This scene overlaps exactly with the events of chapter 32 from Fall into Flying, in which Jirokichi has a challenge heist, Snake shows up anyway, and Shinichi and Hakuba decide (on KID's behalf) that it is very much their business.

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Case 32.5 – Realization

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He was only moments behind KID – close enough to almost touch his cape as the thief swept it into the compartment of the revolving doors ahead of them – but he was distracted by the gloved hand that brushed light and quick against the edge of the door that was now behind KID and in front of Hakuba.

He caught a faint clicking under the shiff of the turning doors, but it was too late to stop his momentum, his weight already thrown forward to push the doors along. The clicking escalated as they turned – and cut off abruptly when they caught with a jarring thud that had Hakuba stumbling against the glass.

KID paused before the lobby full of task force officers just long enough to glance back and grin wickedly. Then he vanished from Hakuba's sight.

"Sorry to cut this short; it's been fun, but an old friend has turned up and it would be rude to keep him waiting."

Hakuba looked up. The words were muffled by the door, but it was definitely KID, and he was definitely somewhere above him.

"And, if you don't mind, I'll just ask you all to stay here. Well then…"

There was a pause, then Hakuba jumped and whirled to look back as something shattered in the street behind him. There was a mess of glass on the pavement, but nothing else around.

"Stop right there, KID!"

Hakuba turned back to the lobby and, from the nervous and unfocused shifting of the officers and the shade of Nakamori's face, guessed that whatever had happened, it had marked KID's exit. He let out a sigh.

Shinichi was trying the other doors now. Pointless, of course. Hakuba turned his attention to his own predicament. That sound… The clicking stopped the same time the doors did…

"I need everybody to move to the edges of the room!"

Again, he let his attention be drawn to the lobby and he watched through the glass as Shinichi spoke with Nakamori. At Nakamori's command, the task force officers all moved, spreading out along the perimeter, and suddenly all Hakuba could see was a wall of uniforms.

Then the unmistakable crack of a gunshot went off and Hakuba wasn't the only one startled. The task force had all drawn back slightly and Hakuba could hear Nakamori shouting something, but he couldn't see past the officers gathered in front of the doors – not until he caught a glimpse above their heads of something huge dropping fast from the ceiling. It didn't take a detective to know it was the Winter Cherry's display case that made the next impactful crash.

Everyone was looking up, so Hakuba ducked down to get a better angle. Across the lobby, Shinichi was hauling himself up onto a metal support beam near the ceiling.

All of the pieces suddenly crashed together in his mind.

"What… the hell was he thinking," Hakuba whispered, staring as Shinichi crawled toward the doors and out of his line of sight. He turned and squinted through the glass of the door behind him at the dark street and, sure enough, a few seconds later Shinichi landed neatly on the pavement and took off running with a grin. "All that just to chase KID?" Hakuba murmured. "KID has had more than enough time to vanish completely by now, so why–" "An old friend has turned up… I'll just ask you all to stay here."

Hakuba swore softly in English, his fingers clenching into a fist. "They are here. They must be. He went after them alone and Kudou-kun realized it."

Turning sharply to face the door standing between him and the lobby, Hakuba pulled out a pocket knife and started cutting into the flexible weather stripping lining the edge.

KID did something, he thought as he tore pieces of black rubber away. A powerful enough magnet could stop the rotation. Or– He finished ripping the sealant away at the approximate height KID had touched as he'd entered the compartment ahead of Hakuba, and his fingers found a switch embedded into the edge of the door. Smiling, he pushed it down.

At the sound of the familiar clicking, he withdrew his hand and gave the door an experimental push. Nothing moved. The clicking persisted though, steady, and slower than it had been the first time, until it ticked to a stop with a final, more resounding clunk. The slight vibration in the floor at the sound had him on his knees in an instant, scouring the compartment for any change. He found it in the form of two rounded metal pegs poking up out of the floor, one close against the door in front of him and the other against the door behind, stopping them from turning in either direction.

So… Hakuba thought. He gave them an experimental poke without much hope that he'd be able to budge them. These are how he stopped the doors from turning… But these were not inside this compartment until I moved that switch. Standing, he squeezed a finger into the narrow gap along the edge of the door again and wiggled the switch embedded there. No, he thought. Not a switch. It's… more like a cog. A wheel. He rolled it down another notch and stepped back as the clicking started up again. When he saw the peg on the street side disappear into the floor again he rushed the door and collided with the glass with a very firm thud.

"Ugh." Glancing back, he saw that the peg against the lobby-side door was still in place, keeping all of the doors from moving in the only direction he cared about. He went for the switch again and pushed it down one more time.

The peg by the lobby-side door vanished. The peg by the street-side door rose up inside Hakuba's compartment… not at all hindering his ability to push the door away from it. This time the doors turned easily, but they were clicking again too. The moment he had space enough to squeeze through, he sprinted out into the empty street, ignoring the clunk that sounded behind him, trapping the task force in the lobby with no way to reach the switch.

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Hakuba slowed as he approached the general area he hoped KID would be. After skirting the edges of Jirokichi's cordoned area, he'd realized that as long as the mysterious snipers were present, the wall of fans circling the space was the most effective means of keeping KID trapped. And there was no doubt now that the snipers were present. That had been confirmed by the single gunshot that had echoed sharply around the deserted section of city not long after Hakuba had escaped the Suzuki building.

Maybe… this wasn't such a great idea.

Half of his mind was considering going back to the barricade to recruit some of the cops keeping order there (No, too risky. It's most important to keep the civilians out, and the officers watching the perimeter aren't equipped to handle an armed assailant. Not that I am either, I suppose…). The other half was just beginning to register hushed voices under the persistent beating of chopper propellers above.

Hakuba hesitated as he traced the sound to an alleyway, edging by it on full alert. The voices had stopped and he thought he saw movement in the shadows, but he kept walking until he was past the mouth of the alley. Pausing out of sight of anyone who might be somewhere down the passage, he waited, straining to catch any sound, and thought he heard hints of more whispering. He tensed when they quieted, and considered peeking down the alley again. He didn't get the chance.

"Hakuba–"

Hakuba jumped, taking a startled step back when Shinichi poked his head around the corner of the building. "Kudou-kun!" he whispered back. "Where is KID?"

"Come here." Shinichi grabbed Hakuba by the wrist and dragged him down the alleyway, into a dark stairwell. KID was there waiting, looking perfectly stoic, but Hakuba immediately noted one gloved hand pressed high against his leg. It was too dark to say definitively, but his stance certainly suggested an injury. Still, he was standing and didn't seem otherwise distressed. Hakuba glanced at Shinichi.

"How many?"

"Two. The task force?"

"No. Just me. What is the plan?"

Shinichi glanced at KID, but KID could see he wasn't looking for input. He was just considering their options. "Distract and lure," Shinichi decided after a moment, looking again to Hakuba. "We'll just focus on one of them for now."

Hakuba nodded. "Do you have their location?"

"No, but we know where she'll be headed."

Hakuba didn't miss the guilty shift in Shinichi's eyes. "…Here?" he guessed.

"Yeah."

Hakuba just nodded again. "I assume you are the lure," he said to KID.

"And you're the distraction," KID answered.

"Are you the trap then, Kudou-kun? They must be armed. What will you do?"

"Improvise," Shinichi said, his hand moving to his belt.

"Ah."

"The real trap is the task force. As long as they're still stuck in the Suzuki building, we know right where they'll be, so that's where we need to lead her. My job is just to make sure nobody gets shot before they can grab her."

"And my job is to make sure KID has enough of a head start to not get shot before you are in range," Hakuba finished for him, eyeing Shinichi's belt.

"You in?" Shinichi asked.

"…Of course."

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They had been spot-on. The woman KID had described was creeping carefully toward the stairwell as Hakuba watched from another alley. Taking in a deep, silent breath, he resolved himself and stepped out into the street.

"Excuse me, miss–!"

He'd taken off his coat, leaving very little doubt that there was no weapon on his person. He kept his hands in full view as well, and tried to make his expression only concerned instead of wary. The woman stopped and looked back at him for just a moment before jerking her attention down the alley again. Hakuba thought he could hear her mutter something under the sound of the helicopters circling above.

"Miss, this area is closed off to civilians right now," Hakuba said as he neared. She turned and he knew with alarming certainty that there was already a gun in her hand, ready and tucked just out of sight, blocked by her body as she turned toward him.

"I'm looking for something," she said shortly.

"Oh?" Hakuba said, forcing himself to meet her eyes instead of looking down at the hand with the gun. "Perhaps I can help–"

Something passed by overhead, too smooth and bright and silent to be a helicopter, and the woman's face turned to the sky. "…Stay outta the way," she snapped, and she shoved past him and took off running after the white glider.

"Hm. How rude," Hakuba murmured, ignoring how his hands were shaking just a little, from relief more than anything. He pulled out his phone and typed a text to Shinichi. Once it was sent, he took another steadying breath. Everything was going well, he had KID and Shinichi backing him up, and there was something satisfying in the thought of turning the tables to make a predator into prey. He let that feeling unfold inside him, let out a slow breath, then took off running toward the Suzuki building.

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Hakuba caught up just as the soccer ball smashed into the woman's hands, the gunshot cracking through the empty streets and striking a window across from the Suzuki building. The gun clattered to the pavement and the task force crowded up against the windows of the lobby. Then Shinichi and KID were both standing in the street and Hakuba noted with some consternation that they had left him out of the loop on the apparent decoy glider.

Biting back a sigh, Hakuba quickly pulled out a handkerchief and picked up the fallen gun. When the woman turned to him he stared her down, daring her to flee.

"Well now," KID called out. "What do you think? Should I open the doors~?" The grin was a definite threat, and he held up a small remote to show the woman.

"They'd arrest you too if you do," she warned and Hakuba breathed out a quiet laugh. The woman shifted a little, attempting to move away from him, KID and Shinichi, and the Suzuki building all at once, but that left only one direction which was blocked by the large, locked office high-rise across the street.

"To be honest," KID was saying, strolling casually forward with his hands tucked once again into his pockets. "I don't want to trouble my cute little task force with scum like you–"

"KID, above you!"

It took Hakuba a moment to fully realize that the shout had come from his own mouth, and another moment to realize why it had. He'd seen it – just a distant shadow shifting on the roof of the Suzuki building's lobby – and he'd called out before consciously making the connection between the far-off shape of the gun and KID's exposed position on the street.

KID moved with the same split-second, unconscious reaction time and a bullet struck the pavement. Shinichi turned, his eyes suddenly sharp and hateful as he stared up at the figure on the roof. Hakuba let out a shuddering breath.

Then everyone was moving. Another shot went off and Hakuba heard the bullet ping against something, but his focus was on the woman who had made to run past him, thinking him distracted. He tossed her gun in the opposite direction, out of reach, and threw himself in her path. They collided and both hit the street hard.

In some corner of his mind, Hakuba acknowledged Shinichi running by. Then something rushed up the side of the building but he couldn't afford to turn and get a better look. The woman was struggling, thrashing fiercely to get away, and he fought to catch a solid grip on her.

"Let go of me!" she shouted, but at the same time she was clawing for purchase at the sleeves of his shirt, her leg hooking around his as she attempted to restrict his movement. He felt her pushing at him, trying to turn him over, but she didn't have the size or strength to accomplish it. Hakuba chanced a look over his shoulder at the street. He was alone, and it was something of a relief.

KID and Kudou must have gone after the shooter on the roof. At least I can be pretty sure I won't be shot in the back.

All the same, he jumped a little when one gunshot and then another echoed through the night.

"That's one each for your friend and the thief," the woman hissed. "You're next – ah!"

Hakuba's grip tightened and he finally managed to shove the woman over onto her stomach. He kept hold of her wrists, pressing them hard against her back, and sat on her legs. "You do not know them," he said. "I do not believe I have anything to worry about."

It was a few moments later that he heard the crack of a gun hitting the pavement from far above, and then something large and white cut into his peripheral vision. He looked just in time to see KID's glider colliding quite solidly with the side of the office high-rise. A tangle of limbs and metal and fabric tumbled to the sidewalk below and Hakuba stared for a few seconds before he twisted as much as he could to look back at the roof of the Suzuki building's lobby. A man in black was standing near the edge, but his hands were at his sides, not aiming a gun. As Hakuba watched, the man reached into a pocket and pulled out a phone, putting it to his ear.

"That–"

Hakuba's eyes tracked over to the breathless sound.

"That was incredible."

Shinichi was lying on the sidewalk next to KID, the glider collapsed once again into a cape. A slightly hysteric laugh escaped as KID sat up and straightened his hat.

"Ten out of ten for the landing for sure," KID laughed back.

Shinichi dragged himself upright and clapped a hand to KID's shoulder. "Yeah. Thanks for the save."

"Of course." The response was coolly detached and Hakuba could not see KID's face, but he could see Shinichi's and there was something… something in his expression.

What is it? I've seen that look on Kudou's face before. Appreciation? Gratitude? Yes. Both of those, surely, but it's… deeper than that.

Hakuba let out a quiet sigh as the moment broke and Shinichi and KID both turned to look up at the lobby roof. He could hear one of the helicopters coming closer. The task force must be closing in, he thought.

Then Shinichi took his eyes from the criminal on the roof to scrutinize KID, his gaze clearly searching, and several facts very abruptly tumbled to the forefront of Hakuba's mind.

Point one: Kudou seems to know the deep significance this man's capture will hold for KID.

Point two: Kudou's interactions with KID mirror his interactions with Kuroba.

Point three: Kudou's interactions with KID used to be more similar to my own, but changed after the heist at the Noda mansion.

Point four: KID has favored Kudou at heists, with the exception of the Tiffany lamp heist which demonstrated a far more personal vendetta than KID's usual pranking of officers and detectives.

Point five: Even allowing for Kudou's kidnapping being a traumatic experience, he would have at least wondered how Kuroba managed to save him, and it is outside his character not to seek the answer.

Point six: People's perceptions can be heavily influenced by what they expect to see, and what they expect to see can be influenced by what they want to see.

Hakuba paused at this last point before resolutely forcing himself to see it for what it was: a reason to dismiss what he himself did not want to see. A brilliant detective led far astray.

I have always thought that their relationship strongly suggested Kuroba using Kudou but… if Kudou knew all along… and KID favors him at heists…

He thought back to the heist at the music hall just six weeks ago.

Is Kudou actually using Kuroba toward some… furthering of his reputation? Or to escape the humiliation that comes with being a detective in pursuit of KID? Reviewing the facts, Kudou does make something of a… rogue detective. He could be capable of it. Or… Alternatively, he could–

"What–?" Shinichi breathed out.

Hakuba blinked and looked up. The man in black had grabbed onto a ladder hanging down from a task force helicopter and was being pulled up into the cockpit. Another helicopter chased after it, but it didn't make it far. The small explosion sounded soft with distance, but the black smoke billowing out as the rotor blades stuttered suggested it had been fatally damaging. The chopper dropped.

"They sabotaged the other helicopter!"

Shinichi was staring up, his face clearly displaying his distress, and KID's hand fell firmly onto his shoulder.

"Don't worry, Tantei-kun. They're not the only ones who know how to hijack a helicopter."

From his position on the ground, Hakuba couldn't see the moment the chopper crashed, but he saw the moment Shinichi relaxed. It was KID's accomplice in that helicopter then, Hakuba reasoned. He must have escaped.

"The pilots are sleeping in the basement," KID said, nodding toward the Suzuki building. "No casualties at least but… he slipped away again." He got to his feet and moved into the street as he brushed at the dirt on his suit. "He's earned that codename," he added lightly.

"Maybe, but we were close that time," Shinichi answered from the ground.

'We'… Hakuba thought. And it was perfectly clear to him exactly who that 'we' included. He returned his focus to the woman beneath him who had started squirming and thrashing again.

"Well, you're not gonna catch me sitting around on the sidewalk, Tantei-kun. And your friend there is otherwise occupied. What's it gonna be?"

"Can we call this one a draw, KID? I think I've got bruises on top of bruises right now; I'd rather not invite any more."

Hakuba heard a tsk-ing sound. "That's not a draw, Tantei-kun. If you give up, then I win~"

"Jerk."

"Well, you tried at least," KID laughed. "Now then. Thank you for the eventful night. I look forward to your next invitation."

There was a loud and somewhat familiar clunk, and Hakuba looked up again at the sound of a shouting stampede of task force officers charging through the unlocked doors of the lobby and into the street. KID was nowhere in sight, but Hakuba's concerns were mostly centered around the possibility of getting trampled.

"I want teams A through C searching the area for any sign of him," Nakamori was shouting. "Team D, help Hakuba-kun. Get that woman in cuffs, right now! Team E, make sure the fire department is at that building and the perimeter is still secure. Let's go!"

The officers began to disperse and a small group of them circled around Hakuba, seizing the woman he had pinned and helping him to his feet.

"Her gun should be–"

"Here, Hakuba-kun," one of the officers said, walking up with the gun and Hakuba's discarded handkerchief in hand.

"Thank you," Hakuba said, ignoring the woman's vehement swearing as cuffs were locked around her wrists. "Is everyone all right?" he asked, as he always did on KID's behalf at the end of a heist.

"We were all out of the action this time around," one of them answered. "Really, we should be thanking you, Hakuba-kun."

"Not at all."

"So, what happened?" someone asked in an undertone, and a few of them moved in a little closer.

"Ah… Well–"

Between two of the officers standing in front of him, Hakuba spotted Shinichi ducking back into the lobby and his thoughts scattered once more into the realization that had struck him just minutes ago. His mind had continued to turn it over all the while, and the resulting conclusion was… inescapable.

"Actually, will you excuse me?" he said. "There is one more thing I need to do." He pushed past the officers and headed into the lobby, striding right up to Shinichi.

"You knew!"

"Huh?"

"This entire time. How did I not see it."

"Hakuba-kun, what are you talking about?"

"Of course," Hakuba continued a little helplessly, barely hearing Shinichi's question. "I thought, 'He is the most brilliant detective I know. He would not knowingly fall in with a criminal.'" His mind caught and held the way Shinichi's body tensed. The way his eyes had widened, locked on Hakuba's. "But that logic was wrong." He felt a strange kind of calm slowly creeping in now as the pieces settled together more snugly. "What I should have reasoned is that you are the most brilliant detective I know; there is no possible way you could have missed it. You just… do not mind. Or maybe… you even…" Like it. Have so much of a taste for danger or risk that you saw the enigma that is Kaitou KID and chased it. Caught it. Held on to it because you… wanted it. And perhaps… I was like you once. His jaw clenched. And perhaps that is the real reason I did not want to see it.

"Uh, Hakuba-kun, there's something on your head," Shinichi said in a pathetic attempt at distraction and damn did KID ever have his work cut out with this one. If Shinichi, however unintentionally, ever got Kaito in trouble with his inability to lie effectively, Hakuba was going to find a way to make him regret it.

"I am aware of that," he snapped at Shinichi. He reached up and snatched the item from his head, not entirely certain when it had gotten there, and was not surprised to find himself holding the silver tiara bearing the Winter Cherry amethyst. There was a white tag dangling off of it and Hakuba tugged it loose.

"Thanks for the assist, Tantei-san," it read. Signed, "Kaitou KID."

Hakuba's hand closed into a fist around the tag and he let out a sigh, closing his eyes. It looks like I'll be helping them both from now on.

"Hakuba-kun…?"

And Kudou knows. "…It does not make any difference after all, does it," Hakuba muttered. "It is a matter of proof." He opened his eyes and met Shinichi's. "Trust that I will be keeping a closer eye on you from now on, Kudou-kun," he warned.

"Uh, sure?" Shinichi said.

Hakuba just looked down at the tiara and let out another sigh, then turned and headed off to find Jirokichi.

It would be so much simpler if we had remained black and white, he thought. Kuroba and Hakuba. He paused at the revolving doors for a moment then veered off to use one of the others instead, pushing his way out into the street. But with KID we cannot help but step into the grey. Kudou as well… How many more will be pulled in with us before this is over? He looked up at the smoke pluming up above the city lights as the sabotaged helicopter burned on a distant roof. I can only hope we know what we're doing. Glancing down again at the tiara in his hand, he let out a soft laugh. Or, perhaps, it is enough to trust each other. There is no longer room for doubt.

Smiling, Hakuba headed down the street to return the stolen tiara.

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Author Note:

You know, I can't even remember how this chapter happened, but I'm guessing it had something to do with wanting to write more Hakuba coupled with the fact that I really enjoy writing the same scene from different perspectives.

Anyway, that's it for the bonus chapters! If I think of something else that feels like it belongs in this universe, or if I get an intriguing comment, it's possible I will add to it. But for now I am all about writing Gravity!

(That being said, I definitely took a break from Gravity recently to write another "And So They Met" one-shot, and that will be up next weekend. Sometimes these things are just out of my control :P)

Anyway, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed!