Work Text
It was one of KID's biggest productions to date. The target of the heist was a rather large sapphire set into the eye of a magnificent statue which in turn was the centerpiece of a fountain that sat smack in the middle of the central courtyard of the city's new science museum. The courtyard itself was covered by a sprawling, stained glass dome that spread from the eight different buildings forming the complex. As that meant there were also eight open courts, one between each pair of buildings, all of KID's fans were vying for a position where they may actually be able to see the thief up close. This meant the police had their work cut out for them keeping people from slipping in where they could only get in the way. Nakamori could be heard cursing the damned magician for choosing to stage a heist that wasn't inside a building (with a target that couldn't be moved), but the audience didn't care and his task force were too busy keeping people back to calm him down. Besides, they knew any attempt would be a lost cause. The man had been in a particularly foul mood ever since the last heist and the picture of him dangling upside down by one foot in a butterfly costume had made it onto the front page of the papers. It had only added fuel to the fire that KID's notice this time around had begun with the—in Nakamori's opinion—horrendously insulting phrase 'Greetings, my most loyal followers'. Several of his officers would swear that their ears were still ringing from his outraged tirade at seeing that.For his part Shinichi was glad the crowds were so big that night. It meant that it was easy for him to avoid Ran who had been dragged to the event by an overly excited Sonoko. Things had been rocky between them for a while now. He let out a quiet sigh at the recollection that no one heard over the roar of the masses. Two weeks ago he had done as he had promised and told her everything that had happened over the last two years. She had, to his surprise, listened to the whole thing in silence. When he was done she had remained silent for several more minutes before saying "I see", getting up, and leaving without another word. It wasn't the reaction he'd expected. Well, truth be told he hadn't known what to expect, but utter silence had definitely not been it.After that she had stopped talking to him altogether. So he'd decided it was probably best to let her simmer down before trying to talk to her again. After having gotten used to seeing her everyday, it was taking some getting used to. Still…it bothered him a bit that it didn't bother him more. There was the nagging fear of losing one of the few real friends he had, but nothing more or less than that. Maybe it was because he knew now that she would never really understand him (not that that was really new news, he mused, they'd never had much in common). And, well, frankly he wasn't sure he could understand her either. So in a way it was probably best that they knew that now.Still, he kind of wished…that things were different. It seemed he was getting to know less and less about himself with every passing day. There was something incredibly unsettling about that. Life wasn't supposed to work that way, was it? Surely it was supposed to be the other way around."Oi! Kudo! Why're you just standing here?" A dark-skinned hand fell on his shoulder and began to propel him forcibly through the crowd. "Come on, the heist's about to start! If we don't get through this lot before KID shows up we'll probably get stampeded to death."Noting the extreme likelihood of this hypothesis—KID's fans were an enthusiastic lot and this was one of the few heists where they might actually be able to see the thief up close—Shinichi picked up his pace.Even with Hattori's liberal use of elbows and swearing it took them nearly ten whole minutes to make it to the line of police holding back the spectators. There they had to shout at the top of their lungs for another five minutes before the officers understood what they were there for. It seemed these officers were new to the force and didn't recognize either detective on sight. At least one of them went so far as to accuse them of being KID fans trying to use the names of prominent detectives to sneak in. That particular genius received a deluge of accented curses for his troubles and Shinichi was beginning to wonder if he'd have to stop Hattori from throwing a few irate punches when one of the older task force members showed up and rescued everyone involved by knowing who they were.Of course, that led to the customary face pinch and pull, but after that they were allowed through so that Nakamori could take a turn at shouting at them not to get in his way.Oh what fun, Shinichi thought wryly. It was nice to know that no matter what happened in his tumultuous life some things would never change.Shinichi had positioned himself beside one of the museum windows where he could get a good view of both the fountain in the center of the courtyard and the inside of the main museum building. It was because of this choice of locations that he saw the shadow creeping into one of the inner exhibition rooms. He could tell from the slightly clumsy movements that it wasn't KID, but obviously it wasn't someone who belonged here either.It seemed someone might have decided to use the KID heist as a distraction so that they could steal their own share of goods from the museum.Shinichi eyed the creeper for a moment, debating with himself. The heist was about to start, but on the other hand he couldn't just sit by and watch whoever that was go about his or her illegal business. KID he knew was technically harmless as far as people's lives went, but this creeper might not be. And there was certainly no lack of people around the museum tonight.Making up his mind, Shinichi slipped away from the main courtyard and made his way to one of the museum's many doors. It had been left open as several officers were stationed just inside it. Shinichi negotiated his way inside and headed towards the exhibition room he'd seen the shadow moving into.This particular wing of the museum was dedicated towards various chemical discoveries and inventions. Walking through it was like walking through a science fiction movie. Soft lights glowed from inside different displays, some of which bubbled softly as others swirled with neon lights meant to highlight whatever invention they were displaying. The exhibition room however was almost entirely dark. A sign outside proclaimed that it would not be open for another three months. There was no one inside. What there was instead was the faint outline of light seeping through the cracks around a door. The door was slightly ajar.Making his way over, Shinichi peeked inside. The room beyond the door looked like some kind of laboratory. A few of the signs that had been put up made Shinichi think that it was probably meant to be a hands on exhibit in the future where visitors might be able to view various types of chemical reactions in a 'safe' environment. At the moment however the place made Shinichi think of a mad scientist's heaven.And there at the massive bank of computers that dominated the center of the lab was a person dressed from head to toe in concealing, black cloth. He couldn't tell if it was a man or a woman but whoever it was knew their way around a computer. Their fingers were flying over the keys and Shinichi had a very bad feeling about the whole situation.Deciding it would be best to interrupt whatever was being set in motion, Shinichi pushed the door open and stepped in, automatically scanning the room to check for alternate exits. There was only one other door but it was much farther away from the main computers than the one he had come through. "Stop right there!"The intruder jerked around to reveal that its face too was almost entirely hidden by black cloth. Kind of like a mummy in black wrappings, some corner of Shinichi's mind remarked. The rest of his mind however focused on the way the intruder spun and bolted.Shinichi's feet started moving before his mind could give the command and he raced to intercept the fleeing mummy in black. The mummy had a head start but Shinichi was the faster runner. He was gaining.The mummy stopped abruptly beside a bank of large, glass displays. Shinichi's steps faltered slightly as he saw the person's hand emerge from a hidden pocket with something that glinted. A weapon? But no, it looked more like a bottle—Glass shattered beneath a black, booted foot that must have had steel caps on.Shinichi could see the moment whatever was inside the tanks flashed and sparked. The mummy set off again but Shinichi lost track of it an instant later as the entire lab went up in a nearly silent explosion.A bluish smoke gushed through the museum and out over the screaming crowds. The once excited screams turned to shrieks of confusion and then terror as flames followed the blue mist.XKuroba Kaito, the man behind the glamour that was Kaitou KID, had watched the commotion that was his fans and his task force duking it out for the best spots at his upcoming show from the shadows amidst a particularly elaborate set of sculptures adorning the upper balconies of the main museum building. The turnout this evening had been even better than he'd expected and it was making his blood sing with excitement. This was going to be one heist no one ever forgot! Of course, that was his goal with every heist, but for an audience this big he was definitely going to have to do something extra. To make things even better, he had not only his task force but three detectives to play with today.Sharp, indigo eyes zeroed in on the Detective of the East the moment the boy emerged from the flailing crowds to be subjected to Nakamori's unwelcoming bellows. He hadn't seen Shinichi for a while now and he was pleasantly surprised to note that the detective was back in his teens. He wondered idly if it was permanent this time. After all, he hadn't heard anything about Conan for weeks.Well, whatever the reason behind the boy's appearance tonight, the important part was that he was here and this night was looking more fun by the moment.With all the possibilities whirling through his mind, Kaito was a bit confused to see the focus of his attention making his way indoors mere minutes before the time when the show was scheduled to begin."And where do you think you're going?" he muttered under his breath as he craned his neck for a better look at the door the detective had gone through. That was the courtyard entrance for the lab exhibits. He remembered seeing Nakamori posting guards there in case KID decided to make a surprise entrance from indoors. Why the man thought he'd choose such a difficult to see place to make his entrance he had no idea. It was just one of those things about Nakamori, he supposed. Tantei-kun on the other hand surely knew he wouldn't be down there where nobody not in the immediate vicinity would see him.Well, he'd have to investigate it later. Right now he had a show to open.X"Look!" Suzuki Sonoko shrieked in excitement as she latched onto her best friend's arm and pointed towards the stained glass dome overhead where a flock of doves had apparently detached themselves from the glass and were now circling the courtyard in a flurry of white wings.Mouri Ran, the friend to whom the arm Sonoko was clutching belonged, winced as her friend's excited clutches cut off the circulation in her arm. The sight of all the birds was surprising and neat and all but it was hard to appreciate anything when she was starting to lose all the feeling in one arm. "Sonoko, could you please let go?"Sonoko wasn't listening as all the lights in the courtyard chose that moment to go out. A single spotlight flickered to life to follow the circling doves, making the birds look almost like they were glowing as they turned and swooped in low over the crowd. People everywhere yelled and waved as Nakamori yelled for his men to get ready. Then the doves spiraled in upon the fountain and in a flurry of feathers they were no longer alone. There, balanced on top of the fountain's central statue, was the white clad form of the thief everyone had come to see.Ran let out a sigh of relief as Sonoko relinquished her arm in order to wave fanatically at her 'KID-sama'.Ran on the other hand found herself looking not at the thief but at the officers swarming towards the fountain. She remembered catching a glimpse of Shinichi earlier talking to the police. The thought made her stomach twist unpleasantly.It wasn't that she was really angry at him, she thought. Or at least she wouldn't call it anger. She'd been mad for a while, certainly. It wasn't even so much the lies but the fact that he'd apparently been right there the whole time and seen how worried she had been and yet just let it go on. It was that more than anything that bothered her and she wasn't sure if she would ever be ready to forgive him for that. But no, she wasn't really angry anymore, just…disappointed, maybe.When she saw him these days it always felt like she was looking at a stranger who just happened to resemble someone she used to know. It was a confusing and unpleasant feeling and it left her uncertain as to what to say or do. She'd been waiting all this time for him to come home only to find that he never would because the person she'd been expecting didn't really exist anymore.And really she was beginning to wonder if she'd ever understood him at all.Well, there wasn't much point in speculating about it now.XShinichi coughed as the smoke billowed around him. Covering his nose and mouth with his sleeve, he ran in the direction he thought the door was. Behind him something crackled and sizzled and he could feel pulses of something cold washing over him every few steps.Then the sparks began to dance and his vision was getting blurry. The smoke didn't smell like the kind that came off burning things, but it wasn't oxygen either and his mind was starting to spin as black spots danced across his vision.The ground beneath his feet heaved like the deck of a ship on a storm tossed sea. His knees hit cold, granite floors and he doubled over, struggling for just one breath of clear air.It was starting to feel like something was burning in his chest.The last thing he heard before the world vanished was the shrill scream of a siren.XKaito had secured his gem for the night and the best part of the fun was just about to begin when several of the ground floor windows of one of the museum buildings flashed and there was the sound of shattering glass. The museum's alarms went off with a shriek. When the blue tinted smoke began billowing from all the main building's windows he knew that something was seriously wrong. And he hadn't seen Shinichi come out of the building. Torn between irritation at having such a wonderful evening so rudely interrupted and concern, he pulled on one of the gas masks he kept with him. No one was paying attention to him anymore—not that they could see much through the smoke—so it was easy to slip through one of the windows on the second floor which he'd unlocked earlier that day in case he needed it. Trusting Nakamori to get the people outside to safety, he slid quickly inside and made a beeline for where he remembered the stairs were located.The closer to the stairs the less the smoke looked like smoke. Now and then crackles of pale blue energy would flicker through it like currents of electricity. The currents were accompanied by sparks ranging from pale purple in color to a fiery red. It might have been pretty if it hadn't been accompanied by the occasional lick of very real flames. They were spikes of heat in the slightly chilly fog.The visibility was dropping rapidly and Kaito was beginning to seriously wonder what he should do if he couldn't find Shinichi when the issue was taken out of his hands as he literally tripped over his quarry.Kaito caught himself before he could fall and crouched down beside the detective's unmoving form. He shook Shinichi's shoulder after checking his pulse but got no response. On an impulse he pulled off a glove and pressed the back of his hand to the other's forehead. The heat that greeted his touch was definitely not normal. Tantei-kun hadn't looked sick earlier though.What was in this smoke? Well, whatever it was, it couldn't be good.First thing first then, he had to get them both out of here before whatever had set off all this weird smoke decided it was time to up the ante."Things can't ever be normal when you're around, can they?" he mused aloud as he gathered the unconscious detective into his arms and headed back for the stairs, trusting his memory to guide his steps since he couldn't see more than a foot in front of his face. Behind him the blue and green flames which had taken over from the orange slowly began to creep through the veil of smoke, the eerie light of their writhing shapes strange and almost ghostly despite the very real ferocity of the crackle of their hunger.X"Kudo!" Hattori called out over the pushing, shoving crowd as he searched frantically for his vanished friend. "Damnit! I turn around for one minute—Kudo!"But there was no answer and no sign anywhere that his fellow detective was near. What he did see was Kazuha waving frantically at him from an alcove beside a rather large potted plant. Giving up on finding Shinichi for the time being, he waded through the masses towards her."Heiji!" she called the moment he was within earshot. "What's happening?""I have no idea," he replied honestly as he shouldered past one last pair of onlookers and joined her in the relative calm of the alcove. "Something went off in the museum. They're trying to get everyone out of here before they go check it out. Are you all right?""Just a bit shaken," she replied with a strained smile as her eyes swept over him in search of injuries. "I thought for a moment I was going to suffocate in there with all that smoke but I ran into that other detective and he helped me get here.""Other detective?" Heiji repeated, wondering if she'd seen Shinichi. Only if that were the case why didn't she use his name? "Do you know where he went?""The blond one," she elaborated. "I think he said his name was Hakuba. Anyway, he said he had to go find someone called Aoko and left in a hurry." She paused for a moment when she saw him frown. "What's wrong?"Deciding not to mention the long, long list of 'wrongs' that hearing the name Hakuba brought to mind, Heiji focused instead on a more pressing concern. "I can't find Kudo.""Wasn't he with you just earlier?""Was, yeah, but he disappeared just before all this smoke started pouring outta nowhere and I haven't seen him since. I get the feeling he might have gone in to see what all the commotion started from but the police won't let me in!"The look she gave him clearly said she thought the police had the right idea. "That's just stupid. That's a chemical lab exhibit in there! Who knows what could happen next! You can go in when they're sure nothing's going to explode or anything else like that. I'm sure even Kudo-kun would wait that long before running into a building spewing blue smoke and rainbow sparks just to see what caught fire."Heiji let his breath out in a rush and leaned back agains the towering, stone vase of the potted plant. "I hope you're right."It took the police nearly a whole hour to clear everyone out of the museum. Heiji and Kazuha stayed in their alcove with the potted plant all the way up to the last moment but Nakamori wouldn't hear of letting them stay. He said in no uncertain terms that no one had been found inside the museum and that it would be up to the museum technicians to figure out what had gone wrong now. As for meddling high school kids who liked to fancy themselves detectives—well, he wasn't going to deal with them now when he didn't have to and the KID heist was obviously over for the night so they'd better clear out before he had them all arrested for interfering with police matters.Heiji had a lot of things he would have liked to say to that, but Kazuha grabbed him firmly by the arm and dragged him away before any of them could leave his mouth."There's a reason we have telephones, Heiji," she snapped when he protested. "If we don't get going now we're going to miss our train and since Kudo-kun might not be home yet we won't even have anywhere to stay. I don't know about you but I'm not spending a night at the park or something just because you couldn't keep your mouth shut for once."Heiji opened his mouth to defend himself, then thought better of it. She had a few good points, but still… "Man Kazuha, are you sure you're all right? You've been biting my head off all night!"She paused for a moment as they reached a street corner, raising a hand to her forehead. Then she let out a tired sigh. "I—I'm sorry. I've just been feeling a bit sick…""What?" Alarmed by the sudden change in his friend's demeanor, he turned to look her over. She did look a bit pale… "Why didn't you say something sooner if you were sick?""It's not serious," she replied a bit defensively. "I'm sure it was just the smoke. You know, lack of air and all that. It'll pass."Heiji frowned, not quite believing her. Her voice had come out much too faint for his liking and she seemed to be swaying on her feet. Reaching out on an impulse, he wrapped an arm securely around her to keep her from falling. "Come on, let's get you home."He could call Kudo in the morning and berate him for pulling the disappearing act again. For now he had to make sure Kazuha got home and had a good rest. Why hadn't he noticed sooner that she wasn't feeling well? Ugh, he was supposed to be a great detective! If it had started with the smoke then she must have been feeling off for that entire hour they'd been waiting. Cursing himself for his inattention, he turned them towards the train station.XThis, Kaito reflected, had definitely not been on any of his plans for the night. He was now in a small apartment several streets away from the museum with an unconscious detective tucked in the bed with a cool cloth over his head.His first thought had been to take the detective back to the Kudo Manor, but then he remembered that Shinichi lived alone. It would be pointless to take him there only to leave him by himself. There was the hospital of course, but just dropping the boy off there would feel a bit like abandoning him. So instead he'd brought the detective to one of his safe houses instead before calling his mom and telling her that he was spending the night at a friend's. Technically he supposed he could have still taken Shinichi to the Kudo Manor and simply hung around long enough to make sure he was okay, but this place was much closer and just more convenient all round. Even so it still hadn't been exactly what one would call close.Carrying the detective all that way without being seen had been a bit tricky but he wasn't a phantom thief for nothing. And not once through the entire journey had Shinichi so much as twitched.That was somewhat concerning.The detective was worryingly light too. Kaito was by no means an expert on human health, but he was pretty sure people weren't supposed to be that thin. Maybe it was a side effect of growing up again? After all elementary school kids naturally needed less in the way of nutrients than teenagers. So it wouldn't be that surprising if the sudden change from eight to eighteen led to some (hopefully) minor problems.Shaking away those unpleasant thoughts for the time being, Kaito set about exchanging his KID uniform for something less distinctive. He didn't generally need much sleep—which was good luck on his part since he spent so many of his nights running around high security museums and mansions, but even he was feeling a bit tired after all the commotion. And he'd been feeling a bit off balance since he'd gotten a whiff of that smoke. Not enough for him to think it was anything dangerous, but he definitely needed a few hours to sleep it off. Then he could figure out what to do with Shinichi and maybe find out what the hell had happened back in that museum.XTakagi Wataru groaned as the shrill cry of his alarm clock cut through the fog of sleep. Prying his eyes open, he levered himself out of bed and stumbled to the desk where the clock sat. He turned it off with a sigh and set about getting ready to go to work.In retrospect going to see the KID heist the night before an early morning investigation probably hadn't been the best idea, but Miwako had been so excited and he just couldn't not go with her. And, well, it had been nice to spend time with her. They hadn't had much leisure time together for a while now with all the clean up going on surrounding that criminal organization that had apparently kept Kudo-kun away for so long. Not that Division One had all that much to do with the operation—it was being handled mostly internationally and was just about over with—but as several of the organization's agents had been caught in Tokyo they had inevitably been drawn into it.He had to wonder how Kudo-kun had gotten himself mixed up in the whole thing. Takagi himself was an adult and a policeman with some experience and he still felt a bit out of his depth. Then again the young detective had been looking a little worn out himself. Takagi remembered the boy from before his disappearance, and it seemed to him that the Kudo-kun who had come back wasn't the one who had left.Well, it wasn't really his place to speculate about it.If he didn't hurry he was going to be late and then Megure-keibu was going to have his head. And Miwako wouldn't be too happy either.With that in mind, he grabbed his keys and bolted for the door. He reached the station just in time. Letting out a breath of relief, he reached for the door just as it opened.He stepped aside quickly as two officers walked out."Good morning," he greeted them, but neither of them heard him and in moments they were gone. Shrugging it off, he entered the station and headed for Megure-keibu's office.He stepped in just in time to hear the inspector shout, "Where's Takagi? He should've been here by now?""I'm here, Sir," he said quickly, stepping up to the desk.Megure turned around then frowned, his eyes scanning the room. "That's strange," he mumbled to himself after a moment. "I could've sworn I just heard…" Trailing off, he shook his head and strode out the door to shout to the rest of the station. "If any of you see Takagi, tell him I've gone ahead and he'd better have a damned good explanation for being so late!"Takagi stared after the man with his mouth slightly agape. What was going on? The inspector had walked right past him! As though he wasn't even there!Confused, he stood in the empty office for several minutes before making his way outside. No one he walked by looked at him or spoke to him. When he said things people glanced around like they thought they'd heard something but they inevitably turned away, dismissing it as nothing more than a whisper form their imagination. He was starting to feel distinctly…well, freaked out. In the end he took refuge in the bathroom where he splashed cold water over his face in an attempt to calm his nerves.It was working until he looked up and found himself facing the mirror over the sink.The mirror showed only the bathroom behind him.He had no reflection.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Shinichi
woke to the annoyingly insistent sound of his cell phone ringing. Every
muscle in his body ached and even lying down it felt like everything
was rocking. And it was cold—freezing even despite the blankets all
around him. Groaning, he buried his face in the pillow and tried to tune
out the irritating ringing.Eventually the phone stopped and he let out a breath of relief only to groan again as the rings started up once more.Turning
over, Shinichi made a grab for his nightstand where he usually put his
phone before bed. His fingers brushed only empty air. And why did the
ring sound like it was so far away?The ringing stopped abruptly as a voice—his own voice—rattled off a greeting.Blue
eyes flew open as Shinichi shot bolt upright. His head objected to the
sudden movement though so he lay back down and looked around. This was
not his room. And that person standing over there by the door with his
phone, chatting to what was apparently Hattori in Shinichi's voice, was
most definitely not anyone who frequented his house.The stranger
was in his late teens and from what Shinichi could see from where he lay
probably a little taller than the detective himself. He was wearing a
baseball hat despite being indoors and his clothes were a fairly
nondescript T-shirt and jeans. The voice impersonation however gave
Shinichi a fairly good idea of who it probably was."I'm sorry for
leaving without saying anything," KID was telling Hattori for the tenth
time that morning accompanied by a longsuffering sigh that Shinichi
would probably have emitted if it had really been him on the phone.
Which, as far as Hattori was concerned, it was. "I need to get going.
You can yell all you want next time I see you or something." He hung up
and turned to Shinichi with an all too familiar grin stretched beneath
the equally familiar monocle. "Man Tantei-han's got lungs like old man
Nakamori.""Where am I?" Shinichi demanded, frowning at the smiling thief. "And what are you doing here?"KID put on a thinking face. "Let's see. You're in one of my little hideaways, and obviously I'm here because it's mine.""How did I get here?""I
brought you," came the casual reply, unperturbed by the sheer
ridiculousness of the situation painting itself in Shinichi's head. "I
would have thought that would be obvious."Shinichi felt his frown
deepen. There was just something not right about all this. He, a
detective, was lying in a room in one of KID, a thief's, hideouts. And
the thief in question was chatting like there was nothing at all weird
about that. Then again, this was KID. Nothing about him was ever normal."But
why am I here?" he asked finally. His slightly muddled mind was having a
hard time remembering exactly what had happened the other night."Well,
I was kind of hoping you could help me fill in the blanks about that,"
the thief replied cheerfully as he pulled up a chair and sat down beside
the bed. "You see, there I was, with all my plans unfolding beautifully
and the show just getting to the best part when everything goes up in
smoke—literally—and I have to go fish you out of what was beginning to
look like the aurora come down for a visit. What happened in there?"Shinichi
turned his gaze up to the blank ceiling as he thought back on the fuzzy
memories of last night. "Someone was in there," he said finally. "I'm
not sure what they were after, but when they saw me they ran—put
something inside one of the chemical exhibits in the lab they hadn't
opened yet. That's what set off the smoke and lights.""I see. Must have been some interesting stuff to get that kind of effect. So how're you feeling?""Fine," Shinichi replied automatically. "Uh, thank you—for getting me out of there.""No problem. I couldn't well let my favorite critic suffocate on my watch."Shinichi snorted softly before letting his breath out in a silent sigh. "I guess I'd better get going."He made to sit up again but a hand on his chest stopped him."Sick people should stay in bed," KID admonished when Shinichi shot him a confused look."I'm not sick," he protested just as the entire room spun before his eyes again and he had to squeeze them shut."Riiight. I can see you are in perfect health.""Your
bedside manner is terrible," Shinichi grumbled, cracking open one eye
just enough to glare at the grinning magician. Honestly, of all the
people who could have pulled him out of that museum, why did it have to be KID?"And
you're hardly a straight A patient so we're even," the magician
countered with obvious amusement before standing up and stretching.
"I've got a few things to tend to. I'll be right back," he announced as
he paused by the door. "Don't try to leave," he added as an afterthought
before breezing out the door. Shinichi thought a bit wryly that coming
out of anyone else that warning would probably have come attached to
some kind of 'or else'. Still, he had the feeling it was better just to
do as he'd been told for now and stay put. At least until the walls
stopped wiggling every time he tried to sit up."Oh, and one more
thing!" KID popped his head back in suddenly, making Shinichi jump. "I'm
not much of a cook, but this restaurant I know does a pretty good
chicken noodle soup. And they deliver. Should be here in about ten
minutes tops.""I'm not hungry.""Sick people shouldn't skip
meals~," the thief shot back, wagging a finger at him as though
scolding a child. "Actually, no one should skip meals. And it looks to
me like you've skipped a few too many as it is. Anyhow, see you in
ten~." And the door shut again with a click.Shinichi stared at
the closed door for a few minutes before letting his eyes slide shut. He
wondered idly why KID hadn't just sent him home or something. It
certainly would have been a lot less work on the thief's part. Then
again, the thief had always seemed like the kind of person who looked
out for others, strange as it was. In which case he supposed it wasn't
all that strange for him to decide to keep an eye on someone who had a
fever. It seemed a bit risky to bring said person to one of his own
hideouts, but knowing KID he'd probably already planned out sixteen
different ways to remove his guest and send him home without giving him
any hints as to where this apartment was. Despite the casual mannerisms
the thief had been exhibiting since Shinichi had woken up, the detective
hadn't failed to notice how KID always stood or sat in a manner which
kept most of his face shadowed by the brim of his hat or hidden by the
glare of lamplight off his monocle lens.Well, he had more
pressing problems to contemplate than the incomprehensible ways in which
KID's mind worked. He was going to have to come up with a story to
explain his extended absence, he mused. Or maybe he wouldn't. He'd only
been back officially for a few weeks, so most people probably wouldn't
think much of his being gone for a few days now. The people who might
think something was off could be counted on the fingers of one hand, and
of those few one lived in Osaka and wouldn't care he'd been away from
home unless he (or KID) stopped answering his phone. He could tell Agasa
and Haibara he'd been caught up in a case. It wouldn't entirely be a
lie either. Well, that settled that.Problem solved, he decided to
try and get some more sleep and hopefully he'd be steady enough on his
feet by the time he woke up to leave.
X
Kaito
whistled to himself as he shut the door to the detective's room behind
him. It seemed rather cold in the apartment, he noted. He made a mental
note to check the heating after he'd made another run of the news
channels to see if anything had been found at the museum yet. So far all
that had been reported about the incident was the basics that anyone
who'd been at the heist would know.Dropping onto the couch, he
flipped on the apartment's small TV and started surfing through the
channels. Most of them were still playing reruns of what had been
recorded at his heist as various reporters speculated about what might
have happened. Half of them seemed to think the magician himself was
behind it, and about half of those were of the opinion that it was a
failed trick. He was kind of offended by this. How could they possibly
think something he'd set up had failed? He always fool-proofed and
double checked his plans before displaying them to the public! No way
would any magic of his backfire to the point of ruining his heist!The
other half of the reporters seemed to be supporting the theory that the
museum had mishandled something in the closed exhibition lab. No one
had suggested yet that it might have been caused by an intruder, but the
fact that the police were still investigating it alongside of the
museum's own staff implied that they smelled a rat."All this time
and still nothing useful," he sighed, turning off the TV and going to
check the heating system. It wasn't just chilly in the apartment now.
For a moment he'd seen his breath fogging in front of his face. That had
only lasted a few seconds and he wasn't entirely sure it hadn't been
his imagination, but it was still cold. Which was odd for this time of
year…He'd only just reached the control panel for the heater when
the temperature in the apartment began to rise again. As his hands
touched the panel it felt normal again and the thermometer backed up the
feeling. He looked it over anyway but found nothing wrong—and he was a
good mechanic so he would know too."Huh, that's strange."The
doorbell rang, announcing the arrival of the food he'd ordered (soup
for Shinichi and a sandwich for himself). Kaito turned and walked smack
into what felt like a wall. Letting out a grunt of surprise, he stepped
back and rubbed his nose. What the… Looking up, he stared at the open
entryway between the kitchen and the living room. It was clearly empty
and when he reached out to wave his hand around in the opening his
fingers encountered nothing but air. But his nose certainly wasn't
throbbing because he'd walked into thin air.There was definitely something odd going on here.Giving the air another experimental swipe, he shrugged and made for the door. There would be time to figure this out later.
X
Takagi
sat on the far edge of one of the lower steps in front of the police
station, watching the occasional officer coming in and out as the people
of the city streamed by on the sidewalk. He'd been there for two hours
and no one had so much as glanced his way. He'd tried calling out to
people—shouting even, something he practically never did—but though
sometimes it seemed people might have heard him they all turned away
moments later like nothing had happened at all. Apparently not only
could they not see him, they couldn't hear him either. Or if they could
they forgot mere seconds afterward. He'd even gone so far as to shake a
few officers' by the arms but he didn't seem to have much weight and
while they must have felt something they'd brushed it off as either
their imagination or a bug going by. They just couldn't register his
presence.It was…well, he'd never been the most outspoken or showy
of people, but even he'd never felt so totally ignored. What was he
supposed to do now? He couldn't well be a policeman if no one could see
or hear him. Heck, how could he be anything like this? He'd basically become a ghost!He
groaned and buried his face in his hands. It was extremely disturbing
how he could see right through where his own hands should be, but he was
trying not to think about that."—haven't been able to reach him all day."He
looked up at the familiar voice to see Satou Miwako and Chiba-keiji
walking up the station steps. Satou was frowning in obvious annoyance
but there was also a touch of worry in her voice."Have you tried his apartment?" the other officer asked."Yeah, but he wasn't there. Or if he was he didn't answer either his phone or the door.""So
he doesn't show up this morning, isn't answering any of his calls, and
isn't at home… But where else could he have gone? It's not like Takagi
to slack off.""I'm right here!" the man in question called out,
standing up and following his fellow officers into the station, but like
with every other time he'd tried to talk to someone they paused,
glanced back through him, then went on like nothing had happened.They
continued to discuss his disappearance as he trailed forlornly after
them. Eventually they parted ways and Satou took a handful of case
folders out of her desk. Takagi sighed as he sat down in an empty chair
nearby to watch her finish writing the necessary reports, his thoughts
chasing themselves around and around in his head like a dog chasing its
tail.
X
"Soup's here~!" KID
announced as he barged into the bedroom with a tray in hand. In a matter
of seconds Shinichi found himself propped up against a pile of pillows
with the tray across his knees. He stared at the grinning thief then
down at the soup and back again, wondering if the magician planned on
watching him eat. And he'd been on the verge of actually slipping into
sleep too. It wasn't as though he felt like eating anything…KID seemed to sense something of his thoughts as he plopped himself down in the chair by the bed again."You
can eat on your own, or hand me the spoon. Your choice. I promise you
it isn't poisoned," the thief said, amusement clear in his voice.Shinichi
flinched at the mention of poison but picked up the spoon he'd been
provided without another word. No way was he going to let himself be
spoon fed, especially not by KID. He'd never live it down. But he still wished the thief would find something else to do and not watch.
X
She felt like she was floating. Everything felt so light…so…free… Where was she?It
felt…like her bed. Yeah, that was it. It was soft and comfortable and
warm and oh so wonderfully familiar. A faint smile tugged at the corners
of her lips as she breathed in deeply. The air felt a bit stale but it
definitely smelled like home.Dark eyes blinked open to look
dreamily at the light streaming in through her bedroom window. It was
pale and soft like everything else felt right now. She lay still and
just watched it as it crept over the furniture as the sun crept across
the sky. Beautiful…She wasn't sure how long she'd been watching
the sunlight when the door to her room creaked open. Glancing towards
the sound, she found her mother and Heiji standing in the doorway,
looking at her."Kazuha! You're awake!" Heiji exclaimed, relief
washing across his face like the sunlight had over the wooden
floorboards. "Are you feeling better?"Better? Had she been feeling bad? She couldn't seem to recall… She smiled."I don't think I've ever felt better. I'm a bit hungry though.""Well
that's not surprising," her mother laughed, looking just as relieved as
Heiji. "You've been asleep since you two got back last night. It's
already two in the afternoon. You've missed breakfast and lunch.""Oh, really?" Kazuha blinked in surprise. "I…guess I was a lot more tired than I thought.""I'll go make you something to eat then," her mother announced, turning back into the hall outside. "I'll be right back."As
soon as she was gone, Heiji moved farther into the room and sat down in
the chair by the desk. He was looking worried again. "Are you sure you're feeling all right?"She
swung her legs over the edge of her bed and sat up. She noticed for the
first time that she was wearing the clothes she'd worn yesterday rather
than her pajamas. "I'm fine," she assured him. "Honestly."He
sighed, leaning back in the desk chair and folding his arms across his
chest. "I guess if you're sure… You do look a lot better."She frowned at that. "What do you mean?""It was just—after the heist and all last night you looked real sick and you passed out on the train.""I did?" Kazuha asked in surprise. "I don't remember that.""You did," he confirmed, scowl etching itself into his face. "I had to carry you all the way home.""Oh. I—I'm sorry," she stammered, fighting back the heat she could feel rising in her face.He shook his head then broke out into a grin. "Nah, don't apologize. I'm just glad you're feeling better."
X
Shinichi
was starting to wonder if he should be more concerned about whatever it
was he'd inhaled in that smoke than he had been up to this point. Aside
from the dizziness, his body couldn't seem to make up its mind if it
was hot or cold. One moment he'd be sweating, the next he'd be shivering
and gritting his teeth to keep them from chattering. And the cycle
would repeat a handful of minutes later. But maybe it was all in his
head because when KID took his temperature he still had a fever. He was
fairly sure people felt cold when they had fevers. He knew he usually
did when he'd been sick in the past.Still, he'd swallowed the
cold medicine and pulled the blankets closer around himself, ignoring
the moments when the rest of him wanted to throw off the covers and grab
a cup of ice water.KID was once again seated by the bed.
Shinichi kind of wished he wouldn't—being watched these days always set
his nerves on edge."You look tense," KID remarked. "Wanna play a
game?" He opened one hand to reveal a deck of cards. Shinichi eyed the
cards then shook his head."No thanks. I would rather go home.""You do realize you're still sick, right?""It's kind of hard not to," Shinichi said dryly. "That doesn't mean I can't go home."KID
snorted, the corners of his mouth quirking up into a wry smile.
"Indeed. However I must insist you stay at least until the temperature
goes away.""It's not even all that high," Shinichi argued,
deciding to ignore for the moment the way he was starting to sound like
he was whining.KID just laughed. He was definitely enjoying this
way too much, Shinichi thought sourly. What did he find so funny anyway?
It was like the guy was always laughing at something. It must be nice
to be so easily entertained."Don't you have anything better to do with your time?" he grumbled, scowling at the ceiling."Not really. What could be better than spending time with my favorite little detective?"Shinichi's scowl deepened at the word 'little'. "Everything, I'd imagine.""Aww, you don't really think that do you?""Aren't you supposed to let sick people rest?" Shinichi asked dryly."Hey, I just figured you'd be bored after doing nothing but lie in bed all day.""Well I'm not, so you can go any time you want.""Were you always this gloomy?" the thief asked teasingly. "Or is it the teenage blues setting in again?""Can
you stop bringing that up?" he snapped, losing his patience. He glared
at the magician who raised both his hands in a placating gesture."Whoa, touchy aren't we?""Has it maybe crossed your mind that I might not want
to have certain things shoved repeatedly at me? Making jokes out of
other people's misfortune is a tasteless way to amuse yourself.""Okay, fine, you could've just said so. Jeez, no need to bite my head off."Shinichi
sighed. He really hadn't meant to raise his voice. He knew the thief
didn't mean anything by his teasing. It was just the way he was. "I'm
sorry. I…didn't mean to snap." Feeling more than a bit guilty now, he
turned over on his side to face the wall and closed his eyes. He didn't
feel like talking and that perpetual grin on the thief's face was
starting to creep him out. But he knew KID was trying to be helpful
(though heaven only knew why), and he felt bad for losing his temper. It
was just that KID reminded him of all the things he didn't feel like
thinking about. The teasing had just made it worse. He let his breath
out in a long, quiet sigh."I…guess it's just…I miss it sometimes…"KID tilted his head questioningly to one side. "Miss what?""Being Conan," Shinichi answered after a long moment of silence. It felt weird to admit it, but also like a release."Can I ask you why?""It
was…easier, I guess." And it had been…kind of fun sometimes, even if he
hadn't thought about it until afterward. The persona may not have been
real, but the life Conan had lived was real enough. The people he'd met,
the friends he'd made… Why had he been so eager to leave it all behind?
Sometimes it was hard to remember.But why had he told KID that? He barely even let himself
think that before. And now he'd gone and told a total stranger who also
happened to be a thief with a penchant for making fun of people. That
was just stupid. Still, it had felt like a lifted weight. Maybe it was
about time he'd said it—to himself if not anyone else…Kaito
watched the detective drift off into sleep with a thoughtful gleam in
his indigo eyes as he played the last several minutes through his head
over and over again. Something about that conversation disturbed him. It
was more a feeling than anything else, but he'd learned over the years
to trust his instincts. It was in the weary undertone to the detective's
voice and something else he couldn't quite place his finger on. He
couldn't remember ever hearing that tone in Tantei-kun's words before.
The little detective had always seemed far too full of determined
purpose for anything else.Perhaps that was it. He couldn't see the same sense of purpose in the detective anymore. And it bothered him.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Kaito
glanced from the thermometer in his hand to the waiting detective and
back again. Frankly Shinichi still looked ill to him, but according to
the thermometer he no longer had a fever. However, that wasn't all the
thermometer was saying."What?" Shinichi asked, watching in
confusion as KID stared at the thermometer some more. Surely it couldn't
take that long to read a few simple numbers.The magician looked
back at him with his own puzzled expression. "According to this, your
temperature is currently five degrees lower than that of an average
human being.""It could be broken," the detective pointed out."No, I checked. There's nothing wrong with it, and it worked just fine when I tried it on myself a few minutes ago.""Well, obviously then I don't have a fever anymore," Shinichi reasoned. "So according to you I can go home now.""Well,
technically, but this isn't a normal temperature either." KID held out
the thermometer so that he could see for himself that the numbers were
off."I have school tomorrow," the detective pointed out patiently. "As I believe you should too."KID ignored the comment on his age, dismissing it with a wave. "I suppose you can't afford to miss any more of that huh."Shinichi sank a little lower into the blankets at the casual reminder of the not so casual truth. "No, I can't."The thief heaved an overdramatic sigh. "Well, I suppose that means we must part ways for the time being."Later
Shinichi thought he really should have expected the blast of sleeping
gas to the face. It was, after all, one of KID's trademark tools, but it
still caught him by surprise at the time. The next time he opened his
eyes he was lying in his own bed at home.
X
Kaito
had left Shinichi's house a great deal more reluctantly than he felt he
should have. It was something about that big, echoing shell of a house,
he decided. It just looked lonely standing there with no lights in the
windows and no one to turn them on for anyway. How Shinichi could stand
to live in it all by himself all the time he had no idea. Then again,
Shinichi was probably used to it by now. If he remembered correctly the
Kudo parents had been living in America for a while.Why hadn't
his parents come back when their son had been turned back into an
elementary school student? It seemed a rather odd thing to do for any
parent, even ones as eccentric as he'd heard the Kudos were. Or maybe
they had and he just didn't know, but obviously they hadn't stayed. Of
course, Shinichi probably wouldn't have wanted his parents in Japan. It
would have made connecting Conan to Shinichi a lot easier, and the
detective would surely have wanted his parents not to get involved. But
if Shinichi was back, then whatever he'd been dealing with was probably
over, so why hadn't they come to visit? Wouldn't they want to check up
on their son and see how he was doing?Well, it was always possible they were thinking about it and just hadn't come yet.Turning
away from the hulking shadow that was the Kudo Manor, Kaito started for
his own home. It was strange, he reflected, the similarities and
differences between the paths they'd walked. It had always been a source
of private amusement for him. Here they were, a thief and a detective,
both masters of what they did, both with an alternate identity they had
to hide, both with more secrets than any person should have to have,
both of them were seeking justice even if it was in different ways, both
of them had worked with the shades of gray between right and
wrong—heck, they even looked similar. And yet while he would give just
about anything to have his father back, Shinichi had both his parents
but practically never saw them. Kaito had to do all his real work from
the shadows, but Shinichi had the option of working in the open. Where
one of them sought vengeance (loathe as he was to admit it), the other
simply sought truth. Shinichi seemed to have an unusual amount of
misfortune in everything but surviving while Kaito had always been one
of Lady Luck's favorites (discounting having lost his father). The list
went on.Funny how the world worked sometimes.He had to
remember to give his mom a big hug when he got home. There was nothing
like a look into other people's problems to remind yourself it was
important to stop now and then and appreciate what you had.
X
Toyama
Kazuha sat by her open window as the pale, early morning light streamed
in along with the gentle breath of the wind. She couldn't seem to get
enough of the feeling of the breeze against the skin of her face and
streaming through her hair. Had it always felt this good? Or was today
special somehow? It smelled so sweet as it curled around her.On
an impulse she raised a hand towards the sky, twirling her fingers as
though tracing a circle. The gentle breeze twirled around her hand,
tickling lightly against her palm, and she laughed.It was just so—so wonderful."Kazuha!" her mother's voice came drifting from another part of the house. "It's time for breakfast!""I'm
coming!" she called back. Standing up, she gripped the edges of the
windows. Leaning over the windowsill, she breathed in deep, filling her
lungs with the wonderful scent of all the crisp, morning air, before
pulling back and shutting the window. It felt suddenly a lot darker in
the room. Too still. Like something that had been alive had suddenly
disappeared.Frowning slightly, she shook away the unsettling sensation and headed for the kitchen.
X
Shinichi
had only just sat down in one of the armchairs in his library with a
cup of coffee for some early morning reading when his phone went off.
Groaning, he debated for a moment and ended up relinquishing the book in
order to answer it."Kudo!" Hattori's frantic voice blasted over
the phone, forcing Shinichi to jerk the little machine away from his ear
lest he go deaf. "I—I don't know what happened!"Shinichi blinked. "What are you talking about?""It just—it was like—and then it just all went up in flames!"Hattori
obviously wasn't listening. Frowning, Shinichi counted silently to ten,
waiting for the Osakan on the other end of the line to calm down.
Hattori continued to babble for a good few more minutes but all Shinichi
got out of it was the many repetitions of the word 'fire' and all its
synonyms. Had the Osakan run into some kind of arson case? But that
wouldn't explain the panic or why he was calling Shinichi all the way in
Beika to rant about it.When Hattori paused to regain his breath,
Shinichi cut in. "Could you say that again from the beginning but with
spaces in between so I can actually understand what you're saying?"He could hear a deep breath being taken on the other end of the line. "There was a fire.""I gathered that much.""Yeah, but it—it didn't…start from anywhere."Shinichi frowned slightly, not understanding the strange statement. "What do you mean?""It just—started."Shinichi paused. Was Hattori sick or something? "…Fires do that…?""No! I mean—no one started it or anything it just—kind of happened.""I assume from your apparent confusion that that means you couldn't find any clues as to how it started.""Well,
yeah, but…" There was a frustrated sigh on the other end of the call
and Shinichi could practically hear him trying to recollect his
thoughts. "Okay, see, there was a homicide case at this noodle shack
that just opened. I thought I'd give the place a try and get breakfast
on my way to pick up Kazuha for school."Shinichi nodded before he remembered that Hattori couldn't see him. "Go on.""And
so I found the guy who'd done it—pretty careless guy really—but the
police weren't there yet and he seems like he's given up and all but
then he makes a break out the back window. I went after him and we wound
up going through one of the local parks. So we're there and I've almost
caught up with him when he looks back and sees me running after him.
The dirt bag must've panicked so he makes a dive and grabs one of the
kids."Shinichi's eyes narrowed slightly—he'd always hated that
kind of criminal the most, the ones who felt no compunction over
sacrificing others, especially those who had nothing to do with
anything—but he kept quiet."So, well, I was pretty mad at the guy by that point. I—called the guy a few names and…"Hattori stopped abruptly and Shinichi waited for a full minute before clearing his throat. "So what was it about fire?""That's
the thing. I was yelling at the guy, trying to think of a way to get at
him without hurting the kid, but then he—he's screaming because his
clothes are on fire. He let go of the kid who ran and starts rolling on
the ground. By the time he put all the flames out, the police were there.
They cuffed him and took him off.""And you're worried because you don't know how the fire started.""Yeah,
that's it," Hattori agreed, sounding relieved that he'd finally gotten
his point across. Shinichi wasn't entirely sure he believed him though.
It felt like the other detective was keeping something out of the story.
Hattori was talking again before he could press the issue though. "I
searched the ground all around the area and there was nothing but grass
and the ground was hard. Nothing had been placed on it or buried under
it. The police also checked the culprit but he wasn't carrying anything
that could've started a fire. When they questioned him, he was just as
confused as the rest of us—scared too. And it was definitely real. No
acting, I'm sure.""Could it have been someone else in the park?"
Shinichi suggested. "Maybe someone else in the park approached the guy
from behind while he was focused on you.""I thought about
that…but we asked around and no one said they saw anyone even remotely
near us. It's possible they just didn't see, but…""What are you
not telling me Hattori?" Shinichi asked, starting to grow impatient with
the continuous stalling and beating around the bush. The Osakan was
usually very direct. What had gotten into him today?There was a
long moment of silence on the Osakan end of the line until finally
Hattori's voice came through sounding nervous and slightly scared. "I—I
thought I saw…""Yes?""It came out of my hand Kudo!"
Hattori burst out finally, the words tumbling over each other in their
rush to be said. "I was waving my hand at the guy while I talked to him
and I swear I saw fire come right out of the air and set his coat on
fire!"Shinichi paused for a moment. Hattori wouldn't have said
something so ridiculous if he didn't have a reason to, but still… "Are
you sure?""Of course I'm sure! I wouldn't make something like this up Kudo! The fire just came right outta the air!""Okay—okay, I believe you. But there has to be an explanation.""If you've got any ideas, I'm listening."Shinichi
bit his lower lip as he turned the information he'd just been given
over in his head. Not having seen what Hattori had, he found it hard to
frame the images in his mind. They just sounded way too much like
something out of a movie with all of a movie's special effects. But
Hattori at least was convinced that it had been real. Glancing idly
around his library as he thought, his eyes landed on the clock."Uh,
can we talk about this later? I have to leave now or I'm going to be
late for school." He didn't have to add that he couldn't miss any more
school.Hattori let out a long sigh but agreed. "Fine. I'll call
you later. I've gotta get going too anyway. Need to give the police my
report and call Kazuha about missing school today."
X
Teitan
High welcomed its students that morning as it had every other school
day of every other year since it had been founded. Its students didn't
really appreciate this, or think one way or the other about it in fact,
but they went to their homerooms as they had on all those other days to
begin another normal day of classes. Or so they thought.Shinichi
had settled down at his desk and opened a novel he'd brought to read
before class began. All around him he could hear his classmates chatting
away about all the usual things: grades, TV shows, music, friends,
enemies, etc. Somewhere behind him, he heard Sonoko's piercing tones
ring out above the rest."Our physical examinations are today, right?""Yeah," Ran's voice agreed. "I'm pretty sure the teacher said it was this afternoon.""Oh
it's always so annoying," the other girl complained with an irritable
sigh. "Why do they need to do these anyway? It's not like knowing how
much we weigh and all that other stuff does them any good or anything.""They just want to make sure everyone's healthy," the brunette replied with a laugh."The only good thing about it is it gets us out of class a bit."Shinichi didn't see the bright side of that
all considered. Classes might be mostly pretty dull, but too much more
of getting out of them and they might not let him graduate. And even
dull classes were more interesting than getting weighed and measured.It was almost surreal how school always went on as usual no matter what strange things had happened.Back
in her seat, Sonoko shifted restlessly in her chair. Honestly, she'd
been feeling antsy all day and she had no idea why. She never cared much
about school one way or another but today everything just seemed
particularly irksome. She'd thought at first that it was just her usual
disappointment at not having been able to meet KID-sama again despite
her efforts to make herself stand out and get up front during the heist
where she'd be easy to spot. Now though she was starting to think it was
just one of those days where nothing felt right.Her breath left
her in an annoyed hiss as she brushed her hair behind her ears and
fidgeted. She rubbed her fingers together than tugged at her uniform to
straighten it out despite it already being in perfect order.Restless
as she was, she was actually kind of glad when it was her turn to go in
for the physical examination despite the way she'd complained about it
to Ran.Everything was routine and she went through the motions as dictated by the woman with the clipboard."All right, now just take off your shoes and step on the scale."Biting
back a sigh, she slipped out of her indoor shoes and stepped onto the
slightly chilly scale. Man this was so dull. She always kept an eye on
her weight after all. She knew she was in the right weight bracket for
her height.Beside her, the physician's pen stop scribbling as the woman stared, mouth slightly agape.Confused, Sonoko looked down at the numbers on the scale—and fainted dead away.
X
She
let out a groan as she opened her eyes. What the…where was she? She
didn't recognize this room, and this was definitely not her bed. It was
way too uncomfortable and nowhere near as big as it should be."Sonoko!" someone exclaimed and she turned to find Ran leaning over her, looking somewhere between worried and relieved.She blinked. "Ran? What's going on? Where is this?""You're
in the school infirmary," Ran replied, lifting a hand to check the
other girl's temperature. "You fainted during your examination. What
happened in there?""I…fainted?"Ran nodded.Putting a
finger to her lip, Sonoko thought back to what she could remember.
She'd gone through the exam, everything going like it always did at
those, and then—and then—"It was that scale!" she exclaimed, paling abruptly. "It—it said I weighed like four hundred and ninety two kilograms!""That's
impossible. It must have been a mistake," Ran replied. "Besides, I
helped them carry you here and I'm pretty sure you didn't weigh that
much. And you don't look any different. It wouldn't make sense for you
to suddenly weigh so much more even if it was possible to weigh that
much—which it isn't.""I know! But it was just—really horrible you know? Like a really bad nightmare."Ran
laughed at that, glad to see the color returning to her friend's face.
"Come on, if you're feeling better, they have to retake your weight."Sonoko grimaced. "Oh joy. I don't suppose you'd come with me this time?""Sure."
X
Shinichi
waited impatiently as the physician frowned at him. He should have been
out of here five minutes ago but the guy just kept frowning and
mumbling to himself and retaking his temperature. Finally he couldn't
stand it anymore."Is something wrong?"The man blinked as
though just remembering that Shinichi was in fact a person who could
speak. "Ah, no, everything's fine—or almost. You see, your temperature
seems a little bit low."Again? "What does that mean though?""I
don't know," the physician admitted. "I've never seen a case like this
before. You appear to be in good health, though I would recommend you
eat more. You said you were ill this weekend?""I had a fever, but I'm feeling fine now.""I
see… Well, I suppose there's no reason to keep you any longer. I'm
sorry for taking up so much of your time. Just remember to tell someone
if you start feeling ill again."Shinichi nodded and bid the man
farewell before heading back to class with a sigh of relief. He'd been
on the verge of falling asleep in there! He took a detour to the
bathroom to splash some cold water on his face in order to help himself
clear his mind. He was just moving to head back out when his foot
slipped on the tiled floor and shot out from under him.He let out
a cry of surprise as he reached out and grabbed the edge of a sink,
saving himself a painful crack to the head. Regaining his footing, he
glanced down. The tiles hadn't been wet when he'd come in, so why had
they suddenly become so slippery?His answer came in the form of a
thin sheet of ice that had covered the entire bathroom floor. He stared
at it. Even as he watched it finished melting and then just dried up
like it had never been there. Was he seeing things?But he had definitely slipped. His heart rate was still racing from the shock.So
if it hadn't been his imagination, then where had that ice come from?
And where had it gone? Even if it had melted the floor should still be
wet. Unless it had just looked like ice. But if it looked like ice,
melted like ice, and was slippery and cold like ice, then what else
could it be? And how had it gotten there without him noticing when he
was the only person in the bathroom?
X
Kaito
had only just finished feeding his doves breakfast when his mother
called up the stairs that Aoko had arrived and it was time for them to
go to school."Remember, it's up to you lot to hold down the fort
while I'm away," he announced to the flock who cooed a farewell that
followed him out of their room and down the stairs. Face splitting into
its customary grin, he grabbed his backpack and bounded out the front
door with a cheery goodbye to his mother. Nakamori Aoko stood waiting
for him on the sidewalk outside his house."Where were you all weekend?" she demanded the moment she saw him. "I know you weren't at home. Your mom said you said you were staying at a friend's.""That's right," he agreed before raising an eyebrow. "You sound like you don't believe me.""It's
not that I don't believe you," she replied, flushing faintly with
embarrassment (probably because she hadn't). "It's just…you usually tell
me when you're going to be away. I thought maybe you'd gotten in
trouble.""Me? In trouble? Whatever gave you that idea?"She shot him a glare then turned on her heels and started walking. "Hurry up or we're going to be late."Laughing,
he caught up to her, speeding up then turning around so that he was
walking in front of her, going backwards himself so that he could see
her face. "Were you worried about me?"She stared back flatly for a
second then sighed. "Yes, I was. Some weird things happened at that
last KID heist and I remember you saying you might go watch this time…
Apparently some people who were there ended up really sick.""Oh, I
saw that on the news," he replied, dropping the grin in favor of a more
serious expression befitting the topic. "Sounded pretty strange. But
no, I didn't end up going. I ran into an old friend of mine and ended up
spending the weekend over instead. Sorry you were worried. You went
though, right? So are you feeling all right?"She paused a moment
before nodding, finally breaking out into a smile. "I'm fine. I did a
lot of coughing when the smoke started going everywhere but that stopped
once Saguru and I got out of it.""So you did go with him.
You know Aoko, it could be an omen," he said solemnly, moving to walk
beside her and dropping his voice into a conspiratorial whisper. "It
could be Fate telling you that dating certain detectives can only lead
to disaster."She flushed and shoved her elbow hard into his side.
"Kaito! That's not fair and you know it! If anything it was probably
that damned thief's fault!""Ah, so it was a date then.""I—I didn't say that," she stammered, her face turning even redder."But you didn't deny it~.""Don't
you have anything better to do with your time?" she demanded instead of
answering, her hands tightening on the strap of her book bag in a
manner that suggested she was thinking about taking a swing at him.He blinked then chuckled. "You know, someone else asked me the exact same thing a few days ago.""That simply goes to prove that you need to find new ways to occupy yourself," a dry voice remarked from behind them."Saguru!" Aoko turned and greeted the blonde with a smile while Kaito just rolled his eyes."Aoko," the blonde returned with a faint smile of his own. "I trust you are well this morning?"The
two fell into idle conversation as Kaito made gagging motions behind
them. Really, they were getting more and more unbearable by the day. And
he'd thought Hakuba couldn't get any more annoying than he'd already
been. Boy had he been wrong. But what he really couldn't understand was
when Aoko had lost her good senses.She actually admired
the blonde for his dedication to the same work her father did and the
two of them had started spending unwholesome amounts of time together
discussing all of Kaitou KID's shortcomings (which, in Kaito's opinion,
were all misguided). Still, despite the fact that she hadn't bought into
Hakuba's theory that Kaito was KID and continued to defend him when the
blonde started pointing fingers, the fact that she was obviously
beginning to really like the blonde irked Kaito. His oldest
friend was consorting with the world's most annoying detective and all
because they both thought his alternate identity belonged behind bars.
Anyone in his position would be irritated. Honestly, some people had no
taste.What did she see in that prat anyway? He just didn't get
it. Sure he was an okay detective—of the stuck in his ways, nose in the
air variety—but he had no imagination and was boring as hell. Not to
mention weirdly obsessed with a fictional character to the point of
cosplay in daily life (seriously, admiration was all well and good, and
dressing up for special occasions was understandable, but there was such a thing as going too far).He
couldn't help but feel like Aoko was making a horrible mistake every
time he saw them together acting so friendly. It didn't help that she'd
reached the point where she got annoyed when he said anything
uncomplimentary about the blonde or used the detective in one of his
pranks.Okay, so he knew he might be being slightly unreasonable (very slightly), but this was his
friend they were talking about here. He was just looking out for her
like a good friend should. Pity she didn't seem to appreciate it.
X
The
teacher had yet to arrive when Kaito, Aoko, and Hakuba reached their
classroom. This, however, was fairly normal for their class. Most of
Kaito's teachers had a tendency to show up to class only at the last
possible moment. It meant less time at the Ekoda prankster's mercy.Of course, that didn't help the magician's classmates much.Three
changes of outfits (the class now sported two student-sized stuffed
squirrels and one student-sized stuffed frog—or maybe that should be two
student-stuffed squirrels and one student-stuffed frog), seven changes
in hair color, and a flock of singing, flying paperclips later Kaito was
feeling nicely warmed up for the day ahead and everyone else was
wishing the teacher would hurry up and arrive already. The presence of a
teacher didn't deter their resident magician much, but he did tend to
tone things down a bit when class was actually in session—or just focus
more attention on the teachers themselves (which half the class secretly
enjoyed, not that they ever let the teachers know that)."So were you able to find out what caused the weird smoke and exploding lights at the museum yet?"Kaito's ears perked up at the sound of Aoko's inquiry. Now there was a topic he wouldn't mind eavesdropping on."Unfortunately
we have yet to find anything definite. However I feel the chances are
still highest that it was the result of one of KID's tricks. Though what
he meant it to be or hoped to achieve with it I have no idea."Kaito
snorted silently, nothing useful there. Then again he probably should
have expected as much. He glanced towards the blonde and Aoko just as
they were coming down the aisle towards their desks. No one knew exactly
what happened next. All they did know was what they saw.It was
like watching some kind of comedy routine. One moment Hakuba was walking
forward, the next he reeled back like he'd run into something solid and
landed hard on his butt where he sat with his mouth slightly open and
his eyes wide in obvious confusion. If he hadn't been the actor he was,
Kaito would have keeled over laughing right there. Man he wished he'd
brought a camera with him to school today. That expression was
absolutely priceless!Aoko stood frozen for a moment in surprise before hurrying to offer him a hand up. "Are you all right? What happened?""I'm fine," Hakuba assured her, but he couldn't seem to stop staring at the air over his head. "I—think I ran into something."Aoko
blinked then followed his gaze up to the empty air then down to the
floor. There was nothing there. "What do you mean? I don't see
anything."Kaito stepped up to them and waved a hand through the
unoccupied air. "Nope, nothing here. My, my, Hakuba, I had no idea you
were such a good mime.""Was this another one of your tricks?"
Aoko demanded, straightening abruptly and planting her hands on her
hips. "Because if it was it wasn't funny! You can hurt people with
tricks like that!""Aoko!" he gasped, taking a step back and
widening his eyes in affected horror. "Of course it wasn't me. Why would
you even ask me that?"She softened slightly. "But then what happened?"He shrugged. "Dunno. Though I have to say, it was pretty funny."Her scowl returned full force. Oops. Had he said that out loud? Well, he knew one surefire way to distract her.Aoko stiffened when she felt a breeze where no breeze should be."Wow Aoko, that's a nice shade of lavender.""BAKAITO!"
she shrieked, whirling around and swinging the mop she stashed in the
classroom just for such occasions at him as her face flushed deep
crimson only to stop mid swing as every window in the classroom
shattered. Students screamed and ducked. Those nearest the splintering
glass scrambled to get away. A few of the faster thinkers ducked
underneath their desks. Aoko's cry was followed by dead silence.It
was broken by a loud thud and the head of every student in the room
swiveled to see that their teacher had finally arrived. Said teacher had
dropped her book bag upon seeing the state of her classroom and her
mouth was hanging open as her eyes practically bugged out of her head at
all the broken glass and the students covered in cuts and scratches."What in the world is going on here?"
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
The
rest of the day had gone by in a blur for Shinichi. All he could think
about was the disappearing ice. The rest of him operated on autopilot,
taking him through his remaining classes and walking him out of the
school gates once the last bell rang.He was barely ten steps out
the gate when his phone went off and he was greeted by Hattori's
disturbed tones again. It took less than five minutes for them to come
to the conclusion that neither of them had any answers yet. Hattori
grumbled a lot before hanging up, saying he had a meeting with Kazuha to
get to."She's been acting kinda weird," he added just before he
hung up. "All airy and happy like she doesn't have a care in the world. I
better get going before she decides I'm not coming and wanders off
again.""Wanders off?" Shinichi repeated in confusion. That didn't
sound like Kazuha at all. But by then Hattori had already cut the line.
Letting out an annoyed breath, Shinichi tucked his own cell in his
pocket and continued home.Walking up to his own front door, he
turned the key in the lock and opened it—to find Hattori on the other
side. He knew instantly that it couldn't be Hattori though. He'd only
just talked to Hattori on the phone after all and he knew for a fact
that the other detective was still in Osaka. But really it was giveaway
enough that the intruder was on the wrong side of the Kudo Manor door.
Shinichi knew his line of work could make him a lot of enemies, so the
locks he'd installed on his doors were anything but ordinary."What
are you doing here KID?" he asked a bit warily as he stepped inside and
pulled the door shut behind himself. He left it unlocked just in case
he had to leave in a hurry."I came to see how you were holding up
of course," the thief replied, sounding for all the world like it was
perfectly normal—indeed, should be expected—that a wanted criminal would
visit a sick detective to see how he was doing. With a snap of his
fingers and a blinding flash of light, it was no longer Hattori standing
in his hall but the Kaitou KID in full regalia. "So how're you
feeling?""Fine," Shinichi said, the answer popping out on reflex.
He eyed the thief curiously, but as usual it was impossible to read
him. "You can't have come here just to ask me that. Why else are you
here?""Do you want something to drink? I made coffee," KID offered, making a mug appear with a snap of his fingers.That gave Shinichi a moment's pause. "This is my house."KID just grinned. "Is that a yes or a no?"Shinichi
stared at him for a few moments longer then sighed and took the
proffered cup—one of his own, naturally. He wasn't sure how comfortable
he was with the idea of KID nosing around his house while he wasn't in
it—or even while he was in it for that matter—but it was too late
for that. The thief was already here and obviously not intending to go
anywhere any time soon if the second mug that had appeared in his other
hand was any indication. He briefly entertained the idea of calling the
police, but he dismissed the thought immediately. It would be fairly
pointless as KID would be long gone eons before they arrived, and, well,
the thief wouldn't be here for no reason. He might like to annoy
people, but Shinichi highly doubted he'd follow a detective home just
for that (well, maybe if he really was that bored but it didn't
seem likely). So instead he turned and headed into the living room where
he seated himself in an armchair and waited, watching his visitor
expectantly.KID had taken another armchair and was sipping
whatever was in his cup as he took his time. What he was considering
Shinichi had no idea. For all he knew the thief was just taking a moment
to enjoy his drink, but he had a feeling there was something more. When
KID finally spoke, it was with a great deal more seriousness than
Shinichi was used to hearing from him."Some peculiar things have been happening lately. I was wondering if you had noticed anything strange."Shinichi frowned, the image of a bathroom floor flashing through his mind. "Strange how exactly?"KID
said nothing for several seconds before he raised his mug and held it
out as though offering it to Shinichi. The detective looked at it
questioningly—just as the magician's fingers let go. He let out an
involuntary cry of warning but rather than falling to the floor and
breaking to spill its contents all over the floorboards the mug instead
remained sitting in mid air. Bright, blue eyes stared at the mug, then
at the magician who had lost his smile, and back again."You can examine it," KID stated, indigo gaze steady.Shinichi
set his own mug on the table and stood, walking over to circle KID's
floating one. There was nothing in the air around, above, or below it.
When he reached out to examine the base however he found—something
solid. It was a small, hard, flat disk right beneath the mug's base. It
had no real texture and was exactly the same as the temperature of the
air, but it was undeniably something. It made no sound when he tapped on
it and tugging on it resulted in no movement whatsoever. He glanced at
KID before he picked up the mug and swung his hand through the space
where it had been. His hand stopped when it encountered the invisible
obstacle but no amount of feeling around it revealed any kind of
support. It was simply a piece of solidity hovering steadily above the
ground. More than a bit perturbed, Shinichi set the mug back down on the
piece of empty air and returned to his chair.KID retrieved his
mug and demonstratively waved a hand through the same space Shinichi had
just examined. His hand however passed easily through the space without
meeting any resistance.Shinichi bit his lower lip as he stared hard at the space, trying but failing to see anything. "Did…did you do that?""They
seem to come and go sometimes," the thief replied. "I only noticed the
first one because I walked right into it. But I've found I can call them
up when I want to. Pick a shape, size, location, you name it.""But…what are they?" Shinichi wondered. "It didn't feel like anything at all. It was just—""There?
That seems to be how they all are. I'd probably call them force fields
if I had to put a name to them." KID paused, studying Shinichi's face
closely. "It seems you have seen something then, haven't you?"Shinichi
stared into his coffee for a long moment before letting out a long
breath. Slowly, carefully, he described what had happened in the Teitan
High boys' bathroom earlier that day. He couldn't help but feel a bit
foolish, and really he wouldn't be surprised if KID started laughing at
him, but he knew what he'd seen. Besides, after what he'd just witnessed, the disappearing ice didn't seem quite as weird anymore.
X
Heiji
frowned as he scanned the street outside the shrine where he was
supposed to meet Kazuha for the fifth time. There was still no sign of
the girl in question however and they were supposed to have met fifteen
minutes ago. Kazuha wasn't the kind of person who tended to arrive late
to meetings. If anything she was usually early.Tapping his foot,
he checked his watch. Sixteen minutes late. Where was she? He'd talked
to the owners of all the shops in the street but none of them had seen a
girl matching Kazuha's description going by. If she'd been there and
left again because she thought he wasn't going to show, he'd understand,
but for her not to have showed up at all… Could something have happened
to her?Making up his mind, he turned and started walking. Brisk
steps carried him along the route that Kazuha should have taken to get
from their school to their meeting spot. At every street corner he
stopped and looked along the adjacent streets in case she'd gotten side
tracked on her way. He didn't see any sign of her and he was just
starting to really worry when he looked up and spotted his high
school—and the girl sitting on the edge of the roof. She was sitting
with her legs dangling over the side and her face turned into the wind
so that it caught her hair and pulled it out behind her in black
streamers. Her eyes were closed and it seemed to Heiji like she was
either deep in thought or really enjoying the feel of that wind.Whatever she was doing he didn't like seeing her sitting somewhere so dangerous.Speeding
up, he entered the school building and ran up the stairs to the roof.
Barging through the unlocked door, he called out. "Kazuha!"She
turned at the sound of her name and blinked at him in surprise before
she checked her watch and gasped. "Oh, Heiji! I'm so sorry, I totally
lost track of time."He sighed and walked across to stand beside
her seat where he'd be able to grab her if she showed any signs of
falling. "That's all right I guess, but call me next time would you? I
was really getting worried there! What are you doing here anyway?"She smiled and raised a hand to gesture at the sky. "I was just enjoying the view. Have you ever noticed how vast the sky is?"He
blinked and followed her gaze skyward. "Uh, not really, but now that
you mention it…I guess it is…? What's this about Kazuha? Why'd you even
come up here in the first place?"A faint shadow passed over Kazuha's face. "It was just so stuffy in the classrooms that I just had to come up after class.""You've been saying that a lot lately you know."She glanced up at him curiously. "Saying what?""That
it's stuffy. You just said the classrooms were stuffy. Your mom told me
you keep complaining that your room is stuffy, the kitchen is stuffy,
the whole house is stuffy—is something bothering you?"Her gaze
grew thoughtful as she turned back to the sky again. "I don't think so. I
just…I don't know, don't feel like being indoors lately I guess.""Well, if you're sure…"She
laughed, pulling her feet up and hopping back onto the roof. "Come on
Heiji, let's talk about something else. It's a beautiful day! Do you
want to get something to eat?"
X
Shinichi stared dubiously at the glass of water sitting on the kitchen table in front of him. "This is ridiculous."On the other side of the table, KID smirked, obviously amused. "You're saying that now after everything else you've seen today?""Yeah but…""Just try, Detective, it won't kill you.""Try what exactly? Assuming that ice had anything to do with me at all, I still have no idea how it happened.""Think cold thoughts?" KID suggested."And what kind of thoughts would those be exactly?" Shinichi asked dryly."You know, use your imagination. I'm sure you've been cold before. Just remember that and pretend it's cold now."Shinichi
still didn't think this was the right path to explore (frankly he
didn't want to), but KID wasn't letting the idea go. And, well, they had
to test the possibilities, improbable as they were. So he reached out
and stuck a finger in the room temperature water and tried to imagine
that it was cold. It was a lot harder than it sounded especially since
he knew the water wasn't cold. And yet…and yet it almost seemed like it was.Opening
his eyes, he stared in shock at the glass. It had fogged over slightly
and the water… The water was now a solid block of ice with a finger
shaped indent in it."Well," KID remarked, reaching out to touch the side of the glass. "I'd say that proves something."Shinichi
couldn't find the right words for the feeling that had welled up inside
his chest at the sight of that ice. He couldn't quite believe it was
there, but he knew it was. What he didn't understand was how. And while a
very small part of him was a bit in awe of all this, it bothered him
too. If this was possible, what else could be too?"Doesn't last long though, does it?""Huh?"
Coming back to the present, Shinichi realized that the water was no
longer frozen and the glass no longer fogged. When he touched it, it was
once again at room temperature. "It couldn't have melted that fast."KID dipped a gloved finger in the water. "Maybe it didn't so much melt as just stop being frozen.""I can't believe I understood what you just said…"The thief laughed. "You can look a little happier. How many people out there can make their own ice water?""It doesn't last remember?" Shinichi pointed out."I'm sure you could make it cold without freezing it and keep it that way long enough for a drink if you practice."The
detective just shook his head. "I think I have better things to do with
my time. Like figuring out how this is happening." He ran the last few
days through his mind. "Do you think it has anything to do with that
smoke?""It was my first guess, certainly. I saw several windows
shatter not long ago for no apparent reason simply because a girl was
shouting.""You can't break glass with sound unless you hold the right frequency for the right length of time."KID
shrugged. "Perhaps not normally, but it was either the shouting or just
because the glass felt like breaking. Take your pick."Shinichi
chewed lightly on his lower lip, staring hard at the table as he
thought. "I guess there's also that fire Hattori was talking about. He
told me this morning that he saw fire coming out of nowhere.""And he was at my heist." It wasn't a question."What about that girl you mentioned?""She was there.""So
that smoke might have—done something to the people who attended your
heist." Uh oh. That had been one of the best attended heists in KID's
heist history. And that was saying something. On the other hand, a lot
of that crowd hadn't actually been able to squeeze into the museum
courtyard so they may or may not have had any actual contact with the
blue smoke. But that was still a lot of people."We're going out,"
KID announced, bounding to his feet and snapping his fingers. There was
a puff of smoke and the magician was now dressed in casual clothes with
a hat pulled low over a pair of dark sunglasses.Shinichi blinked, momentarily distracted from his thoughts. "Can I ask why?""To
see what other kinds of weird things might be happening to people. If
it's just a few of us or if everyone that was at my heist was affected.
You better hurry or we'll run out of daylight."
X
Takagi
sat in front of his desk at home, staring at its mostly bare surface as
he thought. He'd been at home for a while now. There wasn't much point
going anywhere like this after all. But he couldn't sit at home for the
rest of his life. He had to figure out something to do.He'd
discovered he had just as little power to affect most objects as he had
when it came to people. He might be able to shift them slightly, or help
along something that was already moving, but that was about it. He'd
actually managed to jump up and down on one of the office's rolling
chairs without it sliding out from under him. That had been…interesting,
to say the least. It was incredibly fortunate that apparently he didn't
need to eat when he was like this either.He could however pick up small, light objects. They vanished the moment they were firmly in his grasp. That gave him an idea.Shifting
one of the pieces of blank paper stacked on the corner of his desk
where he'd forgotten to put them away before all this happened, he laid
it in front of him and grabbed a pen. The pen disappeared once it was in
his hand but he could still feel its smooth plastic shape. Clicking it
so that the point came out, he drew it across the paper. A blue line
appeared in the pen's wake and he could feel a relieved smile creeping
onto his face just as the line slowly faded away like it had never been.His
heart sank. There went that idea. He couldn't exactly write anyone a
message if the message disappeared mere seconds after being written.Although… Maybe he could do something with this after all.
X
If
it hadn't been before, Shinichi thought, then it was definitely
official now. This was the weirdest day of his life. First Hattori's
strange story, then the disappearing ice, finding KID in his house of
all places, the invisible mug-supporting piece of nothing, freezing the
water, and now, to top things off, he was going for a casual walk
through the streets with Kaitou KID."Relax," the thief in question advised, laughing lightly. "People are going to start wondering what we're up to if you don't."Shinichi
might have pointed out that logically speaking KID shouldn't be as
relaxed as he seemed all considered but the sight of a girl about his
age who was reading while she walked stopped him. She wasn't looking
where she was going and was about to walk right into a metal pole. He
opened his mouth to call out a warning but the words died on his lips as
the girl took two steps up the side of said pole—literally just walked
up it like it was flat ground. She chose that moment to look up from her
reading. He could see the confusion in her face as she looked at the
sky ahead of her for a moment before she glanced around. Her jaw fell
open just as the rest of her dropped back to the sidewalk with a rather
painful looking thump."Did you see that too?" Shinichi had to
asked, still unable to look away from the girl who was picking herself
up and straightening out her clothes."Yep," came KID's unhesitant reply.The
girl in question glanced around anxiously. She caught the two boys
watching, tensed, and hurried away like a frightened animal. No one else
seemed to have seen the odd incident.Shinichi watched her run
with some concern. "Maybe we should head to the park. A lot of people
take walks there in the afternoon.""That's the spirit," KID said
encouragingly, slinging an arm over Shinichi's shoulders. "We can head
to the shopping district after that. Maybe check out some more popular
eating places, swing by the arcade…"He gave the thief a flat look. "That sounds more like you having a fun day out.""Well~, this is our first date, we have to have some fun right? Or you might never want to see me again!"Shinichi
blushed and ducked out from under the thief's arm. "Focus or go away,"
he snapped. "If all you want to do is play games then you can go play
them somewhere else!""Okay, fine." KID held up his hands in a
placating gesture (though he still looked far too amused). "It was just a
joke. No need to bite my head off. Jeez, someone's moody today. If you
were a girl, you'd definitely—""Don't finish
that sentence." Turning sharply on his heels, he started towards the
park without a backward glance. Why was he here again? Oh yeah, because
he wanted to know how extensive the weird effects of that smoke from the
heist might have been. Well, he could do that by himself."Hey!
Wait!" KID lengthened his stride and caught up to the detective. "Come
on, don't be like that. How 'bout I get us both a drink and we forget
about this and go look around the park to see if anything weird's
happening there? Look, they're selling juice cartons over there."Shinichi
followed the direction of KID's wave automatically to see that a
particularly enthusiastic salesman had decided to set up shop right
outside the Beika Park entrance. He'd set up a table upon which
different types of juice cartons had been stacked in orderly pyramids. A
young man was just purchasing a box of orange juice. He paid the vendor
and stepped off to the side where he popped in the straw and downed his
drink in a matter of seconds. Once the sides of the juice box began to
implode, he pulled the straw out of his mouth—and took a neat bite right
out of the carton which he chewed and swallowed with every sign of
enjoyment before his eyes turned round as coins and he stared at the
half eaten cardboard box in his own hands like someone who'd just seen a
ghost."Something tells me he didn't mean to do that," KID
murmured near Shinichi's ear, making the detective start violently in
surprise.He edged away from the magician but nodded. "How old do you think that man is?"KID
blinked behind his sunglasses then took another look at the
shell-shocked carton-eater. "I'd say twenty, maybe twenty one. Why?"Frowning slightly in thought, Shinichi headed into the park. "Just a thought. Are you coming or not?"
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
They
had made a circuit of the park before making their way towards one of
the city's busier shopping districts. Shinichi watched the crowds and
mentally tallied up all the little oddities he saw as KID came and went,
presumably doing his own search and picking up the occasional treat
along the way. By the time the sun began to set Shinichi had seen the
thief eat two ice creams, a chocolate bar, and a small sandwich. Even
so, the thief still insisted that they get dinner at one of the more
popular noodle shops. Shinichi was somewhat more inclined to ordering
home, but, as KID had pointed out, they might see more if they stayed
and over dinner was as good a time as any to discuss what they had
found."Besides, you have to eat eventually," the thief added. "You're not trying to get away from me are you?""It's
just too crowded in here," Shinichi replied, unconsciously shifting so
that his back was to the wall and he could keep an eye on the people in
line behind them. KID took note of the gesture but didn't comment."It'll be better once we're inside," he said instead. "They have some really nice seats upstairs.""You sound rather familiar with this place.""I've been here a few times. Oh look, we're in luck. They're ready for us, and it looks like we're going up."Shinichi
trailed after the thief as they were led upstairs and to a table by the
windows overlooking the street in front of the restaurant. KID had been
right when he'd said the inside of the restaurant wasn't as crowded.
The tables were set a decent distance away from each other so they would
be able to talk without being overheard. It was also clean and warmly
lit. Shinichi had to hand it to him, KID had picked a good place. With
the sky growing dark and the city lights coming to life, the view
through the window was a vivid swirl of living lights.It was
always strange looking down at all those lights. They were so bright and
yet despite the people they burned for they always felt detached. Their
brilliance hid the darkness behind them and all the lives that lived
beneath them."Penny for your thoughts?"Turning back to his companion, Shinichi shook his head. "It's nothing.""Nothing must be a pretty interesting topic then if you were thinking so hard about it."Shinichi snorted but he could feel the corners of his mouth rising despite himself. "Not really. Just time consuming.""Doesn't sound like it's worth it.""It's probably not.""Don't
spend too much time dwelling on it then," the thief advised, an
undertone of seriousness making Shinichi wonder if he'd guessed more of
Shinichi's thoughts than he'd let on. "There's only so much any one
person can do.""You sound like you're speaking from experience," Shinichi noted."There's nothing I can't do," the thief bragged, winking.Shinichi
rolled his eyes, though he found to his surprise that he wasn't
particularly annoyed. "Right, of course, how could I forget."The
waiter arrived with their orders and Shinichi picked up his chopsticks.
He poked idly at his udon without much interest as his mind continued to
play all the odd images he'd seen earlier in the evening through the
theater of his mind. In one simple stroll around town they had witnessed
everything from the man who'd eaten his juice carton to someone who'd
walked past a polished window but had no reflection. There'd even been
someone who seemed to have leaves growing from her wrists, though he
supposed that could have been an accessory. Still…it had looked like
more. And of course there was that woman who was raging to herself about
how her hair had become totally frizzed out over night and now refused
to be tamed. Only they had both been able to see the blue sparks of what
looked an awful lot like electricity dancing through said frizzy hair
as she stormed past them in search of a store with better hair care
products.Most of the signs were little things that may not even
be signs, but it was clear that people were beginning to notice that
something strange was happening. Most people however seemed to prefer to
believe their minds were playing tricks on them and ignore the odd
sights cropping up everywhere."Hey K—" He cut himself off as he
remembered where they were. "Uh, what I meant was, would you say that
you tend to have a lot of children at your—in your audience?""Quite
a few, though parents aren't always inclined to let their kids out late
enough to be there," the magician replied. "Hmm, but I didn't see any
children doing strange things."Shinichi nodded. "Neither did I.
In fact, it seems as though the only people who were affected were those
in their late teens or twenties.""And not all of those either," the magician agreed. "If it was just a matter of age, there should be a lot more going on.""It
could also depend on how close each person was to—whatever that stuff
was." He grimaced slightly. "It's too bad there's no way we could check
that.""Well actually, there were a lot of reporters there. And you know how they are—always taking pictures, making videos…all that good stuff."The detective shook his head. "I think it would make more sense to investigate what might have been in that lab.""Could do that too. Wouldn't hurt to check both."Not
really sure what else to say, Shinichi turned his full attention to his
noodles. He wasn't a picky eater, but he could tell they were pretty
good. It seemed this was one of those restaurants that were actually
popular for a reason. Unlike some of the restaurants he'd been dragged
to in the past by either his parents or Ran which, in his opinion, had
been prime examples of why you should never just take someone else's
word for it when it came to the quality of food. Those failed ventures
were always extra irritating because you almost always wound up wasting a
lot of time waiting in line on top of everything else. For someone who
viewed eating as more a necessity than anything special there was little
that was more irritating. Not that he couldn't appreciate good food; he
just didn't think any food was worth two hours of waiting. Time was one
of those things that could never be replaced."You know, there're people who'd kill to be where you are right now," the magician said jokingly. "And you're spacing out."Shinichi glanced up. He'd almost forgotten he had company. "What are you talking about?""Having dinner with me, of course. I'm something of a celebrity, you know."An
image of a sea of cheering fans waving KID banners flashed through
Shinichi's mind accompanied by the memory of Sonoko's shrill, excited
shrieks. Even in memory it made him wince. "Hard not to. Heaven only
knows why.""You wound me!" KID exclaimed, putting a hand over his
heart. "After all these years I thought you would've learned to
appreciate my art.""It's not your art that's the problem,
it's what you choose to do with it," Shinichi replied dryly before he
went back to his dinner. KID was a master magician, no doubt about that,
and Shinichi had to admit to himself that he did find some of the
magician's tricks amazing to watch, but KID hardly needed to have his
ego fed. And Shinichi really didn't understand the manic devotion the
thief inspired in his fans (then again, fanaticism rarely made sense)."Ah, there is hope for you yet it seems.""What is that supposed to mean?"The magician only laughed. "Nothing, nothing. You should finish your soup before it gets cold~."
X
Satou
Miwako wasn't on the night shift that day, but she had stayed late
regardless in order to finish some of her reports. It was also a good
way to keep her mind off of a certain fellow police officer who was
still missing. She just didn't understand it. Where could he have gone?
He'd sent no message, hadn't called, wasn't on assignment—and hadn't
turned up as a case. That last one was a relief, but it didn't mean he
wasn't in trouble. By now even the most optimistic officers in the
division were starting to feel the gnawing of anxiety.Letting out
a soft hiss of frustration, she forced herself to reread the last line
of the report—again. What was that? The fifth time? This was really
getting on her nerves. Maybe she should call it a day and try to finish
these tomorrow after all.Her breath left her in a defeated sigh
and she began cleaning up the files and folders spread across her desk.
She had just put the last folder into its designated drawer when there
was a soft flopping sound. Startled, she glanced up to find a small,
thin pad of paper lying on her desk.Where had that come from?
She'd just taken everything off her desk. Could she have missed it? But
she didn't remember putting anything like that on her desk. And a quick
look around revealed that the office was empty.Huh. So now she was starting to get forgetful too. Great.She
reached out to pick up the paper pad but her hand froze halfway to its
target when something black suddenly appeared on the pristine white of
the paper. Her eyes widened in shock. Even as she watched the black dot
became a line and then a letter until whole words began to form./Satou-san./She read her name with a growing sense of surrealism and watched as the words faded away. Was she hallucinating?"You
just need to get some sleep," she said out loud in an attempt to calm
her own gradually fraying nerves. Even as she spoke however more words
materialized./It's not your imagination,/ it read, the words coming quickly as though in a rush to be written. /It's me, Takagi./"T—Takagi-kun?" The name left her lips like skittish animals leaping away from a sudden noise./Yes. But no one can see or hear me./"…What?"
Okay, this was getting weird. Had she fallen asleep at her desk? But
this didn't feel like a dream… "What do you mean? How?"The reply
took a moment to come—like Takagi might have paused to think. If it was
indeed Takagi. /I don't know. I just woke up the day after we went to
the KID heist and I was like this./Satou frowned, shaking her head. "This is just…"/I
know it sounds impossible but you have to believe me!/ These words were
scrawled in a hurry and she could almost feel the air vibrating with
panicked urgency.She debated with herself for a long moment
before relenting. It wasn't like there was anything to lose—except her
mind, but it looked like she might have lost that already. And if this
was a dream, at least it was unique.She swallowed and cleared her throat. "Put your hand over the paper."She
waited a moment then reached out. Her heart had begun to pound—in
anticipation? Fear? Uncertainty?—and she had to suppress the urge to
pull back. Instead she lay her hand over the papers—only she never
touched them. There was…something else beneath her hand. For several
moments she couldn't quite seem to tell what it was. It was almost as
though her own senses were fighting not to recognize it. Then the
disorienting sensation passed and she could feel the shape of a warm,
human hand beneath her own. Her breath left her in a gasp but she left
her hand where it was as she turned to look at the empty space where she
thought the hand's owner should be."Okay, why don't you start
from the beginning? Tell me everything you remember from the moment you
woke up and found out you were—were invisible."
X
It
was most peculiar, Kaito mused as he watched Shinichi's back, his own
hands folded behind his head. He'd spent nearly half a day in the
detective's company and the boy hadn't even attempted to discover his
identity. In fact, they'd had what Kaito would call a nice, normal day
out if they hadn't been 'working'. It was surprising and kind of bizarre
but in a good way. He'd always been maybe a little too comfortable in
this particular detective's presence. Then again, they'd worked as
allies just as often as they had competitors.What might the day
have been like, he wondered, if they hadn't had business to deal with?
Not, granted, that they would have had any reason to be spending time
together without the investigation. Still, it could be something
interesting to consider in the future.Starting to grow a bit
antsy under the intense stare he could feel trained on his back,
Shinichi glanced over his shoulder. Kaito caught his gaze and grinned."Why
are you following me?" he asked, eyeing the thief warily. He was on his
way home and had fully expected the magician to have taken his leave.
He hadn't.KID just quirked an eyebrow at him. "I'm not following you, I'm walking you home. There's a difference.""And you are doing that because…?""Isn't it my responsibility to make sure you get back safely?" the thief quipped.The
detective continued to look puzzled. "No, it isn't." He cast a glance
up at the sky, noting how dark it had gotten. "Won't people notice that
you've been gone half the day?""Probably, so a few more minutes or hours isn't going to change anything."That
was most likely true, Shinichi conceded. So it seemed he was stuck with
his escort home. Not, he reflected, that he really minded the
magician's company. He just wished the guy would stop staring. What was
he thinking about anyway? KID had been awfully quiet since they'd left
the restaurant. It was unnerving to say the least.He started as a
hand landed on his shoulder, pulling him back a step. Glancing up he
found KID watching him with raised eyebrows. "What?"The magician tilted his head to the side. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but I could've sworn this was your house."Shinichi
followed the direction of the thief's waving hand and flushed when he
realized that he'd been about to walk past his own front gates. "Oh. Uh,
thanks." Turning even redder under KID's amused gaze, he fished out his
keys only to look around and find that the gate was already open. He
scowled and shot the thief a disapproving look—only to find that said
thief had disappeared. He stared for a moment then gave himself a shake
and went inside, muttering a bit irritably to himself as he went."He could have at least said goodbye."He
was exhausted. It had been one of the longest days of his life and
morning felt like it was eons ago. Hanging his jacket on the back of his
desk chair, he collapsed into bed without bothering to change into
pajamas. He was asleep before his head hit the pillow.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Shinichi
woke with a jolt hours earlier than he usually would with the sudden
realization that he still had homework. Oh joy. With sheer force of will
he dragged himself downstairs despite the unholy hour, spread his books
and the necessary papers over the kitchen table, and brewed the
biggest, darkest batch of coffee he could manage with the available
equipment. Thus armed, he settled down in a chair to do what he should
have done last night. He went through six cups of coffee before he was
done. By then he had to throw everything into his backpack and make a
run for school.He was eternally grateful for the normalcy of
school as the day passed without incident. He couldn't help but sneak
glances towards Sonoko and Ran throughout the day however, wondering if
they too had started finding themselves with strange powers. He knew for
a fact they'd been at the science museum heist, and knowing Sonoko
they'd probably been right up front. Neither of them was acting any
differently than usual though. Sonoko spent almost every free moment of
the day complaining about how all the scales in her house were broken
while Ran listened patiently. If they had time for such an inane
conversation than there was probably nothing to worry about on that end.It wasn't until after his last class had let out that the odd turn that reality was taking reared its ugly head once more.There
had been a murder. That wasn't, however, particularly strange. Shinichi
ran into murders in planning, in progress, and post execution all the
time. What was strange however was that the murderer had still
been standing over the victim when he arrived on the scene—and not
pretending to be innocent. Instead she stood frozen in shock, the knife
she had been about to use lying discarded a few feet away. She didn't
need it after all. Not when she had ten six-inch long, steel fingernails
growing from her hands which had taken on a metallic sheen on which
wet, red streaks still shone.On the one hand it was a no brainer
as far as cases went. On the other… Well, he could suddenly see a whole
new sea of possibilities that had opened up before the feet of anyone
with ill intentions who might have been at the heist and it was not a
pretty picture. Just thinking about it sent a shiver of horror down his
spine. Who knew what other kinds of powers people might have started
discovering they had? Power of all kinds went to people's heads far too
easily already when they were mundane.The police officers who
arrived to take the woman away didn't know what to think of her. She
didn't seem inclined to fight them at the moment, still shocked at her
own mutated hands, but they could all see how sharp those nails were.
They had tried to take them off her, thinking that the nails might be
part of some kind of glove or similar accessory, but they found that the
things were too firmly attached to be taken away. Instead they bound
her hands securely behind her back and multiple officers escorted her to
a squad car where some complex maneuvering was required to actually get
her inside without hurting anyone. Shinichi overheard one of them
mentioning that the woman would be taken to a hospital first so they
could check what she had done to herself."If you ask me, those
looked a little too much like they were hers," a quiet voice remarked
from behind Shinichi and he turned to find Satou-keiji watching the
departing squad car with an intently focused expression on her face."Are
you suggesting that she actually grew them?" Shinichi asked, watching
the officer's expression closely. Her gaze jerked to meet his and for a
moment he thought she looked nervous—something Satou almost never was."I
know it probably sounds ridiculous," she said finally. "But, lately…"
Her gaze slid to the ground as her forehead wrinkled in deep thought."Have you seen anything out of the ordinary?"Glancing
quickly back up to meet his eyes, she debated with herself for several
minutes before she gestured for him to follow her. Slightly puzzled by
the lack of any verbal explanation, Shinichi followed the police
officer. She led him down the street to a small, local library. Once
there, she found an empty study room near the back of the building and
waved Shinichi inside. She shut the door firmly once they were both
inside."Did you hear about Takagi Wataru's disappearance?"Shinichi shook his head, a pang of concern racing through him. "No. What happened?""I—"
Satou cut herself off, scowled, then shook her head. "it was… Just…look
at this." Stepping to the table, she placed a blank pad of paper on it
and took a seat in one of the empty chairs.Shinichi gave her a
confused look but she simply nodded back at the paper. So he turned back
to it. There was nothing spectacular about the paper. It was a blank
piece of white notepad paper still attached to its pad with no markings
or imprints on its flawless surface.Or at least it had been blankBlue
eyes widened as the pen Satou had laid beside the paper lifted into the
air—and vanished. Then, as though an invisible hand was writing with
the now similarly invisible pen, words began to trace themselves across
the paper./Hello Kudo-kun. It's me, Takagi./Shinichi
looked from the words to Satou then back just in time to see the last
traces of ink vanish from the paper. "Takagi-keiji?"It was
Satou-keiji who nodded, looking a bit tense herself. "He says he's
been—like this since that KID heist at the science museum.""You two were there?"She nodded, then paused, studying his face. "You don't seem particularly surprised.""This isn't the first case I've seen," Shinichi admitted, glancing again at the paper as he considered his options.The woman's eyes narrowed slightly. "Case of what exactly?""It's…"
Breath coming out in a frustrated huff, Shinichi stood up. "It's easier
if I just show you. Just wait here for a moment. I need to get some
water."
X
"Well, I guess at least
now we know more about what we should be looking for—or at," Satou told
the air beside her later as she made her way back to the police
station. She didn't hear an answer, obviously, but she just knew that
Takagi was relieved. It was like a feeling in the air really. Then
again, maybe she was projecting her own relief onto him to fill in for
the oddness of not being able to see or hear his actual reaction. Though
she'd like to think she knew him well enough to be able to guess how
he'd be feeling."I have to admit though, the idea of what else might start happening isn't a pleasant one," she added, frowning.Beside
her, Takagi couldn't suppress a shudder at the thought. There were
undeniably some pretty horrifying possibilities out there…"Do you
think you could, you know, make yourself visible again?" Satou asked
suddenly, making him jump. "I mean, Kudo-kun said it could be possible."It
was worth thinking about, Takagi agreed silently. The problem was how.
He was definitely getting tired of being nonexistent. It had never
occurred to him before but there was a vast ocean of difference between
being ignored and not being heard at all. Well, he would try, he
decided. Somehow…Satou let out a quiet sigh as she pushed open
the police station doors. She was…really starting to miss Wataru. Even
though she knew he was technically still there it wasn't quite the same.
X
Shinichi
was only a few streets away from home when a sudden wave of heat and
nausea swept over him. The sidewalk before his eyes wavered and swam in
wiggling patterns as the ground rocked sideways. Gritting his teeth, he
reached out automatically and grabbed at the nearest wall—or at least
where he thought the wall should be. His fingers brushed over something
rough and hard but it offered no purchase.His knees hit the
ground as he held back a groan. The weather had been warm, but it
certainly hadn't been this hot earlier. Besides, even the most
temperamental weather didn't change that fast."Shinichi?" A hand landed lightly on his back as a vaguely familiar voice called his name. "Are you…all right?"Focusing
on the voice, he struggled to gather his scattered thoughts and
realized that the reason that voice was so familiar was because it
belonged to Mouri Ran. He bit back a groan. Of all the times to run into
each other… Ordering his limbs to straighten, he turned to find the
friend (could he still call her that?) he hadn't spoken to in weeks
standing there, watching him with an expression he was feeling too ill
to put a name to. Well, he didn't have to be able to see straight to
hear the confusion and worry in her voice.He closed his eyes for a
moment, making himself take in deep, slow breaths, before he finally
looked up and into Ran's face. His vision wasn't swimming anymore and he
didn't feel quite as sick either. That was a good start. Schooling his
features into the best smile he could manage under the circumstances, he
nodded to her."Oh, hey Ran. What are you doing here?"She
frowned, the corners of her mouth pulling downward to form a grim line.
"Don't avoid the question. You looked like you were about to pass out.""It's—"
He stopped himself before he could say 'nothing'. He was fairly sure
that would be the wrong thing to say. Instead he squared his shoulders
and tugged a bit nervously at his clothes to straighten them. "It's just
the heat getting to me… And I think I might not have gotten enough
sleep last night. I'm just heading home to get some rest."She
studied him for a long moment and he didn't have to know her well to see
that she didn't believe a word of it. Which was kind of sad because it
was mostly true (it really was the heat—or at least as far as his senses
were concerned—and he really hadn't gotten much sleep, accounting for
the way his limbs were feeling heavy and uncooperative). The irony of it
made him want to laugh, only it would probably be one of those kinds of
laughs that made people look at you funny and send for a shrink. Well,
there wasn't anything he could do about it."Well, you'd better
get going then," Ran said finally. "Do you want me to walk with you?"
she added a bit hesitantly, frown deepening."No, it's all right, I can get there by myself," he assured her, hoping it was true."I guess if you're sure…""I am. Don't worry; it's just a few more blocks anyway."She nodded. "I guess I'll see you in school then.""Yeah."He
watched her go with a strange feeling in his chest. There was a time
not so long—or maybe eons and eons—ago when it would have taken a great
deal more work to get her to let him go the rest of the way home alone
if she thought he was ill. Needless to say, if he'd still been Conan she
wouldn't have even considered it. On the other hand, she'd spoken to
him. So perhaps there was some hope left after all of mending their
friendship. It would probably never be as deep as it had been, but the
thought still lifted a weight from his heart. He might not feel as
strongly about her as he used to think he did, but the thought of
actually losing her friendship—or worse, that she might actually have
come to hate him—had been gnawing at the corners of his mind since that
disastrous explanation. Now at least he could see some light in that
direction. If only he knew how to keep it lit.Turning back in the
direction of home, Shinichi focused all of his attention on the task of
walking. The overwhelming sensation of being boiled alive had gone, but
he still felt a bit wobbly and his stomach had decided that now would
be a grand time to remind him that the only solid food he'd eaten all
day was a sandwich from the school cafeteria. A little adjustment of
schedule was in order. Food first, then a nap.
X
Ran
paused at the corner of the street and peered back around it to watch
Shinichi making his slow but relatively steady way homeward. She had
come this way originally intending to go to his house because even
though she wasn't sure what she felt about him anymore she did feel that
it was about time they talked again. She hadn't expected to run across
him looking like the walking dead. He hadn't seemed that off at school
from what she could remember, but of course he wouldn't tell her what
was wrong. It made that tiny bit of her that was still a little bit
angry flare up all over again, but only for a moment. It was hard to
stay mad at someone who looked like he should see a doctor.Letting
out a sigh, she resumed her own walk back to the detective agency where
she lived. Her steps were slow however as she wasn't in any real hurry
to get there. The place just didn't feel quite the same without Conan
there. She found herself wishing at odd hours in the day that she had a
real little brother or sister—there were even a few times when she
caught herself wishing that Conan was still around. Then she'd feel
guilty for thinking it because it was basically the same as wishing
Shinichi had not been able to return. And she didn't really want that.
No one deserved to be trapped forever behind a falsehood.Just like no one deserved to be forever played for the fool with a lie.Yet
knowing that couldn't stop her from feeling like she'd lost a member of
her family. How could you lose someone who was never really there? Half
of whose existence was something you'd filled in yourself with your own
imagination?Or did that really matter? After all, names and
appearances were malleable even for normal people these days. So in a
sense Conan was real, and it did make sense to miss him. Didn't it?
Except that Shinichi was still here so…Frustrated and tired of
the endless circles her thoughts seemed to enjoy dragging her through
these days whenever she thought about Shinichi, Ran turned into an ice
cream parlor and made her way to the counter. It really was pretty warm
outside. Something cold and sweet sounded like just what she needed to
clear her head.She had just gotten her sundae and turned to look
for a seat when her eyes landed on a girl seated near one of the windows
and she froze in surprise. The person sitting over there drinking a
strawberry milkshake could have been her twin with a different
hairstyle.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
"You
seem cheerful today," Aoko noted, watching the extra bounce in her
friend's steps curiously. "More so than normal I mean. Did something
good happen?""Hm?"She frowned. "I know you heard me. So? Does it have something to do with wherever it was you disappeared to yesterday?""It might.""Why can't you ever just answer?" she asked in exasperation only to get a lopsided grin and a wink in response."Because that would be boring.""You mean normal.""Normal, boring, it's all the same in the end."She
rolled her eyes at that. "Only to you." Pulling her book bag a little
higher up on her shoulder, she glanced down the street. Spotting
something, she waved and began to open her mouth before she paused and
turned to Kaito instead. "I see Saguru. Could you call him?"He made a face. "Call him yourself. Personally, I'd say we're better off without him.""Kaito…" She scowled but, oddly enough, didn't raise her voice even if her expression had grown darker. "Just call, will you?"The
magician took in the strange hint of strain in her voice and the way
her knuckles had turned white on the handle of her book bag. His mind
instantly jumped back to that incident in their classroom with all the
breaking windows. Had she made a connection between her own shouting and
the breaking glass? He wasn't sure himself if it had been related, but
if she had indeed made the assumption… Was she afraid? The slightly
pained gleam in her eyes suggested she might be. He didn't like seeing
that expression on her face.He glanced back down the street to
where he could just see the pale splotch of Hakuba's blond hair. Well,
he might as well take the opportunity to do some more investigating. If
he and Shinichi's theory was right, then Hakuba may also have been
affected. He'd been in the thick of the smoke back at the heist as well
after all, and he was in the age group where they had seen the most
symptoms to date."Oi!" Kaito shouted, cupping his hands around his mouth to amplify the sound. "Hakuba!"In
the distance, the blonde's head jerked around so fast that Kaito
wouldn't have been surprised if he'd snapped his neck. Brown eyes darted
this way and that before landing on Kaito and Aoko. If the magician had
to put a name to the emotion that flashed across his face, he would
have called it relief. That was certainly a strange reaction."Aoko-san,
Kuroba," he greeted them, his eyes skidding around them again before
returning to his fellow students. "Good morning.""Good morning,"
Aoko returned brightly before going on to ask the blonde about the case
he'd been working with the police on the other evening. Apparently she'd
heard about it from her father and wanted to know more. And of course
the blonde was more than happy to oblige. And yet something seemed off
about him.They were walking under a tree when the blonde started and turned his head quickly to look at Kaito. "What was that?"The magician raised an eyebrow at him. "What are you talking about?""What did you just say? I didn't quite catch it," Hakuba replied."Really?" Kaito's other eyebrow rose to join the first. "You must be hearing things then. I didn't say anything."Hakuba
frowned and Aoko's brows drew together as she leaned closer to him.
"Are you all right? You seem a bit…I don't know, nervous today. Did
something happen?""N—no, I'm fine." He smiled at her as his composure returned. "I just thought I heard something, but it seems I was mistaken."And
yet Kaito noted that the blonde's skittish behavior persisted all the
way to school. It only abated once they'd actually entered the school
building. Interesting.All through their morning classes the
blonde kept away from the classroom windows. It wasn't that noticeable
since his seat wasn't next to a window, but even during the breaks he
seemed to be avoiding going near them. Of course, their classroom
windows still didn't have any glass in them as the school had yet to
replace them, but all the fragments had been cleaned up and most of the
other students were taking a great deal of pleasure from sticking their
limbs out to feel the breeze during breaks.Thinking back, Kaito
recalled how the blonde seemed most jumpy around trees and other thickly
green areas. He'd kept turning and looking around as though he'd heard
something and was trying to place it. And yet the only thing that was
ever there to be heard was the rumble of traffic, the rustle of leaves,
and the chirping of birds.Birds… Huh, there were always birds
around, he mused. The traffic and the wind were always around, this
being a city and all, but the birds were a bit different."I wonder…"When class let out for lunch, the magician bounded from his desk and made a beeline for the class detective. "Hey Hakuba!""What
is it Kuro—" the blonde started to ask as he turned but he cut himself
short as a pair of doves suddenly burst from the magician's hands. He
leapt backward, crashed into his recently vacated desk, and fell
backward over it with a crash. A few people stared."My my,
Hakuba, I had no idea you were that afraid of birds," Kaito quipped,
leaning over the empty desk and smirking down at the detective on the
floor. His doves fluttered to land one on each of his shoulders, cooing
softly."That wasn't funny Kuroba," the blonde snapped, clambering
to his feet and straightening out his clothes. Shooting the magician
one last irate glare, he turned and started to walk away."So what are they saying anyway?"The
blonde jumped and spun around like a startled deer. "What are you
talking about?" he snapped, sounding far more on edge than Kaito had
ever heard him. Kind of like he was scared of something. "Birds can't
talk."Bingo. Kaito pulled on an expression of innocent surprise. "What? Who said anything about birds?"The
blonde froze before stammering, "You should clarify your questions
then. It sounded as though you were referring to those pets of yours."The
dove on Kaito's left shoulder cooed and the detective stiffened. The
magician himself glanced at each dove before looking back at the blonde.
"Though come to think of it, you have been paying an awful lot of
attention to all the birds you passed. Are you learning to speak bird
then?""D—don't be ridiculous! Birds do not have a language."Kaito
had never seen such a panicked expression on the blond detective's face
before. His face had gone paper white and he was actually sweating as
his eyes darted from side to side, looking everywhere but at the doves.
Ah, the magician thought with an inward grin, the blonde thought he was
going mad. It probably wasn't supposed to be funny, but oh how he wanted
to burst out laughing. Still, there was no way he was passing up this
chance.Coaxing one dove onto his right hand, he held it up right
in front of the blonde's face and was rewarded by said blonde jerking
his head away as he backed into the desk behind him. "So would you like
to practice with Shiroki here? He's always been very talkative.""K—Kuroba!"It
was such a pity, Kaito mused, that Aoko had to choose that moment to
come up behind him and whack him in the back of the head with her
textbook. "Kaito! What are you doing to Saguru?""Aoko," he
complained, stepping quickly out of her immediate reach as he rubbed the
back of his head with his free hand. "I wasn't doing anything!"She
gave him a disbelieving look before turning back to Hakuba. Her
expression grew concerned. "Are you feeling all right Saguru? You look
pale."The blonde visibly pulled himself together. "I…think perhaps I should go see the nurse. If you'll excuse me…""I'll
come with you," Aoko said quickly, reaching out to place a steadying
hand on his arm. But the blonde gently removed her hand."No, I can manage on my own. You should go get lunch before class starts. It's almost time."She let out a short sigh but relented. "All right, but let me know what the nurse says later, okay?""I will."Once
he was gone, she turned her gaze back to Kaito. "What did you say to
him Kaito? And don't lie to me—you must have said something."He shrugged, making both doves disappear. "I just asked him if he wanted to practice speaking to my doves."She frowned. "Why would you ask him something so stupid?""Because he's been jumpy around birds all day. Haven't you noticed?"He
could see from the momentary silence and the thoughtful look on her
face that she was recalling the day's events. "I…guess he does keep
looking over his shoulder when we hear birds singing… But doesn't he
have a pet bird?""Yeah, the sidekick. But now he's jumping every time something chirps. Weird huh?""It
is a bit strange," she agreed then scowled. "But if you noticed he was
already nervous, why did you go and tease him like that? That's just
mean!""What?" He stared at her in honest surprise."You're
always picking on him with your stupid pranks and making fun of him! I
know you like to poke people, but I never thought you'd stoop to frightening
someone! Why can't you just be friends? I mean, I'm sure you two could
get along if you'd just try. But I keep asking and asking and I feel
like I'm talking to myself half the time. Is it really that hard?""Aoko…""You're my friend Kaito, but I—I like Saguru and I'm sick of having to deal with this all the time!"Kaito
opened his mouth to say something, but Aoko shook her head. "I'm going
to go get lunch." That said, she turned and headed for the door.He
watched her go, feeling a rather unfamiliar emotion that took him a few
moments to recognize as guilt. It wasn't something he felt often. She'd
always taken his pranks and other antics in stride. She occasionally
got mad, but she'd found them fun too. He was sure of it. It had never
crossed his mind that she might actually be bothered by any of it to
this degree…
X
Hakuba Saguru sat
in the nurse's office as the nurse finished writing on her clipboard.
Finally she turned back to him with a friendly smile."I don't
think you've caught anything, but you do seem a bit pale. I've spoken to
the office so you should go home and rest for the day. If you're not
feeling better by tomorrow you should go see a doctor. All right?""I'll do that. Thank you ma'am.""You're welcome. Take care."He
left the infirmary and headed out of the school. As he passed beneath
one of the trees overlooking the path to the main gates, he heard voices
chattering over his head. Taking in a deep breath, he looked up. As
he'd come to expect, there was no one there. Instead two white doves
were perched in the branches over his head. They seemed to sense him
watching them and both turned to look back at him with curious, beady
black eyes.He stared back.The bird on the left turned then
to the bird on the right. /I think there's something wrong with this
one. It just keeps staring.//I noticed,/ the other dove grumbled, shuffling around a bit.The
human in question glanced around nervously. There was no one in sight.
He knew birds couldn't talk, but he couldn't deny that he was hearing
something that sounded an awful lot like speech. Maybe…maybe he really
should try talking to them? Just thinking it felt absurd, but…He took a deep breath and looked back up. "Are—are you Kuroba's birds?"They stared at him then looked at each other again./Does
this human honestly think I would answer a question like that?/ the
first dove asked its companion incredulously, fluffing out its feathers
in indignation. /Some people have no manners.//Some humans are just like that,/ the other dove replied sagely. /Just ignore him./After
that, both birds spread their wings and took off. The blonde watched
them go with a sinking sensation of dread. They had obviously heard and
understood him.But…that wasn't possible. It just wasn't.Was
he losing his mind? But they had reacted specifically to his words,
hadn't they? Or was it a coincidence they had flown off when they had?It
had to be a coincidence, he decided, because it couldn't be anything
else. Birds did not speak. This was a fact. He knew this was a fact. He
had to believe in the facts.Giving himself a shake, he started
home, determined to put the whole, bizarre morning behind him. And
hopefully he would be back to normal by tomorrow.
X
Aoko
let out a quiet sigh as she sipped at the strawberry milkshake she'd
ordered. She wasn't sure what had possessed her to come all the way to
Beika by herself but she'd just needed some time to think and here she
was less likely to run into anyone she knew. Then again, Kaito was the
one who'd told her about this ice cream parlor, so it was possible that
he might show up, but the chances of that happening were very small. He
seemed to have picked up on her desire for some space even if he had
been giving her worried looks since her unintentional tirade at
lunchtime. She really hadn't meant to say all that. She'd even admitted
that she liked… But that wasn't the important part."Excuse me."Startled,
she looked up and around—to find herself looking at a girl who looked
an awful lot like her long lost twin. Her mouth fell open despite
herself before she gathered her wits about her enough to answer.
"Y—yes?""My name is Mouri Ran," the stranger introduced herself,
bowing. "Sorry if I'm bothering you, but I couldn't help but notice that
we, uh…"Aoko laughed. "Look alike?""Yeah." Ran smiled a bit sheepishly."I don't mind. It is pretty unusual. I'm Nakamori Aoko, it's nice to meet you. Would you like to sit? Your sundae is melting.""Thanks."
Ran slid into the seat opposite her and quickly scooped up the melting
edges of the sundae so that it was no longer in danger of dripping. "I
haven't seen you around here before. Do you live nearby?""Oh no, I
live in the Ekoda district. I just came here to do some thinking," Aoko
admitted, glancing out the window at the busy street beyond.Ran watched her pensive expression for a moment. "Do you…want to talk about it?""It's
nothing really…" Sighing, she drank some more of her milkshake then
paused to stare into its creamy, pink depths. "It's just…I kind of said
some things to a friend of mine earlier that I didn't mean to say…""Oh, I see…""But it was stuff I've kind of been thinking too, you know? So it would feel weird to apologize.""Would you mind if I asked you what you said?" Ran asked hesitantly, somewhat confused by the other girl's words.Aoko
thought this over for a moment then smiled. "Actually, if you wouldn't
mind listening, being able to talk to someone usually helps me think.""I don't mind. I know what you mean. Sometimes having to explain something makes you put it in a way that makes more sense.""That's
so true," Aoko laughed, eyes brightening. "I guess it's kind of like
math. Saguru says when you can explain how to work a problem out to
someone who doesn't know anything about it well enough for them to
understand, that's when you know you really know it yourself.""Is he the friend you were talking about?""Oh,
no, he's a different friend," Aoko replied, turning a bit red. "You
see, there's this boy I grew up with. We've always been really good
friends, but lately… I don't know, I just don't feel like I know him
anymore… He keeps going places and not telling me where, and when I try
to ask him what he's been up to he always avoids the question and tries
to distract me with those stupid magic tricks of his and—stuff." She
scowled darkly. "It's like he never takes anything I say seriously. He
just blows everything off like it's all some big game! I—got mad at him
earlier because he was making fun of Saguru again. Well actually he
makes fun of everyone a lot, he's a bit of a prankster really, but it's
usually all fun and I know he doesn't mean any harm but whatever he said
to Saguru looked like it really scared him. I never thought he'd do
something like that… I…guess that means that what really bothers me
is…well, I just can't tell what he's thinking anymore. I used to think I
knew him really well. Now it's like we're just getting farther and
farther apart…" She trailed off with a sigh before glancing back up at
Ran only to pause. "Mouri-san? Are you all right?""Just call me
Ran," the other girl replied then smiled a bit ruefully. "And I'm fine,
it's just that what you were saying kind of reminded me of a problem
I've been having too.""Well, you listened to me ramble, it's only fair that I listen to you right?"The two girls' eyes met over their respective deserts and they both laughed, feeling suddenly a great deal more lighthearted.
X
"Good evening~!""How
did you get my phone number?" Shinichi asked in surprise before
remembering who exactly he was talking to. "Never mind, don't answer
that. I don't want to know. Why are you calling me?" He'd been seated in
his library, reading a book for school after a nap which had left him
feeling a lot better than he had earlier that afternoon. Of all the
things to be interrupted by, a call from Kaitou KID was definitely not
what he would have expected."I just thought you might want to know that I was here."Shinichi
frowned. "What exactly do you mean by here?" Instead of answering
however, KID hung up. Shinichi drew the cell phone away from his ear
slowly and stared at it a moment. What—"I have the videos!" the
thief announced, waltzing into the Kudo library and making Shinichi
jump. Okay, so apparently KID had meant what he'd said quite literally.
Why had he even bothered calling?"Couldn't you have at least rung the doorbell before letting yourself in?" Shinichi demanded, settling back into his chair as his heart rate began to calm."But
that would mean I'd have to make a detour out front. Besides, I called,
didn't I?" KID pointed out, placing a bag on the reading table before
flopping into an empty armchair for all the world like this was his
house and not Shinichi's."I hope you closed the window then," the
detective huffed, shooting his 'guest' a flat look before getting up to
peer into the bag on the table. It contained a stack of unmarked disks
in plastic holders. He cringed inside at the thought of how KID had
probably gotten them."They're all copies," the thief in question
said as though he'd read Shinichi's mind. "Besides, you'd have had to
ask them for these eventually anyway. We're actually saving them some
time and effort.""You're assuming they'd have just given us the recordings when asked.""Yeah,
well, I'm sure they would have," KID replied, waving away Shinichi's
objections as irrelevant. "We can give 'em back when we're done if it
makes you feel better. So are we gonna watch them or do you want to
stare at the discs some more?""I have homework you know—as you should too.""We don't have to go through them all at once.""Why did you bring them here to watch anyway?" Shinichi asked curiously."Didn't you want to see them too?"'"Well, yeah, but—""There you go then. Come on. You look like you could use a break anyway. Might as well watch some TV."Before
Shinichi could agree or protest, he had already been pulled from his
comfortable chair, down the hall and the stairs, and into the living
room where he was pushed into a different chair as KID moved to pop a
disc into the DVD player. He was slightly disturbed by how the thief
seemed to know exactly where everything was in his house. Although it
probably shouldn't surprise him since he knew KID had already been there
twice before. He'd probably taken some time to familiarize himself with
the layout of things just in case of emergencies.Watching KID
bound around his living room, setting things up, Shinichi couldn't help
but feel like something was a bit off about the magician today. It
wasn't anything obvious, but there seemed to be a slight strain to his
usual cheeriness. Maybe a hint of distraction. Considering how good of
an actor the man was however, whatever was bothering him must really be
severe.Shinichi debated asking him about it but decided not to.
KID was, after all, a thief. He wasn't likely to take too well to
receiving personal questions from a detective, even if he seemed hell
bent on barging into Shinichi's house on a freakishly regular basis.Well, if he really was coming over because it helped him unwind (which would be downright weird, but this was
KID after all), then Shinichi wasn't going to stop him. He knew too
well how hard peace could be to find sometimes. And besides, the thief
was being helpful in his own way, whatever his reasons.And,
really, Shinichi had to admit it was…kind of nice to have company now
and then. He didn't get many guests. Ran used to come over fairly
regularly, but she didn't anymore. His parents swung by on occasion but
he hadn't seen them either in a while. In fact, now that he thought
about it, in the last few weeks the only people who'd visited his house
were Agasa and Haibara.Letting out a quiet sigh, he stood up. "Do you want anything to drink?"KID shot him a look that might have been surprised then grinned. "Can't watch a movie without drinks, eh? Anything's fine."Shinichi
nodded and left for the kitchen. They spent the next hour watching one
of the heist recordings, memorizing faces and locations for future
reference—and listening to KID give the play by play on his show since
'You didn't get to see any of it'. Shinichi had to admit, it made what
might otherwise have been a tedious task a great deal less boring,
especially when they got to comparing notes on the various audience
members they had either seen or felt were worth keeping an eye out for.When
they decided to call it a day, KID announced that he would be back
before disappearing with a puff of smoke and a jaunty wave. And he kept
his word. The following day he was back at almost the same time.Shinichi
was a little surprised one morning when he realized that his life had
actually settled down some these last few days. He got up in the
morning, went to school, helped the police, and went home to do his
homework. And every night he spent about an hour watching and discussing
the recordings of the science museum heist with Kaitou KID—who had
started bringing popcorn.