Kaito didn't notice the footsteps that slowly approaching toward him. He didn't even notice the oddly gentle hand on his shoulder until- "hey, are you okay..?"
Suddenly the stench disappeared and was completely replaced with a scent of lemon and sea.
Wait a minute-
Kaito looked behind him and saw a familiar blue ocean eyes staring at him worryingly.
"Meitantei?"
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Chapter 2. Keep these smell away from me!
Shinichi raised an eyebrow. Meitantei? The only person who would ever call him that were the phantom thief and Haibara whenever she comes to tease Shinichi.
Wait, then that means.. "KID?" He let out a surprise quiet shout.
Kaito in return immediately cursed at himself, he was so occupied over everything that he had accidentally blew his own identity, "e-eh? Er no..?" He said despite sounding even more suspicious.
The detective had an unamused look but quickly brush it off with a sigh, "let's just say you're not who i think you are" he said with a flat tone and continued, "but more importantly, are you okay? I see you.. puking.." he glanced at the mess in the corner and grimace at it a little bit.
"You can't handle dead body, I suppose?" Shinichi looked at Kaito, noticing how pale and quite sweaty the other male was. The detective can't help but feel concern.
"Ah! N-no, it's just-" Kaito stop mid sentence, rethinking his words. While it was true that he's not fond of seeing dead people, but his current condition isn't just because of that.
Both the dead body and the unknown source of stench (which probably come from the body, thought Kaito) is what making him so ill. But there is no way in hell Kaito would say that, especially to Shinichi.
Not only that, Kaito highly doubt that the detective would believe his strange predicament.
The magician stare at Shinichi who is clearly waiting for an answer, "i mean yes... im very uncomfortable when it comes to dead bodies, let alone murdered one" he said.
Shinichi nodded in understanding, "here, you might want to wipe.. uh, your face" he handed the messy haired male a packed wet tissues.
Kaito accept the kind gesture sheepishly, "thank you.." he turned a bit and proceed to wipe his face clean.
"Now excuse me while i look over the crime scene, it seems the police is about to arrive too" Shinichi said and was about to leave Kaito's side until a hand grabbed on his sleeve.
"Wait!" Kaito yelled and frozed quite a while, he didn't mean to be that loud. He just had a bad feeling that once the detective leave, he'll be smelling the horrible stench again and he absolutely don't want that.
The magician let out a cough, "can i come too?"
"You are a civilian."
"And so are you"
"Excuse me, but im actually a detective" Shinichi stared at Kaito with an offended look. The magician mentally laughed seeing that kind of face from the detective, he absolutely love teasing the guy.
"Shinichi." A gruff man voice called. He wore brown hat and brown coat.
"Ah, Megure-keibu." Shinichi walked toward the inspector, glad that the police had arrived.
Kaito not wanting to be far from the detective, he followed behind which earn a suspicious look from Megure, "ah don't mind him..." Shinichi said, knowing what the inspector is thinking.
"Sure.. is he your twin?" The man asked and eyed the messy haired male beside the East detective, because both the magician and the detective looked so alike (minus the hair), even though the messy hair one seems to be a bit more taller and build... also possibly more handsome looking- but their face is a complete copy of each other.
"What? No!!" Both Kaito and Shinichi said in unison, then they immediately looked at each other in shock.
Meanwhile Megure watched with a deadpan, "anyways, i've already inform Takagi-kun to gather all the informations and possible evidence. You might want to see.." and with that he walked away.
"Right..." Shinichi followed along with Kaito.
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Stood infront Takagi are three people and guessing by their appearance, one is a female waiter, a male chef, and a woman who could possibly be someone close to the victim, "keibu, Shinichi-kun! The victim was identified as Takeru Koshi, 30 years old. He is a wealthy manager of a fancy restaurant not so far from here. We have checked that the cost of death is cyanide poisoning, there were trace of it on his finger tip." He explained in detail.
"Thank you, Takagi-kun." Megure looked at the three nervous looking suspect. All of them look suspicious because of their expression, but then again who wouldn't be nervous when you're being suspect of murder?
Shinichi observe every single of them with sharp eyes, he hummed a little noticing something but he'll need to look into it more to prove it.
Kaito who stood next to Shinichi all the time, caught a whiff of the same stench that made him puke before. It was only a while but something tell him that the source is really close to him. The messy haired male then looked at the woman.
"Uhm, can i just say that.. while i was the one that serve Takeru-san his drink and his food i didn't put anything on the utensils... I don't even have the time to do such things! But i think, Yuuto-san might have done it.. after all he have a grudge toward that man" the waiter, Amine Hyakuya said as she stared at the young chef with a peering expression.
"Wha- what! I wouldn't do such a thing! I.. i might be glad that bastard is dead but im not someone who would kill..." Yuuto protested, he seems to be quite angry with the statement. "You're guilty yourself you know! Weren't you the one who got blackmailed by that man?"
Amine's face looked as if she was caught red-handed, "i- but- I wouldn't kill him either!"
"Everyone please calm down! We don't need a quarrel at the moment!" Megure yelled with a shout and the two immediately shut their mouth.
Kaito hid his nose behind his hand as the quarrel between them let out a rotting fruit stench. Damned his curse.
"Ma'am? You're the only one who isn't saying anything... was he your husband?" Shinichi asked toward the third suspect, a petite woman.
The woman nodded, "y-yes... im sorry for being so quiet.. im just so shocked at what happened-" her eyes were already teary and her lips trembled. She took out a napkin out of her bag and wipe her cheeks.
Shinichi stared at the woman sympathetically, "im so sorry for your loss..."
"My name is Riu.."
"Ah, yes.. Riu-san, im so sorry for your loss... don't worry i'll do my best to catch the culprit" Shinichi said and offered the woman a comforting hand. Riu in return thanked.
Kaito still eyed the woman suspiciously, he doesn't trust her at one bit. The stench is coming from her.. while Shinichi's sea and lemon smell are blocking most of it, he can still figure out the source.
The only thing that made him think is.. what does the stench mean? Is it because she is actually the culprit or was it because she grief? "Ne, Shin-chan.." Kaito began to whispered to the detective as soon they were away from the suspects and was currently on the crime scene.
"Yeah, im suspecting her too, but I don't have the evidence yet." Shinichi suddenly said as he picked up a teacup after he covered his hands with gloves.
For someone to say that Kaito looked completely bewildered isn't wrong at all. He was shocked that the detective know what he was going to say.
"you were eyeing her suspiciously, it was obvious. I suspect her too because she's been acting weirdly when Takeru-san was still alive... afterall, i sat next to their table" Shinichi simply said as he continued to observe at all the objects on the table.
That statement alone has blown Kaito's mind, "do you read minds or something!?" It was kinda creepy that Shinichi could quickly answer that despite Kaito not saying anything other than the detective freaking name!
"What? No..? Mind reading isn't even real for godsake... why would you even think of that?" Shinichi stared at the shocked magician with a disbelief expression.
"Okay, maybe you're just that good at reading people but still.. that was creepy.." Kaito shudder a little bit and Shinichi rolled his eyes.
"So, what makes you suspect her?" Shinichi asked, his eyes fixed on the table infront of him, he looked as if he was searching for something.
"... Uhm- well..." Now how the hell is Kaito supposed to answer that?? The only thing that made him suspect her was the smell! Kaito have to change the subject somehow, and quickly!
His eyes traveled down toward the couch next to the detective. He saw a glint of something, "huh? Ne, Shin-chan. What's that?" He point.
Shinichi glance at Kaito with a questioning look and followed the magician finger. He crouched and picked the object up from the floor, "hm.. it's a spoon.. a tea spoon? No wait, it's the spoon for the cake. See the frosting?" He showed Kaito the said spoon.
Kaito nodded in agreement, "did the police not find this?"
"Possibly, I didn't even notice myself until you mentioned it, you have sharp eyes" Shinichi smiled and Kaito immediately beamed and felt pride, to be complimented by his detective is one of the bestest thing he gets.
"It was hidden quite well.. perhaps the culprit want us to think that the victim might have gotten poisoned from the food or the teacup..." Shinichi glance over the table, "but... just hiding it would only put a risk since someone certainly could find it.. why didn't they just threw it away? Maybe they didn't have the time to do so? Or was their position to do so would only cause them to get caught in the first place...?." the detective's eyes travel to stare at the couch who hid the spoon, and soon there was the iconic smirk crept on Shinichi's face and oh boy, Kaito adore the hell out of that smirk, it looked so damn appealing on the detective's face (might count as a bit narcissistic since Shinichi's face looked similar to him)
"What?" Kaito questioned.
"This couch.. the wife, Riu-san was sitting here. It's positive that this spoon belong to the victim since Riu-san's spoon were there next to her plate." Shinichi put his hand on his chin in a thinking manner, his face turned serious while his smirk still intact.
"Hrm...so basically the spoon was dropped there intentionally for the police not to find it. Then in that case... wow, they didn't think this throughly did they? Oh wait- sorry, i meant she. Since it's already obvious" Kaito scoff over how easy it was to get caught over one single evidence. Inside he shivered just noticing that the stench he smelled was the smell of someone having murder intention, oh he absolutely despise it.
Shinichi let out a chuckle, "finally someone have the same mindset as me, but then again there is no such thing as a perfect crime" over that last statement Kaito had thought 'except for my heists' as he mentally grinned in pride.
"Now, all that's left to ask is just where and when is the cyanide applied? I might have noticed her weird behavior but I arrived when Takeru-san finished his cake hence i only saw an empty plate and at that moment the spoon is already gone..." he crosses his arms and made a grunting sound. Shinichi is trying to recall any suspicious movement between the husband and wife but so far nothing seems to be out of the ordinary and it is grinding the detective's gear.
Kaito stares at the quiet male, it's almost cute how silent and serious Shinichi is, "ne, Shin-chan, what was the last time you saw right before the victim died?" He asked hoping that it might spark something inside the East detective's brain.
"Huh? Oh... that would be Takeru-san wiping off a piece of frosting from Riu-san's face, then eat... it..." Shinichi trails off and widened his eyes in realization, "That's it!! That's why she was wiping her cheeks even though there was no tears... she must've wore foundation and the cyanide was applied there!" He said confidently and immediately walked away from the crime scene to report his deduction.
Kaito just smiled affectionately as he watched the detective leave. for a moment there, Shinichi's sea and lemon scent suddenly turned to a very sweet smell and the magician can't help but blushed at how good it smelled. Doesn't that just show how happy Shinichi was to reveal the truth? How much he love to deduce? Somewhere inside Kaito wished that the sweet smell would also cause by him because that way he'd know that the detective was happy around him but the thief knew that would be impossible.
Shinichi then starts to talk to everyone there about what he found, the evidences, the trick, and the culprit. Turned out it was true that it was indeed the wife who had killed her own husband. As the East detective said, the cyanide was applied to her foundation, knowing how much her husband likes to make such suggestive action toward her. She was positive that he would wipe the bit of frosting off her face and ate it.
The reason why she killed her own husband was because she had enough with that terrible man, she told her woes how she was always patient with how arrogant and selfish the man was but after she finds out that he had done terrible things and was the reason that her sister killed herself, she had enough with it.
For a second, Kaito had felt sympathetic toward the woman but soon realize that isn't excusable for murdering someone. She could have done something else because in the end she'll just be the same as him.
Kaito eyes turned toward to Shinichi, the male was quiet and his expression was unreadable. The magician wondered what's the detective is thinking at the moment... he must've always hear all these pitiful reasons.
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After a while, the police guided Riu toward the police car.
Kaito stood quite far away while Shinichi was talking to a short man who he recalled the man's name was Megure, an inspector from division 1 of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department.
The magician as he waited, drinking a can of soda that he got from a vending machine next to the cafe. Somehow.. he felt like he's forgetting something..
Shinichi done talking with the inspector and said his farewell, he then walked toward the magician with a slight smirk, "thanks for helping me there, thief-san" he said with a slight mocking tone.
The said thief, Kaito, immediately spurt out his soda both from his mouth and nose out of surprise. He was in a coughing fit and groaned from the painful sting on his nose. Even Shinichi was quite taken back by that reaction.
"I beg your pardon, what?" Kaito stared at the detective with wide eyes and slack-jawed.
Shinichi blinked and laughed, "are you serious? You haven't properly deny that you're not KID, called me by a nickname without me even telling you who i am, and actually... Kaito Kuroba, son of the great magician Toichi Kuroba. A college student from Beika university. Rumors from other students that he have 400 iq. I was only surprised to see you at the cafe and blew your own identity like that." He said in a rather cocky way.
Kaito's mouth gaped wide open, he was beyond shocked, "how.. how did you-"
"Im also a student there. Though we never met since i rather stayed inside my class and read. Your father was also a good friend of my father and my mother's teacher. Let's just say that our family connects." Shinichi shrugged.
Oh so that's why... why didn't Kaito mom said anything about that?? Especially her relationship with the Kudos "Then.. if you already know who i am, why didn't you just.. you know, turned me in to the police..?" He asked, the people who want to catch him would be hysterical if the detective turned him in.
"Barou, that would be unfair. I respect our family relationship and beside, I would much rather catch you on your heist.." Shinichi confessed.
Kaito blinked, today is just full of surprises huh? To think that the detective would do that unlike this particular detective that he know, "aww tantei-kun is so kind!!" He grinned wide and hugged the detective.
"Oy oy! No hugging!" Shinichi protested and tried to peel away the happy thief off him.
Eventually Kaito stopped hugging but his face was still bright with happiness, "does this mean we can be friends?" He asked almost excitedly.
"Yeah i guess, if you want.." Shinichi averted his eyes, there was a slight tint of red on his cheeks but that went unnoticed from the thief's vision.
"Yahoo!" Kaito cheered and the detective couldn't help but smile and shake his head a bit.
' so this is how KID act outside of heists...' Shinichi thought. Speaking of heist.. that remind him of last night and Kaito's behavior at the cafe, "say, is something bothering you when we were investigating? You look distraught and kept hiding your nose.."
The magician sighed, he knew that Shinichi would sooner or later ask him about it, "you wouldn't believe me.." he said.
"Oh please, I've turned into a 6 years old and revert back at the age of 20. What's so unbelievable about your situation?" Shinichi raised an eyebrow and Kaito once again sighed.
"If you say so" Kaito mutters and inhale a big chunk of air, preparing himself of what he is about to say, "the pendant last night? Turned out it has a curse and now i can smell emotions.." he explained.
"Oh" Shinichi simply said.
"See! You don't believe me!!" Kaito whined, he felt stupid to say that infront of the detective, he should have come up with something else and now the other male probably thinks he's being delusional or hallucinating.
"No- it's not that I don't believe you... well kinda, I don't believe in curses.. but alot of people say that i am cursed because of how many bodies i came across every single day-" Shinichi said and Kaito had to agreed to that. The amount of murder the detective stumbled on is a bit concerning.
"But Shin-chan... it's true.." Kaito pouted, "I wouldn't be puking if it weren't from that"
"Wait what?"
"Every emotions have different smell apparently.. atleast that's what I figured out. Happiness have a very pleasant smell and bad mood smell disgusting..." Kaito stare at his can of soda.
"And the smell of murder is far worse than any normal negative emotions?" Shinichi guessed and Kaito nodded. The detective doesn't know if he should believe it or not, but seeing the magician puke and hid his nose a few times means that it could be truth. Is it really a curse though? Maybe it's like Shinichi's situation, it could probably from a drug or poison that the thief didn't know he consumed.
Kaito sniff the air a bit, noticing something weird. He usually could smell every emotions that's near him but ever since Shinichi were beside him, he can't smell anything other than the East detective's. Even if there was people who passed by him, he can't smell anything what they're feeling at the moment. On the crime scene too... even if he could still smell some, it was highly reduced by Shinichi's smell.. what does it mean?
"Hey, Kaito. You should come with me, now." Shinichi said, grabbed Kaito's hand and dragged the thief along with him.
Kaito who is in between squealing and scream internally over the detective- the detective that he loved, grabbed his hand, "e-eh? To where?" He asked, hoping the detective doesn't notice the slight blush on his face.
"Agasa-hakase's house, so Ai kan check your condition" Shinichi said, he thought it was the fastest way to understand this situation.
"The little scientist that you asked me to save a couple of time and almost got myself exploded on a train?" Kaito said rather sarcastically, he remembered a few times he almost got himself killed from helping the girl but it isn't as many as he saved Shinichi when the shrunk into an elementary kid. Sometimes Kaito wonder if Shinichi is even afraid of dying at all. Have you seen how many times he fallen off high places that could kill him in an instant and how many times the detective had a gun point to his head!?
Shinichi let out a wry chuckle, "yes, her." He'd hoped it wasn't anything too complicated and doesn't strive away from logical sense.
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This took way too long to write.
Sorry if there isn't much stuff going on here-
I haven't figure out how many chapters i'll write and if i want it to be slow build-
Cya next chapter! Also thank you for the reviews and follows, I appreciate it a lot!