Chapter Warnings: CASE CHAPTER (incl. dead bodies), Unreliable Narrator, Angst, Implied Disassociation, Unresolved/Unprocessed Trauma (my specialty)

Chapter 5

It was the end of summer break. The last day before they had to go back to school.

Many things have changed over the course of a few weeks, and a lot of those can be attributed to meeting Edogawa Conan and their decision to befriend the lost boy from Beika.

Tetsuya had long since come to accept that in the eyes of the greater population, he was simply another speck in the crowd. Unseen, unheard, maybe even nonexistent. He had his place in his family, but anything beyond that seemed bleak.

One of the only things Kuroko Tetsuya had to his identity was his interest in basketball– secondary to his invisibility, but right before his inadequacy in the sport. And then Kuroko Tetsuya met Ogiwara Shigehiro; interest became passion and 'friend of' was added to the short list of things comprising his identity. Then Edogawa Conan came with his piercing eyes and brilliant mind; he made Kuroko Tetsuya see.

(That 'friend of' wasn't just a title, that he wasn't inadequate, that he wasn't invisible, that there was always more to consider. That he has to be Tetsuya rather than just Kuroko.)

So, on that last day of summer break, the three boys decided to hang out at their court with some popsicles instead of playing any of their preferred sports.

Tetsuya absentmindedly fed the local flock of doves with some pieces of bread while Shige-kun stiffly watched on and Edogawa-kun entertained one that had nested on his head. The bespectacled boy was surprisingly good with the avians, and they easily flock to him even though it was Tetsuya who started feeding them. Shige-kun, on the other hand, was not overly fond of beaks and talons and had resorted to freezing on the spot whenever Tetsuya decided it was time to feed the birds.

(Shige-kun believes Tetsuya does it on purpose. How absurd.)

(He does. Sometimes.)

It was just another quiet afternoon.

There were no goodbyes that were going to happen—they didn't live so far away from each other for that, merely having to cut down the time spent together. Just the same as it was in the past year or so with Shige-kun attending a different school. Tetsuya wasn't even sure why he felt so melancholic, so…hollowed out.

(Left behind.)

Tetsuya even had a phone now, happily given by okaa-san once he asked, and shared the same coloring with him. It only had a handful of contact numbers programmed in and of those, Edogawa-kun was the only non-family member.

But even then–

"I've got something for you guys."

Tetsuya found himself snapped out of his thoughts by a flurry of feathers and cooing, quickly followed by the sounds of Shige-kun panicking. Edogawa-kun had pulled himself up to his feet, startling the doves into taking flight and retreating towards their usual perch on the metal fence enclosing the court. Slightly disappointed by their departure, Tetsuya turned his attention towards the other boy.

In Edogawa-kun's hands were two palm-sized boxes, smooth and navy blue in color. It was hard to tell what they may contain.

Tetsuya shared a look with Shige-kun before both boys took the respective box offered to them. They opened it at Edogawa-kun's slightly eager but encouraging nod. Whatever it is, the boy was excited to give it to them.

The boxes each contained two things: one was a thin fabric band with a buckle-like clasp, the other a sleek, rectangular thing that was about an inch and a half in length and the same width as the band. Though mostly colored black, there were variations; Tetsuya's band was light blue inside, while Shige-kun's was a dark shade of orange.

"They're fitness bands a friend of mine made," Edogawa-kun explained as he took Shige-kun's to demonstrate. He clipped the band around Shige-kun's wrist with the buckle-like clasp positioned where a watch face would be, took the rectangular thing, and slid it on the buckle clasp where it snapped to position and lit up like a screen.

"The band contains a number of sensors that monitor your heart rate, blood pressure, activity levels, and sleep among others." He tapped at the screen which displayed the things he enumerated. "It collects that data and an algorithm will analyze how much strain you can put your body into for the day, as well as the optimal number of sleep you need to function your best. Hakase made it so that it will recognize when you're playing basketball or not. It should also notify you whenever you need to take a break while doing physical activities."

Fascinated, Tetsuya took out his own, and found that the fabric band was actually elastic and rather soft. Slipping it on was quite easy, the fit snug and comfortable. He slid the screen over the clasp and stared at the numbers and charts that lit it up.

"The detachable screen isn't necessary for it to function, it's only there when you want to see the data and analyses." Edogawa-kun continued explaining as the two boys prodded and fiddled with their bands, wide-eyed. "It should also be waterproof and resistant to blows."

"Th-this is…" Shige-kun stuttered, a mixture of emotions apparent on his face. "We can't– isn't this kind of thing expensive? We can't accept this!"

Tetsuya would agree if he could find his voice. He'd heard of the fitness bands out in the market, having been interested in them the moment he found out they exist, and had resolved to wait for the emerging technology to develop further before looking into it again. But this sounded and looked so much better than those expensive but overall fairly useless fancy watches.

"Eh?" Edogawa-kun was completely, utterly clueless. The boy scratched his cheek, eyes veering to the left. "Hakase made these when he heard me talking about you guys so it's yours. Besides, it probably didn't take him much to create them. My watch has similar functions, so he was more than happy to modify some features to make it more sport-centered than just a health monitor."

And now that it was called to attention, Tetsuya can see that Edogawa-kun's watch was peculiar. Silver, bulkier than what you would expect for such a sleek-looking thing. It definitely wasn't a normal watch.

"But!" Shige-kun practically screeched. Tetsuya himself wanted to physically shake Edogawa-kun. "It's still! I can't– Tetsuya, talk some sense into him!"

"Edogawa-kun is speaking nonsense again," was, shamefully, all Tetsuya could voice out. Really, what did Shige-kun expect from him?

"Haa?" Edogawa-kun shook his head as if they were the ones who were out of their minds. Shige-kun wordlessly screeched and Tetsuya's eyebrow twitched. "Okay, okay. Think of it this way. Agasa-hakase is an inventor so he needs to be able to test his projects before he can present them to potential investors. You are his guinea pigs for this particular product. So, I don't know, make sure to use it regularly and give him feedback in exchange."

The two boys finally calmed down at that explanation. "We'll write entire reports and everything! Ah! But we have to give Agasa-san something to thank him."

Tetsuya nodded. He was already thinking of ideas.

Edogawa-kun just eyed them weirdly. "You guys are more troublesome than the other kids. Food should be fine, but make sure it's plausibly healthy."

With that out of the way, the boys spent the afternoon testing out the accuracy of their bands and brainstorming their thank you gift for the professor.

Later, when he came home, Tetsuya couldn't help but smile at the innocuous band around his wrist.

Pleased didn't even cover how much he felt about receiving such a thoughtful gift, about being someone of importance that Edogawa-kun would have talked about him, mulled over Tetsuya and his problems for quite some time that he didn't seem to stop coming up with solutions.

No, Tetsuya wasn't so oblivious as to not realize that Edogawa-kun had had more involvement in the creation of the bands than what he wanted to imply. He was too excited, seemed to know the functions too well, gave it to them personally and took the time to make them understand it.

And that was what made it so utterly precious.

(A small thing. A big thing. A thing that meant Tetsuya wasn't being left behind.)

Especially when a simple, heartfelt "Thank you," had flustered Edogawa-kun so much. The blushing and almost incoherent mumbling as the boy made his escape with his skateboard was adorable.

(Eventually, they'd find out it was more than just a sport-centered fitness band.

But for now it's an overly useful gadget where basketball was concerned, especially to Tetsuya who was prone to overexerting himself.)

Fall semester started with little fanfare and a lot of readjustments to their schedule.

Mornings started at least an hour or two earlier just to keep up with their not-training, so come the start of school hours, Tetsuya was already aching in places that made sitting on a chair all day both a blessing and a curse. A blessing because he gets to rest, but a curse because it didn't actually help with the aching.

The time for club activities had also been set for a more serious regimen on basketball-specific skills (thanks to the heavy revisions based on that fateful discussion about Point Guards and Enganches) because of the access to equipment. In fact, that was how Tetsuya discovered exactly how well-funded their basketball gym was. More often than not, Tetsuya stayed there until the school closed for the day.

Progress was… slow. The loneliness that he'd grown to tolerate felt like an ill-fitting suit—tight, suffocating, overbearing, preoccupying his mind to the point of distraction.

It had been odd to practice without Shige-kun correcting the way he dribbled, or Edogawa-kun absently juggling a basketball with his legs while discussing strategies, or even the sudden increase in petty crime they stumbled upon since that first one.

(Thankfully nothing more serious than motorcycle theft. Edogawa-kun has really mastered weaponizing a soccer ball. Tetsuya wondered if he, himself, could eventually do something similar with a basketball.)

But with summer break over, other things naturally had to take priority. After all, all three of them were in their last year of elementary school, and obaa-sama had chosen quite the school for Tetsuya to attend.

It was a struggle to find a balance—Tetsuya being pressured to do well in his academics and attend to certain familial duties at the same time—but he was sure that it would become manageable, if not, then he'll have to make it so. Tetsuya was not raised to fall in the face of inconvenience, nor was he one to give up.

Weekends were the only certain days that he could meet up with Shige-kun. But they hang out regularly, if only to play some basketball with each other before having to turn their focus towards homework and studying. Shige-kun wasn't a bad student, but compared to Tetsuya, he struggled with subjects he really had no interest in. Particularly language, both English and Japanese.

Edogawa-kun, on the other hand, was a trickier case.

Tetsuya was able to contact the boy throughout the week, but he tended to message at very odd hours. In blatant show of disregard to his studies, Edogawa-kun's replies are fastest during school hours. After that, he wouldn't reply until everyone else was deep into sleep.

A portion of their conversations went like this:

Edogawa Conan (Saturday 3:36 AM)
tropical forests have the most diverse ecosystem, your sensei is lying
or you could just write an essay about freshwater organisms

You (Saturday 6:08 AM)
Thank you, Edogawa-kun.
I have chosen to write about tundra biomes instead. It would also be the easiest choice if sensei pushes through with creating dioramas.

Edogawa Conan (Saturday 4:27 PM)
sorry can't come today. busy

You (Saturday 4:39 PM)
That is alright, we understand. Take care.
Shige-kun insists on asking what you have stumbled upon today.

Edogawa Conan (Sunday 1:32 AM)
two dead bodies and a gun deal. maybe i'll be there tomorrow
today

You (Sunday 6:02 AM)
Please take care of yourself first, Edogawa-kun.

You (Sunday 8:41 AM)
tht mkes how mny dis wik? like 5? wow edogawa how r u alive
Apologies. Shige-kun managed to steal my phone and sent the message before I stopped him. I hope you are doing well.

Edogawa Conan (Sunday 9:07 AM)
i'm good at what i do, ogiwara, that's how

Edogawa Conan (Sunday 10:24 AM)
kidnapping
give me an hour

You (Sunday 10:30 AM)
Have there been many kidnappings lately? Otou-san and okaa-san are disturbed and would not stop messaging me every couple of hours. There had been nothing in the news so I was wondering if Edogawa-kun knew anything about it.

Edogawa Conan (Sunday 11:13 AM)
you're right
thanks kuroko

And so on. Though Tetsuya had never gotten a straight answer from that last part of the conversation.

Had they not been exposed to some degree of Edogawa-kun's misfortune, such casual mentions of various crimes would have been more alarming. As it stands, both Tetsuya and Shige-kun (and maybe even Edogawa-kun himself) were just bracing themselves for the day the two boys' nullifying luck wears off.

A good thing, too, because whichever being that governs that part of their life was incredibly unpredictable and fickle.

The thing about being conscious of the near-cursed luck Edogawa-kun possessed was that you notice the oddest of things.

The first thing was that it never acted up whenever they were on a basketball court. It didn't matter what they were doing, nothing crime-related ever happened on or around the court. That was one of the reasons why they hung around one so much. But all bets were off once they decided to leave.

The second thing is that somehow, Tetsuya was related to it. This was proven time and again whenever his low presence decided it was useful after all. An example was an incident last week.

A fairly popular café had just added milkshakes into their menu and Tetsuya wanted to try it. Edogawa-kun was easily enticed by the offer of coffee and Shige-kun was there for the savory breads the café was known for. It was as they entered the establishment that a man and his wife—mistress, Edogawa-kun had corrected later—exited.

The man had taken a sip from his cup of latté, bumped into Tetsuya, startled at seeing a kid 'appear out of nowhere' and, in something like serendipity, spat out his drink. Initially they thought nothing of his coughing and spluttering, but then the man collapsed on the floor. An ambulance was called, the poison in his drink identified, Edogawa-kun charmed and beguiled his way around, and the woman sitting alone in a corner—legal wife's best friend, a past mistress—arrested on the charge of attempted murder.

Tetsuya was just happy to still end up with a milkshake, but resolved to never come back to that cafe ever again. Their milkshake had not been sweet enough to cover the bitter taste as he realized what had almost happened (again).

The third—and second to the last—thing is that some of Edogawa-kun's quirks finally made sense when death and crime were drawn towards revealing themselves to him. It must be harrowing to be exposed to it almost everyday.

Tetsuya was knowledgeable of the myths and superstitions that surrounded death, and had actually made himself further acquainted after realizing Edogawa-kun's circumstances. While a lot can be said about omens, Tetsuya knew that anything pertaining spirits and magic were hardly straightforward.

Then Tetsuya and Shige-kun stumbled upon their first dead body.

No, that wasn't quite right. That sounded far too tame for that experience.

It was a normal day. A saturday in the increasing chill of October. A day in which Tetsuya, Shige-kun, and Edogawa-kun were able to meet each other and just hang out without the pressures of middle school preparations or anything else. Shige-kun must have been particularly antsy because he'd sprang up with the suggestion of going on one of his whims of adventure.

"Let's go explore that house by Kono-basan's!" exclaimed Shige-kun with a bright grin that didn't falter in the face of two deadpanned expressions. "C'mon! I know we've explored it a bit already, but we haven't brought Edogawa there yet, have we? It'll be fun!"

Before he knew it, they stood in front of their destination.

Kono-basan's is a tea shop that also sells ceramics and stonewares. It's been there even before Tetsuya was born. All their wares were handmade by Kono-basan herself, and while slightly reclusive even for a widower, the old lady was always nice to the curious children that stop by.

Right beside her shop was a house abandoned some years ago. It was a two storey house, complete with a porch, garage, and overgrown front garden enclosed by a gate. Its design—or what had been its design—straddled the line between modern minimalist architecture and the traditional Japanese home, so it was mostly made of wood with the occasional expanse of cement and plaster.

It gained a reputation because of how the owners had committed suicide within the house. At night, it was said that you could hear their agonized moans, and the scent of death haunted anyone who entered it.

Tetsuya, of course, had done his research. Apparently, the owners couldn't keep up with the mortgage and loans they had to pay off, and on top of that, they were scammed by the construction company and were given faulty materials worth only a third of what they had had to pay. They hadn't committed suicide, but they did abandon the house. He just wasn't sure if it had been sold or not, considering how bad the place looked the last time they had been there.

Nevertheless, Shige-kun was enamored with the story even after discovering it wasn't true. So they told both versions to Edogawa-kun.

"I see." Edogawa-kun stared at the house with narrowed eyes, pausing every now and then in certain areas. To be fair, the house really does look bad. Cracked and stained plaster, rotting wooden beams, part of the porch roof had caved in… "That doesn't seem safe to enter."

"It's fine, it's fine! We already went in before, like a couple months ago. Just gotta be careful when walking around. Besides, we'll just be taking a peek." As he said this, Shige-kun opened the gate and went in.

"Ogiwara, it's practically falling apart," was Edogawa-kun's stressed out response. "Why hasn't anyone taken this house down yet? It's a safety hazard."

Shige-kun shrugged, but thankfully waited for them rather than run inside like he seems eager to do. "Dunno. Maybe the owners don't want to?"

Despite their misgivings and wariness, the three boys found themselves in front of the door. With an exchanged look, Edogawa-kun opened it carefully. The creak of rusted hinges made all of them cringe.

The interior of the house was in about the same state as outside. But—

"That's odd." Tetsuya visibly frowned, feeling uneasy. "There used to be furniture here."

"Huh?" Shige-kun looked around, blinking. "Ah, you're right!"

The front door opened directly into what they had assumed to be the living room. It had a couch, arm chairs, a coffee table, and some side tables that had been in various states of disrepair. Only now, there was no sign of them. Just a big, empty space that displayed the ruined wooden floorboards.

Edogawa-kun must have found something of interest because he slowly walked over to the center of the room, looking like he was sniffing the air. Tetsuya didn't know what else he was smelling besides rotting wood and dust.

The boy crouched down, the wood creaking ominously as he shuffled around on his hands and knees, searching for something.

Shige-kun, despite finally growing a cautious bone since meeting Edogawa-kun, decided he would follow the other boy. Anxious at being left by himself, Tetsuya did so as well.

"Oi Edogawa, what are you looking for?"

"You said there used to be furniture here," Edogawa-kun started knocking on the floorboards and listening intently. "Why would they remove it but not touch anything else? And considering the condition the floor is in…"

"So it must have been removed to prevent the floors from caving in," Tetsuya continued, still as a statue even as he watched.

"Yeah," Edogawa-kun nodded before finally pushing himself up. "These are recycled wood and wouldn't survive the wear of being used as flooring. So–"

To the other two boys' alarm, Edogawa-kun jumped. He landed hard on his feet.

"Oi!"

"Edogawa-kun what are you doing?!"

But nothing happened. Feeling like his heart was at his throat, Tetsuya resisted the urge to punch Edogawa-kun's satisfied face. Or jab his side. He would deserve it so much.

"It's been cleared for something else." Then, as if he hadn't almost killed them, Edogawa-kun smiled, the kind that sprouted damned flowers, "There's a basement!"

Appalled, Tetsuya did jab the boy and watched in satisfaction as the flowers wilted and he doubled over. It wasn't like Edogawa-kun couldn't have dodged it. Tetsuya could never catch the boy off-guard after all.

And, as they discovered, there is a basement.

The entrance was a trapdoor camouflaged by the floorboards, only distinguishable because of how wobbly the wood panels were. When they uncovered it, Edogawa-kun was looking at it pensively while Shige-kun had a wide-eyed look of excitement.

So this was how it happened.

They didn't stumble upon a dead body.

Shige-kun opened the trap door without a word, unprepared Tetsuya fell through the opened trapdoor, and Edogawa-kun reacted in time to follow him and maneuver them around so Edogawa-kun would take the brunt of the fall.

Only.

They didn't exactly land on the floor.

Well, if you counted a pile of human bodies in varying states of decomposition as a floor…

But Tetsuya didn't. He definitely did not. He also did not scream, but the moment the stench hit him made him so dizzy and nauseous he couldn't accurately recall what happened until they were out of there.

Shige-kun, though. Shige-kun had cried out, scrambled away on instinct, threw up because the scent was so overwhelming. Had been a mess that only fought through it when Edogawa-kun commanded him to get help because there had been no ladder rungs or anything to climb out of that dump.

(It didn't quite feel real, though. Was Shige-kun there? Was Tetsuya there?)

All he could really recall was Edogawa-kun pressing his face against Edogawa-kun's neck, holding the trembling boy as he guided them over to a clean space and making sure he couldn't see anything. The stench was so awful even through the handkerchief and Edogawa-kun's shirt.

They stayed that way, Edogawa-kun practically smothering him, enclosing him, making the world smaller with nothing but his whispered words and his presence, until someone managed to get them out.

(Edogawa-kun was all that existed.)

So this was how it happened.

Kuroko and Edogawa-kun fell into a dump of dead bodies, and Shige-kun watched his friends fall into a literal death bed.

Neither of the boys, even Edogawa-kun, were okay, but being given new clothing, ones that did not smell of decay or stained of bodily fluids, made him remember he had a body. One that needed to be scrubbed raw later.

The Inspector—Megure-keibu—took one look at them, at Edogawa-kun who was holding both Kuroko and Shige-kun, and sent them away with comforting pats on their heads. Kuroko would have made note of how fatherly the gesture had been if he wasn't so out of it.

Takagi-keiji had taken up the duty of driving them to their homes, his face twisted in worry as they spent the drive in silence. But when the time came for Kuroko to exit the car, having arrived at their address, he had refused to let go of Edogawa-kun's hand.

(Can't let go of it.)

"We'll just stay overnight," Edogawa-kun squeezed his hand. "I think… I think we need to be. Is that okay with your families?"

Before Shige-kun could say anything, Kuroko cut in, voice surprisingly steady but oh so far away, "We have a landline. You can call oba-san. Tomorrow is a sunday so it should be okay."

Shige-kun, who had also seemed anxious about being alone, nodded eagerly to the provided excuse. "Yeah, that's– I'll do that. Thanks, Tetsuya."

Takagi-keiji sighed, before putting on a smile that even with Tetsuya so off-kilter, he could tell it was fake and brittle. The police detective addressed Edogawa-kun, something sad pulling at his face. "I know this was– a bad one even for you, Conan-kun. I really wish we could help more–"

"It's fine, Takagi-keiji," Edogawa-kun's smile was so bright, so happy, so inordinately deceptive and unreadable. "You and the rest of division one already help so much. Especially you and Satou-keiji and Megure-keibu and Shiratori-keibu and Chib–"

Takagi-keiji laughed, "I get it, I get it. You don't need to name all of us, Conan-kun. Just don't forget we'll always have your back, okay?" Edogawa-kun nodded. Then, the man addressed Shige-kun (and Kuroko by extension), "You too, alright? Conan-kun is very reliable, but if you need help from someone else, don't hesitate to approach any of us. I'm sure you'd be hard-pressed to find someone in TMPD that wouldn't immediately respond as soon as you say this little guy's name."

Edogawa-kun pouted, but his hand squeezed Tetsuya's as if sensing something. And he was right, because that short exchange, that softness in the police detective's eyes as he spoke, finally pulled Tetsuya out of the utter stillness in his mind.

Tetsuya pressed his lips together, blinking away the burn of tears, and tugged at Takagi-keiji's sleeve. "Thank you."

If the man had overlooked Tetsuya like so many others had, he didn't show it. Instead, he smiled and placed a hand on their shoulders in comfort.

That night, the three boys settled in Tetsuya's room, futons set out to accommodate the two guests. Shige-kun was deep in his sleep, crashing hard after such a day. Tetsuya lay awake, trying and trying to process the events just this morning.

They had expected this, to some degree. Shige-kun had even gone so far as to ask for a couple of details from Edogawa-kun despite being queasy, which Edogawa-kun obliged with only a nod as if confirming his thoughts. The boy even went an extra mile and started discussing openly public case files when he could.

But none of them had expected the way it had ended up happening.

If anything, Tetsuya had underestimated how…intense it was going to be. The situation and his own reaction. The lack of disgust, the lack of urgency, the lack of—

Instead, Tetsuya felt more lost. Like some part of him was just left to float untethered. Emotions had always been a fickle subject of introspection, but right now it was as if he was staring at nebulous, amorphous shadows that he couldn't grasp.

"How does Edogawa-kun make sense of everything he's encountered?"

Edogawa-kun, who hadn't even pretended to go to sleep, shifted on his perch by the window, hands occupied by a book he'd filched from Tetsuya's personal collection. "What do you mean?"

"I feel…" Tetsuya scrunched his nose, trying and failing to find the correct words to use. "Lost. A buoy without an anchor. Should it be like that?"

Edogawa-kun was silent, but Tetsuya wasn't surprised, wasn't expecting something incredibly profound because he knew the other boy didn't often stop to consider things like that. If he did, he and Tetsuya wouldn't focus on similar things.

So when he said, quietly, "It's normal, I think, for it not to make sense because coping with it is different from one person to another and it takes…time. To me, death is just another facet of life. Rot, decay, rigor mortis—it's science, logic, facts. I reveal the truth to appease my guilt. For you…you're not driven the same way I am. What about it really upsets you?" Tetsuya was caught a bit off-guard.

What about the pointless death of so many people upset him? What about seeing their sightless, milky eyes, their rotting flesh and exposed bone, upset him? What about the fear that ebbed down, the adrenaline that burned out, upset him?

(What about feeling even more unreal than usual upset him?)

Tetsuya sat up, turned his gaze towards Edogawa-kun, sees the downward slope–defensiveness–in the other boy's posture, the way his hands clutch tightly around the spine of the book, the darting glances to the door and the windows, the dark circles under his eyes that were somehow more prominent under the moonlight.

Ah.

The answer was so simple. How come Tetsuya didn't see it?

Tetsuya stood up and bowed deeply at the other boy. "I must apologize to Edogawa-kun."

Edogawa-kun blinked and actually put down his book. "Eh?"

"It was not my intention to make you feel responsible for the events of today. Edogawa-kun is not held accountable for anything that happened. So I must give you my sincerest apologies, Edogawa-kun."

"Eh? What?" Tetsuya heard Edogawa-kun scrambling, and then he felt himself literally being manhandled out of his bow. He stared at a cerulean gaze. "No, no, why are you apologizing? There is nothing to apologize for!"

Tetsuya tilted his head, confused. "But Edogawa-kun asked what about it upset me, and I realized I am affected because I do not like seeing Edogawa-kun so stressed. So I apologized for my contribution."

Edogawa-kun scrutinized him for a moment before sighing, "There's still nothing to apologize for, Kuroko. I have more experience on this kind of thing than you or Ogiwara, so in a way, I am supposed to be the one responsible. Besides," the smirk on Edogawa-kun's lips is sardonic. "You're not the ones being followed around by a shinigami."

This time it was Tetsuya denying the statement, something about this conversation clearing away the lingering confusion. "No. I don't think Edogawa-kun is cursed to be followed by death." Seeing the curiosity—bleak, dispassionate, everything that made Tetsuya resent whoever was responsible for it—in the other's eyes, Tetsuya continued. "It is merely that truths are drawn to reveal itself to Edogawa-kun. Murders, kidnappings, criminal plots…are those not deceptions that need to be exposed?"

Edogawa-kun gaped at him and Tetsuya was pleased at gaining such a reaction. Then, seeming to have processed it, Edogawa-kun smiled, this one reserved and very, very real. "Shin…jitsu, huh? That's certainly a way of putting it."

And with that, their night finally wound down.

The next day, the three boys went out to play basketball as if nothing happened.

(18 bodies. 11 female, 7 male. 3 children. Half were beyond recognition. 5 ID'd as missing persons, the last 4 living alone with no relatives or friends to report their missing status. The 18th was the suspected culprit, a bullet hole between his eyes and lying on top of the body pile. Thrown in like trash.

Edogawa-kun had stopped there before, "It's organized, the house had been rigged from the start. There was no trace of the supposed construction company, or even the previous owners, and the state it was in left any evidence contaminated. The police have hit a dead-end."

He has this look that he knows something, but Tetsuya didn't say anything.)

The next time they saw a dead body, it was easier to tolerate. The two boys preferred staying out of the way, but Tetsuya would never hesitate to use his low presence when needed.

Now, the fourth and last thing about being so conscious of Edogawa-kun's propensity to attract criminal behavior was completely unrelated to such gruesome things.

It was just hard to ignore the fact that the local doves weren't as local as Tetsuya initially believed. He'd seen some of them follow him around, follow Shige-kun and Edogawa-kun around, and maybe it may come off as paranoid because they were birds, but the one time he'd messaged Edogawa-kun about it, he just said to let it be. No denial, no appeasement. Just–

Edogawa Conan (Tuesday 9:28 AM)
it's just an overly concerned idiot, let him be

And Tetsuya didn't bother with any more questions.

So when one day, Tetsuya saw a strange man feeding very familiar doves at the park, he made a beeline towards him. The man immediately noticed his approach and raised his head.

(Tetsuya was not as surprised as he should be.)

It was startling how much Edogawa-kun resembled him. Messy brown hair, mostly similar facial structure, eyes of a deeper blue hue that glittered the same way Edogawa-kun's did but had a certain sort of edge that made Tetsuya hesitate. The man smiled, and the way it was both real and not was familiar. They could be father and son, older brother and younger sibling.

Maybe they are, maybe they're not. But they resemble each other in looks and the subtlest mannerisms. If they were not related, they must have spent a lot of time with each other.

With a puff of smoke, the man was right in front of Tetsuya and presented him with a flower– a thornless peach-colored rose. "Kuroba Kaito. A pleasure to finally meet you."

Finally meet you. An expectation. Somehow, Tetsuya suspected those expectations didn't come from hearing stories from Edogawa-kun.

Tetsuya took the offered rose, eyeing Kuroba-san's grin warily. It was a touch too wide, a touch too wild. But Tetsuya was nothing but polite so he bowed in greeting. "Kuroko Tetsuya. It's nice to meet you as well, Kuroba-san. Thank you so much for the rose."

"Mou, you're so polite! You should spare some of that for Con-chan. That brat is always so rude and mean, as if our years together meant nothing to him!" Kuroba-san wailed.

Tetsuya was confused and speechless, but his expression remained stoic.

Kuroba-san noticed his lack of reaction and pouted, immediately stopping his dramatics. "Nothing? Geh! Such a tough audience, but I've worked with harsher critics."

With a flourish, Kuroba-san snapped his fingers and a flurry of feathers burst out of his clothes, a seemingly endless stream of doves flying around him. Tetsuya blinked, and Kuroba-san was gone.

A voice right beside his ear whispered, "Well how about it, Kuroko-kun?" Tetsuya flinched in surprise and whipped his head around to see Kuroba-san grinning from ear to ear, his eyes glinting with something ominous. "Would you like to watch a personal magic show from the great Magician Kuroba Kaito? Let me show you the power of misdirection."

Chapter End

Oh god, I hate how I can't even format chat fics here. but uh,,, *runs away*

*peeks in* It's a WHOOP band with modifications, yes. *bye-onara*