It had been a week of living with the Kudos and Kaito's room was beginning to be pulled full of all the new clothes Yukiko had brought him. They were fairly expensive clothes too; Kaito should have expected an ex-actor and best selling novelist to be wealthy.

It was his first day at his new school so after quickly slipping on jeans and a t-shirt Kaito grabbed his old, scratched up, bright red rucksack filled with brand new school books.

He had considered putting another layer of clothes under his current ones so he could troll Shinchi by changing his outfit so they both matched. He'd already seen what the boy was wearing and (probably due to Yukiko thinking that it'd be cute) had exactly matching clothes in his draw.

However, he thought better of of it. While Shinichi's reaction was something he wanted to see, it was currently awkward between the pair and Kaito didn't want to make it worse. After all he was to blame. He'd been to full on and pilled all his problems on his new brother. Shinichi wouldn't be able to change anything, so why had Kaito burdened him with all his troubles?

When Kaito got downstairs Shinichi was already eating, slowly and carefully chewing his breakfast; Yukiko smiled and offered him a seat; Yusaku was busy, absorbed in a newspaper article about a serial killer hiding out in Beika.

Steam rose from the rice Kaito mowed down his throat and, he nearly burnt his tongue on the fish. In the end he managed to finish before Shinichi despite starting later and felt the warmth from his food fade as he shuffled cards between his hands, while he waited for Shinichi.

With his bag on his back and Shinichi beside him Kaito walked, thoughts of nervousness and grief clouding his mind.

A girl's voice pulled him out of his thoughts. "Shinichi! You're late!"

The girl, around their age, stood at the bottom of a staircase. The staircase, on the right of a cafe, seemed to lead to, of all things, a detective agency.

"Ran." Shinichi replied; Kaito saw the expression painted on the girl's face change from one of annoyance to one of amusement.

With a spring in her step, Ran made her way over, "Make sure you're on time tomo-"

Having seen Kaito she paused, before asking, "Who's this?"

On the spur of the moment Kaito knelt down on one knee and, from thin air, presented her with a rose. "Kuroba Kaito at your service."

Before Ran could answer, a very red faced Shinichi grabbed the rose out of his hand. "Kuroba this is Mori Ran; Ran, this is Kuroba Kaito, my parents have adopted him."

Well he knew who Shinichi had a crush on.

Mori pouted. "Shinichi. You should call him by his given name," She paused, collected her thoughts, "If you can do it for me you shouldn't have any problem with him, he's your brother now, isn't he?"

Together they walked the rest of the distance to the school. Kaito liked Mouri, she was a bright bubbly young girl who acted completely naturally, even when faced with a relative stranger. She told them about her plots to get her parents back together, as they; she asked Kaito questions, but never those which cut too deep; and she whispered in his ear that he'd better look after Shinichi because 'he could be a bit of an idiot sometimes'.

Transferring wasn't something Kaito had done before, but he had to admit he liked the attention. It was an instant crowd, everyone wanted to get to know him, so he could show off all his magic tricks.

Like always, he managed to impress the spectators and he very quickly gained a small crowd round his desk.

Making things disappear, reappear, putting 'hi' inside all the students work books, card tricks, swapping students shoes, fire breathing, Kaito did it all. The class loved it, the teacher too, but maybe exhaling fire 5 feet across the classroom was going a bit too far.

At least the fire alarm seemed to be triggered by smoke, not flames.

Kaito didn't mind standing in the corridor. Sure, it was boring but the class he would be sitting though wouldn't be much better and he had a lot on his mind.

It was deep in his thoughts that Kaito realised why he seemed to get along with Mouri so well. She was like Akoko.

Sure, Aoko could be a bit more violent and childish, but Ran still remained Kaito of her. They both had the same traits of kindheartedness and stubbornness; even looked the same.

Kaito missed Aoko. He wanted to see her again, wanted her to attack him with her mop; wanted to see his school again, to impress his friends rather then strangers with his magic; and most of all he wanted the impossible, he wanted to see his parents again.

For the first time since he arrived, Kaito missed home.