BONUS CHAPTER

This conversation took place during Chapter 3, while the group was hanging out at Shinichi's house.

Ran reentered the living room. "Who's hungry?" she said, brandishing a platter heaping with warm cookies.

"We are!" Kazuha jumped to her feet and grabbed the plate. "Mmmm! Ran-chan, these are delicious! Did you make them?"

"Yup," Ran smiled. "New recipe!"

"Who'd you think made 'em?" Heiji chuckled, helping himself to the plate in Kazuha's hands. "Kudou?"
"Is Kudou-kun a bad cook?" Kaito asked, a little too innocently, his eyes wide and inquisitive.

"Knowin' him, he's gotta be," Heiji grinned as he pulled the plate from a reluctant Kazuha's arms and passed it to Shinichi.

"No, he's not!" Ran said.

The entire rest of the room stared at her incredulously.

"It's just like everything else," Ran said, slightly irritably. "If he put his mind to it, he'd be great at it, but he just doesn't care about food."

"I care about food!" Shinichi said around a mouthful of cookie.

"You care about eating," Ran corrected, sitting down next to him. "There's a difference. You don't care at all about what you eat." She looked around the room and raised a finger. "Shinichi would eat raw pasta if there was nothing else in the house, without blinking an eye, and the thought to cook it would never cross his mind."

Kaito and Heiji burst out laughing.

"That's not true!" Shinichi protested.

"Yes it is," Ran retorted, her eyes closed.

"Well, I mean, maybe if I was thinking about a big case—"

"Told you," she gloated.

Shinichi scowled sulkily. "I can never win an argument with this girl."

"Kudou," Heiji said, still laughing, "You're lucky Ran-neechan likes you so much."

"Oh, what're you laughing at?" Kazuha snapped. "You're not exactly a good cook either."

"Well neither are you!" Heiji said, affronted. Aoko giggled; Kaito was watching the two of them with a gleeful, fascinated expression.

"I'm decent," Kazuha said firmly. "I can follow instructions and it usually comes out the way it should. But you—you can't even make Hot Pockets without your mind wandering before you've even got it in the microwave."

"Wha—"

"If it's not about kendo, baseball, or dead people, you can't focus on anything for more than five seconds," Kazuha continued relentlessly. "You forget what you're doin' and add curry powder to Easy Mac—"

"He did what?" Ran gasped as Kaito and Aoko giggled and Shinichi laughed delightedly.

"Hey, that was on purpose!" Heiji protested. "I was bein' artistic."

"You were bein' disgustin'," Kazuha retorted. "I went over to Heiji's house almost every day after school in middle school, and most of the time his mom made us snacks, but the few times she was busy…" she trailed off ominously.

"Cooking is simple," Ai spoke up. The others looked at her, but she only took a calm sip of tea before looking up and noticing their stares. "It's like chemistry. Add the ingredients and watch the reactions."

"Well sorry we can't all be genius chemists," Shinichi said with a sarcastic smirk.

Ai just smiled.

"Hey, Aoko-chan, what about Kuroba?" Heiji said.

"Look who's trying to change the subject," Shinichi said.

"Just be glad we're not talking about you anymore," Heiji growled. "I'm sure Ran-neechan could tell some more stories—"

"—Oh, I could—"

"—But it's Kuroba-kun and Aoko-chan's turn," Shinichi said hurriedly.

"Ha."

Five pairs of expectant eyes turned to the couple on the love seat.

"Kaito?" Aoko said bemusedly, pointing at him. "He's a great cook!"

The rest of the room stared.

"Really?" Heiji said skeptically.

"Yeah," Aoko said. "He can't follow directions for his life—though that doesn't just apply to cooking," she shot Kaito a glare which he returned with a wide grin. "—But he always manages to think up something really quirky and tasty."

"Oh, Aoko-sama, stop it, I'm blushing," Kaito cackled. "You're an okay cook, too."

"Yeah, I'm okay," Aoko said. "I've been cooking for my dad since my mom died, so I learned out of necessity, but Kaito's got a flair for it."

"Flair," Kaito repeated. He put his hands behind his head. "I like that word."

"—Of course," Aoko added, "He's a terrible baker."

"What?" Kaito choked. "I am not!"
"Yes you are," Aoko insisted. "With baking, you actually have to follow directions, or the food'll either melt down or blow up. And like I said, you are physically incapable of following directions. Remember the time you tried to make me a birthday cake for my fourteenth birthday?"

"That was a beautiful cake!" Kaito howled. "How dare you—"

"The one you bought me was beautiful," Aoko corrected, poking Kaito's nose in evident enjoyment. "Your mom showed me the cake you tried to bake before you went and bought that one."

"This is crazy!" Kaito cried. "My mother tells you everything!"

"Your mom too?" Heiji said. He brandished a cookie for emphasis. "Kazuha and my mom are always having long phone conversations—it makes me nervous."

"What?" Kazuha protested, as Kaito nodded furiously.

"It terrifies me! My mother tells her—literally—everything."

Aoko smirked. "Like your thing with—"

Kaito suddenly lunged at her and clapped his hands over her mouth. "No!"

She shook him off. "What? Why can't I tell them about your phobia—"

"No!" he cried, louder, and covered her mouth again. "You absolutely cannot!"

"Phobia?" Shinichi repeated, a rather unfriendly grin spreading slowly on his face. "Phobia of what?"

"Like I would ever tell you," Kaito said darkly. He reluctantly let Aoko drag his hands away from her mouth again, then shot her a look of pure supplication. "Please, Aoko."

"Okay, fine," she snapped, then giggled reluctantly. "Geez."

"Oh man," Heiji said. "Now we gotta know what this is."

"Not likely," Kaito said flatly.

Heiji and Shinichi exchanged glances.

"There is only one truth," Shinichi said. "And it's the detective's job to uncover it."

Heiji twisted his baseball cap from back to front with obvious relish.

Kaito bounded to his feet. "Anyone want to see a magic trick?"

…