Well. It's something? I'm not entirely sure I like it, but it has all the general bits I planned for it, so... we'll see? Anyway, it's something.

Chapter 8

It was a habit to check the mail immediately upon getting home, and Kaito frowned at an unstamped letter tucked away in the drop-box, with the only address being his own name in a clean, feminine set of kanji.

"What is it?" Conan asked in English for the benefit of the neighbor across the street tending his plants.

"I don't know," Kaito headed up the walk and opened the door, sliding the nondescript piece of printer-paper out of the envelope and glancing at the writing.

He froze.

"Kaito?" Shinichi demanded sharply, flicking his glasses on and doing a quick sweep of the hallway for immediate bugs. "Clear in the hall," he added.

"Akemi—it's all here; she's meeting up with Them in less than three hours—" They'd already planned out what to do, had everything ready and waiting downstairs in case of short-term notice, but this was—too short.

"I can screen visually if we can intercept her," Conan pointed out. He couldn't bend light, but anyone in range wouldn't see anything unusual. Tricking the mind was easy, after all.

And the Black didn't like cameras. Not even their own. Evidence was evidence, and just because it was in their own possession at first didn't negate the risk of infiltrators or even a good enough thief, and the Black was careful about the possibility of getting caught.

"We've got to move," Kaito stated, terse. And they did, because Shinichi may have mostly gotten over watching her die the first time, but he'd lost enough that he'd wanted to save this time, and they'd planned for this. Planned well ahead of time, and they had everything they were likely to need—except time. It would take nearly two and a half hours to cross all the way out to the far side of the warehouse district past Haido, and they still had to intercept Akemi.

Kaito would be the one swapping in, but they had body armor and a setup to imitate bleeding and a read on Gin's general reactions. Conan had been there the last time and knew the man pretty well, well enough to predict. Not only that, but with mini-Shinichi waiting in the wings with his impressive illusions, they should be able to keep things from getting too out of hand. But 'should' was never something to count on.

(Time. Why was it that somehow, even with this second chance, that time was one thing they so often seemed short on?)

xxxx

Hakuba settled back into his own home with great relief. Kuroba and Kudo were bad for his mental health. He was… resignedly fond, he supposed, of Kuroba—though that had admittedly taken Kuroba confessing to his night-job and some partial truths that had been truly concerning—and he liked his senpai's company and dry humor, even if the fact that he also stood in on Kuroba's night job from time to time was a bit startling at first.

Less so than the popping up out of the blue married had been, but startling.

Adding in real magic had been upsetting. The further additions of not-premonitions, curses, and objects of great magical power (when had he become a character in a fantasy novel?) had been bad enough.

The shrinking? That was what really topped the list. He wasn't sure if it was better or worse that Kudo shrinking to the size of a six-year-old was science instead of magic.

Seeing the miniaturized Kudo in action was actually kind of terrifying. He could only imagine how much worse it would be for someone who didn't know that the 'six-year-old'—wasn't. Also, the fact that he had lost none of his skill with magic was both reassuring and alarming.

No, wait, the shrinking wasn't what topped the list—it was the time travel. Or possibly dimensional back-shifting, since surely they couldn't be in their original timeline anymore or they would have already done something paradoxical to negate their return by this point.

A firm knock on his door ended with Baaya walking in (without waiting for him to answer, a first) and handing him a cup of tea and a small plate of cookies. He smiled, "Thank you, Baaya," he took both gratefully, "I don't know what I'd do without you."

He didn't. Baaya was probably the only reason he hadn't suffered from some kind of psychotic break with all the world-view-shattering revelations that his two friends kept dropping on him.

On the other hand, he had friends. Real ones, ones that he would trust with his life.

Baaya smiled back at him, "I think the Kuroba boy is good for you," she told him. "And… I think it's good you're there for him right now. And heaven knows that poor child he's taken in could use more than one person to talk to in a country where he's only just learning the language."

Poor child? … Ah. 'Conan'. "He's a smart boy," Hakuba informed. "He unfortunately also shares Kudo-senpai's luck. Kuroba said he'd be grateful if I stuck around more, so he doesn't have to keep fielding police officers by himself."

Baaya hesitated for a long moment, "Young Master… do you think they'll find Kudo alive?"

Hakuba paused, "Were it anyone else, after this long… I'd admit it wasn't likely. Kudo-senpai… Kuroba honestly believes he's alive, and there's always been something a little eerie between those two." Because he couldn't tell her the truth, not in this. "As long as Kuroba has that faith, I think everyone else can, too."

Baaya nodded slowly, "Well, then. I'll just have to keep praying for his safe return."

Hakuba thought about everything that could go wrong, and how small and fragile Kudo's body was at that moment. How he was suffering from a poison and the antidote held its own dangers.

"Yes," he agreed. "I think we all will."

xxxx

Akemi took a deep breath and steadied her hands, pulling a picture of her sister from her pocket to look at for a moment to remind herself of everything she was doing this for.

The Kuroba boy had not responded, and when she'd chanced walking by his home again, she'd realized he hadn't been there in at least a full day. She'd left the letter as it was, even though it was a risk to him, because she wanted someone to know. To realize. To maybe, somehow… save Shiho.

She would do everything within her power, but right now she didn't have the power. So, she would do the only thing left that she could to at least see her sister alive. Not safe, not happy—but alive, and maybe… maybe someday.

She might never know. Right now, all she could do was go quietly to her own death.

(Then Kaitou KID ambushed her as she made her way through the abandoned warehouse district and things started getting surreal.)

xxxx