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APRIL 18TH"But Kudou… if it's not Yagami, then who is it?" Heiji asked, watching the tv screen, transfixed at the horror unfolding live."I trust that now you believe that I really am Kira...""Hattori! We have to stop that broadcast!" Kudou suddenly shouted at him, as though he'd just had some kind of realization."I know-but how? ...Aa… hang on, I have another call." Heiji said apologetically. Ordinarily, he would never take another call in this situation but he had a feeling he knew exactly who was on the other line."Hattori! Hattori don't you dare-" Heiji pressed the hold and accept new call button."Heiji-kun-" L's voice met his ears. "Are you watching the news?" He asked."Yeah." Heiji answered quickly. "How're things on yer side?" In the background, he could hear the chaos at headquarters-Aizawa shouting that his friend at Sakura had his cell turned off and Ukita shouting that he was going to go there in person."We are doing all we can to reach Sakura Television.""Please listen to me carefully. I do not want to kill innocent people. I hate evil and love justice-""Not really justice if yer killin' people." Heiji grumbled at the tv before turning his attention back to L. "It's bein' aired from Sakura, right? I can head there with-""No, Ukita is already moving to collect the tapes. Do you have him on the other line?" He couldn't mean…"-My aim is to rid the world of evil and create a just society. If all of you will join me in this mission, it can easily be accomplished. If you do not try to capture me, no innocent people will die.""Do you?""...Yeah." Heiji finally admitted. "He's out havin' dinner with his mom an' Conan." He decided not to tell L that Yagami was there too, he couldn't have him working out this wasn't the work of Kira and the the terrifying truth was that someone else had found another weapon like Kira's. If L got the information then the Organisation would undoubtedly get it too.oooOOOooo"Even if you do not agree with me, if you refrain from publicizing your views in the media or in public, you will be spared. And then simply wait. In a short time, the world will be changed for the better, I'm sure you will all agree."Nakamori household had been settled in for dinner at the time of the broadcast and no one dared to say anything as they stared, horrified at the news report. Things had been relatively okay between Kaito and Aoko since that shopping trip-they were even joking around at the dinner table as was normal for them both and for a moment, Aoko felt that things were as they should be.And then that broadcast happened and no one dared to move for a long moment. At last-when Kira threatened anyone that spoke out against him, her dad sprang into action, moving quickly to grab his coat and keys."D-Dad, where are you going?" Aoko asked frantically, checking the screen again. Her dad finished pulling on his jacket and stopped by her to press a kiss to the top of head."To the hospital. There's no way Soichiro is going to just sit in bed while this is happening." He told her, heading for the door. Aoko nodded and watched him go, a strong feeling of dread seeping into her stomach the moment he was out the door."He'll be okay, Aoko." Kaito tried to reassure her. "He's just going to stop Yagami-san from doing something stupid." Aoko shook her head."No, he's going to help him." She told him. Kaito looked towards the door her dad had left behind and then pulled his tablet from seemingly out of nowhere but this was no time to be impressed with his tricks. "…What are you doing?""I'm pulling up another news station-at least one of them is bound to have reporters outside the building." He explained, toggling through a few news channels."We are cancelling our scheduled program to broadcast-""Wait! Go back!" Aoko was hovering over his shoulder. Kaito moved back to Nichuri's news channel."This just in! Someone is reported to have collapsed in front of Sakura TV." The news reporter was saying while an image of a man lying motionless in front of the station showed on the screen."Dad!" Aoko cried out, her stomach dropping out of her."No." Kaito told her. "He couldn't get to the station that fast, but we have to warn him!" Aoko nodded and dove for her phone.oooOOOooo"We are cancelling our scheduled Program to broadcast live in front of Sakura TV." Heiji heard another new report in the background. "This just in, someone is reported to have collapsed in front of Sakura TV.""Ukita!" Heiji heard Aizawa cry out in the background. "Oh my god! Kira got him?" Heiji could barely register the conversation as it sunk in that this person-whoever they were-had just killed a member of the Kira task force."Forget it, Aizawa-san, where do you think you're going?" Shit! Kudou! Heiji jumped back to the other line"Kudou! Where are ya?" He could tell by the breathing alone that he was running."I'm about two blocks away from Sakura TV-""Stop!" L's voice shouted into the line and Heiji realized that he'd combined the calls. Whoops."Kudou, don't go anywhere near Sakura TV!" Heiji shouted."Even if you say that, I can see it." Kudou admitted."Listen to me, if you get near that building now, you'll only get killed." L explained."You trying to tell me to watch television, Ryuuzaki?" Aizawa's voice was still in the background."I'm telling you both to calm down and be realistic. I want to stop that video as much as you do, and if we managed to confiscate the entire package, the way it was sent, there's a good chance we can track Kira down. But if Ukita was murdered by Kira, whoever goes there now will end up dead, too." L explained."What?" Kudou must have come to a stop."Heiji-kun, please come to headquarters. Holmes-kun can go back to dinner with his mother. We will reconvene later." L hung up his line."Holmes-kun?" Kudou asked. Heiji took in a breath and turned his attention back to Kudou."He knows yer tryin' ta stay hidden. I don't know Kudou, I spend a good amount o' time around th' guy and I think ya might have misjudged him." Heiji explained, shutting off the television."Hattori, what if they killed Absinthe?" Kudou asked, more focused on the recent death. "More people are going to die.""Ya can't think like that Kudou. Just go back to dinner with yer mom and I'll catch ya up on things later tonight. We can' really make a move until that stuff wears off, right? Ya go over there now, not only could ya get killed by this imposter but yer face'll be seen on national television."oooOOOoooGinzo Nakamori had many regrets in life-one of his biggest was that he didn't get enough time with his daughter-his job was demanding and it often kept him away from Aoko while she was growing up. He missed a lot of moments that he should have been there for. However, she was always happy to cheer him on regardless of how many piano recitals he'd missed. She knew what life for a police inspector was like so thankfully, she didn't resent him for it.He also regretted that he'd cut nearly everyone out of his life after the untimely death of his wife and Aoko's mother. He didn't realize it until the news of his previous partner's heart attack but he regretted allowing himself to fall out of touch with Yagami. It was that reason specifically that he found himself helping Soichiro get to Sakura TV in an armored van that he didn't exactly have clearance to be driving.He knew he'd never be able to convince him not to go, so he did the only thing he could think to-make sure that everything went according to plan. All this stress couldn't be good on the other man's heart and he was in no condition to be driving, but if he didn't help then Soichiro would do it anyway-they were both stubborn in that regard and he wasn't going to let this be another regret."Make sure to keep your face covered." Ginzo told the other, trying to keep focused on driving. "If he killed that other cop and you aren't already dead-he must-""He must need only a face, yeah I know." Soichiro responded gruffly, anxiety coursing through them both. Ginzo returned his attention back to the road and swallowed hard as he could see the front of Sakura TV coming into view. Pressed further against the accelerator rather than try to brake as he braced for impact.The van slammed into the front doors, sending glass in every direction, ripping the side view mirrors clear off the vehicle and forcing the security guard on the other side to dive for cover. Ginzo slammed on the brakes and bus came to a stop as Soichiro pulled his jacket over his head and got as quickly as possible out of the bus and Ginzo quickly followed suit."Where is the studio airing the Kira video?" Soichiro demanded of the security guard."Uh-Second floor studio G-6." The frightened man offered and Soichiro ran in the direction of the studio in question, Ginzo hot on his heels."Police! Stop this broadcast immediately!" Soichiro announced as he threw the doors open. The people airing the video just looked over, not at all perturbed by the event unfolding outside their studio."Stop the video now!" Ginzo shouted, temper flaring at the lack of action these people were taking."Just a minute, Detectives. If we stop this video we'll all be killed.""I don't want to hear your excuses! An innocent man is dead!""Um…" One of the employees spoke up. "Today's video just finished." He offered."So, it's you, is it?" Soichiro approached the senior director. "You're that Demegawa who's been playing up the Kira case for all it's worth. Putting out those specials in spite of the warnings we issued? You think this whole thing's funny, do you?" Demegawa took a step backwards."N-No, I had no idea it would turn into something like this, I swear! Go easy on me sir, haha…" The man offered a little nervously."That director the said Kira addressed the package to, that was you, too, wasn't it?" Ginzo asked."Yes, it was…""Give me those tapes. Give me the whole package, exactly as you received it!" Soichiro demanded."But like I said, if I do that, we'll all be killed…" Ginzo stepped forward, gripping the man by his collar."And you don't hand them over we'll be force to arrest you for obstruction of-""Hand it over! If you do that, at least you won't be killed this very minute!" Soichiro took out his gun and pointed it at the director."O-Oi, Soichiro-""Are you crazy? What the heck do you think you're doing?" Demegawa tried to get away."This is the direct result of of you putting out all those shows and treating Kira like some kind of star. I'd say you're reaping what you sow. If, after watching all these tapes, I decide it's okay to air them, I'll return them to you.""Alright, alright." Demegawa finally relented, moving to his desk to retrieve the copies in question. Ginzo let out a sigh when it seemed the man was going to cooperate and his previous partner wasn't about to turn into a murderer. He noticed that Soichiro seemed to be losing steam and moved over to lend support to the man."That the envelope they arrived in, the two pages of text, and the four digital videos. That's all we've got." Demegawa told them. Soichiro took them and looked them over a carefully before frowning."These do look like the master tapes, but are you telling me that you aired the original? Hand over the copies you made! Every single one!" He demanded. "And don't try to play dumb with me!" His hand moved towards his heart and Ginzo's fingers twitched, wanting to dial the ambulance."Okay, okay! I'll get them out all right? Just do me a favor and stop waving that gun around, your eyes are totally insane!" Demegawa moved to get the copies.oooOOOoooHeiji stepped into the hotel room currently being used as headquarters and noticed immediately the somber atmosphere. It seemed that L had gotten Aizawa to calm down. He looked around and noticed the screen was blank on Sakura TV's news broadcast. Had someone managed to stop the tape?"Heiji-kun!" Matsuda greeted him, "Ryuuzaki's deduced some troubling news-It seems that Kira only needs a face in order to carry out his murders now." Heiji froze. Just a face now? He supposed it would explain how the fake Kira was able to kill Ukita and didn't just kill everyone else in the-what was he thinking? No! No, it didn't make sense. Logic and reason said nothing about this whole case made sense and yet here they were dipping into the idea of something potentially supernatural."Fuck." Heiji voiced with all the elegance of a teenage boy. "That aside, did someone stop the broadcast?""Yes." L stated."The chief crashed an armored van into the front entrance-he's on his way here now." Aizawa informed him. Heiji stared, trying to make sense of that statement at first. The hospitalized one?"Er… I guess that's one way o' getting in without showin' yer face.""Yeah, that's what Ryuuzaki said." Matsuda stated. "But, two more police officers that turned up on the scene were killed.""Oh…" Heiji said seriously. "Do we know what their names were?""Not yet, they were just patrol officers." Mogi voiced. Before Heiji could question things any further, the door opened again and chief Yagami came in being supported by none other than Inspector Nakamori of division two with Watari close behind."Chief!" The whole room greeted the man who looked about ready to collapse all on his own."I'm sorry for taking things into my own hands like that Ryuuzaki, I let my emotions get the better of me." Soichiro stated."That's fine." L told him."Here. These are the videotapes, the envelope-everything they came in." Nakamori handed a bag marked with the Sakura tv logo on it to L. L took the bag and Nakamori and Matsuda helped Chief Yagami to sit down."Are you alright, Chief?" Matsuda asked. "Maybe you ought to get back to the hospital.""I'm fine." Yagami insisted. "Just let me lie down for a while." L's attention moved from the bag to the newcomer he probably hadn't planned on."You are Nakamori Ginzo of second division and the head of Kaitou Kid task force, correct?" L asked him. Nakamori nodded."Yes. I insisted on driving Soichiro since it seemed he wasn't in the right shape to be driving himself." He admitted gruffly."Yes, I believe that you were right to be concerned." L turned back to the envelope. Heiji looked between the two and noticed that Nakamori didn't seem remotely offended by L brushing him off. Matsuda stepped off to report Yagami's condition and Heiji moved to look over L's shoulder at the envelope."Th' hell?""Heiji-kun, I believe you recognize this post mark as belonging to Osaka." L voiced. "Though it is true that Kira can control someone's actions before they die-so, he could have sent this without going to Osaka himself.""Don' think so." Heiji voiced. "I was just back home and If any criminals in Osaka died that weren't already in prison then my Pop's woulda mentioned it-and Otaki-han woulda called." L stared at the post mark carefully, taking in what Heiji was saying."Your father is head of the Osaka Police department, isn't he?" L asked. Heiji nodded. "And you're certain that no criminals in Osaka have been affected by the Kira murders?""I wouldn' say that. I mean, there were one or two but they were already in prison and had been since at least November o' last year." Heiji elaborated. "But they might not've been Kira murders-he's been a little inactive aside from… well, today." L frowned."Aizawa-san, could you take this over to forensics?" L passed the envelope off and Aizawa took hold of it."Sure. I know a lot of people there. I'm sure they'll do a great job." He promised. "Fingerprints for sure, if there are any, and if the stamps were licked they'll get DNA from there. They'll find out there the envelope and the tapes were sold and even what model of the camera was used. They might even be able to other information from the image." He paused. "Of course, I'll make them study the tapes without sound, so they don't hear what's said.""Great, thank you." L responded. "While you're doing that, I'll watch these copies to find out what's in them.""Er… Do ya mind if I sit in with ya, while ya do that?" Heiji chanced asking. L looked him over critically."…Yes, I suppose that I can allow that."oooOOOoooShinichi was being faced with yet another choice-Did he tell Yagami about the broadcast now and admit that Conan was actually Kudou Shinichi all along or did he let it go for now and approach him about it after the antidote wore off. It was still too soon to let Light know who he really was but this changed things. Drastically. This needed immediate attention. He didn't go back to dinner with his mother as he'd been told, but instead went back his house, letting himself in and headed straight for the library. Subaru-san was likely somewhere around but it wasn't as if he wasn't already aware of Shinichi's real identity.He crawled into the chair in the study, pulling his legs up and pressing his hands together as his eyes sank closed. The organization had undoubtedly seen that broadcast and if the victim-Ukita-as he believed his name was, had in fact been Absinthe then that complicated things even more. He took in a breath and tried to think about how to move from here.He needed to talk to Yagami, but he couldn't do it as he currently was."Aa, I thought I heard someone come in." Subaru stepped in the room and then paused at the sight of Kudou Shinichi huddled in a chair like Conan usually did when upset about a problem. "I don't believe we've had the pleasure of meeting. Or would you prefer to do away with the pretenses, Shinichi-kun? "Shinichi's eyes snapped up to meet Subaru's."You saw the news, right?" he asked glumly. Subaru reached into the neck of his collar and deactivated the voice changer."Aa, I see that Kira is still on your mind even after you declined to work with L." Shinichi lowered his hands from where he'd has his fingers pressed together and let out a sigh. At least he could trust Akai."The organization." He voiced. "They want Kira's weapon." Akai regarded him carefully, chancing moving a little further into the library."Yes, I could see how they might be interested in something like that.""I found out from Amuro-san that They've already infiltrated the Kira Taskforce so I can't tell L what I know." Akai regarded him carefully as Shinichi struggled with his inner thoughts, trying to decide just how much he wanted to tell the other."I think it's time that you told me exactly what you do know." Akai said seriously, making the decision for him. Shinichi's eyes met his and he noticed that he could see the other man's green eyes peeking out at him. Still though, Shinichi was hesitant to tell him everything."When you were working under cover, did you ever meet anyone with the codename Absinthe?" He tried. Akai paused, thinking about the question carefully."Gin's-" Shinichi's heart jolted uncomfortably at the name. "-mentioned him before." Akai finally voiced."What did he say?" Shinichi asked. "Did he mention anything that might identify him?""Just that he showed promise-He hasn't been with the organization long." Akai offered. Shinichi felt his mood deflating even more at that-it could still be anyone and there was still no way to narrow it down.oooOOOoooThe broadcast cut off and Vodka looked over at his partner who was leisurely smoking a cigarette and didn't seem remotely disturbed by the recent announcement. It wasn't surprising, Vodka knew that Gin didn't startle easy and as long as no one had their names-their real names- then they were perfectly safe from the petulant child that had taken it upon himself to 'rid the world of evil.' He scoffed at the notion. Ever sense Absinthe had reported L's suspicions that Kira had to be some spoiled rotten brat it had seemed glaringly obvious-who but a child would ever think the evil of the world could be wiped out by killing the known murderers of the world when the thing they should really be worrying about were what was right beneath their very nose.He glanced back over at Gin and noticed he seemed to be thinking about something, a frown slowly beginning to form on his face."Aniki, what's wrong?" He chanced asking. Gin stubbed out his cigarette on the folder a client from earlier had given them."Kira." He stated, voice its normal, dangerous low. Vodka glanced back over at the television screen that had just been airing that broadcast from Kira. Now the news had gone back its regularly scheduled programming. "Absinthe has had long enough.""He has to work with L, without raising suspicion." Vodka pointed out in defense of their own."Hmph." Was Gin's response. "If that detective gets suspicious then he will have solved his last case."

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

APRIL 19TH

Light was furious. He hadn’t found out about the recent ‘Kira’ announcement until after he’d gotten home that night he’d met the real Shinichi (for two minutes) and Kudou Yukiko. He found it a little odd that he hadn’t heard from Conan that same night but his attention was mainly focused on the fact that someone had used the name ‘Kira’ to do something so terrible-to drag Kira’s reputation into the mud and make him appear as some kind of

dictator

. He wanted Kira to be accepted by the public-not feared. Threatening anyone to speak out against him wasn’t going to convince anyone to accept him.

He took a breath and tried to calm his rapidly rising temper. Whoever the imposter was must have had the eyes just going by the footage outside the Sakura TV station. That meant that, in a way, they were more powerful than he was. He’d have to be careful as this fake Kira undoubtedly wanted his attention.

He could use this to his advantage-he could have the imposter caught as Kira-after all, no one knew it wasn’t the real Kira that sent out that announcement. However, that meant he’d have to track down the false Kira and in order to do that, he’d have to join the taskforce with L and Hattori. Admittedly though, Hattori wasn’t much of a threat as he’d only joined the taskforce to try and find that organization’s mole.

He stopped. His thoughts slammed to a halt. He couldn’t have the false Kira get caught-he’d have to get to him first and silence him for good-if the taskforce were to get to the imposter first then that damn organization would have a Death Note and that could end in a catastrophe.

The Organization would mostly likely be planning to kill L and everyone in the Kira Taskforce the moment they had the information they needed. All Light had to do was find out who the mole was and wait until the organization took out L’s headquarters and then use him to his advantage. This did mean though, that he couldn’t join the taskforce-he’d have to have Conan and Hattori do the investigating for him.

However, if he did something of that magnitude, Conan would undoubtedly turn him over to the police-he’d have to take care of that pest first. He let out a frustrated groan and kicked his desk-(regretting it immediately as all it did was cause a sharp pain in his toe)-there was Haibara to consider as well.

There had to be away for him to come out on top again but it seemed no matter what he thought of there was another obstacle that would have to be taken care of first. Did that brat really have him so far in check? There had to be something that Conan hadn’t accounted for-he couldn’t have thought of everything.

“Something wrong, Light?” Ryuuk asked. Light shot him a glare and Ryuuk winced.

“Obviously something’s wrong!” He snapped at the Shinigami. “That damn brat has me in more of a trap than I realized. I thought that if I just left him alone eventually an opportunity would present itself-I could use him to my advantage but the move he made-Having Haibara introduce herself to me to reveal what they knew-he made sure that I couldn’t kill either of them-and if I take out the organization first then Conan will turn me over to L.”

“Well, he did want you to stop killing people. That seemed to be the only result he wanted.” Ryuuk pointed out. Light groaned. Ryuuk was right-from the beginning Conan had told him not to kill anyone else-he’d warned him not to challenge him and now Light knew why. He wasn’t just in check, he was in checkmate. The only way out was to take out all obstacles all at once.

He just couldn’t do it. He could maybe take out more than one at a time but he’d have to take out Conan, Haibara, L and that Organization all at once and he couldn’t find the fake Kira without help from Conan and Hattori.

“At least with Conan, if you don’t kill anyone else, he’ll let you go.” Ryuuk laughed. “Kira will have to retire but you’ll stay alive.” Light narrowed his eyes at the Shinigami. Was that true though? From the beginning Ryuk had said that he would kill him at the end of everything-did that mean when he no longer could use the Death Note or just when things stopped being amusing? Right now, Ryuuk seemed to get nothing but entertainment out of Conan, Haibara, Kuroba and Aoko in particular-for some reason, he seemed to like her. What was it about that girl that had so many people willing to do just about anything for her?

Even he had gotten angry over the idea that someone-Kuroba-had upset her so much. He liked her just fine and often found her refreshing to be around despite her childish nature and her tendency to be very opinionated but it wasn’t as if she was anything but a human girl. He let out a sigh and pushed the thought out of his head-He was reasonably certain that Aoko had nothing to do with the fake Kira so he couldn’t focus on her for now.
 
oooOOOooo
 
APRIL 19
TH

“So what was on them, Ryuuzaki?” Soichiro asked as he led the other task force members into the room. L looked at Heiji who had spent the night with the other detective, reviewing the tapes and eating far too much. Heiji had complained a few times when his order just didn’t compare to some dishes he was used to ordering in Osaka but he made do.

Heiji let out a heavy yawn and leaned back in the seat he’d been occupying. He’d been up all night going over these videos with L and while there were a few things that jumped out at him, ultimately they’d have to wait on forensics to run tests to start piecing things together.

“Very interesting videos.” L stated as Heiji pulled his hat down over his eyes in attempt to get some sleep. “The instructions were to broadcast video three if the police agreed to working with Kira and if the answer was no, to show four.” He explained. “Video three details the conditions for cooperation-“

“Basically, they were ta show more criminals on th’ news, an’ particularly to report crimes where people were injured, or cruelty was shown towards th’ weak. Even if th’ crimes were minor.” Heiji offered. L nodded.

“Kira would then decide who to pass judgment on.” L went on. “And, as proof the police are sincere about working together with him-to have top NPA officials and L appear on TV to make the announcement.”

“In other words.” Heiji took over again. “Ta make th’ top brass and L show their faces, so that if th’ police start actin’ suspiciously…” He trailed off and let the officers fill in the blanks on their own. “There was on interestin’ point though-considerin’ he didn’ mention I had to join everyone on tv, we came ta th’ conclusion he doesn’ know about my involvement.”

“Yes, it isn’t public knowledge that we have Heiji-kun consulting on this case, so it’s likely he either isn’t aware of this or if he were to reveal he knew it would give away his identity.” L agreed with Heiji’s assessment. “However, I’m almost sure that Kira knew very well that the police would never say ‘yes’ when he decided to take this step. Anybody could guess that the police would respond exactly as they did yesterday.”

“And what about the ‘no’ video, number four?” Soichiro asked.

“Basically, it’s the same thing, just expressed in a different manner. It’ll be much faster to have you watch than to explain it words.” L stated. “Yagami-san, obviously the police are going to say no, so please give Sakura TV permission to air the video.” He pressed play to show the others the video while Heiji sank further into his seat, slipping off to sleep.
 
oooOOOooo

APRIL 19TH

“And where have you been?” Light asked as he opened the door to see Edogawa Conan staring up at him. A stern look on his face. Was he here to yell at him for something he hadn’t even done? Would Conan think that he’d been the one to send that announcement to the police? No, if Conan had thought that he’d done it, he wouldn’t have put off coming here, and he wouldn’t be so calm. “It’s been nearly twenty-four hours.”

“I got held up.” Conan admitted, still watching him. “Is your family home?” He asked. Light shook his head. “What about Aoko-chan?”

“No, I haven’t seen her this morning. What do you want?” He opened the door a little more to let Conan in as he was sure the detective wanted to talk. Conan hesitated, no doubt wondering if he wanted to have this discussion here or at that professor’s house. Light would like to remind him that Beika was on the other side of Tokyo and he’d rather not make that trip on a whim as it was a bit expensive.  Finally, he stepped into Light’s house and he shut the door behind them.

“How do you do it?” Conan didn’t even wait until they were in Light’s room before asking what he wanted to know. Light’s eyes narrowed at him. He knew that eventually, Conan would want to know how his ‘weapon’ worked. He only surprised that he’d asked right out rather than try to find out on his own.

“How do I do, what?” Light asked, feeling a small bubble of satisfaction at the fact that he still held information that Conan didn’t. However, the bubble didn’t last long as the look on Conan’s face told him that he had a limited number of days before he had to reveal that secret.

“You know perfectly well what.” He said icily, causing Ryuuk to chuckle. Light led them up to his room and fought the urge to glance over at his desk drawer. He’d thought that Haibara would have told him but it appeared she hadn’t.

“And what can you do if I refuse to tell you?” Light crossed his arms, knowing there was absolutely nothing Conan could do, or say to force him to show him the Death Note. He wasn’t using it and Conan would never threaten him for something someone else was doing.

“Do you really want to play this game with me, Yagami? Do you think I won’t find out if you

don’t

tell me?” Conan asked, voice dangerous and low. “Your imposter killed a member on of the Kira Task Force on a live feed. Do you think there’s any chance the Organization didn’t see that? What if that was the very member they put in the Task Force?”

Light stared at him for a long moment, wondering if he would be able to find the Death Note in this room. However, if the false Kira had managed to kill someone from that organization then the repercussions to come would hardly be worth stubbornly refusing to work with Conan. If they chose target Tokyo University then he could very well end up a casualty by accident. He couldn’t have that.

“If you won’t tell me, at least tell me this-Are they using the same method as you?” Conan offered a compromise. No, Light wasn’t ready to introduce him to Ryuuk-maybe eventually when had a better handle on things.

“Yes. I doubt that it could be anything else-luckily, it’s unlikely there’s another one.” He offered vaguely.

“Just one is obviously too many.” Conan stated seriously, and turned to leave.

“However-” Conan stopped as Light started talking again and turned to face him. “How do you know that I’m not in contact with this other Kira?” He asked.

“Because.” Conan responded. “I know you pretty well by now, Yagami. I know that isn’t your style and you’re probably just as horrified by what happened.” Light wasn’t sure that he’d go as far as to say ‘horrified’ but he certainly wasn’t happy about what had happened. “And anyway, the news anchors showed that the video came on a tape-That increases the likelihood of leaving fingerprints and you would’ve thought of that.” He opened the door and left, leaving Light to ponder over what he said. How could he think that he knew him so well? Did he know that Light was actively looking for a way to take him and Haibara out?

“You know, I think he likes you.” Ryuuk voiced. “He saved your life, he’s giving you a second chance if you do what he says and he’s actively protecting you from L.” Light let out a sigh and sat back down on his bed.

“It has nothing to do with that-he can’t let me get caught without the organization coming after me-and his goal is stop the casualties at all costs. “I won’t say that we’re alike but… if I weren’t Kira, I’d probably do things much the same.” He admitted.  
 
oooOOOooo
 
APRIL 19
TH

“Aww… I thought the weather report said it was going to be sunny.” Ran pouted as she watched the rain coming down from the window in the detective office. “By the way, where did you go earlier today, Conan-kun?”

“Hm? Oh, I went to visit friend.” Shinichi offered a half truth, figuring that he probably shouldn’t tell her that he’d been all the way on the other side of Tokyo by himself. Ran looked at him skeptically but before she could question him any further-

“Come on! Go! Go! GOOOO!” Mouri Kogoro was yelling at his television screen in desperation as the horses raced across the track.

“And the winner is Darkest Nightmare!” The Horse races announcer declared.

“ARRGH! I lost again!” Kogoro threw his hands up and gripped at his head as defeat sank in. Ran and Shinichi shared identical sighs of exasperation.

“Jeez.” Ran turned to her father. “How much did you bet on it?” She asked, her tone low and dangerous. Kogoro looked at his daughter carefully.

“A-A thousand yen on number four and number five for the second half.” He admitted. Ran twitched.

“And you lost everything?” Her dad nodded carefully. He may have been her father but he knew when he was in trouble. “So no pocket money for you this month.” Ran told him.

“Oi! I was saving that for next week’s G1 race!” Kogoro objected. Ran was unmoved. “Damn, I’ve had bad luck with everything today.” He stated, pulling a cigarette out of his cigarette pack.

“Everything?” Shinichi asked.

“Before I went to the betting office it was all sunny, and just when I reach it, it started to rain.” Kogoro explained. “After buying the tickets I thought of buying some cigarettes but they were all sold out. If that wasn’t enough, someone bumped into me and made me drop all my coins. To top it all off my wallet fell into a puddle and my tickets were soaked.” He held up the waterlogged tickets. Shinichi frowned at them and took them to look at them himself. “Well, it was a losing ticket in the end, so…” Kogoro leaned back in his seat.

“Now we come to the review of today’s races!” The TV announcer declared. Shinichi glanced at the screen and then back down at the ticket. Wait a second-hadn’t it just said-?

“Hey, this ticket’s got the name number seven Pirate’s Spirit. I think it’s the same?” Shinichi voiced.

“Eh?” Kogoro turned to look at the ticket again.

“And the winner of today’s race is number seven, Pirate’s Spirit!” The announcer stated shortly after.

“Wh-What? That had one hundred to one odds for ten thousand yen!” Kogoro stared at the screen in disbelief.

“How much is the ticket for?” Ran asked, looking over Shinichi’s shoulder.

“Let’s see… it’s for ten thousand yen so…” He started.

“One million yen!?” They all three said together. Kogoro snatched the ticket back up to verify.

“Yay! As expected of me!” He said happily, holding the ticket up.

“Strange.” Ran voiced. “You only buy a ticket for a thousand yen, usually. Why did you buy a ten thousand yen ticket today?” She asked.

“Maybe Kogoro-ojisan put someone else’s ticket in his wallet by mistake.” Shinichi looked at Kogoro suspiciously.

“Or maybe I just misread the number when I bought it!” Kogoro defended himself. “Well, even if I did pick up someone else’s ticket, there’s no winner’s name on the ticket so it’s finders’ keepers, right?” Shinichi and Ran both gave him equally unimpressed looks. “Okay! Let’s have sushi for dinner tonight! Let’s go to the Beika Iroh Sushi place next door! What a nice day today is.” Shinichi and Ran both let out a sigh-what happened to this being a day of bad luck?

“Dad! You can’t spend money you don’t have like that! You should turn it into the police!” Ran objected. Kogoro just gave his daughter a look.

“How are they supposed to return it to someone if they don’t have a name on the ticket?” He asked. Ran faltered. Chances were that no one would come looking for the ticket but on the off chance they would, Shinichi agreed they should just turn it into the nearest police box.

The restaurant was empty as they stepped in and there was a single waiter behind the counter. He was broad man with a buck-tooth.

“Oh, are we the only ones here?” Kogoro asked as he moved to take a table they could all three sit comfortably, Shinichi taking the seat beside Ran.

“The rest are all reserved, dear sir.” The chef turned to greet them, revealing, to Shinichi’s horror, that he had an eye patch over his left eye.

“Well then, one draft beer for me, and three extra best. Remove the wasabi from one, it’s for the kid.” Kogoro ordered for the three of them.

“One draft beer, and three extra bests.” The man repeated the order before turning towards the kitchen to fill it and get the requested beer.

“But you have strange tastes, dear sir.” The server had returned with Kogoro’s draft beer and set it on the table. Shinichi’s attention turned to the man and his heart jumped uncomfortably. “Pirate’s spirit is such a weak horse, yet you bet so much on it.” He said. Kogoro looked at him in panic.

“Did you see me take it?” He asked automatically. Ran looked away and Shinichi sighed. This was why he should have just turned it into the police booth.

“Pick up? What are you talking about? That was just my deduction.” The man explained. “Mouri Kogoro, who lives next door, is a big fan of horse racing and our chief told me, that you only visit us when you make a hit in horse racing… Besides, you usually request economic or good quality one, but today you asked for extra specials. Looks like you’ve made a killing. They said on the radio that only Pirate’s Spirit was today’s ten thousand yen betting ticket. That’s why I thought so-what do you think of my deduction Sleeping Kogoro-san?” The mas finished off sounding a bit sheepish. Kogoro looked at him skeptically.

“It was okay…” He admitted. “Besides that though, I haven’t seen you before, are you a new employee?” He asked the cook who bowed in return.

“Yes, I’m Wakita Kanenori, a cook. Spending my life in one place isn’t my thing. I drifted an’ drifted and came here a wandering cook-so to say.” He admitted proudly. “I really wanted to stay in the kitchen but it’s not safe to handle a knife with just one eye. That’s why I was told to handle the tables until my left eye properly heals.” It was that eye that suddenly had Shinichi on his guard-after all, Haibara had said that one of the Organisation member, Rum’s, eyes were artificial. With everything that had been going on, he’d almost forgotten to keep his own eyes out for anyone that could be Rum. His eyes narrowed slightly at the man before he flipped to his more childlike façade-knowing that Ran would probably get onto him later for asking such a blunt question but he’d deal with that later.

“Hey, what happened to that eye?” He chanced asking. Ran made a small noise, about to object but the man answered before she could tell Conan he was being rude.

“Oh, it’s a horrible mess.” Wakita stated. “Want to see?” He started to life the eye patch.

“N-No thanks!” Everyone at the table said together, leaning a little way away from the man.

“Apart from that, can you tell me about the cases you’ve solved sleeping Kogoro-san? I’ve loved mysteries since I was small!” Wakita exclaimed. “When I heard you live next to us I really wanted to meet you!”

“Aa, well, in that case…” Kogoro started to tell about the recent ‘zombie case’ while Shinichi watched Wakita closely the entire time.
 
oooOOOooo

APRIL 19TH

Aoko Nakamori had never been more stressed in her entire life. She worried about her dad’s stress on a daily basis and now she had to worry about Kaito’s too. She still hadn’t told him she knew and even if she did he’d probably try to deny it and try to trick her again-like he’d done in the past. Did he really have so little trust in her?

In the month she’d had to think about things she’d realized she wasn’t mad at him for being Kid-She knew Kaito and while he could push things a little too far and could be a downright jerk he still had a good heart and she knew that he’d never do something like this without a good reason. What was upsetting her was that he lied. He knew that she valued honesty above all else and he

lied.

That aside though, she couldn’t let anything happen to her best friend and with that weird notice and what had happened at the police station it seemed Kid would be in danger should his face ever appear on television. Not to mention it was causing her dad more stress-he’d been on the phone with several different news reporters all wanting to know what he intended to do about Kid and her dad had threatened each and every one that would dare to show up to a kid heist with a camera of any kind. He may have been a fierce man but he was exactly the kind of person that Aoko wanted to be-dedicated to always doing the right thing no matter what.

Which is exactly why she found herself standing outside Hakuba’s manor-she wasn’t sure what she could tell him-he already suspected Kaito was Kid, her coming here to ask him for a favor like this would probably only tip him off. However, Hakuba was her friend-she talked him regularly and she knew that he’d never let Kaito get hurt any more than she would.
 
oooOOOooo
 
After forcing Kogoro to turn the ticket he’d picked up by accident into the nearest police box, Ran, Kogoro, and Shinichi all returned to the detective agency only to find two people waiting at the stair well.

“Can I help-” Kogoro started to address to them but faltered and Shinichi knew exactly why-Kogoro hadn’t yet had the pleasure of meeting Nakamori’s daughter that looked a bit like Ran. Ran, of course, was a quite a few inches taller and her face wasn’t quite as round. Not to mention… Shinichi’s eyes strayed briefly to Ran’s chest.

“Aoko-chan, Hakuba-san?” Ran voiced as she recognized the two. Shinichi noticed that Aoko seemed a little pale, had lost a little weight since he’d seen her about a week ago and the smile she offered seemed forced-something he was sure Ran would pick up on.

“Hi Ran-chan.” Aoko tried to sound cheerful but it seemed to fall flat and she looked up at Hakuba, expecting him to say hello.

“Nice to see you again, Ran-san.” Hakuba offered politely. Aoko glanced from him to Shinichi, shifting a little nervously.

“Um… we were wondering if we could borrow Conan-kun for a moment.” She admitted. Shinichi blinked. Borrow him? His gaze moved up to meet with Hakuba’s and then narrowed slightly. Did this have to do with Kid? He couldn’t think of any other reason that Hakuba Saguru and Nakamori Keibu’s daughter would come looking for him-especially considering his media nickname as ‘The Kid Killer.’

“It’s okay, it’s not that late. I’ll go with Hakuba-niichan and Aoko-neechan.” He offered his own cheerful smile. Ran looked down at him, considering the request carefully since it was a school night.

“We won’t keep him but a few minutes.” Hakuba assured, no doubt he could read the uncertainty on Ran’s face. “We just needed to talk to him about something.” Something. Shinichi’s eyes narrow again-this had had to have something to do with Kid.

“Well… okay, just make sure he’s back before ten.” Ran finally relented. Aoko offered the other girl a sharp nod.

“Aoko promises!” She stated. Ran offered a small smile and then herded her dad back up to the third floor. Once they were inside, Shinichi looked at them both a little more skeptically.

“Does this have to do with Kid?” He asked flatly. Aoko and Hakuba both looked at each other, confirming the theory once and for all. It wasn’t a difficult deduction but he still prided himself on being right.

“Actually, Conan-kun, we’d like to ask you a small favor…” Hakuba admitted. “Should we go somewhere else?”

“Here is fine.” Shinichi said flatly. “What do you want me to do for Kid?” Aoko sighed, looking down at the ground.

“We want you to make sure he doesn’t get caught-no matter what.” She finally admitted. Shinichi looked at her in concern. She was asking him to

Help

Kaitou Kid escape? Letting him escape was one thing, but helping? As if he didn’t already have full plate of things that needed his attention-Kid wasn’t one of them.

“Look, if that guy gets caught, it’s his own-”
“Conan-kun, please!” He was stopped abruptly as Aoko was suddenly kneeling down in front of him, her hands on his shoulders. Shinichi jumped, trying to take an automatic step back and leaning away from the close contact. Up close, he could tell her eyes were bloodshot and puffy-she’d been crying recently. No, not just crying, sobbing. Was she really that worried about the thief? “If he gets caught-and his face is shown on TV-”
His heart softened and he let out a sigh of defeat, knowing exactly what might happen to Kid if his face were to turn up on screen. He might not have liked the thief that much but he certainly didn’t want to see him dead.

“…Okay.” He finally gave in. “If I can help Kid, I will.” Aoko seemed to relax, her grip on his shoulder relaxing as she sat back on her heels. “But… why are you so determined to protect Kid? Aoko-neechan said not to go easy on him.” Aoko froze, immediately trying to think of something to say.

“It-It’s just… Kid saved Aoko’s life last month s-so she thought she should return the favor. That’s all.” She looked away with her nose up. Shinichi didn’t believe her for one second. Yagami might have been an exceptional liar but it was clear his girlfriend was

not

.

“I’m guessing you asked Hakuba-kun the same thing?” He looked up over at the other detective. Hakuba let out a wistful sigh, though it was obviously faked.

“Yes, she made me promise not to antagonize him too much.” He stated. “Though, I believe I’m the one that usually gets antagonized.” Shinichi had heard before that Kid was particularly aggressive towards Hakuba-perhaps it was true.

“But you know… Kid’s not stupid-“

“Yes, he is.” Aoko cut Shinichi off. “He’ll probably announce another heist tomorrow.” She said irritably, getting back to her feet. Hakuba offered her his hand and she took it. “And… Conan-kun, please be careful. Dad’s had to fight with the media all day and Aoko knows that the media really likes you, but Kid’s fans may not after this.”

Shinichi nodded and then turned to dash back up the stairs. Kid’s fans probably wouldn’t hurt him so he hadn’t really stopped to consider that but Aoko was right-This could easily spark Kid’s fans to try something drastic. Just what he didn’t need.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

APRIL 22nd"It is highly unfortunate that the police have said 'no' to my offer. However, I expect news reports to continue featuring criminals as before, or else I will have to pass judgement on the people in the police and the media. But, since the police have decided to oppose me, that alone will not do. As a penalty, I will take the life of the Superintendent General, or the alleged Mastermind leading the Kira Task Force, which was formed to find and capture me, known only as L. The Director General, or L? Which one will it be? You have four days to decide who will be sacrificed for the loss of a peaceful and just world."No one in the blue parrot dared to move, all four teenagers stood frozen as the news broadcasted Kira's demands. Aoko felt a tightness in her chest and glanced worriedly over at Saguru who looked much paler and his grip on the cue stick was tight as his knuckles were turning white. Still, the message persisted, as if it wasn't bad enough already."I know the face of the director General and can easily take his life. But, if L is chosen instead he is to appear on Sakura TV in four days, on the Six PM news, and speak for a ten minute period. I will be the judge of whether the person shown is L. If I determine the person is not L, I will take the lives of several police chiefs world-wide as compensation. Lying to me will cost you dearly."I will say this yet again-I do not want to take the lives of innocent people. You have four days. Think it over, and think well."The television snapped off and Kaito set the remote back on the counter, not daring to say anything as he just stared at the screen for a while. Aoko noticed he seemed a bit pale too. She knew that haunted look on his face that he couldn't always hide-the look he got when he was thinking about his dad. Of course he would be, if Kira's threat were real then he'd just threatened to kill Saguru's dad.However, she knew Kaito would be fine. She might have to talk to him later but for now her attention was on Saguru. She slid off the barstool she'd been sitting at and moved over to the blonde detective who still seemed frozen in shock."Hakuba-kun, are you okay?" She asked him gently. Saguru took in a breath and refocused his attention on the short girl standing next to him and forced a small smile. Aoko wondered if he was still having difficulty processing the threat."Of course, Aoko-san. I'm not so easily shaken." He tried to sound brave but she could tell by how he wouldn't quite meet her eyes that he was worried. "However, I-" He faltered slightly. "I need to make a quick phone call." He handed her his cue stick and stepped away, heading for the restroom. Aoko let out a small sigh as he left, trying to ignore the sharp lump in her throat."He'll be okay, Aoko." Kaito voiced, moving over to her. "Hakuba-kun's pretty strong. Just… don't tell him I said that." She bit her lip, watching the door Hakuba had disappeared behind."It's a little strange though…" Aoko stated after a moment of thought. Kaito and Akako looked over at her."Strange, Nakamori-san?" Akako had hardly said a word though even she had frozen-her hair brush still in her dark red locks during the announcement."Well… it's just… this seems a little aggressive of Kira, doesn't it? Especially since he'd been so inactive." And this wasn't really his style, was it? To aggressively go after the innocent? If this was how Kira handled things then surely he'd have started blindly killing law enforcement back when L had baited him. But he didn't."What are you trying to say, Aoko?" Kaito asked, eyes narrowing a bit. She just sighed, what was she saying? In all honesty she wasn't sure-just that it didn't seem like something Kira would do-though obviously he had done."Kira-san's done aggressive things before." Akako pointed out. "He did kill those FBI agents, after all." Aoko let out a sigh and leaned Hakuba's cue stick against the pool table."It's just… Aoko doesn't think that Kira would kill innocent police chiefs like that. Especially if they have nothing to do with the Kira case. It made her feel sick to her stomach. Now she had yet another thing to worry about."Aa, Nakamori-san, your face gives you away." Akako stated, putting a gentle hand on the shorter girl's shoulder. "You worry about much you can't control" Aoko just sighed, her heart still heavy for her blond detective friend."Akako-chan's right, Aoko. You've been edgy and you're even starting to lose weight." Kaito pointed out. Aoko just looked up at Kaito. Kira wasn't the reason she'd been so edgy. He still hadn't noticed and somehow that just made her even more upset.oooOOOoooKoizumi Akako didn't often do things for other people. She was used to people-typically men-falling over themselves to do things for her. So it was quite outside her normal character to go out of her way to to confront the man with a Shinigami. It seemed as though poor Nakamori had captured Kira's attention as well as Kid's. She almost felt sorry for the girl-Kuroba was Kaitou Kid and now Yagami Light was undoubtedly Kira. She was much more suited to date Hakuba-kun.She found herself outside the Yagami residence once more and facing the man the media had deemed as Kira. He stared at her moment, as if surprised to see her again so soon."Koizumi-san, to what do I owe the… pleasure." He looked her over closely. She did her best to seem imposing and he offered to let her inside and led her up to his room."Yagami-san, so you remember what I told you, if you dared to hurt that girl?" She asked him. His eyes narrowed sharply and the Shinigami laughed harshly."I had nothing to do with that broadcast." Yagami stated with ease. "And I hardly see how that broadcast hurts Aoko-chan.""She worries, you know. She concerns herself with other people so often she forgets to worry about herself. Hakuba Saguru is her friend and also the son of the Police Chief Director that was just threatened.""Aoko-chan is a bit soft-hearted." The shinigami offered. Light took in a breath and sat down on his bed. Akako watched him closely, did he actually care about Nakamori? How odd that so many people were taken in by her natural charm."I don't agree with that broadcast." He finally admitted. "It's not how Kira wishes to be seen-he wants to be accepted by the public, not feared. Striking down those that just speak out against him isn't something he'd do." He wasn't even going to try and pretend he wasn't Kira? She supposed it was difficult to explain the Shinigami since they could both see it. Although, because he was telling the truth it told her there was yet another human out there that had gotten hold of a Death Note."Koizumi-san, you are able to see Shinigami without having to touch a Death Note, correct?" He looked up. Akako just looked at him, watching him carefully."Yes…" She answered. "Though, I admit I hadn't expected Nakamori's boyfriend to be aligned with one.""Aligned?" Yagami raised an eyebrow at her wording. Akako just shrugged. Yagami and the Shinigami exchanged looks before he brushed it off. "Then you would be able to see the imposter's Shinigami, correct?""Of course." Akako admitted, Yagami smirked and her eyes narrowed sharply. What was he planning? He wasn't thinking about using her as a Shinigami detector was he? She had much better things to do than look for cursed humans.Light looked the witch over carefully, glad that Aoko had such a convenient friend-even if she was a bit of a wild card he thought he could be reasonably certain she'd want to protect Aoko since she'd gone as far as to threaten him. He could use that to his advantage."I'd like to know who the imposter Kira is, and if things progress as they have been it could put Aoko-chan in considerable danger since this Kira isn't against killing innocents." He pointed out, doing his best to sound concerned. It would probably take a bit of doing to manipulate the witch-especially since she could see and hear Ryuk and clearly knew about the Death Note."Nakamori-san will be fine." The witch's eyes flashed in warning and Light nearly winced."I would never hurt Aoko-chan." He tried to pacify her. "However, I can't know that the impostor feels the same. It would be best for me to find them first so I can eliminate them as a threat." He tried, keeping his voice even. The witch only continued to stare at him, he had an uncomfortable feeling that she was trying to read his mind but there was no way she could do that, was there?"Do you love Nakamori-san?" She finally asked. Light considered not answering and letting her draw her own conclusion. Could he risk lying to a witch?"I-I don't know." He found himself saying. It wasn't as if he didn't like her, but he wouldn't say he was in love with her. The witch watched him closely before letting out a sigh."I will consult Lucifer to see what he knows." She finally let out casually as if that were perfectly normal. Light nearly choked. Lucifer? As in the literal devil?"Th-Thank you." He responded. She offered him one of those eerie smiles of hers before there was a sharp knock on his door. Light immediately identified the culprit as his little sister and moved pull the door open. "What is it, Sayu?" He asked.Sayu was much younger than her brother and had darker hair like their parents. She looked at Akako and then at Light before frowning at him. She didn't honestly think he was cheating on Aoko, did she?"I wanted to ask if you'd help me with my math homework since Aoko-neesan's not here." Sayu admitted. Light let out a sigh, fixing his sister with a look before glancing back at the Witch."Of course." He stated smoothly. "Just as soon as I finish speaking with Akako-san." Sayu glanced over at the girl with dark red hair and then up at her brother again. "She's a friend of Aoko-chan's." He clarified."I was just leaving." Akako declared, moving towards the door to squeeze past Light and the little girl. "Be good to Nakamori-san." She said, an unstated threat hiding in her words.oooOOOoooAPRIL 23RD"Shougun-sama!" Shinichi cried out during his school play rehearsal, putting his acting skills to use. "The likes of a mere tiger cannot frighten me!" The entire class had their eyes transfixed on the actress Fujimine Yukiko's son. "O wily tiger that springs out of this folding screen every night and wreaks havoc upon my city. As my lord and master have decreed me to catch it, and so I shall." He held the rope taught, facing the newly painted folding screen. "Oh master, I only ask of you, to drive the beast out of the folding screen, and thence gaze upon me as I, Ikyuu, tie it up!"The room burst into applause at Shinichi's impressive acting display and he turned to face the others-he hadn't really meant to get that kind of reaction."That was wonderful Conan-kun!" Kobayashi-sensei said happily. "It's much better than the script I wrote!""R-Really?" Shinichi asked, enjoying the attention."You're really like Ikyuu-san!" Ayumi crowed excitedly."As expected of Conan-kun!" Mitsuhiko stated. Acting might not have been Shinichi's true calling, but he couldn't deny it felt good to have his talents recognized."Really?" He asked."And you have your sandwiches!" Genta exclaimed. Shinichi sighed, his good mood flowing quickly out the soles of his school slippers."It's wit." He corrected."How? You didn't even attend practice!" Haibara stated in disbelief at how well he'd been able to remember all his lines. "I guess it just goes to show that you can do it if you try, huh?" She gave him a look. Shinichi moved closer to her, cupping his hand over his mouth to whisper so that only she could hear him."Actually, the truth is I already played Ikyuu before when I was in third grade." He admitted, recalling the incident in which Sonoko nominated him to play the lead, which Ran only encouraged by comparing Ikyuu to Sherlock Holmes. "I trained halfway to hell for that…" He stated, thinking about the rigorous effort his parents both made him put into the role."I see…" Haibara continued to give him that same irritating look. "So that's why you weren't so serious during rehearsal.""Yeah, I remember almost all of the lines." Shinichi stated as Genta and the others turned their attention to the tiger scroll."Say, this tiger scroll is really cool!" Genta was saying."It is! It looks so real and lively!" Mistuhiko agreed."Wakasa-sensei drew it, right?" Ayumi asked the deputy homeroom teacher who nodded, her cheeks a bit red."Y-yes… I suppose I'm good at drawing." She said timidly."Okay guys!" Kobayashi pulled the attention back to herself. "The play's tomorrow! So let's clean up the remaining stuff!" She clapped her hands together."Okay!" The children all agreed together before setting about cleaning the room. Rumi moved over to a few children that had been painted a bridge and looked down into the bucket filled with paint water."Ah! The water is all black with paint." She scooped the bucket up. "I'll be right back with some fresh water." She told them. The two children thanked her and returned to the task at hand. Rumi headed for the door but ended up stepping on the newspapers on the ground and slipped, flinging the bucket of black paint water directly onto the tiger folding screen."I-It's pitch black…" Kobayashi stated, trying to assess the damage."I-I'll redraw it right away!" Rumi panicked. "A-Ah but… I took the tiger reference photos back home. I can draw it after I go home but… I'm not sure I can get the height of the tiger right for Conan-kun to sufficiently act in front of it." She admitted, staring at the mess on the folding screen."Well then," Shinichi stepped up. "Maybe I can go to Wakasa-sensei's home?" He offered.oooOOOoooAPRIL 23RDAoko was fast asleep breathing gently as Light lightly caressed her arm. She'd fallen asleep some time ago while they were watching some movie that neither had really been paying attention to. It really had only been on to drown out any noise but she'd fallen asleep so fast it didn't really matter. He might have been a little irked but it was just as well, this way Light had plenty of time to think to himself.Aoko shifted slightly in her sleep, her breath tickling gently against his neck. She'd been so stressed out recently-to the point she'd started to lose weight and it was really starting to irritate him. He glanced down at her sleeping face and then back up at the ceiling. He couldn't think about Aoko right now, he had to think about how to best Conan, L, the organization and the imposter Kira. Hopefully, the witch would be able to quickly locate the fake and he could use them to his advantage-though that hinged on Akako's ability to see Shinigami. She might have been able to know who the imposter was immediately upon seeing them but unless he could track them down she wouldn't be able verify who it was. He was going to have to join the Kira taskforce-he couldn't trust Conan and Hattori to relay the information he was going to need and undoubtedly, Conan would be planning for the idea he'd try and turn against them.How could he go about joining though? He couldn't tell L that it was a fake Kira without shifting suspicion on to himself. He'd have to be very careful not let slip any information that only Kira would have. From what he'd understood from Conan, if this organization had even an inkling that he was suspicious they'd act. He had to keep the suspicion level as low as possible."Aoko…" He shook his shoulder a little to get her to stir. He watched her blue eyes flicker open and then look up at him, her cheeks a bit pink."Oh! Aoko's sorry! She didn't mean to fall asleep-she just-just-" He pressed a finger to her lips to get her stop."It's fine. You were tired." He told her simply. "I just wanted your opinion on something." He admitted, pulling his finger away from her mouth. She stared at him a moment, blinking curiously and waiting on him to elaborate. She was sure to have an opinion-she always did. "I think I might take up Ryuuga's offer to join the Kira taskforce." He watched as she swallowed, he could tell by how her body tensed slightly against his and the small intake of air that she wasn't thrilled with the idea. However, considering how Aoko tended to be he knew exactly what she was about to say."Oh…" Or… so he'd thought. "If you really want to-then you should." She finally said after a moment of thought. Something was wrong. She never hesitated to encourage him to do something-especially if it related to the law."Aoko." He looked at her seriously, searching her face. "What's wrong?" He asked flatly, moving his hand to her back so he could keep her from trying to escape the conversation. He felt her muscles tighten and shift as she tried to pull away."L-Light!" She objected but he held on, refusing to let her go."You're not going anywhere until you tell me what's wrong." He told her. "It's not like you to not be supportive.""Aoko is supportive!" She tried to say. Sure she'd said the words but they both knew her heart wasn't in it. "Aoko just-Aoko just doesn't want to have to worry about Light too." She admitted. 'Too,' meaning 'as well. ' Obviously, she was still worried over that idiot magician and Akako had said she was now also worried about Hakuba. Perhaps she was getting tired of worrying over her friends."You wanted me to join just two weeks ago." He pointed out. Aoko let out a tired sigh, relaxing against him since he was determined to have this conversation."Aoko knows that, but that was before…" She hesitated. Light stared at her expectantly, waiting on her to elaborate. "It's… probably nothing. Forget Aoko said anything." He moved his hand a little further down her back and over to keep her in place, his fingertips sliding against her side to further alert her that he wasn't going to let her be avoidant."Aoko." He said her name again. "Tell me what's wrong." She bit her lip and he could see the self-doubt on her face."It's just-It's a little weird, is all." She finally told him. He waited for her to continue, rubbing his fingers against her soft skin-he needed her to feel like she could trust him-that he was here for her and the close, intimate touching would do that just fine. "It doesn't make any sense.""What doesn't make any sense, Aoko?" He pushed his building irritation aside, she wouldn't tell him anything if he yelled at her. He needed her to feel safe and comfortable opening up to him."Kira!" She let out. Light froze, staring directly at her-she couldn't possibly know, could she? She pulled away and this time, Light let her sit up on her knees as he pulled himself up to a sitting position. There was an explosion in the background from the movie they had on and both of them stared at each other for a moment. "It just-after that announcement-Kira is willing to kill innocent police chiefs-Aoko didn't think that was something he'd do… they have nothing to do with the Kira case-it's-it's almost as if it's a completely different person.""What do you mean 'a different person'?" Light pressed, mentally reminding himself that he needed to stop being surprised by her intelligence. Unfortunately, it was an easy thing to forget with how she acted at times. "Kira killed those FBI agents, remember? He probably sees it as the police is getting in the way of his version of justice." Aoko shook her head."No… Aoko thought about that, but if he were really so childish then don't you think that he would have killed the police at random when L baited him? He didn't. He didn't take it out on the police then and Aoko can't believe that he'd take it out on them now." She voiced, looking down at Light's bed sheets. He cupped a hand over her cheek. One thing he could be sure of was that, if she suspected him, she wouldn't be blindly telling him this."I guess I can see your logic." He stated, brushing his thumb across her cheek. "But Aoko, if there is someone else like Kira out there then the task force needs to know about it-I'll mention it when I ask to join-it could end up being a crucial bit of information." He explained. Aoko sucked in a breath and let out a sigh before moving closer to him to lay on him again. He leaned back against his pillows and moved his arm back around her back."Just… promise Aoko you'll be careful." She muttered. Good girl, Aoko. Now he could raise the suspicion of a second Kira to L and say that Aoko had thought of it-she'd even testify that she had. However, he didn't want L to put the idea that he was Kira in her head. He'd have to delay their meeting as much as possible as he was sure L would want to talk to her."I promise." He told her, moving his hand down her back a little further. "I'll make sure no one knows I'm helping the investigation."oooOOOoooApril 23RD"I'm sorry children, we got wrapped up in another weird case." Wakasa Rumi said wistfully just as Shinichi stepped on a piece of paper that had been sticking out from under the floor cushion."It's not your fault sensei!" Mistuhiko was assuring their teacher. As Shinichi took a closer look at the paper. What was it doing on the floor? Upon closer inspection he quickly identified it as a receipt with the day's date printed at the top-April twenty third."By the way, Wakasa-sensei." Shinichi turned to her, sliding the receipt into his pocket. "You were unusually late to class today. "How come?" He asked in the disarming tones of Edogawa Conan."Well, that was because when I checked my fridge, I noticed that it was empty so I rushed to the store to buy some food." She explained. "Because when I go shopping after school most of the items are sold out.""Hm, I see!" Shinichi said cheerily, seemingly dismissing the subject.oooOOOoooAPRIL 23RD"How'd it go, chief?" Aizawa asked as Soichiro came back into the room after what must have been a very taxing meeting with other countries and their world leaders about how to proceed following Kira's announcement. Heiji got up from where he'd been lounging in an armchair and offered the chair to Soichiro who took it without question."Just as I thought, Ryuzaki. World leaders have talked it over among themselves and they're demanding that L, not a stand in, but the real L, appear on TV." Heiji muttered something under his breath. "After doing almost nothing to help with the investigation, they don't even try to come up with some alternative, Kira says jump, they ask 'how high.""Their decision is both right and reasonable." L stated, taking a drink of his sugar with a bit of coffee. "It's simply unacceptable for the police force to work with Kira. And if it's between me and the director-general, of course it should be me. I'm the one that challenged Kira and said I'd capture him." L set his coffee cup down. "It's the right decision.""But… that means you'll be…" Matsuda started, worry leaking into his voice."What worries me more is that when I appear on TV, and I intend to." He completely ignored Matsuda and went for his cake. "If Kira knows nothing about me then even if it's really me out there, how do I get him to believe I'm L?""You've got a point…" Matsuda said thoughtfully."Hey!" Aizawa started, not wanting to admit the concern was warranted."Well, I'll do what I can to make him believe me. If I fail though, and police chiefs around the world get killed as a result… that's what bothers me." L stated, voice flat. Heiji let out a sigh as he watched the others. His dad happened to be grouped into the category of police chiefs around the world, however, he didn't think that L should have to sacrifice his life to someone like the impostor Kira."It'll be quite hard proving I'm L. I really don't know how Kira intends to figure it out." L said seriously. "Well, we have another three days. I'll try to come up with a way to prevent the whole thing. I don't want to die either. It would be bad enough to be killed by Kira, but to die at the hands of an opportunist pretending to be Kira would really grate on my nerves." He said sullenly."What do you mean by that, Ryuzaki?" Soichiro snagged his attention away from the less than subtle teenager."It occurred to me as I watching those videos… that this Kira is highly likely to be a fake. Or more precisely, a second Kira." He chewed on his fork as he delivered his deduction."A Second Kira?" Everyone gasped."Yes. I considered the possibility of his being an accomplice, but find that to be unlikely." He moved back to the subject of a second Kira. "Watching the first video made is what made me think of it. The first video wasn't aired, but was made to convince Sakura TV that the sender was actually Kira. It was made to be viewed by Sakura staff only." He went on. "The envelope is postmarked April thirteenth, it arrived at Sakura TV the next day, and three days later after that the murder announced in the video took place.""But if murders announced three days in advance actually happened, I'd say that's pretty convincing…" Matsuda offered."I was not convinced the sender was Kira." L admitted. The others looked shocked"But why not? I don't get it." Aizawa stated. "I watched this video too, and I never thought-""Did you get the feeling that the victims were completely different from Kira's past victims? It's not just that their crimes were much too minor. Tv celebrities caught with drugs is something only women's magazines make a big fuss about. I actually went and checked and as of April thirteenth, the only television coverage it had received was on daytime tabloid shows. Doesn't that strike you as strange?" He asked, spearing a strawberry with his fork. "But of course, Heiji-kun already figured this out, right?""Er… Yeah…" Heiji responded, suddenly on the spot. "Didn' all o' you?""That director, Demegawa, and others at Sakura use tabloid show stories as fodder all the time so it probably didn't seem suspicious to them. But I'd say these victims are clearly unlike the others." L said decidedly."Er… yeah, th' real Kira wouldn' need ta prove himself with such low class criminals. An' he probably wouldn' even think of it. He hasn' been too active recently so he's much more likely ta hold off killin' one of two o' his usual victims until the appointed time an' kill em' then. That would convincin'" Heiji offered, looking over everyone in the room carefully."-But if a second Kira Kira wanted to make people think he was the real Kira he couldn't use a criminal that the real Kira might actually eliminate before the Sakura people saw his video." L took over. "Even though Kira hasn't killed anyone since Feburary, there was always a chance that he'd start back up again. If he gave advance notice of serious criminal's death, the real Kira might get him first and if the time and the date announced were off, Sakura TV wouldn't believe him.""But… Maybe he deliberately used someone that TV people would know.. well, I guess that's pushing it…" Matsuda offered."Yeah, but I don't think we can definitely say it's a second Kira just from that." Aizawa responded."Hmm…" Soichiro turned to L. "Ryuuzaki, what is the probability that this is a second Kira?" He asked."This time, I'd say it's over seventy percent." L declared. "I don't like his style. It's not like Kira at all.""Not like Kira...?" Aizawa asked."The way those videos were made. It's just too sloppy. I'm not only talking about the bad lettering, it's the sound too. He's playing back sound recorded on other equipment and taking it in through the video camera microphone. At places where I assume outside noise got in, he rewound the tape and did it over." L explained. "Ordinarily, you would transfer the sound by connecting the tape recorder to the video camera with a cable. You wouldn't use the camera's microphone. This is just so amateurish."And then, making a TV network broadcast these tapes and using the police chiefs as bargaining chips. It was obvious that doing things like this would arouse public hostility against him. Plus those TV announcers were innocent victims. If I were Kira, I'd be pretty furious. So far, aside from people who were after him, Kira avoided attacking innocent people. His method was to make his views gradually penetrate and change society. Kira's aim is not a dictatorship based on fear." L took another sip of his drick as Aizawa looked down at the collected evidence."So... maybe these fingerprints are actually…" He stated, turning the bag over in his hand."Hmm? Fingerprints?" Soichiro looked up."The Lab found matching fingerprints on the postage stamps and videos that didn't belong to Sakura staff." Aizawa explained."We thought there was no way Kira would leave prints." Matsuda chimed in."So we thought he made someone else handle the stuff, but maybe…""Hmm, then I'd say it's possible the prints are the second Kira's. It would be smarter to leave no fingerprints at all. Wouldn't you agree Heiji-kun?" L asked."Yeah. If there is a second Kira out there, he's far less intelligent and methodical than th' real one-it could be that he didn' think about th' videos and packagin' bein' seized by the police." Heiji offered as L looked over the evidence."Well, even if we restricted our search to Japan, it would still be impossible to take fingerprints from everyone in the country, so it would be difficult to pinpoint the sender with just this." He held it up to the light. "Interesting though… how little these fingerprints are…""Little?" Aizawa asked."About the size of a child or small woman's…" L said thoughtfully. "So, anyway, I thought about it further on the assumption that it's a second Kira. And even if the two kiras don't kill people in the same way, I believe that if we capture on we'll gain some clues as to how to capture the other one." L stated. "In my estimation, the real Kira is the smarter of the two. And If I were him, I would try to find out who the second Kira is before the police do. I would gauge whether or not he sympathized with me, and if he did, I would make use of him… and ultimately before the police close in, I'd eliminate him.""That means we're in a race with Kira to track down the second Kira.. which in turn means we have the opportunity to capture the real Kira." Matsuda said excitedly."Yagami-san." L looked over to the chief. "Would it be alright with you if I asked your son to work with us when he has the time?""Can I take that to mean he's one hundred percent clear of suspicion?" Soichiro asked eagerly."No, I can't say that." L responded bluntly. "But I do think he has very good reasoning abilities. In fact, I think your son could be a valuable asset to us apprehending the second Kira."oooOOOoooAPRIL 23RD"So then, I'd like to ask for Light Yagami-kun's help with the investigation, while keeping the possibility of a second Kira from him." L said decisively."But… wouldn't that make it difficult for him to help us…?" Matsuda asked."Yeah, why even ask for his help?" Aizawa agreed."No. We will only keep that part from him until he's watched the first tape and given us his opinion. After that, we will include him and go after the Second Kira together." L clarified. Matsuda and Aizawa exchanged glances. "Light-kun's reasoning ability is quite amazing. After seeing this tape, he may conclude that there's a second Kira. I'd like to see his reaction to all of our evidence and this tape.""But this 'Second Kira' theory is just because you think the victims were the types of criminals that Kira hasn't touched, right?" He finished his earlier question."It's more than that. The Kira we have been investigating needed a person's name and face to kill them. But that time at the TV station, cop who just happened to up were killed. This Kira seemed confident that he could kill me as long as I showed my face on television. This means that the Second Kira can kill only known a person's face. This is different from the Kira we have been chasing." L explained."What if our information was wrong, or Kira's abilities have changed. What if that's what he's been doing in all the time he was absent?" Aizawa asked."If that were the case, Kira would kill the major criminals whose names he hasn't been able to find out." He reached forward and poured more coffee into his cup. "If, after getting update on our investigation and seeing the tape, Light-kun deduces that there could be a second Kira, the suspicion against Light-kun will mostly be cleared.""What do you mean, Ryuuzaki?" Soichiro demanded."Kira would want L dead no matter what, that's obvious from the Lind L Tailor incident. If I go before the TV cameras and die in three days, then the number of suspects will spread throughout the world. I don't see how Kira would want to spoil such a perfect opportunity.""But either way, it might not change the fact that you'll die. Why would merely suggesting a second Kira clear him of suspicion?" Aizawa asked."If the sender of the video is a Second Kira, then there are ways to stop him. At the very least, the second Kira agrees with Kira's actions. I'm thinking he would follow orders from the real Kira." L explained. "That means there's a high chance we can stop him by creating a fake message from the real Kira. If Light-kun is Kira then I don't think he'll mention the possibility of second Kira until he's confirmed my death.""This is a little confusing to me…" Matsuda admitted."Then you're saying your suspicion of my son will grow if he doesn't mention that there's a second Kira?" Soichiro asked."Yeah, that's a bit harsh." Aizawa voiced."No, in that case my suspicion will stay at five percent. I'll just reveal that we are investigating under the theory of a second Kira and have him assist us." L stated, taking another sip of coffee before setting it back down. "And just in case, from now on use your fake names even here. Watari will not be coming here anymore. He will he will always be on the outside as another L who only I know.""Understood, Ryuuzaki." The laptop screen announced."Well then, if Light-kun is okay with it, have him come here secretly as soon as he can." L told Soichiro who pulled out his phone to call his son. He paused though as he saw he had several missed calls from him.oooOOOoooAPRIL 23RD"Ryuzaki, I'd like to confirm this again, if my son brings up the possibility of a second Kira, then he will be cleared?" Soichiro asked."As I said. Mostly cleared." L stated, taking a sip of his coffee. Not one minute later did Matsuda return with Light in tow. The door shut behind them and Light glanced around the room L's eyes narrowed slightly as he took in Light's appearance-he knew he was a perfectionist so the missed button on his shirt and slightly unkempt hair was a little suspicious."Thank you for coming, Yagami-kun. I'm sure you would have rather stayed with your girlfriend." L greeted him. All eyes snapped to L and then to Light."Aoko-chan is very understanding when it comes to this kind of thing." Light stated, not missing a beat. "Speaking of Aoko-chan, she brought up an interesting point when I told her I was wanting to join the task force.""Oh?" L asked, pressing his thumb to his lip and watching Light carefully. What was he playing at? What could the Nakamori girl have said that Light thought he should mention to the task force?"Yes, she said that the Kira message from the other day seemed like a different person." He said smoothly, feeling the silence that fell over the group. L stared at him a long moment. He was just going to freely offer up the information? How could that Nakamori girl have caught on so quickly that there might have been a second Kira? One again he was forced to wonder if he'd been wrong-unless Light was just trying to throw him off the trail-if there was something more at work."Perhaps we should have invited Nakamori-san as well." L finally stated after a while. Light shook his head."No. Aoko-chan's been really stressed lately and I'd prefer not to add to the list of things for her to be stressed about." He said flatly."Er yeah, Neechan mentioned that she was a bit depressed to Kazuha th' other day." Heiji stepped in. "They went shoppin' or somethin'" Light turned to Heiji and looked at him closely."Aa, Heiji-kun, I didn't realize you had joined the task force as well." He said nodding politely."Yeah… back in March. It's why I've been in Tokyo so much recently." Heiji shrugged. "Glad ta have ya aboard.""Anyway, Light-kun, Please call me Ryuuzaki here." L requested, watching the two's interactions with interest."I'm Matsui." Matsuda stated."I'm Aihara." Aizawa said after."And I'm Asahi." Soichiro offered."I see…" Light nodded. "Then should I be 'Light Asahi'?""That would be fine. I will call you Light-kun here." L agreed."So, the investigation is only five members?" Light asked, glancing around the hotel room."No, we have other trusted members on the outside. And among them is one who can be contacted directly by me." L explained.Of course. So if everyone here but one were to die then the survivor would have to be Kira-Or possibly the organization's mole. He'd have figure just how many people were aware of the secrets here. L's earlier reaction to the idea there might be a second Kira told him quite plainly that they'd already come to the conclusion which meant that the mole had probably already reported it to his higher ups. Which one of these sheep was actually a wolf? He glanced back at them. He watched Heiji step away as his phone rang. No doubt, that was probably Conan."Now, how about we get right down to things? Would you take a look at the evidence we've gathered and then unreleased tape that was sent to the tv station?" L asked him, leading him over to the television set. "Understand that taking the documents out of this room or making notes is prohibited.""Of course." Light nodded. "However, before I do that, you've already worked out the possibility of a second Kira, haven't you?" He heard Ryuk chuckling in the background."WHAT?!" Hattori's voice rang across the room and everyone turned to face him. What was that about? He looked around sheepishly and turned away from them, covering his mouth and talking low. Light sighed, shaking his head at the outburst and returning his attention to L.L was silent a moment, staring at Light with those cold, almost dead eyes before he let out a half-sigh. "Correct, we wanted to see if you'd reach the same conclusion after reviewing the evidence." He explained.I have to admit, I'm a little curious about Light-kun's girlfriend now though. It might be pertinent to speak with her regarding her opinions on Kira." L was saying as he set up the video tape. Light glared at him. He did not want Aoko dragged into this. She didn't need to know he was a suspect in the Kira case, he couldn't risk her figuring out the truth."As I said, Aoko is under enough stress." Light objected."Is there a reason that Light-kun doesn't want us to talk to Nakamori-san?" L asked, watching him closely. Light didn't know what was going through his head but he was sure that whatever it was, was wrong. "We've only recently come to that conclusion so I would like to know how Light-kun's girlfriend could work that out so quickly.""She's actually highly intelligent but, I don't want her wrapped up in this when she already worries about too much as is. She hadn't been herself lately-You heard Heiji-kun mention her depression." He informed the other firmly. No way was he going to let Aoko get involved in the Kira case. Not only would that put her in unnecessary danger, but it'd add on to everything she was already stressing herself out about. He had no doubt that she'd stress herself out over everyone here too."Then I suppose there is no helping it. I'll have to speak to her after she's feeling better." L decided. He'd have to let Aoko talk to L eventually but for now he was going to play the part of the protective boyfriend. "Though it seems Light-kun is taking good care of her.""Yes." He responded curtly, ignoring Ryuuk's chuckling and off color comments about just how well Light had been taking care of her. "Although, not to be rude, but I didn't exactly come here to be interrogated about my girlfriend.""That is true…" L admitted. "Well then Light-kun, review the evidence so you'll be caught up."Light let out a sigh and sat down in an armchair, Ryuuk hovering close. It was probably because he was the real Kira, but the poor quality of the video tapes was making him sick. He watched the others carefully out of the corner of his eyes and they all seemed to be focused on him. What was going on?"So what do you think, Light-kun?" L asked him. Oh. That was what he wanted, even though he'd come into the room and told them about Aoko's comment."It does seem like a different person with Kira's powers." He stated smoothly. "Up until now, Kira wouldn't use suspects like this to show he can predict their deaths.""It's... the same." Aizawa stated."Exactly the same as L-I mean Ryuzaki's reasoning." Matsuda agreed."And if Kira needs a name and a face to kill someone then how does it explain how the cops who showed up at the station were killed?" Light pointed out."Then it is decided." L declared after Light's deductions were made. "First, we must stop the second Kira. He's clearly on Kira's side and not very bright. He may respond to a message from the real Kira. If a second Kira doesn't really exist then it's meaningless, but it's still worth a try. We need to be thinking about how to deal with the real Kira, but we also must focus on the first." He explained. "And for this, Light-kun, I want you to play the part of the real Kira." L stated. Ryuuk burst out laughing."M-me?" Light started."Yes, it should be easy with your ability-""No way." Heiji cut them off before L could go any further. "I gotta better idea." L and Light both looked over at him while Ryuuk chuckled."Heiji-kun, it's already been established that Kira is not from Osaka." L pointed out."Huh? No! I was talkin' about gettin' a famous actin' and writin' duo to handle it. I've got Fujimine Yukiko's number an' I'm sure she'd be happy ta put her kills t' use." Heiji explained. L's eyes narrowed and then turned to Light. Light just stared at Hattori for a moment, noting he still had his phone out. This must have been Conan's idea to keep him out of the spotlight."Fujimine-So then you propose that we have Kudou Yuusaku write the message from Kira?" L raised an eyebrow."Kudou-san and I go way back, I'm sure he'd agree to it." Soichiro offered."Yeah, but doesn't that involve getting two more people involved with the Kira case?" Aizawa questioned."I've heard that Kudou-san used to consult for the police before his son did-And who could be a more convincing Kira then someone with Fujimine-san's acting skills?" Matsuda agreed quickly."Well, I suppose Light-kun doesn't want to play the role…" L started."I think I agree with the others-I'm not so sure my acting would be enough to fool the Second Kira." Light passed on the offer. L turned a sharp glare on Heiji, it was clear he knew he was outnumbered."Very well, how quickly can Kudou-san and his wife get here?" L asked."They happened ta be in the country due t' visitin' a friend, I'll call them now."oooOOOoooAPRIL 23RDKudou Yuusaku didn't usually receive requests from his son. Generally, the only time Shinichi would bother to ask for his help specifically was when he had no other choice. This must have been one those circumstances because Shinichi's Osakan detective friend, Hattori Heiji, had called while he and his wife were settled in for tea, requesting them to come to a hotel and help with a secret agenda for none other than L.He then went on to explain that the organization that had tried to kill him very likely had a spy within the task force and not to pull too much attention or talk about him in any capacity.Upon stepping into the room Yuusaku immediately took notice of everyone, making mental notes about them all and moving over to L directly as Yukiko went off to say hello to Heiji and some other teenager-Yagami's son?"It's an honor to be asked to help you with this." He said smoothly. The room fell silent as L stared blankly at the other man."Er… how did you know that Ryuuzaki is L?" A man with longer dark hair asked-he couldn't have been any older than twenty-seven."Simple." Yuusaku offered. "L-or Ryuuzaki, I suppose, is known for being extremely secretive and no one really knows what he looks like as he doesn't go out in public. He's solved a high number of cases and the only way he could that was by shutting himself in. The pale skin in hunched position gave it away immediately that he is a recluse and since no else here gives off that impression the conclusion seemed inescapable.""That is a very impressive deduction, Kudou-san." L admitted. "However, we had you come here to help up with a something very sensitive in nature and must have you and your wife swear yourselves to secrecy."oooOOOoooAPRIL 23RDHeiji sighed in relief when Kudou's parents had eagerly taken the role of the false Kira and settled in to work together. Yukiko had, of course, moved over to give Heiji and Light both hugs upon seeing them. He was sure that Kudou would have briefed his parents on the situation but the way they acted he'd say they had no idea.Yukiko greeted everyone with that same bubbly, teenage-like attitude of hers and Kudou's dad only seemed friendly on a surface level but other than that, extremely cold to anyone that wasn't Yukiko."Are these really Kudou Shinichi's parents?" Light asked when he'd gotten the chance to sneak away from L's gaze."Yes." Heiji sighed. "An' yes, his mom's always like that." Heiji answered the unasked question."And you thought it was a good idea to bring them in?" He asked. No, Heiji did not think it was a good idea-Kudou's parents were in more danger than they realized but Kudou had insisted-stating that his parents could take care of themselves and it was important to keep Light from playing the role of Kira. For now, he had to assume that Kudou knew what he was doing."They might seem a little immature but don't let'm fool ya." He offered."Do you think they'll be a convincing enough Kira?" Light asked, crossing his arms."I don't think Kudou-han will even have ta think about it. Yukiko-han will come up with the vague idea an' he'll work her words inta something Kira might say." Heiji stuffed his hands in his pockets. "Good thing this taskforce is a democracy."oooOOOoooAPRIL 24TH"I am Kira. The true Kira. The creator of the video on Sakura TV is a worthless imposter."Amane Misa clapped her hands in glee at the fact her video had received a response after all. Although, she wasn't too happy with him calling her a 'worthless imposter.' "Yay! Kira responded!" She told the purple Shinigami hovering close."However, because the person claiming to be me most likely did so in attempt to help me achieve my goals, I will show leniency just this once. Killing the lives of innocent police officers goes against everything I stand for. It only creates chaos and interferes with my desire for people to understand my noble mission. If the person claiming to be me empathizes with my goals and wishes then I will say that if they do not heed my warning and continue to act on my behalf, then I will be forced to pass judgment on you."Misa clicked the TV off and dove across her bed to find something on the floor. "Now… where's that camera? I know I brought it. I still have a copy of the last tape, I'll just change the audio. It will be proof that it's me." She was saying, still sifting around for that camera."What are you going to do?" The Shinigami asked."Obviously, I'm going to send Kira a reply!" Misa said happily. The Shinigami didn't seem to think that was a very good idea. "…But what should I say?"

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

APRIL 25
th
 
Nakamori Aoko let out a sigh as she stepped into the overly-sized and overly priced indoor water park, the five children she’d agreed to look after until Ran and the others could make it moving quickly ahead of her-well, three of them, anyway. She glanced back at the other two, Conan and a little girl with light strawberry blonde hair seemed to be whispering amongst each other. She’d been told the girl’s name was Haibara Ai and she was just as mature as Conan seemed. Why had she agreed to this again?

It wasn’t as if she didn’t enjoy water parks, and she did like children-Ordinarily she’d be thrilled to go with them. It was just that with everything that had been going on lately she was feeling much less energetic about it.

“Ne, Aoko-onesan?” One of the little girls had come up to her. She had short brown hair held back with the headband and bright, concerned blue eyes. “Are you sad?” She asked. Aoko blinked down at her and shook her head.

“Oh, no! Aoko’s just a little tired, is all. She was up kind of late last night.” She offered. The little girl-Ayumi, she believed her name was, just frowned.

“You look sad.” She pointed out. Apparently there was no fooling a child.

“It’s not that, Ayumi-chan-Aoko-neechan’s is just upset about Kaitou Kid escaping again-her dad is Nakamori-keibu!” Conan stepped in. Ayumi looked from Conan back to Aoko and then offered a smile.

“It’s okay Onesan, Kid will be caught someday!” She said happily before rushing off to join the others.

“Although, that’s exactly what you don’t want, right Aoko-neechan?” Conan asked when she’d left. Aoko looked down at him and sighed. She’d already asked him to help her keep Kid out of jail so there was no point in lying.

“M-Mm…” She said sadly. “He hasn’t even noticed.”

Shinichi looked her over closely, he didn’t like the look on her face-it reminded him too strongly of Ran when she was upset. “Have you tried talking to him?” He asked. Aoko jumped and looked away.

“N-no! Why would I-? No one knows who Kaitou Kid is!” She denied. Shinichi wasn’t even kind of convinced. It explained why she had been so depressed too well for him to even consider she might be telling the truth.

“You do, though, don’t you?” Shinichi asked, his voice low. “It’s your childhood friend, right?”

“N-” Aoko started to deny but Shinichi cut her off.

“Why else would you go through so much effort to keep him out of jail? You even asked me and Hakuba-niichan to help. You’ve been upset because you found out that your best friend is secretly Kaitou Kid, right?” She bit her lip, obviously, she didn’t want to admit it. Shinichi stared at her, his heart sinking as tears started to form in her eyes. Had she even admitted to herself?

“Um-regardless of that though, you should try to talk to him.” Conan offered. Aoko wiped her eyes and swallowed stiffly before kneeling down to Conan’s level and put a hand on his head. Her eyes were still red and puffy and he could tell she’d lost yet a little more weight.

“Aoko’s not saying that Conan-kun is right but, even if she were to talk to him about it he probably wouldn’t admit it.” She told him, smiling sadly. “Don’t worry about it though, that’s not something for you to be concerned about, okay?” She stood up again and moved away.

“You just can’t help it, can you?” Haibara asked from where she had been standing on Aoko’s other side. Shinichi rolled his eyes and turned back to Aoko, watching as the three kids all ran up to her, tugging her in the direction of the big water slide. “She looks too much like that girl at the detective agency, doesn’t she?”

“…Yes.” Shinichi admitted. “And it’ll be hard to keep my promise to her if Kid is distracted for any reason. I need him to be at his best.”

“So you really are going to keep him out of jail? Such a bleeding heart.” Haibara sighed before holding up a turquoise plaid phone with a yellow bow at the corner. There was no doubt whose phone it was. Rather than question how she’d gotten it, Shinichi swiped it up and stared down at the lock screen. It didn’t deter him for long though as he merely pulled out his own phone to check something and with four little numbers he was in.

“You already figured out her password?”

“Of course, it seemed obvious to me that it would have to be her best friend’s birthday.” He offered nonchalantly. Haibara sighed.

“Obvious?” She asked.

“Aa, she asked me and Hakuba to try and keep him out of jail and she’s been stressing about Kid for a good long while-Coupled with the fact they’re childhood friends the only thing her password could be would be his birthday-which according to a fansite for Kuroba Toichi would be June twenty first.” Shinichi explained.

“But… wouldn’t that imply that Nakamori-san is-“

“In love with Kaitou Kid? Yes.” Shinichi sighed. “What’s sad is that he undoubtedly returns her feelings.”

“How tragic.” Haibara sighed and walked away. Shinichi hunted down Kid’s number-apparently under ‘Bakaito’ and pressed call. After a moment he let out a sigh and turned around.

oooOOOooo

Despite what Aoko thought, Kuroba Kaito had indeed, noticed that she had not been her normal cheerful self, but she was right in thinking he hadn’t realized that she’d figured out what he was really doing at his night job. She hadn’t said anything to him about it so how was he to know? He thought the cause of her crippling depression was Yagami-that Yagami wasn’t treating her well and she was afraid to say anything.

It was for that reason alone that he’d taken it upon himself to follow Aoko around to catch him in the act of mistreating his best friend. Yagami Light might have been Kira but he couldn’t get away with hurting Aoko-Kaito wouldn’t let him. He stayed well behind the others and by some miracle managed not to gain the small detective’s attention-this meant though, that he couldn’t risk getting too close so he was well out of earshot when the little detective was whispering to Aoko and then his creepy little girl friend.

Who… had apparently stolen Aoko’s phone. He cringed as Kudou started to skim through her phone and wondered what he could possibly be doing with it and what he wanted with it. The answer came shortly after the detective put Aoko’s phone to his ear and his own phone sprang to life. He quickly reached into his pocket and silenced the phone but it was too late and the little brat was already walking up to him.

“Stalking is a crime, you know.” Kudou informed him. Kaito rolled his eyes, annoyed that the detective had found him so easily. Although, he supposed he was kind of obvious-what with not being dressed for an indoor water park.

“So is mass-murder.” He stated, still sore about the detective not turning Kira in and allowing him to continue to date his best friend. Kudou rolled his eyes right back.

“There’s nothing I can really do about that.” He explained. Kaito gritted his teeth. Nothing he could do? Surely the detective had noticed how unhealthy and depressed Aoko had seemed as of late, and he couldn’t do anything about it? He was going to just continue to allow that bastard to abuse

his

best friend?

“You can’t do anything.” Kaito stated, his tone dripping into dangerous. Kudou gave him a startled look. “He’s mistreating her and you can’t do

anything

?” He demanded. “Or are you just ignoring-”

“I haven’t been ignoring anything.” Kudou cut him off sharply. “You’re the one that’s been ignoring facts, Kid. It’s not Yagami that’s been upsetting her.” He said icily. Kaito’s eyes only narrowed and his temper started to flare.

“What the hell do you mean?” He demanded. “You can’t tell me that you haven’t noticed how depressed she’s been? You’re not that emotionally tone deaf.” That seemed to strike a cord as Shinichi’s eyes narrowed right back at the thief.

“She

knows

, you idiot!” Kudou snapped. “She knows about your nightly activities and she’s scared for you-that’s why she’s so stressed out. Not because of anything that Yagami did-but because she found her so called best friend as has been lying to her.”

“What did you say?” Kaito demanded angrily, reaching forward to grab the detective by the shirt, gaining several witnesses in the process. He took a breath and released the apparent child. He heard what Kudou had said-but the only thing that mattered in that moment was that he just insinuated that he wasn’t Aoko’s best friend.

Shinichi huffed angrily and brushed his shirt off. “I said that she knows, Kuroba. If you want any hope of repairing the damage that

you

did, you had better talk to her.”

“But I thought-” Kaito started numbly. Had she really figured it out? Had it really hurt her that badly? “Why hasn’t she said anything?”

Shinichi’s felt his heart soften at the lost look on the thief’s face and let out a sigh. Ordinarily, this wasn’t something he was very well versed in, but this time, having been in a sort of similar situation, he did have the right answer.

“You know, Ran discovered my secret once and I couldn’t figure out why, if she was so sure, why didn’t she tell me?” He stated. Kid watched him curiously, not daring to interrupt. “As it turns out, she was waiting-she was waiting for me to tell her directly-I think it’s the same here. She needs you to explain yourself so she can forgive you.”

“How did you manage to trick her into thinking she was wrong?” Kid asked. Shinichi’s eyes narrowed.

“I’m not telling you. You owe Aoko-chan the truth and you know it.” He snapped.

“If she doesn’t forgive me, she could turn me in!” Kid informed him. Shinichi scoffed, unsure if he’d really just heard that.

“Don’t you think, that if she wanted to turn you in, she would have done it? Not that I should tell you this, but she asked me to help make sure you stayed out of jail. She didn’t want the fake Kira to get to you.” Shinichi snapped, Kid couldn’t honestly be this stupid-could he?

“K-Kaito?” Aoko’s voice had both boys freezing over to look at her. Kid shrank back a little and Shinichi rolled his eyes before turning to face Aoko to see just how much she’d heard.

“Aoko-neechan!” He smiled up at her. “It seems like Kaito-niichan followed you!” He stated, pointing to the teenager wearing jeans and sweatshirt. How had he not noticed him before?

“A-Aoko!” Kid stammered helplessly. “It’s not-I didn’t-Why would I want to follow you?” He asked, his tone changing several times. Shinichi just sighed. What was with this guy?

“How should Aoko know?” She narrowed her eyes at him and Shinichi could tell Kid was only making things worse. “Stop following Aoko!” She said angrily, stomping her foot and then turning to Conan. “Come on, Conan-kun, don’t wander off, okay?” She offered him her hand and he took it, ignoring how harshly Kid was glaring at him.

“I wasn’t following you!” Kid responded angrily, though it was obvious he was. “I wouldn’t waste my time following a stupid girl like you.” Shinichi winced as Aoko’s grip on his hand suddenly tightened.

“Don’t listen to him, Aoko-neechan, you’re not stupid! Let’s go swimming!” He tried to pull her attention away from Kid. Aoko took in a shaky breath and just continued to walk away from the thief.

“Aoko! Don’t walk away from me!” Kaito yelled at her, several people turning to look as Kid stalked forward. The look in his eyes was startling, and before he could stop him, Kid had grabbed her wrist to force her to look at him.

“Let go of Aoko!” She yelled at him, trying to pull her arm free. “Aoko has nothing to say to you!”

“I’m not done talking to you!” Kid yelled at her. Shinichi didn’t like where this was going-unless Kid intended to confess his undying love for her-which he doubted based on the insult from earlier-this was going to get ugly, fast.

“Kaito, let go!” She stomped on his foot as hard as she could and Kid let out a hiss of pain. Kid’s eyes flashed dangerously and Shinichi found himself regretting the fact he wasn’t wearing his kick-shoes. He didn’t know how Kid intended to react with so many people around but the angrier he got the less he was going to care. Had Kid always had a temper like this? Very suddenly, Kid let her go and Aoko stepped away, pulling Shinichi with her.

“Fine. Then we’ll talk later.” Kid decided. Shinichi didn’t like the sound of that and looked up at Aoko.

“Fine! Aoko will go home once Ran-chan gets here.” She informed him. Kid scoffed and turned to leave. At least he’d have time to cool down but…

“Ne, Aoko-neechan, do you think I could go home with you later?” He asked, “I’m actually not that fond of this kind of place.”

“Oh…” Aoko looked down at him. He offered her his best puppy-dog eyes and she frowned. “I don’t know, Conan-kun… that’s up to Ran-chan.”

oooOOOooo

“What do you want?” Light answered his phone when he saw the name ‘Edogawa Conan’ flash up on the screen. He hadn’t heard from Conan in a while, he assumed that the Hattori had told him all about Light joining the taskforce.

“Yagami, I have an important question to ask you, and I need you to answer honestly.” The tone in Conan’s voice was level, and serious though there wasn’t any anger behind it-this didn’t have to do with Kira or the fake Kira. He let out a sigh and relaxed somewhat.

“What is it?” He asked. Conan was quiet a moment, as though he was trying to collect his thoughts.

“You’ve met Kuroba Kaito, haven’t you?” Conan finally asked. Light instantly tensed back up. He did not want to have to talk to Conan about that idiot.

“Unfortunately.” He answered honestly. “He is Aoko-chan’s best friend, after all.”

“Is he really her best friend though?” Conan asked thoughtfully. “He’s-”

“Personally, I can’t see why-he can’t take no for an answer and he’s constantly belittling her.” Not to mention the fact he was running around as Kaitou Kid behind her back, but he wasn’t ready to tell Conan that just yet. Soon, maybe he could get thief thrown in jail and the fake Kira would do his dirty work for him.

“Do you think he would hurt her?”

“Yes.” Light didn’t even think about the answer, after all, he was already hurting her just by lying and he’d seen how possessive of her Kuroba tended to be. “I have no doubt that if he got carried away, he would do just that.” He paused a moment. “Although, I don’t think he would do it on purpose.”

“That’s what I thought.” Conan said solemnly. A thought hit Light rather abruptly and he sat up straight on his bed.

“Why? Has he done something to her?”

“Oh! No.” Conan quickly denied, not that Light believed him. “We ran into him earlier and I was just wondering. Well, I gotta go!” He clicked the line off and Light was left to silently seethe. Conan had slipped into his deceitful little kid act which told him that Kuroba had done something-not only that but Conan was annoying little optimist so he wouldn’t have even considered the thought unless he had reason to.

“Who was that?” Ryuuk asked as Light found Aoko’s number and completely ignored the shinigami. Unfortunately, it went to voicemail and that only served to make him even angrier. Did he have Kuroba’s number? He searched his phone and came up empty. Luckily, he did have Hakuba’s number and Hakuba was sure to have what he was after.

“Hello? Saguru speaking.” Hakuba answered relatively quickly.

“Hakuba-kun? This is Light. I was wondering if you happen to have Kuroba’s number?” He asked. Hakuba was quiet a moment, no doubt trying to discern why Light would want to talk to Kuroba when he’d made his feelings for the magician clear the last time they spoke.

“Yes. Has something happened to Aoko-san?” He asked. Light grit his teeth.

“That’s what I’d like to find out.” He growled.

“If you’re thinking of threatening him-”

“No.” Light lied. “I need to know what he did that prompted Conan-kun to call me and ask if I thought that Kuroba would ever hurt her.” He stated a half-truth. He had every intention of threatening Kuroba-this had gone too far.

“Against my better judgment, I’ll give you his number.” Hakuba decided. “On one condition.”

“If you’re going to make me promise not to hurt him-” Light started.

“No, as far as I’m concerned, if he hurt Aoko-san in any capacity then he deserves it.” Hakuba stated haughtily. Right, Hakuba also had a crush on Aoko-he could probably use that to his advantage if he needed to.

“Then what do you want?” He asked as Ryuuk chuckled overhead.

“Your father works on the Kira task force, right? Is there any way you could convince him to let me join?” Hakuba asked. Light froze at the request. Why did Hakuba suddenly want to join the Kira taskforce?

“I can mention it to him.” He offered, not wanting to raise suspicion. “However, that would really be up to L. To tell you the truth, I’ve recently joined too and L calls the shots on everything.”
 
“I see…” Hakuba let out a sigh. “I wanted to offer my help as a detective-he did threaten my father after all.” Light bit his lip, thinking about how best to address the situation. If he let Hakuba join the investigation then L would undoubtedly tell him about the fact he suspected Light was Kira which Hakuba would undoubtedly tell Aoko. He couldn’t have Aoko suspicious of him and couldn’t tell her the truth-she was already having such a hard time with Kuroba’s secret.  
 
However, if he were to bring Hakuba into headquarters without clearing it with L, and plead Hakuba’s case then maybe he could get L to stop suspecting him. Kira would never willingly recommend someone to join the task force, especially someone so close to his girlfriend.
 
“I understand how you feel.” He finally decided. “So, I’ll help you get into the task force-come by my house tomorrow and I’ll take you.” He said smoothly.
 
“Thank you, Yagami-san, I hope to be a valuable asset to the task force.” Hakuba stated sincerely.

oooOOOooo
 
“Conan-kun really wanted to come home with Aoko, huh?” Aoko asked the little boy that had somehow manipulated her into bringing him back to her house. He told Ran he wasn’t feeling well and he wanted to go home with ‘Aoko-neechan.’ Ran had also made him promise not to cause Aoko any trouble to which he readily agreed. He didn’t intend to cause her trouble, he intended to protect her from Kid if it came down to it.

“Yup!” He told her cheerily. Aoko just sighed and fished her key out of her pocket to let them both in. She paused a moment, glancing over at the house next door before opening the front door to let them in.

“Conan-kun, we both know that you’re not sick-why were you so determined to come home with Aoko?” She finally asked. Shinichi glanced at the house next door as well, he remembered the last time he was here that she mentioned her best friend living next door. Was that Kid’s house?

“Ne, is that Kaito-niichan’s house next door?” He asked. Aoko paused, not pressing the fact he’d completely ignored her question.

“Yes. He’s lived there longer than Aoko’s lived here.” She explained. “Did you want to say hi to him?” Shinichi made a face. No, he was more concerned about how Kid had reacted earlier.

“No, to tell you the truth, I was a little concerned from earlier. He seemed really mad.” Shinichi admitted. Aoko knelt down in front of him and ruffle his hair a bit though he could see the tears forming in her eyes. She looked too much like Ran. He hated it. “…Aoko-neechan?”

“You know, Aoko never really noticed there was a problem with how Kaito treats her-not since Light-kun said something.” She told him. Shinichi gave her a puzzled look and she just stood up to lead him into the kitchen. “Kaito’s always been loud-and a bit too much of a show off but he’s never been cruel-at least Aoko didn’t think he was. She’d even go as far as to say he’s really sweet sometimes.”

Shinichi just watched her helplessly, he hated the sinking feeling in his chest as she moved over to the tea kettle to make them both tea.

“Conan-kun…” Her voice sounded almost distant and a little shaky like she was trying to keep from crying. “Aoko want you to answer honestly-would you ever flip a girl’s skirt?” What? Shinichi shook his head a moment to see if maybe he’d heard her wrong.

“N-No!” He reacted quickly, shaking his head again as the question sank in and his cheeks burned red. “Why would I do that?” Aoko knelt down in front of him again, a small but still sad smile on her face. Shinichi had heard of boys doing that to girls as a way to tease them but even when he was a kid he’d have never done anything like that to a girl. Even then, that was something he’d only heard of little kids doing and something they grew out of.

“Maybe Aoko’s been wrong the whole time after all.” She let out a heavy sigh, her voice was weighted with emotion and Shinichi didn’t quite know how to respond. What did she mean by that? Was she blaming herself for Kid’s actions? He’d never seen a relationship like this at this stage before-this kind he’d only seen post murder.

“You can talk to him, can’t you? I think he’d listen-if he knew you were sincere.” He offered. The conversation he’d had with Kid earlier hadn’t gone well, but maybe if he could get them to talk to each other.  “Um… Aoko-neechan, do you like Kaito-niichan?”

“Eh?” Aoko blinked, a little surprised by the question. Her cheeks turned a bit pink but the lack a strong reaction really just told him how mentally exhausted this girl really was. “She did.” She finally admitted. “But-It’s hard to explain but it feels like we’re drifting apart somehow. The longer it takes him to tell Aoko the truth the angrier she feels.” She paused a moment and tried to force a smile and nervous laugh. “D-Don’t worry about it though, Conan-kun. Aoko will be okay.”
 
Shinichi felt his heart softening and wondered if this was how Ran felt when she was convinced of his real identity. The situation was different though, at the end of it all, Ran had respected that he was in trouble and he was trying to protect her. Still though, he hated to think about how he was stomping on her feelings by not telling her the truth.
 
The tea kettle went off, pulling both their attention away from their own thoughts and Aoko picked the kettle up to prepare the tea.
 
“...Aoko-neechan, is Light-niichan ever mean to you?” He asked. Aoko looked back at him, being careful about her kettle pouring.
 
“No.” She answered with a small smile. “But, Aoko will tell you a secret about him.” Shinichi watched her carefully. Was this a secret he wanted to know? “He’s not actually always serious and composed-In fact he turns into a sore loser when we play video games. It’s kind of funny.”
 
“Oh.” Shinichi paused, trying to think about Light Yagami, of all people, playing video games.
 
“He cheats.” She stated. That didn’t surprise him in the least. He moved over to the table and climbed into the seat to wait on her to bring him his tea. He was glad that Kid hadn’t been by yet to yell at Aoko for something that was entirely his fault. “....Is Light-kun ever mean to Conan-kun?”
 
“Hm? No.” Shinichi answered automatically. He wouldn’t say that Yagami was mean to him-they had a sort of understanding, and all things considered they usually get along fairly well. He looked up at a knock on the door and Aoko excused herself to go answer it. Shinichi slid off his seat and followed after her, just in case.