Well, here comes one of the most important chapters of the whole story : )
Please do ask if you're really confused about something, I can pretty much guarantee you that there's gonna be more than just one occasion of that. Of course, there are some details that I prefer to keep a secret until it is revealed for the sake of mystery, but I can absolutely help with sorting out the logic or sequencing of plot as that may not be so evident with my style of writing and stuff.
Kudo rarely gets any chance to go home for once, so when he does he arrives home with joy, except there's no one to welcome him. Then he sees a post-it note on the refrigerator which has the conditions of ingredients listed on it, and he recalls Ran telling him in the morning to take care of himself when she's not around him. Also some time before that, she did mention that she already agreed to take a break and go out with Sonoko and others.
After lying down on the bed, stuff that circulates in Kudo's brain is still those cases; when he thinks of them, he eventually falls asleep.
Tonight, Kaito Kuroba finally has the time to sleep well instead of engaging in some sort of social event, yet he somehow cannot fall asleep no matter how much he turns and tosses in bed. Maybe it's because for all these years, he already got used to nightly activity.
The morning sun flashes upon his face and Kaito immediately wakes up from light sleep. He half-consciously starts getting ready for the day. As he gets ready, as if suddenly drawn in by the person in the mirror, his eyes directly stare at the mirror before him.
He lays his pointer finger upon the mirror face, and little by little he slowly draws out an outline of the obviously tired-out handsome man before his eyes. The only imperfection of this beauty is the hairstyle, he probably messed it up when turning and tossing around in bed, and so he straightens it. Suddenly a thought flashes through his mind, he suspects that something isn't right. When he carefully looks at the person in the mirror, for an instant he thought that he saw that guy—just kidding, that can't be it. It must be because lately he's seen that face, that arrogant face, too often. On top of that, he's still half asleep after just waking up; that must be the reason as to why there's this illusion.
If it's an illusion, it's strange that it would occur so oftenly.
Kudo rests his elbow on an office table and has the back of his hands hold up his chin as he thinks to himself. Then his eyelids eventually fall and close followed by the drooping down of his head.
"Inspector," says an officer as he enters with a stack of newspapers and information after knocking on the door. He sees that Kudo has fallen asleep and doesn't dare to bother. He just quietly places the stuff on the table.
A few moments pass, Kudo's full body falls down and hits that stack of information, awaking him. The first thing that appears before his eyes are newspapers about societal events. In the midst of a hazed vision, his eyes haven't completely opened yet, but he seems to have caught a glance of a headline about a mysterious missing person case. When he takes a more careful look, he discovers that the first few words of the headline read "University of Tokyo Professor".
He was unconscious when this professor went missing, till now it has already been eight full days since the disappearance.
It's a very normal thing to predict that the professor might already be dead since quite a bit of time has passed, except they haven't yet found his body.
If he remembers correctly, Shinsanrou Suzukawa was a newcomer to the university when his freshman year was about to end. He's a Professor of Cell and Molecular Bioscience at the University of Tokyo, and before this he used to teach Computer Science and Engineering at Waseda University.
Also, if he remembers correctly—
"As I suspected," Kudo thinks to himself when he discovers Professor Suzukawa's information from the pile. This professor has a special interest for genomics, and somehow although he hasn't met Suzukawa in person before, he does feel as if the appearance is rather familiar.
Thinking of which, if he never met the real person, how would he have known that Shinsanrou Suzukawa has a special interest in genomics?
He should've fallen into unconsciousness on the night of the encounter with the fake Kid ten days ago, then three days later he woke up. The week after the mission was accomplished, he would somehow oftenly have moments which he cannot recall. Yet the day of the mission, and before that there was nothing wrong.
Which means this abnormal mental condition of his, indeed started after that night.
Suzukawa should have came when he only had a month and a half left of his freshman year, and within this period of time he never met with Suzukawa. Not to mention, he rarely got in contact with any of the other more experienced biology teachers at the University of Tokyo that year.
At that timing, Suzukawa's predecessor unfortunately died due to illness. The university, which had already been considered hiring Suzukawa, thought it through and decided that the sooner they fill the spot up the better, so it was almost an immediate appointment for Suzukawa.
That's all that he knows about Suzukawa, but the fact that he knew about Suzukawa's special interest and the fact that Suzukawa didn't show that interest until recent two years...
Could it be—
No, he must be overthinking it.
Shinichi Kudo takes out a small notepad and scribbles some things in it. He then rips the page out, makes a ball with it, and places it in his pocket. Trying to make good use of his time as he's still awake, he then goes on to sort out some cases.
Yet somehow, as he works his train of thoughts always seem to end up on the disappearance of Suzukawa. That barely covered head, that friendly face, that sort of plump appearance—and that calm and steady way of talking, there's no doubt that he has definitely seen that professor before.
He suddenly gets up and walks into the men's restroom. Only a dim sunlight is left in the afternoon sky, shining through the glass window, then onto the floor and sink. In this dark environment he puts his head down, stares the faucet which reflects his look, and eventually raises his head up. Here, at this moment, he cannot hear human voices which sometimes become ruckus. All he does is merely listen to the sound of water drops coming out the faucet, wanting to let his heart go free along with this water flow and settle with this silence peace, and not wanting to think so intensively.
Yet when looking at this person in the mirror, he just can't control his brain from continuing to think even if he feels as if it's about to explode, only to get a answer that makes sense.
In one moment, grayish-purple sky and black ground wash apart a reddish sapphire. Two completely different yet so similar scenes overlap in the mind.
"This can t be."
After hearing a voice that's not his own yet sort of familiar, Kudo just feels as if his body starts to go out of control. His right hand takes that piece of notepad paper out of the pocket without his will. He looks over the writing on the wrinkled paper with a horrified expression, uncontrollably holds his fists tight and starts attacking that wicked mirror forcefully, and doesn't stop until his hands become sort of red and swollen.
However despite the fact that he gave it all, he still didn't inflict any damage to the mirror, not even a little bit.
After calming down, he still has to return back to the mirror. He doesn't know for sure if he cannot feel anything with his hands because of simply just numbness due to pain. He places his right hand on the human figure before the mirror, and continues to hold his left hand tightly.
This is when he realizes, the person standing before this mirror is neither Shinichi Kudo nor Kaito Kuroba.
No, to be more exact, he's Shinichi Kudo and he's also Kaito Kuroba.
A sudden thunder strikes outside, although not a tiny bit of rain does fall—thus a dry thunderstorm.
Now he remembers, in fact he was never unconscious for as long as three days continuously—
The result of going after Kid ten days ago was that all members of the subgroup including him fell unconscious due to the anaesthetic, forcing an end to the operation, and thus resulted in the failure of the mission that day. But the effect of the anaesthetic couldn't have been that strong, it shouldn't have kept him unconscious for as long as three days. The injuries caused by the darts would not have been that serious either. There's no doubt about it...he woke up the next morning and went to see Professor Suzukawa during noon—for an interview appointment in the name of assisting his studies.
During the interview was when Suzukawa introduced himself as a genomics lover. His studies were related to DNA of famous/successful people, which is why he invited many well-accomplished individuals for collection of DNA samples and interviews.
Although neither of them two really knew much about this professor, but after all the invitation did come from a professor of their university so they weren't suspicious of anything. It just so happens both of them were free that day.
That day, that day he, or they both went to see Professor Suzukawa. The first thing that they both did after arriving was just have a casual conversation; the majority of what they discussed was the parenting methods by which they were subject to during childhood and the years leading up to adulthood. As the conversation went on, they both uncontrollably fell asleep.
Kudo could still remember the feeling of his body being dragged to somewhere when his mind was blurred out, except he had no power to fight nor struggle not even one little bit. Slowly, his consciousness faded out more and more, until it completely shut off.
With no idea of how much time has passed, Kudo woke up one day muddle-headed and found himself tied up. Although it was unlike when he was taken here passed out, at that moment he could actually use his strength, yet he still couldn't free himself. If he guesses correctly, that place must've been a laboratory, and there was another person who was also tied up on the other side of the machine.
Just having seen that professor standing before their eyes, as if doing things with some sort of equipment, Kudo fell unconscious again.
Kuroba still kind of recalls there being an electrical current which flowed through him and another person's body. It felt as if that current would go on for an eternity. Yet they recalled none of this before today.
Although it's hard to accept the fact, but they indeed are no longer the individuals they used to be. It was that maniac professor's experiment that combined them into one.
They were one during the night of arresting the fake Kid. They were one when Ran Mouri brought the bento boxes to Kudo. They were one during the nights that Kaito Kuroba showed up at some gatherings. They were also one during the night that Shinichi Kudo returned home and fell asleep quickly whereas Kuroba could not sleep well.
Should've known this way earlier, but only when now it cannot be avoided does all memory come back.
It's just that he can't do it...he accepts himself not, the self whom is like a monster right now. So that's why he attacked, why he attempted to destroy the mirror of truth before his very eyes even though it was useless.
He knows...he knows that even if he destroys the mirror, he cannot destroy himself and he cannot destroy the reality which has already happened.
Even so he will not give up, he will not stop destroying. Except what he really should destroy and crush is this psychological barrier of his and the goal that Shinsanrou Suzukawa wants to achieve by using this sort of technology.
He mustn't let people like this live freely beyond the reach of the law and continue to perform such evil deeds on more people. First, he must ask permission to obtain assistance from the *Advanced Technology Crimes Task Force* and the Public Security Bureau—
The body suddenly stops moving. "You..." Kudo thinks.
"You mustn't inform the police about this." As Kuroba tells him this, a few images of a man clothed in white appears in the mind, but not for long.
Through this one brain of the body they're using right now, not only can they directly communicate through thoughts but they can also directly know of each other's memories.
But since they share one brain, if the other person doesn't want that to happen then he can immediately end it. This, is what they just experienced.
They then decide to first return to Kudo's position, finish whatever job there is on his hands, and then ask his boss to take two days off for personal matters.
Originally his boss was a little suspicious that such a hard-worker like Kudo would take two days off, but when he saw the look in Kudo's eyes he decided to not ask for the details.
If Kudo decides to not report the specific reason to him, then Kudo must have his own reason for doing so. Anyway, these days it has been relatively peaceful, nothing really serious has occurred in recent days, so even if anything happens they should still be fine without him. Besides, after all these years, Kudo himself knows that if they are in desperate need of him to return, then he must report back no matter what.
The first thing he does after leaving the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department is head for Block 22, District 2, Beika Town. Except when he gets there and pushes down the doorbell, he waits for a long time and still no one comes out to welcome him, and so he heads for next-doors.
Only when he looks at the door plate does he realize where this is. When he enters, it's as if he sees a library.
This seems to be cleaner and tidier than expected for a place that hasn't been occupied for a long time, as if someone has always been taking good care of it.
After a day's work, he's so tired that he goes for the bed right away, and before falling asleep he thinks that maybe Agasa-hakase and Haibara will come back tomorrow.
When he thinks so, the images that appear are of a plump old man and a short-haired woman. Kuroba wanted to use the chance to get some data from Kudo's memories of them, except what's different from yesterday night is that this time Kudo's sleepiness happens to bring Kuroba into dreamland as well.
*The Advanced Technology Crimes Task Force does not actually exist, in Japanese original text as part of the Community Safety Bureau in the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department there is a せいばー犯罪対策課 which I believe actually translates to the Cybercrime Task Force. But as I have mentioned, I originally wrote this in Chinese and therefore primarily used Chinese sources when I wrote this. The Chinese translation was 高科技犯罪对策总合中心, which essentially translates to the Advanced Technology Crimes Task Force Center, which I obviously did not relate to as a subdivision for solely cybercrimes. So pardon me for making up the name of a task force to make the story make sense, after all the Cybercrime Task Force doesn't seem too suitable for a case like Shinichi and Kaito's.