Ran has calmed down when they went to the ballroom for the show. Her eyes are still swollen and red from crying.
Shozou steps up to the stage to announce the beginning of the magic show as everyone applaud.
The first magician walks up to the stage to begin his performance. There are a total of five magicians and according to Chikage, Kaito is going last.
Conan blushes instantly at the mention of his childhood friend. He pushes the event happened earlier away and collects himself.
He needs to figure out his feelings. For Ran's, Kaito's and his sake.
Chapter 10: The Magic Show
The crowd applause as the second magician takes the stage. Conan claps as well but his mind is elsewhere.
First in the list, how did he feel about Ran now?
Honestly, he still love her... Just not in love with her. Being as Conan for a year makes him see how little he knows about his childhood crush. And as a child, he can see lots of thing from different angle. Slowly the love he had for her morphs into sibling affection.
And like what Kaito had pointed out, she did not recognise him as Shinichi. Sure there were times that she did suspect and even almost caught him, with just a misdirection, she will dismiss the idea.
Which hurts. A lot.
So concluding all of these, how did feel about Ran?
.
.
.
Love.
But as a sister.
A sense of relief flows through him like a heavy weight lifted from him all of a sudden. And he feels relatively calm.
The crowd applause again and it is then he notices that the third magician had finished his performance without him knowing. The fourth magician steps up and turns out to be Sasaki Touma who they met in the garden earlier.
Next, what did he feel about Kaito?
Conan immediately blushes at the question which surprises him. He places a hand over his heart to calm it from thumping so fast. From the day he remembered about their past, he always feel free and safe in the magician's presence which he always did too when they were young. But that is because Kaito is his best friend right? A very important friend, probably more than Ran.
No, definitely more.
Even before everything, when he and Kaito were just Conan and KID, he knows that he can trust the phantom thief to an extent. KID is one of the reasons that he is glad he had turned into Conan. It allows them to meet. The old Shinichi will not have bother with thieves.
And that night when KID gets shot on that rooftop, he had never felt that terrified other than those times he had dealt with the organisation. Terrified that KID will die, that he will lose another person that understand him, in a whole lot of levels. Haibara, Agasa, Hattori and his parents know his secret but KID, Kaito knows and understand as he is in an almost similar situation.
And in the month after they have reunited, he could not imagine a day not thinking about Kaito. The messages they have sent and received, the calls they have made and picked, the time they have spent hanging out. Those moments always bring a smile to him. Not a day where he does not feel happy, and true to the teen's words, no crime happen when they are together. Only when he returns to the agency or alone, then there will be. But Kaito always seems to know about it and will call him to ask if he is alright. He sometimes wonder if the magician thief had bugged him or had Yuki been spying on him.
It reminds him of those days when they were young, when Shinichi gets into troubles. Kaito is always able to find him and saves him. He can always sense if Shinichi is feeling down, and he will do anything to cheer his friend up.
It is the same now. No matter how gloomy his day turns out, a text or call from the magician cast it all away. And when they ended their nightly chat, he will always look forward to Kaito's greeting the next morning.
Now he thinks about it, he is acting like a love-struck high school girl...
Love-struck?
Is that it?
"And last we will have Kuroba Kaito!"
Conan's heart misses a skip as Kaito appears on the stage in a puff of blue smoke, wearing a full white tuxedo and a red ribbon under his collar. His hair on his left side were combed back, giving him a sense of maturity. A single blue rose hangs by his left chest pocket.
Conan blushes at the magician's overall look as he looks really good in it... Really dashing actually...
Before Kaito starts his performance, he gives a bow and during that, a wink towards Conan's direction.
The shrunken detective can instantly feel his heartbeat speeding up.
He watches the performance.
He had always love to see Kaito do his magic show. Be it big or small. They clearly show the teen's passion for his line of work, how his indigo eyes twinkle along with every tricks he do. Even as KID, he never fails to entertain him and the crowd, though he would not say the same for the task force.
Kaito brought him joy and fun. Never fails to make him smile. He feels like he can just go on and on to list everything good about the magician thief.
Placing his hand over his pendant under his shirt, he closes his eyes. And lets out a breath.
He loves Kaito.
As if to congratulate his findings, Kaito ends his show with a big wave of his arms, allowing his flocks of white doves to fly out and spread confetti over the crowd. And when the audiences catch the confetti, it turns into a blue rose with a small puff of smoke.
While the crowds are mesmerised by the confetti, Conan feels a familiar weight landed on his shoulder. He smiles and turns his head towards Yuki who has a blue rose held between her beak. She cooes and bobs her head forth, like telling the detective to take it who did and strokes her feathers. He looks at the rose then towards Kaito, who is smiling at him from the stage.
"For your information, those roses belong to me and not from the garden, so please do not worry." He nods to the owner and turns back to the crowd. "Well then, I hope you have enjoyed my show, Ladies and Gentlemen!" He bows and everyone applaud, even cheers and whistles.
"I have ta admit, he's good." Conan looks to his side to see Hattori clapping as well. The Osakan then turns to the shrunken detective and grins, the mischievous vibe it has can rival KID's. "So, what's with all the blushin' throughout his performance huh? And that is his dove right?"
Conan scowl and tries to hide his blushing face, as he continues to pat Yuki.
"Ya know... What that guy had said earlier ta Nee-chan at the lounge, I can't help but agree with it."
Conan looks at him then at Ran, who is clapping but he can clearly see her eyes tearing up.
"Ya know ya have got ta tell her. Don't let her wait any longer... For both her and ya sake." Hattori glance towards Kaito, who had been joined by the owner on the stage to give his gratitude. "And maybe that guy too."
Conan looks back at Kaito who is held back by the owner, introducing the teen as Kuroba Toichi's son and how he is a fan of his late father. "I know. And I will." He smiles at the Osakan. " Thanks, Hattori."
"But man, I can't believe ya will fell in love with a guy. But since it's ya, it must be serious."
"You should quickly confess to Touyama-san too. Or a good girl like her will be taken soon."
The Osakan immediately blushes. "Aho! I'm not...!"
"Yeah yeah..." It is then Conan notices something wrong with the headlights above the stage. They are wavering. No, the whole rigging is shaking. "KAI GET AWAY FROM THE STAGE!"
Everyone turns to Conan who shouted as a loud snap cracks through the hall. The rigging drops and crashes onto the stage, glasses from the headlights shatter everywhere. The crowd screams as they scrambles away from the stage.
Conan can feel his heart sink and his blood running cold.
Kaito is... Kai is...
He runs ahead while trying to push himself through the crowd, desperately trying to get to the stage. When he finally pushes through, a hand grabs onto his.
"Conan-kun! It's too dangerous!"
"Let go of me! He's...! He's in there!"
"You can't...!"
"Let go of me Ran!" Conan turns around to Ran who looks at him in shock, her grip loosen.
"Co..nan...kun?"
Conan immediately free his hand and run towards the stage, Hattori following close behind not before turning to Kazuha. "Ya guys head out with the crowd! And call the police and ambulance!"
Kazuha nods as she and Sonoko semi-pulling the still shell-shocked Ran out of the hall.
Conan tries to make his way through the wreckage, but it is totally blocked. He can feel his eyes tearing up, his brain just stops working. All he can think of now is to get to Kaito. No, not now when he finally knows his feelings.
"Kai! Kai answer me! KAI!"
"I'm over here!"
Conan turns to the voice immediately to see Kaito supporting the unconscious owner as they carefully make their way over the wreckage.
"Kentaro-sama!" Shouzo hurries to the owner's side and supports him.
"Kai!" Kaito turns to the voice to see Conan running up to him as he kneels down to meet him. "You're hurt!"
Conan takes of his hoodie and ties it around Kaito's bleeding left upper arm. He stares at it when it is done as his hands cannot stop shaking. A gloved hand places itself over his, helping him to calm down. He looks up to meet Kaito in the eyes, who smiles at him. "I'm here."
"Ba-ro..." Conan cannot hold it any longer as he circles his arms around Kaito's neck and buries his face against it.
Kaito circles his right arm around the shrunken detective and holds him up, carefully maneuvers Conan to let him settle on his lower arm. The magician thief looks at the wrecked rigging to the ceiling above.
"It's no accident. Someone sets this up." Hattori holds up the broken cord. "Acid residue."
Conan looks up at the cord as his eyes harden. He signals Kaito to let him down as he moves to take the cord from Hattori. "His target has been the owner Fujisaki Kentaro from the very beginning. To kill him when he is giving his speech." He turns to Kaito. "I think he didn't expect you to be held back on the stage."
"Ku-Conan, ya know the culprit is?" Both Conan and Kaito give a flat look on the slip Hattori had.
"Yeah... It's Sasaki Touma. And by now he should be..."
"Somebody help! The garden is on fire!"
"Damn!" Conan curses as he jumps off the stage and start running in the direction of the garden, along with Kaito and Hattori following right behind.
The garden is like a sea of fire when they reached and in the middle of it is Sasaki Touma. In his hand is a single blue rose.
"Sasaki Touma! No, Katou Shuichi!" Kaito's eyes widen at the name when Conan shouts it.
"You are a clever boy. Edogawa-kun."
"Don't run away! Face what you have done!"
"I'm not running away. I am just on my way to meet Ryo finally. I have finally killed that bastard, for taking his own child's life!"
Everyone gasps at the information while the fire grows closer to Shuichi. Conan tries to get in but is stopped by Kaito.
"Kuroba-kun, treasure that boy. Hope the both of you have a better chance than me and Ryo."
The fire engulfs the man as all of them turns their gazes away.
The next moment, it rains. But it is already too late. In the middle of the burnt garden lies the burnt corpse of Katou Shuichi.
Conan and the others give their statements when the police arrived, along with the ambulance which Kaito heads over with Chikage to treat his injury.
They found out later that Fujisaki Ryo is actually a boy. Due to being borne weak, he is supposed to dress as a girl as a traditional way to give the child a healthier body and only until the age of 15, is he allowed to be a boy again. Disgusted by the fact that his son felling in love with a gardener's child, a boy nonetheless. Fujisaki Kentaro killed Ryo on that night when he is waiting for Shuichi, who arrived to witness the murder. But instead of waiting, he waited till this day to get his revenge. Fujisaki Kentaro is taken to custody, waiting for his crime to be judge.
Conan sighs as he looks at the burnt garden and to the blue rose in his hand that he has gotten during the show earlier. The meaning of the blue rose...
A unrequited love.
"Shinichi?"
Conan turns around to Kaito whose left arm is held up in a splint. They both smile at how rugged and tired each other looked.
No. Definitely not unrequited.
TBC...
I'm bad at writing crime cases... Forgive me XD Will try my best next time though~
Yeah~ Conan/Shinichi figures out his feeling~!