It was during lunch that she received the phone call. It started out with their usual greetings and catching up before the conversation took an odd turn.

"Aoko-chan? I have a favor to ask of you for tonight."

The teenager blinked, "What do you need Chikage-san?"

"Kaito will be receiving a guest for the weekend, but I would very much appreciate it if you could feed both of them. I know I already trouble you with Kaito regularly, but you know he wouldn't eat properly otherwise."

Aoko giggled, "Definitely. But... Kaito didn't say anything about having a guest tonight..."

Chikage giggled on the other line, "I haven't told him about it. It's a bit of secret at the moment, he can find out when his guest arrives."

Aoko leaned against the rail in the outer courtyard where she was standing, "So who's coming over?"

A grin was evident in Chikagei's voice, "Have you heard of 'The KID Killer'? Your father has worked alongside him a number of times."

She blinked, "That little boy that shows up to KID heists sometimes?"

"Yes, Edogawa Conan-kun."

Aoko became confused, "...I don't mean to come off as rude but why is that little boy staying over with Kaito? Do they know eachother?"

Chikage hmm'd, "Not at all, however it seems he's seen a few too many murder's recently and his mother is an old acquaintance of Toichi. She had been calling around and remembered us and after catching up for a bit, asked if Kaito could help him with a little magic."

The teenager thought back to the articles she had skimmed of KID heists involving the boy, "But Chikage-san... I don't think he's interested in magic."

"Magic isn't always what the audience wants, Aoko-chan. Sometimes, what the audience really needs is a change of atmosphere."

After talking a little longer, Chikage informed her that Conan-kun would be arriving at about 7:30, which was around the usual time they had dinner anyway. So, with an extra serving on hand, she got home and went about preparing dinner. During the interim her father came home.

"Father." She placed a cup of coffee down as Ginzo glanced at her. "Hmm?"

"Aoko was informed that we're having a guest for dinner that will be staying with Kaito."

Ginzo blinked, "Why are we having that guy's guest over?"

"Chikage-san asked if I could make them dinner for tonight."

He nodded, "Well, who is it?"

"Edogawa Conan."

"That sleeping detective's brat? The glasses kid?"

Aoko blinked confused, "...Uhm..."

Ginzo waved a hand, "So that shrimp's coming over, eh? But why is he staying with Kaito-kun?"

She shrugged, "Being around a few too many murders has worn him out I guess."

Her father raised an eyebrow, "If he were a normal brat I'd believe it, but KID takes that glasses brat a tad too seriously for me to completely believe that. However, that's fine. Why didn't Kaito-kun tell you?"

Aoko smiled, but then realized the situation was still very strange, "Because he still has no idea he's going to be receiving him as a guest."

Ginzo sighed, "Must be one of Chikage-san's pranks then."

Aoko shrugged, stood, and returned to making their dinner.

It was around 7 in the evening when Kaito came over to watch the news with her father. She gave him a cup of tea and after a little while had him set the table, informing him that they would need an extra set.

Kaito raised an eyebrow, "You're expecting someone over?"

She shrugged, feeling more and more tense as well as oddly excited to meet the infamous KID killer, "Yup! It was a bit of a surprise to me as well, but they're an acquaintance of my father."

The magician looked over to her father who shrugged nonchalantly, "O...oh. Well if that's the case, should I go?"

Aoko puffed her cheeks, "I've already made your portion, what am I going to do with it if you leave now?!"

Kaito squeaked at her raised voice before rubbing the back of his head and returning to his usual seat at the table, "S-sorry Aoko, I wasn't thinking, eh heh."

She huffed with one hand on her hip and a wooden spoon held up in the other, "You bet!" And as if by clockwork at 7:30 on the dot, the doorbell rang. Showtime.

I'm sure this may have been an obvious development for some of you, but hopefully I approached it in a unique enough manner. There's still more to come so please leave me some feedback. Thank you.
Edit: I messed up Chikage's name and put Chiaki. My bad. I wrote this while getting my hair done and had no internet to check myself and it slipped my mind. XDX