"Uh, hello? Hi? Do you know where this is?"

Shinichi looks up, looking away from the pond and towards the voice coming from overhead.

There's a man caught in a tree. He's dressed in a suit, and a white hangglider is caught in the branches of the tree on the overhang. He's perilously close to the waterfall and seems unconcerned about it.

"Yeah, see, I'm lost? Probably?" The man gestures to the surroundings. "I think I'm lost."

Shinichi is at a bit of a loss.

"Aren't you afraid?"

"Of being lost?" The man wriggles, like a fish on a hook, and then visibly sags in defeat. "I'm honestly more afraid of people learning that I got lost."

Shinichi stares.

"You're near Oguni Town. Mount Aso? Kumamoto Prefecture? Japan?"

"Oh good. Then at least I'm still on Earth." The man waves at him, jauntily. "That is very comforting to hear."

"Do you need help down?"

"No. No. I've got this." He fiddles with the clasps on the glider and they fall away with a snap. He pulls out a grappling hook, aims at the opposite edge of the overhang, and swings himself in front of the falls, landing with a flourish on the edge of the pond.

It's very impressive considering it's nearly pitch black dark and the man is supposed to be dead.

"You know, I thought you'd be scarier," the man says brushing himself down and walking towards Shinichi. "Big black cloak, skeleton face, menacing aura. With, like, a scythe and a horse. Skeleton horse."

"Death is inevitable; there's no need to be frightening. How are you not dead?"

"Just lucky, I suppose."

"There's no point pretending about this." Shinichi gets to his feet and reaches out a hand. "It's nice to meet you, Kuroba Kaito."

"It's very nice to meet you, Death-san," Kaito says, bowing over his hand and pressing a kiss to the back of it. "I really thought I'd evaded you, at first."

"You're not dead. I'm just a... facilitator. If someone dies in confusing circumstances, we show up and guide them to the truth." Shinichi pulls his hand away, stepping back as Kaito leans in. "Since you're not dead and you do still see me, I'm concerned something is wrong."

"I really was supposed to die?"

"When you were evading capture, someone takes a shot at you. You are hit, fatally hit, and you slowly bleed to death, unable to direct the glider, until finally you spend you last moments stuck in a tree above a popular tourist destination." Shinichi reaches out, finger pressing into the hole of the suit, right above the stomach and very near his lung. He encounters a bullet lodged into something like kevlar. "You weren't supposed to be wearing this."

"I got a bad feeling when I tried to leave it behind." Kaito presses his hand over Shinichi's. "You really don't look like I expected. Are you sure I'm not dead?"

"I'm sure you have a concussion. I thought for sure you'd die this time."

Kaito tilts his head, glancing down in surprise when he notices he's caressing Shinichi's fingers.

"Sorry. Didn't mean to get that familiar."

He drops Shinichi's hand and Shinichi misses it.

"It's okay. You should just rest a bit before hiking back to town. Have you got a disguise?" Shinichi guides Kaito to the ground with a hand on his elbow. He tugs until the man is leaning against him, his body remembering what his mind doesn't.

"If I take off my jacket, there's a blue shirt under this vest. But that would look suspicious."

"You can take my t-shirt and sneakers before you leave. Hide the vest until you can come back to get it." Shinichi smiles as Kaito threads their fingers together.

"What's your name?I can't take your shirt and shoes and not even know your name."

"Kudou Shinichi. It's nice to meet you," he repeats, exactly as he's introduced himself before.

"I'm normally not this affectionate with strangers, you know."

"You don't normally almost die, do you?"

"It's happened more than you think." Kaito hums. He watches the falls for a while, just content to watch it and be at rest.

"It does," Shinichi agrees, softly.

"You know, I think I'll be happy to go in the end if it's you who guides me on," Kaito says, also just like every other time.

Shinichi looks above Kaito's head, at the clock that's supposed to count down Kaito's time but it's still frozen, stuck on the same time that he'd found that damned gem and never began to age. This was supposed to be the time that Shinichi could break that clock and Kaito would either start aging again, or he'd finally die.

"I promise I'll be there for the next time," Shinichi says, just as he has every other time, too.

"That's very kind of you, Shinichi-san." Kaito sighs. "They never say death is kind."

"It's not kind to everyone." Shinichi squeezes his hand tighter. "You must be lucky."

"Feels like the opposite, some days. Like a curse. Do you know what I found?"

"We do. That was a very small chance." Shinichi holds his breath, waiting.

"I never really believed in it," he confesses, "It sounded like a miserable way to live. Who would want to live forever?"

"People scared of death, I guess," Shinichi answers, "It's always people scared or greedy."

"I... I shouldn't have ever touched it. Why did I touch it? I don't want this. I don't want this!" Kaito wrenches himself away, hands scrabbling for something, anything in his pockets. Shinichi grabs him around the middle, tackling him into the water.

"Kaito! Stop!" He wrestles the other man still, holding him tighter as Kaito starts to sob.

"Why did I touch it? I don't want this life. Everyone's gone! I'm supposed to be gone too! I don't want this!" Kaito turns, burying his face in Shinichi's neck. "Make it end, please. I don't want to do this anymore!"

"Everything'll be fine, Kaito. Stay with me for a while and I'll make sure everything ends like it's supposed to for you," he whispers, "I'll find a way to save you."

"Death promises?" Kaito laughs a choked and wet laugh, fingers gripping Shinichi even tighter.

"I promise. You know I don't break my promises," he lies, because he's broken several just to be the one here, to save Kaito, to fix his own mistake. "I'm going to fix this."

"Why do I get the feeling that we've met before?" Kaito leans back to look him in the eyes and there's no real recognition there, just relief and fondness that someone is being kind to him.

"We'll meet as many times as we need to, okay?" Shinichi ducks down to press his forehead to Kaito's, closing his eyes to hide for just a moment. "I'll always be waiting to meet you."