Title: The Greatest Mystery of All Time (Well, sort of.)
Rating: G
Disclaimer: I don't own DC, MK or anything Gosho Aoyama XD;
FicSwap Challenge: A meeting between the three tantei, for any reason.
-------------------------------

It was a very serious case. So serious, that even the great Kudo Shinichi (under his current guise of Edogawa Conan) was baffled to the point he went asking for help.

Hattori Heiji was the first called for advice, the Osakan teen wondering at first if the personal-level of the crime was why Shinichi couldn't handle it alone. But after hours of searching, going over each and every clue repetitively and straining their analytical brains to their limit- the two still couldn't figure out the criminal or the motive.

It was a true mystery.

That afternoon they were contacted by a third detective, one Saguru Hakuba. He'd heard about the case, and thinking that this crime had a few similarities to some facts he'd gathered about Kaitou KID, the teen agreed to meet with the other two detectives in hopes to sort things out.

"So...what does this have to do with KID again?" Conan asked skeptically, "There was no heist note; this isn't a jewel or even something extremely valuable on its own."

Hakuba shrugged, smirking as he confidently laid out his facts.

"Let me ask you one thing- doesn't KID include a small doodle along with his heist notes when he steals a jewel?"

The two nodded, still not cluing in yet as to what that had to do with anything.

"Then why not also take into consideration the artistic caliber of the perpetrator? Coincidence? Perhaps not. Second, the target of this crime was clearly you- Edogawa-kun; meaning it was someone who knew you personally and wished to make a mockery of you. Once again, KID seems a prime suspect for that."

"But there was no heist message sent out, isn't that against his style?" Heiji piped up.

Hakuba thought back to his classmate, Kuroba Kaito, and his reaction to this heinous crime that very morning. The teen, who Hakuba highly suspected was KID, was laughing himself silly at the debauchery that had befallen the Edogawa boy.

Explaining this to the two detectives before him, he was certain that he could convince them that the criminal was none other than KID. But little did he know, they were not so easy to convince.

"Ahou! Everyone was getting a good laugh out of it, so whether the person you think is KID did or not has nothing to do with it!" Heiji exclaimed, keeping it to himself that even he burst into a fit of giggles when he saw it.

Conan just frowned, once again looking at their largest clue sitting before him.

"Okay, drop it," The boy snapped, "I don't think it's KID. Sure, he has a motive; but don't you think this is a little too...I don't know- out of his league?"

"But then, who is it?" Heiji questioned, twisting his hat around in hopes it would give him some clue.

"...That's what I'd like to know," Conan sighed in resignation.

-------------------------

"Minami? Minami, you home?"

The dark-haired man straightened his glasses and continued the search through his home for his wife.

"Minami?"

"I'm in here," Her voice called from his study.

Sitting down his things, and warily glancing at the large amount of messages on his answering machine, the man known to the world as Aoyama Gosho peered around the corner.

"Minami, has Shogakukan called yet to ask me what's going on?"

"Why would they?" The woman questioned, glancing up from where she sat.

"Well someone stole my latest manga chapter and switched it out- it's a bit of a fiasco."

"Oh! Oops..."

Gosho blinked at her reaction, it was- to say the least- rather suspicious, "Oops?"

She gave him a warm smile, but he could see right through it. She was definitely hiding something from him.

"Well, you know how you asked me to get last week's manga chapter sent in once you finished it?"

"...Yes?"

"Kaito...sort of stole it."

He sighed, placing a hand on his wife's shoulder, "Dear, you mean that Kaitou KID stole my manga and re-wrote it with this?"

Holding out the latest issue of Shounen Sunday- the comical image of none other than Conan dressed up as a magical girl graced the front page.

"Edogawa Conan- detective by day, magical boy by night. In his quest to quash the Black Organization, our boy-detective has found out he possesses magical powers granted to him by his ancestors of the Moon Kingdom. In this chapter..."

Gosho stopped reading on noticing Minami starting to sneak out of the room.

"Minami. What happened?"

"Kaito..."

"Would not have been reading Sailor Moon manga; unless my preliminary deduction is wrong?"

She fidgeted a bit then sighed, "Kaito- our cat- ran off with the envelope before I got it delivered. I knew it was close to the deadline so I..."

"Created the chapter on your own?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

Minami smiled nervously, "Something like that."

Shaking his head, Gosho grabbed up the phone.

"Okay, now that that's cleared up. Let me tell them that this was a chapter produced by you and that the real chapter will be coming soon. Though you have to admit- I think everyone got a good laugh out of 'Magical Boy Conan,' wouldn't you say?"

His wife frowned, and dropping into a certain young detective's voice, gave her reply.

"Everyone but Conan is most certainly...laughing it up."

---------------

Author's Notes: For those that didn't get all the mentions. Gosho Aoyama, of course, is our wonderful creator and Minami Takayama is his wife and the voice actress for Conan. Kaito, Gosho and Minami's pet cat, is the one pictured on the cover of Volume 51 of the manga.