Shinichi's mother always liked Shiho for some reason. Shinichi couldn't put his finger on why. In a vacuum, he would've thought Shiho to dislike his mother's personality—nosy and irreverent, being serious only when it suited the former actress's whims, but Yukiko had always made a point of looking out for Shiho, whom she treated like the daughter she'd never had.

That, and they both liked to tease Shinichi mercilessly.

If Shinichi could've escaped, he would've, but he needed Shiho to help crack a tough case, and he needed his mother to apply one of her impeccable disguises. The culprit had a type he was going after—bleached hair, medium height, outgoing, sociable. He had to supervise, but these two women in his life weren't going to let him off easy.

"He pulled a muscle trying to act like he's still a soccer star," Shiho told his mother.

"Who would've thought—my little Shin-chan's not taking care of himself properly?" Yukiko remarked with a disappointed look. "Someone's going to have to discipline you properly, young man."

Better Shiho than his mother, then. That was all he could hope for.

Like his mother, Shiho was excellent at getting herself into a role. The mark she was going to play had to be personable and easygoing. Once the makeup was done, she composed herself, and she rearranged her normal expression—neutral bordering on "don't waste my time with nonsense"—to a warm smile. "My name's Ichinose," she said, practicing. "Nice to meet you!"

Yukiko couldn't have approved more. If Shiho hadn't been so attached to her work, she would've made a fine actress. Shinichi wondered about that—had she ever considered it? She could be so many different sorts of people—teasing and coy, serious and knowledgeable, or even friendly and kind (if in a guarded way, unless small animals or children were involved). What kind of person would she be if she were different in one of those ways?

"Let's practice how you're going to respond," he decided, and without makeup, he approached her as if he were the perp. "Is this seat taken?"

"Please," she said. They placed a stool beside her, and Shinichi sat down.

They worked through some introductions. They were both alone and looking to meet people. Shinichi could only work off the profile, but he said he was an graphic designer. She acted so interested, taken in by talk of beautiful things. She was acting all right, but there was a spark and joy in her eyes as they spoke—a rare treat.

"You're really good at this," Shinichi concluded when they were finished walking through the script. "You almost had me convinced you were actually interested."

She smiled, but it wasn't full of the innocent joy that she'd shown just a few minutes before. "What makes you think I'm not?"

"Oi, oi," he said. "You're a woman of many faces; what makes you think I like this face the best?"

"You like all my faces."

Shinichi thought long and hard, but he realized he couldn't argue with that. "Yeah…"

Shiho smiled again, and though she looked a little different in her bleached wig and metallic gray eyeshadow, there was something quite familiar about that smile, and more assuring, too. It wasn't wide-eyed and naive like the one she'd used as part of her role. It wasn't sly and teasing like the one he'd seen just a moment ago. Shiho's warm smile for him was measured but relaxed. There was nothing put-on about it.

And he liked that just fine.

For CoAi Week 2018 Prompt #4 – "Disguise"