Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Life is full of mystery. Or in other words, the human itself is the mystery. While other living creatures are content to follow the natural law, humans rebel against anything, trying to figure out how this world works and hacks their life around.

But one of the most mysterious things for humans, maybe the so-called "fate".

What is fate actually? Is it something that has been decided beyond human power or it is the result of decision from humans themselves?

Because for Hakuba Saguru, he never really believes in fate. But strangely, his life is full of interconnected fate of threads tangled around. He never knows how to make out of that.

"Say, Hakuba-kun, why are you suspecting Kaito as Kid?"

Hakuba blinks his eyes. The girl beside her, Nakamori Aoko, who carries a pile of books from the library for the next lesson, is suddenly asking him an unexpected question. Hakuba adjusts the books in his hand while pondering.

'Why now?' he asks in his mind. He has been suspecting Kaito for Kid for months. Heck, he even enrolled in this very school just to follow Kaito around. He has been waiting for this question to come sooner, for him though, the momentum has lost.

"I have been waiting for someone to ask me that question honestly," he says. He knows that Aoko is suspecting her childhood friend too. No matter how many tricks Kaito has played to deceive her, the lingering doubt is never gone.

"Because there was Kid and Kaito in the same place, you know about that too Hakuba-kun! Aoko wants to clear her head, so she can stop imagining things."

He feels a little pity for his classmate. Kaito has almost driven her insane. Hakuba can relate to that feeling.

The reason for why he suspects Kaito as Kid, huh? He has prepared so many answers for this question, but now someone is asking him, Hakuba is rather speechless.

"It is fate, I guess?" Hakuba says while smiling.

Aoko tilts her head in confusion and Hakuba just ignores her.

It is simply too long to answer why and Hakuba is too paranoid if Kaito is listening to them from somewhere.

Fate, as funny as it sounds, may be the best word to explain why he became tangled into this Kaito Kid shenanigans in the first place.

o0o0o0o

As soon as Hakuba arrives at home after school, he enters his bedroom and pulls a big folder file. There is no title, rather strange for his neat freak nature.

As he opens the buttons of his gakuran uniform, he also opens the folder file.

Right, this is where all of this so-called 'fate' begins.

He traced a picture of a young boy with blonde hair and a middle aged man with a raven hair and a mustache.

Kuroba Toichi.

He wonders how Kaito will react if he knows that Hakuba has met his father before.

There is a clipping newspaper beside the photo, written in English.

"A Famous Japanese Magician Solved A Stolen €10.000 Worth Jewelry Case."

Hakuba laughs a bit. Right, it was his first unofficial case. Why unofficial? Because he asked someone to help deliver the deduction for him.

Even though Hakuba can barely recall the man's face, it was an unforgettable event.

Flash Back

Hakuba sighs, he watches the commotion around him with a tired face. He was never fond of parties, especially grown up parties. It is his aunt's friend's birthday party, it is held in a big ballroom of a hotel. The reason why Hakuba is there is because supposedly there will be some show from a famous magician and his aunt brought him along.

But before the party started, the birthday woman screamed that her very expensive and specifically made for this party, a necklace, had gone.

Now there are police, confused and upset guests, and bewildered and angry family members.

If it is possible, Hakuba wants to go home. But since the jewelry is gone, the police conducts searches throughout the building to find it and of course, the guests can't go home.

Hakuba hopes he can find things to keep him entertained. But the only interesting thing here is the case itself. He is only 8 at the moment, he wonders if he can sneak in to the crime scene unnoticed.

His aunt is too busy chatting and gossiping with her friends anyway.

The guard of the crime scene is not too tight, it happens in the dressing room beside the hall. Hakuba slips in when the officer on guard is busy talking with his friend.

It is his first time doing something like this, if he gets caught, he will get severe punishment from his family. But Hakuba wants to try to deduce things just like his favorite character, Sherlock Holmes. This may be his only chance to try the real deal, so he decides to be brave and starts to inspect the crime scene.

Unexpectedly, nothing looks weird. Everything is in order, he had always imagines the crime scene as a disarray room. It is as if nothing had happens here.

He looks at the bust up mannequin on the other side of the wall. That is where the necklace is supposed to be. His aunt's friend was supposed to wear it after she finished her makeup. There is also a long table vanity with several chairs. The table is full with makeup equipment. And there is a big fish tank in the corner of the room.

Hakuba walks around as quietly as possible and he feels like he steps on something.

He picks it up. A small crystal? Hakuba knows this is just ordinary glass crystal though, not a jewelry. What is it doing on the floor?

"Boy, what are you doing here?"

Hakuba gasps and turns to see the policeman. He smiles awkwardly and runs away before he can ask more things.

"You can't go inside again!" the police shouts.

Hakuba runs to the end of the hallway and catches his breath. He feels bad for being , but he also feels excited. He examines the crystal again in wonder. This is really small, a pin head size. Someone could mistake this as a real jewelry.

But from the picture he sneaked to peek before, the necklace is like a web full of white and blue diamonds.

But, this is only an ordinary glass crystal, he still wonders where this comes from.

"It looks like some crystals seeds for glass flowers."

Hakuba turns around and finds a middle aged man smiling at him. He has an Asian face and Hakuba can hear some strange accent in his words.

"Crystal seeds?" Hakuba asks back.

"Ah sorry, I don't know what it is in English. You see, just like this glass flowers here," the man points out at a vase full of flowers made from glass just beside him. He puts his hand inside and pulls off many grains of crystals.

"These crystals are made this way to help the glass flowers stand better in the vase."

Hakuba blinks and approaches the vase. The man gives him some of the small crystals.

"But these crystals look like rice... This one is different..." Hakuba shows the crystal he picked earlier. But the man laughs.

"Rice huh? I guess it looks like that... What is your name?"

Hakuba feels rather reluctant to give his name, but he answers it anyway. "Hakuba Saguru."

"Japanese?" the man asks. Hakuba nods.

"Half Japanese."

"Ah I see, then do you understand Japanese?" the man asks again. Hakuba shakes his head fast.

"No, just some words..."

"Okay, okay, lets just talk in English, Saguru-kun."

He never hears someone call his name like that, but Hakuba shrugs that aside.

"Just like you said, this crystal is different. It almost looks like diamond, it is as if this is from a fake jewelry," the man inspects the crystal in Hakuba's hand.

Hakuba nods. He doesn't think his aunt's friend ordered a special made fake jewelry though, her family is a wealthy one. Hakuba can't imagine a reason why there should be fake jewelry in the dressing room.

"I see... Are you playing detective?"

Hakuba blinks his eyes and turns to see the man smiling again at him.

The little boy blushes a little, he never imagines someone will call him detective. Even though it is in a playful way.

"If you need help, just ask me. I will be around, I have to do something. Good luck, little detective."

Hakuba just watches the man walk away. Hakuba is never really fond of adults, but that man feels different. Like, he is very cool but also somewhat fun? Hakuba can't describe it well.

He shakes his head, he needs to focus on the case now.

He needs to think in order first.

His aunt's friend noticed her necklace gone around 2 hours ago. She said it was still there when she dressed and did her make up. There were two other people in that room, her assistant and makeup artist.

Then the assistant went out from the room and came back to inform her of something wrong at the arrangement of the party. So his aunt's friend came out from the dressing room for around 45 minutes.

But her father came to the room 5 minutes after she was gone and said that the necklace was still there. He came to use the phone in the dressing room to call his wife. The makeup artist went to the bathroom for 30 minutes.

Then the makeup artist came back and prepared makeup tools while the father was still on the phone. After the father ended the call and went outside, the make up artist came out from the dressing room again to find the birthday woman at the same time, both of them said that the necklace was still there. The make up artist and his aunt's friend were back in the room in 5 minutes but then both of them noticed that the necklace was gone.

After that, people tried to look for the necklace for 30 minutes before finally they called the police. The police came, they searched the whole building and did body search on all the guests but found nothing. From the guard of the hall, he said no one came out from the hall. The emergency exit is also not far from the lift beside the guard.

How could someone steal a necklace so fast and hide it in just several minutes?

The people start to say that there must be some outsider stealing the necklace. But...

Hakuba walks around again. He doesn't know what to search but he just tries to find anything weird. The police can't find the necklace so maybe it is also impossible for him to find it by himself.

His eyes catch something blinking below a table. He picks it. A screw. Hakuba tilts his head.

Why does he keep finding random things? He believes a nice hotel like this will clean the hotel throughout several times a day, so there is no reason something like this is lying around.

Hakuba looks around, is the screw from around here?

He finds a big air ventilation on the wall. There is one screw gone. It looks like the screw in his hand matches up with the rest of the screw.

He has seen it in the movies, people crawling around in the air ventilation. Does the culprit hide the jewelry there?

But, in only 5 minutes? To unscrew, to crawl, to hide it quite far, then to crawl back and screw it again, Hakuba isn't sure someone can do it in 5 minutes.

And more some police have tried to search the necklace here too, they went quite long and found nothing.

Though, Hakuba suspected they didn't try to crawl to the end of the air ventilation, but then again, it is impossible to hide it so far away in the air ventilation in just 5 minutes.

Hakuba sighs. No, he hits a dead end. Like what he expected, being a detective is harder than in novels.

"Are you giving up?"

Hakuba jumps out in surprise. He turns to see that man again.

"I can't figure out the trick...," Hakuba admits it.

"You are right, it is quite hard," the man agrees. "Maybe you also need to look at the people too, not just some non-living objects."

Hakuba frowns, why does this man act as if he knows how to be a detective? But Hakuba follows his suggestion anyway.

He doesn't think he can ask any people questions though.

He finds the father of the birthday woman in the corner of the hall. He looks tired and he applies some eye drops to his eyes.

Hakuba is staring at the eye drops.

"Are you wondering what this is?" he asks. He is a round and big old man, maybe around 50-60 years old.

Hakuba nods a little.

"This is a medicine. You see, when you are getting old, you can't see very well. The doctor said I need to get surgery after this party, but now that the necklace is gone, I think I will be busy for awhile..."

Can't see well?

Hakuba stares at the small crystal in his hand.

There are also some glass flowers at the crime scene. And then, a fish tank with many rocks inside it...

That's it!

Hakuba has figured it out.

But oh no, he didn't think there was solid evidence. The crystal in his hand and the screw is too small to detect for fingerprints. How could he do it...

Hakuba approaches the dressing room again, it seems the officers become restless because they are hitting the dead end too. Hakuba needs more evidence but he isn't sure he can slip into the crime scene again. If his deduction is right, there should be more evidence, visible from naked eyes.

"I guess, you need some help?"

Hakuba turns to see the man already beside him. Why does this man always appear unnoticed?

"Yeah, I need to get more evidence from the crime scene."

"Let me help with that."

The man approaches the policemen and talks to them, Hakuba can't hear him but then the policemen run to the other side in a hurry.

"See, let's check the inside," the man smiles. Hakuba thinks that the strange man told police some lies. Would he be alright later?

Nonetheless, Hakuba enters the crime scene once again with the man and walks to the glass flower vase. Hakuba puts it in his hand and tries to find what he wants.

He finds more round pin head sized crystals. He puts his hand deeper and his fingers feel something weird.

"What is this?" asks Hakuba. It looks like a nail, but it is really colorful and full of ornaments.

"I think this is a fake nail, or artificial nail. Women like to use this a lot, especially for nail art," that man answers.

Ah, Hakuba has seen his mother and aunts wearing them. But to think this is inside the vase, it could be a good solid evidence. Hakuba jumps and runs to the fish tank. He can see some rocks shining inside. Hakuba smiles, just what he expected.

Now, he needs more evidence about the artificial nail.

"I think there should be a photo for that."

Hakuba gasps, that man smiles at him, like he can read his thoughts.

"There is a photographer here, he kept taking pictures of everyone before the police arrived, so I think he has what you want."

Hakuba is a little confused. He doesn't explain anything and yet it seems this old man follows his way of thought. It is a little scary. Or maybe, he already solved the trick before Hakuba did?

"I will find the photographer, then you can have a deduction show for everyone, okay Saguru-kun?" he says.

"Wait, there is one thing!" Hakuba shouts, to make the man stop leaving. "There is one thing I can't understand, this trick won't work if Mr. Herald didn't use the phone in this room... such a coincidence like that... isn't it too risky?"

The man smiles, like he already knows everything. To be honest, it makes Hakuba pissed a little. It feels like Hakuba has squeezed all the cells in his brain to make this deduction, while the man does it in a breeze.

"Someone said to me, as a detective, you can't believe in 'coincidence'. You really need to prove whether it is really a coincidence or not."

Hakuba blinks his eyes, trying to absorb that man's words.

"You see, Mr. Herald's wife is traveling around Europe right now. Mr. Herald always calls her at a fixed time, every night, using the phone, because he can't see words in the cell phone really well. The nearest phone from the hall is in this dressing room, now, can we call that a coincidence?"

Hakuba shakes his head. "And there is one more thing," the boy says with a troubled face.

"What is it?"

"I can't deliver the deduction to everyone. It is impossible. I'm only a kid."

The man stares at Hakuba for a while, and the blonde boy almost cowers at those sharp eyes. Hakuba can't explain his family situation. The real reason why if his family finds out what he is doing, he will receive harsh punishment.

"Okay... I understand. It is my first time playing detective, but I have no choice I guess... So let's talk about our deduction, let's see if we guessed the same thing."

o0o0o0o

"The culprit is you, Ms. Sarah Smith, aka, the makeup artist for this party."

Hakuba watches the man deliver the deduction just like a climax in a mystery drama. That man knows how to do it even though he said it is his first time. Does he copy someone else he knows?

"I'm not the culprit! Are you insane? The necklace was still there when I came out from the dressing room with Mr. Herald. No way I come back to steal the necklace again in just 5 minutes and hide in somewhere else where even the police can't find it."

The man smiles, with such confidence. Hakuba watches him in awe.

"Of course not. Because the necklace has been gone way before you and Mr. Herald came out together from the dressing room. Right, it was when you said you went to the bathroom for 30 minutes!"

The suspect is shocked. The suspense is real. Hakuba guesses, the real deal is much more interesting than fiction.

"No way!"

"It is a simple trick. This is what you did. You have prepared a fake necklace beforehand. Then, you also have planned some trouble at the party so Ms. Katie would come out from the dressing room. Then, you switch the real necklace with the fake necklace before Mr. Herald comes in as you predicted. You see, Mr. Herald has a bad eyesight, so he couldn't tell whether the necklace is real or not. Then you come out from the dressing room, you hide the necklace somewhere else. I think 30 minutes is a long time to hide things in a faraway place, like in the air ventilation."

As if it has been planned before, a policeman comes out from the air ventilation with a little bag in his hand. "Inspector, I found this necklace in a really deep place in the air ventilation!"

The suspect is cornered. "But you don't have proof that I'm the one who did that!"

The man smiles again. "When you come out from the dressing room for the second time, I believe you set some thread to the door to pull out the fake necklace. It is already made to be easily broken away and scattered to many places. When you entered the room again with Ms. Katie, you pretended to search the necklace while in fact you were hiding the scattered fake jewelry. Right, you hide the blue crystal ones in the fish tank, people won't see it with all those stone decorations. And the white crystal ones inside the vase."

The suspected woman grits her teeth as the man is talking. "But, I bet you hid the fake jewelry in a hurry, so you didn't notice that one of your artificial nails came off and got into the vase."

The man shows an artificial nail. The woman shows that her fingers are free from any kind of nail art. "No need to argue more. I already found some photos that showed you use this particular artificial nail with a very distinct nail art. Unless you can explain how your artificial nail can end up deep inside the vase, then I guess, you can't deny that you are the culprit, Ms. Katie."

The woman's knee suddenly gives up and she falls to the floor.

Hakuba watches everything with twinkling eyes. He has never seen something as cool as this before.

There is a commotion of police and angry guests surrounding the man and the culprit, Hakuba just smiles and turns around. The case is over, finally he can go home.

"Congratulations for your deduction, little detective."

The man, once again, has appeared right beside him. He pats Hakuba's hair gently. Hakuba feels embarrassed.

"I think you can do it well even without me," the boy says.

"I only can guess how the trick works, but you are the one who found all the proofs. You are the detective in this case, I am only able to see it from a different perspective."

Hakuba's face reddened more. Then the man suddenly pulls out a handkerchief then when he pulls the handkerchief away, there is a miniature medal in his hand. "For your very first case, congratulations. It is a little weird coming from me, but I think you can be a great detective, Little Holmes."

Hakuba picks the small medal and watches the man smile at him. Finally, Hakuba smiles back at him. 

“Thank you.”

Flash Back End

Hakuba pulls the drawer below his desk. He picks the small medal, it is made from a coin with some makeshift fabrics. To think that Kuroba Toichi is the one who pushed him to be a detective, no one would believe that. 

And more, Hakuba even forgot that man’s name before. He just knew him as a magician. Once he got older and became a better detective, he finally tried to find out the man identity that turned out to be Kaito’s father. 

What kind of fate is that? Hakuba smiles to himself. 

He turns the page and he frowns. Two whole pages full of articles about Kuroba Toichi’s sudden death. He was devastated to find out that the magician had passed away before Hakuba could say thanks. 

But the weirdest thing happens next. It was also by chance. He only passed some free time by watching a show about some unsolved case. Then, the show was about Kaitou Kid. Hakuba can still remember that exact episode. 

Back then, it was just after Kuroba Toichi’s 7th death anniversary. And the show also mentioned that it has been 7th year since Kaitou Kid's last appearance. What a coincidence. 

But, just like how Toichi has told him before, Hakuba will always prove whether it is really a coincidence or not. Because, not only the matching time, but also the fact that Kaitou Kid used magic to steal, and Kuroba Toichi was a famous skillful magician. Not to mention, 75% heists happened in Japan. It was way too many coincidences to be ignored. 

And then, Hakuba opened and skipped some pages, it was full of Kuroba Toichi’s data and he arrived at Hakuba’s messy scribbles of deduction. No one can understand this beside himself. He only did this to get rid of suspicion of Kuroba Toichi being a Kaitou Kid but only became more suspicious. 

He matched the time when Kaitou Kid has heist outside Japan with the time Kuroba Toichi held a magic show outside Japan. 

And the matching resulted in a 65% match. It is still too suspicious to be a mere coincidence. 

He also tried to record whether Toichi ever held a magic show in Japan at the same time with Kid’s heist and the result only showed 15%. 

When he first did this, he didn’t know how to make it out of it. Kuroba Toichi was dead, Kaitou Kid had disappeared. He guessed he wouldn’t know the truth, not to mention he was in England so it was hard to conduct deeper research about that. It would be forever a mystery. Or that was what he thought. 

Hakuba skips some pages again.

But then a year later, Kid showed up again. 

Then, the reason why Hakuba suspects Kaito as the Kaitou Kid?

He opens the previous page, where there is some article about Kuroba Toichi identity, works and family. Of course there is also Kuroba Kaito listed there. 

At first, Hakuba wonders why after 8th year, Kid showed up again? Why did he need 8 years to come back? Does he find another reason to keep stealing again? Did he need 8 years to be able to steal again?

Then again, no one can make sure whether the new Kid is the same Kid from 8 years ago. It wasn’t too hard to copy his style, even his trademark sign card is easy to be fabricate. 

But then again, the same question, even for copycat, why 8 years? People almost forget about Kaitou Kid, there are many other thefts around the world to use as a copycat source. 

Yeah, it hit Hakuba hard when he noticed that Kuroba Toichi’s son, Kuroba Kaito is the same age as him, it means he is 17 years old now. 

Just like how Hakuba has blossomed into a better detective, it was a decent age to continue parent’s heritage. 

Hakuba just can’t ignore it anymore. So, he decided to go to Japan to investigate on his own.

His suspicion becomes solid when he finds out how skillful Kuroba Kaito is as a magician. He even moved into the same school, so he can prove his suspicion. 

Hakuba sighs and closes the file. 

He doesn’t think anyone can understand nor follow his way of thought. 

It is true that it can be everything just a coincidence and he is wrong this whole time. But, first, like always, he needs to prove whether it is really just a coincidence or not. 

If he hadn’t met Kuroba Toichi back then, he won’t be a detective just like he is now, and then he won’t be suspicious about Kuroba Toichi as Kaitou Kid and he won’t even bother to move into a highschool in Japan and chase the current Kaitou Kid. 

What a strange tangled fate. 

There is just one point though. 

He doesn’t mind if he is wrong, even, deep in his heart, he wishes he was wrong with all of this suspicions. Because it will be hard for him to accept the fact that the man who inspired him to be a detective is actually Kaitou Kid. Then not only that, he also has to put his son behind the bar. 

“I hope I will find the answer to why we have to meet that day, Toichi-san. What kind of fate will wait for me after this? Somehow, I’m not too eager to find out,” Hakuba mumbles with heavy eyes. 

He knows he needs to do what he can do, even though he isn’t sure what he wants to do at this point. But, maybe, he will find the answer later. The answer of tangled fate that caught him to solve someone’s mystery. 

To Be Continued

Chapter Text

Coincidence, it means a remarkable concurrence of events or circumstances without apparent causal connection. Hakuba wonders if coincidence could be called “fate”. Even though as a detective, he can’t just so easily believe in coincidence. But, coincidence definitely exists.

Just like what happens to him right now.

He knows that Kid tends to target him, more than any other person, during heist. He didn’t expect the phantom Kid would lock him into a closet even before the heist started. Such a childish trick, Hakuba feels ashamed to fall into such an easy trap.

Right now, the museum is almost deserted. Most of the police officers are chasing Kid outside right now. Hakuba doesn’t even bother to follow them, since the chance they can capture Kid once the heist is done is pretty low. Hakuba chooses to inspect the disarray museum.

Even though he missed the entire heist, but he sort of can imagine what happened during the heist. He smiles to see many splattered paints around the museum, it might be Kid’s new trick to paint every officer available with some kind of paint bomb.

Since Kid is using his famous hang glider to escape and no window is broken, he must be escaped from the roof. Hakuba trails the disaster to the rooftop. With the amount of confetti, paints and even glitter around him, the English detective feels a bit glad to miss the heist.

Hakuba embraces his body tighter once he goes outside. The rooftop is quite cold and windy. The trails of paints are still there. He follows them until the fence of the rooftop. He can see the twinkling light of police cars on the streets from above here.

Since the rooftop is dark, Hakuba uses his phone as a flashlight to see the rooftop better. Kid sometimes returns the jewel immediately, so it is better to check the surroundings carefully.

“Hm?” Hakuba sees something, and it isn’t the jewel. He crouches down and traces the floor.

A bullet hole on the floor, and it is still new.

Hakuba doesn’t think he heard any gunshot earlier. He believes he has sharp hearing as a detective, but did he miss it? Hakuba doubts that, even when he was in the closet, he could still hear all the commotion around the museum. Did Inspector Nakamori fire his gun again? But, almost no police officers use guns with silencers, unless in a special case.

Hakuba still can’t believe he missed hearing the gunshot. Even if the heist is always noisy, almost all police officers will be silent once they hear a gunshot sound. Unless Kid used other explosive materials that cover the gunshot sound, Hakuba didn’t hear any of them either.

With a confused face, Hakuba takes some pictures of the gunshot. He will check about this with Inspector Nakamori later.

O0o0o0o

“The report isn’t done yet, Hakuba. You know the report takes so long to finish.”

Hakuba nods slightly, he knows. Especially with Kid heist, too many things to be written with full details. Hakuba knows that the report won’t be done in less than 24 hours after the heist, still he tried his luck coming into the police department once the school was over. But it seems, he has no luck.

“I’m sorry to rush you, I missed most of the heist, so I’m eager to read the report to know what had happened,” Hakuba flashes his smile.

Inspector Nakamori looks pissed, but Hakuba has long believed that it is his normal expression. Hakuba can still see some of the remains of blue paint on his hair. He must have a rough night.

“Like everyone else told you, Kid used a sleeping gas bomb to steal the gem, then he used many paint bombs to hinder the rest of the police officers, once we caught on to him on the rooftop, he had used his damned hang glider. End of story.”

From his expression, Inspector Nakamori still looks pissed that Hakuba missed most of the heist. It isn’t Hakuba’s choice to be locked inside a closet either, so it isn’t his fault.

“Did you use your gun last night?” Hakuba asks. That is the reason why he is coming here, he wants to find the truth of the bullet hole he found.

“Huh? I didn’t use any last night, were you dreaming or something?”

Hakuba blinks his eyes a few times. That is weird.

“At Kid’s heist, who else was carrying a gun beside you, Inspector Nakamori?” he asks again. He already knows the answer of this question, he just wants to make sure.

“Hm… beside me, two of my juniors. But, they don’t always carry it during Kid’s heist. Most of the time, just me, you already know it.”

Hakuba is silent once again. He puts his hand below his chin.

“Now, if you are done asking questions, please go away, I have a ton of reports to be written now!” Inspector Nakamori shouts at him.

“Thank you for your time Inspector Nakamori,” Hakuba turns with a smile, he knows that he only makes the inspector more pissed but Hakuba doesn’t care.

He walks into different departments. It is good that he has brought something beforehand since he expects this will happen.

O0o0o0o

“Kid’s heist photos last night? But, we haven’t sorted them yet…”

Hakuba isn’t really familiar with the forensic department, but this is where police gather the evidence from criminal cases. If the report isn’t done yet, then Hakuba knows he can get some other proofs here. Even though maybe some of the forensic team haven’t done their investigation yet, like gathering all the footprints, or some leftover from the paint bomb, Hakuba only needs the crime scene photography.

“It is okay, just give me the raw files, and if it is possible, all of the raw photo files from the previous heists too,” Hakuba shows the officer his external hard disk. He knows that there will be tons of photos from Kid’s heist, so a normal USB disk can’t cut it.

“Are you sure? We still have the raw files too, but there will be thousands of them.”

Hakuba knows that there are tons of photos that need to be taken from each Kid’s heist. Every bomb, confetti, even glitter need to be documented.

"It is okay, just copy everything please," he says. Hakuba is famous as a very detailed detective, so he is sure everyone already knows about that by now.

"I will copy the raw files from last night heist, for the other heist you can just borrow the CD files. There are so many of them, we have enough to fill the folder to the brim," the officer stands and gets a big folder case from the cabinet.

"Thank you very much, I will return them once I'm done copy everything," Hakuba receives the folders, it is quite heavy.

"Sure, it is good if you can find something else," the officer gives back the external hard disk to Hakuba.

Hakuba smiles, well, it doesn't like he will find something else. Maybe, it is more likely he will find something missing from the photos, he hopes he is wrong though.

o0o0o0o

Once Hakuba gets back home, he turns on his computer immediately and browses all the raw file photos from the heist last night.

But…

"Nothing… how can it be…" Hakuba mumbles in worry. He can't find any bullet hole photos from the raw files. He has browsed around the photo folders for exactly 10 times and he found nothing.

He can't believe that the forensic department missed a bullet hole evidence. Even Hakuba himself could find the bullet hole just using his phone, so how could a professional with all of their equipment miss it?

But Inspector Nakamori also has no clue about gunshot sound, no police officers mentioned about it and it seems the forensic department has no clue either.

It is almost like Hakuba is dreaming.

Hakuba turns back into the bullet hole photos from his phone. It is real, the photos are the proof. The quality might be not really good because of low lighting and he only used his phone, but unmistakably, it is a bullet hole.

So how did everyone miss this beside him?

Hakuba put his hand under his chin again.

He needs to go back to the museum tomorrow.

He will take a better picture with a decent camera and show it to Inspector Nakamori.

For some reason, he feels a bit uneasy. All of this is too weird, even for Kid's heist standard. Hakuba doesn't understand what is going on. It feels like there is something dark and huge lurking around the corner of his mind.

He hopes it is just him being paranoid.

o0o0o0o

"Is it being renovated!? This soon!?"

Hakuba can't even mask his surprise. He doesn' t care that he just ruined his cool demeanor, because he is truly shocked.

"Yeah, the police say they are done with the crime scene, so we are free to do fixing and renovating. You see, Kid's heist did much damage to the museum."

The museum director looks honest. But still, in less than 48 hours after the heist, the museum is being renovated, it is way too soon in his opinion. Sometimes the crime scene will be preserved for days, sometimes even months depending on how the case will get judged or not.

He knows Kid's heist falls into a special case. It is impossible to preserve all the museums from Kid's heist for so long. Museums are a business too. And it is still a long way to go since the police still can't capture Kid too, let alone take him to court. Unless the investigation can’t be done quickly for a certain reason, like unsolved murder case. But for Kaito Kid case, the investigation usually will be done in less than 48 hours.

But still…

"And you are starting it from the rooftop?" Hakuba asks again in confusion. The most damaged place is the showcase room where the gem previously displayed. To start from the rooftop where it isn't allowed visitors to come in is a little bit…

"The rooftop floor has been quite damaged since a long time ago so I used this chance to renovate almost the entire museum. And the construction people said, they need to get the rooftop done first since we have good weather today," the museum director explains.

It makes sense, but it still doesn't sit well for Hakuba.

The bullet hole is now gone forever.

"Do you need something as proof for capturing Kid? I'm sorry that I renovate the museum in a hurry…"

"No, it is okay. Don't worry," Hakuba brushes that older man's apology.

It isn't okay though.

No one knows about the bullet hole beside him. No one heard a gunshot sound. No police officer saw the bullet hole. No proof beside Hakuba's photos. And now the crime scene is being renovated.

What is going on? How could this happen? In all his life as a detective, he never finds a situation as bizarre as this.

It is almost like…

There is someone who used a gun on Kid.

And that someone covered all the traces perfectly.

Too perfectly.

This scenario is only possible if that person has some help from the police department. In short, there is an infiltrator in the police department.

Hakuba wants to laugh at his own thinking.

No way, just no way. Something like that could be possible if Kid's attacker is some kind of big mafia or something.

Hakuba gulps, but that is the most reasonable explanation.

Or it could be all Kid doing.

That is less likely. Kid never brought a gun by himself, yeah he could use a gun but usually he stole it from his enemy. And there is no reason why he used a gun on the rooftop last night. Once the officers reached the top, Kid had flight using his hang glider.

So, Kid has an enemy that uses a gun to attack him and then that enemy covers every evidence possible.

The work is really clean, so clean that it could only be done by a professional big mafia group or something.

Hakuba looks up to the sky, on his hand there is a printed photo of a bullet hole he found.

He just stumbled into something very big, didn't he?

o0o0o0o

"Hakuba-kun, are you okay?"

Hakuba snaps and turns into Aoko. She looks worried. Oh right, he must have some dark eyebags right now. And he also keeps zoning out during class, so unlike him. Well, he woke up for the whole night, pondering every possible deduction about a bullet hole he found.

And he is still stuck with the same deduction, about the big mafia group.

"It is okay, Aoko-san. I just lost some sleep, that's all," Hakuba smiles at her.

"Don't bother with him, Aoko. He is probably down because he failed to capture Kid once again."

Hakuba turns to his other classmate, Kuroba Kaito. The boy looks like he usually does. Nothing abnormal, as normal as Kaito can get anyway. Hakuba can't believe that guy just got gunned from some enemy in the previous heist. But then again, he always behaves so normal after heist. What a good poker face.

"What is with that stare?" Kaito asks him. Hakuba blinks, he didn’t mean to stare that much.

“Sorry, I’m just wondering what kind of life you are living,” Hakuba says with a smirk.

“Ah, am I hearing ‘I suspect you as Kaito Kid’ behind those words, or is it just me?” Kaito snarls back.

Hakuba just smiles and turns to Aoko. “Nah, I’m also pondering what kind of life I am living right now. Maybe I got things bigger than what I can handle, but it doesn’t like I can just to turn a blind eye on that.”

Aoko tilts her head a little bit. “Is it a case? Sounds tough,” she simply says.

On the side of his vision, Hakuba can see Kaito gives him a look.

Right, the one who knows about the bullet hole isn’t only Hakuba, but also Kaito Kid himself and the culprit.

If only he can just ask Kid about that, his job will be easier. But then again, being a detective isn’t an easy job. And Hakuba will go all out for this bizarre case.

o0o0o0o

No matter how Hakuba thinks, renovating a former crime scene in less than 48 hours after a heist is too soon. To be honest, he even found some museums doing a ‘Kaito Kid’s Heist Tour’ after the heist, they preserve the crime scene as much as possible, explaining what happens during the heist and Kid fans love them.

And more, usually it takes a day or more to make an agreement with the construction company. Not to mention, the construction company needs some planning too. The only possible explanation of why the renovation is done so fast is to cover the bullet hole evidence.

Hakuba is printing a list of museum and gem owners that got targeted by Kid in the past year. “This is the list Baaya, sorry for troubling you,” he gives the list to his caretaker.

“So, I just need to ask people on this list about when they did the renovation of their place?” Baaya asks him. Hakuba nods with a serious face.

“I count on you, Baaya, please tell me when you are done,” he says. His caretaker bows to him and exits his room. Hakuba still has to browse all of the raw photo files of Kid heists to find whether there are documented unknown bullet holes or not.

A few hours and a few cups of tea later, Hakuba massages his temple. The forensic officer wasn’t kidding about thousands of photos of Kid’s heists. There are 7648 photos of them, they make Hakuba's eyes seeing stars now.

He decides to take a break and opens the windows. The night has fallen, it seems this night will be a sleepless night too since he needs to browse all the photos a few more times to make sure he doesn’t miss anything.

As far as his investigation goes, he doesn’t find any undocumentted bullet hole. There is a case where there is a victim got shot during Red Tear heist and the culprit is unknown, but that’s it. Maybe because there are some witnesses at that time, so it is hard to erase the trace. Killing all the witnesses will be way too suspicious too, it will only get the police's attention.

Even though Kid has many enemies before, none of them use guns either. The only recorded shoots during Kid’s heist are from Kid himself or Inspector Nakamori. The photos match with the reports too, so Hakuba never finds it strange.

But now…

There is a knock on the door. “Saguru-bochama?”

“Yes, what is it Baaya?”

The door opens and his caretaker comes in. “I finished calling all of the owner of the jewels and the museums, this is the list of when they did renovation in their place after heist.”

“Thank you very much Baaya,” Hakuba says with a smile.

“And please don’t forget to eat dinner, should I bring the dinner here?”

Hakuba’s smile grows softer. “Yes please, you really know me.”

Baaya smiles fondly at him then exits the room again. Hakuba sits while reading the list. He is amazed at his caretaker to do this so fast, she is sure used at being his assistant.

His worry becomes reality when he reads the list carefully. Like what he feared, there are some other places that did the renovation so quick, just like the previous museum. They did the renovation in less than 2 days after the heist. There are 5 other museums and owners of the jewels that did that.

Now, he has 5 places to go to tomorrow. It will be quite a long investigation.

“Dinner is ready, Saguru-bochama.”

“Yes, Baaya.”

Hakuba just hopes he doesn’t lose anymore sleep. Someone will scold him harshly if his dark eye bags become permanent.

o0o0o0o

Ever since Kaito became the Kaitou Kid, he has had some kind of sense into weird things. Even though Jii's intuition is sharper than him, Kaito also has some intuition himself. Like, he gets certain feelings randomly.

For now, Kaito knows Hakuba is up to something and it is bad.

The London Detective has been nodding in the class, with dark eye bags, and lost interest at bickering with him. It has been since Kaito locked him into a closet since the previous heist. He is sure Hakuba doesn’t have claustrophobia, so Kaito doesn’t think he makes any mistake.

Well, he is glad he put more effort into keeping the police away, because like he feared, Snake came to him on the rooftop. He managed to dodged all the shots before he jumped into the sky.

And like usual, the police officers have no clue at all.

And Hakuba himself…

Kaito hopes that British detective won’t get any clue at all.

Kaito doesn't know what Hakuba will do if he finds out about… everything. His feelings about that blonde are still somewhat mixed. Kaito doesn’t really hate him, sure Hakuba is annoying as hell. And different from that shrunken little detective, Kaito can’t relate to his detective classmate at all.

What is with his obsession at chasing Kid? There are many other cases to be solved around the world, why him? And why did he move into his class too? Not to mention his accusation of him being Kaitou Kid, in front of other people too. Kaito has enough people suspecting him, Hakuba just makes his life harder.

Well, he does make things interesting, but sometimes Kaito hopes Hakuba will just leave him alone.

But it doesn’t mean Kaito wants Hakuba to find out anything about that weird organization. They aren’t small group criminals, they are really dangerous. How they managed to hide all those shots from the police officers still make Kaito feel bewildered. Not to mention how they get more aggressive now. Kaito doesn’t want anyone to get injured because of him.

Hakuba turns and meets Kaito’s eyes.

Both of them are equally surprised. Kaito turns away with a distasteful face and Hakuba turns back his attention to the teacher before nodding off again.

Well, it isn't like Kaitou Kid is the only case Hakuba handled, Kaito hopes he is wrong about this bad feeling.

o0o0o0o

Hakuba is a very detailed person. Not only he recorded times into milliseconds, he likes to prepare things a lot beforehand. Maybe, he is also a little bit paranoid. He knows that Kaito Kid heist is mostly safe, but from his undergoing investigation about the bullet hole, it seems he is too lenient about that.

His father doesn’t say anything when Hakuba asks for a bullet proof vest, not like he ever asks him anything about Hakuba’s agenda.

The stun gun may be a little overkill.

He requested the gun model for this one. The one that British police used, but this very model is still a prototype. His uncle said this one is easy to short circuit if handled roughly, but the advantage is that this one uses an electric bullet that shocks the target, without any wire attached. The shock is quite high, it could paralyze the target for a while. And there are only two bullets available for each cartridge.

The stun gun is quite small, about the same as a small gun, so Hakuba can hide it inside his blazer.

Hakuba wonders if Kid ever wears a bulletproof vest.

Based on how agile he moves, probably not.

Hakuba pats his chest, under his usual shirt and blazer, there is a stun gun and bulletproof vest. He feels a little weird.

“You look so tense Hakuba-kun.”

Hakuba snaps again, he turns to Inspector Nakamori. Damn, he keeps zoning out these days. Is he so shaken about the probability of Kid’s enemy being a huge organization that has infiltrated the police department?

Based on how the bulletproof vest hinders his movement, probably yes.

He feels like he can’t trust anyone right now, including the police. It makes him feel restless and paranoid.

“I’m sorry, I don’t get enough sleep these days,” he answers, half truth.

Inspector Nakamori usually hates his arrogant and smug demeanor, but to think even that stern inspector looks at him with worry, Hakuba feels he has to gather himself.

Oh right, maybe because that inspector is also a father who has a daughter with the same age as Hakuba, maybe he is a lot sharper with this kind of thing. Hakuba’s eyes softened. He is a little bit envious of Aoko, he thinks Inspector Nakamori is quite a good father.

Maybe, he can trust Inspector Nakamori, a little bit.

“I’m a little bit afraid that I will get myself into a big problem, bigger than what I can handle. But I have decided to confront all of this with all my strength, so you don’t need to worry, Inspector Nakamori,” Hakuba says with a smile.

“It seems you aren’t talking about Kid at all.. Well, you are in that kind of age too, huh? You might be a little smug and annoying as heck, but I know you can do it,” Inspector Nakamori pats his shoulder before he walks away.

Hakuba snorts, does that old man even know what he is talking about…

Hakuba turns into the cloudy night sky outside the window. He wonders if the bad feeling he gets is because of his paranoia or a premonition of something.

o0o0o0o

For this once, Hakuba’s goal isn’t to capture Kid. He just wants to make sure about his deduction. He didn’t bother to find any Kid’s magic trick to escape, he didn’t bother to protect the jewel. He was so focused to get to Kid once he stole the gem.

But, it might be Kid was doing the same thing.

Once he got the gem in his hand, he escaped under the smoke and disappeared. There was no special magic trick, no sweet talking, Kid was so focused, it felt out of place.

Everything felt weird.

There was a dummy flying away outside the window and the police were chasing it.

On the other hand, Hakuba is looking into the sky. A sudden light rain shower, Kid can’t use his hang glider under this weather. The forecast didn’t mention any rain, so probably Kid didn’t expect this too.

Hakuba takes his phone. Since this is only a light rain shower, it will stop soon. Once it stops, Kid can use his hang glider to escape from the neighborhood swarming with police. But, he will need some height to use his hang glider. Once Hakuba tries to find a deserted tall building, he finds one near the museum.

He can be wrong, but it's worth a shoot.

Once he gets into the building, Hakuba feels a shiver under his spine.

He blames it into his cold and soaked body.

He takes out the stun gun in his hand. Hakuba walks carefully, as quietly as possible. He might be wrong. Kid might run away using other ways, changing his clothes and blend into a crowd or hide somewhere else until police lift the parameter.

Deep inside his heart, Hakuba hopes he finds nothing.

He walks into the stairs, onto the rooftop. The building is really empty, if something happens here, he wonders if anyone will know.

There is some noise from the rooftop and Hakuba stops in his tracks. The door is opened a little and he peeks from the gap.

There are some people dressed all back standing in front of the door, their backs facing him. Hakuba can’t see Kid, but then he can hear his voice.

“This isn’t the jewel you want, I have checked.”

Hakuba is more alarmed to see that the group are pointing their gun at their front, probably to Kid. Hakuba’s hands are trembling so hard suddenly.

So, he is right. He is right about some enemies using guns on Kid. But there is not only two or three, but five people in front of him.

He should call the police…

No, once the police are here, they would be gone.

Maybe, Hakuba should just run away and pretend he didn’t see anything.

Like hell he can do that.

At least he needs to make sure Kid can handle it.

And he also needs some evidence about these people.

Hakuba sees a window on the other side of the door. He grinds his teeth, trying to stop his trembling body. Hakuba climbs the window, his heart almost stops when his landing has a soft thud sound on the floor. But people are still talking, it seems they don’t notice him yet.

Hakuba circling the wall, finally he can see the suspicious group of people with Kid in front of them. Kid is facing them, with his back toward the fence. That phantom Kid should be able to just turn and run away, but they are busy talking about something.

“I wonder when you will stop chasing me…”

“We won’t, until we find what we want. You know that. But, honestly we start to think you are such an eyesore and keep giving us so much trouble.”

“So, are you thinking of eliminating me?”

Hakuba takes out his phone, planning to record everything before he finds something red on the other side of Kid head.

Is that… laser?

It is on Kid’s blind side. Since Kid is talking to people in front of him and also focusing into their gun, Hakuba knows that the thief doesn’t notice that red dot laser on his body.

Hakuba looks around and finds a building taller not too far from here. He can see the shadow of a sniper.

No…

He is hidden behind the water tank, so probably the sniper doesn’t see him.

But, Kid--

The red laser dot is on his head, on his blind side. Even if Hakuba screams for him to get down, the other men will shoot Kid with their gun. Kid is surrounded in front of and on his back too.

Hakuba has been pondering about a lot of things since his discovery of the bullet hole. Why is he doing this? Why does it have to be him? Does he have to do it? Should he save Kid from his enemy?

But this time, he already moves before he can think.

Hakuba opens the cartridge of his stun gun and throws it to the other side of the rooftop.

As expected, the stun gun makes a small explosion because of short circuit.

“What is that!?”

All of the eyes turn into the exploded stun gun and Hakuba uses that chance to run into Kid.

To think he will use the same trick to divert people's attention like a magician, what an irony.

Hakuba can tell that Kid is shocked to see him. He throws a bomb and Hakuba’s vision is covered with smoke but, it is too late, his body collides with something soft.

And suddenly, his left arm burns.

“AAAH!” He screams while blindly grabbing someone that he collided with. His body falls toward the floor and his head hits something hard.

And Hakuba blacks out.

o0o0o0o

“Tante-san! Tantei-san! TANTEI-SAN!”

Kaito can’t help but scream. He didn’t think Hakuba was there and saw everything. He didn’t think that the detective would run to him. At first he thought the detective wanted to capture him or something. But then when the body went limp on top of his body and Kaito could feel warm liquid soaked his hands, Kaito jumped from the building with the detective in his hands.

He could hear more gunshot, he could hear people shouts at his back, but Kaito didn’t care.

He landed on a dark alley. He couldn’t fly too long using his hang glider with all this weight.

And his eyes widened to see a bloody detective on his embrace.

There is a gunshot wound on his left arm and an open wound on his head. He is bleeding quite heavily, soaking his shirt and blazer. The bullet might have hit the artery.

And now here is Kaito, losing all his poker face and screaming his voice out.

“Bochama!”

Kaito turns and sees Jii running toward him.

“Jii-chan!” he shouts in relief. He carries the bleeding Hakuba on his arm.

“Isn’t that…” Jii is speechless, but Kaito rushes into the car quickly.

“There is no time Jii-chan! Lets go to the hospital! Right now!”

Kaito changes into normal clothes quickly then he pushes the wound on Hakuba’s left arm using his white mantle. The detective looks pale, with all the bleeding on top of his face, he looks even paler than he usually is.

“Don’t dare you die on me Hakuba, I will curse you, I will find a way to curse you even if I have to sell my soul to Akako, I will curse you if you died on me…”

Kaito knows he is talking nonsense, but he doesn’t care. He feels like crying if he doesn’t do that. When he hoped Hakuba would leave him alone, he didn’t mean it like this.

He really didn’t mean it like this.

Why are all the detectives so troublesome? Why can’t they just run away from danger?

Just why….

Jii sees a twinkling light on the rear mirror and his eyes widen to see Kaito crying while putting pressure on Hakuba’s wound. The old man doesn’t say anything, he just steps on the gas pedal faster.

To Be Continued

Chapter Text

People said that memories are time. Past is saved in people's memories. So, losing consciousness is the same as losing time. 

So, as a person who is obsessed with time, Hakuba hates losing consciousness the most. 

People can lose consciousness for hours, days to years. Hakuba’s nightmare is to wake up and realize that he has lost consciousness for years. Or maybe he reads too many fictions. 

Therefore when he opens his eyes then he can’t remember what day or time it is, he becomes panicked. Though, because a wave of pain suddenly attacks him, Hakuba’s attention shifts to the source of the pain. He closes his eyes again and grunts in pain. His left arm is hurting so badly and his head throbs so bad. 

Gosh, what is wrong with all of this?

“Saguru-botchama?”

That is a familiar voice, Hakuba feels calm to hear that. He opens his eyes slowly and searches the source of voice. 

“Baaya?”

He just realizes how dry and sore his throat is. It feels hurt to talk. 

“Please calm down, Saguru-botchama, I will call the doctor for you.”

Hakuba only nods weakly and closes his eyes again. He can feel himself drowning in a panicked mind. What time is it? What day is it? Where is he? What happened to him? Why is it so hurting? 

Hakuba takes a few deep breaths and slowly tries to answer his own questions. 

For time and day, let's just ask Baaya later, since he doesn’t have his pocket watch. 

Right, he is in a hospital. There is an IV drip and Baaya is calling the doctor. 

And… Did he get shot? Hakuba can vaguely remember him crashing into Kid and his left arm felt burning, then his head hit something.

With his right hand, Hakuba traces the bandage around his head. He doesn’t even dare to touch his left arm, because it hurts a lot. 

Then, how about Kid? What happened to him? Did he get shot? Did he die?

Probably no, or at least, Kid is still alive. It must be Kid who saved him when Hakuba lost his consciousness. 

When the door of his room blasts open so loudly, Hakuba almost jumps in his bed.

“HAKUBA-KUN!?”

Hakuba is in shock to see Inspector Nakamori on the edge of his bed. There are some other detectives following him. 

Wait, Hakuba isn’t done sorting his mind yet. He wants to scream and kicks the guest out from his room. Please give him more time and space… he pleads in his head. 

But, Hakuba just sighs and resigns to his fate. He understands that this must be an emergency situation. He can’t really blame Inspector Nakamori for being impatient. 

“Finally you are awake! You have been losing consciousness for three days!” Inspector Nakamori says with a worried face. 

Not the best way to tell Hakuba about how long he lost his consciousness. Hakuba takes a deep breath, trying to calm his itching hand to find his pocket watch. 

“I see,” Hakuba says. Now after he sees Inspector Nakamori better, he can see how disheveled that detective is. 

“Not just ‘I see’!” Inspector Nakamori scolds him. So even when Hakuba is being ridden in a hospital bed with a shot wound can’t stop that harsh detective from scolding him. “What actually happened! The whole 2nd division was in shock when we found out you got shot right after Kid’s heist! You are still under my supervision, so you are my responsibility too.”

Such a nice sentiment, but Inspector Nakamori is so loud. Hakuba reaches his bandaged head. All this shouting makes his head throbbing harder. 

“Senpai, you can’t shout in the hospital,” one of the junior detectives says. 

“Oh right…,” Hakuba can hear slight guilt in Inspector Nakamori’s words. 

Hakuba sighs in relief, at least the shouting has stopped. 

“We have been waiting for you to regain consciousness for three whole days, Hakuba-kun. Can you imagine the son of Superintendent is shot! The whole metropolitan police is in chaos. We don’t have any clue what happened. Someone brought you to the hospital and left you alone in the emergency room. And you were wearing a bullet proof jacket! As if you knew you would get shot! We want to know what happened Hakuba-kun!”

One of the other detectives speaks. “Well, it was good you wore one though. There is a bullet mark on your back too. If you didn’t wear one, you would be fatally wounded.”

Hakuba blinks, now that explains why he feels dull pain on his back.

“I know this must be hard for you, but please tell me what has happened. So that we can start the investigation right now,” Inspector Nakamori says with a calmer tone, but his desperate eyes show otherwise. 

Hakuba is ready to spill out everything that has been bothering him ever since he found the bullet hole. To handle everything alone is quite heavy, to be paranoid of everyone is tiring. In the end, he is just a high school student. He can only handle so much. He never even dreamed of getting shot before he became a police officer. 

But before Hakuba opens his mouth, he stares at two other Inspector Nakamori’s juniors.

No…

Even if he can believe in Inspector Nakamori, he can’t believe in those two people. 

That strange mafia organisation can erase the trace of the bullet hole so easily, without anyone noticing. There must be an infiltrator in the police department. 

And more, Hakuba has seen those people dressed in black. Even though he only saw a glance of them, he can recognize them if they ever meet again. He is the witness of Kid’s attempt of murder now. 

They have a reason to kill him too now. 

“Hakuba-kun?”

Hakuba reaches his bandaged head. What should he do now? Unlike Kid who hides his identity, Hakuba is an easy prey. Hakuba thinks they know who he is. He can be killed anytime, anywhere, without a hitch. 

Hakuba doesn’t even know who he has to believe in this situation, beside some people. He doesn’t know if he can depend on anyone for this problem. 

“Hakuba-kun, are you okay?”

Hakuba rubbed his bandaged head again. 

Suddenly, he gets an idea. 

This is his only choice, if Kid can hide his identity then Hakuba can do this too. 

“I’m sorry Inspector Nakamori, but… I can’t remember…,” Hakuba closes his eyes. He is focused onto the dull throbs on his head. If the pain hasn’t stopped even three days after the incident, his head trauma must be quite serious. 

It should be believable. 

“What-- what do you mean---” Inspector Nakamor is speechless, but before he can say anything anymore, the door is opened. 

Hakuba almost wants to sigh in relief to see his Baaya, a doctor and a nurse come inside. 

Good timing. 

“Excuse me, but I need to examine the patient,” the doctor politely says. The nurse drives away the police detectives out, while Baaya sits beside Hakuba’s bedside. 

Now, Hakuba gets a little time to think. 

He wonders if he can do all of this alone. 

o0o0o0o0o

“So, you can’t remember what has happened to you?” the doctor asks in surprise. Hakuba swallows the guilt so he can lie more. 

“Yeah, I don’t know how in the world I get shot either,” he says. 

The doctor looks concerned. “How much you don’t remember?” he asks. 

“Only about how I get these injuries. I still remember the Kid’s heist I attended before, but after that… I can’t remember anything,” Hakuba says again. 

“Based on the CT-scan before the operation, you have a mild concussion, but I think you need to get CT-scan once again, are there any other symptoms?”

“Besides pains and headache, I think no…,” Hakuba says. 

The doctor nods. “Let's schedule more throughout brain examination tomorrow, for now, just rest well.” The nurse writes on her notes and nods. Hakuba glanced at Baaya who seemed ready to burst in tears anytime soon. 

As soon as the doctor and the nurse excuse themselves, the police officers come in again. Inspector Nakamori seems ready to fume, but fortunately, he holds back his voice for Hakuba’s sake. 

“Is it true? You can’t remember anything? You?” 

Hakuba almost wants to laugh in irony. It must be so unbelievable for someone with photographic memory like him, to forget about an important incident that almost got him killed. 

But, he needs to do this for his own safety. 

“Unfortunately, yes, Inspector Nakamori. I can still remember the heist, after everyone chased after Kid’s dummy, I thought Kid would hide himself in a deserted building and fly away after the rain stopped. I can still remember when I got into the building, but after that… I can’t remember anything else.”

Hakuba isn’t the best actor, unlike Kid. But he can do his own poker face. Even though it is hard to lie like this, he needs to do this. He needs to deceive everyone about this. If he can’t remember then Kid’s enemy might reconsider to kill him for now. 

Hakuba is still the son of the superintendent police department. If he dies unnaturally, it will cause suspicion, not to mention he also got shot before. If he can make people believe that he has amnesia, then those people dressed in black might lose their reason to kill him. It won't be worth all of the risk. 

Maybe…

Hakuba isn’t sure. He is just desperate. 

He is in a disadvantaged place now, he has to make sure he can survive first before he investigates this incident further. 

“How can that be… are you sure you can’t remember anything? Is it Kid? Is it anyone else?” Inspector Nakamori looks lost. Hakuba can imagine how pressuring it is to let his superior’s son get shot under his watch, and now he almost has no clue how to investigate this case. 

Hakuba will try to make up for all of this lying back later, at least he will try to not get Inspector Nakamori get suspended or demoted from his rank. Even if that means he has to beg his father. 

“I can’t remember, I’m sorry,” Hakuba can’t even see into Inspector Nakamori’s eyes. He hopes no one can detect a guilt in his face. Or he hopes people will think his guilt is for not remembering, not about something else. 

“This isn’t your fault Hakuba-kun, you are the victim here. The bad one is the one who did this to you,” Inspector Nakamori says with heavy eyes. 

But Hakuba was the one who jumped into Kid, letting himself get shot instead of the phantom thief. 

Hakuba didn’t know that he might have some hero complex in him. 

“But, why were you wearing the bulletproof jacket?” the other detective asks again. 

Hakuba almost stares at him suspiciously. What’s with his strange fixation over the bulletproof jacket...

“Just in case. While I was checking Kid’s previous heist, the heist can be quite dangerous. So, I decided to wear it,” Hakuba says nonchalantly, trying to make it less suspicious. 

Because he can’t mention anything about the unrecorded bullet hole. He can’t add more reason for the mafia group to kill him. 

For now, he has to play dumb. 

“I understand. Do you remember which building you went back then? We might still get some clues from there,” Inspector Nakamori asks him. 

“I still remember that,” Hakuba says. He specifically says he still remembers about the building, because he hopes the police can get the proof themselves. Hakuba might be able to guide them to find out about that mysterious mafia group. 

Hakuba tells the location of the building and finally Inspector Nakamori regains some color in his face. 

“Okay, thank you. At least, we still have a clue to investigate. You can rest now, Hakuba-kun. Leave this to the police first, at least, until you can join us after you get better,” Inspector Nakamori cheers him up. 

Hakuba nods, he understands he can’t do anything in this state. 

“Please inform me if you find something, Inspector Nakamori,” he says before the police detectives leave his room. Nakamori nods to him before he closes the door. 

o0o0o0o0o

Hakuba never played a game, but he is quite a bookworm. There is a time when he finds a fictional character way too overpowering until it feels so unrealistic. But he just found out, something like that exists in real life.

“So, the building has been demolished?”

“Yes, we were too late.”

Hakuba can only sigh with a heavy heart. Then again, the building was really deserted. Usually you can still find homeless people living in an abandoned building like that. But that night, it was really empty.

“It has been scheduled to be demolished since a few months ago, so it might be just our bad luck.”

Hakuba stares at one of the detectives. They are from division one, because Hakuba’s case is assasination attempt so it is in their jurisdiction.

“Can you be more serious, Takagi-kun?”

“Oh, I’m sorry, Miwako-san.”

“Please excuse him, I know you are the one who gets frustrated the most about it, Hakuba-kun.”

Hakuba isn’t too familiar with detectives from the first division, even though he has met them several times. Not that Hakuba is familiar with most of the detectives from the second division either.  . 

And talking about frustration, surprisingly he receives the news quite well. Maybe because he has been half expecting this to happen. He also didn’t think the police would find any strong clues from that building either, even if it wasn’t destroyed. If it is that easy, Kid might have done something about this mafia group. There were times Kid led the police to capture the real suspect. 

But for this big mafia group, Kid hasn’t given any clue to the police. 

Hakuba thinks that is weird. 

Maybe it is because the bad guys are unbelievably strong. So, Kid is being extra careful around them, if not then there will be casualties. 

Hakuba grabs his left arm gently, yeah, like him. 

“But don’t worry, we will dig more about this demolished building. There are witnesses saying about some thugs using this place as their basecamp, I’m sure we can find something if we investigate it more,” Miwako says. 

“Is there any other thing you remembered, Hakuba-kun?” Takagi asks. 

Hakuba shakes his head. “I’m sorry, but I can’t remember anything about the incident at all,” he says. 

The two detectives look deflated, but they try not to show it for Hakuba’s sake. The british detective tries not to show his guilt to them. 

“No, it is okay. I can’t imagine how you feel about being a victim, but not remembering anything. It must be hard for you too, Hakuba-kun,” Takagi says. 

Hakuba almost grimaces at those words. He wonders how Kaito does this, Hakuba feels so guilty for deceiving many sincere people.

“Now, we should be going. Please rest well, Hakuba-kun. So, you can join us sooner. We will contact you if we find something new,” Miwako says. She and Takagi bid farewell. 

Hakuba massages his head. Should he celebrate because he is still living until today? Hakuba wonders. He has been quite paranoid in the hospital. It doesn’t change much even after he moves into his own home. 

At least, his plan is working. About deceiving everyone, even though he is burdened with the guilt. But, he is still living. 

Hakuba tries to be optimistic about this. 

The blonde glances to the window. He can see a particular dove, sitting on the branch of a tree not too far from the window. It is sort of calming to see, at least, he isn’t the only one who is being paranoid here. 

But, enough is enough. 

That dove has been following him for an entire week. Hakuba needs his privacy back. 

So, with a sling on his left arm, he walks off from the bed and opens the window. 

“You know, I’m an animal lover,” Hakuba says to no one, but he stares at the dove. He wonders if Kid uses something to eavesdrop on his conversation. 

“But, a week is enough right? If you still stalk me using your dove like this, I will let Watson to chase your dove away. Poor bird, I don’t want to traumatize it, so don’t make me do that,” Hakuba puts his most serious face. 

It is the last thing he would ever do toward an innocent animal. He can imagine how Watson would be happy to chase the dove away, even if Hakuba can stop him from eating the poor bird, but it would be very traumatizing for it to get chased by a big falcon like Watson. 

Heck, Hakuba never brings Watson to Kid’s heist either, even though it might be fun to let the falcon scare the hell out of the phantom thief and his birds. Because Hakuba is an animal lover.

Watson and Kid’s doves deserve better than that kind of treatment. 

Hakuba closes the window, he hopes Kid will listen to him and not stupid enough to challenge Watson using his doves. 

o0o0o0o0o

“He threatens me using his monstrous falcon, Jii-chan! That damn brit! Does he even know why I do this! I’m trying to protect him!”

Kaito wails and lets his head dramatically fall onto the table. Jii is holding back his chuckles. 

“Jii-chan, I’m serious!” Kaito whines. 

“I know, Botchama. But, your friend might have found it crossed the line,” Jii simply says. He offers a glass of hot chocolate for the young magician. 

“He isn’t my friend,” Kaito pouts while drinking the sweet drink. 

Jii just shakes his head. He can’t understand Kaito really well about this, teenager just being a teenager he guesses.

“I can’t believe he has amnesia though. I just can’t believe it. He must be lying,” Kaito says again. 

“But it is a good thing, right? The organization might reconsider to finish him off for now,” Jii says. 

“Yeah, for now. But, it just makes me… so mad about him! Does he think he can handle this alone!? He should just tell someone in the police department! They will believe him! They will protect him! Or he can hide somewhere until forever! Heck, he can even just go back to England! Who does he think he is!? A main character of shounen manga?”

Jii rarely sees Kaito fuming like this. Maybe, he has been holding back ever since Hakuba got shot. 

“Yeah, he is just like you, Botchama.”

Kaito closes his mouth and he looks like he is going to explode again. But then he just pouts and turns his head away. 

“At least I’m hiding my identity.”

“And he has amnesia.”

“Jii-chan, you are supposed to be on my side!” Kaito whines again with a fake betrayed voice. 

Jii almost wants to laugh. Kaito always tries to make the situation funnier when it should have been dead serious. 

“Then, how about you work together with him and defeat the organization together? Hakuba-kun is a detective and a son of the Superintendent police department, he will be a valuable ally.”

Kaito’s poker face is back in the blink of an eye. 

“No.”

A short answer, but Jii won’t ask why. 

He remembers Kaito’s tears last week. 

Maybe that is why. 

“Then, what will you do, Botchama?”

Kaito sighs and looks out the window. 

“I need to put an eye on him, for a while I guess. That brit certainly knows something, I don’t know to what degree, but I won’t let him be involved again with that organization anymore,” Kaito says. 

“But, he threatens you about using your dove,” Jii states the matter. 

“Well then I guess I will just use the traditional way,” Kaito frowns. 

Jii blinks, to think Kaito is the one who will stalk Hakuba now. It is funny how they switched their role like this, but Jii won’t say anything about it.

o0o0o0o0o0o

For who’s sake he is doing this?

Hakuba stares on the sling. He can do it, his left arm will be very sore but he can do it. He doesn’t really want to draw unnecessary attention. Even if the stitch from operation to remove the bullet and repair his artery has been removed, his left arm still feels very heavy and stiff. 

But he doesn’t want to keep lying, so he leaves the sling at his room. 

Baaya doesn’t say anything, her worried face is enough to tell him what she feels about it. 

Hakuba still uses a plaster on his stitched forehead though. In case Kaito doubts his amnesia, Hakuba will try to at least make him confused about the truth. But it doesn’t like Kaito will voiced his doubt just like that, since Hakuba’s assination attempt is a classified case. 

Well, just in case…

“Hakuba-kun, are you hurt?”

Hakuba blinks his eyes and turns to see his classmate, Aoko. Even though he has been explaining several times about the wound on his head to other people, he doesn’t mean to explain it again to Aoko. 

“Yesh, I’m involved in some incident during a case, nothing serious though, don’t worry,” he says. 

He isn’t lying, technically. 

“I see, please tell me if you need my help,” she says again. 

Hakuba smiles at her, she is quite a sweet girl, as long as she doesn’t hold a mop and chase Kaito around. 

“Thank you, Aoko-san,” he says. Speaking at Kaito, Hakuba glances at the number one suspect of Kaito Kid in his head. 

Kaito is sleeping on his desk. Not too weird, since Kaito’s night job probably makes him lose sleep often. 

Maybe that means Hakuba can expect another heist soon. 

But when one of the classmates shoves Hakuba’s left side slightly, Hakuba hisses in pain and he sees Kaito chokes in his chair. So, Kaito is just pretending to sleep. 

Kaito is probably avoiding him now, for some kind of reason. Usually, Kaito will butt in and make fun of Hakuba’s wound, calling him by name, like ‘lousy detective’ or something. 

Maybe because Hakuba got hurt to protect him, so it becomes awkward for both of them. 

Hakuba has enough on his plate for worrying about his safety, the pain from his wounds, deceiving everyone about his memory, so Hakuba doesn’t really care about how Kaito feels about him, at this moment. 

If only Kid wants to work together with him, it will make a lot of things easier. Is saving a person from death doesn’t count as a shortcut to friendship?

Probably not. 

Still, Hakuba thinks Kaito owes him something, admitting about his other identity would be a good start to repay the deed. 

Hakuba snorts and sits in his chair. 

Not like it will be that easy. 

He wonders what Kaito will do about him. 

Hakuba just hopes Kaito won’t make things harder than it actually is.

Hakuba remembers something, he checks around his chair and table. At least Kaito has a decency not to use any listening device on him at school, though Hakuba knows Kaito is watching him closely even if he is pretending to sleep.

“Kaito, why are you sleeping in the morning!? Get up, class will start soon!”

“Stupid Aoko! Let me sleep!”

“Don’t tell me you are secretly peeking into someone’s skirt by pretending to sleep!?”

“I don’t do that, at least, not today!”

“What!?”

At least this part of Hakuba’s life is still normal, Hakuba smiles bitterly. It is refreshing to hear Aoko and Kaito’s bickering after a long time. Maybe, it means Kaito is in better shape than Hakuba thinks he is. 

Ah damn, even if Hakuba has enough things to worry, in the end he still worries about Kaito, huh?

What an irony. They aren’t even friends.

If the situation isn’t as life threatening as it is, Hakuba might want to laugh about his life now. He got shot, a mafia group is now haunting his life, a phantom thief is shadowing him for only-he-knows-why, and Hakuba needs to play dumb to everyone for God-only-knows-how-long. 

This is ridiculous. Gosh, Hakuba wants to have a long vacation after all of this end. 

To Be Continued

Chapter Text

Fate works in a weird way. Maybe because fate is made by humans. For any other living being, there is no such thing as ‘fate’. Only humans made them, for trying to wrap their heads around something that they can’t understand. Because human is weird. So fate is weird as well.

If there is really such a thing as fate, then, Hakuba wonders what his fate actually is for his life to be turned out like this. Before finding that unrecorded bullet hole, Hakuba is just a normal high-school detective, as normal as he can be. But now, his world turns upside down thanks to a certain phantom thief and his problem.

“Since the building was demolished two weeks ago, we can’t get any concrete proof for the incident.”

“There weren’t any CCTV around that area either.”

“There wasn’t much eye-witness around the building since all people's attention was turned into Kid’s heist.”

Hakuba is reading the papers in his hands while he glances at the slide presentations every once in a while. Two weeks after the incident, the investigation team that was formed to investigate Hakuba’s assassination attempt is holding a briefing on their findings. The team consists of both the first division and the second division of the police department.

This is Hakuba’s first time attending this kind of briefing as the victim, though it is also special because they report their findings to him. To be a high-school detective whose father is a superintendent general police officer is quite a convenience sometimes and Hakuba knows how to take an advantage of it.

Actually, this briefing is quite depressing since no one managed to find any more clues yet. They are even more clueless than Hakuba.

“How about the bullet? Did you find out what kind of bullet was it?” one of the detective officers asks. Then the slide swipes around and settles in some photos of Hakuba’s actual wounds. The doctors must have photographed the wounds after they got cleaned before they treated them, and even before the police asked them to. Maybe because bullet wounds are scarce in Japan, so each case got treated with special care.

“The bullet has passed through the upper of left arm, resulting in this injury. Based on the visual examination, this bullet wound is made by long-range shooting, but besides that, there was no other information we can get.”

Hakuba hides how he wants to grimace to look at his own bullet wound. If that bullet hit his head, he was a goner for sure.

“So the building was demolished, there is no bullet as evidence so we don’t know what kind of firearm the attacker was using, there was no CCTV, there was no eye-witness either?” The other detective groans. “What is the purpose of this briefing actually, we didn’t find anything at all.”

Hakuba wants to snort, yes, they didn’t manage to find anything at all. But they worked so hard and Hakuba knows that. He didn’t get to find anything himself for that unrecorded bullet hole. That black mafia is really something else, they are different from any other criminals that Hakuba has faced.

“What about Kid?”

Hakuba raises his head from the papers. He sees a detective from the first division, he doesn’t know his name but he has curly hair. “There is some eye-witness that saw a person with a white mantel on the top of the building.”

Yes, Kid’s white attire is always very eye-catching at night, Hakuba knows. It must be very easy to get eye-witness of Kid, not those damned black suit people.

“Do you mean that Kid might be the one who shot Hakuba-kun?” Inspector Nakamori finally speaks, he looks quite angry and in disbelief.

“It is just one of the speculation. Kid is still a criminal, even though he has his own MO, it doesn’t mean he won’t ever change his MO if something unexpected happened.”

That is a good deduction, a rational one for sure. Hakuba can’t say anything at all. This investigation is lacking suspects, hints, or some clues. There is almost nothing left to investigate besides pinning their suspicion on Kid.

“I’m sorry, Hakuba-kun.” A detective is raising his hand. Detective Takagi, Hakuba has met him once before. “Do you remember something else about the incident?” He asks with somewhat hopeful eyes.

Hakuba has been silent from the start of the meeting, so finally, they ask him to speak. Hakuba knows that they are desperate to get some clues or evidence to get the investigation going because they keep hitting a dead end.

Hakuba takes a deep breath, he never gets used to the guilt. It will be much easier for Hakuba to just tell them everything so the investigation can get broadened to the previous Kid’s heist which might involve that mafia. But if Hakuba does that then he can instantly lose his life. Not even running away to London can save his life. If even a clever and slick Kid got shot frequently, Hakuba doubts he can handle them better than Kid does.

“I’m really sorry, I have been trying hard to remember… but I can’t really remember anything at all about the incident in that building…” Hakuba says apologetically and bows a little. His stitches on his head and left arm has been removed yesterday, but he is still using a band-aid around his tender skin.

“No, no, it is okay. I’m sorry for asking, just take your time,” Takagi bows back nervously.

Hakuba looks down while rubbing his band-aid, feeling bad and guilty. It is good that his father isn’t here. These poor police officers might be putting their rank in line and risk their careers with this poor result of the investigation.

It isn’t really their fault though, they don’t know what their enemy is capable of. Heck, Hakuba only learned recently and he is shocked at what the extent of the black mafia can do.

“But, there is no one suspicious following you or approaching you for these last two weeks right?” A female detective, Detective Miwako asks him. “There might be a chance that you witnessed your attacker’s face, your life can be in danger.”

Hakuba knows that because of that his father has appointed two police officers who follow him around from a certain distance for the past two weeks. Start from the hospital, then his home then his school. It is limiting Hakuba’s movement though it ensures his safety at some point.

And after two weeks, there is nothing happening to him at all. He is still alive, miraculously. And there is no threat directed at him, not at all. As if that mafia group decided to leave him alone for now while monitoring what Hakuba is doing.

The mole in the police department might have informed them about his amnesia, that’s why they did nothing to him until now. It might premature for him to think about this now, but his strategy to feign having amnesia might be working nicely.

“I don’t receive any threat in any kind of form, I don’t think anyone suspicious follow me either,” Hakuba says. If some people do follow him, then they might observe him from a far distance, because Hakuba can’t feel anything at all.

“That’s good to know then,” Miwako says with a smile. “Please inform us if you get something suspicious or someone threatened you.”

Hakuba nods along. “I understand.”

“Then how will we continue the investigation now?” another detective asks the big question.

“How about we broadened the investigation by trying to investigate all of the people that might harbor some grudge toward Hakuba-kun and the family?”

“That… will be so many people to check into.”

“There is no other choice left besides this.”

“We might need to recruit more people if we do that.”

“Then I will ask for the permit, for now, let’s do it.”

Hakuba sighs softly. That will take forever and it will be useless, but he can’t say anything to them. That is really the only choice to keep continuing the investigation, even though it is fruitless. If only Hakuba can pick some police officer that he can trust to tell them the whole truth.

Hakuba tidies up the papers.

No.

He isn’t sure he can do something like that. He doesn’t know how many moles are inside the police department, or how high their connection is. Erasing and fabricating the evidence in the forensic department should be close impossible unless the one who does that is a high-ranking and capable officer… and not only one person, but many of them.

Hakuba wonders how long this black mafia group has been targeting Kid, to think that no one in the police department, not even Inspector Nakamori has any clue about it.

It feels as if he is fighting with a ghost.

But the thing is… Hakuba is fighting this ghost with his life on the line.

One wrong step might cost his life. And yet he doesn’t know how to counterattack.

This is crazy. He is going insane.

How the hell does Kid do this?

0o0o0o0

“BaKaito! I already told you to stop peeping into the girl’s skirts!”

“Bwahaha! You can’t ever stop me, Ahoko!”

Balancing between his nightlife and his daily life needs a crazy dance, more than how Kaito needs to execute his magic trick in a heist. No matter how messed up he feels, no matter how much trouble he has, he can’t really show it. Or people will get suspicious and Kaito already has enough problems on his plate.

“You two! Please stop already! We are in the middle of the class!” The teacher is literally crying. But this is a common sight in this class. Kaito is being mischievous and Aoko is trying to punish him with a mop. Both of them have no problem following the class even in the middle of the chaos so the teacher can only cry in despair. While their classmates have gotten used to tuning them out and trying to focus on the class.

Besides one person though.

Kaito takes a glance at Hakuba’s back.

After Hakuba got transferred to this class, more than often Hakuba chose to join to the chaos himself. Usually by throwing snarky remarks or asking Aoko to be more careful or disclosing Kaito’s magic secret or Kaito will prank him. Sometimes Hakuba could buffer the chaos but sometimes he aggravated it, depending on how Kaito's mood that day.

But ever since Hakuba got shot, he becomes…

Awfully silent.

Just like now, his poker face is almost perfect. He doesn’t react to the chaotic fighting between Kaito and Aoko at all. He just sits there in his seat and takes notes with a blank face.

Kaito doesn’t know how he should feel about it.

He feels a bit annoyed.

But then again, after the shooting incident… Kaito doesn’t really know how to face Hakuba anymore. As Kuroba Kaito, he simply pretends to give Hakuba a space to heal. He isn’t a sadist and he won’t prank a wounded person just like that. But Hakuba has no longer wearing any bandages and he can move around normally now.

Sooner or later, Kaito needs to stop ignoring Hakuba.

Or it will get suspicious.

“BaKaito! You coward, come down right now!” Aoko is screaming at him while Kaito fixates himself high on the ceiling.

“Well, if you can, you are the one who needs to come to get me, Ahoko!” Kaito teases his childhood friend. This fighting is the old dance between them, it never gets old. And Kaito can fall to the rhythm perfectly. He can even do this without thinking.

“You two! The class is already over-- oh whatever…” The teacher walks away from the class with an exhausted face.

“Aoko, do you want to eat lunch together?” Keiko calls Aoko but fails to get her attention.

“BaKaito, come down will you!” Aoko swings the mop frantically in anger.

Kaito just laughs up there, the mop can’t reach him at all. But then he stops laughing when one person approaches Aoko and swiftly grabs her hand hence stopping her from swinging the mop.

“Aoko-san, please stop, you might hurt someone innocent.”

“Hakuba-kun…” Aoko is quite speechless because it is the first time Hakuba is involved in their fight after days of silence.

Then Hakuba turns at Kaito, the skilled magician is quite surprised. Hakuba gives him a look.

A disapproving, disappointed and exasperated look.

Then the blonde detective sighs and walks away while carrying a notebook and a lunchbox.

“Wha—” Kaito is surprised because Hakuba didn’t say anything to him at all. “You bastard! Why didn’t you say anything!?” Kaito shouts in fake anger.

It is just a show because he needs to maintain a rivalry between them. Because as Kuroba Kaito, he doesn’t have any reason to feel awkward around the blonde detective.

But Hakuba has walked far away from the class and Kaito just stands there, feeling conflicted.

“Hakuba-kun has been really quiet these days…” Aoko mutters with a worried tone.

“You are right… I wonder if it is because he got injured recently. Is he still in pain?” Keiko adds.

Kaito can only turn away with a solemn face. He can still remember how the red and thick blood flowed between his fingers and how cold Hakuba’s skin felt on his hand.

Hakuba is different than that small crazy detective. Conan, or to be more correctly, Shinichi, is more than capable at handle any kind of trouble thrown at him. Conan is amazing, reliable, and dependable. He can look after himself, more than anyone Kaito knows.

But Hakuba.

It surprised him to his core to see Hakuba suddenly appear and tackled him to the floor, taking the bullet for him. That normal high-school detective actually saved him when he couldn’t even save himself. And now Hakuba got into the same mess with Kaito… but with the worse condition.

Does he really got amnesia? Kaito doubts that.

Most likely, it is only a facade, a desperate way to hinder those bastards from killing him. It looks like it is effective, for now, that is. Because these days Kaito also have been observing Hakuba from a safe distance.

And for now, it seems that Hakuba is still safe.

But for how long?

“Kaito, why are you just standing there? Let’s eat already,” Aoko snaps him from daydreaming.

“Okay, okay… I’m coming.” Kaito doesn’t know how much Hakuba knows about those black-suited bastards, but Kaito knows one thing.

He can’t let Hakuba get involved in this matter more than now.

Just no, no way. He will make sure of it.

0o0o0o0

Eating alone in a quiet corner of the school makes Hakuba seems like a loner who doesn’t have a friend. Well… he doesn’t really have any close friends though, just classmates. But usually, he puts some effort to blend in with his classmates and also takes advantage of Aoko’s kindness, so usually, he would eat in the classroom.

But these days, he is just too tired.

And he doesn’t really want to face Kaito either.

He feels a mixed feeling between worry and anger toward that classmate of his.

At this point, Hakuba is sure that Kuroba Kaito is Kaito Kid. He only has circumstantial evidence though, but Hakuba is sure of it. And it makes Hakuba kind of pissed off with Kaito.

How could Kaito face that kind of danger so recklessly like that?

Kaito Kid might have this invincible persona as if nothing can hurt him. But Hakuba knows better than anyone that Kaito Kid is only a human.

A teenager even.

So how could he handle being shot all this time? How could he still laugh as nothing happened after that? How could he--

Hakuba bites into his sandwich with some annoyance. He wonders if he is the weak one. Maybe he is weak, and because of that, he reacts like this. The fear of being shot is still fresh and his paranoia is still high. He gets anxious at random times, sometimes wondering if someone is going to shoot his head at any time. He is stressed.

Hakuba feels stressed and… helpless.

What should he do?

Just what should he do? What can he even do?

He is the same as the police officers who try to crack his case. Hakuba is just as clueless as they are. He hits a dead end and he doesn’t know what he should do now.

It will be far easier if only Kaito Kid wants to help him. That is one more reason why Hakuba has some anger toward Kaito.

He saved him, right? So, Kaito owes him some kind of explanation. At least please explain who their enemy is so Hakuba can do something about it.

Hakuba rubs his face with a frustrated expression then he eats the rest of his sandwich.

“You look like a lonely prince right now, Hakuba-kun. Do you know that?”

The blonde almost chokes when he can hear someone suddenly calls his name. He turns around and his mouth opens when he sees his beautiful classmate approaches him.

Koizumi Akako.

Hakuba can feel his face starts to get red uncontrollably. She is so beautiful and he needs to hit his chest a few times so he can swallow his food properly. Then he drinks some tea before he turns to see Akako standing in front of him now.

Gosh, she looks like an angel-- no, no, what is he thinking about? Hakuba tries to snap himself out of it.

Akako giggles, as if seeing him flustered amusing for her.

“W-well… I just want to be alone that’s all,” Hakuba hates to hear himself stutter in front of a lady. He still doesn’t know how to feel to be called ‘a lonely prince’ by someone as beautiful as Akako. It gives him a mixed feeling, between somewhat insulted and also flattered.

“I see… That suits you though, somehow,” Akako adds with a small laugh.

And this time Hakuba can feel that she is being sarcastic toward him. His face is still red though. He isn’t usually acting like this in front of any girls, so why--

“But you see, I come here because I owe you something,” Akako says as winds sway her beautiful long black hair. It is such a breathtaking view and Hakuba almost has a hard time to breath.

“Owe me… what?” Hakuba doesn’t interact with Akako very often, because he hates how he acts like an idiot in front of her. Unconsciously, he avoids her with all of his might because he doesn’t want to embarrass himself.

“A thanks. Thank you for saving something very precious for me,” Akako crouches down so that their eyes are on the same level and Hakuba can feel his face getting redder. She is so close--

“Uhh… when did I do that? Wait-- what did I even do?” Hakuba stops asking when Akako puts her index finger on his lips to shut him up. Hakuba freezes in his place completely. He thought his heart stops beating for a second.

“Even if you don’t know, I still feel grateful. So as thanks, I will offer you some advice,” she says, putting her index fingers to her own lips and Hakuba’s face almost explode right there.

What is with this person? Why is he acting like this? It feels as if she bewitched him-

“Do you know why a white animal usually can’t live very long?” She gives him a riddle.

Hakuba blinks and forces his brain to stop short-circuiting. “You mean, albino animals? It is because they can’t blend in with nature, their colors stand out more so they tend to be vulnerable more than any normal animal.”

“You aren’t wrong. But that isn’t it.” Akako shakes her finger. “It is because something white is very easy to get dyed with other colors you see. Different from something black, it can blend in with the shadows but won’t lose its true color. That is why white animals can’t live long, because it is easy to lose their true color once they get dyed with other colors.”

Hakuba can only stun in his place while he ponders her metaphors.

“Because of that be careful, Hakuba-kun. Because you are so white. So pure and white.” She says more then she turns around and walks away.

Hakuba just sits there, frozen in his place. Did she mean that if he isn’t being careful then he might lose his life easily? Or he might lose his innocence easily?

“Ah, one more thing.”

He hears Akako shout in a bit distance.

“When you are lost and hit a dead end, you might need to trace your way back to the first place, don’t you think?”

And finally, she disappears from his sight.

Hakuba blinks then he can hear a bell rings signaling lunch break is over.

As he tidies up his lunch box, he just realizes what Akako has meant to say.

“Right, back to the start. I should trace my way back to the start.” Hakuba can’t believe he doesn’t realize to do this himself.

He walks toward the way where Akako disappears into the school building.

Akako is such a cryptic.

But strangely, her words always help him one way or another.

0o0o0o0

Back to the start.

Hakuba has spread the notes of his investigation of Kid after all these years. But his eyes are fixated on Kuroba Toichi’s photo. The first Kid. Kaito’s late father.

Right, why didn’t he notice it before?

Toichi’s death feels… unreal.

An accident happened at backstage a magic show. The machinery of the trick short-circuited hence resulting in the loss of his life because of an explosion. It is said that the corpse was completely destroyed because of the explosion and it was unrecognizable.

Hakuba puts his hand under his chin.

He watched a few of Toichi’s shows on rerun tv shows a few years ago.

He was an amazing top class magician. It feels unbelievable to think that he lost his life because of a failed magic trick.

But if he was the original Kid then…

It might be, was he got killed?

Hakuba’s face becomes serious.

There is one more thing. As a detective, there is one thing that makes Hakuba more curious than deducing the trick. That is the motive.

Motive, Hakuba always wants to understand the motive of someone doing a criminal deed. And that is the same for him chasing Kaito Kid. More than putting Kid behind the bars, Hakuba wants to know just why…

Why did Kaito Kid do all those crazy heists? People keep saying that Kaito Kid is simply a maniac that is crazy for attention. But Hakuba better knows than that.

There is a reason why Kid does all of those crazy heists.

‘This isn’t the jewel that you want, I have checked.’

That was what Kid said to those black mafia people.

Hakuba has been thinking that Kid is trying to find a particular jewel and that words prove his deduction. And it seems the black mafia group has the same motive as Kid as well.

Hakuba writes out his thinking, in very messy handwriting that only he can read.

The jewel. Particular jewel, both Kid and his enemies don’t know where the jewel is. To find it, they have to get the jewel with their hand, and maybe they have to check it in some kind of way. That is why Kid always returns all of the jewels he has stolen.

Because all of them aren’t the jewel that he has been searching for.

That is kind of answering why Kid stealing all of those jewels but…

Why the magic trick? Why being so show off?

Hakuba points to an article about Toichi’s death with his pen.

If Toichi’s death was because of him getting murdered, not because of an accident.

Then…

Kaito’s motive might be…

Revenge?

Hakuba stops moving for a few seconds as his brain makes connections to all of the dots.

Let’s say that that black mafia group killed Toichi because as Kid, he has hindered them. Then… Kaito might have found the truth about his dad’s death and he poses as Kid to lure out the killer of his father.

“Wait… wait…” Hakuba covers his face with his hands.

No way.

That is what happens right?

It is the most logical and rational answer of all those crazy heists Kid has been pulled off.

Now that Kid has gotten under the radar of that black mafia group, Kid needs… he needs to find a way to take them down.

Maybe.

Oh my god.

Unbelievable.

And with all of those crazy heists and sending the police the notification of the heist… That is a way to guarantee some security during the heist. With all of the police officers, it will limit the movement of the black mafia people to a certain level.

One shot, two kills.

“Urgh…” Hakuba covers his face.

And now somehow he got under all of this mess as well.

That scary group of people somehow managed to kill the original Kid. And erased all of their traces so the polices don’t even notices their existence.

Aren’t they too overpowering as enemies?

“What can I do? What should I do?” Hakuba whispers to himself while his head starts to throb painfully.

Hakuba closes his eyes while he lets his brain work again.

Maybe, for now, he can try to investigate Toichi’s murder case.

If he really got killed by some shady people and the case got swept as an accident, there bounds to be something weird with the investigation.

He needs to prove all of these crazy deductions first. Then after that, he might be able to figure out the next step.

Can he get out alive from all of this mess? Hakuba wonders about that.

Not only does he need to find a way to survive and counterattack that black mafia group, but at some point, he needs to face Kaito as well.

“I need a painkiller… ouch…” Hakuba walks away from his desk, he glances to the window and he can faintly see a couple of group of pigeons from across from his home. A group of pigeons. In the middle of the night.

Hakuba just sighs and he ignores them as he walks out of his room.

This is going to be a long sleepless night for sure.

To Be Continued

Chapter Text

What makes humans human? It might be because of their ability to ‘lie’. That they can hide the truth because of some reasons. While computers can’t lie, no animals can lie either. So, lying is a human characteristic. It might be within their nature because lying can be a way to survive in this distorted world.

That is what Hakuba thinking.

“Oh, it is rare for you to come here by yourself, Hakuba-kun.”

“Yes, since I need some specific cases, I thought it will be better to come to get it by myself. Here is the list,” Hakuba says with his signature smile. Trying to be confident while he is lying, takes a skill. As a detective, Hakuba learned to do a poker face and some acting. But ever since he got shot, Hakuba takes his lying skill to a different level.

He is currently in the basement of the police department, a room where all the cases investigated by the police are stored. Depending on whether the case got solved or not, it isn’t only including the reports, but some evidence as well.

Hakuba is quite familiar with this desolated part of the police department. His hobby is to grab a few unsolved cases and tried to crack them down. Some he managed to solve, but some are still left as cold cases. He did it solely for fun and for training his mind to be a better detective. The officers in the report storage room are quite familiar with Hakuba as well, though most of the time Hakuba asked other police officers to fetch the cold case reports for him when the blonde is busy.

“Here are the reports… But this one is a case concluded as an accident… Is it really the right one?” The officers pile up several folders of reports but point out a particular folder.

Hakuba nods with a smile. “You aren’t wrong, I’m interested in this particular accident because of a personal reason.” Hakuba is trying to hide the fact that he wants to read the report about Kuroba Toichi’s fatal accident, by asking a bunch of other cold cases reports to cover it.

Hakuba still doesn’t know how far and deep the moles inside the police department are, it might be a bit risky for him to do this. To show that he is interested in an accident that might involve that secretive black mafia group. If those people in black hear what Hakuba is doing, they might have enough reason to eliminate him.

Well…

Hakuba isn’t stupid though.

“Thank you for your help. I will return this after I’m done with them,” Hakuba takes the pile of reports into his hands.

“I know, I know. You know the drill, I know you will return them in good condition,” the police officer just smiles back.

Hakuba takes the stairs because he isn’t just going to come home immediately. He needs to make a detour to the second division of the police department at the upper level of the building.

It doesn’t faze anyone to see Hakuba appears at the office while wearing his high school uniform. He might be included as their member as well since Hakuba appears in this division a lot.

“Oh, Inspector Nakamori,” Hakuba calls the older man at the corner of the room. The grumpy inspector doesn’t look happy to see him, but Hakuba doesn’t really care. That is Inspector Nakamori’s default expression for him after all.

“Why are you coming here again?”

Hakuba huffs while putting the pile of reports on top of Inspector Nakamori’s desk nonchalantly, he erases some of his sweat. Inspector Nakamori is eyeing the piled reports before he slightly glares at the blonde high school detective. “Can’t I be here? I thought you would be happy to see me alive and kicking,” Hakuba asks with a smile and some sarcastic undertone. “I just want to see the report of the Kid’s last heist. You know, not about my case. But Kid’s heist.”

It is Hakuba’s routine to read the report of every Kid’s heist, whether he attended it or not. He reads all of them.

“You fool, of course, I’m happy to see you fine and healthy,” Inspector Nakamori doesn’t seem impressed with Hakuba’s sarcasm. He is used to Hakuba’s sweet yet sarcastic way of speaking. “I thought you are too preoccupied with your personal case to ask for Kid’s heist report this time,” the older man pulls out a neat report as if he has been waiting for Hakuba to ask for it.

“Well, there is not much that I can do, so I might as well come back to my usual routine,” Hakuba takes the report and opens it there. Since some time already passed, the report is already done neatly.

Inspector Nakamori just huffs as he leans back in his chair.

“Huh?”

Hakuba looks away from the report. “Is something wrong?” The blonde sees how Inspector Nakamori takes a report from Hakuba’s piles of cold case reports.

“This… what are you taking this with you?” Inspector Nakamori asks with some horror on his face.

Hakuba blinks innocently. “I’m just… interested in it.” Hakuba looks at Kuroba Toichi’s report case on Inspector Nakamori’s hand.

“You… can’t joke around with something like this, Hakuba-kun. The police department isn’t your playground.” Inspector Nakamori is glaring at Hakuba with a serious expression. “You should know whose accident this is… So why are you doing this?”

Hakuba looks around uncomfortably. Because of the sudden change of mood, everyone else in the room is trying to peek at them. Hakuba feels as if he is a bad student that is getting scolded by a teacher in a teacher's room.

“Follow me, we need to talk about this,” Inspector Nakamori notices Hakuba’s uneasy face. So, the older man gets up and motions Hakuba to follow him. The blonde huffs and follows the inspector. They are walking to a more secluded corner in the hallway.

“So, explain it to me. From all the cases, why are you interested in this accident? And don’t dare you to lie about this to me,” Inspector Nakamori looks quite riled up. It makes Hakuba almost feels guilty.

“It is Kuroba-kun’s father's accident report, yes, I know,” Hakuba confesses honestly.

Inspector Nakamori ruffles his own hair in a frustrated manner. “Then?” He asks Hakuba to explain further.

Hakuba is looking down, his confidence is falling a bit. Because Inspector Nakamori is about to scold him as a parent of his classmate rather than as a police officer. “I only know about this recently… and Kuroba-kun refused to tell me about it… I figured that it was a sensitive matter. So, I’m trying to find it out by myself.”

That is a huge lie. Hakuba knows about this accident even before he met Kaito.

Inspector Nakamori’s eyes softened a little bit. “I figured it out. There is no way Kaito-kun will tell you about this.” The older man is sighing. “Then you should understand why Kaito-kun doesn’t want to tell you about this. You must have searched about the incident on the internet as well, that should be enough.”

Hakuba closes his eyes.

He tries to imagine something that doesn’t even happen.

Because no, Kaito never told him anything about his family to him. They aren’t that close. They weren’t even friends. So of course, Kaito never touched the subject of his father’s death as well. But Hakuba is sure that Kaito would refuse to tell him if Hakuba ever asks him about it.

“I know…” Hakuba licks his dry lips. There is a hint of awkwardness coming out from him. Deep behind his façade, he is still a teenager after all. “It is just… When I found out about the accident of Kuroba-kun’s father… I want to read the report about it… Not because I want to attack Kuroba-kun about it. I might not get along with Kuroba-kun, but I’m not that sadist, Inspector Nakamori,” Hakuba points out first. “On the contrary… I just… I want to understand. So that I can be more careful, just so, I won’t ever touch this sensitive subject or trigger something…”

Hakuba stutters a lot because he isn’t even sure what he is trying to say.

But, Inspector Nakamori has this dumbfounded expression on his face.

“You… are you trying to befriend Kaito-kun? Is this how you are doing it?”

“…huh?” Hakuba is surprised by Inspector Nakamori’s conclusion. But the blonde is trying to play along with it. “Well… kind… of?” Hakuba sounds too unsure. But he clears his throat and corrects himself. “I mean, I did something bad to him,” accusing Kaito as Kid should be counted as something bad even though that is the truth. “But he is my classmate… and… he isn’t… that bad…”

Hakuba wants to groan at his own words. Why is he getting embarrassed about this? He sounded like an idiot who can’t make friends…

Inspector Nakamori pats his shoulder suddenly. There is an understanding look on his face. “Right, this is what youth is all about.”

Hakuba wants to scowl, but he holds it.

“I thought you are abusing your status as a son of a superintendent general police officer to investigate your friend’s personal case just for fun…” Inspector Nakamori pats Hakuba’s shoulder harder. “But you are a good kid, you are really frustrating sometimes. You have your heart in the right place.”

“…thanks,” Hakuba doesn’t know whether Inspector Nakamori is belittling or complimenting him, but Hakuba takes the latter.

“This is a really sensitive matter for Kaito-kun, that’s why I got so defensive,” Inspector Nakamori adds again.

Hakuba nods. He knows that the Nakamori family is close to Kaito since they are neighbors.

“I understand, it is not a big deal,” Hakuba shows Inspector Nakamori a smile.

“Still, I think it is better to never bring out the subject in front of Kaito-kun. That kid adored his father so much. It was a devastating incident,” Inspector Nakamori says again with a grim expression.

The air feels heavy suddenly. “Were you involved in the investigation, Inspector Nakamori?” Hakuba asks carefully.

“Not directly, I was in a different division. But, well, I did what I could.” Inspector Nakamori adds. “Even for me, it is still hard to accept Toichi-san’s death as an accident. I was so sure that there was more to it, but I couldn’t find anything at all. To think such a great magician like him got into a fatal accident during his magic show like that…”

Hakuba observes Inspector Nakamori’s expression carefully. If it was what happened, then… Hakuba can imagine how Inspector Nakamori tried to investigate the case relentlessly. After Hakuba read the case report, he might be able to ask Inspector Nakamori more about the case, something that might not be recorded inside the report.

“I’m sorry to hear that…” Hakuba can relate to the sorrow. He feels sad too. To think that he wouldn’t be able to thank the man that has given him the confidence to follow his dream to become a detective.

“Well, you can read about the incident in the report. Just be careful about it in front of Kaito-kun. That kid might look like a blockhead, but… about this one, just no.” Inspector Nakamori is being vague about it. But Hakuba understands what Inspector Nakamori is trying to say.

“I will be careful about it, don’t worry,” Hakuba replies.

The older man nods then pats Hakuba’s shoulder for the last time before he walks back to his office.

Hakuba eyes the inspector before he closes his eyes and lets out a sigh of relief.

That went smoothly. That should do it.

Now, with this, if everyone ever questioned why Hakuba is interested in this case, it is because of his scheme of wanting to befriend Kaito. It is because this case is about the death of the father of his classmate. And Hakuba is awkwardly trying to investigate this case solely because of that reason.

Not because this case might be something that the black mafia has done.

Hakuba feels quite proud of himself.

He isn’t that bad at acting after all.

Though it does feel embarrassing to play the role of a high school detective who doesn’t know how to make friends.

...well, he should do whatever he can do to keep alive after all. Some embarrassment won’t kill him.

And… Hakuba looks at the outside of the window. There are no hints of pigeons outside of the building. He feels someone staring at him though… it might be just the officers that got ordered to watch over him from a certain distance. He is in a police department building. He should be safe here.

Hakuba just wonders…

What Kaito’s reaction will be if he knows about this?

0o0o0o0

Hakuba rhythmically taps the report as he is thinking.

The report is almost… flawless.

Almost.

He doesn’t expect less since this incident is about a world-famous magician's death. Back then, this case got the media’s attention as well, not only in Japan but the other countries as well. The investigation was being done thoroughly, to find whether there was someone responsible for the accident.

There is none.

Hakuba folds his arms.

But for this case which got covered by the media, this case is…

Being solved too fast.

It did get investigated longer than the usual accident case. But this accident was a bit special. Unlike car accidents or something like that, this one was involving specially-made machinery for the magic trick.

The investigation should cover whether the machinery is being engineered correctly in the first place. There should be a blueprint for the machinery somewhere and it should have been included in the report. Just got a statement from the backstage staff about the machinery shouldn’t be enough.

With this huge-scale trick, so many things could be wrong. Even if the police didn’t lean toward homicide, then it should be still investigated whether there were some negligence parts from the staff as well. After all, no matter how skilled Toichi might be, he would still need some hands to build the machinery.

It could be that the machinery was rigged by the black mafia from the place, so they didn’t even need to do anything afterward.

The autopsy wasn’t done as well. It was written that the family refused it.

Hakuba taps on that part in the report.

That’s a bit weird in his opinion. Though the sudden loss of someone dear might throw anyone into disarray, with such a bizarre death, it should be normal to request an autopsy.

The blonde detective sighs as he leans back on his chair and looks up to the ceiling of his room.

This case is concluded too quickly in his opinion. There should be more things to be investigated. It might be because the police got intense pressure from the media to conclude this case quickly.

Or maybe that was what the black mafia did.

To solve the case quickly. To make the case considered an accident only.

So, Hakuba scribbles in his note.

‘Murder?’

There is a huge possibility that this is indeed a murder case.

Hakuba closes the case folder. He never expects much from this report after all. Too many of them might have got fabricated.

He needs to do the investigation by himself after all.

It isn’t easy to reinvestigate an old case, but as a detective, this is what Hakuba can do.

0o0o0o0

Kaito just can’t believe it.

Just how much Hakuba knows about… everything?

Infiltrating the second division of the police department is a routine for Kaito. Especially because he is going to throw another heist soon.

But…

He didn’t expect to find Hakuba trying to investigate his father’s incident case.

That is maybe Kaito’s luck, to find out about that. To see Hakuba being cornered by Inspector Nakamori and that blonde detective was actually lying through his teeth.

What? Hakuba wants to befriend him…?

That detective was obviously lying about that. That was his excuse to investigate the case without anyone suspicious about it.

“He could be more discreet about it, that shithead…” Kaito groans.

It gave Kaito goosebumps to think about it. Hakuba is using a façade of having amnesia now, that’s why that organization is leaving that high school detective alone. But if he gets under their radar once more…

It won’t be hard to just kill Hakuba, not even his status as a son of the superintendent general will protect him.

“You are worried about him, huh, Botchama?”

“He is driving me insane… Doesn’t he know that this is a very dangerous matter? He should just return back to England and never come back, he should just stop putting his nose in this matter…” Kaito groans as he leans his head on the table.

“Then… you should tell him just how dangerous our enemy is, Kaito-botchama. He might not understand the extent of their power, that’s why he is being reckless like that,” Jii says as he cleans the glass on the counter.

Kaito takes a sip of his drink. His brain is desperately needing something sweet.

“If I tell him more about those bastards, Hakuba would just be intrigued even more,” Kaito can imagine that. After all, detectives have the instinct to run straight into danger rather than avoid it. Just how Hakuba saved him from getting shot, was the proof.

“Then you can work together with him. If you two works together, you may achieve something that you can’t do alone,” Jii says again.

Kaito scowls harder. “No way, just no way. He can’t even protect himself… Why should I ever work together with him to take down that cursed organization? And he is desperate to catch Kid too, Jii-chan. You are being ridiculous.”

“Well… you two have a common enemy now…” Jii-chan mumbles quietly and Kaito can hear him. The teen magician just sighs.

“I need to make him drop out from this matter sooner… however it takes, I should stop him from jumping into danger…” Kaito grumbles.

After all, there is no way Kaito will let Hakuba gets hurt because of him, again. If Hakuba ever loses his life because of Kaito…

Kaito won’t be able to forgive himself.

0o0o0o0

It is easier to be said than be done. To make that stubborn London high school detective drop out from the matter, to stop him from snooping on that dangerous black organization, Kaito doesn’t know what he should do.

He can try to threaten Hakuba, to scare him off by doing something to him or his family while pretending that he is those cursed black bastards—

But Kaito drops that idea fast. No, just no, Kaito can never do that. He isn’t into violence, especially toward someone innocent.

But, it is also hard for Kaito to keep worrying about Hakuba like this. His hands are already full with balancing his normal life with his nightlife, preparing the heists, protecting himself, with brainstorming how to take down that organization.

It might be because Kaito’s head is full of too many thoughts, he didn’t even notice that one of his pigeons is sick.

After he pulled off another trick in the class and he notices that one of his pigeons is missing, Kaito just curses himself silently. Of course, he doesn’t let it show to anyone else, he is a magician with a good poker face. He shouldn’t ever show up when his trick is kind of messed up.

So, after the class is done, Kaito tries to find his sickly pigeon around the school. She shouldn’t be able to fly that far, he just hopes that she is okay.

“I should get a hold of myself as well…” Kaito sighs. Because of Hakuba, Kaito feels too restless these days. He isn’t behaving like himself, Aoko noticed that as well.

Kaito looks around at the outside of the school building. And he stops walking when he notices that someone is holding his pigeon on the corner of the school.

Of course, of all the people in this school, Hakuba is the one who finds his pigeon first.

With the way that the blonde is holding the pigeon, Kaito knows that Hakuba is experienced in handling birds.

Oh yeah, that shithead does have a falcon in his home.

“What are you doing here? If you are sick, you should go back to your owner…” Kaito hears Hakuba talking softly to his bird while patting her head.

It really comes down to Kaito that Hakuba is actually a genuinely kind person. People might think that the blonde is too arrogant and so full of himself, but under all of that mask, Hakuba is still a good person. He never brought his monstrous falcon to Kaito Kid’s heist either, that is one of the reasons.

Hakuba turns around and notices that Kaito is staring at him.

“Oh, she is yours right, Kuroba-kun?” Hakuba guesses correctly. It isn’t hard to guess the owner of the sick pigeon at school.

Kaito lets out a clear whistle and the pigeon flies off from Hakuba’s hand to Kaito. His pigeons are trained to follow his order well.

“I think she is sick, you might need to bring her to the vet,” Hakuba adds nonchalantly.

It is funny that both of them are having birds as pets, though they are different kinds.

“I don’t need you to tell me about that,” Kaito scorns off.

Right.

How to make Hakuba drop out from the matter, to make this blonde go back to England and never comes back?

Kaito doesn’t know much about Hakuba’s weaknesses.

But as his classmate, he knows one.

“You know, the way you always act like you know it all… It always pissed me off,” Kaito starts to speak again while he slips his pigeon into his uniform. And then she is gone to the right place like a magic trick. Kaito pats his chest and puts both of his hands into his pants pockets.

“To be honest, why are you even doing this here in Japan?” Kaito glares slightly at the dumbfounded Hakuba. “Why are you attending this school? Oh right, you are suspicious about me being the Kaito Kid, that’s why,” Kaito says with sarcasm.

“Can you just drop it off already? Just because you can’t catch Kaito Kid yourself, it doesn’t mean you need to drag me along because of your incompetency.” Actually, Hakuba is scarily close to catching Kaito Kid, because he guesses correctly that Kaito is Kid. He just doesn’t have enough evidence to back up his claim. And Kaito won’t let him either.

“Why are you suddenly telling me all of this?” Hakuba asks Kaito. Because it feels so sudden. 

Kaito grimaces, he looks at Hakuba as if he despises the blonde detective more than anything in this world. “Because… you are pissing me off. Because, you are clearly taking advantage of Aoko’s kindness, that’s why.”

Hakuba blinks in surprise.

Kaito hates this, he hates that he needs to poke at this Hakuba’s weakness. But, Kaito is just desperate right now.

If he needs to hurt Hakuba verbally so that the blonde stop staying in Japan, Kaito will do it.

“You know that you have no friends at school. You might pretend to be some kind of prince charming, but that is all lies. You have no close friends at school, so you are clinging to Aoko. Because she is too kind and a bit foolish, so you take advantage of her. I know it and I can see she is uncomfortable, but she just lets you do it.”

Usually, Hakuba eats together with Aoko at lunch, and it does make Kaito feel uncomfortable. If there are some team projects at school, Kaito knows that Hakuba is gravitating toward Aoko quickly. Aoko is the only one who treats Hakuba like a normal classmate, not as an untouchable prince charming. So, Hakuba does stick to Aoko.

Though, it is a lie that Aoko feels uncomfortable around Hakuba. The kind Aoko might be able to see that Hakuba has problems making friends at school, so she takes him under her wing. She is kind of like that.

The rest of their classmates are still awkward around Hakuba since they don’t know how to handle this peculiar detective. Kaito can see that Hakuba is unable to blend well into the class.

Heck.

Hakuba can’t blend well with anyone. He always sticks out like a sore thumb anywhere.

“And obviously, you always come back to London periodically, taking long absences from school. Then you might as well not come back. What are you even doing here? You can’t catch Kaito Kid, you don’t attend school seriously, and you can’t even make friends here. You accomplish nothing here.” With Hakuba’s brain, he doesn’t even need to attend school. Kaito knows that.

The only reason why he attends this school is solely to get close to the prime suspect of Kaito Kid.

Kaito observes Hakuba’s expressions carefully.

And he knows that he hits Hakuba right in the way it hurts the most, though the blonde tries to cover it. Hakuba closes his eyes for a while before he opens them again.

“I take it that you are angry with me because I inconvenience Aoko-san too much,” Hakuba nods and takes a deep breath as if he tries to collect himself.

“And also because I simply hate you,” Kaito adds with a cold tone.

Gosh.

He hates this.

He hates to do this.

“Ah… is that so?” Hakuba says with a bitter smile. “Well, I guess it is rather obvious that you hate me.”

Well, they bicker at school about many things, a lot.

“But sadly, I don’t think… I can suddenly drop out of school. I still want to finish my education here,” Hakuba takes another deep breath. “If you really hate me that much, then you just need to ignore my presence. I will do the same. You aren’t the first person that hated my guts, this isn’t new for me.”

Yeah, Kaito can imagine that. Not many people like Hakuba’s arrogant attitude, even many officers in the second division kind of dislike him. And Hakuba always acts dense about it.

So, he does know.

“Yeah, let’s leave each other alone,” Kaito finally says it.

“Okay,” Hakuba nods.

And they turn away in different directions.

After walking for a while, Kaito kneels down and covers his face with his hands.

What did he just do?

Seriously, what he did just do? Kaito groans as he rubs his hair in frustration.

That is all lie.

Kaito never hates Hakuba. Yeah, the blonde sometimes irks him, but ever since Hakuba came to school…

It has been quite fun.

It is rare to find someone who can stand on the same level as him. Someone who understands what he is saying, what he is doing. Someone who speaks his language.

If only Kaito isn’t Kaito Kid and Hakuba isn’t a detective, they might be able to be friends.

Hakuba is awkward at making friends, but that isn’t because he is a bad person. He just doesn’t know how.

That guy doesn’t even stick to Aoko that much, just when he needs to. And he treats Aoko decently as well, he might try to hit on Aoko once at first. But after that, he looks as if he just wants to befriend Aoko genuinely.

“I’m such an asshole…” Kaito groans as he self-introspect.

What will he gain from this, seriously?

He hasn’t even managed to thank Hakuba properly yet.

For taking the bullets for him.

And he just lashed out at this innocent detective, for nothing.

“Aaahhh… I’m the worst…” Kaito cries in agony.

0o0o0o0

“Are you okay… Saguru-botchama?”

“Uhm… I’m fine, don’t worry.” Hakuba’s hand is holding his pocket watch tightly and he puts it close to his heart. Baaya is looking at him, but Hakuba is avoiding her stare and walking fast into his room.

Once he is in his room, Hakuba slides down to the floor while desperately holding the pocket watch to his heart. If he closes his eyes, he can hear the soft tick sounds from his dear pocket watch. This is how he usually calms himself down.

This… doesn’t matter.

Whatever bullshit Kaito told him, that doesn’t matter. It is nothing new really. Hakuba is used with everyone blatantly showing their hate toward him. Kaito isn’t the first person who attacked him verbally like this. Many others did and Hakuba is used to that.

What matters now is to keep surviving and catch those black mafia people, nothing else matters.

So what if that Hakuba is a loner who can’t make friends? He doesn’t need one, he knows how to use his connection when he needs people to help him. That’s how he has been doing all this time.

Hakuba opens his eyes as he breathes more regularly now.

His heart still stings a lot, but he knows that he will eventually heal.

Kaito attacked him verbally so desperately maybe because he felt annoyed with Hakuba kept snooping around him. Hakuba did decide to reinvestigate the case of his father’s death, Kaito might have known about this and he is triggered off because of that.

Understandable.

Hakuba is about to change his school uniform as he turns on his TV for background noise. Then he stops when the news said that the police department gets another letter from Kid about the next heist plan.

Hakuba just snorts.

Yeah.

Let’s just focus on something more important. If Kaito as himself refuses to talk to him, then how about Kaito Kid?

Hakuba nods then pause when he sees the Kid’s notification letter on the screen. That letter got sent to the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department but…

“Huh? Isn’t the heist will be held in Kyoto?” Hakuba can solve the riddle fast because it isn’t too hard to decipher it. “Kyoto huh…?” Hakuba mumbles while he changes his clothes.

He isn’t that familiar with the place or with the police department there… It seems Kid isn’t going to make it easy for him. But, Hakuba has decided to approach Kid during the heist this time.

He has to, whether Kid wants to cooperate with him or not, it doesn’t matter because he has to ask Kid about those black mafia guys.

But yeah, deep down inside his heart, Hakuba feels that Kid won’t make it easy for him this time.

To Be Continued

Chapter Text

Curiosity is human nature. Because the human brain is more developed than any other living being, the power of curiosity is the human’s ultimate power.

And being curious is part of detective instinct as well. It all started with being curious, asking, to wonder before investigating or deducting anything. Curiosity is the start of everything.

Maybe because the detective is a curious being, they tend to run into danger rather than avoid it.

But, in Hakuba’s case, he has no choice but to do this. It might all start with curiosity, but he came to the level where he can’t run away. Running away won’t save his life. Or even it will, it might cost him his sanity.

So, he wants to be proactive in his personal case. He isn’t sure if he can take down the secretive mafia group that has been terrorizing Kaito Kid, but since Hakuba has gotten himself into this mess, he won’t just stay still and wait until he gets killed.

But, the frustrating thing is, no one really understands his way of thinking.

“I don’t know how those Tokyo polices do this, but this is Kyoto, Hakuba Saguru-kun. You are my responsibility, so please cooperate with me.”

Hakuba wants to groan at the detective inspector in front of him. There are two police officers behind him who stand close enough till Hakuba can hear their breathing. “I appreciate your concern, but you are clearly overboard with this.”

Kaito Kid has decided to throw another heist, this time, in Kyoto. He is targeting a recently discovered small gold Buddha statue with a huge gem on its forehead. So, rather than the second division of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police, the Kyoto Police District will take over guarding the gem statue.

And the inspector detective is dead set on ordering his two police officers to guard Hakuba and stick to him like glue.

“You should have been happy enough to be allowed to participate in this operation. With your recent incident, you need this much protection at least. I don’t see where is the problem,” the way this inspector looks at Hakuba, he doesn’t hide his dislike toward the blonde high school detective. Hakuba is quite familiar with this stare, Inspector Nakamori still shows those eyes at him every once in a while. He might think something like “this damn selfish brat, disturbing my work and using his father’s status to do whatever he wants.”

Hakuba can’t really respond to this old man’s words. Because he has some point.

The problem is… Hakuba is planning to corner the Kid, solely not to catch him, but to ask him a few questions. It will be hard to do even when he is alone, let alone when there are two police officers who stick to him like glue.

Even though Hakuba’s assassination attempt is a classified case, it was being kept in Tokyo Metropolitan Department, but his father must have asked the Kyoto Police District to protect him during the heist. Hakuba doesn’t know how much they know about the case, but maybe enough till they think that they won’t leave Hakuba wandering alone.

This is troubling.

Seriously, not only there are so many moles inside the police department, police are unreliable as well then this… If they can’t help him, at least please just leave him alone to do his own thing. That is what Hakuba pleaded inside his heart, but he doesn’t know how to express this.

“I heard that the strategy to protect the gem is by limiting the number of police officers within the building, then what is this actually, huh, old man?”

Hakuba raises his head and turns at the somewhat familiar voice with an unfamiliar accent. “You-“

 0o0o0o0

“Tell me again, why do you want to go here… there are too many people here…”

“Stop complaining, I always accompany you to investigate so many cases even in remote places. The least you can do is accompany me where I want to go for once, stupid Heiji.”

“You interacting with that Suzuki's heir is clearly influencing you badly about this. You aren’t a Kid fan, right?”

“Of course not! I’m just curious. Sonoko-chan always raves at me about Kaito Kid, it makes me a bit curious. So, I thought why not… but you are right, there are too many people here.”

Heiji scowls harder when there are people who shove him hard to the side. He feels like he is being pressed into a can like a sardine. When Kazuha asked him to accompany her to watch Kid heist, Heiji can’t really find a way to refuse. He isn’t that interested in catching Kid, unlike his best friend, so Heiji isn’t that excited to be here.

He understands that Kid’s heist is interesting, it certainly intrigues him as well but Heiji isn’t into catching thieves. It isn’t that thrilling and interesting to him. It is clear that Kid is just a maniac who loves attention, so giving him more attention is what he wants. Heiji refuses to play along with that. There are enough people who want to catch Kid badly, Heiji doesn’t need to join that group.

“Ouch, hey, don’t push me!” Kazuha whines when someone pushes her, and Heiji catches her naturally and scowls at the people around him.

“Since the notice about the heist is easy to solve this time, Kid fans are rushing to here… not to mention the tourist in Kyoto too…” Heiji groans again. Kyoto is usually packed with tourists, with Kid’s heist being held here, it is just exacerbating the crowds.

“Heiji, why do you think there are so many police officers guarding the outside of the museum? Shouldn’t they be inside guarding the Buddha statue?” Kazuha asks pointing at the row of police officers outside.

“Probably they are limiting the number of the polices inside, since Kid can disguise himself as polices,” Heiji hufts. He groans again when someone pushes him closer to Kazuha. If he isn’t annoyed, he might enjoy being pressed close to the girl he has crushed on. But being here is too suffocating, he might get pressed to death if stay here.

“Let’s get inside,” Heiji decides. He isn’t into catching Kid, but he wants to escape this crowd. Kazuha sounds confused but Heiji pulls her through the crowd to reach the museum.

When the police officers try to stop them, Heiji just needs to pull the card of his father’s status and Kazuha’s father as well. Yes, he hates to use this privilege, as the son of the superintendent supervisor of Osaka Prefectural Police. He prefers to be himself, the high school detective from Osaka. But, Heiji is also the type who knows how to use his privilege well.

“You aren’t allowed to be inside. There will be a heist soon, this museum is off-limit for civilians tonight.”

“I only come here to help, I figure you might need extra hands since the polices outside is busy controlling the crowd. Do you want me to call my pops so that you believe me?” Heiji is pulling his phone but does not intend to call his father. He is just bluffing.

“Please—I’m just doing my job.”

“You are limiting the number of police officers inside to stop Kid from disguising as one of you, but I heard that strategy has been used at previous heist and it didn’t work…” Heiji is walking inside as he calls Detective Otaki Han, making the police officer follow him, and look flustered. “Oh, hello pops…”

Kazuha is trailing behind him, feeling sorry for the officer but she doesn’t stop Heiji’s antic.

“No, please, let me talk to the inspector first at least—”

“Oh.” Heiji stops abruptly when he sees someone familiar down the hallway.

That London detective.

“Ugh, he is here as well, huh?” Heiji grumbles under his breath. He should have just escaped from the crowd to another building and found a way to let Kazuha watch the heist safely from afar.

“Who? Oh… He… looks familiar, ah, right! He is one of the contestants from that high school detective Koushien right?” Kazuha asks Heiji, but her childhood friend only scowls.

But the mood there looks weird. It seems Hakuba is currently arguing with an inspector detective about something. The officer who wants to stop Heiji from entering earlier seems unable to but into the conversation either.

“What are they arguing?” Kazuha tilts her head. “It isn’t about the heist?”

Heiji is just standing there, observing that arrogant blonde arguing with the inspector detective.

“I don’t know how those Tokyo polices do this, but this is Kyoto, Hakuba Saguru-kun. You are my responsibility, so please cooperate with me.”

“I appreciate your concern, but you are clearly overboard with this.”

“You should have been happy enough to be allowed to participate in this operation. With your recent incident, you need this much protection at least. I don’t see where is the problem.”

Heiji blinks as he can see how Hakuba’s expression is changing. He is clearly troubled and losing the argument. It feels good to see that arrogant detective is being put in his place-

Or not.

Just by the gesture of that inspector detective, he is clearly showing his detest toward the blonde high school detective. Actually, almost the officers around showed uncomfortable stares at Hakuba.

Heiji himself is quite familiar with these stares. As the high school detective, police officers love to belittle him, thinking that he is still a snotty brat who knows nothing. There are some polices who can appreciate his work, but there are more police who dislike him.

And Heiji wonders if he is seeing more, but Hakuba seems…

Desperate.

He seems desperate but he is losing the argument.

And no one is standing up for him.

He is like fighting a losing battle alone.

“Ah damn…” Heiji groans as he swaps his cap position and steps closer to the arguing people.

“Huh, Heiji?” Kazuha sounds surprised behind him.

“I heard that the strategy to protect the gem is by limiting the number of police officers within the building, then what is this actually, huh, old man?” Heiji asks in the most sarcastic and rude manner he can utter.

“You-“ Hakuba looks surprised to see him.

Heiji is avoiding his eyes. He is doing this not to help Hakuba at all. But, it feels like his pride as a high school detective is getting trampled over as well.

“You… Heiji Hattori-kun.” The inspector detective looks at him and recognizes him instantly. He is staring at Heiji in dislike, and Heiji glares back. “Why are you here?”

“I thought you might need a helping hand… but I see that you are busy doing a bodyguard job for VIP, huh? So, will I get two pairs of police officers protecting my back too?” Heiji retorts back. Maybe because Kyoto is his region as well, Heiji has no problem being rude and doing whatever he wants. His father might beat him if he finds out about this, but Heiji won’t care.

It is actually satisfying to him to see the inspector detective’s face gone red.

“Ah, Kazuha is included as VIP as well right? She is the daughter of the Chief Criminal Investigator of the Osaka police district,” Heiji casually points out at Kazuha behind her.

“Heiji…” He hears how Kazuha hisses at him but Heiji ignores her.

“Heiji Hattori-kun, please stay out of this. This isn’t your business, you don’t know the situation-“

“Then, explain it to me.”

“I can’t-“

“Now, hear me, old man,” Heiji keeps cutting at the old man in front of him. “I’m not that much an idiot. Whatever the situation is, if you need to make two police officers guard him, it must be to protect him. Whether it is to protect him from something or protect something from him,” Heiji is pointing at Hakuba. The blonde looks a bit offended by his words, but he doesn’t say anything.

“And you are doing this even when you are limiting the police officers within this building. Actually, that is clearly just showing how incompetent you and your subordinates are at making this place secure,” Heiji continues his jabbing. “Because clearly, this is such a dangerous place so you need two police officers to protect the VIP's son, if that is the truth then it will be fair if Kazuha and I get protection as well.”

“I limit only 10 police officers can stay within this museum tonight, please don’t be ridiculous, Heiji Hattori-kun. Your presence isn’t even needed here.”

“Are you provoking me to call my pops?” Heiji is seriously considering calling his father. “You are seriously hurting my feeling, and here I’m being generous at offering my help.” Heiji punches his father’s number and raises his phone to his ear while staring right into the inspector’s eyes.

Heiji is counting inside his head.

1… 2… 3…

“Okay… you win. You can do whatever you like.” The inspector raises his hands while groaning. “Such bratty privileged kids…” He mutters under his breath loud enough for Heiji to hear. But Heiji just grins with satisfaction.

“But, Hakuba-kun, you need to stay within this museum until the heist end. If you go outside, you still need to bring two police officers to protect you. You can do that much, right?”

Heiji really dislikes this inspector and his way of speaking.

“…I understand,” Hakuba doesn’t fight against it. He just huffs as he swipes his bangs.

“Let’s resume your position,” the inspector orders his subordinate. “And I hope you all will behave here.” The inspector says that before he turns around.

Heiji just rolls his eyes.

“Do you have something personal against that detective officer, Heiji?” Kazuha asks him in wonder. Heiji just huffs. No, he doesn’t have anything against that old man. But, it is good to win the fight against a police detective who belittles a high school detective-

“And he didn’t even thank me, wow.” Heiji is stunned to see that Hakuba has walked away as well. “I just remember why I dislike him… I shouldn’t have taken his side….” The West high school detective just can’t believe this.

0o0o0o0

It might be because of what Kaito said a few days ago.

But, Hakuba is under the impression that he is surrounded by people who hate him. It felt suffocating for a moment so he goes to the bathroom to get a grip on himself. He washes his face, trying to calm down. His argument with the inspector of the second division of the Kyoto police district is shaken him up a little bit.

And then the sudden appearance of Heiji Hattori.

Hakuba didn’t know why Heiji took his side, but probably not for him. Since Heiji despised him as well, they didn’t go along well during their first meeting.

“I need to focus,” Hakuba wipes the water from his face using a tissue. His main goal tonight is to confront Kid. Hopefully, to get some answers about their enemies. Because it is draining for Hakuba to be like this.

Fighting a ghost alone with his life on the line.

“So, what is the situation?”

Hakuba almost snaps when Heiji is appearing again. Leaning on the restroom door with kind of a pissed look.

No good, Hakuba needs to refocus his attention again. He is keep getting distracted and is unable to notice when people sneak up on him. He is going to get killed if he is like this.

“I can’t tell you, Hattori-kun.” Hakuba refuses to tell Heiji anything.

“You are really…” Heiji huffs with an exasperated face. Like, he can’t believe what Hakuba just said.

Then before any of them can say anything, the ventilation lid is coming off with a blast, and a cloud of smoke spreads out into the restroom in the blink of an eye.

“What-“

“Kid-“

Hakuba curses Kid in his heart as his vision turns black.

0o0o0o0

“I hate sleeping drugs… Urgh…”

“Tell me about it.”

“What are you doing?”

Being trapped inside a small closet together with Heiji isn’t a good experience. It is good that there is still enough space to move around. And it is good that despite his wrists and ankles being tied together, his hands are still in front of him, not being tied behind. Hakuba is reaching for one of his shoes and wriggling around, pushing Heiji to the side.

“Stop moving around!” Heiji spats. “Ouch!”

“Please shut up,” Hakuba is concentrating and finally his finger manages to find something. He pulls a small knife from the shoelaces of his right shoe.

Heiji is quite stunned to see that.

“I see that you come prepared,” Heiji says in awe.

Hakuba just huffs as he is struggling to cut the ropes on his wrist. That is the advantage of being paranoid. Not only using a bulletproof jacket and bringing a stun gun, but Hakuba hides so many various things in his clothes including his shoes. With the help of his uncle, Hakuba could carve his shoe and hide a specially molded small knife into it.

He kind of expected something like this will happen. Certainly, Kid would try his best to stop Hakuba from attending his heist. And Hakuba is right.

After struggling for a bit because of the awkward angle at holding the knife, Hakuba manages to free himself. He takes out his pocket watch. “Shit, I’m late…” It is already past 15 minutes of the time of the heist.

Hakuba is about to walk out from the closet, then he turns around a bit and throws the small knife at Heiji.

“As thanks for your help before,” Hakuba says quickly. Whether Heiji intended to help him or not, Hakuba just wanted to make things even with him. It doesn’t sit well with him if he owes something to this dark-skinned high school detective.

“O-oi!”

Hakuba is already coming out from the closet and ignoring Heiji’s call behind him.

Hakuba needs to chase Kid quickly. He has no time.

0o0o0o0

It has been almost a month since Hakuba found that unrecorded bullet hole on Kid’s heist. After that discovery, it feels like he opened a pandora's box. His life is completely turned around and it feels like it keeps getting worse.

It would be a lie if Hakuba said he never thought of running away before.

He wants to, he wants to run away. He wants to forget everything and turn back to the time before he knows everything.

But, that won’t do anything. That is what Hakuba is thinking as he is running with all of his might.

He can hear the loud sirens of police cars from the other side of the part of the road. But Hakuba ignores it, he is sure that the police officers are just chasing a dummy.

The forecast is right, tonight there will be a light shower of rain. But even with this kind of weather, Kid won’t use his hang glider if he can. He will use his feet instead, that is what Hakuba is thinking. There are many narrow alleys in Kyoto, perfect for Kid to run away from the car police who chase him.

Hakuba is glad that he has scouted the surrounding places of the museum since yesterday. For now, he is following his gut and running as hard as he can while rain is soaking his body slowly but surely.

He thought Kyoto will be full of people, but maybe because of Kid’s heist, so the crowd is focused on something else. Hakuba is running through the deserted alley.

That is when finally, he finds someone who has a familiar figure running in front of him. Someone who wears black head to toe.

“Wait, Kid!”

They reach a park and Kid is in the middle to climb the stairs. Kid seems quite startled when Hakuba calls him.

“I won’t get closer, I just want to talk to you. Just stay where you are.” Hakuba says as he stops running. He pants hard after running that fast, but he gets a grip on himself fast.

Kid looks a bit hesitant, with his black cap shadowing his face, Hakuba can’t see his expression. But, Kid is stopping in his track. And Hakuba is glad to see that.

He knows it might be stupid to do this. Kaito and Kid are the same people. Kaito clearly wanted nothing to do with Hakuba.

But, Kid… Kid is like a different persona than Kaito. Kaito acts and behaves differently when he is Kid.

“I’m impressed you know I will run this way…” Kid talks first, kind of startling Hakuba.

“Well, it isn’t hard to guess. I just need to think what would I do if I become you,” Hakuba huffs. Kid is choosing the day when it will rain, specifically to run away with his feet. With so many police officers standing by outside and the large crowd gathered there as well, Hakuba just needs to find a route where there would be fewer people there.

Kid would run away through the emergency exit, through the deserted alleys. He would surely avoid big streets where cars can pass. Then he will find a deserted open space or high place to either escape using his hang glider or by car.

It seems Hakuba is on point today.

“I don’t know that you know me so well, Tantei-san,” Kid flatters him again. Hakuba is done controlling his breathing.

“Please stop the chit-chat,” Hakuba knows that Kid is trying to distract him. Hakuba is looking at Kid on the stairs above him. It feels like so many emotions suddenly coming out from Hakuba’s chest. There are so many things he wants to ask Kid.

“What actually happened?” Hakuba asks Kid with desperation showing on his face. That question isn’t just because Hakuba is still pretending to have amnesia. But, also, he can’t fully understand what happened that night. Just why, why Kid is getting targeted by those black mafia people?

Hakuba can guess somewhat, but he needs confirmation.

“Whether it is true you have amnesia or not, I think it is something that you better don’t know, Tantei-san,” Kid says with a gentle voice.

It feels ironic because the same voice told him how he hated Hakuba a few days ago.

Hakuba knows that it won’t be easy for him to make Kid explain anything to him. This guy also has been fighting the mafia people for so long, without telling the police. But…

“You owe me an explanation to me… don’t you think?” Hakuba can feel how the rain is slightly getting stronger as water droplets keep hitting his face. “At least, I need to know… who my enemy is…”

Hakuba can feel how Kid is pausing.

Yes, Hakuba just admitted that his amnesia is a façade to Kid.

Kid owes him this, it means that Hakuba remembers how he saved Kid from getting hit by bullets. Hakuba thinks he needs to open his secret first so that Kid can do the same thing.

Or, Hakuba is just that desperate.

He is used to being alone, but going through this ordeal makes him realize just how he has no one to trust or to depend on. He doesn’t know why exactly he ended up like this, why he is so alone like this, but this is…

Exhausting.

He heard that Kid has at least one assistant who helps him. Then that person must have known Kid’s true identity and his enemy to some extent.

That must be nice…

“I don’t tell you anything is… to protect you, Tantei-san.” Kid’s voice is a bit soft but also stern. “This is how I repay you back…”

Hakuba bites his lips.

Damn it.

“We have the same enemy, right? Won’t it better if we work together to defeat them?” Hakuba says again, he is trying hard to persuade Kid. This guy is too stubborn. Rather than protecting him, by not telling Hakuba anything, it feels like torture. If Hakuba is going to die eventually, he wants to know who his enemy is rather than keep oblivious about it.

“I’m not strong enough to protect both of us, Tantei-san, I’m sorry…” Kid replies again.

Hakuba can hear something else in his words. ‘You can’t even help yourself, how would you help me?’

“I think… it is better for you to forget about everything, Tantei-san. To stay blissfully oblivious is a blessing,” Kid opens his palm and then suddenly pulls a white mantel out of nowhere. Then with one swipe, Kid is already gone from his place.

Hakuba is just stunned in his place as the rain gets stronger.

Good, he got rejected both by Kaito and Kid.

Well, technically he didn’t even try to approach Kaito to ask about this subject and yet that guy already rejected him before Hakuba could ask anything.

It stings a lot.

It is no good. Kid refused to tell him anything, let alone work together with him.

Hakuba’s phone is ringing loudly and it takes a few seconds before Hakuba pulls his phone out. He doesn’t recognize the number, but he is guessing that the second division of the Kyoto police district is searching for him.

He isn’t in the mood to get another scolding. So, he pockets the phone back.

So many people are against him and Hakuba is tired.

He walks aimlessly under the rain in a haze before he finds a vending machine. He puts in some money and punches a button then a can comes out. He picks out a can of hot tea. He might be a bit out of his mind, trying to drink tea in rain.

But, Hakuba is just a bit overwhelmed. It might be because he is like this that Kaito is refusing to tell him anything. Under his arrogant façade, Hakuba is still an ordinary high school student. Kaito might find him unreliable.

And annoying.

Hakuba grunts when his hands keep slipping from trying to open the can. No good, he needs to get a grip on himself. Hakuba stops trying and takes a deep breath.

Then suddenly someone takes the can away from his hand.

“Are you crazy? Do you want to drink in the rain like this? What are you? A broken-hearted second male lead from a trashy novel?”

“Why are you here… Hattori-kun?” Hakuba is tired, so he has no energy to retort back at Heiji’s jabbing.

“Obviously, because you owe me an explanation as well,” Heiji says as Hakuba just blinks a few times.

“Why did you keep eavesdropping on me?” Hakuba sighs heavily.

“Now, let’s go somewhere to shelter from the rain like sane people,” Heiji brushes his question off. “Follow me.”

Hakuba just looks at the high-school detective whom he only meets twice. He isn’t very familiar with him and not sure what he should do now. But, Heiji is already walking away and then checking whether Hakuba follows him or not. Then Heiji makes a gesture to just follow him already.

Hakuba doesn’t know what this stubborn guy wants, probably he is being too curious about Hakuba’s case. Detective and their curiosity, at least Hakuba can understand that much. So, the blonde follows Heiji's steps reluctantly.

0o0o0o0

“Thank you for the towels.”

“I could offer you two a change of clothes if you need to.”

“No, no, the towels are enough. Thank you, Okami-tan.”

Hakuba is drying himself off with the towel while standing awkwardly on the tatami. Even if he is half-Japanese, it is his first time visiting a tea house in Kyoto. With all of the Japanese decorations at every angle, he feels a bit out of place.

"I understand. This is hot tea for you to warm up your cold body, please enjoy it. If you need anything, please call for me,” the lady of the tea house excuses herself so elegantly and closes the sliding door.

Different from Hakuba, Heiji seems to belong here. He sits on the cushion casually and pours himself a cup of tea. Hakuba follows his lead and sits across from him in a more awkward manner. He wonders how much he should pay for the service here.

“You-“

“Why are you doing this?” Hakuba cuts Heiji’s question by asking him a question first. The dark-skinned teen looks a bit taken aback.

Heiji’s expression changes into a more complex expression as he sips his tea. “The first time, I just did it because I didn’t like how that old man inspector's way of talking. The second time… you were the one who rushed out first, I figured that you were chasing Kaito Kid then…” Heiji trails off. “It's almost like a scene from a drama, the mood was really weird so I stuck to just watching from the side because I thought you need to talk to Kid privately then…” Heiji pauses then he drinks the rest of his tea and doesn’t offer more explanation.

Hakuba just tilts his head a little because he doesn’t understand what Heiji is trying to convey in the last part. “So, you are curious.” That is the conclusion.

“Sort of,” Heiji pours the tea into a different cup and offers it to Hakuba. The blonde detective just stares at it weirdly. “You need to see your own condition… like hell, I can leave you alone,” Heiji mutters under his breath as he pours himself another cup of tea and drinks it in one gulp.

“What?” Hakuba can’t hear what Heiji just said. But he thought it isn’t something important, because it seems Heiji refuses to repeat it again.

“So, what is your ‘situation’ till you need two police officers to guard you during Kid’s heist? From what I know, Kid’s heists are mostly harmless unless there is a third party involved.” Heiji’s eyes become sharp. And thankfully Hakuba doesn’t drink his tea yet, because he almost gets choked on his own saliva.

As expected, he can’t underestimate Heiji. In some ways, Heiji might be even more skilled than Hakuba as a detective, not that Hakuba will ever openly admit it.

Hakuba isn’t sure how much he needs to tell Heiji so that this West high school detective will leave him alone. “I want to hear how much you have deducted from keep eavesdropping on my conversation earlier." Hakuba regains his composure quickly and sips his tea slowly. The warm green tea is soothing his nerve.

Heiji’s eyes squint at him. As if he is trying to read Hakuba’s mind. Then he folds his arms. “It is clear that you were involved in a dangerous situation.” Heiji starts to explain his current deduction about the blonde detective. “I thought, there is a chance you might have started some sort of scandal, but that is a bit funny if I think about it again. So, yeah, it most likely that something dangerous happened during the previous heist so that the polices were adamant to protect you.” Heiji closes his eyes as he keeps talking.

“The culprit isn’t Kid though. But Kid was definitely involved in the incident.” Heiji continues. “Since it wasn’t Kid’s doing then it must be the third party. And since you tried to ask Kid about the culprit’s identity then you don’t know about them, but Kid might know about it. Then, that third party must be Kid’s enemy.” Heiji pauses as he frowns while closing his eyes. Then he opens it with heavy eyes. “Whoever that enemy is, it might be someone dangerous since Kid refused to tell you about it. And what… Do you pretend to have amnesia about it? That is kind of crazy… but if the situation is dire, I can understand that.”

Hakuba is trying to control his emotion.

Because, damn, Heiji is almost figured out everything.

“With how that old man inspector was acting, then your situation is something classified, right? Because I haven’t heard anything about you involved in some kind of incident in news.” Heiji huffs. “It was something big, right?” Heiji pauses. “I can’t help but feel curious about it.” He says with a small pout.

Hakuba just stares at his cup of tea. “Are you sure you want to know?” He wonders if he should tell Heiji about this. It is just pure curiosity on Heiji’s part. That was how Hakuba started this as well.

“I won’t bring you here if I don’t want to know, you dumbass.” Heiji rolls his eyes.

Hakuba sighs then he sips his now lukewarm tea.

“I got shot during Kid’s heist.”

Heiji is in the middle of drinking the rest of his tea when Hakuba said that, so the dark-skinned teen is spurting out his tea in surprise and coughing. Hakuba manages to avoid the unexpected tea splatter and gives Heiji a disapproving look.

“Cough, cough, shit, I didn’t expect that…” Heiji is pounding his own chest. “I mean, I heard that when a third party is involved, Kid’s heist can be dangerous but… I didn’t expect that.”

There is a number of cases when some people tried to assassinate Kid, true. But, it was usually dangerous for Kid himself, not for other people.

“That was why the polices was being overprotective toward you… Understandable… And the culprit hasn’t been caught yet, right?”

Hakuba nods while he looks at the spilled tea on the table with uneasy eyes. Heiji excuses himself for a minute and calls the lady of the tea house to lend him some napkins.

Hakuba is thinking while the Okami wipes the dirtied table and then excuses herself once again.

“But, Kid’s last heist is around a month ago, right? It has been a month but the police still can’t catch the culprit. Then they must be something else…” Heiji continues the conversation. “There must be something else, right?”

Hakuba raises his head and just notices that Heiji is observing him.

Hakuba frowns a little bit. He should stop here, he can’t tell Heiji more than this. Heiji is simply curious, he has nothing to do with Hakuba’s personal case-

“Are you alone?”

“Huh?”

“You are hiding something else, right? Does someone know about this? Or are you shouldering the secret alone?” Heiji gives Hakuba a somewhat unrecognizable stare. “You look like a mess.”

Hakuba doesn’t know that Heiji can be that observant or Hakuba maybe being too obvious about it.

“You remind me of someone else, that’s why. He is different though,” Heiji ruffles his own hair awkwardly. “He hides so many things from me, but I let him be. He knows how to take care of himself.”

“And… I don’t?” Hakuba feels a bit insulted.

“Seriously, you looked like you lost your mind after getting rejected by Kid.” Heiji snorts. But his eyes softened. “But, if I’m alone too I will lose my mind too, for sure.”

“I thought you hate me.”

Heiji freezes and looks at Hakuba with a surprised look.

That’s the truth. They aren’t even friends.

What is a friend, actually? Hakuba only knows what classmates or acquaintances are. But, friends… If he is being honest with himself, he has no one close enough to consider them as a friend. It might doesn’t really show, but Hakuba is a loner and he has accepted that since a long time ago.

If Hakuba tells Heiji more than this then, he doesn’t know what Heiji would do.

Yes, Hakuba is tired to fight a ghost alone.

But he won’t rope someone who hates him into this ordeal.

Heiji has no business being involved with him.

0o0o0o0

Heiji wants to groan deeply inside his heart.

If Kazuha is here, she would smack Heiji’s head for sure.

Yes, he dislikes Hakuba. He doesn’t really hate him, but Heiji dislikes him. He hates his arrogant attitude, narcissistic, and the way he underestimates people around him.

But tonight, he saw none of it. Hakuba in front of him isn’t arrogant or narcissistic. Heiji can see that the blonde is a high school student, just like him. And he has so many people against him. And no one actually takes his side.

He just looks so alone and it makes Heiji uneasy.

He thought he would happy to see Hakuba in that kind of state.

He has seen that look, that worn-out look in Conan’s eyes. Battling against a mighty mafia organization would wear off anyone, Conan rarely shows that look but Heiji can see it sometimes. But his best friend has so many people he can depend on too. Like his girlfriend, that shrunken big sister, and the others. And of course, Heiji as well. So, Heiji knows that Conan would be okay.

But this guy in front of him.

His expression is like an abandoned stray puppy who is too wary of people and yet looks so lonely.

Damn it, it would be much easier if Hakuba keep the charade of being arrogant and narcissistic so that Heiji can keep disliking him.

“I don’t hate you. Hate is a strong word, I only dislike you, a little bit…” Heiji explains a bit awkwardly. He isn’t that good at making friends as well, especially with his peers. People tend to think he is rude and selfish. Kazuha is usually the one who helps him to make friends with people of his age.

“I thought that you might need help. I don’t know whether I can help you or not… but well… I offer a hand to you,” Heiji says awkwardly. It is good that he has dark skin, so when his face gets red, it doesn’t look obvious.

He just can’t leave Hakuba alone, for now. Seeing this blonde detective with a discouraged and lost look just feels wrong. His arrogant and narcissistic look is so much better than this.

And different from Conan’s situation, back then Heiji blackmailed Conan to tell him his secret. But, Heiji can’t just blackmail Hakuba in the same way. It just feels wrong to blackmail such a distraught guy.

“I don’t understand you at all…” Hakuba frowns a little bit. “Why are you offering your hand to someone you dislike…” It seems Hakuba is talking to himself rather than asking Heiji questions. It feels a bit insulting, but Heiji just holds his tongue.

“Okay, I will tell you the rest of the story. You might regret it,” Finally Hakuba says with a small smile.

And Heiji just listens to it carefully.

About how Hakuba found a bullet hole in Kid’s heist scene.

And how it went undocumented on the police’s report.

And how he found that the museum got renovated too soon.

And how there were other museums that got renovated too fast in the past as well.

And how he got shot while trying to save Kid.

And how he feigns his amnesia to protect himself.

And how the investigation of his incident hasn’t led to anything so far.

It all feels too familiar in Heiji’s ears.

“So, probably you and Kid are fighting an organization of mafia who has moles in the police department… This group of the mafia is probably has been searching for a certain gem and they have been trying to kill Kid… and you got involved in that and become an eye-witness, that is why you feign your amnesia…” Heiji nods as he takes a deep breath.

What is with these high-school detectives fighting an underground group mafia? Is that the norm? Is Heiji the only one who doesn’t have that kind of thing in his life?

He wants to laugh in irony. This all feels ridiculous to him.

It seems that Hakuba is still hiding something from him, but Heiji won’t force him to open up everything all at once.

“Since you suspect that there are moles in the police department, that is why you can’t ask for their help. That is why you are fighting alone… I get it, I get it.” Heiji nods again. Then he sighs again.

“You regret it, right? Now that you know what’s going on with me?” Hakuba is back at his sarcastic attitude.

It is a bit relieving to see that.

Heiji huffs. “It is nothing new for me, actually.” Heiji brushes it off. Hakuba looks confused. But, Heiji won’t just explain that his best friend has exactly the same situation, or even worse, than Hakuba. It isn’t his secret to tell.

“So, what is your next plan now? Since Kid refused to tell you anything.” It will be much easier if Kid gives them hints, at least. It seems Kid has been fighting this organization for a bit sometimes. He must know something at least.

“I’m in the middle of reinvestigating an old case, I suspect that that mafia group was involved in this. This case was concluded as an accident, but I think there are more into it,” Hakuba says.

Heiji nods. “You have the police report, right? Send it to me later, I will try to look into it. Actually, if you have anything you can share with me, just send it to me. Who knows? Maybe I can give you a new perspective on it.” Heiji pulls out his phone. “Right, we need to change our contact info for this. What is your number?”

Then Hakuba is just being silent. So, Heiji frowns at him.

But, Hakuba has this dumbfounded expression on his face.

“You are seriously wanting to help me?”

Heiji wonders if Hakuba has a trust issue or something. It should be obvious that Heiji isn’t part of a crime organization, so Hakuba has no reason to be that wary of him.

“Are you doubting me?” Heiji wonders if he is someone that can’t be trusted in Hakuba’s eyes. He feels a bit iffy.

“No, it is just… nothing,” Hakuba looks a bit uneasy, but he doesn’t want to explain anything to Heiji. The dark-skinned detective just rolls his eyes at the blonde’s weird attitude. Hakuba pulls out his handphone and shares his number with Heiji.

It feels weird for Heiji to have Hakuba’s number on his phone. Actually, it is weird for him to involve himself with Hakuba’s business.

But, actually, it feels interesting. And now that he has seen Hakuba’s different side, actually, this blonde isn’t that bad either.

Just a bit awkward, like Heiji himself.

“But I understand why you tried to approach Kid about this matter. You know what? I think I would do the same thing as well. If Kid holds a heist in the Kansai region, I will chase him from now on. It isn’t fair that he doesn’t tell us anything about that damn organization,” Heiji huffs. His life is going to be a bit busier, but this is a bit exciting as well.

He wonders what Conan's reaction would be now that Heiji has joined the club of catching Kaito Kid.

“Us, huh?” Hakuba mumbles quietly. “Kid isn’t easy to approach, you know. But good luck on that.”

“Don’t underestimate me, once I laid my eyes on a target, I will keep chasing it to the end.” Heiji grins widely.

He never thinks that there will be a time when he will work together with this blonde detective that he doesn’t really fond of. They will make quite an interesting combination. But, it doesn’t feel that bad.

It will be funnier if Conan can join them. But oh well, Conan has his own plate full now. It seems that Heiji needs to hide this from Conan, for once, he is the one who will hide a secret from Conan not the other way around, it feels refreshing.

Actually, it will be funny if Conan’s enemy is the same enemy as Kid and Hakuba, but it seems impossible for now.

But, who knows? Since he has seen how Conan can shrink and grows big like magic, anything can happen. Anything is possible, right?

Hakuba just looks at Heiji’s glinting eyes. It seems the famous high school detective from Osaka is quite excited to be involved with this case. It feels like Heiji just brighten Hakuba’s dampened mood. Hakuba is never the type who enjoys his problem. But if he can view this problem as some sort of challenge, then maybe he can learn to enjoy it.

A little bit.

If only his life isn’t on the line, then he might be able to enjoy the thrill.

Now he just hopes that… everything will be okay, and no one would get hurt anymore. Not him, not Kid, or not Heiji, he hopes everyone will be okay. He sincerely hopes so.

To Be Continued

Chapter Text

Humans have various faces that they use for different occasions and people they interact with. It is safe to say that people behave differently depending on whom they face. Whether it is their parents, elders, friends, or coworkers. Whether they behave more politely, or casually, or rudely, it won’t always be the same.

That applied not only to someone like Kaito, who lives double lives. Hakuba knows that.

Ever since Hakuba got rejected, both by Kaito and Kid, their friendship become more strained than it already was. Before, with Kaito at school, they have this ambiguous rivalry relationship that shows how they dislike each other but also tolerate each other to some extent. Hakuba, who kept jabbing double-meaning sarcasm toward Kaito about Kid, and Kaito, who aimed his prank toward Hakuba, it was a usual sight in the school.

But then, everything is gone.

Hakuba thought he had gotten used to people hating him for no apparent reason. But, he never thought that, deep down, he actually enjoyed his bizarre school life, courtesy of Kaito and Aoko. For a while, it felt like he was their friend, though now that he thinks about it again, it must be just his own delusion.

That’s right, his school life is usually like this. Being alone and somewhat isolated, Hakuba used to hope that he could pass the day as peacefully as possible. That’s how he was in England, at least.

Now that his school life rendered back to how it used to be, still somewhat better than in the past though, Hakuba understands that he took it for granted. Maybe if he had been nicer and more smartly approached Kaito about his suspicion about Kid, then maybe Hakuba would already befriend that quirky magician.

Hakuba snorts at himself. No way that would ever happen, his track record of having friends is…

A big zero point.

Hakuba absent-mindedly checks his phone. He rereads his chat with Heiji a few days ago.

[Send me the file of the cases.]

[No. It is too dangerous to send it via chat. It is a police report, Hattori-kun.]

[Why are you being so pain in the ass even when your life is on the line?]

[If you use your head a little bit, then you will understand that you won’t do the same if you are in my position. Unless you are that idiotic.]

And then Heiji left him on read.

Maybe it is just Hakuba being paranoid, but the reason why he just can’t send his investigation cases via chat or internet, he is afraid that he is being monitored… or hacked. Hakuba doesn’t know the extent of the power of that black mafia organization, but it feels safer to record everything in analog.

He wonders if Heiji can understand that, or maybe not. As far as Hakuba knows, Heiji is far more reckless than him.

Well, even though it is nice that the West high-school detective offered himself to help him, Hakuba never intended to rely on him either. The blonde detective just can’t understand why Heiji wants to help him in the first place.

“Hakuba-kun!”

Hakuba stops after hearing a familiar voice. He is about to go outside and find a quiet place to eat lunch alone. It might be a blatant show of him being a loner, but some girls swoon at him being a lonely prince or something like that. Akako was right about that.

So, Hakuba is half surprised to see Aoko approach him first. Mind you, Hakuba knows that most of the time, it was he who approached her first.

“What is it, Aoko-san?” Hakuba tries his best to not show anything, but the words from Kaito about how he took advantage of Aoko’s kindness still sting.

“Is… something happened between you and that stupid Kaito? You two have been behaving weirdly these days…” Aoko glances at Kaito who is busy chatting with Keiko. “Did you two fight?”

Hakuba stares at Aoko and blinks. He wonders whether how Kaito confronted him last week, and confessed how he hated Hakuba, could be counted as a ‘fight’. Probably not.

“Not really, just… maybe we are thinking that it will be more peaceful to stay away from each other,” Hakuba answers with a thin smile.

“That BaKaito must have done something stupid…” Aoko mutters with a concerned face.

Hakuba is kind of surprised again to see that, as expected from a childhood friend, Aoko is on point. But at the same time, the blonde realizes that the reason why she is doing this is because she is worried about Kaito.

Rather than about Hakuba.

There won’t be a day where Aoko ever going to choose him over Kaito, for whatever reason. Hakuba knows that. Still, he used to hope that they could be friends… but, Hakuba just doesn’t have more energy to fight over Aoko against Kaito. He is dealing with that black mafia group is already causing enough headaches.

“If you want, maybe you can ask Kuroba-kun about it. Excuse me, Aoko-san, but I need to eat my lunch,” Hakuba excuses himself with a polite smile. It seems Aoko wants to stop him but Hakuba ignores her.

He is used to being alone, even when he is pressured by the gaze of the people around him. Hakuba has been trained for years, to stay confident, to stay strong, because he carried his family name on his shoulders.

For now, let’s just focus on what he can do. He needs to continue the investigation into Kuroba Toichi’s death.

The easiest way to dig open a closed case like that is… to confront the police officers who closed the case.

0o0o0o0

“I know, I know, I will come by later. Like I said, Kazuha, it is work. W-O-R-K. I will meet you later.” Heiji frowns at his phone and then ends the call. Kazuha being so worrywart sometimes irks him. He knows that she means good, but still…

“Oh, yo! Hakuba!” Heiji shouts and raises his hand. Now that is the person that he wants to see.

The blonde detective looks flabbergasted in his place. “What are you doing in front of my house, Hattori-kun?”

Hakuba has the habit of asking or stating an obvious question, Heiji remembers that. “For what else? Because your paranoid ass wouldn’t send me anything online, so I figured to get the files directly from you.” Heiji turns to see Hakuba’s house from across the fence. “But, I didn’t realize how easy it was to get your address, it is somewhat worrying.” Heiji just needs to ask Detective Otaki about it then he gets the address.

“And I didn’t realize that you are commuting to school… alone,” Heiji adds more.

“There is some trouble with the car and I have some police officers tailing me from some distance,” Hakuba turns over his shoulders and shrugs. “Nice for you to come unannounced.”

Hakuba has the art of talking politely in a rude way, Heiji is kind of amazed by that. “Yeah, I want to see your reaction.” This is how Heiji behaves around his friend, he has a mischievous side in him.

Hakuba stares at him and then shrugs again. “Then I should welcome you, let’s get inside.”

Heiji looks at Hakuba’s house… or may he say, mansion. As expected from a superintendent general officer’s house, not like Heiji’s house is small either but it leaned toward a traditional Japanese house while Hakuba’s is more Western-like.

“Your house is big… I bet if some people hide inside, you won’t be able to tell,” Heiji says absentmindedly. It is hard to guard a wide space like this.

“And kill me while I’m asleep, right, I know that. But what is the meaning of living under the fear that I can get killed anytime? That will be too exhausting.” Hakuba answers with a sarcastic grin, and Heiji doesn’t know to whom that smile is directed.

“I guess, you have a point.” Heiji just can’t understand the blonde’s way of thinking. He seems quite paranoid, and yet, he seems ignorant about his situation now.

As they enter Hakuba’s house, Heiji is right about the house and leans toward the Western style. The interior design is vintage-looking and everything feels luxurious. Though, it feels somewhat.

Empty.

And hollow.

“Welcome home, Saguru-botchama- oh-“

A middle-aged lady appears, maybe a housekeeper that Hakuba once mentioned. She looks shocked to see Heiji, well, right he did come unannounced.

“Baaya, let me introduce him, he is Heiji Hattori. He is a famous high school detective from Osaka,” the way Hakuba smiles annoyed Heiji. There is something annoying in Hakuba’s smile, reminding Heiji how everything about Hakuba used to annoy him in their first meeting. But, now Heiji knows that half of it, or maybe most of it, is just a façade.

“And she is Baaya,” Hakuba says to him. No more explanation, a nanny, just that.

“Nice to meet you, Hattori-sama.” Baaya bows down politely, something from her gesture telling Heiji that she is indeed a housekeeper from an important household.

“Uh… oh… nice to meet you,” Heiji greets back. It still feels awkward to be called ‘-sama’ but Heiji can’t say anything back.

Baaya raises her head and she smiles brightly.

So brightly, that Heiji just blinks in confusion.

“Baaya, can you please bring the refreshment to the study room later?” Hakuba walks inside and motions for Heiji to follow him.

“Of course, Botchama,” the nanny bows again.

Hakuba leads him deeper into his house, and Heiji guesses it rightly. It feels somewhat empty and cold. “Where is your family?” Heiji casually asks as he looks around.

“My mother is living in London and my father is… living in another house closer to his workplace.”

“Wait, what?” Heiji snaps his head back to Hakuba. And the blonde just shrugs again. “You live here alone?”

“With Baaya, yes. And occasional workers come and go periodically to help to maintain the house.” Hakuba answers then stops and turns around to Heiji. “Why do you keep asking me about every little thing?” He frowns a little.

“Well, we get to know each other since we will work together,” Heiji puts his hands on his hips. And here Kazuha said that Heiji is bad at befriending people, it turns out, Hakuba is far worse than him. “You are really bad at making friends, aren’t you?”

Hakuba is taken aback a little and then turns around. He continues walking and Heiji follows him from behind.

“For your information, it is free for you to ask anything about me as well, you know,” Heiji offers.

“You didn’t go to school today?”

Well, that’s a start. “The school ended early because there was a gas leaking, or something like that. Since tomorrow is Saturday, I decided to come here.” After he is done with this, Heiji plans to come over to Conan’s place.

Finally, they reach the study room. It looks more like a library room, to be exact. Heiji looks over the place where he can see the two-story place filled with arrays of bookcases. Shinichi’s house is somewhat like this too. Though, Heiji can tell that the computer in this room isn’t being used that much. The keyboard is way too pristine and there is no hint of aging at all.

“Please wait here, I will change my clothes quickly and bring the files here,” Hakuba walks out again.

So, everything important is being stored inside Hakuba’s room, just like how Heiji does it. In some way, Hakuba weirdly reminds Heiji of Shinichi. But, Hakuba is way harder to approach than that shrunken detective. No wonder he is alone in shouldering the problem, fighting that secret organization of whatever it is. Heiji bets that Hakuba has no police officers that he can depend on, unlike how Heiji and Conan do.

That guy is pretending to be strong while he is actually quite in a predicament situation, huh?

Hakuba is back in the study room, bringing a big case file and a few papers. “Sorry for waiting.” Then, Hakuba casually pulls out a bug detector from his pocket and starts to inspect the room.

Now that, Heiji understands that Hakuba leans toward his paranoia more than being ignorant about his condition.

Fortunately, he finds nothing. Once Hakuba looks satisfied, he sits down across Heiji and puts the big case file on the table.

“Here is the photo of the bullet hole that I found,” Hakuba gives him the print of the photo of the bullet hole. The photo is a bit dark, but Heiji can see the bullet hole clearly. “Then this is the police report of the Kid’s heist where I found the bullet hole. As you can see, you won’t find anything about the bullet hole being found there.”

Heiji flips the papers quickly and it does feel suspicious. “I can understand if the sniper used silencer so that no one heard it, but to not find the bullet hole is weird.” Heiji points out. Hakuba nods.

“Sadly, quickly after I found the bullet hole, the whole museum was renovated quickly. Too quickly in my opinion. And apparently, it happened a lot in the past.” Hakuba shows a paper of listed places or museums where Kid had his heist, and many of them are being highlighted.

“So, you mean that you are suspecting that these Kid’s heists were when Kid got attacked as well. It is a lot.” Heiji frowns deeper. “Why don’t Kid just tell the police?” Heiji complains a little.

Hakuba doesn’t say anything and Heiji is observing his face.

“There is a mole inside the police department, maybe Kid can’t believe in the police either…” Hakuba finally answers.

“That makes sense…” But there is more that Hakuba doesn’t tell him, Heiji can tell. “Then after that-“

“My amnesia.” Hakuba cuts Heiji before he can talk more.

The West high school detective frowns at him. Heiji wants to know what Hakuba has seen and how he got shot to save Kid. Why did the enemy target Kid in the first place? It seems Hakuba knows something about that but he doesn’t want to share that part yet with Heiji.

“Yes, your amnesia, which you so conveniently forgot about how you got shot,” Heiji mocks him sarcastically.  

Hakuba frowns at him. And Heiji rolls his eyes at him.

Heiji is back reading the files, and Hakuba is very neat and organized in his investigation.

“Oh yeah, about the case that you mentioned before, the one that you thought might have a connection to that black organization, what is it about?” Heiji doesn’t find it here.

Hakuba is staring at him with a serious face and Heiji wonders if that blonde is contemplating telling him more. “What? You can’t believe in me?” Heiji frowns at him.

0o0o0o0

While Hakuba has told people about how he is suspicious about Kaito being Kid, to openly admit that to Heiji is a different matter. And now, especially when Hakuba knows that Kaito hiding his identity is the last resort to protect his life. Everything changes.

And Hakuba also understands why Kaito finds him annoying. Yes, Hakuba is ashamed of what he did in the past. It is good now that he thinks about it again, about how no one believes his words.

Because of that, Hakuba can’t say anything about his suspicion of Kaito to Heiji. And to make matters worse, his fragile friendship with Kaito is in shambles.

“I need to tell you first, I think… the current Kaito Kid isn’t the same from before Kid went hiatus for several years,” Hakuba needs to explain to Heiji the context, but also leaving Kaito from the equation.

It won’t be easy for sure.

“Huh? What do you mean?” Heiji sounds surprised.

Hakuba sighs a little. “It is just a guess, I can’t really show anything to back up that deduction… But… I think I know the first Kaito Kid’s identity.” Hakuba pulls out the case of Kuroba Toichi’s accident.

Heiji receives it with confusion. “Oh, this magician… he was quite famous, I remember his case. It was like a parade for the media, wasn’t it? You thought he was Kid?”

Hakuba nods. “Yes, because right after that accident, Kaito Kid went missing for about 8 years before he appeared again this year.”

“Hm… while it seems plausible but… there is no evidence to back up that. How could you say that the Kid now is different than the Kid in the past?” Heiji challenges Hakuba’s deduction.

Hakuba takes a deep breath. It is really hard to explain while leaving Kaito out of this conversation. “I have met Toichi-san before.”

Heiji blinks in shock. “The times when Toichi-san held his magic show out of the country almost aligned with the time when Kaito Kid held his heist out of the country. The opposite way applied, when Kid had his heist in Japan, it was rare for Toichi-san to be out of the country at that time.” Hakuba explains. “And since I have met him before, how could I say it… He is exactly how I imagined Kid’s true identity would be.”

Toichi is a little bit different than Kaito, there was part of the older man that was… charismatic and alluring, perfectly like the Kid himself. While Kaito looks like a normal high school student who knows about magic tricks, Toichi is a renowned magician. If Hakuba compared the report files of Kid’s heists in the past and in the present, Hakuba can tell that the current Kid is…

More chaotic, while still retaining the same charisma and elegance, but still… more chaotic.

Like Kaito himself.

Hakuba looks at Heiji, who has stopped reading the case file, but observing Hakuba’s face.

“It is all just circumstantial evidence, but are you sure about this?” Heiji asks him.

Hakuba can feel Heiji is judging him silently. “My instinct as detective said so, it is up to you to believe it or not.”

“Well, okay then, and I understand that this accident was quite suspicious as well.” Heiji raises the case and puts it back on the table. “So, you want to investigate this case?”

“Huh, wait? Do you believe me?” Hakuba is a bit shocked about that. Here he thought that Heiji would challenge everything he said.

“You are grasping at straws, some suspicion is better than nothing.” Heiji shrugs. “It has been a month since you got shot, and I can tell that you have no lead about the culprit, at all. Because of that, you traced back to your first suspicion.”

Hakuba closes his eyes and curses Heiji in his heart. It makes him iffy that Heiji is on point about him. That is the disadvantage of facing a detective, he guesses.

…

Hakuba wonders if this is how Kaito felt when he interacted with him.

“You are an enigma, you know. Are you sure you didn’t injure your head when you got shot?” Heiji says in a jesting way, but Hakuba still frowns at him.

“I did have amnesia because I injured my head, excuse me,” Hakuba points it out heavily. Though he feigns amnesia, it is true that he had a head injury.

Heiji chuckles. “So, besides me, you haven’t told anyone else? Kid doesn’t count because he is involved in this matter.”

Hakuba looks at Heiji with a bit of an ashamed face. “I haven’t.”

Heiji gives him a deadpan look. “Are you that idiotic or that confident to solve this matter alone?”

Before Hakuba can say anything, there is a knock on the door, and Baaya peeks inside. “I’m bringing the refreshment,” she informs the young master.

“Thank you, Baaya.” Hakuba relaxes a little bit.

Baaya pushes a trolley filled with drinks and snacks. “I made black tea, I hope you like it,” Baaya says as she pours black tea into a tea cup and puts it in front of Heiji.

Hakuba only notices it now.

Oh shit, Baaya used the fanciest tea cup set in the house, Hakuba notices that.

“Thanks,” Heiji replies back. However, Hakuba thinks that Heiji is the type who drinks green tea more than black tea.

Once Baaya has poured another cup of black tea for Hakuba, she puts down a plate full of cookies. And Hakuba recognizes that cookie from the luxurious set of butter cookies he bought for Baaya after his last trip to London. “Here are the cookies, please enjoy it.”

Hakuba is hoping that Heiji won’t notice that Baaya is extremely delighted with his visit to this house, probably because Baaya thinks that Heiji is Hakuba’s friend. Yes, Hakuba never brought any friends to his house before. Hakuba needs to have a talk with her later.

“Is there something else?” Heiji asks in confusion and Hakuba only notices that Baaya is still standing around, seemingly in dilemma about something.

And Hakuba is horrified to see the proud and touched look on his nanny’s face.

“I’m just really happy that-“

“Baaya,” Hakuba cuts her before she can embarrass him in front of Heiji. “About dinner, can I request a meatloaf, if it is alright?”

Baaya is stunned a little bit then turns at Heiji with a full smile. “Would you have a diner here as well, Hattori-sama?”

“Oh… uhm… I plan to have dinner outside with my friends,” Heiji says with an awkward face.

And Hakuba feels that the way Heiji says it, it feels like Hakuba isn’t one of his friends. Of course, Hakuba knows about that, but he wonders if his nanny catches that.

Oh good, now he feels bad after making his dear housekeeper misunderstood-

“Oh… is that so…?” Baaya looks so dejected.

“But… you know, I haven’t eaten meatloaf before… will it be… tasty?” Heiji asks again, rubbing the back of his neck with an awkward smile. That question seems too rude, especially because Hakuba notices Heiji judging his British side, and then concludes that the cooking in his house tastes bad.

“Of course, I will make it tremendously tasty for you,” Baaya says again with an excited smile.

“Then, I’m in!” Heiji grins widely.

“Good then, please excuse me, I will prepare for the wonderful dinner. I will come again once the dinner is ready, please enjoy your refreshments in the meantime,” Baaya bows graciously and then walks outside. Hakuba might seen it wrong, but it seems she is skipping in her steps.

Once the door is closed, Hakuba can hear Heiji speak.

“What a cheerful old lady.”

Hakuba hopes that Heiji doesn’t notice that Hakuba feels embarrassed. He feels like he wants to dig a hole and bury himself alive there.

It reminds Hakuba of how Kaito confronted him about having no friends.

Is it that obvious?

“She looks as happy as my mother when I brought a friend other than my childhood friend.” There is a jesting tone in Heiji’s words, Hakuba can hear that.

“About your question earlier,” Hakuba can’t look at Heiji’s face. “I’m not confident to solve this matter alone, but I don’t know to whom I should ask help.”

“Not even your father?”

Hakuba closes his eyes and turns at Heiji with a serious look. “Would you?”

If Heiji is in Hakuba’s place, then would he tell his own father? But, well, maybe Heiji has a better relationship with his family.

Heiji grins bitterly. “You are right, I won’t.”

Hakuba is a bit surprised at that.

“I would, at least, tell my friends though,” Heiji adds.

“I have none if you haven’t realized already.”

That.

Hakuba has said it, out loud.

He knows that he has a terrible personality. He knows that he sucks at connecting to his peers. People hate his guts, his arrogance, his snobbish personality. He has his own fair share of cases of fighting and bullying in his former school in England.

Hakuba knows that, but he hates how hurt it feels when people rub it on his face.

Like how Kaito did.

Then he can hear Heiji laugh.

Seriously, this guy can’t be ruder than this.

“So, you can be honest too.” Heiji grins at him. “Well, there is a first time for everything. How about me?”

“Huh?” Hakuba frowns at the dark-skinned detective.

“Well, it is your homework. I’m sure you are smart enough to figure it out.”

Hakuba blinks repeatedly in confusion.

“How about police officers? You have none that you can rely on?” Heiji changes the topic. Hakuba looks at the West high school detective with a calculating face, wondering what Heiji meant earlier. But, he won’t push on if Heiji doesn’t want to explain it.

“While there is someone… I don’t think I can involve him too much in this matter.” Hakuba believes in Inspector Nakamori enough, but he won’t involve him that easily in something dangerous. And well, they aren’t on friendly terms yet.

“You are worse than me, huh?,” Heiji asks then shakes his head.

Hakuba doesn’t know what Heiji is talking about but he feels insulted.

“You need to build trust with the people around you. Then you have to find people that you can rely on. This isn’t something that you can tackle alone, remember that. Not even if you are a superhero who can stop a bomb while flying in the sky with a skateboard.” Heiji talks in a bit of nonsense.

It is oddly specific though.

“If you keep being alone, you will get burned out by your paranoia before you can find the truth.”

Hakuba can’t believe that Heiji is saying this to him.

Of all of the people, Hattori Heiji is the one who scolded him about this.

“And believing in people doesn’t always mean to tell them everything. It is okay if you want to keep some secrets too, share what you can share, and protect what you have to protect. But you can’t do it alone,” Heiji’s eyes look a bit far away for a moment. “Like my idiot friend,” Heiji mutters softly.

“Huh? What?” Hakuba doesn’t hear the last one correctly. Friend?

Heiji claps his hands loudly, ignoring Hakuba’s question. “So now, you are going to reinvestigate this famous magician’s case, right? I offer you my help… because I don’t think you would ever ask my help directly.” The dark-skinned detective grins. “I won’t be this generous next time, though.”

Hakuba blinks and starts to smile thinly. “You are being forceful, aren’t you? Well, if you insist.”

0o0o0o0

“Uuugh, Heiji, where have you been? I thought we were going to eat at the ramen shop that you want to try here, huh!”

“I already told you that I ended up having to stay for dinner in the other place. Stop being mad, Kazuha.”

“It isn’t a woman’s place… right?”

“Huh!? What the heck you are talking about!? It isn’t!”

Heiji swats Kazuha off and turns to the curious Conan.

“Where have you been?” Conan asks in a quieter tone, while he peeks at how Ran is calming Kazuha down.

“Well, there was… some matter that I have to attend to…” Heiji rubs the back of his neck a bit awkwardly. “Maybe when the time is right, I will tell you about it.”

“Huh?” Conan frowns in confusion.

“Hey, Kudo,” Heiji crouches down. “What do you think of a closed case where the investigation unit members have died, missing? Well, most of them. Do you think that is only a coincidence?”

Heiji knows that he is talking nonsense since Conan doesn’t understand the context at all. But, he is thinking about what Hakuba has told him about the condition of the investigation unit that handled the case of Toichi’s accident.

“Please be more detailed about it,” Conan says with a deadpan expression.

“From six members, 3 of them died, one of them went missing and the two of them are retired. Early retirement.” Heiji knows that Hakuba is grasping at straws, but it is indeed weird. Too weird to be a mere coincidence.

“How long ago is this particular case you are talking about?” Conan asks again.

“Not that long ago, only 8 years ago.”

“Well, that is indeed weird. If you are suspicious about it, then you have to investigate it more.” Conan shrugs. “But, you won’t tell me more than that?”

Heiji chuckles at seeing Conan’s curious eyes, which are hiding behind his huge glasses. He pats the shrunken detective’s back. “Oh come on, you have enough problems on your plate. I will tell you later when the time is right.”

Conan gives him a side-eye glance. “Well, if you said so.” He doesn’t press further, fortunately.

And more, it isn’t Heiji’s place to tell the secret. Then again…

With the scale of the operation and the extent of their capability, they strangely remind Heiji of Conan’s mortal enemies. The black organization, or whatever they are called. How many organizations out there operate like an overpowering mafia?

But Hakuba hasn’t shared the motive of that organization targeted Kid so, Heiji can’t say anything much about it.

“What’s with that look?” Conan frowns at him after Heiji has been staring at him for a while.

“Nah, just thinking that I have strange luck to keep encountering someone troublesome… but I can’t just leave them alone either way,” Heiji shrugs and walks off.

“Hey, what is that supposed to mean!?” Conan sounds insulted and Heiji just chuckles.

Well, Hakuba and Shinichi are a bit similar, Heiji guesses that is the reason why he can’t just leave Hakuba alone. His problem is certainly more troublesome than Shinichi’s for sure, because unlike Shinichi who is living under a different identity, Hakuba only managed to feign amnesia.

“…can that guy protect himself? Oh gosh…” Heiji can’t help but feel worried about him.

This is troublesome and yet…

Also a little bit thrilling and exciting. Well, he is a detective after all.

To Be Continued

Chapter Text

How can someone define what a friend is? Someone that may or may not connected through blood, but they are important people and share affection with. Friend is a vague term that is hard to describe, as vague and ambiguous as love.

Hakuba is sure that… he doesn’t have the skill to make one. He admits that to himself. Most of the time, he is the one who misunderstood and thought people as his friends one-sidedly.

In his defense, Hakuba is functioning just fine even without one. He knows that his life would be much easier if he had friends, but what can he do about that? Currently, Hakuba is in such a predicament that making friends is his last concern.

“I have just arrived 20 minutes and 34 seconds earlier, you don’t need to worry too much, Baaya,” Hakuba tries to comfort his worry-wat caretaker through his phone. “I’m already 17 years old, 2 months and 21 days, traveling between cities are easy feat compared to traveling between Japan and England.”

Though, Hakuba can understand where Baaya’s concern originated from.

But, this is what he has decided to do.

“I will bring souvenirs, you can wait for them. I will hang up, please don’t worry too much,” Hakuba says as gently as possible before he ends the call. He puts his phone back in his pocket and reaches for his notes. He has memorized everything about what he has to do today, but he wants to recheck everything again.

He looks at the house in front of him and then the address that is written on his note. He checks the nameplate on the fence and then matches it with the name that he has written down.

Takahashi.

He is in the right place. This is the house of the retired detective who was in charge of Toichi’s accident case, Ex-Detective Takahashi.

It is Hakuba’s first time to travel to this area in Nara, not that he has traveled that much in Japan. From what he has gathered from asking around in the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, Ex-Detective Takahashi retired early and moved to his birth town.

It would be much easier if only Hakuba could contact him directly, but his messages got ignored and his phone call got rejected. It seems that approaching this subject won’t be an easy feat.

“If you are only standing around, people will get suspicious of you, you know.”

Hakuba jumps in his place when someone peaks over his note from the side, failing to recognize the familiar voice.

“H-Hattori-kun!?” It is rare for Hakuba to stutter, but who can blame him? He is totally shocked to see the dark-skinned high school detective here. “Why are you here!? Wait—how… I never told you.” Hakuba eyes him suspiciously.

Heiji is standing there, with a bit of a mischievous face that reminded Hakuba a lot of Kaito.

“Really? Did you ask me that? Can’t you figure it out?” The way Heiji taunts him a bit is annoying.

Hakuba frowns at him a little bit.

After a few seconds of staring contest, Heiji sighs. “Idiot, I asked you to bring me along if you plan to go to this old ex-detective’s house since it is located in my expertise area.”

Yes, Nara is included in the Kansai region, but that doesn’t answer how Heiji is here at such a convenient time. As if he is tracking Hakuba’s movement.

“This is the weekend, there is no scheduled Kid’s heist currently, and when I asked you what your plan is today, you said you have something to do,” Heiji is pointing his finger at Hakuba in a rude way. “Then, I asked your housekeeper, so here I am.”

“You have Baaya’s number…?” Hakuba finds that unbelievable.

“She asked to exchange a number with me, just in case something happened. You know that being a detective can be dangerous,” Heij shrugs.

Hakuba wants to massage his forehead in frustration.

Baaya…

“And you.” Heiji points his finger at Hakuba’s chest again. “I thought you had accepted my help, so why are you here to investigate things alone?”

“Excuse me, Hattori-kun. I didn’t know the entail of our… cooperation. I don’t think that we need to work together unnecessarily since you gain nothing from this besides humoring your curiosity,” Hakuba answers with a flat tone.

Then he realizes just how harsh his words are. Especially because Heiji looks shocked.

Damn it.

“I’m sorry Hattori-kun-“

Heiji covers his eyes for a second and Hakuba can see his frustration. “You… You always reminded me why I disliked you in our first meeting…” Heiji puts his hands on his waist and then sighs. “But if you plan to get rid of me, I won’t leave. It is my policy to not leave a case midway if I can help it.”

There is a determination in Heiji’s eyes and Hakuba is taken aback to see that.

“I’m sorry, Hattori-kun,” Hakuba repeats that once again. It is strange for him that someone wants to accompany him, besides Baaya. So Hakuba becomes puzzled… and admittedly, scared by this whole situation. “I just don’t want to trouble you too much. I plan to share what I find today with you later… But, well, you are here now.”

Heiji’s anger dwindles a little, and he starts to relax. “Gezz, you are so awkward.”

Hakuba snorts and chuckles bitterly a little. “I am.” Hakuba smiles thinly. “I just don’t want to drag you into danger.”

If Hakuba can speak honestly, he is already moved enough when Heiji offered his help, twice. He never thought that someone, other than Baaya, would willingly risk their life for his sake. Police are different because it is their job. So, Hakuba doesn’t want to trouble Heiji too much, let alone expose him to danger.

“You are really…” Heiji sighs again then he doesn’t continue his words. He taps Hakuba’s shoulder and pushes him a little toward the house in front of them. “Let’s just continue our investigation.”

It seems Hakuba needs to accept his fate. Heiji won’t leave him alone.

What an irony, especially since Hakuba has decided to leave Baaya out of this whole situation, as much as possible to spare her from possible danger. That is also part of the reason why he was so agitated by Heiji’s unexpected presence.

“…Alright.” Hakuba sighs in defeat.

He continues what he was doing earlier. He is sure that this house is Ex-Detective Takahashi’s house. He looks around a little. This house is in Japanese style, quite large and spacious though it might have been passed down based on the old-looking house.

The garden is well-kept, beside the entrance of the house, the house is surrounded by a waist-height living fence. And the garden is… very Japanese-looking.

“Is that the detective that we are looking for?” Heiji says, gesturing at the middle-aged man watering the garden in the corner.

Hakuba opens his phone and finds the photo. He takes a look and rechecks the photo. “Yes, it’s him.”

“Good that he is home. It means that we can ask him directly,” Heiji is already moving to approach the subject from across the fence. “Excuse me, Old Man.”

Hakuba holds back his annoyance at Heiji behaving rudely. He follows Heiji from behind.

Ex-Detective Takahashi turns at them and Hakuba can see how his face becomes sour after he looks at him.

“What is it, brats?” He sounds irritated even before they can ask anything.

“Excuse me, Takahashi-san. I don’t know whether you have received my messages or not but I’m Hakuba Saguru, a detective,” Hakuba decides to take over from here before Heiji can annoy the ex-detective further. “I have been trying to reach you, I have questions about the case that you have handled in the past. Sorry for the intrusion.”

To be honest, Hakuba gets the hints that this former detective doesn’t welcome him. The ignored messages and rejected calls are proof. But, that doesn’t mean that Hakuba will just give up. He is a detective, he has to be persistent if he wants to solve this case.

Or to be exact, if Hakuba wants to survive.

“Oh… you.” The old guy groans, openly showing his distasteful expression. “You were so annoying. I’m not going to entertain brats pretending to be detectives, especially not from a gaijin brat like you! Now, go away!”

Hakuba doesn’t expect to be called gaijin, a slang for foreigner in Japanese, and to be called it in such a distasteful way. And more, he doesn’t expect for the former detective to throw water toward him using a water ladle.

“WHAT THE- What’s wrong with you, Old Man!?”

Also, Hakuba doesn’t expect Heiji to get drenched along beside him.

It takes Hakuba a few seconds to register what just happened. He wonders if he did something to deserve this kind of treatment. His chest is bubbling with anger… but also with embarrassment.

“Oh, dear—what are you doing!?”

Another voice snaps Hakuba from his trance.

“Why did you to them—Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry, my husband can be quite temperamental…” A middle-aged woman wearing a kimono appears and makes a fuss. “No, no, this won’t do. Please get inside, I will bring you towels.”

“They should go-“

“Dear, please shut up. Did they even do anything!? Please stop treating everyone like enemies!” The middle-aged woman scolds her husband loudly. Then she turns toward them and smiles sheepishly. “I’m really sorry, don’t mind him, please just get inside.”

Heiji nudges Hakuba a little and gestures to him to walk to the entrance and get inside.

Hakuba shrugs and moves along with heavy steps.

What a day to start re-investigation of the accident case of Kuroba Toichi.

0o0o0o0

Heiji has his share of people belittling or disregarding him for being a high-school detective. But, it is his first time to get soaked because someone wanted to chase him away.

Well, to be exact, Hakuba was the main target and Heiji was the innocent bystander.

And Hakuba’s condition is way worse than him. Heiji just gets a little wet, but Hakuba looks as if he just took a shower fully clothed.

“I’m really sorry once again…” The wife of the former detective offers them two towels. “Hey, dear, you should apologize to them as well!” The wife nudges her husband but he refuses to move.

The ex-detective looks disgruntled behind the wife.

“You don’t know who-“

“If you are dissatisfied about me having mixed blood, then you should ask my father, Superintendent General Hakuba, why he married my British mother and had me.”

Heiji doesn’t even feel mad that Hakuba cuts his words, because, wow, the way Hakuba uses his words is really something else. It is full of sarcasm but he uses formal words, so it feels quite intimidating in a way.

Well, of course, Hakuba is rightfully pissed with the situation.

“Oh my gosh… you are… Superintendent’s son!?” The wife looks pale. “I apologize once again for my stupid husband.”

“So, what are you going to do? Whining to your father and sue me?” the ex-detective sneers.

Heiji can feel his anger rising quickly.

“Of course not, it is too much trouble to fret over something like this. But, I believe you owe me some conversations in return for me being generously letting this go,” Hakuba shows a confident grin. “Isn’t that fair?”

This is the same person who looked awkward and clueless about how to navigate being friends 5 minutes ago. Heiji wonders how often Hakuba plays his card as being Superintendent’s son, probably often enough, because he knows how to play his card quite well.

“What a cheeky brat,” the ex-detective still looks annoyed but he has a thin smile on the edge of his lips.

Oh, so he is the type of person who likes to test and taunt people on their first meeting huh? Heiji detests this kind of person the most.

“If I’m not cheeky, I won’t survive being a son of Superintendent,” Hakuba shrugs with a smile.

“Very well, I will entertain you brats a little, only for this time.” Ex-detective Takahashi turns around and enters the house.

Heiji rolls his eyes a little and turns at Hakuba. The blonde doesn’t look excited either, but his face looks quite neutral.

“Ugh, I’m really sorry once again for my husband. He is really a difficult person…” the wife sighs with a frown.

“Please stop apologizing on his behalf, he is an adult who can own his mistake. You don’t need to stand in for him,” Hakuba returns the towel with a smile. He is being blunt even though he sounds polite.

“I guess you are right,” the wife chuckles awkwardly, probably taken aback by Hakuba’s bluntness.

“You are way too nice for him, Aunty,” Heiji adds, giving back his towel to the wife of the house.

The middle-aged woman just gives them a complicated smile, she shows them inside politely. Heiji walks closely beside Hakuba, inspecting the interior of the house but also glancing at the blonde from time to time. Heiji thought of how Conan got kicked or thrown out, quite literally, from the place where he was supposed not to be. Heiji used to feel bad for Conan and caught him before hitting the floor whenever he could.

So, Hakuba has it rough as well. It isn’t really out in the open, but many Japanese are quite racist toward other races. The slang gaijin exists for a reason.

Part of Heiji feels glad that he persistently follows Hakuba here. The more he sees Hakuba, the more Heiji can understand this brit.

Hakuba meets Heiji’s eyes and based on his expression, it seems he is asking back to Heiji what bothers him without words. Heiji just shrugs and refocuses his eyes to follow the wife of the house.

The wife leads them to a room behind shoji doors, where the Ex-detective Takahashi is waiting for them. Heiji puts on his annoyed face as soon as he meets that ex-detective’s eyes. He can show that that old guy isn’t the only one who can show his displeasure at this meeting.

Heiji takes a seat across the table. Years of learning kendo taught Heiji how to sit properly on top of a floor cushion. And he isn’t that much surprised when Hakuba also sits beside him with a straight posture, showing his proper upbringing.

Something must have passed on the ex-detective’s eyes, but Heiji doesn’t bother to read his expression. The fact that this old guy threw water to both of them wouldn’t change no matter what the reason is.

“So, what is it that you two want to talk to me about?” The ex-detective opens the conversation first. “It must be quite a big deal if the two of you come to this faraway town.”

It isn’t that far for Heiji, but yes it must be quite a travel for Hakuba.

Hakuba pulls out an envelope from the inner pocket of his jacket. He put down the photo of Kuroba Toichi and printed out news articles about the press conference of the closed case. “I want to ask about this case, I noticed that you were one of the detectives that handled this case.”

Takahashi doesn’t take the photo for a closer look, he just folds his arms while frowning deeper. “So, even after more than 7 years, people are still coming to ask me about this case… I hope you all would stop.”

“So, I guess we aren’t the only people who are curious about the truth of this case, huh?” Heiji asks back. Now that is quite an information.

“Magician association, fans, journalists, there were tons of people that sought the truth of Toichi-san’s death. But, like what was written in the report, it was an accident.” Takahashi pushes back the papers and the photo in Hakuba’s direction.

Heiji has done his own research as well. Based on the countless news articles he could find, even some documenters about the renowned magician’s death, it seemed his tragic death had brought many people’s attention.

“Based on what I heard, the special investigation team was formed to handle this case. Can you please tell me more about it?” Hakuba asks again and doesn’t back down even after Takahashi’s refusal.

The ex-detective grumbles a little, but not as annoyed as before. “You must have done your own study. Back then, it was a media circus. The accident took place at Toichi-san’s shows, so there were a lot of witnesses when it happened.”

Heiji has read that too. The show was held in an open stadium. It was supposed to be a common escape trick where Toichi was trapped inside a metal box and suspended in the air using a mobile crane. What was supposed to happen is that there would be fireworks that come out from the box then Toichi would jump down using a bungee jumping rope.

Instead, what happened is that the box exploded and the body was burned beyond recognition.

That must be quite a show to see….

“There was a lot of pressure to close the case as soon as possible, that was why the special investigation team was formed. It consisted of detectives from Division 1 and Division 2 from Tokyo Police Department. The squad consisted of 6 members like you must have known before coming here.” Takahashi grumbles again.

“Were there any particular reasons why the 6 members were chosen?” Hakuba probes again.

“The order came from our superiors, so I know nothing about it.” Takahashi groans. “It was quite an interesting combination of people that never worked together if I might say. But I couldn’t blame anyone, it was quite hectic that time.”

“Blame… so, are you unsatisfied about something?” Heiji picks that up.

“There was someone from the force that has been leaking information to the media, it hindered our investigation quite badly. But, we didn’t have time to even find that bastard.” Takahashi sighs. “Of course, after the case was solved, I and my partner tried to find out who had been leaking the information, but the members were scattered out and busy handling other cases so we didn’t find anything.”

“Leaking information to media should be a serious violation for police officers…” Hakuba mumbles while he looks like he is in deep thinking. “How could it just have got brushed off like that…” he mumbles quieter.

“Because of that, there was a rumor that our special investigation team received bribe from the journalists to give them info for news. But no one got reprimanded for it because no one found out who did it,” Takahashi hits the table a little in annoyance.

“I see… Then, was there something else strange about the investigation of the case?” Hakuba asks again.

“Other than what has been written on the report… We couldn’t find the blueprint of the metal box that holds the fireworks under it.” Takahashi explains more. “It should have been at Toichi-san’s place, but we couldn’t find it. Because of that, we couldn’t do a throughout inspection of the remains of the metal box.”

“Huh? Then, how come the case was closed before the blueprint got found?” Heiji asks in bewilderment. Based on what he understood, the metal box should have a bit complicated mechanism. Letting out fireworks while suspended in the air without the risk of burning the one that got trapped inside it, must have been quite an engineering design.

“The metal box was made by Toichi-san and one helper. They held two tests before the show and both of the tests were successful, the helper’s statement was what concluded the case as an accident. He said there were some leftover screws when building the third metal box when it should have been even.” Takahashi shrugs with a frown. “The upper bosses were pressuring us to close the case quickly, so we came forward with that conclusion. No one could rebuke our conclusion based on evidence that we have, that’s it.”

“That’s… a little unsatisfying…” Heiji grumbles a little. “Where the blueprint could get missing?”

“It was really chaotic at that time. Toichi-san’s wife was distraught by her husband’s sudden death and her son was quite in shock too. Probably it was misplaced, we just didn’t have enough time to find it.” Takahashi explains again.

Heiji can’t even imagine that. It must be hard for the family too. Heiji glances at Hakuba and notices his unreadable expression. It looks like Hakuba is quite shocked to hear that, but there is something more about it.

“That helper… where is he now?” Hakuba asks, his face comes back to a serious expression.

“I heard he has moved abroad,” Takahashi answers.

Heiji folds his arms and he frowns. It still feels a bit off, though maybe it wasn’t that weird. In reality, the evidence could go missing or even be tampered with, so not every case can be solved perfectly. Still, Heiji can feel that there was something more with this case.

And Heiji knows that Hakuba knows it too. That is the exact reason why Hakuba is reinvestigating the case right now.

“So, are there more questions, brats?” Takahashi asks back to them in quite a rude manner.

Heiji needs to bite down his anger. This old guy is really…

“Are you still in touch with the remaining team members?” Hakuba asks with a straight face.

Takahashi has a bit solemn face. Heiji wonders a bit about that. But he schooled his expression fast. “I don’t. We were from different divisions so we weren’t close.”

It feels a bit defensive, Heiji wonders whether this old guy telling the truth.

“Three of the team members have died, do you feel something off about it?” Heiji tries to throw a bait. It is an insensitive question, but Heiji wants to know his reaction.

“We worked as police… we made enemies wherever we go. It doesn’t feel weird at all,” Takahashi answers.

Heiji glances at Hakuba and their eyes meet.

Weird, one of the three deceased members was indeed a homicide case. But, the other one died in a car accident. And the last one was a suicide case.

The way this ex-detective spoke, it felt like the three of them got murdered by some enemies.

“What about the missing member?” Heiji asks again in suspicion.

Takahashi is silent for a moment. “He might run away from something, I don’t know.”

That’s…

A little bit too specific. People can go missing for various reasons, from committing suicide secretly to hiding from something, or simply trying to rebuild life elsewhere. To say that the missing detective may be running away from something, then Takahashi might know something about it to some extent…

Heiji is about to open his mouth again, to dig as deep as he can, but Hakuba is raising his hand in front of him as if to stop him from speaking further.

“Thank you for the information, Takahashi-san.” Hakuba bows a little.

Heiji blinks at him and then sighs.

“Is that all you brats want to ask?” Takahashi asks them back.

“For now, yes. I might come back to ask further questions later,” Hakuba answers with a polite smile.

“You are sure that I will welcome you again, huh?” Takahashi is still taunting him, but it feels a bit more playful. Then his face becomes serious. “Kids, I don’t know what your business is, but I advise you to stop whatever you are doing now. Children shouldn’t play detectives.”

Heiji squints his eyes a little. Like he thought, Takahashi knows something more than he shows. Maybe because of that he is wary of strangers, he is defensive because of something.

“I’m not playing anything, I’m doing this because of a personal reason.” Hakuba shows him his trademark smile. That annoying smile shows he is confident and a bit arrogant. Though Heiji knows that the smile is mostly a façade, it is still annoying to see it.

Takahashi shakes his head. Hakuba stands and Heiji follows his lead. The shoji door opens and they see how the wife is carrying a tray full of glasses and a teapot. She looks surprised. “I’m sorry I took too long… are you kids leaving now?”

“Yes, our business is finished. I’m sorry, I will make sure to enjoy my time here and drink your brewed tea next time,” Hakuba bows again a little with a soft smile.

Heiji almost forgot how Hakuba could sound so flirtatious even toward a wife with her husband in front of them.

“Please do, I will make sure to welcome you two better next time,” the wife looks glowing because of Hakuba’s words.

Heiji looks at Hakuba with a flat face then glances at Takahashi’s face. That old guy looks as if he is about to explode.

But, whatever. Heiji doesn’t like that guy either. Hakuba is free to do whatever he wants.

0o0o0o0 

“I thought you would ask more things than that.”

Hakuba turns at Heiji. As expected, Heiji is cornering him as soon as they come out from Takahashi’s house. Hakuba sighs as he pulls out his phone. “Hattori-kun, we don’t even know how much we can trust Takahashi-san yet.”

Heiji blinks in surprise. Hakuba wants to roll his eyes, but he manages to stop his eyes. Hakuba gestures to Heiji to follow him as they walk further away from Takahashi’s house.

“If my hypothesis is correct, then Toichi-san was murdered. It wasn’t an accident. There are a lot of suspicious things in the investigation, and what happened after that too,” Hakuba explains more. “We can’t show just how deep we are reinvestigating this case to him. It is the same as if we are opening all of our cards.”

“So, you might think that Takahashi-san might be the one who has a connection to whoever targeting you now?” the way Heiji says it, Hakuba can tell that the dark-skinned guy isn’t on board with his suspicion.

“I can’t rule him out yet.” Hakuba stops walking and stares at Heiji seriously. “Hattori-kun, the ones who know that there was something fishy about Toichi-san’s death was that special investigation team. The fact that from six members, three of them have died and one person went missing, that is too big to be a coincidence.”

“And not to mention, the remaining two members retired early as well,” Heiji adds.

“Exactly.” Hakuba nods then he resumes walking.

“I want to see how much Takahashi-san was going to tell us. From what I know, what he has told us are things that we can find out if we ask around the right people in the Tokyo Police Department,” Hakuba says.

“Though, he is suspicious about his teammates’ death and missing case as well,” Heiji adds.

“Or he is simply playing along with our suspicion. He knows that I’m a Superintendent’s son, there was a reason why I chose to come to see him personally.” Hakuba shrugs. “I have the feeling that he was also suspicious about our motive.”

Heiji suddenly stops walking and Hakuba turns around in confusion. Heiji has this expression that he seems to question Hakuba’s sanity but also… is that some amazement in his eyes? Hakuba wonders if he sees it wrong.

“You are… really something. Sometimes, you are really good at reading people. Sometimes.” Heiji shakes his head and grins a little.

“Is that an insult?” Hakuba asks back in annoyance. Yes, admittedly, he isn’t always good at reading people. But, he can, especially when it is about work.

Heiji just chuckles a little. “But, well, you are half-right about your hypothesis.”

Hakuba blinks.

“Toichi-san’s death isn’t just an accident, that is for sure.” Heiji sounds confident about it.

“From how there were so many factors that disturbed the investigation, it is easy to conclude that. From the leaking of information to the media to the missing blueprint, it wasn’t just a mere accident. However, I’m not sure whether that mysterious organization was the reason for Toichi-san’s death.” Heiji grins at Hakuba. “Interesting isn’t it?”

Hakuba blinks at Heiji multiple times.

Right…

Why… Hakuba was so sure that Toichi was murdered in the first place…? If he was indeed the first generation of Kaito Kid, and Hakuba is pretty sure about it, then… If he was Kaito Kid, wouldn’t he know that he was being targeted by dangerous people?

And if it was really that mafia group doing then, wouldn’t it be much easier to just kill him offsite? It was way too risky to kill Toichi in front of the audience even though it could get fabricated as an accident. They could just shoot him in his sleep or something, given the fact that the mafia group knew his identity.

Wait, how could those dangerous people figure out Toichi’s identity as Kid when not even Inspector Nakamori hasn’t yet?

“The fact that the family refused autopsy was also suspicious…” Hakuba mumbles softly while his head is filled with so many thoughts. It was suspected of an accident, and because of that, the police couldn’t force the family to have an autopsy.

“Yeah, true. If it was the usual case, I would suspect the wife first before that mysterious organization.” Heiji shrugs. “And the members of the magician group. Toichi-san must have helpers and assistants, right?”

“I guess I need to retract further again,” Hakuba admits in defeat. “I need to start from zero.”

“Don’t be too sad. At least, it is true that this accident was too suspicious. And you know what, it could be that this is only a staged accident and Toichi-san is still alive somewhere. We are talking about someone who is supposed to be the famous Kaito Kid, it wouldn’t be too far-fetched. Anything can happen. We don’t know the truth yet.”

Hakuba is speechless to hear that, he feels as if the time stops moving.

But, no… No, that shouldn’t be possible.

Because if Toichi is still alive, then there shouldn’t be any reason for Kaito to become Kaito Kid then…

Hakuba sighs.

He really needs to talk about Toichi’s case to Kaito, whatever it takes.

After all, Kaito should be one of the witnesses…

Of his father’s death.

But, confronting Kaito will be much harder than getting splashed with water by Takahashi. Hakuba wonders whether it will be easier to approach Kaito’s mother first, but from what he heard, Kaito’s mother is never home…

But, Hakuba doesn’t like to leave things half-done. He still has to meet the other remaining members of the special investigation team. He has to crosscheck the info and judge whether he should be suspicious of that person or not.

And he needs to recheck the three member’s death cases. The three of them might be all murdered for all he knows-

So many things to do, and yet Hakuba can’t ask Baaya to assist him.

Hakuba sighs and raises his head and he sees how Heiji is blatantly observing him.

“What?” Hakuba asks Heiji because based on his expression, it seems Heiji wants to say something to him.

“You know the magic words,” Heiji says vaguely.

“Huh, what?” Hakuba asks back.

“Even when you confronted Kid, you never said the magic words. You look overwhelmed and yet… urgh… I don’t want to spell it out to you… but you will have too much homework in this way.” Heiji scratches his head in frustration.

Hakuba blinks and tries to figure out what Heiji is trying to say. Actually, he is a bit annoyed, because his brain is already overworking so much without Heiji being difficult like this-

Oh.

“Do you mean… I should ask… for… help?” Hakuba’s voice gets smaller as shame fills his chest.

Heiji shows him a deadpan expression.

Did he… ever ask for help?

Did he…

Even to Kaito…? Did he really never…?

“You said that you didn’t know to whom you should ask for help. But, did you ever try?” Heiji asks again.

Hakuba avoids Heiji’s eyes instantly.

He can’t help it. He was raised in a way that he needs to stand on his own feet.

No matter what.

He can’t show weakness. He has to be strong. He has to be confident. He isn’t only carrying his father’s family name, but also his mother’s-

After all, who will want to help him…? He isn’t the most likable person-

Hakuba raises his head slowly and meets Heiji’s eyes.

“Well, there is a first time for everything. How about me?”

Hakuba closes his eyes. That was his homework from Heiji, it was easy to figure out but Hakuba just can’t believe it yet. Because he finds it unlikely that Heiji wants to be his friend. When not even Kaito or Aoko do-

It was Hakuba’s first time that someone offered him to be his friend first, genuinely. Not him trying to force his way to people around him.

It is easier to think that Heiji is doing everything for his own merit. Because as a detective, he is a curious being.

Hakuba clenches his fists. Well, Heiji offered his help first and kept helping him without being asked to, Hakuba can’t take things for granted forever. Like he did to Kaito and Aoko.

“Can you please help me…?” Hakuba asks that rather timidly much to his chagrin. He is preparing himself to get humiliated or teased relentlessly by the mischievous detective in front of him.

“See? That wasn’t so hard, right?”

Hakuba looks at Heiji’s face again. He is grinning with a satisfied expression.

Oh, it isn’t as bad as he imagines it will…

“Gezz, you are really testing my patience, you know that?” Heiji hits his shoulder playfully, but hard. Hakuba caresses his shoulder in pain with a little frown.

“You need that.”

“What?”

“You need to learn to be more patient, Hattori-kun.”

“You little shit, what the hell did you say-“

It is weird that Heiji suddenly stops cursing midway, his eyes are fixed on something behind Hakuba. So, the blonde turns around and he sees the familiar-looking children there.

“Huh? Edogawa Conan-kun?” Hakuba is very surprised. While Heiji followed him, meeting Conan here is purely a coincidence. And not to mention in Nara too.

“Hakuba-niichan, Heiji-niichan! What are you two doing here?” Conan is running toward them with an innocent smile, but Hakuba can feel his smile is a little off. The daughter of Kogoro Mouri is chatting with someone else not too far from them.

Is it just him but Conan is glaring slightly at Heiji?

“Oh, Ku-Conan… What a coincidence to meet you here, ha ha ha…”

“I messaged you that I would come to Nara, but you didn’t read it,” Conan says with a cute whine.

But, Hakuba can see how Heiji is trying so hard to avoid Conan’s eyes. He is like a deer caught in headlights. Hakuba glances at Conan who is menacingly staring at Heiji and Heiji who looks so awkward beside him.

Hakuba remembers how Kaito confronted him about how he took advantage of Aoko’s kindness and Kaito disliked it. Hakuba remembers how close Conan and Heiji are, he wonders if this is that kind of situation. Clearly, Heiji hasn’t told Conan about their… partnership yet.

Hakuba sighs a little before he puts on a smile. “Long time no see, Conan-kun. You see, I have a business here and I ran into Hattori-kun unexpectedly.”

Conan blinks with an innocent expression. And Hakuba can feel how Heiji is surprised beside him.

“Now, if you would excuse me, I need to go back immediately-“

Hakuba pauses as Heiji grabs his arm, a bit roughly. “You are really good at lying. Well, okay, you can go back, I will call you later.”

Hakuba blinks in surprise. He thought this was what he should do if Heiji wanted to make their arrangement in secret. For whatever reason, or maybe for Hakuba’s sake, Heiji keeps their meetings in secret from Conan then…

Hakuba looks at Conan who looks surprised as well.

“Oh… uh… okay,” Hakuba answers rather awkwardly. Heiji lets go of his arm and pushes him forward as if telling him to go away. Hakuba looks behind confusedly, but Heiji is looking at Conan with a smile.

“Let’s talk while having lunch, I’m starving!”

“…when do you ever not starving?”

Hakuba walks away rather awkwardly, Heiji glances at him and gestures at him to just walk away and everything is okay.

Hakuba shrugs and continues to walk.

Friends.

Making friends is hard.

However, Hakuba wonders what is harder, to expose the truth of that mafia group that has been targeting Kid or making friends with his peers.

Hakuba snorts bitterly at himself.

To Be Continued

Chapter Text

To be different is a complicated thing for humans. Because humans are afraid of something that they don’t understand, so being different can be rejected in society. There is a certain standard and expectation for fellow human beings, some common sense that works for daily life. Not everyone can follow them, but to be normal is to follow rules like that.

Heiji isn’t a normal high-school student for sure, he knows that. He knows that but sometimes he has a hard time understanding what normal is. In his mind, to be able to remember something in a very detailed way without effort, to analyze something instantly without struggle, is what is normal for him. He used to have a hard time understanding that not everyone’s brain works like him.

Finding a good mystery where he can use his full brain capacity is exciting for him, although sometimes the cases can be morbid. Sometimes he can’t hide his excitement, despite there are victims and people can see him grinning over corpses. Heiji knows that he is weird, he isn’t normal. But that’s okay, though it could be lonely sometimes.

That is why he was overly joyed when he found his shrunken best friend, Kudo Shinichi, or now with his alias, Edogawa Conan. Finding someone who speaks his language, Heiji approached him to be his rival, at first, before it downed to him that Conan was a friend that he didn’t know he needed.

Conan is different from Kazuha, his childhood friend. He is also different from his classmates in school. Heiji concludes that Conan is his best friend, someone who can follow his way of thinking, sharing the same excitement over interesting mysteries. Heiji can be unapologetically himself while he is with Conan.

Though, now… Heiji wonders if he owes his best friend an apology.

“You look so damn guilty right now, do you know that?”

Heiji flinches a little and laughs awkwardly at Conan. They are sitting on the bench outside of a confectionary store, eating dango as a dessert after lunch. Ran left early because the sleeping detective forgot their hotel room key. And she maybe sensed that Conan and Heiji needed alone time because of something.

“Well… I don’t know how to start to explain it to you…” Heiji shrugs while sipping his green tea.

“From all of people, I didn’t expect you to be close to Hakuba. I thought you disliked him,” Conan says with a neutral expression but Heiji flinches again. “Did you get involved in a case with him?”

Heiji stares at his green tea, wondering why he feels guilty as if he is cheating with someone that he shouldn’t be involved with. Which is a crazy thinking.

“Something like that… you know him, he isn’t that good as a detective, so I’m giving him a hand,” Heiji sneers a little bit. True to that, Hakuba has a different way of approaching a case. He is overly detailed, way too meticulous, paranoid as hell, and believes circumstantial evidence too much. He is all over the place and has way too many plans than what he can handle.

Heiji glances at Conan carefully to check his reaction. Conan is, obviously, observing him with a bit of disbelief in his eyes. “Really?”

Heiji recognizes that face and Conan is asking him to tell the whole story. What makes Heiji help him in the first place, is probably what the shrunken detective wants to know.

Heiji thinks about Hakuba and his ordeal. About how he almost got killed after saving Kid from unidentified enemies, feigned amnesia, and was stuck dealing with everything alone.

“No matter how much I want to tell you about this case, I can’t. It isn’t my secret to tell… The same way how I won’t tell your secret to him,” Heiji sighs and gives up, that is why he feels guilty about Conan. It is his first time hiding something like this from his best friend, it used to be the other way around.

It doesn’t feel good.

Conan blinks and he looks a bit surprised. “It must be quite serious then.”

Heiji shrugs. “It is just the usual stuff… I will say. It isn’t that dangerous.” Maybe, actually, Heiji can’t tell. Because it doesn’t seem Hakuba’s life is in immediate danger. He can do his daily activities without too much problem. And Heiji himself doesn’t think getting involved in Hakuba’s case won’t be any more dangerous than him getting involved with Conan.

Well, Heiji has his own fair share of being too close to death several times because of his work as a detective. It isn’t something new.

Something in Conan’s expression tells Heiji that the shrunken detective doesn’t fully believe in him. “You know that you have too much on your plate, no matter how interesting this case is, I won’t tell you.” Heiji pauses a bit. “Unless that brit chooses to tell you himself.”

Finally, Conan shrugs. “Okay, I understand.” Conan finishes his black coffee drink. “Be careful.”

Heiji blinks and grins widely. “So, you are worried about me, huh?” He ruffles Conan’s hair in adoration. The smaller detective swats his hand with annoyance.

“Idiot.” Conan pouts, covering his embarrassed face and Heiji just laughs harder.

“And here I thought you were jealous of me being friends with Hakuba,” Heiji teases Conan more.

“Huh!?” Conan scowls with his cute face. “Who is jealous!?” Conan stops himself before he can embarrass himself further, because if anything, Heiji is enjoying his reaction very much. “You are free to befriend with anyone, Hattori. I’m just… surprised that you befriended Hakuba, that’s all.”

Heiji stops being mischievous toward his best friend. Right, both of them are still pretty much awkward about being best friends, being a genius high school detective would do that for you. Heiji remembers his irk when Conan didn’t dislike Hakuba, unlike him, in the past. Maybe, Conan feels the same way as him now.

“You know… I just… I can’t leave him alone,” Heiji admits.

Heiji remembers the previous Kid’s heist. Hakuba’s face after Kid’s blatant refusal to join hands with him. The more Heiji observes that blonde, the more he understands just how alone he is. And how his arrogant and narcissistic façade is merely his defense mechanism.

“I think… he is me if I don’t have Kazuha…” Heiji mutters while scratching his neck. Just how lucky Heiji is to have Kazuha as his childhood friend, and current crush. Because she is the one who teaches him what a normal high school student is. How to blend in with his classmates, how to join club activities, and so on.

It is the same with Conan and Ran.

Heiji realizes that Hakuba doesn’t have the same luxury. No wonder that blonde is so inept at making friends. Because of that, Heiji can’t leave him alone. Part of him says that if Hakuba is left alone, he will find his way to death either by overworking or murdered.

“I see.”

Heiji glances at Conan and sees his soft face.

“Then you have to help him,” he nods. “My advice is… don’t cause him too much trouble.”

“Hey!” Heiji yells at Conan and the shrunken detective is grinning.

“You might forget, but you blackmailed me to tell you my secret,” Conan says with a deadpan expression.

Heiji pouts a little. “I’m more mature now!”

“Sure.”

“You don’t believe me.”

“I don’t.”

Conan jumps down from the bench and Heiji follows him. “Shit you, Kudo.”

“The same for you, Hattori.”

Heiji is holding back his urge to tackle his little friend and makes him regret his words, but then his chest is filled with happiness and joy. This is all so ridiculous… but, he feels happy.

Having a friend who can speak his language is really doing a wonder for his mental state, more than Heiji can admit it. The fact that they can banter around and have no hard feelings over, it is such a blessing. He hopes Conan feels the same way too.

And… Hakuba, Heiji hopes that Brit can understand that feeling too.

Everyone deserves a friend.

Including that annoying British high-school detective.

0o0o0o0

“You can leave investigating that ex-detective Takamura to me. You can focus on doing your own thing.”

Hakuba recalls his last call with the high school detective of The West. Hakuba has a mixed feeling about that. He wants to investigate the last member of the special investigation squad by himself, but he has a bigger problem to tackle.

He wants to know what makes him believe that Toichi was killed in the first place. He thought it that way after deducing that Kaito became a Kaito Kid to take revenge for his father's death caused by that mysterious mafia group. That was the most logical deduction, the most possible motive for Kaito to be Kaito Kid and pull such dangerous stunts.

But, while the accident was odd, Hakuba didn’t find any clue that Toichi had been murdered. It could be that someone has tampered with the report and the evidence, sure. That’s why Hakuba wanted to make sure first. Whether his assumption was just a baseless assumption or there is something worth to be investigated further. 

But…

“How can I talk to Kuroba-kun… after all of that?” Hakuba mutters to himself while walking back to his classroom after lunch.

He hasn’t spoken to Kaito again after Kaito confronted him about how he hates him. Kaito stopped pranking him and Hakuba stopped accusing him of being a Kid. It feels like they are trying hard to pretend each other doesn’t exist.

While Hakuba could handle ex-detective Takahashi’s racism toward him and maintain his professionalism, Kaito is a different story.

How could he approach him and ask him questions civilly?

“Hakuba-kun.”

“Oh? Huh? Aoko-san?”

Hakuba stops walking and only notices that Aoko is approaching him. “Do you need something from me?” Hakuba asks her because there must be a reason if she approaches him first.

“Hakuba-kun, can you switch the cleaning duty after school with Aoko? Aoko have something to do today!” She asks with desperation.

Hakuba blinks in confusion, because, as far as he knows, there would be a lot of people that Aoko can ask help to. But, maybe everyone else is busy.

And he did owe her because she treated him so kindly ever since their first meeting.

“Of course,” he accepts without too much fuss.

“Really!? Thank you very much!” She grabs his hand and shakes it happily.

Hakuba smiles back at her, hoping that his smile doesn’t look weird. She really treats him like a normal person and Hakuba appreciates that very much. Not many people do that to him in this school.

“Aoko will repay you back for sure!”

“It is okay, Aoko-san.” Hakuba wants to be her friend, but he doesn’t want to cause her trouble by being in the middle of a crossfire between him and Kaito. So, no, it won’t work.

Well, maybe as a repayment, he can ask Aoko’s help to have a talk with Kaito…?

Hakuba shakes his head, that will make Kaito hate him more, for sure. That is a definition of taking advantage of Aoko’s kindness, Hakuba won’t do that anymore.

It isn’t easy to find a way to converse with Kaito.

0o0o0o0

Kaito knows that Aoko can be sneaky when she wants to, but he thinks that she is easy to read so she won’t be able to be sneaky on him.

Turned out, she could.

Kaito is quite shocked when he finds out that Aoko has switched her cleaning duty with Hakuba. The blonde looks as shocked as him when he finds out.

Based on how Aoko has been pestering him about what happened between him and Hakuba, it must be Aoko’s plan to make a chance where them can talk to each other. Kaito wonders whether Hakuba realizes that or not.

Based on how Hakuba looks troubled, it seems he doesn’t.

‘Damn you, Ahoko.’ She is such a busybody.

And that is exactly why Kaito likes her.

Because, the guilt after he said such harsh words to Hakuba, after that blonde saved his life, has been gnawing Kaito alive. But then again, Kaito can’t just take back his words so easily either.

He can’t ask for forgiveness that easily either. He has hurt Hakuba in the most cowardly move, even Kaito is ashamed of himself.

“I’m sorry but Aoko-san asked me to switch cleaning duty with her, Kuroba-kun,” Hakuba says with a rather solemn expression.

“I know that, I’m not stupid,” Kaito retorts back then winces at himself. It is just his second instinct to be snarky toward this blonde.

Hakuba nods, he doesn’t look disturbed by Kaito’s snarky and chooses to clean the board.

This is so awkward and Kaito wants to hit himself.

After his stupid act, Kaito kept his distance from Hakuba but still observed him from time to time. Of course, the Brit hasn’t dropped off his father’s case yet, instead, he investigated it further. Kaito didn’t follow Hakuba to Nara, but he knew that Hakuba met the ex-detective who handled his father’s case.

Kaito doesn’t know how much Hakuba has investigated, but he keeps treading on the thin line. At some point, the blonde could pull the organization’s attention. It would be dangerous.

“Kuroba-kun.”

Kaito turns at Hakuba, quite surprised. Because of the way Hakuba calls his name, there is a determination in his voice. Once the high-school magician sees the blonde’s face, Kaito can see some fear hiding in his eyes.

It is rare for Kaito to see someone fearing him, especially when he is just being himself as a high-school student. So, Kaito is rather stunned to see that.

Right, he has hurt Hakuba in the way it hurts the most.

Kaito has observed how Hakuba slowly became isolated in the school once he stopped getting close to Aoko. People still talked to him, but they treated him like an alien or unapproachable prince. Girls swooned at him being lonely like some kind of cursed prince for goodness’s sake, Kaito couldn’t believe it.

Kaito can’t admit it openly, but he feels extremely guilty to see that.

“I really… don’t know how to… do this…” Hakuba looks down, he is standing there and looking so awkward. His hands look like need some support, but the blonde is controlling them to be at his side and straighten his posture. “I… really need your help,” Hakuba finally says.

Kaito is quite stunned.

It is very rare for Hakuba to ask for help… and look so vulnerable in front of him. He might have asked for people’s help before, Kaito isn’t really sure, but he would ask it in a sly way to manipulate them.

Not like this.

Kaito doesn’t know how to respond to it. It is down to him just how desperate Hakuba is in his predicament.

But, who is Kaito kidding? Of course, the blonde is quite frustrated.

It seems Hakuba chooses to keep speaking because Kaito doesn’t respond right away. “I have to apologize first… but I’m… currently investigating your father’s accident-“

“Wait, wait, stop there.” Kaito raises his hand and covers his face in an exasperated way.

Damn, Hakuba can be all over the place once he has dropped his façade of being a perfect guy who knows everything. “Sorry, but that’s not how you start a conversation…” Kaito doesn’t even know what response he should give out. He sighs and tries to calm his overwhelming emotions.

The death of his father is still a sensitive subject for Kaito, but he also remembers how Hakuba’s unconscious body is in his arms. And his hurtful expression after Kaito attacked him verbally.

Damn it.

“Ah… I’m sorry, Kuroba-kun. I really don’t know how to do this…” Hakuba sighs as well. He grabs his other arm awkwardly and looks down. “If it is possible, I don’t want to bother you about this either. But, I really need your help…”

Kaito already knows all of this, but he needs to pretend that he doesn’t know anything. He needs to pretend that he is Kuroba Kaito, a normal high-school student who knows a little bit about magic tricks. This Kuroba Kaito isn’t Kaito Kid, he doesn’t know how Hakuba staked his life to save Kid. He doesn’t know that Hakuba desperately feigns amnesia to protect himself. He doesn’t know why Hakuba is suddenly asking him for help and talking about his father’s death out of nowhere.

The normal response that Kaito should give to Hakuba should be anger.

Kaito takes a deep breath and then stares at Hakuba with a serious expression. “Why?”

Hakuba blinks in confusion.

“Why are you doing this?” Kaito asks again, purposefully letting the question be vague so Hakuba can interpret it in the way he wants. Kaito is giving him a chance to explain himself first, because, seriously, Hakuba is really bad at doing this.

“I’m… currently in a… difficult situation right now. So… I need to uncover the mystery of your father’s death because… it might connected to my situation…” Hakuba has trouble explaining it, and Kaito pities him a little bit. Then Hakuba shakes his head. “No, that’s not right…” He mumbles to himself.

Kaito is still waiting for the blonde to gather himself.

“The thing is… I have met your father before, Kuroba-kun, long before I met you.”

Kaito doesn’t expect that at all. “Huh!?”

“I want to solve the mystery behind Toichi-san’s death, because I owe him that much,” Hakuba’s face looks so sincere, Kaito can’t even accuse him of lying. But, Kaito has trouble processing the fact that Hakuba has met his father before.

“What did you owe my father for?” Kaito asks absent-mindedly while thinking whether Hakuba knows that his father was the first Kaito Kid or not.

“Your father was… the one who pushed me to be a detective after all.” Finally, Hakuba gives him a smile, even though it is a bit solemn.

Kaito feels his brain stops working for a few seconds.

That… he doesn’t know how to respond to that… at all.

He has the feeling that his father might laugh at him inside his grave. Toichi would definitely find this situation funny, while it isn’t for Kaito. Not at all.

Huft… f*ck it.

He gave up.

It is Hakuba’s win.

0o0o0o0

“This isn’t a conversation we should have at school… let’s talk in my place.”

Hakuba never expects Kaito to invite him into his home, willingly, without anyone’s else help. He remembered how Heiji had reminded him in the last call, a couple of times, about how to ask for help from the people around him if he needed to.

“You have a puppy eyes kind of face, people wouldn’t be able to refuse you if you ask help in the right way. Like how my friend did.” That was what Heiji told him and Hakuba didn’t believe in him at first.

But… it worked? Hakuba can’t believe it himself while following Kaito from behind, maintaining a safe distance just so he won’t annoy Kaito unnecessarily.

He is satisfied enough that Kaito didn’t outwardly refuse him. The topic of their conversation is indeed quite dangerous to discuss openly, but Hakuba never thought that Kaito would invite him to his home.

After walking not too far away from the school, Hakuba arrived at Kaito’s home. The blonde has seen the house from outside before, but it is his first time entering it. Kaito takes out his key and opens up the front door.

“There is no one else in my home,” Kaito informs him without Hakuba asking anything. Just like what the blonde knows, Kaito’s mom is rarely at home.

Leaving an underage child without supervision for a long of time could be considered… neglecting, isn’t it? But Hakuba doesn’t have the right to say anything because he is in the same sort of situation himself. Well, he has Baaya so his situation is a bit better.

Despite living mainly by himself, Kaito’s house is quite in a pristine condition. Nothing looks odd, the place is clean enough. Weirdly, this home feels quite homey. Hakuba sees various photographs displayed around the living room, there is Kaito with his parents.

It seems Kaito grew up in a loving family, before Toichi’s death, that is.

Hakuba turns around and sees Kaito’s deadpan expression. The blonde feels like Kaito just caught him red-handed observing his house, but Hakuba just can’t help it. He is a detective, so he always observing everything around him.

Thankfully, Kaito doesn’t comment anything about it.

“Water?”

“…you don’t need to serve me anything, I don’t want to overstay my welcome here, Kuroba-kun.” Hakuba knows his place. He isn’t that shameless, especially to Kaito.

Kaito has an unreadable expression on his face, he walks toward the kitchen and brings out two water bottles. He tosses one to Hakuba carelessly. Hakuba catches it by surprise.

“Let’s get over this,” Kaito sits down on the sofa and opens up his water bottle.

Hakuba has a hard time reading Kaito’s emotions, but the Brit can tell that Kaito isn’t in a happy mood. But, he is still tolerating Hakuba and is still quite civil, so Hakuba will take whatever he can take now. The blonde sits on the sofa across from Kaito and puts down the chilled water bottle on the coffee table. “Thank you, Kuroba-kun, for inviting me to your home.” He needs to express his gratitude first.

“Let’s cut to the chase and get over this,” Kaito repeats with an exasperated expression.

Hakuba shuts his mouth for a second. Right, it is better to cut out the chit-chat.

He pulls out his phone and browses through his photo. He shows a photo to Kaito, a photo of him and Toichi in the past. Kaito receives Hakuba’s phone and takes a closer look. The blonde can see various feelings passed on Kaito’s eyes, from sadness to confusion and more unidentified expressions before they settle back to neutral eyes.

“Your smile has been unsettling since a child,” Kaito says with a neutral face. 

Hakuba accepts the insult as a way for Kaito to avoid feeling sad. “That’s how I have been taught to smile,” Hakuba replies back. “You can swipe to the next photo, there is an article you can read.”

Kaito does as he is told and he reads for a moment. Hakuba is waiting for him to finish reading while dreading how he will question his classmate next. It is different when Hakuba knows both the victim and the family, it is hard to question them without being too insensitive.

“Can I ask you a few questions first before you ask me about my father?”

Hakuba blinks and looks at Kaito with a shocked face.

“Your answer will depend a lot on how I will answer your questions. And I hope you don’t overthink why I ask you these questions, though I think it is useless to say that to you.”

0o0o0o0

Everyone who knows about it, won’t touch the subject of Kuroba Toichi’s death in front of Kaito, let alone talk about it to Kaito. So, despite feeling guilty about how he had mistreated Hakuba, Kaito still won’t offer to talk about his father that easily.

So, he needs to question Hakuba first, whether Hakuba is worthy of this. Worthy to know about this past that Kaito tries to safely lock inside a box that he rarely opens.

“You said that my father was the one who pushed you to be a detective…” Kaito still doubts those words, he feels like those words are merely white lies from Hakuba. The blonde has a tendency to talk with so much flattery depending on the situation. “How much is that true?”

Hakuba looks a bit stunned then he gets quiet for a while. The way he clasps both of his hands together, with his fingers fidgeting, Kaito can tell that Hakuba is trying to control his composure.

It is rare to see Hakuba like this. Raw and vulnerable.

“I don’t know what you thought about me but… while I’m a fan of mystery novels, I never dreamed of being a detective before,” Hakuba pauses as if he is trying to choose carefully what he is about to say. “My family is… quite strict. I’m an obedient son who will always follow my parents’ words.”

Kaito is observing Hakuba carefully, the way that his blonde classmate refuses to see his eyes and is rather fixated on his hands. Kaito has noticed that… while Hakuba has a weird tendency to overshare useless information about himself, one thing he never tells the others.

His family.

While he used his card as superintendent's son quite often, other than that there is nothing else.

So, it is Kaito’s first time to hear Hakuba talk about his family.

“I don’t think my family ever wanted me to become a detective so I never imagined they would allow me to be one… I never thought of it. So, when I met your father and solved my first case… that was the first time that I did something by my own choice and it was… fun,” Hakuba has a small solemn smile as his eyes are lost in memory. Then he closes his eyes and stares into Kaito’s eyes. “So, I really owe your father, more than what you can imagine.”

Kaito has a hard time processing that. He wants to be a magician for as long as he can remember because his father was, is, his role model. He thought that Hakuba would be the same as him.

“Your father is a superintendent general though, being a detective won’t be something he restricted from you, will he?” Kaito asks again. The west high-school detective who befriended the shrunken detective has the same background as Hakuba, more or less. It isn’t like being a high-school detective is something embarrassing or illegal.

Hakuba becomes quiet one more time. “My parents allow me to be a detective… with some terms and conditions applied, you could say that…” Hakuba carefully replies.

That, once again, was not something that Kaito expected from Hakuba. The Brit has the appearance of a spoiled first son from a privileged and filthy rich family who is free to do whatever he wants.

Then again, Kaito remembers when he spied Hakuba during his treatment in the hospital. The superintendent general only visited once, and it was a quick visit. It was as if once he made sure that his son was alive and would be alright, his business finished.

Not even his own mother would be that cold, Kaito is sure of that. Kaito is left to his own device, most of the time, because his mother believes that he can take care of himself. Not because she doesn’t love him.

“Do you want to ask more questions to me, Kuroba-kun? I never thought that you have such an interest in my private life,” Hakuba is trying to flip the situation to his own favor, Kaito can tell. Must be his habit as a detective showing up.

“Usually, it is you who asks me questions, so I enjoy this chance where our role is reversed,” Kaito grins at the blonde. 

Hakuba shuts his mouth and looks uneasy.

“I will only ask one more thing,” Kaito wants to ask this question ever since he hurt Hakuba with his words. “Why do you choose to stay in Japan? I thought you were a renowned detective in England. Other than Kid, do you have more reasons to keep staying here?”

Flying back and forth between England and Japan sounds troublesome. And based on the little information Kaito has gathered about Hakuba, yes, he did dig a little about this detective, the blonde has been staying in London ever since his birth until before he moved to Ekoda. What is the reason for Hakuba to keep staying in Japan, especially now that his life is threatened here? It doesn’t make sense.

Hakuba looks stunned once again. This time, Kaito can clearly see the uneasiness in Hakuba’s eyes. It seems he is contemplating how to answer it.

“My father gives me… enough freedom here, as long as I don’t cause any trouble. Then… my uncle treats me decently, he lets me use his lab as my resource…. And Baaya is sweet to me.” Hakuba closes his eyes then he shakes his head a little, as if he is regretting what he just said.

Kaito blinks and sees Hakuba with confused eyes.

“That’s it?” Kaito asks again.

Hakuba covers his face with his hands in regret.

Because… there doesn’t seem anything special from what Hakuba just said.

“You like staying in Japan more than in England?” Kaito probes further.

Hakuba frowns a little and sighs.

“Yes.”

Kaito is speechless to hear that.

He stares at Hakuba and wonders what kind of life the blonde has in England. Based on how many articles about his activity as the high-school detective in London, Hakuba should have done quite well there so….

Kaito just can’t understand it.

He closes his eyes and sighs.

He pictures a small Hakuba, with an unsettling smile, posed beside his late father in his mind.

He opens his eyes and stares at Hakuba again. The blonde looks so uncomfortable in his seat like he is so eager to run away from there but persisting in staying.

Kaito sighs again.

“Okay, what do you want to ask me about my father’s accident?”

0o0o0o0

It takes a few seconds before Hakuba snaps out from his shock. He didn’t enjoy being questioned by Kaito about his family and his private life. He failed to see the connection between Kaito’s questions and Hakuba’s answers would result back on how Kaito would answer him.

He seriously thought that Kaito simply played a game with him, trying to probe into things that would hurt Hakuba worse than his lack of friends.

So, now that Kaito suddenly lets him ask what Hakuba has been wanting to ask him, Hakuba is taken aback a little.

“Oh… uhm…” Hakuba stutters a bit while trying to gather his composure. “I want to know what your opinion is about your father’s accident, Kuroba-kun… it would be nice if you could tell me everything that you know about the accident. Whether something strange happened or out of place.”

Kaito has a blank face, he doesn’t seem angry but also not interested in Hakuba’s request.

“Do you think my father’s accident wasn’t an accident?” Kaito asks back.

Hakuba clenches his fists tighter a little bit. “I ask you questions because I need to know more things about that before I can suspect anything.”

Kaito shrugs with a tired expression.

“My father rarely did escape box trick.”

Hakuba listens carefully to what Kaito is saying, the raven classmate is looking at a faraway place with a bit of solemn but also irked expression. “You do know about that, escape stunts. That wasn’t my father’s style of magic. He liked to entertain people by doing something surprising but beautiful, like making a whole stage filled with blooming flowers or things like that. Escape stunts are putting the audiences into suspense feeling… that is totally different.”

Hakuba remembers a few recorded shows of Toichi that he has watched. Indeed, what Kaito pointed out is right.

“And, I wasn’t allowed to attend the show,” Kaito says again with a soured mood.

“Huh?” Hakuba is surprised to hear that.

“You hear me, I wasn’t allowed to attend. That was the first time… and the only time my father ever banned me from watching his show. He said that I should focus on studying for the exam the next day but I didn’t think that was the problem… something was off but I don’t know what.” Kaito frowns, not directed at Hakuba but the more he talks, the more he looks iffy.

“And you didn’t attend the show?” Hakuba asks in confusion because if he remembers it correctly there was a written witness statement of Kaito in the police report.

“I did, I sneaked in. No one could stop me, not even my father himself,” Kaito answers with a deadpan expression.

Oh, so Kaito has been quite rebellious since he was that young, huh? Hakuba isn’t even surprised to hear that.

“And then, that accident happened… the rest was a blur… I might have lost consciousness at some point…” Kaito shakes his head then he looks down on the floor. His hands are shaking a little as he clasps them together.

Hakuba can’t imagine how traumatic it was for Kaito to be present and witness the accident happened.

“I see… I’m really sorry to hear that, Kuroba-kun.” Hakuba offers his condolence, but it feels empty and cheap to say something like that.

Kaito snorts and raises his head again. “Then, what else do you want to know?”

Hakuba pauses a little before he speaks again. “Based on what I investigated, the blueprint of the escape box was never found. Is that true?”

Hakuba sees how Kaito freezes in his place.

“What?” Kaito asks back with a shocked face.

“Huh?” Hakuba becomes confused with Kaito’s reaction. “You didn’t know about it.”

“Like I said, I lost consciousness after that… I woke up in a hospital then some police questioned me for a witness statement and that was it,” Kaito answers again.

Hakuba puts his hands under his chin. This is a bit unexpected, to think that not even Kaito knows about this fact. “You see, Kuroba-kun, usually the police should inspect the blueprint so that they can inspect the machinery of the escape box thoroughly. But, they couldn’t find the blueprint and the case was concluded only based on the statement of your father’s assistant.”

“My father’s assistant…?” Kaito frowns harder. “My father’s assistant was bedridden because of appendicitis at that time, I remember that. My father would have built the escape box alone, I can’t imagine he asked someone’s else help to build it.”

“Huh?” Now Hakuba is the one who becomes shocked. “But, building an escape box with complex machinery like that should have been hard to do it alone. He must have asked someone’s help at some point.”

“If he did need help, he would ask my mom. There could be someone else from the magic association helping him to do menial tasks, but not enough to understand how the escape box worked,” Kaito interjects again.

Hakuba frowns. “Something didn’t match up here.”

“Wait, Hakuba, can I read the police report?”

Hakuba reluctantly pulls out the police report from his bag. He prepared this just in case, but he felt a bit complex to show this to Kaito. Sure, a closed case report could be read by citizens once they gained access to read them, but still…

Before Hakuba can say anything, Kaito has snatched up the report from Hakuba’s hand. The high-school magician flips the thick report case with godly speed before he stops at the page he is looking for.

“But, don’t you think your mother or other people from the magic associate could say something if there was something off with your father’s temporary assistant? The detectives that were responsible for this case should have noticed something.” Hakuba stops talking when he can see many unidentified expressions pass on Kaito’s eyes.

Kaito has found something.

“This person should only just be an errand guy in my father’s group.” Kaito points to the witness statement. Yamashito Ekiguchi. “He wasn’t skilled enough to help my father build the escape box, like I said. My father might only ask him to buy the tools and equipment required.”

Hakuba remembers what was written in the statement. “He said that the screws should be even but there were leftovers.”

“Either he was stupid enough to miscount the screws he bought or someone else removed the screws and he didn’t inform my father about it,” Kaito voices his opinion.

“Or he was the one who did it,” Hakuba adds. “If he was the one who stole the blueprint, he could have figured a way to make the escape box malfunction.” Hakuba puts his hand under his chin as he thinks harder.

“His alibi was perfect though,” Hakuba points out. “He was busy preparing the stage while the escape box was made and then the escape box was stored inside a locked warehouse which only your father could have access to.”

“Yeah, but it was weird to call him an assistant of my father who helped build the escape box while the truth was, he barely helped anything at all. And his statement was used to close the case? Are you kidding me?” Kaito folds his arms as he grunts in anger.

Right, that is weird. A statement from an errand guy who didn’t help to build the escape box shouldn’t have enough credibility to conclude this case as an accident.

Did no one else notice this? Kaito only needed to look into the report once and he figured out something was off immediately.

So, how did something like this get overlooked?

“This investigation itself was trashy,” Kaito spats out with bitterness, he takes out the words from Hakuba’s mouth. He throws the report to the coffee table carelessly.

“That was the most possible answer…” Hakuba admits that reluctantly. He knows that there is a mole inside the police department, but it still feels staggering how a well-known case like this could get tampered with this easily.

“Is there any other answer besides that?” Kaito’s voice is rising but Hakuba knows his anger isn’t directed at him.

“Your mother and your father’s magic group could be hiding something as well,” Hakuba points out rather absentmindedly and he catches himself in surprise.

Oh, damn. Kaito is glaring at him, of course, because Hakuba just blatantly said that he is suspecting his mother as well.

“Your mother refused an autopsy, do you know that?” Hakuba tries to explain the base of his suspicion to Kaito.

“…yeah,” Kaito answers heavily. “She said that father’s… state was already heartbreaking, she couldn’t stand if my father’s body needed to be sliced open.”

“Is that so…?” Hakuba mutters while thinking.

He wonders if there is something else going on here. If there was an autopsy, it would make the investigation have a better outcome, maybe. From all he knows, maybe Toichi was already dead inside the box before it exploded.

“What I heard, is this person has moved abroad. Do you think he was suspicious? Did he have a motive to murder your father or cause an accident on purpose?” Since it would be hard to question this particular person now, Hakuba chooses to ask Kaito about it.

“I don’t know… I didn’t interact with him that much. He was a decent guy… but I can’t say anything,” Kaito looks distracted by other thoughts because he answers Hakuba’s question with a disinterested face. “There could be someone else responsible… While it is true that the escape box was stored inside a warehouse before the show, the show was held in the open stadium where many people could have entered before the show started.”

“Manipulating the escape box with an unknown mechanism couldn’t be that quick. If it was possible, your father should have noticed before he entered the box,” Hakuba points out.

“You don’t even know who stole the blueprint, someone could learn from it and tampered with the escape box,” Kaito retorts back.

Hakuba blinks. Stolen, huh? The blueprint was missing, but Hakuba never said it was stolen. Based on Kaito’s expression, Hakuba can tell that the high-school magician knows something more than he said.

“So… then, since you have asked me, whether I think your father’s death wasn’t an accident. Yes, I do think there is something more that happened than what was written in the police report. There was a high possibility that Toichi-san was murdered and the culprit fabricated it to look like an accident,” Hakuba looks at Kaito with a serious face. “Let me ask you back, Kuroba-kun. What do you think about this case, do you think it was an accident?”

Kaito looks like he is pondering about something for a while. He is staring at the floor with a complex expression.

“It wasn’t an accident,” Kaito answers as he raises his head. “But, now… it doesn’t matter either way.”

Hakuba is taken aback by Kaito’s empty eyes.

“Even if you catch the culprit now, my father won’t come back to live.” Kaito sighs and turns around to see the sky on the window with a faraway expression.

Hakuba wonders if this is Kaito’s trick to trick him from suspecting him as Kid. Because that expression looks so… real and honest.

“Not to mention the investigation of the case was terrible… the police are undependable, it is useless,” Kaito adds more.

Right, if the police can be more dependable then Kaito won’t become Kid, Hakuba knows that. He becomes Kaito Kid to take matters into his own hands.

“I won’t force you if you don’t want to investigate your father’s accident. You are right, no matter what the outcome is, Toichi-san won’t come back to live.” Hakuba takes back the police report and tidies up the papers a little bit. “But, if it is true that your father was murdered, then that doesn’t mean the culprit can just get away without consequence.”

Not after stealing away Hakuba’s chance to thank Toichi for pushing him to be a detective. Hakuba wants to show to that wonderful magician that he has become a decent detective now. Hakuba wonders whether Toichi would give him a proud face and call him ‘Little Detective’ again.

That is how Hakuba feels, let alone how Kaito feels. Hakuba can’t imagine that.

There is no way that Kaito has given up on this matter. In fact, there is a high chance that Kaito is ready to risk everything in his life to take revenge for his father’s death. The long list of possible heists where the mysterious mafia group attacked Kaito is enough proof for the Brit.

No matter how Kaito Kid appears as an invincible person, the person in front of Hakuba is the same age as him. A high-school student, his classmate.

Even though Kaito isn’t his friend, he is still the son of the person that Hakuba admired.   

“Thank you for your cooperation, Kuroba-kun. You really helped me,” Hakuba gives Kaito a smile, as sincere as he can. “Feel free to ask me anything about your father’s case if you change your mind, I don’t mind keeping you updated about my investigation as well.”

Hakuba puts the report into his bag and prepares to excuse himself. He doesn’t want to overstay his welcome and disturb Kaito more than necessary.

“You know… you should get angry back at me… I deserved it.”

Hakuba is about to stand and stops in midair.

“When I said I hate you… you should get angry back at me. Heck, you can punch me if you want to,” Kaito smiles bitterly with a twisted expression.

Hakuba is stunned for a little bit before his face becomes solemn. “You aren’t the first person who hates me, Kuroba-kun, as I have said. I’m kind of used to people who hate me for no reason…” Hakuba sighs. “And I mean, I did displease you a lot. I understand.”

Hakuba remembers Heiji’s disagreeing face when Hakuba admitted that he didn’t have anyone that he could ask for help. Hakuba used to be alone. It will be tiring to hate back all the people who hate him.

As long as they don’t disturb Hakuba’s life too much, the blonde doesn’t think it matters too much.

Or maybe it is just him lying to himself.

“You are so… urgh…” Kaito ruffles his hair in frustration and Hakuba just tilts his head in confusion. “Just hit me once and be done with it!” Finally, Kaito shouts loudly. He stands and approaches Hakuba menacingly. For someone who offered himself to be hit, Kaito looks intimidating this way.

Hakuba blinks. “You want me to forgive you?” He asks with widened eyes.

“You are a detective, right!? Why are you so dense!?” Kaito shouts again, growing more frustrated.

Hakuba looks at Kaito and then at his own fist. Then he hits Kaito’s cheek, so softly, more like bumping his fist onto Kaito’s cheek. “I don’t want to hurt my hand. This is enough.” Hakuba grins at him. “Let’s call this even, I’m sorry for being annoying to you most of the time, Kuroba-kun.”

Kaito’s face is reddening, whether because of anger or embarrassment, Hakuba can’t tell. He covers his face and then groans weirdly, Hakuba wonders what’s that supposed to mean.

“I think I should excuse myself now,” Hakuba suggests because the atmosphere become rather awkward.

“Yeah, you should.” Kaito nods along.

Hakuba stands and smiles at his classmate. “Once again, thank you, Kuroba-kun.”

“Yeah, yeah, please just go away now.” Kaito is still covering his face, but also swatting his hand toward Hakuba as if he is chasing away a stray cat.

Hakuba walks toward the front door, he takes a glance at Kaito once again before he exits the house.

So, does that mean his ambiguous friendship with Kaito is restored back like before? Not really friends, more likely rivals, but not enemies either?

Hakuba smiles softly at himself.

This is a step. The first step. For the first time, Hakuba finally feels that he is moving forward in handling his complicated situation. While defeating the black mafia group still feels like a faraway goal, Hakuba is moving toward that goal.

Slowly for surely.

First, Heiji.

Then, Kaito.

Hakuba isn’t alone anymore. He doesn’t know how to process it, but…

It feels good.

Excellent.

To Be Continued