Kaito didn't- doesn't- understand what happened that night on the clock tower.
Sure, he knows what happened, but there was something different about the air that night, thick with an exciting tension that had his heart beating wildly in his chest. He remembers looking up at the helicopter from his position on the clock hand, seeing moonlight bounce off glass windows and navy blue sleeves as someone revealed yet another one of his carefully set up tricks, remembers Nakamori-keibu creaming curses at whoever was up there. He remembers a smooth voice echoing through the vents as that officer followed after him, low and smug as it predicts movements he knows he would have made- did make- and most of all, he remembers feeling alive.
But the real reason he doesn't understand that night has nothing to do with the air or the sensation.
It has to do with the man in the helicopter, face shadowed mostly by darkness. It has to do with the glint of his smile in the moonlight, and that split-second as he turns away, when the moonlight catches in the blue ocean of his eyes and flashes red.
He knows every detail of the legend he's been chasing, has read it over and over more times than he can count, scanned over translations and interpretations so he can say for sure that he know exactly what he's looking for.
That night leaves him questioning everything he's learned.
What is Pandora, really? How much is legend, and how much is truth?
The next time he sees that flash of red is on the rooftop of the Haido City Hotel.
It's a kid, smiling up at him with that same snide smirk as the man of the helicopter, the same ocean-bright eyes that catch the moonlight in a way that reveals depths of an ocean too deep for a child his age.
The flash comes and goes so quickly that he almost doubts seeing it, as it disappears beneath to large glasses and goes blue again, and he's distracted by the curl of his mouth and the fake childishness of his tone, distracted enough to forget what he's looking for for a moment and smile back, perform the way he used to when he was still naive and innocent and his father was by his side.
It's more alive than he's felt in years, and it gives him an odd sort of clarity, makes him feel like he can push himself to new heights like never before.
He learns not to underestimate the little tantei-kun the next time they meet.
He doesn't see the red, but he's met with that same all-knowing smirk, same pair of eyes so deep and alive that he can't help but smile and run with it, work on his toes instead of on predictability and patterns.
The kid- Edogawa Conan- seems at first to be a little oblivious, childish and innocent. But there's something there when he turns away, something sharp and dangerous that sets his heart on fire with excitement. His disguise of the guardian, Mouri Ran, seems to be well enough, and it seems all too easy to enthrall the audience yet again, to take the jewel in the bout of panic that ensues.
And then Edogawa Conan comes along, smiling widely like a child, bouncing excitedly on his heels and going on about knowing where KID is, dragging him along to 'find' him. It's more amusing than anything else, at first, watching him follow a false trail, but then he strays off path and leads him further and further away from the crowds, and suddenly it's not as funny anymore.
The childish tone stays, deductions spilling easily from the kid's lips, and then he turns and smirks like he knows everything, and Kaito feels inclined to think he does, because in the next moment he feels as though his mask has been stripped away. He reaches for the phone, trying desperately not to give anything away, even knowing it's too late, and then the phone shatters in a mess of plastic and wiring, and Edogawa Conan's voice lowers a few octaves, the dangerous feeling returning full force.
The most unexpected thing about that night is not the smug tone of his voice when he mentions to Nakamori-keibu about KID being human, not invincible, nor was it when he saw through his disguise with an ease that put him on edge. No, the thing that surprised Kaito the most was his reaction to his little quip of being a method actor.
No normal child reacts to the flash of a bra with outrage and vague embarrassment. None.
He keeps running into Edogawa Conan, both in his element and out.
It starts with a burning bridge.
Meeting Edogawa Conan at the Magic Lovers Club get together is unexpected.
Watching him run across a burning bridge to tell them to leave is even more so.
When he wakes up again, he's got that too-old wariness in the lines of his face, that look in his eyes that's a resigned sigh and a determined glare at the same time.
He's in his element, more than Kaito has ever seen before. It's…enlightening, in some respects, and depressing, because the kid's obviously used to bodies falling from the sky, and even more used to convoluted and generally absurd ways of hiding evidence and methods. And they way he enthralls his audience- yes, an audience, because that's the only really way to explain the group that trails behind him like a group of stray dogs- is so much like the way his father taught him to, with dramatic flares and little movements and "meaningless" questions that drag the attention away from what's really happening until all is revealed.
Each revelation he leads them along comes with a satisfied smirk and a brightening of eyes, each step carefully calculated in a way that reminds Kaito of himself, in a way, and he understands now how the kid could so easily see through his tricks that night on the boat.
The most unexpected part, Kaito thinks, is the finale. He lead them around like children (not that anyone noticed, other than him), and now, he's doing something so questionable (in terms of the law, at least,) that it makes Kaito hesitate, double take.
Who knew the little tantei-kun would make his deductions by tranquilizing the Suzuki heiress and using her voice?
Well, it certainly explains "Sleeping Kogorou's" sudden genius.
From then on, Kaito makes a point of watching. Whenever Edogawa Conan appears, he watches, seeing every little question as it is, a manipulation. And how easily the kid can manipulate, from the police to the witnesses, the suspects, the culprit, all with a childish brightness in his eyes and a sharp smirk.
Edogawa Conan is a force to be reckoned with, and it makes things all the more exciting.
Edogawa Conan is full of surprises.
Kaito knows this.
But still, every surprise comes unexpected, and Edogawa Conan's surprises are always extraordinarily unpredictable.