Sequel to 5 Times Kuroba Kaito and Kudou Shinichi Almost Met, but it's not necessary to read that to understand this. Set in Movieverse, so of course when Kaito sees Shinichi, he knows that he knows that they look similar.
I still don't own DC, or Magic Kaito for that matter.
An hour or two before, Shinichi had been livid. Fortunately for all those in attendance of that night's Kaitou Kid heist, time (and—though he wouldn't admit it—a bit of hope) had cooled his fury to the point of mild irritation. Now he was less peeved at Haibara for spiking his drink and more disappointed in himself for not noticing. So much for being observant—which, according Holmes (the ultimate authority), was one of the three qualities essential to being a detective. If it had been anyone but Haibara (or possibly Kid), he would have considered (but of course never actually gone through with) permanently hanging up his Inverness coat and deerstalker hat. Metaphorically, of course; he didn't actually own either of those articles of clothing…which was more than he could say for Hakuba.
Speaking of the foreign detective, where was he? Shinichi scanned the crowd of Task Force members surrounding Nakamori-keibu for Hakuba's tell-tale suit, which had only just recently replaced his immensely more conspicuous Holmes-inspired getup. He had been sure that Hakuba was still in Japan—he had made it his business to determine the blonde detective's location prior to Kid heists ever since that Hattori incident (of which all three detective had agreed never to speak again).
"Oi, Kudou!" Shinichi started at the sound of Nakamori's voice. It took him a split second longer than it should have for him to register that he was being addressed. Consequently, this reminded him of his irritation with Haibara. The girl had, in an uncharacteristic bout of impatience, laced his drink with her latest prototype antidote, knowing full well that the shrunken detective would have much preferred to wait a week for Ran to return from her karate club's trip to Kyoto before he regained his own body. Haibara had insisted that she had resorted to such methods because she had needed to collect data on her experiment as soon as possible, but considering that the genius seemed to be immune to impulsiveness, Shinichi had his doubts about the excuse…. But he had resolved to let them go.
At least he had remembered the Kaitou Kid heist; he wasn't sure what he would have done if he had been forced to remain inside, doing absolutely nothing but rereading The Sign of Four for the eight thousandth time, while he could have been taking full advantage of returning to his original state (if only temporarily).
Shinichi jogged over to Nakamori, who was still surrounded by his ever-eager underlings. He had to elbow through the small crowd just to get near enough to speak to the man. "Yes?"
"Do you know of Hakuba Saguru?" Shinichi nodded. "Do you know whether he's coming tonight?" the leader of the Task Force asked harshly, clutching a paper—presumably Kid's riddle—in his right fist.
"No," Shinichi replied, slightly affronted. He had already solved the riddle; did Nakamori really think he needed a second opinion? And for that matter, since when did the inspector willingly take Hakuba's advice? He gestured toward the paper. "But if it's about the riddle, I'm sure my solution—"
"No, I think you've cracked it. But my daughter said Hakuba would be coming, and he's late," Nakamori grumbled bitterly. It seemed that Nakamori's reaction to Hakuba Saguru was similar to Hattori's.
"Late?" Shinichi repeated dubiously. "Isn't he kind of…obsessed with time? Are you sure he didn't just change his mind?"
"Well, pardon me for being a few minutes off tonight." As soon as they heard the detective's accented voice, the cluster of Task Force members parted to create a path for him. It seemed their reaction was due to a respect for the teenager that his constant presence at heists had fostered.
Hakuba strode easily up to Nakamori, another teenaged boy in tow. Shinichi attempted to make out the other boy's face, but he almost seemed to be hiding himself behind the slightly taller blonde, and had a baseball cap pulled low over his eyes.
Pointing an accusatory thumb at the messy-haired boy behind him, Hakuba explained his tardiness: "I had to pick up Kuroba-kun." Shinichi was rather unnerved by the fact that he had never seen anyone look so gleeful and predatory at the same time as his fellow detective did just then. "Your daughter made him come with me."
Nakamori blinked, staring at the "Kuroba" boy, who seemed to be attempting to make himself as small as possible. "Kaito-kun?" Nakamori suddenly directed a fierce glare at Hakuba. "Oi, if you're trying to blame Kaito-kun again—"
"Oh, nothing like that, Nakamori-keibu." Hakuba's grin made Shinichi think otherwise. "I merely invited Kuroba-kun to the heist. Aoko-chan seemed to think it was an excellent idea—something to do with being around each other more might help us get along—and told Kuroba-kun that if he refused, she would sneak something in his desk and lunch every day until he agreed to come with me to a heist." He glanced sideways at Kuroba, who had stiffened and seemed to be suppressing a squeak at the mention of the threat. "For some reason, she absolutely refused to tell me what that 'something' is."
"That's because Aoko—while sometimes devious, underhanded, and sneaky—is not one to tell secrets." Kuroba huffed proudly as he crossed his arms and replaced his terrified expression with one of confidence. The boy then turned to Shinichi, apparently just realizing that he was present (Something Hakuba has yet to do, Shinichi thought irritably). "Hey, who…" the boy trailed off before leaping behind the nearest police officer—not even bothering to hide his squeak this time—and pulling his hat so far over his face that Shinichi could barely see his mouth.
At Kuroba's outburst, Hakuba—after sending a bemused glance Kuroba's way—finally acknowledged Shinichi's presence. "Oh, you're Kudou Shinichi, right? Hakuba Saguru." He held out a hand; Shinichi took it. "Have you been to a Kid heist before?"
"Yes—" Shinichi hesitated, reminding himself that Kudou Shinichi had only been physically present at a Kid heist once before. "—uh, but only once."
"Well." Hakuba smirked, stepping closer and turning Shinichi so that their backs were facing Nakamori. "I'm afraid your timing is rather unfortunate," he whispered, pointing back at Kuroba, who was peeking out from behind the aggravated-looking officer whom he was using as a human shield. "That's Kuroba Kaito, a classmate of mine and, as far as I'm concerned, Kaitou Kid's civilian identity. If all goes well tonight, I'll have proved that I was right all along."
"If all goes well?" Shinichi raised an eyebrow; his impression of Hakuba was that he was too confident in himself for doubtful "if"s.
"I've attempted this before, but somehow—" Hakuba's eyes narrowed "—Kuroba wriggled out of it."
Shinichi decided that it would be a bad idea to suggest that maybe the spastic boy wasn't Kid after all.
"Anyway…" Hakuba turned back to Nakamori and pulled out an old pocket watch, checked it, and snapped it shut. "Kid should be arriving any second now…providing that Kuroba is innocent." The detectives, as well as the Task Force, began to survey the area. Kuroba released his human shield and eyed the door warily, as if contemplating whether or not he could make an untimely escape unnoticed.
"…3…2…1." Hakuba cleared his throat and threw a self-satisfied, victorious smirk at Kuroba. Shinichi was now in a much, much worse mood than before. His original self couldn't even try to stop beat Kid once (that first one didn't count—all he did was fire a gun, crack a code, and get yelled at by Nakamori-keibu for advising him)? Why couldn't the universe—after dumping corpses on him at every turn, and shrinking him to boot—just give him that?
"Well, it would seem…" Hakuba paused dramatically, leering at Kuroba cockily. "…that I've finally cornered you, Kuroba…or should I call you Kid?"
"Actually, tantei-san, I prefer 'Kaitou'." Shinichi, Hakuba, and the rest of the Task Force (including Nakamori, who up until that point had seemed so flabbergasted that he couldn't move) wheeled around to see Kaitou Kid, hovering near the skylight in all his ivory-clad glory, perched comfortably on…
…Was that…a broom? A flying broom? And since when did Kid's voice get so…high-pitched?
Shinichi heard Hakuba violently curse somewhere to his left as Kid swooped down—on his broom—to easily grab the target gem before soaring off. "Not again!"
…This had happened before? Still staring at Kid's flying broom (No, Shinichi corrected himself, Kid's trick broom. Brooms. Do. Not. Fly.), Shinichi had to wonder how often Kid had made use of it—and what exactly its point was. Bewilderment, maybe?
If that was the case, Kid had succeeded. Shinichi turned on his heel, intending to head straight home and return to his backup plan of rereading Holmes until he reverted to Conan, but his way was blocked by the boy who was apparently not Kid.
"Hi!" Kuroba chirped, pushing up the bill of his hat to reveal a face that mirrored Shinichi's own. "I never officially introduced myself. I'm Kuroba Kaito. Nice to meet you."