Part Four
Pros.
Ever since a certain organization gave a certain poison made by a certain scientist to a certain Kudo Shinichi who was by all accounts certain to die from said certain poison, well, a certain Edogawa Conan tried to find the pros in his new... situation.
Over time (much, much, much time) Conan had come to realize that there were certain advantages to having a child's body. The biggest pro was simply the fact that adults didn't notice him. As long as he was quiet and unassuming, he could wander about almost wherever he wanted and solve mysteries. He had also come to learn that his level of height was quite advantageous. Whenever hiding things, adults instinctively put things out of the line of sight - stores put the most expensive items right at the line of sight of adults, because that's where people tended to look. When solving a mystery, Conan's height often put him at an eye level where he could see things that others couldn't. He'd also - once he finally got the hang of it - found manipulating adults almost easy. Leading questions, wide eyes, polite tones and a bright smile had gotten him through many a murder, simply because the appearance of a child not only made him invisible but consistently underestimated. Something a certain organization would certainly regret some day.
But, as yet another teenager or parent or adult pushed and bumped and otherwise bowled him over, he decided that the pros of being shrunken were decidedly not worth it.
He and Ran were in line at a concession stand, said line expanding easily twenty meters - them at the very back of course, waiting to be served.
"Ran, I don't supposed you could use your karate skills to make things go faster, could you?" he asked, swiveling his head up and leveling a flat glare at the love of his life - a glare that flattened even further when she saw her far too amused smile plastered on her face.
"Conan-kun," she said brightly, bending over, "do you want to ride on my shoulder?"
Conan snorted. "You're no help at all," he retorted, turning away to hide his blush at the idea of being on her shoulders. How embarrassing!!
A further comment was interrupted when Ran's cell phone rang and she bustled through her things to pull it out and answer. "Hello?" she asked, before smiling and saying, "Kazuha-chan!" She looked to Conan and the faux child perked with interest. It had been two weeks or so since the last call. After several minutes of "Uh-huh, yeah, mm, oh really, awww!" and other such noncommittal sounds, Ran finally said, "Hey, could you put Hattori-kun on the phone since he's there? Conan-kun's tugging on my pant-leg, he wants to talk to his 'nii-chan'." Grinning, she bent down and offered the phone.
"I am not tugging your pant-leg," he growled. Ran blithely ignoring the venom in the tone. "Ah, Hattori-nii-chan," he said, looking around and spying the girl in front of the two of them, her dark blue eyes curious.
"Aw, c'mon," his best friend said. "Yer on th' phone. Ya don't need t' sound like a kid."
"There are a lot of people here, Hattori-nii-chan," Conan explained, eyeing the girl and unconsciously turning away from her. Shrinking did not help him being the center of attention, apparently - sometimes being cute had its costs. "How are you?" he asked in a lower, quieter voice.
"Ya ask that every time ya call," Hattori responded. "'m up an' about, okay? My sensei's already got me trainin'; he says I'll be back 'n top shape by spring."
A trickle of relief dared to be released in Conan's psyche, and he felt himself smile. He could still remember Hattori being released from the hospital in a wheelchair - the image entirely too disturbing for a boy with so much impulsive energy. Conan also remembered bits of that frightful evening when he was being drained of his blood and the stained picture of Hattori covered in blood - his blood, having been shot trying to stop the Black Organization psychologist. "Good," he said simply. He didn't see Ran's knowing smile.
"Saw 'nother case o' yours in the paper," Hattori said, shrugging off Conan's comment. "Ya ever take a day off? Hey, maybe ya can sneak off with Nee-chan when ya do to get a little--"
"I'm hanging up," Conan said flatly before pulling the phone away from his ear. He could hear a rushed "Oi wait a--" before he hit the cancel key and tossed the phone back to Ran.
"Teasing you again?" the karate champion asked.
The teen turned grade-schooler only glared at her. "The two of you are terrible together."
"Aw," the girl in front of them said. "Don't worry too much, boy-kun. Big sisters are supposed to tease little brothers."
That only made Conan feel more sour. This, in turn, made the teenage girl grin wider. "What's your name, boy-kun?" she asked, bending down.
"This is Edogawa Conan-kun," Ran offered, putting a hand on Conan's shoulder.
"What a funny name," the girl said, glancing up at Ran before turning her attention back to the miniature detective. "My name is Nakamori Aoko."
Both Conan and Ran blinked, the boy blurting out, "As in Inspector Nakamori?"
The girl blinked, running a hand through her dark and wild tresses. "Oh, you've heard of my father?"
"Yes, I'm Mori Ran, my father is Mori Kogoro."
"Oh!" Aoko said, pointing to Ran in recognition, "The Sleeping Detective guy who's always 'butting his goddamn snoring nose' into Dad's business whenever there's a heist! Er," she added quickly when she realized what she said, "at least that's what Dad's always saying..." She offered a weak giggle.
Ran smiled genially and Conan, in an un-admitted bout of spite, replied with, "Ojii-chan says Inspector Nakamori is a single minded coot who's head is in his feet 'cause he's chasing Kaitou Kid all the time."
The teen Aoko turned bright red in indignation and moved to swat Conan squarely on his shrunken skull. This was interceded by Ran with a martial move, pinning the girl's wrist. "Easy now," she said quickly, stepping in front of Conan. "He's only quoting my father, something you just did a few minutes ago."
Aoko flushed again, this time out of embarrassment. "Oh, that's true. I'm sorry," she said quickly.
"Are you here for the tournament?" Ran asked, changing topics. The seemingly seven-year-old was forgotten by all appearances, except when the karate practitioner gave Conan's shoulder a gentle squeeze before sifting his hand into hers.
The teen detective couldn't hide a flushed smile. In some ways, the last few months had been heavenly. Conan, convinced that she wouldn't remember and in a selfish moment during the hidden epidemic case, had confessed to a drugged Ran the entire truth of his reduced state. Ran had remembered, however, and since then things had, suffice it to say, changed.
At first, neither was completely sure how to react to the other; they kept catching each other's glances, or holding a look just a bit too long, and the two would look hurriedly away, blushing as they remembered that they knew. Kogoro had finally picked up on it, sort of, and demanded of Conan what he had peeped on to make them so embarrassed; the hack detective was convinced that a seven-year-old boy was having improper fantasies about his perfect daughter. It was then that Conan snuck into Ran's room at three in the morning for them to have a proper discussion on how things Moved On from There.
Outside of Ran "allowing" Conan to call her by name instead of "Ran-nee-chan," the high schooler also gave the faux grade-schooler much more freedom about the house and also on cases. Conan almost couldn't believe how much simpler it was to solve a case when he didn't have to worry about ducking out of Ran's notice, instead letting her know what he was planning to do and then scooting off to do it. Similarly, manipulating Kogoro became a task with much more dexterity. Now, Conan would pull Ran aside and explain how it all unfolded, and she would help dish out leading questions, offering phrases like, "Dad, didn't you once say..." or "Wow, Dad, I remember when..." Between the two of them, Kogoro was actually (almost) starting to solve the cases on his own - at least until he jumped to the absolute wrong conclusion, forcing Conan to look apologetically at his beloved Ran before darting her father and pulling up his bowtie. But even in this, Ran had become very adept in helping things along.
This was not to say that there wasn't an adjustment period. The first case they came across after Conan was checked out of the hospital, not three days after everything had come to their conclusion, had them stumbling on another murder. Ran had to truly struggle to keep herself composed while Conan put Kogoro asleep and solved the case. The two had a very intense argument that night, long after the older detective had drunk himself to sleep, in hushed whispers over why Conan did what he did; the shrunken detective explaining - not for the first and likely not for the last time - that he needed Kogoro to become famous enough for him (and subsequently Conan) to be asked to investigate the Black Organization and to Take Them Down.
There was also the adjustment on Conan's part. He didn't realize what a habit it was to lie through his teeth until he was given the luxury of telling the truth. He spent many days feeling the hypocrite as he easily double talked the family to do what he needed, only to have Ran pull him aside and ask what was really going on before she let him go. It shamed him when he realized how natural he'd become at lying, but when he'd confessed this particular guilt to Ran, she had simply smiled and put a hand on his shoulder, saying it was an adjustment for all of them.
God, he loved her!
The thought made him blush against his will, and he coughed before shaking the thoughts away and refocusing on his precious Ran and her new friend, Nakamori Aoko.
"So you're here in support of some classmates?" Ran was saying.
"Yes, me and Kaito are. Though where he is," she added with a growl and a roll of the eyes, "is beyond me. He can be so late sometimes." Impatiently, she looked at her watch. "Twenty minutes late and counting. I told him I'd be at the concession stand."
Ran gave a friendly smile. "Shinichi can be late sometimes, too," she said with a wistful smile. "I remember one time he kept me waiting for over two hours." Her smile softened at the memory, as did Shinichi's as he remembered that night as well. "But it was worth the wait, just to see his face."
"Ah," Conan agreed, quietly, under his breath.
Aoko smiled as well, understanding love when she saw it. "Will he be here for you? Cheer you on?"
"No," Ran said with a great sigh, swinging her arms slightly. "But in the interim I thought I'd bring Conan-kun. He and I haven't had a date in a long time, right?"
Conan turned bright red. "D-date?! What--? Raaan!!" He didn't whine; nope, he absolutely did not whine in his embarrassed sputtering.
Aoko frowned. "Conan-kun, you shouldn't be so familiar with your Nee-san, that's very rude!"
"Oh, no," Ran interceded. "He's not my brother; we're not even related. He's from America, and we decided he'd be more comfortable if he didn't have a suffix attached to my name. Besides," she added, shrugging, "it helps him be my substitute boyfriend."
Conan sputtered. "You're doing this on purpose!!"
Aoko crouched down again to Conan's eye level. "Of course she is," she said glibly. "You seem really easy to tease! Hey, if I ever decide I need a boyfriend, can you fill in for him if he ever stands me up?"
"Oh, yes," Ran said brightly, "He's very good at that. I can't tell you the number of times I've used him when Shinichi was unavailable."
Aoko giggled. "I bet he'd make a better date than your Shinichi."
Ran offered Conan a knowing smile, answering, "Oh, they're about the same."
The other girl laughed good-naturedly. The line continued to shuffle along, and it was perhaps ten minutes later that Conan felt Ran's hand squeeze his hard, almost crushing it. Startled, he looked up to her to find her staring out across the way. Spinning around, Conan followed her line of sight and realized why she was squeezing so hard.
Kudo Shinichi had entered Budokan.
Conan couldn't stop a squawk of surprise, pointing to his doppelganger as incoherent phrases sputtered out of his mouth. Kudo Shinichi, in dark wash jeans and a blazer, looked around the sea of people before spotting - Conan blinked, did they just make eye contact? - what he wanted and walking over. Raising a hand and waving, the double called out, "Hey, Aoko! Is that you?"
As one, the shocked Conan and Ran turned to the girl they had just met, who was smiling and waving back. "Kaito! What took you so long?"
"Kaito? That's Kaito??" Ran demanded, turning back to stare at Conan's double.
"Yeah, why?" she asked.
"No, it's nothing," Conan said quickly, his brain finally kick-starting and deciding what to do. "He looks and awful lot like Shinichi-nii-chan, that's all."
"Really?" Aoko asked, lowering her hand. "Is he an arrogant magician too?"
"Hey, Aoko, come on! I'm not arrogant. I can't help being as good as I am!"
"See? Arrogant!"
Conan watched with deep eyes as his double, Kaito, joined them in line. There were definite differences now that they were closer; the hair was much messier, and just a barest half a shade lighter. Kaito's body was a little more lean - an acrobat's body, and there was a looseness to his face that Kudo Shinichi did not have. Ran seemed to notice this too, and she breathed a sigh or relief. Conan continued to watch, as Kaito's sapphire blue eyes (the same color as his damn it) widened slightly at the sight of Aoko and her dress. The pause was just a hair too long, just a hair to heavy, before Kaito rolled his eyes and said, "Arrogant? This coming from a girl that prances around hitting people with mops?"
"Kaito!!" the girl said in a scandalized voice, making her distracted enough to miss the reddening of the so-called magician's ears. Conan blinked as he realized what was happening.
"Ne, ne," he said brightly, "Are you Aoko-nee-chan's boyfriend?"
The reaction was beautiful, in some respect. Even Ran had picked up on Kaito's reaction and couldn't help a giggle as Aoko turned bright red at the thought and immediately started to deny it. What caught Conan's eyes, however, was the blink that Kaito had made when he looked down to see Conan - a curiously blank expression crossed his face for a fraction of a second before an indignant snort fell out of his nose, followed with a, "Who'd want to be the boyfriend of a violent girl like her?" Which, of course, elicited a vicious swat from Aoko that Conan's double neatly bent under, arcing his back almost in half in an impressive display of flexibility.
"Anyway," Kaito said after about a half a dozen swats - all successfully dodged - "Who're your two friends here, Aoko?" He gave an evil grin to Conan. "Or maybe I should say friend-and-a-half?"
"Why do you always have to be like that," Aoko demanded, huffing and crossing her arms. Conan noted that Kaito's eyes lingered on the gesture. "Anyway, this is Mori Ran-chan and Edogawa Conan-kun. Ran-chan is going to compete in the tournament."
"Ah, I see," Kaito drawled. He offered a bright grin. "Feel free to kick Minagami's ass!" he said brightly.
"Kaito!!"
Ran, bless her, took the pair's antics all in stride. "So Minagami-san is the person you are supporting?"
"Yes," Aoko said quickly, trying to stomp on Kaito's foot and failing. "Minagami-senpai and Minagami-chan are both competing."
"Oh, two of them, how wonderful," Ran said genially.
"Wonderful nothing," Kaito said with a bright face. "The girl's nice enough, but the guy is an ass." He dodged another swat before asking, "So, Ran-chan," (and Conan irked at the familiarity) "why aren't you, I don't know, in one of those karate uniforms or something? And why are you in a concession stand? Boyfriend stand you up or something?"
Conan glared very flatly. This teen was pushing a lot of buttons, and curse it all that he couldn't show it.
Ran still took it all in stride, however, and gave a soft smile. "I wanted to get something to eat before I went down and changed," she said simply. "Conan-kun was hungry, too; we had a late start getting here and had to skip supper."
"Oh, how terrible," Aoko said sincerely. "Here, we'll switch places, so you can eat first."
The girls, Conan decided as he shuffled forward to switch with Aoko, were getting along just fine. The teenager Kaito seemed to agree and, apparently already bored, squatted down to the detective's eye level.
"Alright, kid," he said genially, supporting his head in his hand. "Name, rank, and serial number."
"You already know," Conan said, "Aoko-nee-chan introduced us."
"So? I want to hear you tell me your name."
Weird guy. "Edogawa Conan. Detective," he said simply.
"Detective, huh?" Kaito said with a large grin on his face. "I guess I'll just have to call you tantei-kun, won't I?"
... Of all the irksome...! "Only one person calls me 'tantei-kun,'" Conan said flatly, glaring at this double. "And you're not him."
Kaito seemed to take pause at this, blinking as Conan's retort sunk into his brain. Then, Kaito smiled: a light, happy, bright smile that took Conan aback.
"Whatever you say, tantei-kun!" he said brightly.
... The jerk!! He was doing this deliberately! Conan rolled his eyes and turned away from the source of irritation, content in ignoring the oversized kid until they had their snacks and were away from him. The other boy did not take the hint, however, and confirmed he was a magician by making a dove appear on the tiny detective's shoulder.
"Come on, tantei-kun," Kaito said brightly. The dove hopped from one shoulder to the top of Conan's head. "Don't be like that; I'm just trying to be friendly." Another dove appeared from thin air and landed on the tall teen's own shoulder. "See? Now we look alike; we could tour the country, or at least the Budokan, doing magic. I can be the daring and charismatic magician, and you can be," he snorted, "you can be the rabbit I pull out of my hat. You're small enough."
Conan glared.
"Don't like the idea? Then you can be the shrimp to my cocktail. Or maybe the Sonny to my Cher. Or how about..."
"How about the mouse to your elephant?" Conan suggested in a dark voice.
"Except I'm not really scared of mice, tantei-kun," Kaito said brightly. "I guess putting you on stage would be kind of hard, though, nobody would see you. Have you been drinking your milk? Calcium builds strong bones and it might give you a growth spurt - though for you you'd probably have to drink four hundred thirty-five gallons. That must be an entire heard of cows, unless you drink goat's milk? Or maybe soy milk? Say, are you..."
"Are you trying to piss me off?" Conan growled.
Kaito lifted his hands in a placating gesture. "Easy, easy, tantei-kun. Wouldn't want Ran-nee-chan up there to hear you using that king of language, would we? Unless you want me to milk that, too?"
"Don't be so familiar with her," Conan bit out, unable to fully stop his temper. This kid just grated on his nerves.
Kaito continued to grin brightly. "You sound like a father when you say that. Or maybe an overprotective boyfriend. Don't tell me you plan to marry her, do you?" At Conan's involuntary blush, that damnable smile only broadened. "You are? Oh, tantei-kun, I feel sorry for you. You must be so jealous when a handsome guy like me comes along and sweeps her off her feet. Like this."
And in one fluid, graceful motion (something Conan was realizing was common for this upstaging kid) Kaito swung up to his full height and produced a bouquet of flowers with a puff of smoke and moved into an elegant bow. "A humble bouquet for a flower that outshines this pittance," he said in a grandiose voice.
Ran blushed (curse him!!) and took the flowers with a soft, "Th-thank you."
Aoko, at least, seemed to see what was going on. "Kaito, what game are you playing now?" she demanded.
"Nothing!" the double said in mock innocence. "Tantei-kun here wanted to express his love for Ran-chan here, so I thought I'd help things along."
Conan turned beat red, as did Ran behind her flowers. Unable to take the teasing any more, Conan decided it was perfectly all right for a seven-year-old to act like a seven-year-old, and so he kicked the teen in the shin.
"Ow!!" The yelp drew a few startled looks, and Conan considered it perfectly justified. He ducked behind Ran's legs, a makeshift barrier at best, but he felt Ran's hand on his head, and with just that simple gesture he knew that she understood what had been happening.
"It looks like Kaito-san didn't make a very good impression on Conan-kun," she said cautiously.
"Oh, Kaito never makes a good impression," Aoko said smoothly, all the while glaring daggers at Kaito. "He's just a big goof that likes pushing buttons. He never knows when to put a sock in it."
"Aoko, that's mean!" Kaito defended with a theatrical whine. "Tantei-kun and I were getting along just fine!"
"Then why did he just kick you?" Aoko demanded. "You're always pissing people off with your damn teasing. Just look at me! I know you and you still piss me off; imagine how you come off to an innocent kid?"
"There is nothing innocent about that brat!" Kaito retaliated.
Conan tugged lightly on Ran's sleeve, and the karate expert leaned down to listen to his comment. "I get the feeling this is pretty common," he said in a low voice.
"Yes," she said softly. "They remind me of Hattori-kun and Kazuha-chan."
"Except he's not in denial," Conan agreed. "Did you see...?"
"When he first came in? Yes I did," Ran said. "I wonder if that was the first time he really noticed her."
"Who knows? ...Who cares?"
"Shinichi, you're mean."
Conan involuntarily tensed. "Ran, not in public."
Ran blinked when she realized what she said. "I'm sorry, Conan-kun, I didn't realize..."
"No, it's okay," he said quickly, "with all the noise those two are making," he gestured vaguely at Aoko and Kaito, the former again taking swings at the latter, "I doubt anyone heard it. But..."
"I know, Conan-kun, I know," Ran said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Come on, we're almost next in line, let's get some snacks."
After two sandwiches each, Ran and Conan were blessedly full, and Ran decided it was time to go down to the locker room and change. Kaito - surprising Conan and making the magician even more of an oddity in his mind - had eagerly offered to escort them down to the lockers and entertain them on the way. More doves appeared and disappeared - one landing on Conan's head and pecking him without fail, to say nothing of the cards appearing all over Ran's person. adding to Conan's annoyance and sky-rocketing irritation.
When the fourth card appeared in Ran's bra Conan coughed as loud as he dared. "This magic is lame," he said in a precocious voice. The dove bit his ear in seeming retaliation.
"You're just jealous I'm such a good showman," Kaito offered, picking the dove off of Conan's head and juggling it with two of its mates before they disappeared in a puff of smoke.
"Nooo," Conan retorted.
Ran and Aoko giggled. Passing down a doublewide hall, many people were walking back and forth, many in martial arts uniforms. "I guess the lockers are this way, huh?" Kaito said brightly. "Oh, careful of the wet floor."
The quartet passed around a waist high yellow sign standing by an "Employee's Only" door, the silhouette of a worker bowing and the words "Caution, Wet Floor" stamped on it. Conan frowned, looking at the floor; there were no signs of a puddle or cleaner, nor was there a maintenance bucket filled with water or a mop. Similarly, the door was not completely shut - not ajar, but Conan could see about half of the inside jam of the door. He stared at it as they passed, turning his head to see if he could spy anything else out of place. Still frowning, Conan continued walking.
An employee in uniform stepped up. "I'm sorry," she said politely, "only participants of the tournament can enter the lockers."
"Aw," Kaito said, "You mean we don't get a grand tour?"
"No, I'm sorry."
Ran turned slightly. "I can take it from here," she said brightly. "I've been in tournaments before. Conan-kun," she added, looking down. "See if you can find a good seat; that way I can see you cheering for me."
"Oh," Aoko said brightly. "He can sit with us."
"... Eeeeeeeeh??" Conan and Kaito cried out simultaneously.
"Kaito, don't be like that," Aoko said sternly. "You can't seriously expect him to sit by himself in a crowd as big as this is going to be."
Kaito rolled his eyes. "I guess not," he drew out in an almost conciliatory tone. "I mean, we have no idea if this ankle-biter has a license to be on his own, or if he's had his shots or not. I mean, what if he goes rabid? Then, of course, there are all the other ankle-biters out in the crowd - if he finds more of his own species there might be problems. Hey, ankle-biter, have you been neutered?" Kaito crouched down, eye level with Conan as he asked the last question; there was no hint of a grin anywhere except his voice.
Conan was about to kick his shin again - this time with his sneakers on - when a new voice entered the conversation.
"You again?!"
Conan, glaring at the obnoxious kid, saw the unabated flat grimace of annoyance, even irritation, before there was a sigh and a decidedly more neutral face slipped over his countenance as Kaito stood and turned. Conan privately marveled - didn't his face get sore from making so many expressions?
The entire mood of Kaito and Aoko had changed, Conan noted, as a tall teenager with a firm build pounded out of the lockers, in the whites of a karate practitioner.
"Don't worry, Minagami-senpai," Kaito said in a smooth tone. "We aren't here to stalk you or bug your or anything else you want to delude yourself into thinking. We're just here to cheer you and Junko-san on since you're schoolmates."
"I don't want you here, you hack magician!"
Aoko stepped in while Kaito calmly took a sip of his soda. "Mingami-senpai, we're showing support of our school, all right? Katanaka-sensei asked us to, and--"
"I'm here to hope someone kicks your ass," Kaito offered brightly. "I figure if you're taken down a peg or two you might not be so much of a jerk to everyone around--"
Minagami lunged forward, shoving Aoko aside and grabbing the wrist holding the soda. The cup spilled everywhere, all over Kaito and (because he was so low to the ground...) Conan's head, but the fake seven-year-old saw the flash of pain on the magician's face before he covered it with an indignant glare.
"Ran!" he said quickly, but the love of his life was already on it, thrusting a palm into Minagami's elbow, forcing it to bend and let go of Kaito. Said teen stepped back several times, Aoko immediately by his side.
"There's no need for this here," Ran said gently, a fierce gaze on the other karate practitioner. "Save it for the tournament."
The attacker glared; even Conan could feel the negative energy radiating off the muscular teen, before standing down. He leveled a sneer at Kaito and Aoko, the former rubbing his wrist behind his back.
"You're right, of course," he said to Ran, eyes never leaving his classmates. "I shouldn't let hack magicians like him get to me. But then, I guess it's to be expected, since his father sucked so bad he killed himself with his own magic. He failed even in his suicide."
The reaction was instantaneous, and it was several minutes after it all happened that Conan could process everything he saw. First was the unhidden shock at the clear insult that appeared on both Kaito and Aoko's faces. The girl's face switched to rage: dark blue rage as she stepped forward and slapped Minagami as hard as she could. "How dare you! How dare you! He was a good man! You didn't know him!! You have no right--! Don't you dare say--!"
Kaito, meanwhile, had a myriad of expressions flitter across his face. Conan recognized shock, very raw pain, anger, determination, and at least a dozen others that the tiny detective couldn't name quickly enough before that carefully neutral face dropped back in place and he stepped forward as well. Soda dripping off his clothes, he grabbed Aoko's hand with his good one before she moved to strike him again. Ran, too, had again stepped in, taking the girl's shoulders and gently pushing her back. Kaito's touch seemed to quiet Aoko; she turned her dark and tearful eyes to the teen. They had drawn quite a crowd and several Budokan officials were quickly appearing.
"Onii-san!"
Conan's eyes darted over to see a slight girl that was unmistakably the attacker's sister dressed in a suit darting over to them. "Onii-san, not again," she said quickly.
"You're defending them again?" Minagami demanded. "And why are you not changed? Where have you been?"
"I was taking care of--"
"Oh, never mind," he said, grabbing her wrist. "Let's get you changed before your interests distract you further."
And, just as quickly as he appeared, Minagami and his sister disappeared back into the locker rooms.
It was quiet for several minutes, the tension still clinging to the air.
Ran, once again saving the day, glanced down at Conan's drenched head and Kaito's equally stained clothes. "Aoko-san," she said softly, gently to get the upset girl's attention. "Could you do me a favor and help wash Conan-kun? I really have to get changed, and I don't want his hair to get all sticky..."
The girl blinked rapidly, trying to stave off tears, and looked to Ran. "Oh," she said in a whisper. "Oh... Oh. Yes, yes, of course." A hot drop of moisture still slid down her cheek, but she wiped at it vigorously and sniffed deeply. "Yes, I'll get him cleaned up. Come on, Conan-kun," she said softly, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Let's find a restroom, okay?"
Conan gave one last look to Ran, worried that she was going to the same place as Minagami was, but she smiled gently and waved him off, giving a thumbs up to indicate she would be just fine. Kaito lingered, his neutral face staring at the locker room, before he turned around and jogged after Aoko and Conan.
"Aw, come on, Aoko, what about me? Shouldn't I be cleaned up too? I can give you my shirt if you want..."
Aoko, for once, didn't retaliate with an answer.
Ran, Conan decided, was the only person in the world who was gentle with children. Sitting on the sink of the girl's restroom (a fact alone that was causing him decades worth of embarrassment), he had to endure Aoko's rough handling as she tried to wash the soda out of his hair and face, rubbing him all the wrong ways and always hard. He was certain his cheek was raw from the maltreatment, to say nothing of the multiple directions his hair kept sticking; she kept missing sections of soda, and it either stuck his hair up in weird angles or stuck together making it hurt when she tried to pull it apart.
All the same, he couldn't bring himself to complain as he saw the look of fury on her face, and her continued mutterings over what her classmate Minagami had said in regard to the magician's father.
"Ne," he said in his softer, boyish tones. "Was Kaito-nii-chan's father a magician, too?"
Aoko paused in her ministrations, looking down at Conan as if for the first time. Another hot tear burned down her cheek, and she sniffled and huffed at the same time.
"Yes, yes he was," she said slowly, a lump in her throat. "I'm sorry," she hiccupped. Growling she closed her eyes and rubbed at them fiercely. "I'm sorry," she said again, calmer now. "Yes, Kaito's father was a magician. He died in an accident several years ago. We were only eight. He was a good man. He was a good..." Her voice broke again, and Aoko buried her face in her hands, unable to stop the wellspring.
Conan felt unbelievably awkward, uncertain what to do, if there was anything he even should do. He remembered the times he'd felt like crying when he was first shrunk, unable to completely handle what had happened to him and incapable of truly comprehending how much he had lost until time moved on, months went by, and Kudo Shinichi slowly died. He remembered how much he'd wanted to shout and scream and wail and lament, but he didn't dare - not even to Agasa or Hattori - for fear that if he allowed himself to break like that, he'd never pull himself back together. The various expressions on Kaito's face suddenly made much more sense - at least some of them, and Conan felt just a little bit less critical of the teen magician.
Sighing, he stood up on the counter and walked over to the far end, rolling out a measure of paper towel and ripping it out of the dispenser. He sunk to his knees at the nearest sink and turned the water on, dipping his head under it wholesale, rinsing the last of the soda out from his hair. He washed his face and his glasses and, ripping the paper towel in half, ran a piece of it through his hair to absorb most of the moisture. Walking back to Aoko, he offered the other half of the paper towel.
"I'm sorry it hurt so much," he said softly.
Aoko looked up, her dark blue eyes rimmed with red, and she took the paper towel graciously.
"He was like a second father to me," she said. "Kaito and I live next door to each other and he was so great when Mom died; it hurt Kaito so much when we got the news. To hear him say that... that..." Fury reentered her face and she crumbled the towel violently in her hands, ripping it to shreds. "He dragged it all up again! Oh, I hate him so much I could kill him!!" She growled and slammed a fist down on the counter, only to yank it back up in pain. "Ow! Bastard! Bastard!!"
Conan watched the girl cycle through her emotions without restraint, absently rubbing the paper towel through his head some more before finally removing it.
"Aoko-nee-chan?" he asked softly when he thought it safe. She stopped in her tirade and turned to stare at him. "Aoko-nee-chan, is that really a good idea?" he asked, trying to put on his most innocent face. "Is killing somebody really a good idea?"
The girl covered her mouth quickly, at last realizing that a seven-year-old child was watching her.
"Ojii-san is a detective," Conan pressed. "He solves a lot of murders and catches the bad guys. But you know, they're never really happy after the murder. If anything, it just makes them more... sad."
"Oh, Conan-kun," she said quickly, hiccupping again. "No, I didn't mean... I'm sorry, that wasn't..." She gave a small, half laugh. "I'm sorry, Conan-kun, you keep seeing me at my worst. I must look very scary to you right now." The girl took a deep breath, centering herself. "Let's see if I can't change that. We don't have to talk about that mean old Minagami-senpai, and I promise I'll only tell happy stories about Kaito's father. He was a really good man.
"Conan-kun..." She added, her face changing slightly. "I say a lot of things when I'm mad, okay? That doesn't necessarily mean I mean it. I don't think it's in me to kill anybody, okay? So... so just forget I said anything."
The shrunken detective nodded, but not because he agreed with her. He'd seen many a murder come up spur of the moment, in a heat of rage or fit of insanity. Anybody was capable of murder.
"Anyway," Aoko said in brighter tones. "I really want Kaito to see you with your hair all sticking out like that, you look like a miniature Kaito."
Aghast, Conan flung around to see himself in the mirror, and lo it was true. Hair sticking every which way, eyes round and wide in surprise, he did look like Kaito. That irked him to no end, and he quickly dug through his pockets for a comb.
Aoko giggled as she lifted him safely to the ground. Exiting the restroom, they traveled a few feet down the hall to the entrance of the boy's restroom. Aoko knocked on the door while Conan furiously tried to fix his hair.
"Kaito? How's it going in there? Are you cleaned up yet?" she called in.
"No, well, yes and no," was the bedraggled reply. A heavyset man left the restroom, and Kaito stuck his head out after him. He looked more than a little perturbed. "He got soda everywhere," he complained. "If it was just my shirt or my jacket I wouldn't mind walking around a little damp, but it's on my jeans too." He blushed. "And in a very indelicate place, too. I don't want to go around looking like... like... well, like that."
Aoko frowned.
"Look," Kaito said, rubbing a hand through his mess of hair. Conan noticed that the arm was bare; had he taken off all his layers in an attempt to clean up? "I'll just hang out here for a while until the water marks are a little less obvious. Find us a seat in the stands and I'll come out when it's safe. I'll even get a second round of snacks, okay?"
Conan looked up to see Aoko still frowning. Clearly, she didn't want to leave her friend alone after such an ordeal. Kaito seemed to sense this, as well.
"I could use the time," he said lower, more serious tone. Conan blinked, the voice sounding eerily familiar.
"Kaito..."
The magician shrugged as he brought his head back into the restroom and closed the door. "I'll be fine," he said through the door in bright tones. "Keep the ankle-biter entertained, okay? I'll feed him before he starts nibbling on your toes!"
The pair stared at the door for a moment longer, before Conan glowered, breaking Aoko's train of thought and bringing her back to the present.
"Come on, Conan-kun, let's get seated before the tournament starts. By now we'll be pressed to find good seats."
A murderer finished preparing the trap, tying the string and positioning the weapon. Closing the door softly, leaving it only slightly ajar. Now... now he would die.
Author's Note: Ehehe. Conan's back. And don't he and Kaito get along swimmingly? ^_^ They're both teasing each other horribly. Of course, Kaito knows Conan's secret so he's much better at teasing. Ah the chaos that will eventually occur.
Oh, and of course, the murder is being set up. See you in two weeks!
