HELLO!

I know it has been a while since I last updated, that's why I made this chapter longer than usual, this time.

enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Detective Conan or Magic Kaito.


Chapter 11

Suddenly, Shinichi stood up from the table much to their surprise, He looked at Sonoko with an expressionless face, " this discussion is over and If you want to remain, my friend, I suggest you do not talk about this topic again." The four of them looked at him in shock and at that moment Hiro came back from the bathroom.

"is everything okay?" Hiro asked noticing the tense atmosphere.

" everything is fine, Hiro," said Heiji calmly, " why don't we go home? It's getting late."


No one rose from the table except Shinichi who was already standing rather stiffly "come Hiro ." said Shinichi in a softer tone. "we have a school tomorrow." As soon as they got away from the table the both of them, Ran rounded on Sonoko.

" why did you do that?!" she hissed at her.

"but Ran! Don't you see? If he has a problem with Kuroba-kun he should face it instead of acting like a coward that he is!" she bellowed loudly, Shinichi who was still at the door heard her and turned around quickly to tell her exactly how he thinks of her but his brother's voice stopped him in his tracks.

"why is Sonoko-nee-chan angry with you?" Hiro asked his brother, Shinichi sighed, " you know Sonoko, we're always bickering at each other, don't worry about it." then they went out.

" calm down! We are sitting in a restaurant for god sake!" said Kazuha, she was astonished at Sonoko's behavior, she never saw Sonoko and Shinichi acting like this before.

Heiji who was silent until now pinched the bridge of his nose irritably, " Sonoko-chan didn't it occur to ya dat it might be a family matter and ya should not interfere?"

" Exactly!" exclaimed Ran.

"no, it's not!" Sonoko scoffed. " because I know for a fact that you know why he doesn't want to go, he never hides anything from you!"

Ran massaged her head trying to ease her headache, "Sonoko, I will tell you this once, Shinichi didn't just lose Sh-"

" he's not the only one!-" Sonoko cut her off, "let me finish!" Ran snapped at her, Sonoko gaped at her, surprised at her new behavior.

" he didn't just lose her he lost Kuroba-san, his uncle as well and you know Shinichi loved Kuroba-san like a second father! And you know how Kuroba-Kun was since his father's death, he never talked to anyone for two weeks! including Shinichi! That's why Shinichi doesn't want Kuroba-Kun to see him, fearing him to remember and think about his father death, again. he blames himself for what happened, Sonoko." She said the last part softly, Kazuha and Heiji's eyes widen in shock at that, it was the first time they're hearing it.

Sonoko frowned in confusion, "but why is he blaming himself? He wasn't even there when Kuroba-san died!"

" you know how it was that day, all of them in one day and most of it happened in front of his eyes, you have known Shinichi almost all your life, Sonoko! what do you think he would feel after what happened?!"

Heiji and Kazuha felt confused and were wondering what does ' all of them in one day' mean.

"bu-but h-how could it be his- he was young! and he didn't even know! None of us did!" Sonoko spluttered slightly.

Ran sighed tiredly, " it's Shinichi we are talking about, Sonoko, just don't mention it again. and you have to fix it!"

"WHAT?! Didn't you hear what he said? He's the one who should apologize not me!"

Ran groaned and pinched her the bridge of her nose impatiently, " both of you were wrong and rude to each other but you started it first by opening the can of worms, so you have to fix it!"


He was standing in the balcony, leaning with his elbow on the fence and looking at the garden in the backyard deep in his thoughts, remembering what took place at the cafe today and wasn't aware of his surroundings.

He heard a noise that brought him out of his thoughts, he looked to his left, to see Heiji putting two mugs of hot chocolate in a small table.

" hot chocolate? Really, Hattori?" he asked with a deadpan look on his face, he doesn't like chocolate much or anything sweet for that matter.

"Hey! either dis, juice or coffee and it's late for drinking dat dark stuff and too cold to drink juice," said Heiji giving Shinichi his hot chocolate.

"I thought you went to sleep?" asked Shinichi taking his mug from him.

"Nah, I don't want to sleep, now." Said Heiji while sipping from his own mug, Shinichi nodded once then went back to look at the backyard, lost in his thoughts again.

Heiji looked at him in concern, " ya're okay, man?" Shinichi nodded again.

"Yeah, just thinking about something." He said without looking at him, he put his mug on the small table which was beside him and went back to look at the garden.

Heiji sighed heavily, " ya went too far, today, ya know, threatening her with ya'r friendship like dis was really low, even though she was acting like a bitch and sticking her nose to where it doesn't belong."

Shinichi grimaced slightly, " I know." He said quietly, Heiji knows that it wasn't his friend's natural to snap at someone like this especially his friends, Shinichi has always been calm, even in a situation that might make your blood boil in anger.

They stood in awkward silence for a while, each of them lost in their own thoughts. ever since Heiji saw Shinichi's cousin's photo when they went to his house for the first time, Heiji was filled with curiosity about his cousin but when he saw Shinichi odd behavior when he and Kazuha asked about the photo he didn't ask again about it nor he asked about his sister for that matter.

But today when they mention Shinichi's cousin again he was filled with curiosity and he searched about him in the internet, though he didn't find anything about him instead he found a Kuroba Toichi, a world-famous magician who died a few years ago, then he remembers the big photo that he saw that day and found out Kuroba Toichi and the man in the photo are the same person.

That's when they got back home he went to Ran to talk to her about it, but she said that it's not her story to tell and all she could tell him is Kuroba Toichi was Shinichi's uncle and Shinichi blames himself for what happened to him.

"I searched about him, today, ya know." Said Heiji, Shinichi blinked getting out of his thoughts.

"huh?" he said looking at Heiji.

" I searched about your cousin on da internet but I found Kuroba Toichi, instead, a known magician who died in an accident, dat's why I went to nee-chan today."

"Oh!" Shinichi said grimacing slightly " she didn't tell me much actually and said it's not her story to tell." said Heiji while looking at him, noticing his shoulders were tensing.

"do ya...ah... want to talk about it?" Heiji asked him rather awkwardly, Shinichi sighed heavily then turned around to look at the garden again, Heiji frowned in concern at the lack of answer then decided to try again.

" Ya know, ya have always made sure in any murder case dat de next victim is safe and sound and even saving a murderer from committing suicide but if ya failed in saving someone dat doesn't mean ya are at fault here, ya do realize dat, right?" said Heiji to him.

Again there was silence on his side for a while and Heiji frowned again and began to worry that Shinichi won't talk at all, he was worried about Shinichi, his friend has always kept his secrets close and it's not healthy to do so.

Shinichi's voice broke his chain of thoughts, " it wasn't an accident." Shinichi said quietly, Heiji was surprised, to say the least, he didn't expect his friend to talk about it.

" I figured as much." Said Heiji nodding his head in agreement.

"five years and a half ago, Toichi-san decided to have a magic show here in Japan, there was a grand event of some kind for celebrities, since Toichi-san was a celebrity he was invited along with a few known magicians, The Organizers wanted to end the event with one of his grand shows and he accepted it, he hasn't made a magic show in Japan for two years and decided to surprise his son." Said Shinichi.

When Heiji searched on the internet he remembers that the media said a mistake had happened in Kuroba Toichi's show and there was fire everywhere and he was killed in it.

"when I woke up in the hospital, I found out that Toichi-san died, an 'accident' happened that caused his death in his show. well that's what the public thinks, anyway, but it was no accident, Toichi-san wasn't a world-famous magician for nothing, there's no way he would do a silly mistake like this in his show."

Heiji frowned, he wants to ask why Shinichi was in the hospital in the first place, could it be dat he was at da show and he got hurt in da 'accident'? he thought to himself, no, Sonoko said dat he wasn't 'dere', he frowned, then what?.

" Kasan was tired because of her pregnancy that day so we didn't go, but since it was a surprise for Kaito-Kun, his mother took him there." Shinichi shook his head like he was trying to forget a horrible image from his head.

" in one second he was watching his father doing an amazing, yet, dangerous trick and in the other, he saw his own father literally turned into a human torch in front of his eyes, he was only ten at the time." Heiji shuddered at the image, he couldn't imagine how he would feel if he saw something like that happened to his father or his mother for that matter.

"in the same day, I heard the two men talking, one of them asking the other about their third partner and the other man said that they are taking care of the 'magician' and I knew at once which magician they were talking about, I couldn't call Toichi-san fearing they might hear me so I sent him and Tousan a message, hopping Tousan would be able to save him."

"but it was too late." Said Shinichi bitterly, " the show had already begun and Toichi-san always switches off his phone before his show."

Heiji frowned in concentration, since Kuroba Toichi 's show was the last one it would have been canceled if something happened to the magician before him that's how Shinichi knew they were talking about his uncle, he thought.

Then his thoughts went to what Shinichi has said about the two men 'I couldn't call Toichi-san fearing they might hear me' Heiji frowned, Shinichi was talking like he was taken hostage by these two men. He thought. Heiji then looked at his friend, Shinichi has a faraway look in his eyes and seems to have lost in his memories and isn't aware of his surroundings much.

"I remember talking about it on my way back from school with Ran" said Shinichi. " and someone stopped us to ask if it was true that Kuroba Toichi is going to make a magic show, it was a secret at the time, they wanted it to be a surprise for the fans but the guy who asked us seemed excited about it so I told him, yes, Toichi-san will be there."

Heiji was looking at his face keenly, he noticed a look appeared on Shinichi's face that he never saw before, it was a guilty look mixed with self-loathing, Heiji knows that Shinichi feels guilty for what happened to his uncle, but he knows that there's no way Shinichi would cause someone's death, but then again his friend has always been carrying the world on his shoulders.

He was bothered though, something is telling him that the mystery guy who asked about Toichi wasn't asking an innocent question, Heiji's eyes widen in his realization. " he wasn't just a fan asking an innocent question, was he?" Heiji asked apprehensively, Shinichi sighed and put his head in his hands and leaning with his elbows on the fence tiredly.

"no, when the police came to take my statement, they asked if I saw someone other than those two acting strange, they were trying to find out how those men found out about Toichi-san's show, it turns out that one of the two men the police caught near the accident was the same guy who asked us a few days before.". again, Heiji wanted to ask what was he doing in the hospital in the first place but he decided to think about it later and kept his mouth shut and was silent for a while.

Heiji and Shinichi may have different personalities, Heiji is hotheaded kind of guy and usually reckless, he usually does a lot of dangerous stunts in murder cases without thinking it through which almost always put him in the hospital, he can't hid what he feels that well especially when he's angry or upset about something. while Shinichi is coolheaded, always calm and always thinks ahead before he does anything. He's not a sentimental kind of guy, he doesn't show his emotions that well.

but they have a lot in common, aside from being detective they aren't what Heiji calls them 'cuddly people' meaning they don't know what to do with emotional people, they become rather awkward and don't know how to comfort them. in this case, Heiji doesn't know what to do, he has been in this situation before with other people and always his mouth run away from him, then afterward, Kazuha gives him a full lecture for being tactless.

he racks his brain trying to think what to say then said, "you're being too hard on yourself, Kudo, there's no way it was your fault, you didn't know who he is and anyone in your place wouldn't have known either, I don't think that your cousin might blame you for this."

Shinichi shook his head again, " you don't understand Hattori, I know Kaito, he's my soul brother after all." Heiji raised his eyebrows in surprise," Toichi-san was everything to Kaito-Kun, he looked up to him, he was his idol, he always said he wants to be a magician like him, that's why I walked away and never saw him again."

They were silent for a moment each of them lost in their thoughts. " I know I'm a coward for doing this but he was devastated already, till today he still thinks that it was an accident and I didn't want to make it worse by telling him what really happened."

They once again stood in silence, Heiji wants to ask a lot of questions about his uncle death, a lot of things doesn't add up but he didn't ask, but he was determined to not to leave his friend like this so instead he said. " tell me about your cousin, how were you two acting when you were young?" Shinichi smiled a little at his question and began to tell him about their first meeting.

They kept talking until it was 2 am then both of them went up to there rooms, after Shinichi went to the bathroom he walked toward his bed and pulled the covers and slide under it, yawning slightly, he closed his eyes already half asleep. then he suddenly remembered him.

" it may not save victims from being killed, but if you want to be a detective you should know, solving the mystery means not only the imprisonment of the murder but it brings justice and closure to their families and friends as well."

he was the same guy from three years ago.


After he went running he took a shower then went downstairs to the kitchen to make himself a cup of coffee...

Ding dong!

"hai!" said Shinichi walking to the front door.

"Ran? " said Shinichi then opened the door wider "Come on in.", she stepped inside and kissed him on the cheek, " good morning." she said.

"G'morning."

both of them went to the kitchen, "tea?" he asked.

"sure." Said Ran sitting on the bar, after making tea and coffee for him he sat across from her, they sit in silence for a while each of them drinking their tea/coffee.

" Where's Kazuha-chan? why didn't she come with you?" asked Shinichi.

" she forgot her book so she went back to get it, by the way, where are the others?" Ran asked.

" Heiji is talking on the phone and Hiro is still getting ready."

She looked at him with keen eyes then said, "are you okay?" asked Ran apprehensively.

"yeah." Answered Shinichi nodding his head already knows what is she talking about, " I've talked to Heiji, last night after we get back, I've told him what had happened that day...well part of it anyway."

Ran was surprised, to say the least, but she's pleased to hear that Shinichi talked about it with Heiji, he has never talked about it before and she was worried about her boyfriend, he has always hidden his feelings and worries and never show it to anyone.

She was glad that Heiji is their best friend, that way Shinichi has someone to talk to other than her, not that she mind him talking to her. it took a while for Shinichi to be truly friends with Heiji, even though it seemed like they were old friends when they met for the first time.

"that's good, I'm glad you did, he's your best friend and both of you tell each other everything." Said Ran.

There was an awkward silence no one wants to mention the elephant in the room, " I'm sorry." Shinichi blurted out suddenly.

" for what exactly?" asked Ran while giving him a hard stare, Shinichi winced, "about what happened yesterday, I've gone too far with what I said to Sonoko."

Ran's eyes soften slightly, she was probably the only one aside from Shinichi's parents and Hakase who knows that Shinichi hasn't healed completely nor has he forgiven himself, he hasn't been himself since Shira's and Toichi-san's death, there were some moments that Ran sees the old Shinichi but it was always with Hiro and those moments were rare and far between.

"you have to apologize to her." Said Ran, Shinichi groaned loudly but after seeing her warning look he went quiet, " when she apologizes to you, you will accept her apology and you will apologize to her in return for being rude, understood?" ordered Ran while glaring at her boyfriend.

"fine." He huffed in annoyance.

They set in silence drinking their hot drinks until Ran broke the silence, " when will this end, Shinichi?"

Shinichi frowned in confusion, " what do you mean?"

"I mean for how long will you keep yourself away from Kuroba-Kun? He's your brother and you're hurting him by keeping away from him."

Shinichi sighed, he already had this conversation a million times before with his parents, "Ran, you know that I can't, I'm the reason why he doesn't have his father, what do you think will happen after he sees me and found out about what I did? Because trust me, Ran, if I met him I won't be able to keep myself from telling him the truth."

Ran rubbed her eyes tiredly."Shinichi, I know you're scared about his reaction but Kuroba-Kun won't blame you because simply it wasn't your fault!"

Unknown to them their loud voices attract Heiji's attention who was in the living room, talking on the phone

"how can you be so sure?!" he exclaimed. She glared at him, " for god sake, Shinichi! You were a ten years old kid who was fighting for his life at the same time, you did the best you could do in this situation, and no one blames you except yourself and I know for a fact Kuroba-Kun doesn't blame you!" she said irritably.

He looked at his mug of coffee and said in frustration " I know my parents don't blame me but this is different and Kuroba-Kun doesn't know so how can you be so sure-"

"but he doesn't blam-"

" how do you kno-"

" because he already knows, Shinichi!" she exclaimed loudly.

Silence.

.

.

"what?!" he finally said in shock, Ran took a deep breath and said more calmly. " when you were at the hospital he would always come every day to ask about you, he was scared that he might lose you like he lost his father and Shira. That day right before the funeral when the police came to take your statement I saw him there but since he couldn't enter your room at the time he stood outside beside the door waiting for the police to finish and he heard everything."

Shinichi went pale and couldn't utter a word, " he was shocked at first." Ran continued, " and wanted to be with himself to think, that's why when you asked about him Chikage-san told you he wanted to be with himself for a while, but when Sonoko and I visited him a few weeks later he was asking about you and told me he doesn't blame you for what happened to his father."

Shinichi frowned slightly lost in his thoughts, " why didn't you tell me about him finding out?"

"I thought that your parents told you, already." She said quietly while looking at him, "Shinichi, I know you're hurt for being away from your soul brother but... how do you think he feels, right now?"

Shinichi grimaced knowing exactly how Kaito feels, sure being separate from your soul brother is not exactly the same as being separate from your soul mate, while you feel intense pain if you part from your soul mate for a certain amount of time, you would feel like something is missing and would never feel a whole without your soul brother.

"think about it, alright," asked Ran, Shinichi nodded in agreement.

"now, that's out of the way, shall we talk about what happened in that bomber case?"

Shinichi grimaced again feeling guilty for what he did to her, " look! All that happened is Takagi-Keiji and I found out that there is a bomb in an elevator inside Touto Tower and then we heard that there was a little girl stuck inside the elevator, and while we were trying to save her, we somehow got stuck inside instead, I know how you would feel if I got hurt but this time it was out of my control." Said Shinichi quickly.

Ran narrowed her eyes at him and said through greeted teeth, " do you think I'm mad because I might get hurt if something happens to you? "

She gave him a death glare, " I don't care what would happen to me if you get hurt, I only care about your safety!"

Shinichi scowled at her "you should care about yourself more, don't you have any self-preservation at all?"

" look who's talking!" she huffed irritably.

They began bickering at each other not noticing that someone was standing outside the kitchen hearing them, Heiij smiled to himself glad that his friend is less gloomy than yesterday.


"dere are a lot of cases about missing people," said Heiji to Shinichi while searching on his phone, they were back from their school and were standing at the lake where Shinichi loves to play his violin.

"and a lot of murder cases as well." He said.

" Yeah I've noticed." Said Shinichi, " and I've noticed bomber cases have been increasing, lately." He said while holding his iPhone as well.

" Black Pearl," said Heiji quietly lost in his thoughts.

"Hmm?" asked Shinichi.

" an Organization of some sort. they had a lot of names, The Black Pearl, The Dark Moon, The Night Howlers, The Death Eater. have you heard of them?"

"Yeah, I've heard of them, they were active in Osaka, Yokohama, and Kyoto and now, in Tokyo. the most famous and widely known name is The Red Mist." finished Shinichi.

Kazuha who was nearest to them heard them and asked "Red Mist? what does that mean?"

" do you know what da bomb squad calls a person who has been blown apart by a bomb?" Heiji asked her, she winced at the image then shook her head in negative.

" red mist, dat's what day called," said Heiji.

Sonoko who heard them and Hiro who was talking to Ran about the song he played on the piano at his school heard them, Sonoko scowled, " can't you for once sit with us without talking about murders and mysteries?"

" it's important, Sonoko-chan, at least we are talking about something to do with our job." Said Heiji.

Kazuha looked at them in confusion, " what job? You don't have a job!"

" at least we don't talk nonsense every time we open our mouths." said Heiji, pretending he didn't hear anything.

Kazuha narrowed her eyes at him, " excuse me? What did you say?" she asked testily.

Shinichi rolled his eyes and he and Ran shared an exasperated look, already having a feeling that those two will continued bickering until they reach their the Kudo's house, while Sonoko kept shooting glares at Shinichi every few seconds, Shinichi who noticed her glares glared right back at her, both of them still haven't apologized to each other and Ran doesn't know what to do with them.

Wanting to break the tense atmosphere, Ran said: " so Shinichi, I heard that our school is going to play Ekoda high school, when is the match?"

Sonoko looked away first, " really?" she asked Ran.

"Uh-huh," said Ran.

" we are playing next week." Said Shinichi.

" does that mean Ekoda's students are coming here?" Sonoko asked.

Shinichi snorted, " oh no, we are playing on the phone." He said sarcastically.

Ran give him be-nice look and he wisely kept his mouth shut, Heiji who thankfully stopped bickering with Kazuha said, " are you going to play this time?" he asked Shinichi.

Shinichi couldn't play the last match because Megure-keibu wanted him for a big case and they barely won that match, " yeah, I'm, so don't worry."

"good because I wasn't too pleased with you when you didn't play last time," said Sonoko, Ran groaned loudly and put her hand on her face in exasperation.

He rolled his eyes annoyed but thankfully, Ran didn't see him this time, " well, it's not my fault that some bastard decided to kill seven women in five days!"

Kazuha and Hiro who were silent till now grimaced slightly at the image. " let's not talk about those kinds of things, alright?" said Kazuha.


HACHOOOOOO!

Shinichi sneezed, he knew he shouldn't have run like that in the rain but he didn't have any choice. he could feel a headache coming and his throat began to ache.

" are you okay?" Ran asked in a worried voice, they, that is Shinichi, Hiro and her were at her house in her father's office, Shinichi was sitting on their couch looking pale slightly while Kogoro was sitting on his desk listening to Okino Yoko and singing along with her at the top of his lungs, Hiro was sitting at a small table doing his homework and wincing every few minutes at Kogoro's horrible singing.

" yeah, just a little cold," he said.

she shook her head, " you will never change." she said exasperatedly while giving him a fond look, " why don't you lay down and I'm going to make you a hot soup?"

"sure," he said nodding his head, then he stopped the movement almost immediately because it makes his headache worse, he lied down and closed his eyes.

BANG!

the door to the office banged open suddenly and the four of them jumped in surprise, they looked at the door quickly then relaxed, " oh, it's you." Shinichi murmured.

it was Sonoko, she was smiling widely and madly, " Ran!" she shouted happily, Shinichi winced at her loud voice, "blabbermouth! will you keep it down? I have a headache!"

she ignored him and skipped toward Ran and tugged her arm, " come on! pack your bag, you're coming with me to the party!" she said excitedly.

Ran looked at her weirdly, " what party?" she asked.

" remember I told you before that I joined a club on the internet, The Magic Lovers club?", Ran nodded her head, " they are having a first meeting party today and I told them that I'm bringing a friend with me, Oh! and we're staying the night!" she said happily, she whirled around to look at Hiro who went back to his homework.

" you can come too, Hiro-Kun and you too, detective geek, it will be fun! the house is in the mountain and its surrounds by forest."

cutting him off guard, " Er..." Hiro said uncertainly, he looked at his big brother almost in a panic, he's not interested in this party besides he doesn't want to go with Sonoko but he doesn't want to be rude, Hiro really likes Sonoko- nee-chan but she can be overwhelmed sometimes.

" Hiro can't go, Sonoko." said Shinichi coming to his rescue, " he's going to meet his friends at Hakase's today but I will go, god only knows how much trouble you get yourself into when you go to unknown places, I'm not leaving Ran with you!"

Sonoko who clearly wasn't listening to him rolled her eyes and said: " yeah, whatever. let's go!"

.

.

.

after they took Hiro to Agasa's house Kogoro rented a car to drop them off. Shinichi was sitting on the passenger set beside Kogoro, his cold was getting worse by the minute while the girls were sitting at the back talking, Sonoko was showing Ran a magic trick that Shinichi saw a million times before.

" I'm going to show this trick to them at the party!" said Sonoko with enthusiasm.

Shinichi snorted, " these people probably know a lot of magic tricks if you show them a basic one like that trick they will laugh at you."

she glared at him, " if you're coming with us, detective geek, stop saying stupid things!"

he rolled his eyes at her, "fine, be this way, it's not my problem, anyway."

Ran smiled at this because she knows that Shinichi care about their friend as much as her but he doesn't show it much, then she frowned in concern when she saw Shinichi coughing, she bites her lip nervously, half of her didn't want to go to that party and wants to just go home so Shinichi could rest peacefully in his bed but the other half didn't want to leave Sonoko all alone with people she hasn't seen before. she sighed heavily, she doesn't know what to do. she noticed from the corner of her eyes that her father throwing looks at her boyfriend every few minutes, she smiled again at this, it seems that Shinichi is not the only one who hides his caring side.

they spent the rest of the way in silence no one talked except Sonoko who was telling them that she pretended to be a man and her nickname in the club is 'spell magician' then she began to tell them about a guy who according to her is a 'charming gentleman' called Doito Katsuki who she met online, he was another member from the same club.

Shinichi sighed in relief when Kogoro stopped the car, they finally arrived at their destination. there was a wooden bridge ahead of them, they stepped out of the car then walked toward the bridge.

" there's something smells funny in here," said Kogoro while walking, no one heard him except Shinichi who can't smell anything because of the mask he's wearing over his nose and his mouth, they kept walking until they reached the house which there was some guy was standing at its front door.

" you must be ' Spell Magician' am I right?" asked the guy, he was taller than Sonoko and has short brown hair.

Sonoko blinked in surprise, " yeeessss." she said slowly still confused.

"my name is Ara Yoshinori my username is The Silent Ventriloquist, also I'm the owner of this house. we were waiting for you," he said.

" but how did you know that I'm 'Spell Magician'?" asked Sonoko.

the man looked at her and smiled, " I know it from the way you chat, it sounds like a girl pretending to be a man, isn't that right, guys?" he asked his friends who were standing behind him.

"oh yeah, I always laugh when I see it." said a woman, her hair was brown and she wears glasses and standing beside her another man with dark skin and another woman with sort brown hair.

" me too." said the man with the dark skin, "but no one can act better than Ms. Tanaka?" he said looking at the short-haired woman.

" allow me to introduce to you the rest of the guests." said the man with the short brown hair to Sonoko, " this is Kuroda Naoko, she's 'Illusion'" " he said looking at the woman with glasses.

" and this Hamano Toshiya, he's 'The Invisible Bunny'." he said looking at the dark-skinned man, " and finally this-" he said looking at the short-haired woman, " -is Tanaka Kikue, she's The Little Cheater and who made everyone to believe that she's a man."

"I didn't intend to act like a man," said Tanaka smiling apologetically.

Sonoko the introduce Ran, Shinichi and Kogoro to them then asked about Doito Katsuki, " where's Doito-s... er... Red Herring? is he here, yet?" she asked Ara-san.

"yes, he's upstairs," he said. they heard someone coming downstairs

"Oh! here he comes," said Ara-san.

as soon as they saw him, Shinichi looked at Sonoko, the look on her face made him wanted to laugh, it was priceless! Doito was a young fat man with black hair, Shinichi could tell the image Sonoko had of him in her mind was crushed in a million pieces.

" you are 'Spell Magician'. aren't you? I'm Doito Katsuki." he standing in front of Sonoko.

"." she said still in shock.

"you really are a girl, a cute girl at that." he said grinning at her, Sonoko gave him a deadpan look, Shinichi couldn't hold it anymore he snickered at her, then it turned into a cough.

\/

\/

"you really are a girl, a cute girl at that," he said grinning at her while trying to hide his shock over seeing who it was.

Kaito couldn't believe his bad luck, he thought himself one of the luckiest guys, but that wasn't the case today, he didn't know that the one he has been talking to online is Suzuki Sonoko, one of his friends. he groaned inwardly, his cousin will discover his mask in a second, oh well he always loves a challenge. he sighed, he still doesn't know how Meitantei discovered him that easily the last heist, he can only hope that he won't be discovered easily this time.

he was surprised though, he knows that detectives, generally don't like Magicians and magic tricks, then what on earth Meitantei is doing here of all places? he asked himself, he then looked at his cousin, he looks terrible. he thought, looking at Shinichi from the corner of his eyes carefully, he looks pale and has bags under his eyes and was coughing every few minutes, he noticed the Mouri girl was looking at him in concern as well.

" why are we still standing at the front door? come on in." said Ara-san smiling at Ran, which Shinichi wasn't impressed by it and neither was Kogoro who was glaring at Ara-san, all the guests stepped inside the house except Kaito, The Mouris, Shinichi, Sonoko who was still staring at 'Doito' in disbelieve.

" actually...' Kogoro began to say, Are-san who began to move so he could lead them inside stopped in his tracks and looked at Kogoro, " I only came here to drop off my daughter and her friends," said Kogoro.

Ara-san opened his mouth to talk but Kogoro cut him off, " wait a moment."

Ara-san looked at him, all of a sudden Kogoro grabbed him from the front of his shirt and yanked him off of his feet, " if you dared to go near my daughter ..."

" Otosan!" Ran shouted in shock.

Shinichi coughed again, Ran who was glaring at her father turned around at once forgetting her father at the moment, she looked at her boyfriend in concern, " maybe you should go home as well, your cold is getting worse by the minute."

Well, she's not wrong, he looked dead on his feet, thought Kaito looking worried himself.

Shinichi looked doubtfully at his girlfriend, Ran noticed his look and said: " we will be fine, Shinichi, don't worry." said Ran reassuringly.

he sighed, " I know you can take care of yourself, but be careful with those people." said Shinichi while throwing a death glare at Ara-san.

Ran noticed his glare and smiled mischievously but she wasn't the only one who noticed his glare, Sonoko and Doito noticed as well,Sonoko grinned widely while Doito who was eavesdropping on their conversation hide his, he was watching them from the corner of his eyes and noticed their body language toward each other and with that glare he guessed that either they are a couple or they didn't confess their feelings to each other, yet.

his first theory was confirmed when Ran nodded at Shinichi then stood on her toes and kissed his cheek, blushing slightly at having done this in public, Shinichi smile at her softly, which was the first time Kaito sees his cousin smiling like this.

darn!, if we have met as Kuroba Kaito and Kudo Shinichi before the whole Kaito Kid thing and became friends like any cousins would, I would have teased him mercilessly, thought Kaito.

oh well, Kaito Kid could tease him instead, Kaito grinned inwardly at this, this should be fun!

\/

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\/

After Ran lectured him to stay put on his bed and call Agatha Hakase to take care of him they left. they were in the car on their way home, Shinichi who wasn't paying attention to the radio was wondering why the old man let Ran go that easily and unknown to Kogoro he got his answers.

"now Ran is not here, I should go to a bar and have fun myself," Kogoro muttered to himself, Shinichi holds back a snort.

"Today, Nishiyama was found dead in his apartment in Haido city. A mysterious message was left on the computer next to the body, it says ' This is the first victim from Shadow Manipulator'. the police are investigating the reason for this murder. it was known by his family that he was scheduled today to go to The 'Magic Lovers Club' first meeting party as the meeting leader before he was murdered.

Shinichi's eyes widen in shock and Kogoro looked at the radio in horror, Shinichi looked at him, " we have to go back, turn around, NOW!" he shouted at him.

as soon as Kogoro stopped the car they get out and ran to the wooden bridge then they stopped suddenly and gabbed at the bridge in horror.

it was on fire.

Shinichi whipped around and looked at Kogoro, " is there another way to get to the house?!" he said sharply.

"no. the bridge is the only way." Shinichi's heart sunk at his words.

" call the police then! and get someone to get us out of here!" he shouted at Kogoro and without a second thought, he ran through the burning bridge.

'Ran!' he shouted through their connection and unknowingly out loud as well.

Ran who was standing in the balcony with Sonoko jumped in surprise, "Ran, what's wrong?" asked Sonoko when she saw her friend entered the house again in a hurry.

'what's wrong, Shinichi?' she asked him but he was coughing so badly he didn't answer at once.

'you're in danger!'

'What?!'

"I...I heard someone calling out my name." lied Ran to Sonoko, she walked fast towards the front door and Sonoko right behind her.

" here? deep in the mountain? you were probably imagining it."

"I will just check outside then come back," said Ran, already knowing who she will find. she opened the front door and saw Shinichi leaning heavily on the wall outside the house, his mask was off his face and was gasping for air, she noticed his jacket has scorch marks all over it and a smell of smock filled the air.

"what the...!" said Sonoko in shock taking in his appearance.

Ran rushed towards him, "Shinichi! are you okay?! what happened to you?!" Ran asked in a frantic voice while holding his arm to support him.

" yo-you h-have to g-go aw-aw-away!... yo-your-you're not s-safe he-here! t-the... br-bridge... b-burning." he gasped. Shinichi was coughing badly and was too tired to talk so instead he showed her through their connection what he heard from the radio but as soon as he did that black spots began to appear in his vision then he passed out.

Ran gasped in fright when she saw him leaning heavily on her and his body wasn't supporting him anymore, "Shinichi!"

"Shinichi-kun!" Sonoko rushed toward Ran to help her supporting him but someone else was there before her and put Shinichi's arm around their shoulders and helped Ran to support his weight.

.

Doito was setting the table with Kuroda-san while the rest of the guests some were helping to make dinner and some were still upstairs in their rooms. Doito wasn't paying attention to Suzuki Sonoko and Mouri Ran who he put a listening device under the collar of her blouse. he was really curious about his cousin and so he saw the best thing to do is to watch his closet friend and he knows for a fact when girls talk they say a lot of interesting things, but right now they were standing in the balcony and were talking about unimportant stuff (well...to him anyway) and so he found himself thinking about his next heist.

suddenly he was broken out of his thoughts by Suzuki's voice, " Ran, what's wrong?", then he saw from the corner of his eyes that the Mouri girl was rushing out of the balcony and walking toward the front door.

"I...I heard someone calling out my name." said the Mouri girl.

" here? deep in the mountain? you were probably imagining it." said the Suzuki girl.

"I will just check outside then come back."

Doito left what he was doing and walked behind them slowly then began to fasten his steps when he saw the Mouri girl rushing out of the house and heard her shouting his cousin's name in shock.

"Shinichi, are you okay? what happened to you?"

what Doito saw shocked him, his cousin looks worse for wear, his cough was really bad and he was breathing hard, he heard Shinichi talking to Ran with difficulty. suddenly Doito noticed Shinichi swaying slightly on his feet and he ran fast toward him, Kaito put his cousin's arm around his shoulders and he saw the Mouri girl doing the same with the other arm.

she put her hand on Shinichi's forehead, " we have to get him inside, his temperature is high!" said the Mouri girl frantically.

Doito nodded his head at her, " we will take him to one of the rooms upstairs, it's warmer than here!" Ran nodded at him still looking at Shinichi in worry. together they took him inside along with Sonoko who held the door wide open for them, after they put him in bed Doito went to his room and got some medicine from his bag, then he came back to Ran's room to see Ran sitting on the bed beside Shinichi and putting a wet towel on Shinichi's forehead, he nodded to himself, good that will help bring his temperature down, he thought to himself.

it was really weird to see Meitantei so sick like this, he looks weak and exhausted unlike the last heist when Meitantei kicked his ass on the ship ( he will never admit to it, though.), Kaito didn't like the detective to be like this, he admits he's worried about his cousin especially when he looks like he walked through fire to get here, which probably was by the looks of his clothes, he thought eyeing Shinichi's jacket which has scorch marks all over it.

" here, Mouri-san, that will help as well." said Doito giving her a pill, Ran looked at him questioningly, " I'm a medical student," said Doito answering her silent question, she nodded at him in thanks and took the pill then she put it in Shinichi's mouth, she took the glass of water that was on the bedside table and puts her arm under his head to help him drink the water.

Kaito was watching all this and was analyzing it quietly, it was clear from the worry on her face that she cares deeply about his cousin, he's one lucky guy. he smiled inwardly.

" do you know what happened, Ran-san?" he asked her.

she bites her lips nervously, " he told me that I have to go away, that it's not safe here.". Doito frowned in worry.

the rest of the guests who thanks to Sonoko knew what happen were downstairs wondering what had happened to the detective and why he came back in the first place, Kaito left the room knowing his cousin is in good hands, he went downstairs to see Ara-san holding the phone trying to call the leader of the club with no use, there was no dial tone.

" this is bad, Nishiyama-san is responsible for all tonight's programs, so only he knows the program's schedule." said Ara-san putting the phone down.

" and there's no signal in our cell phone," add Ara-san apprehensively.

"then we have to find another leader until he comes," said Tanaka-san who was standing behind him.

" well not me, I hate being a leader." said Kuroda-san, Doito raised his eyebrows at this because nobody said anything to her." should we use stone, paper, scissors to decide, then?" he suggested cheerfully.

"oh no, it won't be fun that way, how about using a magic trick? we are members of the magic lovers club after all," said Hamano-san then he asked Sonoko to assist him.

"me?" Sonoko said in shock and was confused slightly, he nodded at her then gave her a white handkerchief to close her eyes with it then he asked Tanaka-san for paper and pen, he told Tanaka-san to write down everyone's name on each paper.

"now Tanaka-san, after you finish, please shuffle the papers and give them to Sonok-san." after she what he told her he said: " now, Sonoko-san please write down randomly a circle, an x, and a triangle on each paper and make sure that you don't write two symbols on one paper."

" why a circle, an x, and triangle?" asked Kuroda san.

" because each symbol represents a specific job. a circle represents the party leader, an x represents the entertainment leader for tonight, a triangle is for the person who will boil water for us to take a bath tonight," said Hamano-san smirking slightly.

after Sonoko finished writing the symbols Hamano-san said: " before we look at the papers I will try to guess with my 6th sense which person will take one of the jobs."

Hamono-san guessed that Kuroda-san will be the party leader and Tanaka-san will be the who will boil water for them and he was right in both but when he guessed that the entertainment leader will be Doito, he was wrong when they looked at the paper it turns out to be him, Hamano-san.

"then you have to go up to your room and think about something to entertain us," said Sonoko while smiling slightly.

The three of them, Tanaka, Kuroda, and Hamano left to do their jobs and Ara-san along with the part-time worker went to the kitchen to reheat their dinner (they haven't eaten because of Shinichi's sudden appearance at their doorstep) which leaves Doito and Sonoko alone.

noticing that no one is around Doito saw this as a perfect opportunity to know a little about his cousin's life. the Suzuki girl seems to be the blabbering type and so he took a chance.

"so Sonoko-san, how did you and Ran-san know a famous detective like Kudo Shinichi?" he asked her.

Sonoko was surprised at the sudden question, to say the least but didn't find the harm in answering it, " we have known each other since we were three years old, we have met in Sakura class in preschool and we have been friends since then."

" it seems to me that Ran-san and he are more than just 'childhood friends." said Doito grinning slightly.

" they are together, alright!" said Sonoko giggling, "they have liked each other since they were young, it was obvious, really, I remember Shinichi-kun's blushing face when he saw Ran for the first time... come to think of it? it was a sight to see, actually, which irritated me so much."

"Oh? why is that?" he asked perplexed at her tone of voice.

" even though... and it pains me to admit it about Shinichi-Kun, both of them are intelligent but they were pretty clueless about each other's feelings, you don't know how annoying it was seeing them behaving with each other and when you confront them about their feelings they deny such a thing."

Doito tilted his head slightly, " It looks like you had a hard time to make them confess to each other."

" Oh no, I didn't make them, even though I'd tried countless times. that detective geek confessed to her in London in front of freaking Big Ben last year! and I've only found out about it six months later." she grumbled the last part irritably.

Doito whistle in surprise, " I didn't know detectives can be romantic!"

my, my, who knows Kudo Shinichi, detective extraordinary to be a romantic guy? he thought to himself.

she snorted, " trust me he's not, he's dense about those kinds of things most of the time to be a romantic.". she said with a bored voice, beginning to feel bored.

Doito noticed this and said: " Shall we go and see how's our detective doing and call them to dinner?" Doito asked Sonoko.

" sure."

Knock knock

" Come on in!" said Ran.

they entered the room to see Shinichi was sitting up on the bed Ran gave a glass of water to drink. " how is your feeling, Kudo-san?" asked Doito.

Shinichi looked at him, "I'm fine. Doito, right?"

Doito nodded his head and raised his hand to shake his, " the name is Doito Katsuki, it's pleasure meeting you!"

Suddenly, Shinichi has the feeling that something similar had happened but he has a headache and couldn't think clearly. he looked at Doito's hand then took it.

" Kudo Shinichi."

out of nowhere, Doito felt the inside of his left wrist burn and as soon as it began it stopped, he didn't give any reaction about what happened and grinned at Shinichi which sent chills down his spine, Shinichi shuddered inwardly. that was creepy!

Sonoko frowned in thoughts, "isn't that strange? you never get sick that easily?"

Shinichi sighed tiredly, " I stood in the rain for a while, yesterday."

" what on earth were you doing in the rain?" she asked incredulously.

" I saw someone stab another in the street then after I checked on the victim and called an ambulance and the police I had to chase the murderer before he got away, but he disappeared in the end, then I had to stay until the ambulance came."

" are you insane?! you stood all this time in the rain?!" she shouted.

"so? unlike you Sonoko, I don't care if my hair got wet, besides, I had to stay with the victim and make sure that he's stable enough until the ambulance came, a little bit of rain won't have stopped me.". after hearing this, Kaito's respect for his cousin increased tenfold.

" a little bit of rain! you detective freak! it was raining cats and dogs, yesterday! and instead of Ran having fun you're making her worry!" Sonoko exclaimed loudly.

" Sonoko!" shouted Ran.

Shinichi gave Ran an apologetic look which Doito noticed, " Suzuki! there's a killer after all of you, they already killed a member of your club and they won't stop anytime soon and we are stuck here in the middle of nowhere without any contact what so ever to The outside world and the only way that could get us out of here was burned to ashes, so remind me again, where the hell the fun in that?!"

Katio made a mental note to never make his cousin that angry, he looks scary!

"wait, what?! what do you mean-." Doito began to say something when Ran cut him off. " what do you think you're doing?" she asked Shinichi when she saw him getting out of bed quickly."

" I need to know where are the others, it's not safe to split up."

" probably in the dining room.' said Sonoko while giving him a glare, she was still pissed off at his attitude.

Shinichi moved quickly to the door and got out of the room, following the voices he went downstairs and entered the dining room with the three of them hot on his heels.

they entered the room to find Kuroda-san and the part time-worker Sugama Kiyohiro were already there setting the table. " Kuroda-san where are the others?" asked Shinichi.

Kuroda opened her mouth to answer but Tanaka-san entered the room. " the dinner is finished?" asked Tanaka-san. " feel free to seat yourself." said Kuroda-san smiling at her, almost a second later Are-san came with a bottle of wine.

"it's freezing out there," he said shuddering slightly from the cold, good all of them are here except Hamano-san, thought Shinichi frowning, he has a bad feeling in his gut. he was sitting calmly on the dining table watching them.

" here you are! The King of Evasion and Shadow Manipulator haven't come, yet?" asked Tanaka-san.

" they don't get along, the both of them, I won't be surprised if they have met somewhere and began to fight."

"Shadow Manipulator may not be coming but the leader, The King of Evasion may be on his way here," said Ara-san.

" he's not coming." said Shinichi quietly but everyone heard him. " he was murdered in his apartment."

"murdered?!"

" his name is Nishiyama Tsutomoto, right?" Shinichi looking at Ara-san.

" y-yes." he said, still shocked at what he heard from the detective. " then, What I heard from the radio should be correct. I rushed back here to warn you all that you're not safe here."

" how come?" asked Kuroda-san.

" because there was a message left on the computer beside the body, it says: This is the first victim from Shadow Manipulator."

" what?!" said Doito in shock.

" is it because the thing they disputed about?" asked Tanaka-san. " come to think of it Hamano-san was involved too..." she stopped suddenly.

" then Hamano-san...?" said Are-san, he eyes widened in horror.

all of them ran upstairs toward Hamano-san's room, thanks to his football skills even though he's sick Shinichi was the fastest, he arrived along with Doito-san at the said room after he asked Ara-san where it was, he knocked at the door but there was no answer. Ara-san rushed to open the door since he has the keys.

the room was empty.

Shinichi saw the open balcony and he rushed toward it, he didn't see anything but then he looked down to see Haman-san laying in the middle of the snow.

how did he get there?! there's no footsteps printed in the snow! thought Shinichi.

all of them rushed out of the house, again, Shinichi and Doito were the first to get to Hamano-san and crouched down together beside him, ٍShinichi stopped Doito from touching Hamano-san's neck. " allow me." he said.

Shinichi took out a white glove from his pocket pants, it looks like what the police usually wear at crime scenes, Shinichi noticed marks around Hamano's neck, he put his hand on Hamano's neck to search for a heartbeat, already knowing he won't find any. he shook his head and sighed heavily.

" he's dead, someone strangled him."

all of them gasped in shock.

Ara-san made a move to get closer but Shinichi stopped him in his tracks, "don't come any closer!" Shinichi warned him. they stared at him, perplexed. "we don't want to mess up the crime scene more than it's."

" crime scene?!" asked Ara-san, Shinichi sighed tiredly, he wasn't feeling up to explain to them but they have to get it in their heads. Shinichi was about to explain to them but Doito beat him to it.

"the body is found 30 feet from the house, but the footprints around the body only belong to us. this is the murder that people without wings like us shouldn't be able to commit. this the impossible murder." said Doito grimly.

Shinichi let Doito explain how Hamano-san was killed, apparently, someone used a small string to strangle him, but no one knows how he got out of the house unnoticed.

" this must be committed by someone closed to this place," said Doito, Shinichi was watching Doito's facial expression with ken eyes, there's something about him is not right.

"are you saying that the murder is one of us?!" exclaimed Are-san.

"no, there's not enough evidence to conclude that," said Doito.

" but we are the only group here," said Tanaka-san shaking slightly.

" then, the murderer has to be one of us!" Kuroda-san said fearfully.

Shinichi sighed for the third time, sitting in the snow like this wasn't doing him any good. "have you forgotten already? the one who killed your leader left a message behind."

the only ones who caught on what he meant were Ran, Doito, and Sugama the part-time worker. " it's possible that he might have come here earlier before anyone else and hide here." said Sugama.

"who do you mean?" asked Kuroda-san.

" it's Shadow Manipulator," Doito answered her.

they panicking and the group started to urge between each other. " Tanaka-san!" Ran and Sonoko shouted at her together when they saw her walking toward the house.

" where are you going?" Kuroda-san asked her.

" I'm leaving! I'm not staying here and there is a murder hiding here!" Tanaka-san said angrily, then Kuroda-san and her began urging, again.

Shinichi stood up from his position. " everybody needs to shut up and stay calm." he said quietly but the fierce in his voice made them stop urging at once, Doito marveled at his cousin ability to make people obey him, even though they are older than him and he's barely sixteen.

" Tanaka-san, you can't leave," said Shinichi.

" you can't stop me!" she snapped at him, he burst his lip irritated at her tone, " the bridge was burned down while I was coming back here.", Doito whipped around to gape at his cousin in astonishment, then secretly begin to look for any injury, unknown to him Ran was doing the same even though she checked her boyfriend when he was still unconscious and didn't find any.

" my god! the bridge was the only way to get us out of here!" shouted Ara-san in horror.

though he didn't mean it he blurt it out, " you walked through the burning bridge to get here?!"

Shinichi looked at him, "yeeeess," he said slowly, wondering what's the deal with him, the group felt their jaw drop to the floor.

" You walked through fire to get here?!" he asked again, incredulously.

" Yeah, so?"

Doito just gaped at him, " wow!" said Kuroda-san in amazement.

Shinichi rolled his eyes at him and ignored the comment, " let's get inside, we must not split up, it will be safer that way."

" And who do you think you are to order us around? I'm not going anywhere near that house!" Tanaka-san said irritably.

Ran and Doito eyed Shinichi's state, he wasn't wearing his jacket, he had left it in the room after he found it ruined, Ran bit her lower lip in concern. " Shinichi is a detective Tanaka-san, he knows what he's doing, besides we are in the middle of nowhere and it's dark out here, you won't be able to see anything, you may get lost. it's better to get inside." Ran said softly at her.

if she wasn't his cousin's girlfriend and if he hasn't fallen in love with his best friend Aoko, Kaito would have kissed Ran for her suggestion, I have to admit she's way hotter than Aoko with those curves of hers, maybe I should kiss her just to see Meitantei's face? Kaito snickered inwardly at his thoughts, trying to image Meitantei's reaction.

after they went inside and sat in the dining room to have some hot tea. Shinichi heard the two women talking to each other, " I don't care, I'm not happy to have a wannabe detective, a teenage detective at that ordering us around, I don't like him!" Tanaka-san said loudly hoping for Shinichi to hear her, and he did, all of them did.

Ran gave her a glare, while Doito and Ara-san sent her a disapproving look. "Tanaka-san, someone died a while ago and their body is laying in the middle of the snow outside and we have a killer who wants to kill us all, frankly I could care less about your opinion of me right, now," said Shinichi.

"Tanaka-san, he's a famous detective and well known in the police force, honestly, I feel safer because he's with us," said Ara-san, Shinichi raised his eyebrow at him in surprise, well he didn't see that coming.

Tanaka-san huffed irritably and stood up and said: " I'm freezing I'm going to my room to put on more clothes."

in the end, Doito, Shinichi, and Ran went with her, Doito didn't want her to go alone And Shinichi went to get some clothes as well. soon, their day turned upside down more than it was when Tanaka-san was attacked by an arrow from her open window, fortunately, she didn't get injured, afterwards, they heard Sonko screams from the bathroom downstairs, they sprint downstairs to see Sonoko standing in the bathroom and staring at the mirror in fright.

there was an arrow stuck in it, they got out from the house and went toward the forest to see who was throwing arrows at them to find a crossbow in the snow. after they calmed down somewhat they went inside to the dining room and sat there with the rest of the group. Shinichi then asked them what was everybody doing when Hamano -san was killed after Doito told him the details and Ara-san told him that he was in the wine cellar and Tanaka-san went to boil water for them.

they went to the wine cellar and then to the place where Tanaka-san boiled the water a while ago to look around, Shinichi noticed a lot of footprints in front of the wine cellar then he found out that the place where Tanaka-san made a fire to boil water was beside Tanaka-san's room.

in an instant, Shinichi knows who is the culprit.

It was Tanaka-san

.

Kaito marveled at how Meitantei cornered the culprit until he made her confess, it was fascinating to see how he revealed the mystery easily like that.

Knowing that his cousin will reveal him any second, now. Kaito went to Doito's room, he changed his clothes in seconds and took Doito's mask off. He opened the window and leaped up on the railing and...

" going somewhere, kid?" asked Shinichi, he was standing with his back against the door and with his hands in his pockets and he was smirking.

"Meitantei! I wondered when will you come here." The Phantom Thief said cheerfully, Shinichi didn't comment but looked at him with narrowed eyes.

" don't worry Meitantei, your girlfriend is sleeping peacefully in the next room. I must say lovely girl you have got there."

" you really love tricking people, kid," said Shinichi ignoring his comment, again.

"I didn't trick anyone I only came here, because I know the real Shadow Manipulator died and I wondered who took his identity on the chat, as soon as I saw Tanaka-san, I knew it was her, she was his niece, I tried to prevent any murder but unfortunately, I'm not a detective and you're ill, it couldn't be avoided. What gave me away this time?" Kid asked.

"beside your name Doito Katsuki, your odd behavior all day was a dead give away."

Kid just grinned at him, " see you later, Meitantei, oh! and kiss Mouri-san for me, I didn't have time to do it myself." Then he jumped from the window before Shinichi react and flew away, Shinichi kept glaring after him until he disappears from the sky.

\/

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as soon as Kaito went back home, he entered the bathroom, closed the door and stood in front of the mirror above the sink, then he yanked the left sleeve of the shirt he was wearing up and looked down at the writings on his left wrist, which was clear more than ever.

Kudo Shinichi

now, Kaito is sure that his cousin is really his soul brother, he looked at himself in the mirror, "I'm doomed!"


He was feeling bored and irritated, they were in the cafeteria at school, it was their lunch break, his best friend who was sitting beside him was talking to their friend Keiko, they have been sitting like this for a while doing nothing, sure he wouldn't mind if it was just him and his best friend and... no, he didn't mean it like that! what irritated him is that that English Bastard and The Evil Witch are with them! Sure Keiko is nice and he doesn't mind hanging out with her, she's his friend as well after all but those two are the worst kind of people you could sit with.

What made him greet his teeth in irritation even more is that Bastard Hakuba is holding his phone and doing god knows what in it while looking at him every few minutes with a stupid smirk on his face, he was just praying for a diversion, maybe he could flip up Aoko's skirt and cut her conversation with Keiko could make this lunch break more fun and make that Bastard's attention elsewhere.

Kaito scowled at him when he sent another stupid smirk at him, "what!?" he asked irritably.

Hakuba smirked again, " oh nothing! I just wanted to say that your night job might be over soon." He said.

" what are you talking about?" he asked annoyed, he already has the feeling it's something about Kaitou Kid, again.

" don't you know, Kuroba-kun? Kudo Shinichi..." Said Hakuba, " The Kudo Shinichi is on your case, now and he never failed to catch a criminal before." Hakuba said smirking again.

" it seems Kaito Kid will be over in no time." He said with such smugness it should be illegal.

Kaito rolled his eyes at him, " no one can catch Kid-sama, and for the last time I'm not Kid, seriously it's getting old, you need to find another hobby.", Hakuba scowled at him.

Aoko looked with a frown on her face, "guys, can you set with each other without jumping in each other's throat?" she asked.

"sure." They said together then scowled at each other for saying the same thing.

they have been sitting in silence for a while when Aoko broke it, " what were you two talking about?" she asked.

"oh we were talking about Kaitou Kid, Aoko-san, I was just saying to Kaito that Kaitou Kid's heists may end soon."

Akako looked at him in interest, " what do you mean?" asked Aoko.

" well it's all over the news, they were talking about Kudo Shinichi's appearance in Kid's heists, lately, he stopped Kid from taking The Black Star, a while ago."

Keiko's eyes light up at once, "Oh! you mean to tell me that The Kudo Shinichi went to Kaito Kid's heist?!" she said excitedly.

kaito blinked in surprise while Hakuba looked at her shocked at her behavior, she has always been somewhat quiet and shy and never acts like this before, " Er... yes?" he still in shock.

"I never knew that you're interested in those kinds of stuff, Keiko-san?" said Hakuba.

Aoko looked at Hakuba then Keiko in confusion, " who is this Kudo Shinichi? I think I've heard that name before." she asked them, Keiko looked at her perplexed, " Ehhhh! You don't know who he is?!"

Aoko shook her head in negative, " he's the youngest and the most famous detective in Japan a-and... the most handsome too." Keiko said with a dreamy look in her eyes and put her hand on her cheek.

"I didn't know you're a fan, Keiko." Snickered Kaito, she blushed a deep red.

"Where did you see him to say this?" asked Akako, and they jumped, she has been so quiet that they forgot she's there with them.

" I haven't, I only see his pictures in the news and the newspaper, I've got to say that I only watch the news because of him, and there are a lot of pages with his name on the facebook and his name is all over the twitter as well."

" what?!" exclaimed Kaito in astonishment, he never saw a girl behave like this before, sure Kaitou Kid's fans are like this but he never saw anyone's fan acts like this before let alone a detective one.

Aoko's eyes widen suddenly, " now I remember, isn't he the one all the girls in our school are crazy about?" Aoko asked her.

Keiko nodded her head, " who wouldn't with that face of his, Kaito Kid might be charming with his magic shows but Kudo Shinichi is just... dreamy!"

Kaito gaped at her, " you're kidding, right?", thankfully Hakuba was looking at Keiko with a disbelieving look on his face and didn't register what he said.

But Keiko was still in her dreamland and didn't hear him, she didn't even notice that she said the next part out loud, " he's even more handsome than the guys in our school except maybe Kaito-kun and Hakuba-kun-" Hakuba who was drinking his tea chocked on it, "- and they are the second, Kudo-sama will always be the first."

What the hell? Though Kaito, while pink spots appeared on Hakuba's face, Aoko giggled at their expression, nobody noticed that Akako was lost in her thoughts as well except Kaito.

" Oh and he's really brilliant at what he's doing! He's a great detective you know and he's only sixteen!"

" Actually, he's still fifteen, he will be sixteenth the next month." Hakuba corrected her, all of them gaped at him in astonishment.

" what?" he asked when they kept staring at him.

" how did you know when his birthday is?!" asked Keiko in astonishment, Kaito was still gaping at him like a fis- er like an idiot." Are you stalking him, Hakuba? Gee that's creepy!" Said Kaito.

Hakuba scowled at him, the girls snickered at him, " for your information Kuroba-kun, the fans wrote it all over Facebook pages."

" Oh! so you're a fan now? I didn't know." Said Kaito grinning slightly, Hakuba glared at him.

" Bakaito, be nice." Said Aoko.

" anyway, when is the next Kaitou Kid heist?" Keiko asked Hakuba.

He shrugged his shoulders, " don't know, we haven't solved his note, yet, it only has been sent a few hours ago after all, why?"

" because I want to attend it to see Kudo-sama!"

" I never know you like detectives and mysteries?" Asked Aoko.

" well usually I don't care about those kinds of things but after I heard about Kudo Shinichi I loved it!"

" and he has the most amazing deductive skills I have ever seen!" Exclaimed Keiko, Hakuba felt highly insulted at this, seeing the look on his face Kaito began to snicker, Hakuba looked at him and opened his mouth to give him a piece of his mind but Keiko kept talking.

" and I heard that he walked through a burning bridge to solve a mysterious murder that happened in a house up in the mountains,"

"well, you're not exactly wrong, he walked through the burning bridge because his childhood friends were in that house up in the mountains," said Hakuba correcting her.

Keiko sighed dreamily, " they are lucky! I wish I'm one of his friends so he could come and save me, then he could take me away under the sunset."

Aoko and Akako looked at her like she had grown a second head while Kaito gaped at her, again with a look of disbelieve on his face, " actually, he has a girlfr-."Hakuba was cut off suddenly by a scream.

"Nobody move!"


If you want the next chapter, please Review!

Oh! and I reposted chapter 8, I made Shinichi confess to Ran in London instead, because after I watched Holmes arc for the million time, I decided to change it.

see ya next time.