Author's Note: Sorry for the wait! Thank you for the reviews again. Enjoy!
PART 5
"Listen, Ran and I are on a date now, so you just stick around and keep a low profile until I'm done," Shinichi told Kaito as they walked back to the restaurant. Kaito had dressed back into casual clothes, and he was still limping. "Then we can get home and discuss more about this."
"Nobody said I have to go to your place!" Kaito snapped.
"Are we in this, or not?" Shinichi countered sternly.
Kaito bit his lip. "Fine, fine...you win..."
As they were approaching the restaurant, they saw Inspector Nakamori and his men clearing out. Nakamori looked up and spotted them as well. His eyes widened. "Kaito-kun!"
Shinichi raised his eyebrows in astonishment as Kaito stiffened a little. Inspector Nakamori rushed up to Kaito. "Aoko told me you weren't in school this morning, she was worried. What happened to you?" He had noticed the bandages.
"I had an accident last night, Nakamori-keibu," Kaito answered as cheerfully as possible. "Tell Aoko no need to worry. Oh, and I found this somewhere..." He fished out the golden egg from his pocket and handed it to the inspector. "I thought it might be the one Kid was trying to steal."
Nakamori-keibu's eyes shone. "Arigatou, Kaito-kun! I'll tell Aoko then. But...what are you doing here?"
Kaito kept calm. "I'm here with my friend," he said, pointing at Shinichi.
Nakamori-keibu cast Shinichi a look of disbelief and disgruntle. "He's---your friend? M-matsu!" He peered at Shinichi, and then at Kaito. "You mean, friend or brother?"
Kaito laughed. "You know I don't have anymore siblings, Nakamori-keibu! He's not related to me, I just happened to meet him and we became friends, right, Kudo?" he asked Shinichi, who awkwardly nodded.
Nakamori-keibu grunted. "All right then. See you later, Kaito-kun."
"Ja ne, Nakamori-keibu! Tell Aoko I say hi," Kaito said cheerfully, waving as Nakamori-keibu and his men cleared out.
"I don't believe you!" Shinichi hissed when the officers were out of sight. "You know him in real life and he's still your nemesis!"
"Not nemesis, just a close friend," Kaito told him, linking his hands behind his head. "It's a coincidence that his main job is to capture Kiddo, and I have no reason to deny it."
"Hmph...so this is the real you?" Shinichi muttered.
Kaito grinned. "What gave it away?"
"Pfft...actually, I changed my mind. You're still annoying whether you're Kiddo or not."
"Thank you." Kaito bowed grandly and snickered.
How did I get myself into this? Shinichi thought with a petty sigh. "So, the Pandora gem is still at you?" he asked.
Kaito froze once more. He wished Shinichi could just forget about it. "No, I destroyed it," he lied, hoping that it was convincing enough. But Shinichi did not say anymore.
"Ahh, looks like someone's waiting for you," Kaito suddenly spoke up as they neared the restaurant, snickering. Shinichi froze when he saw Ran standing at the restaurant entrance, tapping her foot in impatience.
"Shinichi, I'm tired of you running away like that!" she retorted. "I was just going to look for you!"
"G-gomen nasai, Ran," Shinichi said quickly, rushing over to her. "I-I was just talking to my friend..."
Ran spotted Kaito behind Shinichi. She raised an eyebrow, but did not say more. "Okay...it's good that you return this time, though. This is your friend?" she asked.
"Ah, yes...this is, um..."
"Kuroba Kaito," Kaito cut him off, smiling. "Hajimemashite. You must be Kudo's girlfriend, Mouri-san."
"Ehhh?!" Both Shinichi and Ran exclaimed, turning very red. "Ahh, no! He's just kidding, he's just kidding!" Shinichi quickly said, laughing awkwardly and waving his hands wildly. He grabbed Ran's shoulder and turned her around, starting to push her back into the restaurant. Kaito followed. "Why don't we just get back to our dinner?"
"Wait." Ran put down her foot firmly, stopping him. She turned and pointed at Kaito. "He's coming with us too?"
"Oh...hang on a second, Ran!" Shinichi quickly pulled Kaito to one side so that they were out of Ran's ear shot. "Do me a favor, Kuroba...stay away from us while we're having our date, but keep in sight anyway!" he hissed. "Don't go missing until we're done, then we'll hurry back home together!"
Kaito snickered. "If this is a date, why didn't you admit that she's your girlfriend then?"
"Shut up!" Shinichi flushed furiously as he glared at Kaito. "Please, just keep out of trouble!" Kaito held up his hands, as if saying 'All right, you got me'. Shinichi gave him another warning look before whirling around and rushing back to Ran.
"So, what were you saying?" Ran asked as they sat back down at their table.
"Eh?" Shinichi blinked at her.
"You know...before the lights went off," Ran murmured.
"Oh! Yeah...um..." The feeling came back again. Shinichi started to sweat once more. "I---er---I mean...I was saying, could we---um---"
Just then, he saw Kaito sitting down two tables away from them at the window. Kaito waved cheerily, grinning. A waiter came up to him and placed a wine bottle on the table for him.
Wine bottle?!
"HEY, you're underage; you aren't supposed to drink that!" Shinichi exclaimed angrily.
"Excuse me?!"
Ran was staring at him as if he was crazy. A sweat drop appeared behind Shinichi's head. "Ah...I-I was just talking to myself," he said quickly, laughing awkwardly. "As I was saying..."
Kaito picked up the bottle and shook it. Suddenly, the cork popped open and sprayed wine all over the lady at the next table. She shrieked, causing Shinichi to break his concentration once more. He turned to glare at Kaito, who was apologizing and laughing in embarrassment as he tried to help the lady clean up.
"Shinichi?!"
Shinichi snapped his head back to Ran, almost forgetting again. Ran looked impatient. "Oh! Sorry...um..." He glanced at his watch and mentally hit himself. "Look at the time! The movie is starting in ten minutes, right? We better go there quickly or we'll miss it!" he said quickly, getting up.
Ran sighed, but followed anyway.
After purchasing tickets, they entered into the dark theater. They found seats at the center and settled down just a couple of minutes before the movie started. Shinichi peered around the theater, and noticed that the audiences were mostly couples---either holding hands, or arms around each other's shoulder, or (Shinichi turned red) already kissing. He glanced at Ran, who was excitedly waiting for the movie to start. He spotted her hand on the chair's arm between them. He had the sudden urge to hold it. Before he knew it, his hand started to reach out for hers.
"Sumimasen!"
The loud hiss startled Shinichi, making him almost fall off his chair. "Dai jou bu, Shinichi?" Ran asked in puzzlement.
"Ah, I'm okay, Ran..." Shinichi laughed awkwardly as he settled himself properly in his chair. As the movie was starting, he turned his head, glaring up the theater.
Kaito was sitting at the furthest back of the theater, his legs perched on the chair in front of him, and a large helping of popcorns in one hand. He grinned, waving.