It was stupid. It could probably register as one of the most pointless cases he'd ever deal with- aside from adultery cases- those were just... dumb. He stared at the girl that had come through the door to the agency with her best friend covered her left eye with the ice pack Mouri Ran had quickly produced from the freezer. Conan would question the possibility to put together an ice pack so fast if it weren't for the fact he knew Mouri residents kept several ice packs and had even converted to buying the cooling packs because of how many times the youngest resident came back with bruises and scrapes- and sometimes even burns.
He nearly grimaced as he could still remember a few weeks ago Ran had been cooking in the kitchen and he had gone to get dinner out of the oven for her but had completely forgotten to grab the hot pad to pull it out with. The change in temperature registered almost immediately and he he'd dropped the prepared food on the floor- cursing loudly at his burnt hand. Ran had reacted immediately and grabbed one of the icepacks, she handed it to him and sent him to the living room to wait while she cooked something else. For such a brilliant detective he sure had his moments of idiocy. Luckily, they were few and far between.
He returned his attention to the sobbing rich girl and the shiner she'd somehow acquired in the past few hours while he was busy chasing Kaitou Kid through a thirty story building to a playground near the outskirts of the main district where he'd abruptly disappeared and had successfully thrown Conan off his tail- as per fucking usual. Somewhere during that time Suzuki Sonoko had managed to get a black eye and now he wanted to know how.
"Ran-neechan..." He started. Ran turned to face her young charge with a look of weariness as she was obviously tired, had Ran beaten up whoever had hit Sonoko? Or had it been an accident? "How did Sonoko-neechan get hurt?" Ran smiled somewhat sadly and shrugged her shoulders.
"I Don't know Conan-kun, I left to go to the bathroom and she came to find me after it happened."
"That little brat hit me! That's what happened!" Sonoko wailed, looking at Conan. "I want you to find out who she was so Ran can teach her a lesson!" So a girl had punched Sonoko in the face... somehow it wasn't as amusing as he thought it would be... maybe because deep down Shinichi also considered her a friend? Ugh. What was happening to him?
"But... Sonoko-neechan..." He started, looking at her with large innocent eyes. Sonoko kept the ice in place as she pointed a finger at Conan.
"You're a detective in training aren't you, chibi-san? I'm sure you could handle this!"
"Sonoko! Even if Conan-kun agreed to help we don't know anything about her." Ran pointed out for Conan. He nodded and Sonoko sat back in her chair to think it over. Shinichi could tell from the state of things and what he'd heard so far that another girl was the culprit, maybe a bit younger then Sonoko, and someone she didn't even know... also, judging from the look of that eye this girl sported a bit of strength.
"She looked like... Ran... a little bit... except she was shorter and younger... fourteen of fifteen... and she was completely against Kido-sama." Shinichi blinked. If she was against the thief why would she bother going to a heist? Unless she was protesting but odds were that she was the only one protesting... so that must have meant she was rather outgoing... and either very brave or extraordinarily stupid to risk getting jumped at a Kid heist. ...this was stupid. What did he care who had punched Sonoko in the face? She probably had it coming.... Oh well, he was getting bored.
"Okay, Sonoko-neechan! I'll find the girl who did it!" He chirped excitedly. Ran smiled at him and then turned to Sonoko.
"If she's younger then us I can't use my karate... but we can both go and scold her harshly." She promised. Sonoko nodded through tears and kept the ice on her face. Shinichi slid out of his seat and grabbed his skateboard before moving out the door and back to the heist location.
oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo
He was not a detective. The detective he knew had better have a damn good excuse for not being around when he was actually needed. He mumbled something about useless half-brits and continued to move smoothly through the streets and back to the location of his latest heist. It was safe to assume the Task force had cleared out by then and he wouldn't look suspicious 'returning to the scene of the crime.'
He reached the museum and looked around the now empty parking lot aside from a few people hanging around talking to friends about 'what a cool heist that was.' He felt himself smirk and moved over to tap a girl on the shoulder. She was probably a university student- pierced ears, short dyed blond hair and round face. She was wearing some kind of dress and leggings... probably a dancer- judging on her small frame and- God damn it. It was contagious.
"Yes?" The woman turned to face the one who'd tapped her shoulder. Kaito smiled pleasantly at her and bowed slightly to show respect.
"Ah, sorry to bother you... I was just wondering if you've seen anything odd today? Apparently my friend got in a fight earlier and I was wanting to know who it was with." -So that he could find them and teach them a lesson Kuroba style.
"I didn't see any fights... but it was pretty crowded and too loud for me to hear anything like a fight." Kaito frowned slightly. He hadn't really expected to strike gold on the first try.
"Thanks anyway." He bowed again and looked around the parking lot. There had to be some kind of clue. He was going to find out who had, had the nerve to pull on Aoko's hair and they were going to learn their lesson. If he could only pinpoint where the fight had-Oh shit. He pulled his cap down lower over his eyes as the familiar form of Edogawa Conan came up to the parking lot on that skate-board of his... wait a minute, why was the detective here? Kaito watched him closely as he looked around the scene, bending down to inspect the cement and then moving over to the same college girl he'd earlier talked too.
Against his better judgment, Kaito moved closer to hear what the detective had to say to the university girl. He had good ears anyway, so he didn't have to get too close to the boy.
"One of my Neechan's got in a fight earlier today, I was wondering if you saw anything." Kaito felt himself freeze. He was asking the same thing he had just asked. So did that mean Aoko had gotten in a fight with someone the little detective knew? Aoko had clearly been the victor of her fight so it couldn't have been Ran that Aoko fought, besides, there was no reason those two would fight. Apart from that had it been Ran he was sure he'd have said 'my neechan' so was it that Kazuha girl the osakan detective hung around? No, they were both in Osaka and Aoko wouldn't win against Akkido. So that only left-... Oh good god. It was the Suzuki girl wasn't it?
"Oniisan." A small and very innocent voice caught his ears and he realized he hadn't gotten away fast enough and now Edogawa Conan was tugged gently on his jacket. He could do this. He could talk to the detective and keep his identity in check... so long as the brat didn't see his face.
"What is it?"
"Are you here by yourself?" Not the same question he'd asked the college girl. He was onto something. He forced himself to remain calm as he smiled gently down at the boy and hoped that his hat was low enough that he couldn't see his face.
"Yeah, actually I was just about to head home though." He offered. He could see the wheels in his mind turning before the small child smiled up at him. He was in trouble. Big trouble. Conan knew that he was investigating the fight too.
"Ne, that lady over there said you asked her about a fight earlier- do you know anything about the people involved?"
"Er... Yeah..." Kaito didn't bother trying to lie, after all, this little brat would probably see right through it. "It seems my friend got in a bit of a fight with another girl."
"Really? That's pretty strange, Sonoko-neechan got in a fight earlier... Is it possible that she got in a fight with your friend?" Kaito knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that the detective had already figured out that they were investigating the same fight and felt himself nod. He had to tread very carefully or else he'd find himself arrested very quickly.
"It's possible, unless there are two people attending Kid heists that hate Kid and got in a fight this evening."
"Yeah, I thought so too." He nodded, still looking up at the thief. "So, do you know anything about what happened?" The more information he fed to the detective the faster he would go away.
"Not too much actually, My friend said she hit this other girl because she was saying bad things about he Dad, anyone that knows Aoko would know that's just not a good idea." He shrugged, trying to make this as casual as possible. Conan took in the information and stayed silent a moment.
"What is Aoko-san's dad's profession?"
"...He's actually the head of the Kid task force, Nakamori Ginzo." he supplied, figuring that he shouldn't assume Conan knew the inspector. Kudo blinked- obviously, he found that news just as bad as Kaito himself did.
"...Sonoko-neechan is kid fangirl and Aoko-san is anti-kid... I think I know what happened." He stated, no longer sounding like a child but more like the scene was playing his his head as it was in Kaito's own head.
"...Yeah, me too." He winced. "However, this Sonoko-san pulled my friend's hair and I think she should apologize."
"I think they both should apologize." Conan deadpanned. He probably had a point. "Well, I should get back to Beika, see you later!" He said cheerily and then his tone changed to the same one he usually heard from the boy. "Kaitou Kido-san."
Kaito pulled the hat down lower but Conan was already skating away back to the agency. Well... as least he hadn't seen his face... but didn't that mean that now Conan knew Kaitou Kid was friends with Nakamori Aoko? Which would lead him to Kuroba Kaito? Shit. He was screwed.