Retracing their way out of the park and towards the residential area where Agasa's house sat, Shinichi and Hattori somehow made it without major problems as they dragged the thief along. But by the end, Kid looked ready to collapse and could hardly lift his own feet.

After slamming the front door without a proper greeting, Shinichi called for a certain scientist girl and the professor to give them a hand. Haibara emerged from around a corner and gave a disapproving glare at him. She looked obviously displeased at the fact that they dragged an injured person to her first thing in the morning. While she pointed at an unoccupied couch for Hattori to deposit Kid in, Haibara addressed Shinichi with a stern tone. "Kudo-kun, you better have a good explanation for bringing him here and not to a hospital."

"And I do." He was prepared for her hostility towards a situation like this. The house was supposed to be her safe haven after all and Shinichi had barged in with a stranger in tow.

After a few seconds of eyeing Shinichi, she gave in with an exasperated sigh. "Fine, have Professor Agasa fetch some antibiotics and painkillers quickly now. I'll go to sanitize a pair of pliers and some scissors. No guarantees that I will be able to patch him up though."

Hattori and Shinichi spent the next fifteen minutes loitering in the kitchen, leaving space for the two scientists to work in peace. Much sooner than they had expected, Agasa walked in to report that they were done removing the bolt.

Hopping off of his seat, Shinichi asked. "How is he?"

Right afterwards, Haibara followed Agasa to the kitchen to throw away various medical waste. "Lucky for him, that bolt didn't touch any major organs. Mostly damage to muscle tissues. The bolt had enough weight to have high penetrative power. It could have caused much more damage and killed him from the subsequent hemorrhaging." She walked back to the living room couch with a first aid box and a bottle of antiseptic to take care of the superficial head wound.

Feeling out of place since he had nothing to do, Agasa decided to get busy after pulling out some raw ingredients from the fridge. "I'm gonna make some food. I'm sure our guests would want something to eat!"

Hattori was surprised that he was included as a guest. "Me? Oh, I'm fine. Just make somethin' fer the Kid, Professor."

"Anyways, who is this you brought here?" After looking at the unconscious teen's face whose hair had been parted out of the way for the wound to be dressed, Haibara turned to Shinichi with a smirk. "A secret twin? Or perhaps a clone?" Hattori choked on a laugh from behind his hand.

Arms crossed, Shinichi looked at her flatly. "Ha ha. Very funny, Haibara. That's Kaitou Kid. And no, I am not joking."

"Ah, that does explain why you didn't bring him to a proper medical facility." Despite not showing it, Haibara had a positive impression of Kaitou Kid. During the raid of the Black Organization, the thief had helped locate her after she was captured and he had even faked her death before back on the Bell Tree Express. She lazily glanced at a clock nearby as she set aside the first aid box. "At any rate, I have to go to school now. I'll let you detectives handle the rest of this mess."

The sound of shifting caught everyone's attention. With effort, Kid propped himself up with an elbow. "N-no, it's better if you stay inside."

"You-" Haibara gave him a hardened glare, the kind that strict doctors give to patients who disobeyed their orders. "You should be asleep, Kid."

Somehow mustering his usual suaveness, the thief quipped back. "Maybe I have gained a resistance from all the soporifics I handle on the side?"

His words did not impress her. "No, I mean that you should be resting."

In turn, Kid was unshaken by her stern gaze. A scowl formed on his face as he repeated his end of the bargain. "I will sleep once I know you will not step a foot outside or anywhere near the windows. That applies to everyone here."

"What's yer problem with us goin' out?" Hattori threw a cautionary glance around.

"..." For a moment, Kid's downcast eyes seemed to glaze over. Blinking a few times, he shook out of his daze. "I just… remembered that they are keeping an eye on my movement. And now that I'm here..."

"'They'?" A loud smack resonated in the air as Shinichi slapped his forehead with a palm. "Damn it! We're being watched. The shooter at the intersection followed you, didn't they?"

Kid shook his head. "Close but not quite. There was a team of three cooperating together. Just as I was about to head out, they forced me to come to Beika..." He tried to sit up but his injuries brought him right back down onto his back.

Hearing the three of them mention the possibility of being watched, Haibara decided to make a hasty retreat to her lab. Shinichi saw her go into hiding and sympathized. Even if the house's windows had been reinforced to deter snipers during the peak of their struggle against the Black Organization, the idea of enemies knowing where they were unsettled him greatly.

Seeing that the thief was in no shape to talk, Shinichi pushed aside his want for answers. For the time being. "Look, Kid. You can tell us later. We'll hunker down like you want us to. Just listen to Haibara before she comes back with vengeance or I use my tranquilizer dart on you."

"..." Throwing one last tired glare at the detective, he finally allowed the effects of the strong painkiller and his fatigue take over. Kid fell back down and drifted off to sleep almost alarmingly fast considering how he could talk relatively normally just a few seconds earlier.

Walking back from the kitchen after giving the professor a hand with cooking, Hattori glanced at the resting thief. "So, what now, Kudo?"

"I'll let Hakuba-kun know that we found Kaitou Kid. You go shut the curtains to every window around the house."

An unpleasant throb pulled Kaito out of his sleep, accompanied by the feeling of overheating. His forehead felt damp so he reached out to wipe away the uncomfortable moisture. His fingers brushed against the light bandaging on his hairline, causing a sharp jolt of pain. Not only did his left shoulder hurt like hell, there was a wound on his head.

Shifting his body, Kaito allowed the cover on his body to slip to the floor. Immediately, he felt a little better. There was a slight feverish sensation along with him being absolutely famished and parched. Knowing he won't be eating or drinking anything lying down, the teenage magician forced himself to sit up with a grunt.

It took a few blinks for him to gather his bearings. Right, the two detectives had brought him here after they found him half-conscious at the park. The soft orange glow seeping through the curtains told Kaito that it was about mid evening.

Stiffly keeping his left arm from moving, Kaito swung his legs off the couch so he was in a sitting position. Even after the dreamless sleep, he felt so drained that he couldn't even be bothered to pull his hood back on to hide his face. As much as he wanted to take off his sweatshirt to cool off, the wound dressing wouldn't allow him to. A thick compress was stuck to his pectoral wound and tightly held in place by gauze wrapped around his shoulder and arm. It seemed like the scientist girl had decided to cut apart the cloth around the crossbow bolt.

"Ah, Kid-san. H-how are you feeling?"

The elderly man's presence was so quiet and shy that Kaito's heart jumped when the man spoke, but he didn't allow that to show. Walking from behind the couch to be in front of Kaito, Agasa had his hands clasped in front of him in a nervous manner as if speaking to a customer.

Kaito chose to keep his nighttime persona while speaking to the man. He forced a polite smile on his face and straightened his posture. "Much better! I appreciate your hospitality, Professor Agasa. I apologize if it inconvenienced you and the young lady."

"Not the first time Shinichi had brought trouble to my front door!" The man exclaimed in an oddly proud fashion, pink coloring his cheeks. "Anyways, let me get you something to eat."

"Thank you."

With the professor leaving for the kitchen, a child-like voice then appeared from the stairs. "Very smooth, Kid. Now how do you really feel?"

Quickly dropping the act, Kaito fell back against the couch and spoke pointedly. His mood was less than pleased considering his current situation and he didn't have the patience or energy to keep his gentlemanly act. "Like shit. I haven't felt this sore in forever. What did you do while I was out cold anyways? Something productive I hope."

Shinichi stepped down from the stairs, a novel tucked under an arm. "Me and Hattori spent a good amount of the day taking turns on stake out. On a few occasions, we spotted a large drone flying in circles high up around the neighborhood. With the help of my glasses' zoom function, I could see that its structure had been rigged into a remote gun of sorts. Was that the thing behind the shooting incident at the intersection?"

"Yes." In the back of his mind, Kaito recalled the chaos that went down. He was almost afraid to ask the question but he had to know. "What are the casualties?"

A brief pause passed by as his detective counterpart considered his answer. "Two dead and five hospitalized, according to Hakuba-kun."

Averting his gaze, Kaito's heart sank as he tried to swallow the lump forming in his throat. He allowed himself to sink further back against the couch. A long and deep sigh trailed out of him. His eyes moved listlessly around while staring at the ceiling as if connecting invisible constellations out of imaginary stars, all in an effort to prevent any tears from forming. "I-"

"If you're gonna blame yourself, then I don't want to hear it because it is not your fault." Shinichi snapped at him.

With a mix of outrage and confusion, Kaito sat up to stare at the detective. The bewilderment he felt stemmed partly from Shinichi guessing correctly. Being read so easily didn't sit well with him. A defeated air accompanied the answer he muttered. "I'll think about it."

Tray in hand, Agasa carefully laid down the fried rice and miso soup on the coffee table next to the couch. His eyes darted around between Shinichi and Kaito. Sensing that he was butting into a sensitive moment, the old inventor quickly left to tinker with his prototype gadgets without any additional words.

Putting down the bowl that formerly contained miso soup, Kaito gave an annoyed glare at the two detectives sitting across from him as he finished his second serving of food. A few tentative bites was all it took for his appetite to roar back to life after several days without a proper meal. Washing it all down with some water and a painkiller tablet, he pushed aside the tray and the plates. "Alright, enough with the looks. I'm not some zoo animal on display here."

The first to react was Hattori. "What? C'mon, it's not everyday that I get ta see Kaitou Kid himself outside o' his costume!"

Kaito shot a challenging smirk. "Oh? This could be a mask, you know that?"

Immediately shooting down the magician's taunt was Shinichi. "No chance, Kid. While treating your head wound Haibara would have noticed if there was a mask getting in the way, plus there is a small gash on the bridge of your nose. In addition, I found no evidence at the park of any of your usual tricks which means you likely don't have anything with you currently."

"No need to be so harsh, Detective-kun." Kaito winced at Shinichi's deduction. "But yeah, you're right. I literally have none of my tools with me." One of his favorite gadgets had been destroyed last night. Technically, he could build a new card gun with what Agasa's workshop contained since the blueprint was stored in his memory. But that would take a whole evening, not to mention the custom ammunition that needed to be made without his specialized tools which could result in an entire day spent.

The Osaka teen stared at him in disbelief. "H-how did that even happen? I can't imagine someone like ya ta be caught off guard so badly."

To show his vexation, Kaito sighed and shook his head. "Bad timing. I didn't have the chance to resupply before one of their agents and that drone forced me out of my house."

"You mean, they know who you are?" Shinichi looked back with undisguised concern. "That would explain how they ambushed you."

"But how did they figure that out? Ya're a sneaky guy, bein' a master o' identity theft and all."

"..." Apart from that disastrous conversation with Aoko, Kaito had no idea what had tipped them off in the first place. Suddenly, an irritating thought occurred to him. "That bastard Hakuba..."

The two detectives glanced at each other with wide eyes. Hattori inquired out of curiosity. "Um, what about 'im?"

"Come to think of it, he had been accusing me of being Kaitou Kid within the earshot of other people before." Kaito clicked his tongue as his brows shifted to a deep frown. "I should have told that damn idiot that I had a thin line of protection."

"No wonder ya don't like 'im..."

Shinichi followed up. "What do you mean by 'a thin line', Kid?"

"Those men in black thought I was my father. One stray comment about me potentially being Kid would send them down the right path." His expression softened into a rueful smirk. "In hindsight, I should have seen this coming one day..."

"Your...father?"

His heart jumped and Kaito hoped he hadn't let it show. The teen magician realized that he had gained unwanted attention to something he did not wish to discuss. "Not now, Detective-kun. It won't affect the issue at hand."

Hattori gave him a doubtful look. "Are ya sure about that?"

"Very." Kaito internally cursed at his mistake. He was getting too relaxed around them. Gathering a flippant and calm air around his person, he continued. "My history doesn't change the fact that those guys are out there causing more harm than good, no?"

There was a moment of tense silence where the two detectives debated within themselves if they should let the topic slide or not. Eventually, Shinichi shrugged. "He's right, Hattori. We have more important matters to talk about than his personal life." He said that but the interested glint in his eyes remained solidly in place.

"Good to see that we're on the same page, Detective-kun." The magician's face displayed a pleased smile but beneath the surface, he was squirming and berating himself.

Agreeing with Kaito's wish to move on to another subject, Shinichi put a finger to his temple in thought. "You said that you were forced to come to Beika."

Kaito could barely remember what he had said that morning when he was brought to Agasa's house. "In truth, I had wanted to come here on my own volition but then I realized that they also wanted me to head to Beika for a reason. It turns out that they know the people involved with the sting on the Black Organization operated in this district. They want me to rat out my allies along with anybody they know, intentionally or not."

Shinichi's face gained a paler shade. "S-so, that would explain why you didn't want us to go outside. We could have inadvertently dragged a lot of people down with us..."

"Man, I wanted ta relax when I decided ta skip class today. Them's the breaks, I guess." Hattori ran a hand over his face. "We better plan our next course o' action."

The smaller detective perked up, his expression conveying that an idea had sprung in his head. "I know who can help. They should be still in Japan for the trials… I'll be right back." Shinichi got off of his seat next to Hattori and walked to an isolated corner of the house to make a phone call.

"Agh, I should tell Kazuha about bein' late again. Hope she doesn't kill me fer missing so much school once I go back ta Osaka..." Hattori whipped out his own phone to inform her that he got entangled in another precarious situation again.

At last, Kaito took a break from the detectives' scrutiny. With proper food in his belly, some rest, and a bit of talking, he admittedly felt better than he did days ago apart from the injuries and the slight fever. He had even managed to gain some form of assistance to his current predicament. Still, a question Hattori had asked him stayed in his mind.

What prompted them to investigate and confront Kaito about his involvement with Kid? Last night, Termite had said that it was related to the Karasuma Group's downfall. Kaito could only assume that with the bigger group gone, they had much more freedom to move around and act.

His thoughts returned to the heist night when he was approached by Romulea and attacked by Termite. How did the agents infiltrate the heist location when it was buzzing with police on high alert because of Kaitou Kid?

…

It couldn't be…

A cold chill ran down his entire body as his heart began to pound in his ears. The only way Termite and Romulea could have been at the heist location without anyone noticing them coming in or out was if they were part of the task force itself. Kaito couldn't recognize them since both of the agents wore headgears that obscured their faces. They were probably one of the officers that kept a low profile in Nakamori's ranks.

Them being part of the Kaitou Kid Task Force would allow them to see Kaito whenever he dropped by. Aoko and Hakuba could also have been observed, leading them to suspect that they knew Kaito was the phantom thief himself.

Termite's words from last night suddenly became more ominous. "We can finish off the Nakamoris and that Hakuba brat at our own leisure." They had been within an arm's reach next to Aoko, the inspector, and Hakuba the entire time. The pulsing from the crossbow wound throbbed more painfully as he recalled being chased to Beika.

Only the happy melody of a phone ringing snapped Kaito back to the reality in front of him. His heart only raced harder at the familiarity of the tune. An object was hurtling towards him and Kaito caught it reflexively with his right hand. Kaito blinked as he looked at it and realized that Shinichi had thrown his own phone at him from afar. He assumed that the detective had kept it on his person while he was out of it.

Steadying his voice with a gulp of air, Kaito picked up the incoming call. "Hakuba?"

The voice on the other side sounded calm but had obvious restrained agitation to its tone. "Kuroba-kun, the inspector believes Aoko-san has gone missing. He has not seen her since yesterday."