"As much as I love to wax eloquent about Lady Love with you dear friends of mine," KID said, winking at Aoko before turning to Conan with a suddenly serious expression, "I think it's about time we get to the main topic of discussion. What do you say, tantei-kun?"

With an expression of great remorse, and a little annoyance, Conan brushed off the stacks of folders he had buried himself in and glared at KID with steel eyes sharper than the bladed edges of the thief's playing cards. "I suppose it's only fair… but as a warning, the information you receive from here on out is enough to put you in serious grave danger."

"I thought we were already in grave danger?" Aoko asked in confusion. "You said we were in danger for just knowing you are – who you really are. So?"

"So there's a difference between having a target on your back and having a bounty hunter actively searching for you," Conan said.

"Wait, there's bounty hunters looking for you?" KID asked, just as confused as Aoko. "I didn't know these guys were bounty hunters too?"

"No!" Conan slapped his forehead and sighed in exasperation. "I meant it as a metaphor. Think about it this way… A blue fish and a purple fish swim into a creek that's a popular fishing spot. There's a prize being offered for catching the blue fish, so all the fishermen are trying to catch it. The purple fish is a normal fish but if the light hits the water at the wrong angle, it might appear blue and so the fishermen might try to catch it, although it isn't their true aim. Which fish is at greater danger?"

KID's face had turned clammy and pale at this point. "I don't like your example," he said, shivering slightly. Aoko guessed he was probably cold – where were the heat ducts in this room, anyway? He leaned back in the chair he had taken and rolled Conan's question around in his head. "Anyway, why does the fish have to be blue? Why not red?"

"You are absolutely worthless," Conan said flatly. "Nakamori-san? Thoughts?"

"Well…" Aoko mumbled. What were her thoughts on the matter? Because that's what Conan was really asking, wasn't he? "I guess it wouldn't have changed the question much if the fish had been red, so I guess I agree with KID on that."

Conan gave Aoko a long hard stare before groaning loudly as she and KID burst into laughter. "Do you two have any real thoughts on the matter? Otherwise I'm not saying anything and we can all just go home." His eyes wandered over and locked in on KID's. "Or, I suppose just Nakamori-san and I can go home."

"No – no, we're taking this seriously, we are, honest," KID quickly said, trying his best to muster a serious tone despite the wide smile still on his face. "Let's see, what did you want? An opinion?" KID tapped his chin a few times, making a show of his thought process. "Obviously both are in the same amount of danger. Even if it's just the blue – um, what animal were we using again? The fox, was it? Anyway, even if it's just the blue fox that's being hunted, the purple fox can still fall into the crossfire because it can be easily mistaken for the blue fox. The purple fox is in danger just for being in the same hunting spot as the blue fox."

"Fish," Conan said with stern simplicity, before turning to Aoko.

Aoko racked her mind. "The purple fox isn't always in danger though. You said it depends on the light, right? The purple fox is only in danger if the foxermen think it's the blue fox. As long as the light is right, there's no worries for the purple fox."

"Fish," Conan said again, although with less command. He seemed to understand the losing battle he was fighting.

"But Aoko," KID said, "the foxermen aren't necessarily going to wait around patiently for the blue fox to show up. They might just hunt any fox that has the mere resemblance of the blue fox. I mean, that's what I'm doing, after all."

"Wait -" Conan said, before thinking better of it. "We're coming back to that later."

KID stuck his tongue out. "Not in a million years!"

"Edogawa-kun," Aoko said suddenly. "All this talk of blue and purple foxes and foxermen is great, but I think we're just confusing ourselves and talking in circles. I get it's hard to talk about talking about something like this, but I think we can all agree that not knowing about a dangerous situation that we're in is worse than knowing, even if it puts us at a little more risk."

"But that's exactly what we were just discussing," Conan said.

"Is it?" KID interrupted, surprised. "Honestly, I just thought we were having a fun time talking about a hypothetical scenario involving magical foxes."

"For the last time, they were fish," Conan bit out sourly. "Anyway, Nakamori-san, the point is that when you were talking about the fish, you said the purple fish is still relatively safe. That's where you guys are right now - treading in dangerous waters, but still safe as long as you stay away from me and my secrets."

Aoko thought on this. Conan made a good point. And wasn't she the one who was just crying about KID putting her in so much danger lately? "I guess..."

"Well, what about me?" KID said, looking like he was about to throw a tantrum. "I never said anything about the stupid purple fox being safe. Does that earn me the ticket to knowing your secrets, oh wise meitantei?"

"Ugh," Conan sighed, pinching his nose to stave off an incoming headache. He closed his eyes, imaginary thinking cap firmly in place on his head. Finally his eyes sprung open like he had just been jolted by KID's taser again. "Here's what I'm going to do. I think I owe you both some sort of explanation, because it's not smart to have you two running around without any knowledge of why this secret needs to be kept so secret. But at the same time, I can't tell you two most things about this."

"Sounds fair," KID said.

"Agreed," Aoko, well, agreed.

"As long as you tell me the whole story once Aoko's not listening," KID added.

Conan pointedly ignored that comment and began to rack his brain. "Let's see, where to begin, where to begin..."

Aoko piped up. "How about you start with explaining how you shrunk? Honestly I think that's what we're most confused about."

"Oh," Conan said. "Oh, that. That's like - that story is like the least of my issues right now honestly. Which is saying a lot. But fine, sure. Basically I saw some men in black trenchcoats acting suspiciously, so I pursued them -"

"- AKA stuck your nose where it doesn't belong, yet again -"

"Shut up, KID. Anyway, these men in black noticed me following them, so they caught me off guard and knocked me out. Due to circumstances, they didn't want to draw attention by using firearms, so they opted to use an experimental poison to try to kill me. It obviously didn't work, and through some insanely rare side effect I'm now Edogawa Conan."

Aoko listened intently. "So they have absolutely no idea that you're even still alive? How does that work if they never found a body?"

"To address the first part - uh, I think at least one of them knows who I am, but that's a complicated issue that I don't really want to get into. As for the second part, they were suspicious at first as to whether I was dead or not, so they conducted an investigation to find out for sure. And thus, to them, Kudo Shinichi is dead."

KID blew some air out of the corner of their mouth. "Damn, tantei-kun, they must suck at investigating then. You're obviously still alive, after all. There's got to be all kinds of evidence saying so, how could they miss that? Fingerprints, hair strands, you literally being you, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera..."

Conan was unimpressed by KID's perfect imitation of the The King and I quote and thus ignored it straightly. "It's not that they 'suck,' as you so aptly phrased it, so much as the records were tampered with by one of their own without their knowledge."

"Which one of them would -" KID started asking, before a lightbulb flipped on over his head. "Oh. Sherry?"

"Sherry?" Aoko echoed, with more confusion than KID apparently had on the matter.

"Sherry," Conan confirmed, nodding.

"Who is Sherry, anyway?" KID asked. "That evil, yet strangely handsome guy - wait damn sorry Aoko - anyway, that guy on the train seemed to really not like her."

"She's the creator of the drug that shrunk me. She's a traitor in their eyes now, so she's in hiding with me. By the way, 'that evil yet strangely handsome guy' is named Bourbon, and he's not exactly on their side."

"Wait a minute, wait a minute," Aoko put her hand up. "How do you know you can trust someone from the Men In Black?"

"Are you talking about Sherry or Bourbon?"

Aoko considered this for a moment. "Both."

"Well, I don't exactly trust either of them. Bourbon has his own agenda so I don't really trust any of my secrets with him, whereas Hai- umm Sherry is a little too intent on keeping others safe. She'd rather let the organization kill her before she let someone uninvolved become a target. Which, as you can imagine, makes it hard to trust her not to make rash decisions when They are involved."

"Sounds a little like someone I know," Aoko eyed KID, who whistled innocently in response.

"You gonna tell us any more information about this 'Hai umm Sherry' or is that it?" KID asked suddenly. "Like why she looks so much like that creepy little girl at your Professor's house?"

Conan glared at KID. "I didn't want to bring her up, but to confirm what I'm assuming you're implying, yes, she is Sherry. Shrunken, just like me."

"How many people have been shrunken by the Men in Black?" Aoko wondered aloud. "Are all elementary schools secretly grown adults? Are children just a conspiracy -"

"Nakamori-san, I'm going to stop you right there. For one, because every time you say 'Men in Black' it makes me think you think They have some connection with the 1997 Men in Black film, which I'll just state for clarity's sake that they do not. Anyway, no, children are obviously real. I really don't like that I just had to say that to you. I expected a question like that from KID, not you. Lastly, there's two, maybe three of us shrunken people out there -"

"Little people," KID corrected sternly with a click of his tongue, ever the politically correct advocate.

"- and that's about it. Do you two have any other questions?"

"Can you elaborate a bit more about this organization?" KID asked. "What's their motivation?"

"I'm not sure yet. I just know they operate in complete secrecy and they'd rather abandon entire missions than allow the public to find out about their existence. I also know they're a far-reaching group that operates internationally."

"The codenames you mentioned so far all seem to be alcohol related. Is that a coincidence?"

Conan shook his head. "No coincidence. They all seem to be alcohol-related, and for now I'm assuming it's just a convenient naming theme rather than an indication of their underlying motivation." Conan looked at KID with sudden interest. "Why do you ask?"

"No reason at all," KID shrugged. "Just wondering if you've bumped into a member with the codename of Snake yet."

"A member named 'Snake?' I don't believe so," Conan said, racking his brain. "And it doesn't seem to fit with the alcohol-based name theme. Why? Have you met someone with that codename?"

"You could say that. Anyway, not important. Just curious if there was any relation."

"Anyway, the core concept I was trying to have you two realize is that you two are the purple fish right now. You know some information, but not enough to make yourselves an active target. You are both still in danger because They don't know how much information you two know, but you aren't going to be on their immediate Hit List. Conversely, if I were to tell you both everything about the scenario, you two would become the blue fish."

"Enough with the foxes, tantei-kun," KID said. "It's annoying. Anyway, I don't think I agree with what you're saying. I'm not a blue or a purple fox. I'm a white fox."

"Which means?" Conan said, eyebrows raised and eyes lidded with dull patience at whatever stupid remark KID was going to say next.

KID, for his part, refrained from indulging in easy stupidity. "No information you can ever tell me will put a target on my back, because my entire identity is that of a target."

Conan contemplated this for a long, icy cold moment. Aoko wondered, once more, about the patency of the heat ducts in the room. Finally Conan spoke, a grave tone now settled into his words. "And what about Nakamori-san?"

"She's not a fox at all. She's Aoko," KID flicked his eyes to her and locked them on her. "And Aoko can't have a target on her back either, because I'll stop anyway whoever tries to hurt her."

Aoko's heart thudded in her chest as she felt her face flush. Of course she knew KID was a seductive flirt, but this was - !

A loud high-pitched yelp came from the depths of KID's vocal chords as he jumped backwards suddenly, hobbling in pain. "The hell was that kick in the family jewels for, tantei-kun?!"

"Didn't mean to kick that high," Conan grinned, the unsaid I'm lying, idiot remaining, well, unsaid. "Anyway, that's for making googly eyes at Nakamori-san and then spouting some hopeless romantic nonsense."

"I meant every word of it!" KID whined. "On a Kaitou's honor, I will protect Aoko from any -"

Conan geared up for another kick, and KID promptly shut his mouth.

"You are both in serious danger if you actually believe that," Conan said sternly. "If you are foolish enough to allow yourself that much of a debilitating weakness, I think you'd both be lucky to see your next birthdays - regardless of any intervention from me."

KID eyed Conan so coldly Aoko almost shivered, lips tightly pressed together. Aoko recognized that expression - she'd seen Kaito wear it a few times before. A Poker Face strong enough to break glass. KID must have gotten angry about that last comment. "I don't think you're welcome here anymore."

"I'll be happy to show myself out," Conan bit back, stomping towards the Kuroba Toichi portrait. "Good to know you aren't begging me to dig your graves anymore."

"I think we gained more than enough information from this absolutely enthralling conversation," KID drawled. "Say hi to the girlfriend for me, will ya?"

"Might do you one better and bring her over to visit," Conan sniffed back.

"If you do that, I might do you one better and dress up as you again so I can break up with her and disentangle you from your messy web of debilitating weaknesses. Don't need any vulnerabilities lying around, now do we, tantei-kun?"

Conan stopped just past the portrait's threshold, standing entirely in the living room now. "Cut the crap, KID. You and I both know the only reason you're mad is because I brought up your ridiculously selfish, unhealthy farce of a relationship with Nakamori-san."

"I love Aoko!" KID declared suddenly, with a grand flourish.

...And shit, if it wasn't the first time Aoko heard him say it. And even shittier shit, since it wasn't giving her the butterflies in her stomach she thought it would.

KID seemed to realize the words that had just come out of his mouth, eyeballs popping wide out of their sockets. The world seemed to fall into slow motion as his gaze crawled, inch by inch, millimeter by millimeter, over to where Aoko stood with her mouth agape. Conan, too, found himself staring in bewilderment - only, his stare was directed not at Aoko but at KID.

Silence drained the room of any sense of familiarity. Whose house were they in? Who were these two - the boy and the thief? How had she arrived here? How would she leave?

Aoko realized that that last question was the easiest to answer, somehow, as she elbowed past the short child in her path and hurdled herself out of the Kuroba household. One thought was on her mind: ignorance is bliss.

AN: Ignorance is bliss, what a phrase indeed. Aoko has just learned some crucial details that cannot be unlearned. Namely - KID loves her. But does she love him? Is she able to love him? And for that matter - was his declaration genuine, or just an extension of their mutual denial about the validity of their relationship? Secondly, Conan hasn't revealed a whole lot about the Organization in his opinion, but it is still bucketloads more than any casual citizen should be able to know safely. This seems to hit Aoko hard towards the end of the chapter, where she realizes she literally has no protection against whoever these evil Men in Black are. And this realization only seems to hit after she learns KID's deluded himself that he can protect her because he supposedly loves her. Sure thing.

Complicated chapter with complicated feelings. Very pivotal in Aoko and KID's relationship, and thus very necessary. As such - this was a very difficult chapter to write so I hope I got everything across that I was trying to say. Hopefully this little note explains some of what I was going for.

Until next time - see you guys soon! Have a beautiful day!