Thanks for the comments/favs/follows! And welcome to Arc 3 - Spades!
Summary: In which the heist is over, and everyone tries to continue with the case in their own way.
3 days after the heist
"How're ya holdin' up?"
There are a lot of things that Shinichi will leave out, unwilling to tell anyone. The majority includes: what really happened in prison, his interactions with Vermouth, and his feelings.
Still, turning to Hattori, he can't help but feel like he's got to answer honestly. The idea of answering the question brings an all too familiar itch to his throat, and he lifts his hands, only to dig his hands into the bandages Kazuha has applied.
"I'm coping," he admits, more quiet than usual, "I just wish the heist hadn't…"
Shinichi breaks off before he can continue. They both know what he means. The seriousness of the Black Organisation targeting him, and now by association Kaito, brings horror rising up his throat in the form of bile.
It's not fair, but then again, nothing about their situation is.
"Yeah," Hattori glances away. Guilt bleeds into his voice, the emotion raw. Still, he's coping better than Shinichi had expected him too. "That's another one of KID's heists that have gone wrong now…"
Shinichi winces.
The comment stings – no, it's like a stab into the abdomen, or a hand squeezing around his throat leaving him hanging, because this is all his fault. He'd brought Kaito into this back when they'd been cellmates and now there is damage, irreplaceable damage that he cannot take back.
"Hattori…" He says, unable to look at the Osakan. Instead, he turns to the woodlands, stares at the morning dew on the grass, at moss that litters rocks at the side of the path. "Do you remember what I said when you first realised I was innocent?"
He remembers the meeting so clearly, he can practically hear the entire conversation, can see the dulling grey table as he's pushed into it. Back when Ran had been the only person with faith in him, back when Hattori had arrived to try and understand why he'd allegedly committed the crimes.
Now, Hattori flinches. He says, "ya said you'd been lookin' into a case that took more than it would give back."
Shinichi finally turns to look at him. The other boy looks almost fragile, still pale and with guilt swimming in his eyes. Having heard about the shot – Shinichi knows that Hattori is regretting not trying more to get onto the crime scene and offer help.
"And here we are," Shinichi says, "still struggling to solve that case."
Except it feels wrong now.
"Yer worried about Kuroba," Of course he is. Hattori pauses. "Listen, I'm sorry I pushed ya to leave Tokyo behind but–"
Shinichi turns, offers the best version of a smile that he can. It's not Kaito's poker face though, so it comes out as something more like a grimace. It's not very reassuring. He says, "I understand, don't worry. Golden week's over, you had to go back to Osaka – and this was my best bet to get out of Tokyo."
My – not ours.
"Yer still angry that we left Kuroba behind."
It's not a question. It's a statement.
A truthful statement. Because, yes, Shinichi is angry that he left the heist with his freedom while Kaito left the heist with a police officer by his side. He's angry that they can't do anything to help him because planning would take weeks and he needs to be in Kyoto in two days.
"I am," Shinichi mutters, "but it's not like he's in the right state to join us anyway."
Hattori sighs. Their conversation, as they'd expected, goes downhill before they have anywhere to start.
"What about the Miyano girl?" Hattori says after another pause, "you trust her enough to go to Kyoto?"
Shinichi thinks over the brief conversation he'd shared with Miyano Akemi, the woman who'd cornered him during the heist, when he'd been getting ready to leave. How she'd stated she was running from the organisation he was pursuing, how she had leads he could look into, if only he'd be willing to come to meet with her in five days.
The first thing he'd thought was: trap.
The next had been 'wait, why hasn't she shot me yet, if she's one of them?'
"I'll prove it," Akemi had said, "I'll give you a lead to look into during those five days, okay? Please, just consider it."
And then she'd given him a business card for a small café in Kyoto. She'd whispered a name – Sharon Vineyard – into his ear and waited until he'd memorised the name, before leaving him behind.
As soon as he'd returned to the safe house, and before the news of the heist's conclusion reached his ears, Shinichi had looked her up. This Sharon Vineyard. He'd heard the name in the past, someone he'd heard his mother mention but the face? He couldn't recall it.
By the time he'd seen a picture of her though, he'd known for certain what this lead was.
Vermouth's identity.
A clue that had proven that Akemi knew what she was talking about, that she had information if only Shinichi listened. She'd wanted something from him – no one gave something for nothing – but there was almost an element of power on him.
Even if it was a trap, Shinichi was going to go, and he was going to hear Akemi out.
"I don't know if I trust her," Shinichi says, nodding at the Osakan, "but I'm going to go anyway. It'll be difficult getting there, but I should manage."
"I don't like th' idea of ya goin' alone." Hattori mutters.
Shinichi won't admit it, but he doesn't like the idea of going alone either. But with Kaito back in Tokyo, and Hattori unable to attend with him due to the end of golden week, there's not exactly much he can do.
"I'll be fine," Shinichi says, even though he's pretty sure it's a lie. Whatever he ends up learning, he's going to feel hurt, or disappointed or… something. Either way he will not be fine.
"There's nothin' I can do t' stop ya, so… Okay." Hattori mutters. "But come back here afterwards, don't.. don't jus' disappear okay?"
Shinichi glances around at the forest. He swallows, nervously as he looks back at the old, shut down shrine he's been sleeping in. It's not the best area to hide, and frankly, with Hattori And Kazuha back in classes, it's lonely most of the time as well, but for the time being, it'll do.
"I won't disappear," Shinichi says, "there's not really anywhere to disappear to."
The Hakuba household is bigger than Ran had been expecting.
She's cheated in terms of accessing his address. After days of no contact with the Brit, she'd gone into the police records she'd obtained regarding Shinichi's case, and gone to the files on the two teens working the case.
Saguru – who'd been working with Shinichi – had several pages on him. He'd had to go through several interviews to ensure he hadn't been helping his friend, and fellow detective with the supposed murder.
And on the front page – his address.
Knocking on his door brings a chill running down Ran's spine. Usually, Saguru is not one to leave things be, is too neurotic to leave things the way they are. It's not a terrible thing, she thinks, when he's keeping it in check. It's helped considerably with Shinichi's case.
Well… it would if they could make any considerable leeway.
The door opens and Ran blinks as she comes face to face with a short woman. It must be Baaya, the woman Saguru always speaks about with such fondness. Her grey hair is pulled back into a bun, making the woman seem stern, almost strict.
"Good afternoon," Ran says as the woman looks up at her, "I was wondering whether Hakuba-kun was here, we've been working together on a project."
Baaya gives Ran a once-over, shakes her head and says, "You attend a different school to the one he does."
"It's not a school project," Ran says, tugs at the straps over her bag, "we're working together on the Kudo Shinichi case…?"
She's hoping that Saguru has at least mentioned to his housekeeper that he'd been reworking the case with her. If not, there'll be no possibility of seeing him until he responds to the voicemail she's left on his phone.
After a brief sigh, the other woman nods. She says, "wait there, I'll get you some slippers."
With that, she ushers Ran into the household, closing the door behind her. Ran lets out a deep breath, offers a bright thank you as the housekeeper ducks into a small storage cupboard, pulling out a white pair of slippers.
"Here," Baaya says, "put these on, maybe you'll have more luck with the young master than I have been."
Ran leans down, discarding her shoes in favour of the slippers. She says, "more luck?"
"Yes," Baaya says, "I've not seen him days. I've heard him, yes, but whenever I've knocked on his door, I've only received silence."
"Oh," Ran doesn't know how to respond, "that explains the lack of answer to my phone calls."
The housekeeper hums, a low sound, as she turns towards the staircase, beckoning Ran to follow after her.
She does.
"This is it," Baaya says, after they've climbed up one staircase and reached the end of a rather curved corridor. She points at the door, offers Ran a smile and says, "hopefully he'll respond better to you than he will to me. Do you remember the way back down, if he doesn't?"
Ran nods.
"Then I'll leave you to it."
The housekeeper leaves, and Ran turns to the door, taps her knuckles against the wood. She calls, "Saguru-kun, it's me, Ran."
There is no response.
"Saguru-kun?" Ran calls again, "I need to talk to you about the heist that happened – I know it didn't…" didn't go well, "Listen, I saw Shinichi, and I've got some new facts that we need to go over."
Now there's sound.
Footsteps – erratic, as if rushing around the room. They move and then pause, several times until eventually, the door swings open, revealing Saguru.
The detective is a mess. Shadows weigh on his eyelids, his hair goes unbrushed and Ran's pretty sure he's only wearing a t-shirt because doing up buttons would be too difficult.
Hakuba Saguru, is very clearly sleep deprived.
"You saw Kudo?" Saguru says, and Ran nods, trying to look at him. It's difficult not to look away though, at the mess of his room behind him – Ran's never been in it before, but there's clearly something off about it.
Maybe it's all of the string dangled around, with pictures and files pinned to the walls.
"Tell me about the meeting," Saguru says. He turns, waves her into the room and then shakes his head, "no wait, I need to tell you the identity of the person who committed the murders Kudo was framed for."
Are you okay?
The words whirr in her mind, a repetitive drawl filled with pain and worry.
Are you okay?
Aoko blinks, tries to come back to the present rather than remaining trapped in her mind. She sighs, glances at the book she'd supposedly been reading and shrugs the kinks from her shoulders.
She'd thought taking a break from all of the work she's set herself would be refreshing, but it… it's too difficult. Instead, Aoko finds herself wincing every time she turns a page, the sound of ripping paper sounding unnaturally similar to a bullet tearing through flesh.
…Kaito.
"Goddammit," Aoko mutters, blinking away tears. She looks down, at her desk – the place she's found unable to leave for three days now and bites into her lip. "Why would he go and do something like that?"
On her desk, there are several plan pieces of paper – most of them crumpled into paper balls, but some left in a pile beneath the Cullinan diamond KID had stolen during his heist. She knows she needs to return it, but it's not a full moon yet and Kaito would want her to check to see if it was… if it was the Pandora gem he's been looking for.
Until the full moon though, it's her loyal paperweight.
"How do you come up with all of this stuff?" Aoko mumbles to herself, sweeping the paper balls from her desk. They land with the rest of the discarded paper on the floor. She'll need to shred them later, but for now.
Floor plans.
The address of a garage that sells cars at low prices.
The route to get to Jii's bar unseen by any cameras.
"Kaito…" Aoko mutters to herself now, wincing at the sound of his name from her lips. It sounds to solemn to belong to him, not energetic enough from her lips, "why'd you have to… KID's meant to be the villain, you're not supposed to just…"
Save me.
Even now, she can remember his blood. Can smell it as it had poured from his shoulder – turns out, offering him the vest hadn't been enough. His limbs had been exposed and… and when he'd tried to tackle her from whatever danger he'd seen she'd…
Alive. But hospitalised.
And there's a time limit to the amount of time he needs to remain in hospital before the police can move him. A timer working its way to zero, recovery time that Aoko knows she's going to need to use effectively.
Now, she lifts her fingers to brush away her tears.
"Kaito saved Aoko's life…" She whispers, trying to keep her voice steady as reminds herself of the heist she's lived through, "now Aoko's got to save Kaito's."
Aoko heaves a sigh; She's got so much work to do.
The author very much so enjoys comments. She also enjoys the fact that many people thought Aoko was dead.