I swiveled in my seat, "So did you do the homework?" Aoko's eyes widened, " I'll help with English. Are you taking any other foreign languages?"

"God no."

"Are you failing Anglais, sorry English. (This is a true typo. I was halfway into writing English before I realized it was the wrong language. Fun times)

"Well, no. But it's not fair that Kaito is so fluent at English but I'm not."

"That's why you have me. Although I was in Florida for a long time so some of my terminologies will be different than the 'North' of America."

"As long as I score better than Kaito's 90 I'm good."

"You will be scoring second place if I have anything to say about it."

"Kudo."

"Figuratively of course. I wouldn't be against though."

"Kudo!"

"Fine, fine. I promise to play nice. Speaking of playing nice, how come Kaito's not interested in bothering us today?"

"He is, he's just preoccupied with detention."

"I'm surprised they could even catch him."

"They threatened to call his Mom."

"Ohhh, scary?" I pretended to cower.

"I like her." A satisfied grin emerged.

"I wonder if Mom is friends with her then."

"Isn't your mom friends with everyone?"

"True."

"Off topic. Alright, where are you having trouble."

"Conversation"

"Ah. Okay. So this one is French fries."

"It looks weird."

"Yeah, English doesn't make sense."

"So day you're ordering at a restaurant. What would you say?"

"Hello, can I have water?"

"So repeat after my southern accent. Hello, can I have water?"

"Hello, can I have water?"

"Better. Hello, can I have water?"

"Hello, can I have water?"

"Water."

"Water?"

"Good! Very good!" This repeated for less than half an hour before a shadow appeared. "Hello, Kaito."

"Good afternoon."

"Y'all'd've."

"What?" A spread of confusion rose among my friends. "You heard me. Y'all'd've"

"English explain!"

"You all would have."

"You put four! Four words into one. And for what reason?!"

"Torture." I'm sure I was radiating my satisfaction. Both Kaito and Aoko grimaced.

"I thought I was your friend."

"I spare no mercy."

"And your husband?"

"Oh come on. You very fluent in English it's just a little in-depth learning experience." I knew it was a little rude to spring a contraction like that when there are people in the US who would have had trouble with it. I turned my face away and in a low voice, I mumbled," I'm sorry.

"Sorry, I'm losing my hearing what was that?" Kaito sprouted a triumphant grin.

"I'm sorry." I pouted over Kaito's amusement.

The wind howled and leaves drifted across my window. What little light the moon gave reflected across my room, "Did you get to sleep alright last night?"

"Holy bejesus fuck, dude, not cool." A soft laugh rang out after I had fallen to the floor.

"My apologies. I will knock next time." Indignant pout was alighted with the caress of the trees waving in the moonlight.

"Or maybe send a text. Could you get out of the light, you're reflecting into my eyes." A small step and only a quarter of his body remained in view. "Oh just come in."

"Why do you trust me so easily?" He sounded offended that he was "trustworthy" to me.

"I grew up with a dangerous crime solving brother along with a girl who's proficient in karate. If I'm not well versed in protecting myself I'd've most likely spent my life indoors."

"Valid point. May I be let in now?" A soft expression and a point toward my latched door prompted me to drag myself out of bed, across the chilling floor, to the even more cold window.

I grumbled unhappily, "You could have easily opened it yourself."

"I have some integrity." One smirk from me was all it took before I could see him try to relax his nerves.

"So what you're saying is I'm not worth stealing," I stressed my pronunciation and looked disapprovingly at him.

"I'm afraid I only deal with gem theft."

"Ah, I see." I was bored of teasing him now and just wanted to appease him so I let him in.

" A foolish mistake, I do occasionally thieve more precious things than gems." I was whisked away once again and a card fluttered into my room as I was lifted into his arms and out into the freezing night sky.

"You bastard, do you know how cold I am right now! I lived in fucking Florida where my favorite temperature was around 75 degrees Fahrenheit."

"Don't worry, my love for you is a burning sun." His face was completely serious. I've never been more off-put. Even though I knew he was joking it was seriously concerning.

"Are you okay?" My perturbed face must have been comical because I could feel him shaking and hear small bits of laughter. I gave up. " Where are we going?"

"Falling." He then proceeded to press his shoulder. We fell immediately. And then all of a sudden we were airborne again. He pulled a How to train your dragon. Smooth. Know your target. "Trust me yet?"

"How about you don't do that again so close to the ground and maybe try to earn trust instead of that. Dude, not cool." I lied. I was a little impressed. We had dropped pretty far and I could see people rather than ants.

" People have tells."

"Oh?"

"You tend to frown a bit and smooth out your expressions."

"Ya gotta keep it even steven."

"I've never heard of that phrase in my life."

"Have you lived?"

"I steal for a living."

"But you never keep them!"

"I came out to have a good time tonight and I'm honestly feeling so attacked right now."

"You meme." I made sure to smush his face. It was necessary. Definitely. I took one last long look at the view before me. "Alright, I've got to be up early tomorrow, time to head home."

It was late into the night. I should have been in bed. But I had a job to do. After leaving Takara in her home I snuck in, studying the space around me. Numerous mugs with coffee stuck to the bottom some paint brushes and voila the detective's most beloved room. Sherlock Holmes was prominent, a ridiculous amount of copies. There was one thing that interested me a very worn but rather dusty album. I suppose the parents hadn't added anything in a while. Some pictures were from before Takara and Shinichi mostly baby pictures. Lots of tourist destinations in the backgrounds. I needed to know the detective, find what makes him vulnerable. The only way I can outsmart him is if I know him better than himself. Takara was smart like him but it was more instinctive not through a process.

It's show time Detective.