On the forth day of Christmas my true love sent to me

Disclaimer: Works of Meitantei Conan and Magic Kaito belong to Gosho Aoyama-sensei. Lyrics were taken from the 1909 Austin version.

A/N: Urg...I sound so inconsistent now. Last time was long, now short. And those kaomoji takes so much time to get right in , sigh they don't allow certain characters. (if you don't know what kaomoji was before, you'd know by the end of this chapter cuz I'm sure you'll google it)

^o^

4 Calling Birds

Shinichi, unfortunately, was not able to escape from his friends for the full duration of the gala. They teased him incessantly as he continuously tried to spot that unruly mop of hair in the crowd. Though with the number of interested guests in the performers, it was difficult to approach them. Not that it was any easier for Shinichi himself as he too was also continuously being crowded by individuals all trying to talk to the detective. It was another reason why he goes out of his way to avoid such social gatherings.

On his way back to the mansion with the two Osakan riding with him in the taxi, his phone vibrated in his pocket signalling a message.

I didn't expect to see you there tonight.-KK

Shinichi couldn't help but allow his mouth to twitch upwards. Carefully, he looked at the rear view mirror to see whether the nosy detective caught his reaction. To his chagrin, he did, and had this knowing look on his face which was annoying Shinichi to no end. If the Osakan girl was awake, Shinichi would have said something, but he did not have the heart to wake the poor girl up, after all it was way past midnight and they had a long day filled with travelling and girl-talk. Instead he settled for a smirk as his eyes roamed between the dark detective and his girl who had taken to leaning deeply into said detective's shoulders, almost cuddling by the looks of the hands around his waist. Hattori scowled and shooed him back to face the front and to mind his own business.

Chuckling lightly at the still embarrassed Osakan detective, Shinichi opened up the reply to the message.

I wouldn't have expected you there either. I hadn't really thought you were an actual magician.-KS

His phone vibrated a few minutes after but they had arrived back at the mansion and Shinichi was busy with paying for their ride and helping Hattori with settling them into two guest bedrooms. It wasn't until Shinichi had changed out of his clothes, took a nice relaxing shower, and settled down with a cup of warm tea, when he finally had the chance to read the message.

How mean of you Meitantei, and you proclaim yourself as a detective for justice. You should have known the truth just by my name alone.

o(╥﹏╥)-KK

Shinichi nearly laughed out loud at the kaomoji. He had somehow expected the magician to use such girlish symbols just to show his feelings. Glancing at the clock, it was way past any decent time for polite conversation and he wasn't sure whether the other boy would still be awake.

"Oh well, if anything, he'll receive the message in the morning."

I hadn't really made the connection. Who would have thought your family name is the same as that famous magician Kuroba Toichi. I went to one of his shows when I was young, I think that was in Las Vagas.-KS

Shinichi's finger hovered over the send button, he wasn't sure if bringing up the boy's dead father was a good thing in the message. But if it were him, he would want to hear someone appreciating his father's work. Without hesitation, Shinichi pressed send and replaced the phone on his bedside table before snuggling deep into the mattress for some well deserved sleep.

The first thing Shinichi did when he woke up was to check his phone. Sure enough, there was a message already. He briefly wondered whether the other any needed sleep seeing as it was only 9:30am.

Yea, dad performed all over the world. His shows were great. He taught me a lot back then. He would have loved to know he had a detective for a fan. I know I would.-KK

The message brought up the memory of KID confronted by Conan. Because of the thief's words, Shinichi had actually believed magicians have an inherent dislike for detectives because of that encounter.

I heard detectives were merely critics chasing after the artist, they are no better than the bloodhounds they are portrayed to be, no sense of imagination and always destroys the wonder in the craft.-KS

Halfway through his third cup of coffee, grateful that the two Osakan had left after breakfast, his phone vibrated again. Reaching across the table without looking, he saw the message light blinking, and he put down the newspaper he had been reading.

Ah, but without critics, us magicians will never hone our skills to master the tricks in order to create wonder for our fans. Critics are important, and dare I say essential, to us performers. We better ourselves so our magic would not be broken.-KK

"He's sure optimistic." Shinichi let himself smile softly, "I wonder if all magicians think like that or if it's just him." The particular magician he had in mind was the one and only elusive KID, as he never considered the man as anything else but a magician. He might call himself a phantom thief but he never really stole anything. For Shinichi, KID's heist were more like shows than actual thievery.

Do all magicians think like you do or are you an exception?-KS

He waited with baited breath as he stared at the screen. Not a moment too soon came the reply.

I'm one of a kind.（｡^‿‿^｡ ）-KK