Thanks for the comments/favourites/follows! Have another quick chapter for the reviews you've given!
Summary: In which Kaito spends time in solitary, and gets a little surprise.
The first three days of solitary confinement make Kaito feel as if he's going insane. The silence and the lack of stimulation leaves him feeling jittery, as if the walls are moving in on him. He moves between feeling overwhelmed by his own emotions, and an emotional flatness where he just feels like there is no hope.
It does not take him long to understand why people label solitary as psychological torture. Not with how quickly it has led to his unravelling, not with how loneliness has gripped into his skin and is pulling him under the water, drowning him.
"I need to calm down," Kaito says, and he's not sure why it seems so much more difficult to deal with this time, but solitary is taking the life from him. "It's not going to be like this for too long."
There is no response - but in solitary, there never is. He spends 23 hours waiting for the hour when they will take him out of his tiny cell and into the solitary exercise room, where he can use energy that springs back to life at the sight of people.
"Yes," Kaito tells himself, moving from the bed he's been lying on, moving to the small window to glance out at the hallway. All he sees is grey walls, and it makes him miss the colour white - he wonders if this is what he's been succumbed to, his suit dirtied and grey, never white again. Maybe he should just become colourless. "I'm only here for a little longer."
He won't let it get him down, Kaito thinks, that his life is falling apart. It's not that big a deal in the grand scheme of things - and he's got something to work towards. A goal that's weighing on him, something he needs to do. He needs to escape, get pandora and then he can let himself wallow in self-pity.
When they try to let him go back to his cell at the end of his third day in solitary, Kaito realises that he hasn't figured out the placement of the camera's in solitary. He needs to figure it out, he thinks, before he goes back - won't be able to face Shinichi again if he comes back empty handed.
"Will you let go?" He snarls, at the guards when they open his cell door and try to drag him out. He shrugs them off, gets halfway down the corridor, before they react to his hostility, lifting him and moving him backwards. It gives him enough time to memorise four of the cameras.
"How about you calm down," one guard mumbles when he kicks out at another's leg. Kaito doesn't know why he feels so annoyed, but he is, and he doesn't care if he's lashing out. He's thrown back into a cell, which… isn't exactly going to help him calm down… but at least it's gives him a second look at the cameras when they let him out again.
By day five, Kaito doesn't think that solitary confinement is driving him insane. He knows that it is.
At first he doesn't quite catch on. He doesn't think too much on the fact that he's talking to himself, it's not like he's hearing voices in his head, he's just creating random conversations with himself, straining his voice to talk in different vocal ranges, imitating people he's heard before, mixing different voices to create his own characters.
The conversations mean nothing - although he does rehearse certain memories that he needs clear in his mind by the time he leaves. He reminds himself of the location of the cameras he's notices, marking them on an imaginary map.
"I'm bored," he whines to himself, in his normal voice. Then, switching to a more nasal voice, a mix between Akako and Keiko, Kaito says, "then do something to entertain yourself."
"Like what?" He asks, and leans back against his bed. It feels like he's leaning against wood, the bunk rigid, leaving his back aching.
"Oh, I don't know," Kaito responds, closing his eyes. There is attitude to his voice, and it morphs as he says, "how about me?"
Aoko.
"Not right now," Kaito says. And he's growling under his breath. He doesn't want to talk to Aoko even if it's just him mimicking her. "I'm not thinking about you right now."
A lie, because if he wasn't, then he wouldn't be speaking with her voice, wouldn't be having a conversation with a fake version of her. He's taken her identity before, has disguised as her - and well, part of being KID is being able to see what makes a person them, so his imitation of her is similar to what Aoko is usually like.
"You are," not-Aoko says, and with his eyes closed, it's almost like she's there beside him, sitting at the end of the bunk. "You can't stop thinking about it can you. The difference between you and KID."
"Later," Kaito says, his voice tired and strained. "I'll think about it later."
"Why not now?"
"I don't have time to think about you right now Aoko," Kaito says. "I need to focus more on the escape, on leaving this place for good. I can't think this over."
"You promised you would," not-Aoko says, and his voice echoes loudly, ringing in his ears. "You promised you would figure it out."
"I know." Kaito grits his teeth.
"Then figure it out." If it was actually Aoko, and not just him, Kaito imagines that she'd be wielding a mop, or another long stick, readying herself to hit him with it. She'd always been pretty violent like that, had expressed embarrassment and anger by trying to beat him. "The difference is easy to find."
"Then tell me."
"Aoko doesn't want to."
"Just tell me!" Kaito shouts, opening his eyes and pushing himself to face her. Except… she's not there - he should have known this because he's literally just been imitating her voice.
How had he forgotten so quickly. He doesn't know.
It feels like he's forgetting all of the truly important things inside this cell.
"This place is driving me insane." He mutters to himself, and runs a hand through his hair, wondering whether the information on the cameras is worth the extra two days in solitary, whether it is worth the mental torture he is subjecting himself to. "I need to get out of here."
After six days in solitary confinement, Kaito feels like fresh air on his neck and believes that he's found his way to heaven.
It's dark when they take him from the cells, approaching lights out in the evening, but Kaito doesn't let the fact that the day is coming to an end bother him. The wind feels like freedom, and while he knows he's still bound by rules and prison cells, simply walking beside others makes him feel like the world is not weighing down on his shoulders.
Shinichi is waiting in their cell, has obviously heard Kaito chattering to the guards - (God, it's nice to just talk to someone who's not himself) - for him when they open the cell doors. He doesn't speak until the cell door is closed behind Kaito, waits until the guards have left them behind.
Kaito takes a step forward and looks for any new bruises. He sees none, but he doubts the other prisoner hasn't gained any. It'd be too optimistic, and being anything other than realistic in prison is practically labelling yourself a fool.
"Everything okay?" Shinichi asks when Kaito makes his way to his bunk, pulling the pencil from his pillow case. He doesn't stop to look back at the ex-detective as he pulls the building plans out from beneath Shinichi's blanket, unfolding it.
"I'm good," Kaito says, although he doesn't quite feel like himself at the moment. He rolls the pencil in his hand, and frowns, "I found out about the cameras, but… I just really hate Solitary dude."
A hum echoes Shinichi's agreement. Kaito wonders how the other teen reacts whenever he's in solitary, whether he gets overly emotional like Kaito, or whether he grows solemn and quiet. It's difficult, and half of him wants to ask if Shinichi has ever convinced himself that there are people there with him.
He doesn't ask, because he doesn't want the answer to be no.
"Ah," Shinichi says, "yeah, solitary isn't… the best place to be."
Kaito nods, marks the cameras he'd taken notice of while in solitary onto the map, before leaning back and taking in the view. Within the solitary wing, there's not really any blind spots he can find - he reckons that they'll have to risk it, and get through the wing as quickly and out of the building before people can respond.
It will be difficult, but he reckons if they have some way of getting away from the prison quickly, then the escape will still be possible.
"We can try this soon," Kaito says, turning back to Shinichi and offering a small smile. "We'll need your guard to get some clothes for us to change into - because we can't leave this place behind in prison clothes. Can he do that?"
Shinichi pauses, but after a moment, he says, "he could leave them down in the laundry room, yeah."
"Good," Kaito says, and he squints down at the building plans, trying to think over everything they've written down. There's still more they need to plan - it seems like they'll never finish planning their escape, and he finds it irritating.
"Put that away for today," Shinichi says after five minutes of staring down at the building plans. "We'll pick it up for now, give yourself a break."
"I haven't done anything for almost a week," Kaito protests as Shinichi moves the paper away, shoving it back under his blanket. The other detective reaches into his own pillow case, tugging at his shirt.
"You've been surviving solitary," Shinichi says, "it takes a lot out of you. We'll deal with this tomorrow, but for now - catch."
He turns quickly, and Kaito only manages to catch what he throws over to him because of his fast reflexes. Looking down, he lets out a small gasp, plastic packaging grabbing his attention, joy overwhelming him as it bubbles up out of his chest.
"Playing cards."
Kaito lets out a small laugh, ripping through plastic to open the seal. The feel of playing cards against his fingertips is euphoric and it makes him feel like Kuroba Kaito again, not just an inmate. It makes him feel like the magician he claimed to be.
"Yes." Shinichi says, and when Kaito looks over to him, the ex-detective is smiling, "I had Oto-san bring them in. You said you like card tricks, right?"
"I love them," Kaito breathes, picking the jokers and premium cards out of the pack. "Shinichi you genius."
He shuffles cards with a passion, thinking over the card tricks he's taught himself. There are some that he thinks Shinichi will see through immediately, but some - some he thinks will fool even the legendary 'detective of the east'.
When he turns to Shinichi, he's certain there are stars in his eyes. He says, "watch this, I'm going to blow your mind."
Shinichi crosses his arms. He grins. "You can try."
Kaito beckons Shinichi forwards, waits until the other detective is sat opposite him before dropping all of the cards onto the floor. With his hands, he messes them up like a child, watching as Shinichi frowns. Collecting the cards again, Kaito splits the pack into two, spreads one half out face up, the other half face down.
Then, he cuts them into each other, so that every other card is face up, the entire pack shuffled in a way that Kaito thinks Shinichi will find irritating once the card trick is over.
"Okay," Kaito says, collecting them in his hand and spreading them out for Shinichi to see. "I want you to take two cards out."
Shinichi raises and eyebrow, but takes two cards. He glances at them both, before turning them around to show Kaito at the other boys request. The 3 of clubs and Jack of spades stare at him, and Kaito smiles.
"And now, I want you to put them back in the pack, wherever you want, face up or down it doesn't matter!"
"Okay…" Shinichi says, placing the cards back. He places one upright, the other facing down.
And now, time for his trick. Kaito places the pack down, places his hand over the cards and gives Shinichi a grin. He says, "wouldn't it be cool if these cards just… flipped themselves over and left only your two cards face down?"
Hesitating, Shinichi's lips twist into a smile. "It's not possible."
Kaito glances down, lets out a laugh. Spreads the cards out and watches Shinichi's expression when he realises that all of the cards have been flipped like Kaito had said.
"Uh," the magician laughs, "I'm in the business of making the impossible happen thanks."
Shinichi leans forward, frowns and says, "again."
It's the first time Kaito has truly laughed in this place. This, he reminds himself, is what happiness is like.
"I've never seen anyone get so intense about my magic tricks." He laughs, shuffling the cards again.
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