A/N: Welcome to my humble attempt at an OC in the DC/MK world. Made because we all need a little more Kaito Kid in our lives, not to mention Aoko (and the rest of the Detective Conan girls, tbh) need more acknowledgment. AND this fandom needs more OC stories.

This wouldn't have been published without the encouragement of all my readers from my other stories, so if you're here from Yamuraiha, thank you so much for making me do this! :D

I do not own Magic Kaito or Detective Conan. All rights go to their respective owners. The same applies to all future chapters.


It was dark. She was walking through the darkness, one hand shoved into her coat pocket. The other hand was clutching onto a vanilla envelope, her grip on the envelope tightening as she approached the warehouse.

It was cold. Freezing, actually. The chilly wind brushed against her chapped lips, and she could feel the wind almost breathing down her neck. She idly wished that she brought a scarf.

Her feet stopped in front of the warehouse. She hesitated for a moment before raising her hand against the door, rapping her knuckles against it five times. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the door opened.

"You're late."

"I apologize." She bowed her head.


A O K O


.

Nakamori Aoko lived in Ekoda. She was two years old and had a boisterous father by the name of Nakamori Ginzo. She was a cute little girl who referred to herself in the third person and was always present with the sweetest smile and words of encouragement. Overall, she was a good child, her only faults being her temperamental personality, clinginess, and small mischievous streak.

When people looked at Nakamori Aoko, they just saw a slightly intelligent kid who'd do well someday. Maybe she'd even go into the police force, like her father. Or maybe that job was just too perilous for sweet, innocent Aoko. Maybe she'd decide to become something more mundane instead, like a schoolteacher.

Nobody saw the slight shift in her eyes after guests left the house. Not even Ginzo noticed how she would lock herself away in her room and mutter random things in English (not like the man could notice: he was too busy trying to capture the newly acclaimed Kaito Kid).

Little Aoko was a cheerful girl with a big heart, was what other spoke of her. She might not have been a genius like the young Kudo Shinichi or Kuroba Kaito, but she was intelligent enough.

If only they knew.

.

It had taken her a while to realize.

In her defense, Ginzo had kept her inside nearly every day, not wanting for his little girl to be soiled by the outside world. All she knew was that she was "Aoko", or "Ao-chan" if her father was feeling especially peppy. Her father was "Ginzo": that much she had gathered from the many impromptu visits her father's friends would make.

She hadn't even known her last name for the longest time.

Then, she had been introduced to one of her father's friends from work and her whole world flipped upside-down. Ginzo had opened the door, let in some strange man, and proceeded to go upstairs to do something as he left his daughter to entertain the guest. The guest lingered awkwardly at the threshold before Aoko nodded and silently led him to one of the chairs to sit down. "One moment, please," she said hurriedly before whipping around and dashing into the kitchen.

Pausing for a moment, she considered her choices before selecting some small cinnamon cookies her father had bought her. Grabbing one of the more showy plates reserved specifically for guests and set the cookies on the tray. Next, Aoko searched for a glass. There was a moment of victory when her chubby hands grasped the cool handle of a mug. She glanced over at the kettle on the stove (tea was always more polite to serve) before shaking her head and filling said glass with cold ice water.

Carefully, balancing the plate on one hand and holding the glass in the other, she returned to where the guest was seated. Aoko set down the plate of cookies in front of the man and handed him a glass of ice water. The man gave her his thanks, setting down both on the table in front of him.

"Hi, Aoko-chan. I'm Kudo Yusaku, it's nice to meet you," the man introduced himself, smiling while patting her head in a gesture of patrilineal friendliness.

Kudo...Yusaku?

Warning bells immediately rung in her head, but she tried to push away her stunned shock. She could do nothing but bob her head, her manners kicking in instinctively. "Nice to meet you too, Kudo-san," she said automatically, beaming at the man. Innocently, she swung her hands back and forth, asking, "Are you one of Papa's friends from work?"

"Yes, I am," he humored her.

"Does that mean you're a p..poriiii-su…" Aoko 'stumbled' over her words. It wouldn't look natural if she was able to pronounce everything correctly at such a young age. She supposed she was convincing enough, as the man gently corrected her.

"Policeman like your father? No," Yusaku shook his head, laughing at the thought. "I help out the police occasionally, but I'm a novelist now." That was the second alarm that went off in her head.

"So you're a detective!" Aoko gasped, clapping her hands delightedly. Inwardly, she was freaking out. If this man was who she thought he was, then she wasn't just dealing with a case of reincarnation. And that discovery, as frightening as it was at the time, would be nothing more than a small bump compared to this problem. She was dealing with reincarnation into a fictional world. Or, to be more exact, what she had presumed was a fictional world.

"Well, I wouldn't…"

"Aoko loves reading detective stories!" Aoko allowed for her sapphire blue eyes to sparkle delightedly, and the man seemed to just give up and go with the flow.

"Really, now? That's quite advanced for your age. The only other kid I know who does that is my son, but Shinichi's always been a bit odd." Yusaku chuckled.

...oh God, this was real. This was actually happening. She was in the Detective Conan world. Aoko swallowed and fought the urge to throw up. Her head was pounding as she tried to digest this new information. Detective Conan...back in the day, she had loved anything that dealt with mystery. Her little sister had initially introduced the show to her, and it fascinated her to an extent. She remembered long days when she would simply sit next to her little sister and try figuring out who the culprit was (unfortunately, there were plenty of instances when not enough information was given to the viewer for them to figure the case out, but it was still fun nonetheless).

Her hand was clutching onto the hem of her dress a little bit too tightly, and she forced herself to relax so that Yusaku wouldn't be suspicious. "Well, mysteries are cool!" She chirped. "So your son's name is Shinichi?"

Yusaku nodded, but then her father barged into the room.

"Aoko, where did my notepad go?" Her father asked, putting his hands on his hips as he glared down at his daughter and tried to look menacing. It failed horribly: she knew her father adored her way too much for him to actually be mad at her for more than a few hours. Aoko sent him a bubbly grin and a friendly shrug. She had stolen it a few days ago to practice some kanji and was wondering when he would notice its absence. Luckily, her father had the sense to buy some beginning kanji books after Aoko had pestered him everyday about becoming more literate.

"Ah, Nakamori-keibu," Yusaku greeted, standing up from his crouched position and ruffling Aoko's hair as he turned to face his old friend. "How are you doing?"

Oh, and then it finally kicked in.

Aoko. Nakamori Ginzo. Nakamori.

She was Nakamori Aoko.

She was reborn as a canon character. A girl who quite literally was left in the dark for the majority of the series, a girl whose best friend would become a phantom thief who waltzed around with the police in a white tuxedo. She was in a world where there was literally a crime every episode, where there were literally two (presuming that the Black Organization and the unnamed organization in Magic Kaito were two different ones) shady organizations screwing over the world.

And if that wasn't enough, she was going to be surrounded by teenage geniuses. And witches. Oh God, witches. If Akako was a witch, it was entirely possible that there might even be a world of supernatural that she might have to deal with.

And because her father was Nakamori Ginzo, Aoko highly doubted she could convince her father to just quit his job and move to Australia or something. Japan wasn't safe, England wasn't safe, America wasn't safe...exactly how far did the reach of those shady organizations extend to?

"...ko-chan?"

Belatedly, Aoko realized that Yusaku and Ginzo were staring at her weirdly. She realized she must have looked way too contemplative for a two year old and immediately sent them a wobbly smile. "Sorry, what was that? Aoko kind of spaced out…" she mumbled, rubbing the back of her neck sheepishly.

"I was asking if you would like to come meet Shinichi sometime," Yusaku repeated patiently. "He doesn't have that many friends, but I think you two would get along well."

"Friends?" Aoko tilted her head curiously. "Aoko wants to be friends, but Yusaku-oji-san lives very far away, right? How can Aoko be friends with someone in Tōkyō?"

Yusaku looked like he hadn't thought of that. Inwardly, she deadpanned. This person was the great Kudo Shinichi's father? She knew that he was smart: the series had shown such, but from what Aoko could tell, he was just a dork. With a heart of gold, but still a dork. "...you can exchange letters?"

He was assuming that she could write at her age. Luckily enough, she could, but even so, Aoko allowed for herself to stare incredulously at the man for a moment. It looked like he wanted to squirm under the little girl's gaze, but nonetheless, he stood firm. "Okay," she deadpanned.

"...ah, really?" Yusaku looked relieved, and idly Aoko wondered if Shinichi was really that unsociable of a child. "That's great. Shinichi only has some of his soccer friends, but when it comes to his other interests, there's not many who he can talk to." Translation: rather than Professor Agasa and his parents, Shinichi was a complete loner when it came to his nerdy tendencies.

Aoko nodded, absentmindedly wondering if Shinichi had met Ran, yet.

And that was how Aoko made her first 'friend'.


Haikei, Nakamori Aoko-san,

How is the weather? It's hot over here. Kaa-chan told me that people should always talk about the weather before saying anything else, but that sounds so boring. Tou-chan told me that you like mystery novels too. Do you like Sherlock Holmes? He's my favorite. I want to be like him someday (but don't tell tou-chan that, because I tell tou-chan that I want to be like him).

Your friend/penpal/fellow-mystery-lover,

Shinichi :)


Aoko couldn't help but stifle a giggle at the letter's contents. Although the kanji were all written painstakingly neat, the paper had been worn thin by eraser marks. She could even make out lightly sketched in lines, probably from Shinichi's mother, that were probably there to keep his sentences straight. The letter was amusingly blunt, and Aoko had to remind herself that despite everything, Shinichi was a toddler like her. It was impressive that he could write any kanji at this age.

(Although she had to admit she was extremely amused when she realized that Shinichi had attempted several times to close the letter with 'keigu', the traditional closing that paired with 'haikei', but ultimately gave up and crossed it out. The characters for it were rather difficult, she supposed.)

"Tou-chan, can Aoko go to the store to buy stationery?" She called.

"Not by yourself!" Her father called from upstairs.

Aoko scowled. Most Japanese were completely fine with letting their kids have more freedom. Neighborhoods were relatively safe, and so it wasn't uncommon to send children out to the stores to grab stuff. Unfortunately for her, Ginzo had to be the one exception to this rule. Even though he wasn't home often because he was trying to catch Kaito Kid, he was still fiercely overprotective of her.

She'd have to sneak out after he left for work, she supposed.


Haikei, Kudo Shinichi-san,

It's been raining here for the past few days. The rain was nice at first, but now it's kind of annoying. Yes, I do like Sherlock Holmes. Although I'm no Holmes, I'd say I could do well as a Watson. I give you permission to omit the weather greetings from now on. ;) What are your hobbies?

Your friend (feel free to use this word from now on: that's what we're going to be, right?),

Aoko


She woke up with a gasp. It was the middle of the night, and slowly her eyes adjusted to the darkness. Her heart was thumping loudly in her chest, and she squeezed her eyes shut, trying to get the whispers to go away. Her hands were gripping onto the covers of her bed tightly, creating slight creases in the fabric as she steadied her breathing. In, out. In, out.

Slowly, she lowered her head back onto the pillow and shut her eyes, willing herself to go to sleep. The whispers were still there.

(She wasn't Aoko, she didn't deserve to be here. She didn't deserve a second chance. Why was she here? Why did nobody notice? She wasn't Aoko, she wasn't, but every time somebody looked at her they only saw 'Aoko'. She wasn't Aoko, she was an imposter, and the GuIlT wAs SwAlLoWiNg HeR wHoLe-)


A/N: And that's a wrap! This will be a much more short, sort of drabble-ish story. :D There'll be itsy bits of Aoko's previous life's past in the beginning of the chapter. You'll be able to put things together pretty quickly.

Thank you so much for reading! And, if you have time, please do drop a review and tell me what you think. Feedback is always appreciated. ^^