Chapter 2: Cheating

For once, Kaito was in no way involved in the classroom mayhem. Today, it was Koizumi. That morning she'd stepped into the classroom and freaked out, yelling about "low level demon scum" and "stinking miasma!" Her headdress jangled as she chanted in some long lost tongue and waved a bundle of burning sage that choked the air with incense. Anyone even slightly inclined to liking women was wandering around the classroom trying to be helpful in some way. Even Aoko was laying pieces of paper with "Evil be gone!" scrawled on them on the windowsills.

Kaito ignored it all, opting instead to skim the titles of articles on his phone. He was trying to research Conan's illness. Immunodeficiency was usually a symptom of something else, he found. There was a surprising number of conditions that could cause a temporary weakening of one's immune-system. He was immersed in an article describing how HIV worked when someone waved their big, annoying hand in his face.

"Buzz off, Hakuba," he muttered.

"I'm curious," Hakuba said, sitting down at Aoko's desk, beside him. "Why have you been researching AIDS all morning? Usually I see you checking the news for articles about Kaitou KID."

Kaito closed his phone, and turned to face Hakuba. He was still undecided between flipping the chair and making the prick fall on his ass, or asking him for help.

Seeing his hesitation, Hakuba said, "I heard from Keiko that you've been performing for long-term patients at the Haido hospital. Did something happen?" His expression was uncharacteristically gentle. "A much better use of your talents, in my opinion," he added, under his breath.

Kaito sighed and set down his cellphone. "There's this little kid I met yesterday. He's really smart, someone who should have a bright future. But..." he trailed off, his anger choking him.

"I can fill in the gaps," Hakuba almost sounded sympathetic. His usual smirk was nowhere to be found. "That's horrible. At least you're doing something to help make whatever time he has left more enjoyable, right? Why don't you focus on that?"

Perhaps Hakuba was putting in an effort to not be an asshole for once. Or it was part of a long-con. But for this, what would the harm be?

"It's not that so much. I knew that going in. It's just that," he bit his lip. "It's like everyone's trying to forget him. He doesn't get visitors anymore. I didn't see any get-well presents or cards. He's really lonely, angry, and vindictive. He spent most of the time I was there teasing me for not being as smart as he was."

Conan's riddle surfaced in his memory. He'd never particularly felt he needed to know Conan's real identity, but now that he'd been commanded to figure it out, he might as well probe Hakuba's brain. "By the way, he gave me a mystery that I've been trying to figure out, but I'm not a detective."

Hakuba laughed. "You want to cheat so you can beat the kid?"

"It's not cheating," he grumbled, "it's just using all of the resources at one's disposal."

Hakuba waved Kaito on, flicking his fingers as though he was turning the page of a book. His eyes narrowed, eager to see what puzzle could trip up the great Kaitou KID.

"There's a detective who looks like he could be my twin, who is the son of an actress, and probably has been missing for a while."

Hakuba barely took a moment to think about it. "You mean Shinichi Kudou? What about him?"

Kaito blinked. "How did you figure that out so fast?"

He shrugged. "It's easy if you're already familiar with the case. I poked around it when I was invited to take his place at a detective-tournament. That was almost a year ago, and he'd been missing since before that. I hit a wall in the investigation as soon as I started asking questions. There isn't even an official missing person's report filed, and my dad got a call from some FBI agent threatening me with official obstruction charges if I kept poking around. So, what was the kid's mystery?" He leaned on his elbow, watching Kaito carefully.

"Wait, how old is Shinichi Kudou? I thought he was our age," Kaito flipped open his smartphone again, to type in the name.

"He is," Hakuba confirmed before Kaito could finish typing. "He was even on my list of Kaito KID suspects before I honed in on you."

The pieces slid into place. He'd been poisoned a year ago by some kind of crime syndicate. He was freaky smart for a kid. He was willing to try potentially life-threatening antidotes to reverse it. Conan Edogawa and Shinichi Kudou were the same person. That meant there was something that could turn a teenager into a small child. Immortality from a gem stone was suddenly less implausible. He could feel the blood draining from his face. At some point he must've stopped breathing, because he was getting light-headed.

Hakuba's voice called him back to reality. "Hey! HEY!" He shook Kaito's shoulder. "What's wrong? Are you feeling ill? Is the sage smoke bothering you?"

He reached up to feel his own forehead, but noticed that his hand was shaking, and put it back down, clenched. "No, I just figured it all out. Come with me to the roof, and I'll tell you about it."

They left the classroom, stepping around Akako and her zombie-slave-boys who were stapling sage branches around the doorway.

As Kaito wobbled down the hallway, half towed by Hakuba, more pieces fell together. That bastard already knew his identity, and therefore likely knew Hakuba was his classmate. Conan knew he was probably going to die. He didn't want the people who murdered him to get away with it. He'd just asked Kaito and Hakuba to avenge his murder.

"That bastard," Kaito muttered. "I can't believe I just walked right into that."

"At some point you're going to have to explain what's going on," Hakuba said, leaning Kaito against the wall while he opened the door. "Great," he said after scanning the roof. "No one's here."

"Good," Kaito answered. "Before I explain anything, I have a question. Do you remember Conan Edogawa?" he plopped himself down on the roof.

Hakuba sat down beside him, not letting his eyes leave Kaito for a second. "Is he the kid you were talking about?"

He nodded.

"Of course I do. He's an unnerving child, isn't he? From what I've been able to find out," he closed his eyes, like he was reading a file behind his eyelids. "He's living under an alias. He doesn't have proper paperwork filed, and I couldn't find birth records. He's extremely manipulative and intelligent, and he's attention starved, likely neglected before he left home. It'd explain why he seems to prefer living with Kogorou's abuse instead of finding a more suitable home – he couldn't poke around investigations and play detective otherwise."

"There's nothing play-like about what that sadistic bastard does. Do you know how he likes to deal with Kaitou KID? Not by catching him, by putting him in the hospital. I can't believe I just felt empathy for that psycho!"

Hakuba's eyebrows arched. He seemed genuinely concerned – none of his tells were showing. "He's put you in the hospital?"

Kaito ignored that insinuation. "He just manipulated me into asking you to look into a case for him."

"Let me guess, Shinichi Kudou's case?"

"Yeah," Kaito grit his teeth. "He put me smack in the middle of it, without me even knowing what the fuck was happening."

"Well then," the detective sighed, "I guess I have no choice. I'll have to take the case."

"Are you serious?" Kaito almost yelled, but remembered to tone his voice down at the last second, nervously glancing at the door. "You haven't seen what the people who did it are like. They blew up the luggage car of the Bell-Tree Express, just so they could murder one of their ex-agents!"

"And Conan's been facing these monsters all by himself?" Hakuba's jaw was set, and his usually gentle brown eyes were as sharp as blades. He could feel them dissecting him for answers.

"They'll probably kill us. If they can do that to Shinichi freaking Kudou... I don't know how we could stand a chance." He leaned back onto the chain-link fence, gazing up at the sky. "He's asking us to go on a suicide mission to avenge his murder, Hakuba. Hell, I'll probably be on the top of their hit list when they figure out..." he stopped, more pieces falling into place. "The creepy girl! Her too? I knew I recognized that voice!"

Hakuba crossed his arms. "I assume that at some point you're going to let me join this conversation you're having with yourself."

"Sorry," Kaito mumbled. "I don't really like being manipulated like this."

His adversary snickered at his hypocrisy. "If I understand this right – Shinichi Kudou was murdered, and Conan Edogawa, who's been working the case for the past year, is dying, possibly at the hands of the same people. He wants us to take up the case." He subconsciously rubbed his cheek, reddening it. "If he's passing his legacy onto us, that's quite the compliment, wouldn't you say?"

Kaito frowned. "He has a weird way of showing it."

The chimes rang, announcing the beginning of the next period.

"Well, as a detective," Hakuba said, standing up. "I'm eager to find the answer to the mystery of Shinichi Kudou's disappearance. I'll join you after school." He glanced down at Kaito, who still wasn't moving. "I've never known Kaitou KID to back down from a challenge." The corners of his lips growing heavy, he turned towards the door. "It's time for class, are you coming?"

Kaito sighed, then plastered his poker-face on securely. Time to face that sickening wall of "purifying" sage smoke and pretend it wasn't bothering him to Koizumi's zombie army.


Author's note: I'm moving to a new home, so there will be a few weeks delay in new chapters after this. See you on the other side!