Chapter 29
Aoko was watching Kaito. He had arrived late to school that day, as usual, but hadn't played it up by pulling a prank. He had been quiet all day, gazing silently out of the window, and jumped whenever someone talked to him. He hadn't noticed the bell ringing to signal the end of the lesson, and hadn't even bothered to steal Hakuba's watch from him. The whole class was on edge, glancing at him nervously every few minutes and flinching when he shifted in his seat.
Something was wrong.
The bell rang as the final lesson ended. Everyone began packing up as fast as they could, throwing their belongings into their school bags and rushing out of the classroom. A few people poked their heads back in, seeming even more terrified that Kaito hadn't even moved.
Aoko went to stand by his desk. His chin was cradled in his palm, and he was still looking out the window. He gave a small sigh.
"Kaito-kun?", Aoko said, trying for the gentle approach. He didn't move. "Kaito-kun? Hello?"
Kaito gave another sigh and started chewing his lip.
"BAKAITO!", Aoko barked. Kaito jerked, his elbow sliding off the edge of the desk, and his head dipping down. He steadied himself before his head connected with the desk and glared at Aoko.
"What?", he snapped.
"Class is over! What are you still sitting there for?"
Kaito blinked and scanned the classroom. "Ah... really?"
"No, I'm lying", Aoko said sarcastically. "What is with you today? You've just been daydreaming all the time!"
"Have I?", Kaito said helplessly.
"Is something the matter?", Aoko said, making her voice gentle. He looked lost, which was unusual for him.
Kaito suddenly recovered his poker face and grinned at her. "Nah, it's nothing! I was just thinking of KID's new heist!"
Aoko glared at him. "That one last night?"
"Yeah! It wasn't as showy as I would have liked, but it was pretty cool all the same!" It was true. KID would have wanted to do something spectacular, but that ran the risk of Nakamori getting meitantei-chan too involved and her overexerting herself. Stupid Nakamori-keibu.
"My dad came back from that really late last night", Aoko said angrily. "I swear KID did something horrible to him. He was pale, and he didn't talk to me at all!"
"That's because he did something bad", Kaito muttered.
"What?" Aoko's hearing was spectacular.
Kaito cleared his throat. "You know that detective that got shot helping with the heists?"
"Shinichi Kudo? I think she's still in hospital."
"She got discharged early, and Nakamori-keibu got her involved last night", Kaito said, trying not to sound too angry. "She was still weak, and he told her to come to the heist."
"Did he?" Aoko's anger went in a different direction. If that was true...
"I expect KID had a word with him last night", Kaito went on. "I found mei- Shinichi-chan in the crowd and had to take her home."
"You two know each other, right?", Aoko said, thinking back to the few times they had conversed in the café.
"Yeah. She's a nice person- she doesn't deserve to have her recovery disturbed."
Aoko thought a moment. "I'll have a word with dad. He gets too carried away sometimes..."
They walked home together, both lost in their own thoughts. Kaito thought back to the night before, the same subject that had kept his attention throughout the day.
He and Shinichi had wandered into a fast food restaurant and eaten their food outside, leaning against the metal railings of the car park fence. The cold seemed to help with Shinichi's nausea. They chatted as they ate- about the heist and KID, about how Shinichi's recovery was going, about their school life and hobbies. Shinichi was grinning all through talking about the heist and KID, which made Kaito hastily change the subject. There was something about the way she looked sideways at him while they were on the subject that made Kaito nervous.
Kaito had walked her home, unconvinced that the tranquilizer watch and ball belt she was wearing would protect her from any late night lurkers. And, as they said their goodbyes at her front door and Kaito turned to go, Shinichi had added, "Night night, Kaitou KID."
Kaito had called goodbye, then paused.
Shinichi had laughed. "I win."
Kaito had spun around just in time to see a grinning Shinichi shut the door. He had stared at the wooden door in silence, his mind whirring. The hall light was still on, and he thought that he could feel her presence on the other side of the door.
"Night night, Christie Edogawa." As Kaito walked down the garden path, the hall light clicked off.
Pandora whooped as Shinichi tore off the sling holding her arm to her chest and threw it to the floor. It grabbed its guardian around the waist and spun them both around. No more sling!
"No more stupid painkillers!"
Freedom!
Shinichi had received a phone call from the hospital reminding her of the estimated time taken for her shoulder to heal sufficiently enough to remove the sling. She had tested the shoulder and found it well enough to move.
"I can take a shower! I can take a shower by myself!"
I don't have to do the housework! Pandora was practically crying.
"I... I'm going to take a shower. I'm going to take a shower right now."
Go forth, my son!, Pandora waved as Shinichi climbed the stairs to the bathroom.
Half and hour later, Shinichi left the shower and got dressed in her room. She was grinning widely as she inspected herself in the mirror. There would always be a long, thin scar along her temple to match the one on her cheek, but she could brush her hair over it. She also had pale, puckered spot in her shoulder that would never fade. Shinichi shrugged as she went downstairs. She was lucky the damage hadn't been worse.
The doorbell rang. Pandora peeped through the window, forgetting it couldn't be seen anyway, and announced that it was Ran, Sonoko, and Takamoto. Shinichi let them in.
"Shinichi-chan!", Ran gasped. "Your... your bandages are gone!"
"I got to take them off today", Shinichi smiled.
"That's great!", Takamoto said. "Does that mean you can finally ditch those painkillers?"
"Yeah. You have no idea how happy I am."
"Shinichi-chan", Sonoko said, "We're going down to the café. Do you want to come with?"
"Sure. Just let me get my things.
Twenty minutes later, Shinichi was wishing she hadn't agreed to come. Ran and Takamoto had left to order at the till and were still in line. While they were gone, Sonoko was taking it upon herself to quiz Shinichi about KID.
"So, how tall would you say KID-sama is?"
"I don't know... he's taller than me."
"Taller than me, then?"
"Yes."
"What about his teeth? Would you say they're more round, or squarish?"
"I... squarish, I guess."
"Oh, squarish teeth are so cute! So, what about his skin? Is it more tanned or pale?"
"I don't know, Sonoko", Shinichi said, quickly becoming impatient. "It's kind of hard to tell when one of us is always chasing the other-"
"Well, what about his eyes? What colour would you say they are?"
"Don't you have a boyfriend?", Shinichi snapped.
"Well, yeah... but Makoto-san is never around and KID-sama is so cool..." Sonoko caught sight of the look on Shinichi's face and added hastily, "Although I would never be unfaithful to Makoto-san. He's the only man for me."
"Oh." Shinichi had seen this before. People who idolized KID to the point of obsession while not having any particular romantic interest for him.
"I don't know what's wrong with you, Shinichi-chan."
"What?"
"I don't know how you don't like KID-sama. Some people would give their right arm to be in your place, and yet you have absolutely no interest in him. You only care about catching him."
"I- well..." Shinichi felt her cheeks heat up. "Um, yeah. It would be unprofessional."
Behind her eyes, Pandora snickered.
Shut up.
"You couldn't sneak me in again, could you?", Sonoko asked longingly.
"KID's heists are almost always open to the public."
"Yeah, but remember at the Stargazer? You invited me and those other fans in and even gave us a chance to touch him." Sonoko gave a shiver of delight before she continued. "I know that it was all to get the jewel off of him, but it was a really cool thing to do. No chance you could do it again?"
Shinichi tried not to laugh at the memory of KID being glomped. "I'd love to, Sonoko, but KID kind of depends on me to make his heists interesting. Goodness knows what he'd do if I tried the same thing twice. Plus, he knows where I live, so my house makes a great place to prank someone."
"Oh yeah, I see your point." Sonoko frowned, then pouted. "Maybe I'll get the chance to touch him during the next heist."
"Did you get to touch him before?"
"Yeah. Someone in a hoodie opened up his shirt, drew on him, and then helped me through the crowd so I could touch him. I'd love that person for ever-" Sonoko paused and looked at Shinichi. "That was you, wasn't it? I keep forgetting you're the detective that's been helping catch KID for all this time."
Shinichi shrugged and grinned sheepishly. "Yeah, well... KID wasn't trying hard enough at besting me, so I thought I'd give him a proper reason to. And then I saw you there trying to get through, so..."
"Hmm..." Sonoko looked hard at Shinichi. "You sure you don't have a thing for him?"
Shinichi went pink. "Of- of course not."
Sonoko grinned. "Well, even if you did like him, there's no guarantee he'd like you back. After all, you are a detective, and he is a thief."
Sonoko wasn't prepared for Shinichi's embarrassed expression to suddenly become miserable. "Yeah, I guess you're right. It's a stupid idea, right?"
Sonoko cast around wildly for a way to banish Shinichi's sudden misery. Brutal honesty battled against concern for her friend. "But- but KID always flirts with the detectives and his fans, so at least you have that! Not that I'm saying you like him or anything, but at least you can pretend he likes you, right?!" There, that was the best she could do.
Shinichi smiled weakly, recognizing Sonoko's clumsy attempt to cheer her up. "Yeah."
"Oh, look, Ran and Takamoto are back!", Sonoko exclaimed, massively relieved.
"Hi! Is... something the matter?", Ran said uncertainly, looking from Shinichi to Sonoko. She'd always been good at reading the mood.
"Why would something be the matter?", Shinichi said innocently, all trace of misery miraculously gone. Ran stared hard at her before dismissing it and sitting down at the table.
The waiter brought their food over and they began to eat. Shinichi listened mostly to the conversation, enjoying the feeling of being part of a group again. Afterwards, they went their separate ways, Ran and Takamoto leaving together, and Sonoko heading to her own house.
Shinichi walked along in silence. She was alone, if you didn't count the group of reporters dogging her every step in the hope she would do something interesting. Pandora was silent in her head, content with just watching the scenery go by. Despite the bite in the air, the sun was shining, warming the crown of her head. Shinichi felt happier than she had for a long time.
At the end of her street, she passed a group of children playing on the street. She glanced down absently to find it was Ayumi, Genta, Haibara, and Mitsuhiko. Genta was clutching a football.
"We need a referee!"
"But there isn't anybody left!"
"We never had this problem when Christie-chan was here", Ayumi sighed.
"Oh", Haibara said, catching sight of Shinichi. "Long time no see, Kudo-chan."
"Hey there, Haibara", Shinichi said. She smiled at the others. "Hi."
"Hi", said Ayumi shyly.
"What's up?"
"We need a referee", Haibara said, gesturing to the football.
"Have you tried Agasa?"
"He's asleep", Haibara said, rolling her eyes. "He was working on something for you late last night. I'll drop it round later."
"Thanks."
"I know!", said Genta, brightening up. "Why don't you be our referee?" He turned to the others. "Christie-chan said we could go to her when we had a problem, right?"
I think they're abusing the meaning of 'problem', Pandora said wryly.
Well, it's not as if we have anything better to do.
What about the Black Organisation?
Jodie-sensei called to say that I should act normally to lure them out into the open. Apparently, they suspect I might be an impostor, and therefore, I should just act normally until they decide to act.
Oh, okay.
Why don't you know this? You've got to learn to listen.
Sorry, Pandora said huffily, not sounding sorry at all.
"Sure, I could be your referee", Shinichi said. She sat on the kerb and watched as the children played a very aggressive form of football. Happy though she was, she knew that those rare, peaceful moments weren't to last.
Shinichi woke up and frowned at the ceiling. Her book lay on the floor beside the chair she had fallen asleep in. She was in the library.
She blinked, disconcerted, and looked out the window. The sky outside was pitch black, which made her feel strange, seeing as it had still been light out when she had fallen asleep.
Shinichi wondered what had woken her. She went to reach down for the book, only to find herself face-to-face with Haibara.
"Gah!" Shinichi threw herself back, the heavy chair skidding away a couple of inches before stopping. Haibara regarded her with dry amusement.
"Boo", she said.
"Don't do that!"
"I said I would be coming over later to drop the new gadgets off."
"It's like two in the morning! Do you ever sleep?"
"I do. Sometimes."
"Children need at least twelve hours of sleep each night", Shinichi said in a sing-song voice.
Haibara glared at her. "I know."
"Hold on... I didn't ask Agasa for anymore gadgets."
"He was just tinkering around the other day, and made some things that he thought could be useful to you, especially at your heists. You did get shot after all... I think this is Agasa's idea of a get-well-soon present."
Shinichi smiled. How nice of him. "What did he make?"
"Some more of those smoke bombs... and he built more chambers into your watch so you can shoot more darts... and this."
Shinichi looked down at it. "This is..."
Haibara told her.
Shinichi stared down at it in disbelief and laughed. "This... this is..." She laughed again. "Oh my goodness! This... I can't wait to try it out!"
Haibara grinned, also unable to hide her glee. She'd been pretty excited when Agasa had made it, although she'd gone to great pains not to show it. "I know. It's great, isn't it?"
"This is brilliant!"
"The next time there's a heist, tell me beforehand so I can go to watch you use it", Haibara said. "I can't wait to see that thief's face when he sees this..."
"Me too!"
Shinichi and Haibara both grinned at each other in glee, the late hour totally forgotten.
A shadow fell across Kaito's desk. He looked up to see Hakuba standing over him, glaring fiercely. His skin had a faint, green tinge to it.
"Why, Hakuba!", said Kaito with the faintest of pleasant intonations. "It's nice to see you back in school again!"
"Yes, and it's good to be back, Kuroba-kun. I finally managed to get that green dye off."
"Green dye?"
"Yes, the one you rigged my shower with", Hakuba snarled.
Kaito fought to keep the smirk off of his face. "I simply haven't the faintest inkling of what you're talking about, Hakuba", he said. "However, it is a pleasure to have you back."
Hakuba leaned forwards until he was invading Kaito's personal space. "I don't know what your game is", he said in a low, threatening voice, "But I'm going to find out. These things keep happening to me every time you hold a heist."
Kaito rolled his eyes. "Is this another one of your stupid rants about me being Kaitou KID? You're being ridiculous, you know?"
"What are you trying to keep me from?"
"Okaaay. I'm gonna ignore you now", Kaito said, giving him a weirded-out look.
"Is it the jewels? Is there something special about them?"
Kaito whipped a newspaper out of nowhere and held it up over his face. Hakuba glared at it in frustration and stalked back to his seat.
Behind the newspaper, Kaito sighed. Looked like the dye wasn't going to work anymore. Hakuba was determined to go to his next heist. Of course, there were a lot of ways to stop him from going, but that didn't stop Kaito from being troubled.
Hakuba had asked why Kaito was putting so much effort into keeping him from the heists, but the truth was that he didn't really know himself. All he knew was that every time he saw Shinichi and Hakuba together, he felt a sour sensation in his stomach. Jealousy. And Kaito didn't like feeling jealous- it was an ugly emotion and put him off his game.
Glue, Kaito decided. I'll try glue. He can't come to the heists if he's been glued to the ceiling of his room.
Here's Chapter 29. Any reviews would be much appreciated ^.^
