Disclaimer: I don't own DCMK


Illusions of the Sun

7: Sparks of the Stage

Kaito and Shinichi arrived in school that morning to find a horde of students swarming around the front of their classroom. Kaito automatically looped an arm around his companion to guide them through the commotion and to their seats.

"What's going on?" he asked Ran as he and Shinichi reached their seats.

The girl in question greeted them both with a smile. "People are just signing up for the talent show."

"Talent show?"

"Yeah," Sonoko said as she came up beside Ran and slung her bag off her shoulder and onto her seat. "You know, when people perform something they're good at. Didn't you guys have them at your old school?"

The magician shook his head. "No actually. So how does it work?"

"Well, everyone who wants to try out can sign up like they're doing over by the board right now," Ran explained. "Then they hold auditions for the rest of this week which are judged by the student council. They choose twenty five people who get to perform at the talent show being held two weeks from now."

Kaito hummed thoughtfully, turning his gaze to the front of the room where the crowd was beginning to thin.

"You should sign up," Shinichi said from his seat, looking up at his companion's pensive expression. "I know you want to."

Kaito hesitated only a moment longer before nodding decisively. "I think I'll do that." In a puff of smoke, he was gone. Shrieks of surprise from up near the sign-up sheets announced where he had reappeared.

"Aren't you interested?" Ran asked, looking at Shinichi.

He shook his head. "I don't like being stared at."

"All right class, if you still want to sign up you can do it during break," the teacher announced, shooing the students still milling up front back to their seats. "Now, the end of the semester is coming up soon. I have the guidelines for your final projects here. You will be working in groups of six…"

X

The times for everyone's auditions were posted in the relevant classrooms that day after school. Kaito was just heading over to check where his name had ended up but Shinichi stopped him.

"It's tomorrow at ten minutes past three," the oracle said by way of explanation before he frowned slightly. "Oh, wait, we told everyone we could have the project group meeting at our place after school earlier."

"That's all right. It shouldn't take long, so you can take everyone over after school and I'll join you guys when I'm done here."

"How did you know what time his audition would be?" a curious voice inquired, making them both jump. Two pairs of eyes turned to find Hakuba standing behind them, brown eyes fixed inquiringly on the oracle.

"I—saw it earlier when they came to put up the lists," Shinichi lied, forcing an uneasy smile onto his face.

"I see." The blonde eyed the two of them a moment longer before apparently deciding to let the matter drop. "Well, I have compiled a list of everyone's contact information here. If you do decide you need to change the meeting time, just call us." That said, he handed them the sheet of binder paper and moved to catch up to Ran and Heiji.

"That one sure is nosy," Kaito muttered, indigo eyes narrowing and turning a shade darker. He didn't like the idea of the self proclaimed detective poking around his and Shinichi's business.

"Kai, it's all right." Shinichi placed a reassuring hand on the magician's arm. He didn't like seeing that wary, dangerous look on Kaito's face. Like he was still seeing enemies in the shadows. "We're not worrying, remember?"

The magician glared a moment longer then relaxed, offering Shinichi a sheepish smile. "Right, sorry. Let's go. I need to pick up some supplies before we go home."

X

"So this is where you live?" Ran looked up at the house with interest before glancing at Shinichi. "What about you? Does your family live near here then? I mean, you two always come to school together."

Shinichi blinked then looked away. "My parents—passed away some time ago. I've been staying with Kaito and his mom since then."

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bring up bad memories…" the girl said guiltily.

The oracle shook his head though, giving her a faint smile. It was a somewhat sad smile, she thought, but there was something hopeful there too. "No, that's all right You couldn't have known. And it was a long time ago."

"So are we going in or are we all just gonna stand around out here?" Sonoko demanded impatiently as she wandered over from where she'd been examining the flowers in front of the house. "You might want to get a gardener for those by the way. They look like they haven't been getting enough water."

"Man, why do I have to carry your backpack for you?" Hattori demanded as he finally caught up to the group. He glared at Sonoko as he shoved said backpack into her arms. "What do you carry in there anyway? Bricks? If you're gonna ask someone else to lug your baggage, you should at least have the courtesy to make it light!"

"Oh grow up," the girl in question sniffed, slinging the pack over her shoulder. "You can't expect me to carry all that and walk all the way here. I'd be all sweaty and that would be gross."

"How does Makoto put up with you?"

"Children, I do believe we have more important matters at hand," Hakuba drawled.

Hattori immediately rounded on him with a scowl. "Shut up, you condescending bastard!"

"Do you guys want to come in?" Shinichi cut in before the fight could escalate. He opened the front door and gestured for them to enter. "Would anyone like anything to drink?"

His four guests filed into the house and he directed them into the living room before making his own way to the kitchen. Chikage had recently found a job at a local bakery so no one else was home. Filling the kettle with water, he put it on the stove to heat and went to root the teabags out of the cupboards. By the time he returned to the living room with a tray of cups and the teapot in hand the others had already set everything up.

All four of them had brought laptops and someone had even thought to bring an extension cord. Now they were all seated around the living room table in front of their respective laptops and Ran had pulled out the project guidelines.

"So basically we're supposed to be conducting a debate," she began, eyes skimming over the instructions. "She'll be giving us three of six modern issues and we'll have to debate them as though we're one of these people listed here from different time periods."

"Hey, this one actually sounds interesting," Hattori remarked, pulling out his own guidelines to look for himself. "Hey Hakuba, you should play the British dude."

"In case you have not noticed," Hakuba said dryly. "There are five British…dudes," he drew out the word like it was an unfamiliar and rather tasteless thing, "on this list."

"Why is the whole list made up of old dead guys?" Sonoko complained. "I mean, who cares what old, dead people would think about modern issues? They have nothing in common! They shouldn't even care."

Ran shook her head, torn between laughing and sighing in exasperation. "Er, I think you might be missing the point… The project is designed to get us to do research and think more in depth about different time periods and the people from them."

"Maybe we should start by deciding who we would each play," Shinichi suggested, sitting down with an open notebook in his hands. "Then we can conduct our individual research."

They all agreed and began perusing their options. When Kaito arrived, most of them had already started doing their research. He glanced around the room before taking a seat on the floor beside Shinichi. The oracle greeted him with a smile before his eyes flickered up to the clock and he realized that Kaito couldn't have gotten back this quickly on foot.

"No one saw me," the magician murmured into his ear before he could comment.

Shinichi frowned a little then shook it off and handed the character list to Kaito. "The ones with checks are the ones who've already been picked. You're supposed to choose who you want to research from the rest. Our textbooks have quite a lot of information on most of them already, and Ran says she can look up what books the library has on our choices for us too."

Kaito nodded and began to go down the list of names and the short descriptions next to them. Shinichi took a moment to look around the crowded living room. It felt so—so strange to have so many people over. But it was a good kind of strange.

X

"Man, I'm tired of working," Hattori complained much later. "We've been working for three hours straight! We should go watch a movie or something."

"I second that," Sonoko declared, shutting off her laptop with an irritated flick of her wrist. "I'm tired of working. Let's go do something fun and finish the research some other time. It's not like we don't still have loads of time. I'll bet no one else has even started yet!"

"I suppose we did get quite a lot done," Ran consented, leaning back to stretch her arms and shake out her wrists. "I wouldn't mind going out. What about the rest of you?"

"I wouldn't object to seeing a movie," Hakuba replied.

Hattori snorted, muttering something about 'bloody British prats' not being able to just say yes like a normal person. All four of them turned expectantly to the last two members of the group.

"When's your mom coming home?"

"She should be back any minute. But we could write Mom a note," Kaito mused, then he smiled at Shinichi. "Let's go."

"Great!" Hattori leapt to his feet, fishing his cell phone out of his pocket. "I'll just go give Kazuha a call and see if she wants to come."

Kaito also excused himself to go write that note to his mother, leaving Shinichi and the others to clean up the living room. Since most of their research notes were digital, they hadn't made much of a mess, but they had to pack the computers and Shinichi gathered up the cups and teapot to take back to the kitchen where he gave them a quick rinse.

He had worked his way through all the cups and was working on the teapot when a pair of arms wrapped around him from behind and Kaito leaned over his shoulder to watch him work. "You can leave that for later you know. Everyone's already waiting outside."

"I'm just about done anyway," he replied, setting the pot aside to dry. Turning off the water, he stared out the window over the sink for a moment, just relaxing into the magician's warm embrace. He still felt safest when they were like this. Tilting his head back, he glanced sideways and up into Kaito's face, and he thought that perhaps the magician too shared some of his thoughts. "Should we go then? We shouldn't make them wait for us."

Dragging his thoughts back from wherever they had wandered off to, Kaito nodded, lips quirking into a wry grin. "I want to try the popcorn when we get there. I want to know if it tastes as good as it smells."

X

The movie was an adventure film full of sword fights and sorcery with a dash of romance because Hattori had wanted action and Kazuha had wanted a love story and everyone else hadn't cared as long as it was funny. Kaito bought a large box of popcorn just like he'd said he would. He seemed to be enjoying it, but Shinichi thought the stuff tasted rather like buttered paper. After the first few bright yellow puffs he couldn't be bothered to eat any more so instead he snitched the lemonade that had come with the popcorn and settled in to watch the show.

There was something exciting about sitting in a dark theater with only the massive screen ahead for light. The atmosphere gave the images a strange sense of life even if he knew it was all fake. But what really struck him was that moment at the end when the hero and the heroine rode off along the seashore, content in the knowledge that all the darkness was behind them and now they had their happily ever after. No more villains, no more worries, just one bright road into a future of their own creation.

"Do you think we can ever really have that?" he'd wondered aloud as he leaned his head against Kaito's shoulder and watched the sun spread glittering fingerprints over the sea as it grew more and more vast and the riders more and more diminutive.

The magician wrapped an arm around his shoulders and leaned his own head on top of Shinichi's. "I think so."

"…That's good."

They fell silent as the credits began to scroll across the screen, content in the moment to believe that it was true.

"Uh…s—sorry to interrupt, but are you two coming?"

The two of them looked up to see Hattori standing at the end of their row of theater seats. The dark-skinned youth looked embarrassed for some reason as he looked everywhere but directly at them.

"Is something wrong?" Shinichi asked, puzzled.

"Er, no! No, nothing at all. Just, uh—" His awkward stuttering was interrupted by Sonoko's piercing tones.

"Hurry up you guys or we'll leave without you!"

"We wouldn't want that," Kaito remarked, chuckling. Getting to his feet, he stretched before offering the oracle his hand. "Come on."

The three of them caught up to the others as they were exiting the theater.

"So what did you think of the movie?" Kazuha asked as she fell back to walk beside Hattori.

"It was pretty decent," he replied with a shrug. "Though I don't understand why they had to stop in the middle of the most exciting fight scene just so the leads could kiss." He shook his head in disbelieving disappointment. "I mean seriously, it totally ruined the mood!"

"Only because you don't appreciate the fine art of romance," Kazuha retorted, folding her arms. "That was when you really see how the characters grew and that they really care about each other! The fight's the filler, not the other way around."

"What?" he spluttered. "No way! The whole point of the story is to beat the bad guy. The romance line is just for weird people like you who like the mushy stuff."

"Your eloquence never fails to astound me."

"Shut up Hakuba," he snapped. "Can't you see we're trying to have a conversation?"

"I thought they were arguing," Shinichi muttered under his breath. Sonoko must have heard him though because she snickered.

"It's just the way they are," Ran explained, her own eyes twinkling with mirth.

"Of course the kiss is important!" Kazuha was now fuming. "You only say it isn't 'cause you've never kissed anyone."

"Well neither have you," Hattori retorted before he halted abruptly and his eyes widened in shock. "Wait, you haven't, have you?"

The girl in question sniffed and walked past him. "Why would I tell you something like that?"

He gaped after her for a moment before running to catch up. In moments they had both bypassed the rest of the group. "But—hey! Wait, Kazuha~!"

"He sure is getting bent out of shape," Kaito remarked, rather amused by the other teen's incoherent spluttering.

Sonoko smirked. "That's because he's afraid someone's gone and taken Kazuha away from him before he gathered up the guts to admit he likes her."

"Sonoko…" Ran sighed, shaking her head at her friend's antics.

"Well you and Blondie aren't much better."

Ran flushed dark red. "Sonoko!"

"And what about you two?" she asked slyly, turning her gaze on the transfer students. "Either of you ever kiss anyone? Any significant others? Or are you still looking for that special someone?"

Kaito looked back at her with an impassive smile, but inside he was frowning. It sounded to him like she was implying that someone might come around to take Shinichi away from him one day.

No one was ever going to take Shinichi away from him.

Hakuba sighed from his position at the back of the group. "You do realize that our personal lives are none of your business?"

"Doesn't mean I can't ask, does it?" Sonoko shot back. "Honestly, sue a girl for being curious will you?"

"There is a fine line between curiosity and nosiness."

She snorted. "Says the so-called detective. You but into other people's business way more than I do."

"I, however, am working for a good cause."

"Whatever. Come on, let's get something to eat. I'm starving!"

Later, as the two of them were making their way home through the evening streets, Kaito found his mind drifting back to the movie and the question Shinichi had asked him. He thought about the promises he'd made to himself and the two people he loved and dreams they had left or forgotten. He couldn't see the future the way Shinichi could, but he knew without a doubt the things that he would never let go and the things that he must not forget.

So before closing his eyes to sleep that night, he cupped Shinichi's face with his hands and kissed him like the people in the movie had when they had made their own promises about their lives and their futures. Shinichi had looked at him with mild surprise but it lasted only for a moment.

And it seemed to them both as they fell asleep that night that finally, after all this time, they really were moving on.

X

"I got in!" Kaito announced, an excited grin stretched across his face as his eyes gleamed.

Shinichi smiled at his obvious elation. "Congratulations. Do you have everything you need?"

"I'm not sure yet," the magician replied, beginning to pace. Absently his hands produced several colorful balls and began to juggle. "I still haven't planned out the whole thing. I wanted to go take a look at the stage first, see what I have to work with. Hey, you know, the doves might be ready to start performing by then. Maybe I should…" He trailed off into a stream of quiet muttering as his juggling picked up speed.

"What's up with him?" Sonoko asked as she and Ran came up the aisle to get to their seats.

"He got into the talent show."

Ran smiled. "Oh, that's great, congratulations."

"I don't think he's listening," her friend remarked.

Kaito halted abruptly and spun around to face them so fast it made them jump. "I've got it! I need to go get something." That said, he spun on his heels and bounded out of the room. They stared after him in varying degrees of shock.

"But class is about to start!" Ran exclaimed. As if on cue, the bell rang.

Kaito missed first period that day but he was back by the time the bell rang for their second class of the day with a grin that looked in danger of cracking his face open. This made everyone give him a wide berth as he had gained something of a reputation for liking to pull pranks.

Kaito's excitement only grew as the day of the show approached. He would only have fifteen minutes to perform, but he was going to make sure that it was fifteen minutes of their lives that no one who came to the show would ever forget. On the night of the show, he walked Shinichi and his mother to the school theater's front entrance before vanishing to finish his preparations. He'd been listed as the show's finale and waiting for everyone else to finish was a pain, but when the time finally came to step out onto the stage all that nervous agitation melted away under the brilliant glow of the stage lights.

For the first time in a long time he thought back on his father's shows and his heart ached at the memory, but at the same time it swelled with an elation he couldn't even begin to describe because now he finally had the chance to step into that dream. A dream he'd abandoned years ago.

TBC


A.N: Hmm, it feels kind of foreboding all of a sudden. Funny, I've noticed I really like writing Sonoko and Heiji's interactions, hehe. Hope you enjoyed the chapter and see you next time. ^_^