “But once, even just once, I just wanted to surprise you in a good way, because you’re always seem so indifferent to everything sometimes. I- I want to make you happy, Kaito. But if I can’t even do that right now, how will it be once we’ll be married? I know I was the one who proposed, but I’m- I’m so scared. And afterward I thought: What if you accepted because you didn’t to hurt my feelings? What if I can’t make you happy? What if you don’t really like me-”

“I don’t recall asking for your opinion on the matter.”

For the first time, there was no hesitation in his voice. There simply couldn’t be one.

“What matter?”

“Whether I love you or not. Because you may torture yourself all day long, you can’t come up with the truth unless you ask me, and your own opinion can change nothing about.”

He could doubt on a lot of things. Whether becoming a phantom thief ever was a good idea. Whether a legendary jewel could really grant immortality. Whether Hakuba really was that hard of a bastard until the end, or if perhaps there was a small, little amount of decency in him (however he brought a really nice gift today, so he guessed in the end there was an extremely tiny bit).

But him loving Aoko wasn’t one of them.

“…Do you love me?”

There was an adorable trembling in her voice, as if his answer wasn’t obvious enough and she expected the worst.

“Yes. Yes I love you, Aoko. I know I don’t say it that often, but damn, for you to doubt that….” He laughed, embarrassed more than ever. “It’s a bit of an important part when you’re marrying someone. I thought it was obvious.”

“Even if I can’t surprise you?”

“Geez, woman, I’m not some animal which chooses a mate on whether their nuptial dance had me having a heart attack or not.”

Oops, perhaps he already broke the ‘only a bit rude’ rule. The light grumble that came through the door proved it.

“Then what made you say yes when I proposed, Mr. Civilized-gentleman?”

He looked up the ceiling, lost in thoughts. Gosh, there was so many stuff -they shared almost their whole life together. He lived longer with her than without. He couldn’t exactly choose only one.

So he said each one that passed through his head, perfectly knowing he could never enumerate them all unless he was given eternity or something.For once, Pandora would be pretty useful.

“Because you were my first magic enthusiast fan. Because if I asked you to come to Shibuya without even explaining why, you would. Because you’re always so noisy and expressive like the rest of the world isn’t even here. Your cooking is so bad but you never give up and hope one day you’ll come up managing the same recipes your mother used to make. Whenever I take you on a bike ride, your face’s like it’s Christmas early, or something. The fact that you’re always cheering on the one you love even when it means fighting the entire world, too. Or these little skips you make when you’re bubbly, like I know I said you looked stupid doing these, that- that’s cute actually. And that one time where you made all these teru teru bōzu, for me, so it wouldn’t rain the day after because if it did my shows would have been cancelled. Also your boobs are damn fine-”

“You hate my small breasts!” Aoko argued suddenly. “You made that point very clear ever since we made a half-step into puberty!”

“I lied. You know I lie well.”

“Not really.”

This toneless answer left a bit speechless. He could hear in her voice both the flustered, shy smile she probably was displayed right now, and a bitterness that did not have the same taste of the precedent one.What did she mean by that?

“…And, if, hypothetically, I knew that you were KID, would you still have said yes?”

His hands fell down on his knees in utter astonishment, his mouth agape.

She surprised him, but he didn’t have the time to be, and he knew it.

“Yes. Yes, yes I would have but- Aoko I swear I wanted to tell-”

“It was hypothetical, Kaito.” She finally let out a laugh after insisting on the word as if she wanted to say something and its opposite at the same time. “We’ll talk about it later, okay? I’ll come out, now. But first, I want to ask you something.”

Slowly, he stood up, a long drop of sweat zig-zagging between his shoulder blades.

“…Go ahead.”

“When I open the door, can you smile for me?”

A bizarre demand, no need to say. He raised an eyebrow but his lips stayed sealed.

“I don’t care if it’s a fake smile, but… If you ever make that awfully neutral face of yours, like you’re dead inside or something, I’ll rip it off myself!”

Hey, that wasn’t exactly his fault. Mastering the Poker Face as KID over the years had its pros and cons, and one of them was that he had occasional occupational hazards, if being a phantom thief counted as an ‘occupation’.

“Can you make that for me?” She asked again. “As a reverse dowry, let’s say?”

The stupidity of the thought that a smile of his was as pricey as a dowry distorted his lips in an amused smirk.

“Come out and find out yourself.”

Shortly after, he heard the key turn in the hole three times. The faint metallic sound of the handle turning, and the light squeak of the hinges.

Aoko appeared, and she looked as gorgeous as the split second view he had told him. Wait, now. In fact, the more he looked at her, the more she shined.

“Ah!!” Aoko gasped, suddenly pointing at him in the most ungraceful way that could be. “That’s not a happy smile! You’re looking like a mischievous fly or something!”

Urgh. Moment ruined. Let’s say at least he would have something memorable to tell when he’ll show the photo of his wife in his wallet to whoever wanted to see. Like : “when I married your mother, I was thinking of how beautiful she looked and she called me a filthy bug as a reward”. ...But perhaps in the end it was better that way.

“Jesus Christ, girl, why must you always be so picky about everything!”

He approached and without even asking for her opinion, scooped her in his arms much to her surprise. He had to hurry -if they lingered on again, Kaito knew that his soon-to-be father-in-law would finish all the macaroons and he expressively ordered more chocolate ones so he could at least have some, then Hakuba would make all the bridesmaids crowd around him by bragging about some criminal he arrested and make them forget the actual bride, and Akako would have found a way to either charm or poison the entire church for the fun of it, somehow.

“Wait- Kaito! You’re going to flatten my petticoat! P-Put me down!”

“Sorry, dear, I’m not taking anymore complain until you get a certain ring on your finger, Aoko Kuroba.”

[lisatelramor]

Be a Better Me Ch 9

One more left after this!

Chapter 9

“Do you go to school?” Conan asks Kaito.

Kaito, in disguise as a young woman just for the fun of it (and for practice because skills need constant upkeep), smiles. “Of course I go to school.”

“And yet you happen to show on a day that only my school is closed for water damage.” His little kid friends are arguing about something on the other end of the playground. Conan watches them like he’s just waiting for them to remember he exists and drag him into whatever their scheming is. Scheming being the accurate term because Haibara Ai is part of that group and anything that makes her smirk, Kaito has learned, isn’t nearly as fun for the person on the other end of that look.

“I haven’t seen you in a while.”

“There was a heist a week ago.”

“And you kicked a soccer ball at me. That’s hardly communication.”

“You could just show up to Agasa’s.”

Kaito hums. “And how often are you actually there?”

“Okay, fair point. But you could talk to Haibara.”

“You say that like she isn’t terrifying.” Ai had a habit of updating him about what new things she figured out about Kaito’s body—both human and robotic—which hardly endeared her to him. He’d developed a habit of trying to avoid her whenever he actually had to drop in to Agasa’s place because being told in detail how your body replicated synthetic blood from what you ate is not pleasant conversation. Nor was the fact that she’d actually been studying Kaito’s corpse even though he doesn’t want her to. Kaito really doesn’t care how it’s not decomposing or what’s keeping the brain alive; it’s something he doesn’t want to think about.

“Oh, she is terrifying. That’s all part of being her friend.”

“Is she friends with any of you?” Kaito asks because from the bits he’s gotten out of them, Ai is the person who made the poison that changed Conan. And she’s older than Shinichi and Kaito both. He doesn’t know what to make of her, and all the more reason to avoid her.

“Yes,” Conan says. “She cares, and it’s not just guilt. She cares for the kids, and she at least tolerates me.” He smirks back at Ai as she lifts an eyebrow their direction. Conan makes a quick ring around his eye with his finger and thumb and the eyebrow lowers.

“Hey. Way to rat a guy out.”

“Please, she’d realize who you were a few minutes into talking with you if she came over here. She’s scary perceptive about that kind of thing.”

“It’s probably the PTSD hypervigilance,” Kaito grumbles.

Conan kicks him in the shin and Kaito swears under his breath.

“Your bony feet are a weapon.”

“I know,” Conan says. “C’mon, let’s go rope the kids into something before they spring something on us.”

“What, you expect me to join you?” Kaito asks. “I’m just a passing young woman enjoying a conversation.”

“Well you’re going to be a young woman playing with some kids.” Conan grabs Kaito’s hand and pulls, and it’s follow or be knocked sideways on his modest high heels. Brat.

It’s a good think Kaito doesn’t mind children.

o*O*o

Conan is at Agasa’s place when Kaito next shows up, the Kirin’s Horn heist fresh in his mind. It’s clearly still on Conan’s mind too because he glares at Kaito when he enters the room.

“You!” Conan growls.

“Me!” Kaito says, trying not to feel intimidated. It’s actually pretty hard since he knows intimately just how hard Conan can kick.

“You’re a jerk.”

“Agreed,” Ai says from her place on the sofa, book in hand.

“For knocking you out?” Kaito says. “All’s fair at heists, or did I miss a memo?”

“I am going to sic the police on you so hard next time,” Conan says.

“You got off lucky this time.”

“You chloroformed me.”

“Originally,” Kaito says, “it was going to be a Taser.”

Both Ai and Conan give him horrified looks.

“Oi, not like a full strength one! I don’t want to kill you.” Kaito scrubs the back of his neck and goes to sit on the couch that isn’t currently full of not-children with a grudge at the moment. “I was testing a lower power version and everything, and by testing, I mean I Tasered myself. Fun fact: robots and electricity apparently don’t mix.”

“Oh my god, what did you do?” Conan asks still horrified, but also morbidly curious.

“I, er, might have shorted something out temporarily. And temporarily disrupted some of my bio-synthetic processes.”

“Meaning you almost died,” Ai says with the level tone of a scientist making an observation. “You’re an idiot.”

“Oi, It’s not like I could have known how I’d react. Most things I handle like a human.” Kaito wrinkles his nose at her. “Hakuba already gave me a riot act on doing dangerous shit without supervision so I don’t need to hear it from you.”

“Still an idiot. Also, don’t Taser Kudo, we still don’t know how much the toxin has harmed his heart.”

Kaito blinks and Conan grimaces.

“I thought you said it was fine,” Conan says.

“I said I didn’t notice any signs of problems, but that doesn’t mean it’s fine. The change feels like a heart attack, and that’s probably significant.”

“Noted,” Kaito says. “I’d feel bad if I actually killed you.”

Conan looks unimpressed. “Wow, such strong feelings.”

Kaito rolls his eyes. “I’d be devastated if I killed anyone, that doesn’t make you special.”

“And I thought our friendship meant something,” Conan says, deadpan.

Kaito snickers.

“Are you here for a reason or did you just so happen to feel social?” Ai asks.

“A little of column A, a little of column B,” Kaito says with an airy wave of his hand. “Catch up on Beika news, visit one of my favorite detectives and his lovely scientist friend,  run a scan to triple check I really didn’t short anything out with all the electricity going on the other day…”

“Get to the lab, idiot,” Ai says setting her book aside. “Agasa-hakase isn’t here today, so you’ll have to have me as a lab tech.”

“Joy.” Ai always has a way of leaving Kaito uncomfortable.

“I could leave you to struggle on your own.”

“No, no, the help is appreciated. I can’t do full body scans all on my lonesome.” Kaito stretches. “Any new murders since we last saw each other, Tantei-kun?”

“A drowning and an onsen murder actually.”

Kaito pauses. “…Was the drowning at the onsen or are these two separate murders?”

Conan looks at him with too-old eyes. “Which do you think?”

“You have terrible luck, did you know that?”

“I’m very aware.”

“He’s still on my shit list for the onsen murder,” Ai says, already prepping the lab with efficiency.

“Wow, what did he do?” Kaito drags a chair to the best position for a body scan.

“He ran into the women’s baths.”

“You’d just found a dead body!” Conan sputters. “You got your revenge already! It wasn’t like I was even paying attention to you!”

“I’m not that quick to forgive.”

Kaito snorts. “You’re lucky it wasn’t my friend Aoko. She tends to hit first, question later.”

“Speaking from experience?” Ai asks.

“Lots of it. I mean I have it coming, but still. It’s best for my self-preservation that I’ve mostly outgrown flipping her skirt.”

Both Ai and Conan give him identical disgusted grimaces. “You deserve any head trauma you get from that,” Ai says.

“Fair enough. I don’t really get why it’s such a big deal to so many people though, honestly. Bodies are bodies.”

“You’re the one that used underwear to distract me in the Black Star heist,” Conan says.

“To distract you yeah, but it’s more funny to me than distracting?” Kaito shrugs. “To be honest I think that’s something that changed since I became…like this. I can remember feeling… things… but those sort of thought skew toward the romantic rather than the physical these days.”

“While that makes me want to pick apart your brain,” Ai says in that bland, terrifying way of hers, “I need you to hold still so I can take the scan.”

Kaito gives her a mocking little salute and makes like a statue. Ai positions the machine around him in multiple angles until she’s satisfied.

“If you don’t feel that, what’s with all the attempts at kissing people?” Conan grumbles. People, meaning Ran, Kaito guesses.

“Kissing is nice,” Kaito says when Ai will let him move again. “Not that I’ve done much of it. I thought you realized by now I’m a lot more show than not when I’m Kid. Or in general really.” He doesn’t pretend too much around them these days and that’s kind of nice. It’s also more than a bit unnerving whenever he stops and considers that he’s being vulnerable, but it’s probably worth it in the long run. He’s been told a lot lately that honesty and openness make for stronger friendships. “Half of all that is just to mess with you.”

“Oi. Do you want a soccer ball to the face?”

Kaito snickers. “You have to admit, you make the best panicked faces.”

“I hope Ran punches you next time.”

“I’d deserve it,” Kaito agrees cheerfully.

“Well,” Ai says, “I’m not seeing anything obvious, but I’ll go over the scans in detail and get back to you. In the meantime, look out for anything off and don’t play lightning rod.”

“There goes that fantasy of hang gliding in a thunder storm,” Kaito says.

“I know you’re joking,” Conan says, “but sometimes it’s honestly hard to tell.”

“You wouldn’t find it cool to be in the sky with lightning flashing around?”

“No. Not at all. I’m not suicidal.”

Kaito sighs dramatically. “It would be like being one with nature.”

“Right up until you’re electrocuted or blown into a tree.”

“Maybe. Eh, I need to change things up more. I’ve been using the glider more lately and it’s getting predictable. Though to be fair, it’s faster than the balloons I used to use.”

Conan wrinkles his nose. “Balloons?”

“They don’t rely on wind or a specific height to power them,” Kaito says reasonably. “They’re slow though, and can burst. Which isn’t the best once guns come into play.”

“Right. Don’t tell me your plans.”

“You’re going to wonder next heist whether I’ll be using the glider at all, or if I’ll use it just because I said I shouldn’t,” Kaito says with a wink.

“Still hate you.” Conan has that grumpy-but-reluctantly-fond expression on and Kaito’s counting it as a win. Conan’s only pretending to be annoyed on principle.

“Kuroba,” Ai says cutting into the banter. “Could I talk to you alone for a moment?”

“Yes?” Kaito tilts his head to try and glimpse what Ai’s doing, but it doesn’t give any hints for what she wants. Nor does a glance at Conan. Conan shrugs in a way that could mean ‘who knows’ or maybe also ‘good luck’ before wandering out. Kaito’s pretty sure he’s outside the door eavesdropping because that’s standard detective nosiness, but Kaito’s not going to be the one to call him out on that. He’d be doing the same thing.

“Is there something wrong with the scan?” Kaito asks when Ai’s silent a bit too long.

“No,” she says. “I will have to go over it closer just to make sure, but that’s not what this is about.” She spins around in her chair and pins Kaito with a look that is just as sharp as any of the detectives’ stares. Kaito tries not to fidget under the weight of it. “You’re aware I’ve been studying your body.”

Any remnants of Kaito’s light mood crash and burn. “I’m aware.”

“You’re also aware that I created the poison that shrunk Kudo and myself.”

“Conan might have mentioned it.”

Ai folds her hands in her lap. It should look relaxed, but it’s somehow as unsettling as if she steepled her fingers like some kind of cartoon villain. “The chamber holding your body contains an oxygenated gas that, along with some injected substance that I’ve gotten traces of in blood, halts cellular degeneration. It works as a perfect preservative, and along with a very mild electric pulse, is preserving the body’s brain. The body is dead, but it’s been preserved at the exact moment of death. From what I can assess, the cause of death is a stopped heart. The substance injected as the preservative also slowed the heart to the point of death. He would have been aware,” Ai says mercilessly, “that he was dying, but unable to fight it. The chamber would have finished the process.”

She takes a breath. “I’m creating an antidote,” she says. “For Kudo. Personally I have no interest in returning to my former age and identity, but Kudo still has a life and people to return to. In allowing me to look at how your body was preserved, you’ve actually helped me make a few steps toward that goal. It’s not the same science as the apoptoxin, but there were similarities that helped flesh out my notes.”

“So you’re closer to helping Conan be Kudo and my body’s still very dead,” Kaito says. “Great. Why did you need to tell me this?”

Ai’s lips pinch for a moment. “Your body can’t be revived by restarting its heart and lungs no matter how intact they are because of the substance injected in it. And that substance can’t be filtered reliably out. But…”

“But what?” Kaito asks. He’s tempted to fling himself from the chair and leave, but something about her hesitation makes him stay a little longer.

“There’s a chance I could add to it and induce a similar effect as the apoptoxin. The most likely outcome of this would be that the body dies properly and for good. But,” Ai says softly, “there’s a small chance that it reacts the way Kudo and I did and it reverts back to a younger age. An age that’s also revivable because the toxin has run its course.”

Kaito stares. Kaito—the human Kaito—could be saved. Oh, it has to be an infinitesimally small chance of it happening, but it’s that much of a percent more than the rest of eternity spent in a glass box. And, as she said, it could kill him dead. But at least Kaito would actually be dead instead of in limbo.

But if it worked and Kaito’s body becomes a child again, what will that mean for him, the very-much-not-human Kaito? The Kaito that stole his face and stole his life and everyone he loves. Something between terror and jealousy twists in his gut. If the body gets to live, he’ll be the real Kaito again and Kaito won’t be anything.

And yet… Kaito knows that this body doesn’t have many years in it. Statistically speaking, technology doesn’t outlast a human body. A computer is lucky to get four years before something major breaks down. For Kaito’s experimental body… He’ll be lucky to get four years. He has no back-up of his brain, no depository of memories that he can add to on the off chance something goes wrong. He could probably ask Ai, Agasa, and Hakuba to collaborate on one just in case, but then again, he’s not sure he wants that either. That he could die and be replaced by a saved version of himself with gaps in memory… he doesn’t like the idea any more than the real Kaito will like it. So if this is the only shot he has, he might as well give a chance to the human Kaito. That way when he does degrade and become obsolete, they’d maybe have human Kaito still. There would be gaps left, but not as devastating of ones.

It isn’t just his choice to make though, no matter that it is his human body.

“Can I think about it?” Kaito asks, tense as a strung piano wire and doing terribly at hiding it.

“Take all the time you need,” Ai says. “It’s not something I can do overnight, and the body isn’t going anywhere. I just needed to tell you that it’s an option.”

Kaito nods. He needs to leave. He doesn’t want to look like he’s fleeing though. “Thanks for telling me. I should go make a phone call.”

He hears Ai murmur, “Don’t thank me yet,” under her breath as he turns and walks in a deceptively calm manner toward the door. He’s not fooling anyone.

There’s skittering as Conan sprinting away, but that’s fine. He can know about it, it’s not like it makes a difference. Kaito doesn’t even acknowledge Conan’s terrible attempt to look like he’s been watching television the whole time, instead walking straight for the door.

o*O*o

“Hey.” The online call connects with Kaito sitting surrounded by his fifteen doves, their soft feathers and voices soothing the tiny part of himself that kept whirling in panic.

“Kaito,” his mother says, surprised. It’s not their usual day to talk, and he’s only on voice call, not video. He doesn’t want to see what kind of expression she might make. “Is something wrong? You don’t need me to come home do you?”

As nice as it would be to have another of her visits, he won’t ask that of her. “I can’t just call?” he says lightly.

“Of course you can,” Chikage says. Warmly, like when she brushes his hair away from his forehead or gives him little side hugs when they cross into each other’s space. “You don’t ‘just call’ though.”

“Maybe I should,” Kaito says. She would appreciate a son that reached out more. But he’d appreciate her being here more. They’re both independent people, but they’re also social people and he understands. He understands why she needs to travel and see new things and reconnect with old friends. He just doesn’t always like it.

“I’d appreciate it in the future,” Chikage says, “but what did you call for now?”

“An offer was made. About Kaito.”

A beat of silence on the other end as she registers him using his own name. “What kind of offer?” she asks a lot more hesitant than a second ago. They never did talk about the body.

Maybe they should have. It’s so much easier to ignore elephants in the room than to dwell on them. “There’s a procedure Haibara Ai could do. I don’t know the numbers or science on it, but there’s a small chance she could get him alive again. There’d be side effects—” like losing a decade in age “—but he’d be Kaito and alive and human.”

“And what’s the rest of the chances?”

“It’d kill him,” Kaito says quietly. “Completely not just whatever not-death he’s in now. Being honest, it’s a lot higher percentage that he’d die than live from the sound of it, but…”

“I couldn’t kill him,” Chikage says. “I thought about it, like a coma patient on life support at a hospital, but…”

“But he’s not brain dead,” Kaito says with understanding. “I thought about it too. Not all for good reasons.” He doesn’t poke the minefield of jealousy and conflicting feelings of personhood. That way lies depression spirals. “It’s not really right to leave him like that forever though, is it?”

“No.” Chikage sighs. “A really small percentage?” she says, longing.

“Terribly small,” Kaito says. “Haibara didn’t sound confident that it would work. Still, it’d be like him—us—to leave that kind of thing to chance and play the impossible odds.”

He listens to Chikage’s breathing as she thinks, picturing her sitting in some cheesy themed hotel room with a late dinner in the form of hotel catering and the casual chaos of her suitcases slowly taking over the room. Or maybe it is still neat because Chikage reached the point of getting annoyed with clutter and put it all away until the cycle repeated. Either way she’s probably sitting on her bed with her toes tucked under the covers to keep her feet warm like she does at home when they watch movies together.

Kaito misses her terribly sometimes.

One of his doves flutters on his shoulder, right up against his neck all warm and grounding and alive. He pets her, feeling her feathers fluff and settle, her tiny body leaning into his touch.

“If it works, how will we explain two of you?” Chikage asks finally.

“If it works, he probably won’t be able to slip back into his old life, the side effects would make that impossible, and even if they didn’t, he has over a year of life and growth that never happened.” Kaito scratches the feathers along his dove’s neck. “Maybe he could go be with you. At least until he’s recovered and all. He’s… probably not going to like me much.”

“You mean you wouldn’t be your own best friend?” Chikage jokes. It’s a very weak joke, but he gives her points for trying.

“Considering how I reacted to the other robot that tried to steal our life, no.”

“…We’d make things work. If we got him back, we’d figure out a way to make it all work out.”

“Yeah.”

“It wouldn’t make me love you less,” Chikage says hitting to the heart of his fears in all of this. “You’d both be Kaito. I have enough love to go around.”

“I know. Thanks, Kaa-san.” He curls a little tighter and another bird lands on his back like that will get her pettings instead of Kaito trying not to move and dislodge her. “So.”

“I think you should try,” Chikage says. “It’s probably not going to work, but…”

“It’s resolution,” Kaito says.

“Yes.”

The dove on Kaito’s back flutters away but the one on his shoulder stays cuddled close. “Do you want to be here when…?”

Chikage is quiet long enough for Kaito to worry that the call has dropped. “I should be there,” she says, which isn’t really an answer.

“I’ll let you know when Haibara thinks she has things down to try it. You can decide then.”

“Thank you, Kaito.”

Kaito hums and lets her transition the topic to something else, something lighter and not involving death at all.

[balancingdiet]

Comparison

Detective Conan & Magic Kaito Characters: Kaito/Shinichi & Heiji Words: 1700 ish Required Fic: Tabula Rasa Extra: (1) (2) (3) (4)

“So... is it safe for me to say I’m your best neighbour too?” 

“Yes, I will. Okay— I promise I’m gonna do it now.” Kaito closed the kitchen tap and clamped his phone in between his cheek and shoulder before heaving the filled watering-can out of the basin.

“Thank you, Kaito-botchama,” Jii said on the other line, but Kaito recognised more exasperation than satisfaction in Jii’s tone.

“I’mma hang up now, see you later.”

Cancelling the call, Kaito carried the watering-can in one hand and stumbled out to his backyard, and with his other hand, he went to his clock app and set three alarms.

Well, Kaito really couldn’t blame Jii for his worries and reminders these days, especially after Kaito recently got so distracted with his own things and nearly missed the hour of his heist; and Jii was almost desperate enough to act as Kaitou Kid then.

And this didn’t just happen once, but twice.

Standing in his backyard, Kaito glanced over to Shinichi’s house.

There were indeed loads of distractions lately.

Kaito ambled over his rose plantations and began watering them, as what he normally did.

“Wow, you have plants.”

Kaito blinked, glancing towards the fence that cut between his and Shinichi’s house.

Rather than the owner of the backyard, Kaito found the other dark-skinned detective — Hattori Heiji — the man that wasn’t easy to forget, given his reputation and the incident that nearly scarred Kaito for life.

Hattori was looking around Shinichi’s backyard in amazement, as if it was the first time he’d ever seen a patch of grass with two pots of plants... Or maybe it was the first time he’d seen Shinichi’s backyard, and knowing that Shinichi was plant-stupid in many sense, the two potted plants must be as impressive as running a country.

And speaking of first time, this was also the first time Kaito saw Shinichi ever had any visitor, well, save for Mouri Ran, the only unexpected and uninvited one.

All of the sudden, Hattori turned, spotting Kaito from where he was.

“Eh, your neighbour’s there too.” Hattori gave a wave. “Hello!”

Right there and then, Shinichi stepped out of his backyard door, his face looking all frozen and awkward.

This could be fun.

Kaito grinned and waved back; but of course this wouldn’t be enough to consider fun. Putting the watering-can down, he walked towards the fence, and with every step closer, Shinichi looked more and more disgruntled...

Eventually, Shinichi pinched the bridge of his nose, looking absolutely done with Kaito, or Hattori, or basically the entire situation.

“Nice to meet ya,” Hattori said as he put a hand over his chest. “I’m Kudo’s best friend and greatest rival.”

“And his name is also Hattori Heiji,” Shinichi mumbled before gesturing weakly over Kaito’s face. “And he’s my neighbour, Kuroba Kaito,” he said to Hattori.

Best friend and greatest rival... Kaito propped an arm over the fence. “Is it safe for me to say that I’m your best neighbour too?”

Shinichi couldn’t look any more resigned than this. He turned away, ignoring Kaito and attempted to tug Hattori out of his backyard. “Ok, anyway—”

“Wait a minute.” Hattori’s eyes narrowed at Kaito suspiciously, and Kaito felt a shiver ran down his spine. “Why does it look so familiar?” Hattori added.

Kaito blinked, barely holding back the urge to touch his face, and it took a much greater effort to stop himself from giving a nervous swallow too.

The fun sure lasted shorter than Kaito expected.

But it wasn't just Kaito that was stumped; Shinichi’s eyes looked like they were going to fall out any moment.

“What?” Shinichi spat.

Hattori scratched his chin, and he looked like a curious monkey when he did. “I’ve seen it before…”

Shinichi stepped a little closer to the fence, as if trying to block Hattori’s view of Kaito. “What are you talking about—”

“That shirt, ya.” Hattori pointed to Kaito’s chest. “I’ve seen you worn it before.”

Kaito looked down.

Crap. He certainly played himself this time; he hadn’t realized he was wearing Shinichi’s shirt today, the one Shinichi changed him out on the night he bled a mess out of his Kid’s clothes.

He nervously glanced up, coincidentally meeting Shinichi’s eyes before turning to Hattori, who still had the same squinty look on his face.

“Uh,” Shinichi began. “Yes, what a coincidence that my neighbour has the same shirt as me.”

This was the stupidest thing Kaito ever heard, but he doubt he could complain about the excuse when he didn’t have anything better to say. He tried to add a laugh, hoping it was enough to ease the situation.

But then again, Hattori wasn’t named the Detective of the West for nothing. “Right—”

“Anyway, there’s nothing in my backyard besides the two plants, so let’s head back in,” Shinichi said. Hattori was obviously not listening as he was still scrutinising Kaito and the shirt, but he didn’t have the opportunity to comment anything else as Shinichi successfully dragged him back into his house.

The backyard door closed.

A cooing sound made Kaito turned as he stared at his two doves—Touma and Curry—perched one the other end of the fence.

Kaito scorned. “You two... enjoying the show?”

Curry cooed.

Shaking his head, Kaito headed back to his watering-can.

—— 

After Kaito finished watering his plants, he walked out of his house, played with his own mailbox latch for a bit before heading to Shinichi’s one.

No bird poop stain.

No reason for Kaito to be here then.

But that wasn’t going to stop him from doing what he wanted. Kaito leaned against Shinichi’s mailbox, fingers drumming across the top. Shinichi’s car was still parked at the usual spot, but Kaito was sure he had heard Shinichi’s front door opened and closed beforehand. He stared down at the empty street, the only path Shinichi could take to go to the train station, or anywhere else; Kaito’s house was on the end of the block anyway—

And Kaito was right, as he spotted Shinichi’s returning with both of his hands tugged deep inside his pockets. Hattori was nowhere in sight.

Kaito placed his elbow on the mailbox and rested his chin against his palm. As Shinichi got much closer, and clearly already spotting him from the distance, Kaito spoke, “You haven’t answered my question.”

Shinichi looked confused, but he expressed that with a frown. “I don’t remember any question,” he replied, stopping his tracks before Kaito.

“So...” Kaito grinned. “Is it safe for me to say that I’m your best neighbour too?”

Shinichi rolled his eyes. “What do you think?”

“Yes?”

Kaito expected Shinichi to not reply, but he didn’t expect Shinichi to return to his house so soon when their conversation barely started. Kaito stared at Shinichi’s back and observed the slump on his shoulders, which Kaito didn’t notice earlier in the backyard when Shinichi was mostly tensed the entire time.

He wondered what Hattori was here for, and what they had talked about in the house. And if... it had anything to do with Mouri Ran.

Then, to Kaito’s surprise, Shinichi suddenly stopped and turned, looking at Kaito over his shoulder.

“What?” Shinichi muttered.

Does he have eyes on his back? “Nothing.” Kaito said.

Kaito knew what it was like to have his problems meddled with when he didn’t want it to be, and Kaito wasn’t going to be that hypocrite. Like what Shinichi said a long, long time ago, if he wanted the answers, he should wait when the time was right, or let the answer eventually come to him.

And if Shinichi didn’t want to talk, or do anything about it at the moment, there was no point for Kaito to force anything.

And maybe he didn’t have the rights to do it too.

Having nothing else to say, Kaito dusted his hands and returned to his own home.

“Wait.”

Kaito stopped.

“Uh.” Shinichi glanced at his mailbox.

“My doves didn’t shit on it this time,” Kaito said, which was true, yet deep down somewhere in his gut, he somehow wished they did.

“Yes, I can see that,” Shinichi answered back.

Kaito tilted his head. Shinichi sounded almost annoyed, but Kaito couldn’t pinpoint the main reason for it, just like the cause for the slump in his shoulder too. Kaito stayed silent and waited for Shinichi to continue.

“When are you planning to return my shirt?”

Huh. It’s for this? Kaito tugged onto the shirt, wondering. “Do you want me to take it off now?”

“Don’t.” Shinichi looked even more annoyed, but Kaito was much familiar and better with this annoyance; the one that seemed only Kaito was capable of making Shinichi feel.

Kaito grinned.

“Just give it back to me next time,” Shinichi added.

“Ok.” That is, if Kaito remembered and not wear it every time after he finished washing it. “Is there anything else?”

“No. I guess not.” Shinichi was about to turn again. “Bye.”

“Bye.”

“...Wait.”

Oh God, even Hakuba wasn’t this fickle-minded with his words, and that was one hell of a comparison that Shinichi was forcing Kaito to make. “What now?” he said as he swung his arms up in the air.

“Do you... I mean, are you free?”

“Certainly not”, Kaito was about to say, but he held back his tongue and tried to ignore Jii’s reminder and chiding words echoing in his head. Rather than a yes or no, he said, “Why?”

“By any chance are you cooking later, like fried rice?” Shinichi looked awkward, and Kaito almost saw some resemblance of that awkwardness he saw in Mouri Ran that day. “Can I pay for you to cook an extra plate for me?”

Pay? Kaito wanted to shake his head, to mock, and maybe to laugh, but he considered himself reaping more benefits from the act of cooking that meal, more than what Shinichi could ever pay with him in money.

“I can do it for free,” Kaito said, and he found his cheeks aching from the smile that spread across his cheeks. “But in exchange, you have to answer my question: Is it safe to say that I’m your best—“

“Yes,” Shinichi interrupted with a sigh, but his gaze looked a little amused at the same time. “Yes you are.”

[squidpro-quo]

Roommates

AN: For @sup-poki and @mintchocolateleaves‘s emogust prompt “Roommates”, suuuuuuper late but I couldn’t forget athlete!kaishin and especially not Kaito as an acrobat

“Oi, Kudo! Can you stop staring for a minute and focus?” 

Shinichi turned away from his view of the gym and back towards Heiji just as a soccer ball slammed into his face, sending him reeling back with his nose stinging like hell. The pain was enough to snap him back to his current situation, not the daydream he’d been entertaining a second ago, and now he certainly had the focus to glare at Hakuba as he and Heiji jogged closer. 

“That’s the third ball to the brain cage this week, Kudo,” Heiji said, clapping an arm across his back and pulling his shoulder close as Hakuba passed by on his way to retrieve the ball. “I tried to warn you this time too!”

“I was paying attention, it just caught me off guard.” Shinichi grimaced as he pulled his hand away from his nose, gaze sliding unbidden back to the side of the gym. The assembled figures stretching against the wall, some now pointing down towards the soccer field with heads clustered together, were close enough for him to pick out the lithe one in the leggings and loose tank top bending down to touch his toes. Shinichi didn’t need him to look up just yet and see the disaster of a fool he’d made of himself at the moment, that could wait. 

“Aaaaand you’re still not paying attention,” Heiji muttered, snapping his fingers in front of Shinichi’s face, poking him in the nose once he refused to look away. “Seriously, I thought you guys were roommates? What’s making this so hard? You literally see him every day for several hours. You sleep less than ten feet away.” 

“Likely that is the source of his inability to kick the ball instead of receiving it with his face,” Hakuba cut in, returning with the ball in hand and calculating gaze in store. “You should ask him before anyone else does.” 

“Ask him what?” Shinichi tried to play dumb, but the ball must have shaken a screw loose or something because a second later his brain caught up to why this whole line of questioning was a bad idea. “Who’s going to ask him?”

“You can’t think you’re the only one who gets distracted by splits and somersaults, right?” Heiji tried to slap the ball out of Hakuba’s hand, but the other was used to the habit and stepped out of range. 

“If you keep drooling over the leotards then pretty soon someone else will take a move while you’re still recovering from your repeated brain injuries.” Hakuba smiled slightly, dropping the ball down to bounce on his knee. 

“You’ve got a chance, Kudo!” Heiji shook him in encouragement, Shinichi fighting to stay standing against his strength. None of their reasoning was convincing him to take the climb the grassy hill up to the gym and do something embarrassing in front of the entire gymnastics team. He could just imagine the way Kaito would look up from his stretch to smile and ask if he wanted to do some exercises together later. “He’s got his own puddle of drool.” 

That got his attention.

“What? How do you know?” Shinichi turned towards Heiji so sharply that his nose twinged from the speed of the movement. 

“You know you can be real blind to things right in front of you sometimes, right? Handshake trick, my ass, you can tell what someone had for breakfast but not that your own roommate stares at you when you’re not looking.” 

Shinichi wanted to glance up towards the side of the gym yet again but resolutely kept his gaze fixed on the soccer ball now passing from the tip of Hakuba’s foot up to his head. Balancing it for a second before returning it to his hands, Hakuba still had time to shoot Shinichi an unimpressed stare. 

“I saw him lose his balance when you scored in that scrimmage match last week. And he keeps watching you run by too. Doesn’t spare the rest of us half an eyeful, guess our shorts aren’t short enough.” Heiji grinned, before giving Shinichi a shove in the back. “Now hurry up, we’re taking a water break for your health. Don’t come back until you’ve done something about your very flexible distraction.” 

Shinichi looked up to find Kaito standing back up, eyes catching on his own and while he raised his leg above his head and braced it against the wall beside him, gave Shinichi a small wave. 

What the hell, he could always just ask Kaito a quick question and those two wouldn’t know any better until he came back and told them he didn’t do it. Shinichi started climbing the hill, hands braced on his thighs with each step from the steepness. His practice jersey stuck to his chest with each lunging stride but he managed to reach the top without becoming out of breath. Which was a relief, because he needed it available for it to be stolen when Kaito beamed at his approach and bounded out of his stretch to meet him halfway to the rest of the team. 

“Looks like you’re going hard today,” Kaito said, eyes brushing up and down Shinichi’s rumpled shirt and shorts with a meaningful look.

“No, no we’re not…” Shinichi scrambled for better words before he made a fool of a misinterpretation. “Yeah, coach is working us hard. You guys on the bars today?”

“Rings, actually. I’ll have noodle arms by tonight.” 

“Do you want some tonight?” Shinichi blurted, mouth moving faster than his slightly battered brain could keep up. Maybe Hakuba was right about potential concussions. 

“Some what?” Kaito leaned to the side, hands on his bare hips as he spoke, dipping into a stretch while Shinichi had to face the fact of how much of his skin he could, see from his shoulders to his waist. 

“Noodles. Do you want to get noodles tonight?”

“Uh, sure. I thought it was my turn to make dinner?” Kaito shot him a perplexed look, straightening up. 

“I was thinking we could eat at a restaurant.” Shinichi tried again. 

“Oh. Is this because you ran a load of your laundry right when I needed to do mine?” Kaito laughed sheepishly before adding on, “I actually just stole some of your shirts instead, so you don’t have to pay me back.”

“No, it’s not about that.” Though now Shinichi knew why he’d been faintly possessive when he’s seen Kaito yesterday. He gave up and went for direct instead. “Go out with me.” 

“I mean I’m cool with getting noodles somewhere, I’ll go out to eat.” Kaito shrugged, the strap of his tank top slipping off his shoulder with the motion. He pulled it back up and smiled, that infuriating grin that Shinichi now knew to be his mischievous one. 

“You know what I mean, Kuroba,” he muttered, his blood pumping from how riled up his damn roommate could get him, in more ways than one, and not from the rigorous practice anymore. 

“Just wanted to see how long it would take you. Too many soccer balls to the head will do that to you,” Kaito said, a satisfied look gleaming in his eyes. 

Before Shinichi could retort, one of Kaito’s teammates, Akako’s familiar wicked sharp voice, cut in.

“He fell flat on his ass so much he had to bribe us to keep quiet.” She pointed between the two. “Finally. You two are denser than a pair of weights. Get out of here, Kudo, you’ll have him all to yourself tonight. Right now he’s mine.” 

Shinichi glared over Kaito’s shoulder at her but Kaito took hold his arm and after a quick squeeze, pushed him down the slope. 

“It’s a date!”

If you’d like to know more, prompt me here

[livmadart]

shoutout to the eight (8) discrete posts about hakuba i did today. That was completely inadvertent but today is his day i guess

[endekashi]

shinrai dekinai tour again.

昨日はちょっと用事があり、八方日和を逃したえんでかし。

残り物を探しに行ってまいりました。

Yesterday, Endekashi had some business to attend to and missed the perfect Happo day. I went to look for leftovers.

本日のお客様は豪州から。女子率高めです。

合言葉は『信頼できない』

やな言葉だなおい。

Today's guests are from Australia. The percentage of girls is high. The watchword is "Shinrai dekinai".（means Untrustworthy) What a strange word, isn't it?

ポールとスノーシューのレンタルが5セット。

流石に足りなく友達からかき集めてなんとかなりました。

Five sets of poles and snowshoes for rent. I was short of poles and snowshoes and managed to scavenge them from friends.

よくVERTS落とす人いるから、取り付け方を入念に教えます。

I carefully taught them how to install the VERTS because people often drop them.

上に登ると、あれ、あれあれあれ？なんか見た事ある人が！

スーパーレジェンド、ブライアンイグチさんじゃございませんかー！！

When I climbed to the top, I thought, hey, hey, hey, hey? What's that? Someone I've seen before! It's the super legend Brian Iguchi!

Volcomの撮影だそうで、マサシ君、ルイキ、イグチさん、吉野ヤット&アサヒ、中井君と、錚々たる面子が集まってました。

It was a photo shoot for Volcom, and a distinguished group of people gathered together, including Masashi-kun, Ruiki, Iguchi-san, Yatto & Asahi Yoshino, and Nakai-kun.

天気は文句ない快晴。絶景が広がります。

The weather is unquestionably clear. The view is spectacular.

絶景を歩くメインライン御一行。しかし、俺はジョニー君に言いたいことが。昨日のブログでバフバフ八方だって聞いてきたのに、上がってみたらいつもの八方じゃんかよ！

どうやら昨日の夜、結構風吹いたみたいです。

The mainline(famous ski guide in Hakuba) group walking through the spectacular scenery. But I have something to say to Johnny(guide). I heard in yesterday's his blog that it was buffeting in Happo, but when I went up there, it was the usual Happo! Apparently, the wind blew quite a bit last night!

順調に歩いていい斜面に一番乗りに着きました。しかし…

手前から見えない奥の方で準備してたら、後から来たグループが自分たちの存在に気づかず先を越されてしまいました。ちくしょー！

We walked well and arrived first on a nice slope. However…

We were setting up in the back where we couldn't see them from the front, and the group that came after us didn't even know we were there and dropped off first! Damn!

まあいいよ。斜面も広いから大丈夫と言ってくれるゲスト。気楽な人たちで良かった。信頼できるね！

Guests say it's okay because the slopes are wide. I'm glad they are easy-going people. Shinrai dekiru!

とりあえずテールガイドの豪君が味見。

ちょっと日差しの影響が出てるね。日陰のいい方は先行者に取られちまった！ちくしょー！

At first, the tail guide, Go, tasted it.

The sun is having a bit of an effect. The good side in the shade has been taken by the people ahead of us! Damn!

それでもみんな気持ち良さそうに滑って行きました。

Even so, everyone went down the slopes feeling good.

このスケール感は八方ならではですね。

This sense of scale is unique to Happo.

充分楽しんでくれたようです。良かった。

They seemed to have enjoyed it well enough. I'm glad.

いつもはそんなに苦労しないトラバースも今日はなかなか一苦労。

The traverse, which is usually not so difficult, was quite a challenge today.

ほんじゃランチブレイクといきますか。

スライスピザでかっ！！

Let's take a lunch break, shall we? A big slice of pizza!

ほんじゃあ次の斜面行ってみよー！！

Well then, let's go to the next slope!

こっからが例の風の当たってないバフバフの雪ってやつでした。しかも今朝のドライアウトで更に軽い！！

This was the buff snow that had not been hit by the wind. And with this morning's dryout, it was even lighter!

雨神宮！！！

Amazing!!!

ドライでむちゃんこいい雪！！

がしかし、サラサラすぎて結構スラフが落ちます。

Dry, awesome good snow! However, it is too smooth and the snow on the surface falls off quite quickly.

いいとこ滑ればご覧の通りのいい雪。

Good snow as you can see if you ski in the right spots.

王寒！！

Awesome!!!

帰り道で、ちょっとヒヤッとする場面もありましたが全員無事に下山！！

On the way back, there were a few near-misses, but everyone made it down the mountain safely!

この笑顔を見るとどうやら楽しんでもらえたようですね。じゃあ俺は信頼できるガイドって事でいいすかね〜？

お疲れ山でした！&おしょっ様でしたー！！

From the smiles on their faces, it looks like they had a good time. So I guess that means I'm a trustworthy guide, huh?

Otukareyama!! and Thank you very much!!

帰りがけに真性ほうてい夫婦のネギちゃんとりんごちゃんにわたほてステッカーを渡しました！九時間かけて登って杓子の北東ルンゼ滑って来たんだって！バフバフだったって！いいな〜！！

On the way home, I gave Negi and Ringo-chan, a hardcore power junkie couple, my new sticker! They said they had spent nine hours climbing up and down the northeast runse of Shakushi! They were so buff! I love it!

[motivefound]

'' Aye!! Yo I head from the birds that it's someone's day today so here I, Charlie Vergier, detective extraordinaire, shall get'cha somethin' cool! '' Thus she practically shoves into his hands a neatly wrapped gift, containing a selection of tea flavored macaroons. Merry birthmas!

  He takes the gift carefully in his hands and attempts to pull away the wrapping in a manner that will allow for him to save the paper and not rip it- polite! He’d feel bad savaging away all of that effort. “Ah, you didn’t have to get me anything!”

  Hakuba’s eyes widen. He’s practically salivating, honestly. Who wouldn’t?

  “I suppose my taste isn’t hard to guess, is it? Thank you.” Hompf.

[rachello344]

Have you done a role reversal where kaito is the one shrunk? And shinichi somehow stumbles onto him and his "disappearance" case?

I’m still not sure if this is a request or not, but since the answer was “No, actually,” I might as well write a quick little something for it before I head to bed.  ;D  It turned a little away from what you might have been going for, but I like how it came out.  Hope you enjoy it!!

Kaito froze, caught in the act.  He put on his best little kid smile, beaming up at the teenager approaching.  Shit shit shit.  Kudou Shinichi could not be here, today.  This was a horrible time for him to be showing up.  Kaito needed to stop a theft, he was presently seven years old, and he was in no state to do battle of any kind with Kudou.

What happened to not going after thieves?  Sure, he’d gone after him a few times when he could still act as Kid, but this was Nightmare, not Kid.  Why was he here?  He wasn’t supposed to be here.

“You’re not supposed to be here,” Kudou said, frowning.  “How’d you get in here anyway?  I locked that door myself.”

“Well, it wasn’t locked when I came up here!” Kaito laughed, hoping it didn’t sound forced.  “Inspector Nakamori is my guardian.  I’m just waiting for him to be done here so we can go home.”

Kudou gave an unconvinced hum.  “How old are you?”

“Seven.”  He kept the smile on his face.  “How old are you?”

“Seventeen.”  Kudou crossed his arms.  “You look strangely familiar.  What’s your name?”

“Akito,” he said quickly.  “Nakamura Akito.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” he muttered, distractedly.  “I’m Kudou Shinichi, a detective.”

Shit, Kaito thought.  Introducing himself was a mistake.  As if Hakuba wasn’t bad enough.

“Where do you think Nightmare will appear, Akito?” he asked.

“How should I know?” Kaito frowned.  “I’m seven.”

“Don’t sell yourself short.  I know a group of detectives your age, and they’ve made plenty of deductive leaps most adults wouldn’t manage.”  Kudou smiled, something kind and disarming, a far cry from the suspicious look he was wearing just a moment ago.  That was interesting.  Did Kudou like children?  That seemed almost out of character.  “I want to hear your opinion.”

Kaito bit his lip, but gave in.  He couldn’t resist showing off, not in front of a captive audience, not in front of his favorite audience.  “I think he’ll appear here in about twenty minutes.  It’s why I came up here.  Uncle Nakamori is busy with the Taskforce, so he wasn’t listening to me.  I thought I could sound the alarm manually if I was right.”

Kudou’s eyes were bright with interest.  “Well, isn’t that something.  We’re of a mind here, Akito.  The last time I was this in sync with someone…  Well.”  Kudou’s smiled turned almost wistful.

“Something wrong, detective?” Kaito asked.

Kudou’s smile dropped, his eyes narrowed.  “What did you just call me?”

Kaito faltered.  “You said you were a detective, didn’t you?”  His face felt hot.  He was in such deep shit.  Why did it have to be Kudou?  Why couldn’t it be the Osaka guy or the tomboy?

“You–That’s not possible.”

“What’s not possible?” Kaito could feel sweat beading at his hairline.

“She said that it was unlikely anyone else would have survived.  You aren’t possible.”  Kudou knelt down, getting uncomfortably close, staring.

“Unlikely sounds like improbable, not impossible,” Kaito muttered, frowning and leaning away.  “And what are you talking about?”

“I know the scientist that made this,” he gestured at Kaito, “possible.  She’s about your age.”  Kudou straightened back up, running a hand over his face.  He looked exhausted.  He mumbled something into his hand; Kaito managed to catch the words, “he’s alive.”

He felt a sudden pang of guilt.  Had Kudou been worried about him?  Even though he was a thief?

“You don’t need to actually say anything, I guess, but… I’m not wrong, am I?” Kudou asked, lowering his hands.  “You are Kaitou Kid, right?  The second one?”

“What would you do if I was?”

Kaito didn’t know what he was expecting, but it definitely wasn’t for Kudou to grin at him, apparently delighted.  “I’d offer you my services.  We seem to have enemies in common.  I know you know where I live; you’re welcome any time.”

“Detective, you really are something else.”  Kaito recrossed his arms.  “I mean, seriously?  You actually believe all this?”

Kudou shook his head.  “It’s not a matter of belief.  It’s a matter of fact.  I’ve seen the evidence with my own eyes.  I know this is possible, if improbable.”  He frowned.  “It’s a miracle you aren’t dead.”

“Don’t I know it.  Guess I lived up to the name.”  He smirked, if only to stop himself from dwelling on his own mortality.

Kudou was surprised into a short laugh.  “Miracle Magician, indeed.”  He shook his head again, but he was still smiling.  It almost looked fond.  “I’m glad you’re safe, Kid.  And I’m glad you’re here.  I’m a little wary of going without backup these days.”

“Close call?”

“Something like that.”  Kudou sighed.  “I want to ask you about your situation, but I don’t think we have much time left.”

“I’ll think about your offer, Kudou.  It’s not that I don’t trust you, but I need to keep on my guard.”  He hesitated.  “I’ll come by in a few days to let you know either way.  At the very least, it might be nice to hang out with someone my own age who both knows I’m not seven and doesn’t want to arrest me once they figure out how I changed.”  He hesitated again.  “You… don’t want to arrest me, right?”

Kudou snorted.  “Hardly.  I just like the puzzles.  Your heists were always a fun break from the murders I usually have to deal with.”

“If Hakuba felt that way, my life would be so much easier,” Kaito whined.

The sound of glass breaking shattered the moment.  Kudou shifted to the balls of his feet.  Kaito’s hand dipped to his pockets.

“If anything happens, run to the alarm,” Kudou mumbled.  “I’ll watch your back.”

Kaito nodded once; he trusted him.

[foggyinjapan-blog]

8th Nov. Rainy Day

Its a rainy day today and I've planned a rest day coz I'm so exhausted!!! I talk to my sister in the morning and then get planning the final part of my journey before I head to Hakuba and start working again. This really has been bliss being unemployed and travelling! I feel very grateful to be able to do this in my life. Some people will never get the opportunity. Between here and Hakuba is a place called Kiso Valley. Here’s an overview.

The Kiso Valley is in the Nagano Prefecture, and runs alongside the mountains of the Central Alps. An ancient 70 km trade route called the Kisoji was developed along the valley and served as a very important means of commerce in the area.

The Kisoji became even more important from the beginning of the Edo Period, when it was amalgamated with other routes in the formation of the 500 km long Nakasendo. The Nakasendo ("path through mountains") was one of the two means of transportation between Edo and Kyoto. It contrasted with the other principal transportation route of the time, the Tokaido, which ran along the sea shore.

Because of restrictions by the shogunate, travelers were almost always forced to make their trips on foot. As a result, "post towns" developed every few kilometers to provide travelers with places to rest, eat, and find nightly accommodation during their arduous journey.

Along the Kiso Valley, a few post towns, particularly Magome, Tsumago and Narai, have been preserved to look as they did when they served travelers of the Nakasendo.

( https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e6075.html )

How amazing does that sound! Real history right infront of your eyes. There's a 2 hour hike from Magome to Tsumago that I want to do. I think it will be incredible to endure what the travelers battled with back then. I will stay in Magome on the first night, the next day do the hike and explore Tsumago then head up to Matsumoto to stay the night there. In the morning I will explore this town and visit a time piece museum of all different clocks and watches from over time and then in the arvo catch the train to Hakuba and start the next chapter! I haven't decided whether I will keep this journal during the season. I feel as if I will not have time. I guess I'll take it as it comes.

So stoked the rest of the trip is booked! I head out for some Indian food to celebrate. Indian food in Japan for an Aussie tourist. I am not kidding when I say this is the best Indian food I have ever had!!!! First came out this tomato soup. The flavour was so powerful!! Then came out the main, a chicken leg, butter chicken, korma, salad, and a huuuuge naan bread! It was spilling over the edge of the basket. This man's recipes are amazing! Every bite I was in heaven! I ate so much food I couldn't move...

The rest of the afternoon I just spent chilling, watching snowboard movies and I got some yoga in too. Delightful. I seriously couldn't eat dinner though... So full. So happy.