Title: Heat-Haze Days
Summary: -The story that will overwhelm your eyes.- "When you talk about summer, this is a pretty common cliché. 'That's why I hate summer.'"
A/N: Everyone probably knows this already but this is based on a Vocaloid song titled, you guessed it, "Kagerou Days" (Translated into 'Heat-Haze Days'). If you haven't listened to it, I suggest that you do so. Translated lyrics are in italics.
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On August 15th, around 12:30 in the afternoon, the weather was incredibly nice.
Today was a throw-away day; Shinichi could feel it.
There was absolutely nothing to do. There was no school, it being a Saturday and the whole summer holiday and all. There were no mystery cases – at least he hasn't been contacted by Megure-keibu all day, (but he kept his phone in his hand, just in case he did) and Ran was busy with karate stuff and Shinichi didn't want to be dragged into it.
There was nothing particularly spectacular about today, except maybe the weather.
So he decided, instead of just wasting away at home, he'd take advantage of the only positive aspect of today and found himself sitting on the swings in the park, looking down at the sand by his feet before looking up at the bright dazzling rays of the sun, raising up his hand to block it from his eyes. While his hand was in the line of his sight, he decided to check the time as well, and found it to be 12:28 on this wonderful, boring August 15th.
He continued to look up, waiting for one of the sparse white, puffy clouds to protect him from the light, if only for a few moments. After it came, he began leaning back on the rubber seat while keeping his feet rooted to the sand below him. The chains of the swing creaked, and Shinichi sighed and turned to the other swing seat next to him, which was currently occupied.
And, amidst the sickening rays of the dazzling sun, I spoke with you, for I had nothing else to do.
"Nice day today, isn't it?" Shinichi began, smiling slightly as he got a good look at the one beside him, before widening his eyes and smile fell into a frown.
"Well, y'know, I kind of hate summer," you boldly murmured while petting a cat.
Next to him sat another boy, looking almost completely identical to him except for his hair, which was much messier than his own. Shinichi could only stare, caught breathless from finding someone to look so similar, especially a stranger. The other boy widened his eyes first, surprised at being addressed. He looked back down to the single clover in his hand, smiling softly as he raised the small, leaved plant to his eyes.
To answer his question, the boy murmured, "Well, y'know, I kind of hate summer."
Shinichi looked up to him, confused. No student hated summer – well, except the ones who couldn't live without school. Heck, even if Shinichi loved summer – he doesn't mind taking a break from learning for a few weeks.
But Shinichi didn't question it. The one beside him, after all, was a complete stranger to him. Even if they did look so alike. So he simply replied, "Is that so?" before looking back down to his own feet, kicking the sand slightly.
"Mhm, but it is a nice day," the boy confirmed, releasing his hand from the swing chains and brought it to his lap, to cradle the clover close to his person. "I'm Kaito, by the way. Kuroba Kaito."
"Kudo Shinichi," Shinichi replied, knowing that it would be rude to not offer his own name now that he knew the other's.
Kaito laughed softly. "Ah yes, I've heard of you, Tantei-kun. You're very talented, helping out the police when they are lost on what to do."
Shinichi fought back a smirk. "Why thank you." He had to think for a moment. "Unfortunately, all I can recall about the surname 'Kuroba' would be a magician. Kuroba Toichi?"
Kaito looked to him, a small smile on his face. "You've heard of my father."
Shinichi smiled, remembering his first ever magic show from that particular magician. "You wouldn't have been happening to be following in his footsteps?"
At that, Kaito deflated a little, still smiling but just barely. "I suppose you could say that, but not anymore." He stood up from his seat and looked up to the sky. "Such a nice day…"
Shinichi frowned. "Leaving so soon?"
Kaito looked back down to him and smiled. "You're free to tag along if you so desire." He began to step out of the sand box and Shinichi followed suit, having nothing else to do.
And as they began to walk away and exit the park, a single breeze was somehow strong enough to blow the clover from Kaito's fingers and it flew into the air. Kaito's eyes followed it and quickly dashed forward to catch it, not realizing that he was about to dash out into the street.
Ah, you pursued that cat as it ran away from you. And what jumped out -
Shinichi realized what was about to happen and reached out, breaking off into a mad dash to reach Kaito before it was too late.
- was the traffic light that changed to a glaring red.
But something tugged onto Shinichi's shirt, and he couldn't move past the sidewalk and into the walkway, and had a full view of the scene that was about to unfold. His eyes grew wide and he couldn't move fast enough to close his mouth.
Suddenly, a truck came out of nowhere and struck you as you screamed.
Shinichi's eyes caught everything, but it took a few moments before his mind processed what just happened, before his ears registered the various sounds: the screeching, the sound of metal colliding with something, and screaming.
But whether it was his own or the person he just met, Kaito's, was something that was lost on him.
Your scent, now mingled with sprayed blood, choked me.
Something caught in Shinichi's throat, and he trembled, covering his mouth, which had some traces of fresh blood since his reaction was not fast enough. He has seen death before, but for it to be presented to him so bluntly… His eyes blurred and felt wet before he had to close them, to try and erase the mental image of the mangled body surrounded by the pool of red that was slowly getting larger and larger with each passing second, the same shade of red that was everywhere else: on the front of the truck, on the various traffic signs and poles, on his shirt, shorts, legs and even some on his face.
In the haze of lies, the haze of heat laughed, "This is all real!"
The yelling now muted to his ears, if it was still continuing, was interrupted by a crude laugh.
Shinichi forced himself to look up, opening his eyes to find the source and saw the sight of himself, but much, much younger and with glasses, to be the source, hands in his pockets and looking bemused at the situation.
"This is all real!" Shinichi's younger counterpart exclaimed, smiling widely as Shinichi looked at him, from across the scene of death, mouth agape and eyes wide in horror.
The younger counter part held up his hand as if to wave and said something else, but by then Shinichi's hearing has left him completely and everything faded to black.
With that, like a cricket's sound being disturbed, the light blue of summer darkened away.
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Tick, tock. Tick, tock.
I woke up upon my bed to the sound of a ticking clock. What time is it now?
The next thing that came to Shinichi was that he was lying down in his bed, head on top of his pillow and just barely covered by the light blanket.
Shinichi jolted awake, caught in a daze as he stared up at his white ceiling, and he faintly heard himself murmuring, "What time is it?" Finding his phone to be in his hand, he checked for the time as well as the date.
It was August 14th, 12:04 – just barely missed the morning and was now in the afternoon. Focusing out the window past his phone, he looked up at the sky.
The weather was incredibly nice.
On August 14th, sometime past 12 in the morning, I recalled the sound of an awfully annoying cricket.
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But, y'know, it's a little strange. Yesterday, in a dream, I saw us walking in this same exact park.
"Ah yes, I've heard of you, Tantei-kun. You're very talented, helping out the police when they are lost on what to do."
Shinichi snapped back to attention as he put back his focus on – if his dream were to be correct – the one called Kuroba Kaito, sitting beside him on the same swing set that the two were on before.
He found himself wanting to pinched, to make sure that this was not real and just a dream. Or perhaps the whole incident with the truck was just a dream in itself.
But Shinichi caught himself feeling déjà vu, just as the clover flew out of Kaito's hand and into the free air, and Shinichi tensed as flashes of the scene that he had hoped would be gone from his mind – blood, arms twisted into unnatural positions, blood, the shards of glass, blood – ran through his eyes and he grabbed Kaito's wrist – knowing that this moment was the moment that decided everything.
Kaito looked back at him confused, but said nothing and instead looked to Shinichi for an answer.
"Why don't we go home now?"
"Why don't we go home now?" Shinichi tried to make it sound casual, tried as much as he could to keep the pleading out of his voice.
Not even waiting for an answer, Shinichi released the other's wrist and led Kaito away – away from the street and where the clover was being carried by the wind, and went towards the opposite direction. While Kaito didn't audibly agree to go home, he hadn't stopped following Shinichi, which was faintly tagging in the back of his mind – but he was too busying thinking of how to go home, how to prevent that awful event from taking place.
Because that's why he went back in time, right? To prevent that horrible accident and the unnecessary death of Kuroba Kaito?
The second you stepped off the pathway, everyone surrounding us turned their heads up to the sky and opened their mouths.
He was so sure that Kaito was right behind him, so deep in his thoughts, but the loud gasps from bystanders and their points up high to the top of the building that they were walking beside caught him off-guard. He looked up to see what all the fuss was about but felt himself be pushed aside as Kaito moved forward and shoved Shinichi back.
Shinichi's breath hitched as he widened his eyes.
From the sky, down dropped an iron pole that pierced your body straight through.
He barely heard a sharp gasp and screeches of pain as the silver, now partially red, rod stabbed Kaito through the chest, staining his shirt with his own blood. The heavy iron pole tugged Kaito down to the sidewalk, and Shinichi could only stand there, frozen in his tracks. When the sound of the metal collided with the concrete, it brought him back and he jerked, ignoring the various screams from the other people and even from himself.
The sound of wind chimes and your ripping screams filled the spaces between the park trees.
Shinichi reached out, even though deep in his mind he knew that he was already too late, and he passed by his younger self again, still smiling and still keeping his hands in his pockets. Shinichi found himself stepping back and felt a hand push him backwards and into a falling sequence with his younger self in front of him, still smiling.
In this unnatural scene, the shimmering heat laughed, "This is the real thing!"
"This is the real thing!" he said, smiling widely and Shinichi had to look away. He couldn't face that cruel figure in front of him, and somehow his eyes caught sight of Kaito on the sidewalk, and didn't know if his eyes were playing a trick on him as he thought he saw Kaito smiling and mouthing some words that Shinichi couldn't read before everything faded to black once again.
As my vision blurred away, I glanced at your profile, and thought I saw you smiling
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Shinichi's eyes opened once more, and considering how eerily similar everything was didn't even bother checking the time. He ran out the door and to the park, where he found Kaito sitting by the same swing in the same swing set as before. Shinichi just grabbed his hand and led him away, causing for the other brunet to leave his clover in the wind. Shinichi refused to let go of Kaito, his mind racing to think of anywhere they could go, anywhere where it wouldn't lead to Kaito's death.
Kaito didn't even open a word of protest, which helped some because Shinichi didn't even bother to explain himself as he led him up a flight of stairs, to the bridge to cross the street. Just as Shinichi reached the top, he caught sight of the young, always smiling and nonchalant familiar of when he was younger leaning on the railing in the middle of bridge, causing for Shinichi to recoil at the sight of him and accidentally letting go of Kaito's hand in the process.
Causing for Kaito to fall down the flight of stairs.
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Countless times have had me black out in the laughing heat like this.
This cycle has repeated for decades. I'd realized that a long time ago.
Shinichi couldn't think of what to do. He has seen Kaito's death too many times he'd lost count. Everything he could think of, anything that he could possibly do, always – eventually – led to Kaito's imminent demise on that dreaded summer day.
In this kind of clichéd story, there must only be one ending.
Beyond this repeating summer day, it has to exist.
Then he realized what he'd have to do. He didn't think of it – just accepted it to be his only solution.
This time, he'll be able to move.
Just as the truck was about to slam into Kaito – as it has done so often before – this time Shinichi pushed him aside and took his place. He ignored Kaito's own look of shock and surprise and just before it made impact managed to smile to him.
Shinichi managed to say, "Now you are finally free from this cycle," to be his final parting words to Kaito, and wondered if he could hear him.
Suddenly, I pushed you aside and jumped into the street; at that moment, the truck slammed into me.
Shinichi wondered if death by vehicle collision was supposed to be this painless. It certainly didn't look so with all the blood that splattered everywhere and the way his eyesight was mangled told him that the truck managed to contort his body.
He caught sight of the tears that came to Kaito's eyes and wished that he could wipe it away, that he could tell him not to cry, when he remembered that he couldn't exactly move properly at that moment.
Your eyes and my twisted body were like hazy reflections of the blood that sprayed everywhere.
Shinichi managed to turn and caught sight of that wretched younger version of himself, who looked just as shocked as Kaito was.
If that praiseful heat haze laughed, "Serves you right!" again,
Shinichi didn't expect to find that shocked expression on that face however. Or those tears streaming down his familiar's face either.
then this would be what you'd call a normal summer day.
Shinichi looked back to Kaito, who had covered his mouth with his hands as a reaction to his own death, when he caught sight of someone looking exactly like Kaito, except wearing a white top hat and monocle, look up to him with a sad look in his eye.
Shinichi was able to finally click everything together and his eyes widened in horror. But then everything faded to black – hopefully for the last time.
But all of that ended today.
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Kaito sat up in his bed, twirling that clover in his hand before looking out the open window by his bed. He let tears stream down his cheeks as he murmured, "I failed this time too…" biting his lip hard enough to draw blood and tried his hardest to ignore his familiar trying to take his hand.
On August 14th, a girl awoke upon her bed and she said, "I failed this time, too…" as she cradled a single cat.