With the exception of the plot and the original characters that are depicted in the story, the author makes absolutely no profit off of this work of fan fiction, and no copyright infringement is intended on the franchise of Detective Conan that rightfully belong to its owner Aoyama Gosho.
This chapter has been edited by OnyxKatana with some of her original ideas added to the content. I cannot thank her enough for helping me with the dreaded disease known as writer's block, therefore the second chapter of Paper Faces is solely dedicated to my brilliant beta-reader and good friend from across the pond.
To say that Nakamori Aoko was worried about her best friend would be a gross understatement. Having being acquainted with the one and only infamous Kuroba Kaito for a decade (give or take an additional two months), she was exposed to many aspects related to him; extreme energy levels, random pranks, an ever-present grin and an instinctive instruction to 'expect the unexpected'. In fact, Aoko would probably would not even bat an eye if the ceiling exploded into feathers, or if the desks suddenly turned blue, and the doorframe sprouted flowers of different colors or sizes (she still had no idea how Kaito managed to pull off that particular prank on their last day of school). Being around this hyperactive teenager as both a classmate and next door neighbor kept Aoko on her toes, wary of what could possibly happen next. She had to be prepared to counter anything with a mop at a moment's notice. Yet the most prominent element of Kaito's shenanigans was the quiet spell; this usually meant that he was plotting, something so grand that he could not keep up with his usual repertoire of pranks.
That reasoning made Aoko even more worried, and with good reason. Kaito's period of silence has extended from a few days to the past month or so. Oh, he certainly performed some mischief here and there, but it seemed like his whole heart was not in them. Even Hakuba-kun's hair has stayed absolutely blonde for three months now!
At first, Aoko concluded that Kaito was taking a break to prepare for their final exams before their second year of high school ended. However, the March exams came and went with Kaito achieving top scores in every subject as usual. He had been relatively calm over the break too. When all of these factors were pieced together along with Aoko's sixth sense, something was very, very off with 'Bakaito'.
Once Aoko stepped into her homeroom, Class 3-C, her baby-blue orbs landed on a certain messy-haired magician. True to his hyperactivity, Kaito could not sit still. He was playing around with a deck of cards, flipping them effortlessly with his fingers, making them dance at his command. At her entrance, he looked up from the now levitating card and smirked, instantly bringing them back to a single deck in his hand. Kaito's eyes danced with humor as he greeted his old friend.
"Ohayou, Ahouko! It's the first day of the new school year, you know. I thought you would at least 'try' to make an effort and look like a girl for once."
Aoko frowned and opened her mouth to say something equally malicious, but the only sound that escaped the teenager was a loud shriek when a hand sneakily flipped her skirt upwards. Immediately brandishing a mop from seemingly out of nowhere, another game of cat-and-mouse between childhood friends commenced. Engrossed with the desire to pummel the jerk, Aoko did not see or hear the door open, much less acknowledge the presence of the homeroom teacher and the young lady standing next to him. That is, until Kaito performed another skirt flip on the nearest person.
The victim, instead of having her panties exposed to the classroom, was seen wearing an unattractive pair of black running shorts beneath the knee-length skirt.
"WHAT THE HELL?!"
This outcry of disbelief came from both Kaito and Aoko, though for very different reasons; the magician was not used to seeing anything aside from panties (lacy, polka dots, T-back, you name it he is more than likely catch a glimpse of them), while his childhood friend was appalled at the inappropriate behavior (a shameless pervert Bakaito may be, he at least waited a few weeks before he flipped someone else's skinny, much less try to pick the lock to the girls' changing room!)
A tense, thick silence fell upon Class 3-C until its homeroom Akiba-sensei - a remarkably average middle-aged man who had an unrivaled displeasure for students who were not diligent in their studies - broke it with a cough and unimpressed frown.
"Nakamori-san, Kuroba-san, as seniors I thought your conduct in class has vastly improved so as to set an example to your underclassmen, but it seems that I've been proven wrong," Akiba-sensei then glanced at the silent young lady who stood beside him with a slightly amused expression on her pale face and sighed. It was the first day of school and already he was getting a damned headache.
"This is Kudo Shinichi. For reasons she has no obligation to give you unless she says otherwise, she has transferred to our school in time for the new semester. And you will all help her adjust. Do I make myself clear, class?"
Aoko's blue eyes widened as her teacher's words sunk in and the whole class began to softly murmur their transparent curiosity to the person sitting next to them. Every now and again, she heard from either her father or the task force that there was a detective who hailed from the East, a remarkable person who is singlehandedly responsible for the tutelage of the famous KID Killer. But never in a million years did Aoko think that such a cool person would be part of her class!
Still, The brunette thought as she watched Kudo-san take an empty seat a few rows toward the middle of the room, Why does she look like she would bolt at any second?
xPFx
Homeroom, as Shinichi had predicted, lasted about ten minutes before she was dismissed to her first class of the day, Trigonometry. A smile threatened to stretch across her lips as she relined in her seat ever so slightly, but the detective refrained herself from getting too excited. Never in her wildest dreams would Shinichi find her nimble mind ready to dive into studying an advanced class like Trigonometry or even English; mind you, while the young woman in question was pretty proficient in both subjects, she still harbored a bias against them like every other high schooler.
Though after being forced to relearn multiplication tables up to 12 as her 'cousin' Edogawa Agatha, it was a change of pace she warmly welcomed: agonizingly easy lessons for more age-appropriate material.
While Shinonome-sensei was explaining a problem on the board to the class (one that Shinichi had already solved five minutes ago), the teenage sleuth took the opportunity to look around the classroom. Shinichi hadn't done much in Homeroom other than listen to Akiba-sensei's lecture since she had to pick up her textbooks and other items at the administration building. Besides, the starstruck class had been sending Shinichi not-so-discreet glances and whispering non-stop after being introduced to them. It was better to mind her own business and survey her new environment later.
The classrooms were rather spacious and open. Sunlight steamed in through the large windows and filled the room with natural light. The students seemed nice enough, though were currently still spellbound at having another famous detective at their school; the first one was Hakuba Saguru, but he had been summoned back to London for an emergency, hence why he was not present in Homeroom or the current lecture of Trigonometry.
It was times like this that Shinichi wished her arrogance had not outweighed her common sense; carried away by the media as they recorded her growing collaboration with Inpector Megure and the police on complicated cases, pleased when she got fan mail from the postman, etc. After being constantly exposed to the public in such a manner for an extended period of time, the young woman eventually crowned with a moniker that sticks to her side like a nasty thorn. A name she wanted nothing more to discard after seeing so much in the last two years as the Sleeping Kogoro's reluctant puppet-master.
Detective of the East.
But Shinichi just wanted to be...Shinichi. A high school senior with no jinx of someone dropping dead wherever she went (Before she left her apartment, the teenage genius sent a silent prayer to whoever was listening that there wouldn't be a murder in the school. She did not need that on her first day. Or any day, preferably).
Shinichi's thoughts were soon interrupted by the shrill bell echoing from the PA system, signaling the end of the lesson. Shinonome-sensei gathered her papers and prepared to leave the classroom. At the sliding door, she turned and looked at Shinichi. "Kudo-san, I hope you're not having problems due to the transfer. If you need any help, you can meet me after classes." The detective responded with a curt and polite nod, and then the teacher left the class.
This particular routine continued throughout the day, with every lecturer telling Shinichi the same thing and that they hoped she would like it here. A quick glanced at her schedule informed her that it was now break time. She had brought her own lunch to class: white race, pickled vegetables, and some leftover chicken curry from the other night. Living on her own for so long turned the detective into a decent cook, though she still had to wake up extra early to put everything together in a blue bento box.
And in truth, Shinichi's culinary skills left a lot to be desired when it was compared to Ran's.
The detective felt a twinge of pain at the thought of her childhood friend. Ran...she had been so angry at their reunion. Although Shinichi understood why Ran acted the way she did, the reasons behind those heartbreaking emotions, it did not mean that the dark-haired teenager felt any less bad for what happened.
Shinichi tried to do whatever was best at the time, considering the messed-up circumstances she was trapped in. She tried to keep Ran and everyone else safe from the -
"Hello, Kudo-san!"
Shinichi snapped up her head so fast that she almost got whiplash. A tiny girl with chestnut-colored tresses in pigtails stood right in front of her desk. The student's round glasses were perched on top of her freckled nose as she smiled at the startled sleuth, oblivious to Shinichi's inner turmoil, and held out her hand.
"My name is Momoi Keiko. It's nice to meet you!"
"Kudo Shinichi."
The detective grasped Momoi-san's hand and shook it in a daze (her mind quickly deduced that this girl had a penchant for sketching and didn't participate in any sports, if the graphite dust on her fingertips were any indication).
"Kudo-chan, it really is a pleasant surprise to see you here. I hope you'll settle in soon!"
Shinichi tried to shake off her anxiety with a subtle shrug. "I needed a change of pace, and I decided on Ekoda. So here I am." That should be a good enough fraction of the truth to satisfy her curiosity. The sleuth mentally added.
Momoi-san blinked once, then twice until an astonished small gasp her mouth. "Wow! Kudo-chan! You look a lot like a close friend of mine. Hang on, let me introduce you to her. Oi, Aoko-chan! Come over here!" With her back turned to the transfer student, Momoi-san did not see the mechanical smile that suddenly appeared on Shinichi's face.
The sleuth had a feeling that after being introduced to whoever Aoko-chan was, she would have no choice but to meet more people than she felt comfortable with on her first day. Shinichi could already hear her classmates' whispering again, hearing shortened sentences that were heavily punctuated with words she had been hearing since Trigonometry class.
Weird detective girl.
Missing for a year.
Detective of the East.
"Kudo-chan, this is Nakamori Aoko. Aoko-chan, this is -"
Shinichi did not hear the rest of Momoi-san's words as she felt her breath hitch in utter shock, followed by the feeling of her blood growing cold. The girl standing next to Momoi-san...
No. It couldn't be Ran. It just couldn't. But she looked so similar to her old friend with those wide, baby-blue eyes. Yet upon closer inspection, this girl's chestnut-colored hair was shorter and messier than Ran's. Furthermore, Momoi-san had introduced her friend as Nakamori Aoko.
"Kudo-chan? Are you all right? You look a little pale." Momoi-san asked with a hint of concern in her soft voice. Shinichi quickly regained her composure and smiled at them.
"Kudo Shinichi, pleased to meet you. I hope we will get along this year."
Thank you to everyone who has reviewed, subscribed or favorited. Our famous class magician and his anti-KID friend have at last been introduced! I really hope you have enjoyed reading this chapter. Please feel free to review or PM me with any questions, comments, or constructive criticism.