Chapter Fifty-One
Hey guys! Sorry I haven't been active for a while. I've been busy with school and what-not since I'm not going to be graduating in May. BUT I WILL GRADUATE BEFORE THE YEAR IS OVER. ...I hope. Anyway, on a lighter note, I heard a lot of laughing for that last chapter. You guys liked it a lot, it seems. I'm glad my odd sense of humor is pleasing people. And to get into the swing of spring, I've been listening to Sakura no Jumon by Amatsuki. It's a pleasant song. ONWARDS!
"So? How did it go with KID?" Conan asked as he watched Natsuki walk out of the elevator.
The brunet silently placed his face in his hands and gave a long-suffering sigh.
"I'm not Ruri or whatever, and I'll prove it!" the doppelganger yelled, grabbing KID's hand.
"Natsuki" pulled the hand towards himself, effectively dragging KID along and coming button-nose to white-clad chest.
There was a moment of awkward silence as the thief felt the tell-tale bulge of male genitals.
There was another moment of silence as "Natsuki" seemed to realize what he was doing, promptly turned a bright cherry red, and dropped the gloved hand.
"I-I-uh-" the boy began to stutter as he turned his head towards the ground, the cherry red seemingly glowing in the low light of the waning moon.
"Well, at least I know you're not a girl, in any case," KID smirked, attempting to push his own red blush down.
Natsuki didn't look at the thief, instead opting to scream to himself in his head.
Had KID been a mind-reader, he might've seen a thousand little Natsukis (and Ruris) running around and screaming in varying pitches. But he wasn't a mind-reader and thus Natsuki's silence meant nothing special.
"While it wasn't exactly what I was expecting, you did prove to me that you aren't Ruri," KID tried to soothe.
It doesn't explain why you two look so alike, though, the magician thief thought to himself.
The white-clad phantom thief opened his mouth to speak again just as there was a loud yell of "KID!"
KID took Natsuki's hand in his, making the shorter boy look up in shock.
"Why don't you come to another heist? We can perhaps learn more about each other?"
Before Natsuki could give an answer, Nakamori-keibu came barreling out of the stairwell and onto the roof, all the while yelling colorful language.
"See you, bishounen-kun," KID laughed as he ran to the edge of the building.
"Stop right there, KID!" Nakamori-keibu yelled, making a mad-dash for the thief.
KID laughed again as he dove off and flew away into the night.
As Natsuki recounted the events that happened a few minutes prior, Conan found himself forcing a chuckle down when he thought of the thief's expression.
"What do you think he meant when he said maybe we can learn more about each other?" Natsuki asked the child.
"It could mean a few things. It could mean that he doesn't quite believe that you're not Ruri and wants to observe you a little more, or it could mean that he's genuinely interested in you."
"Interested in me?" the brunet repeated, looking at the child genius with brown eyes growing wide.
"I mean as a possible replacement to Ruri," Conan rolled his eyes.
"But I thought-"
"As far as I can tell, that guy's been half-assing his heists ever since that little tiff of yours in front of the museum. Even more so since you're admittance to the hospital."
Natsuki looked back down at the floor as a sense of guilt washed over him.
"Let's head back before Haibara calls and lays into us," Conan sighed.
"So am I going to change back?" Natsuki asked, watching Haibara tap away on her laptop. The little girl paused and put her hands in her lap.
"I don't know," she finally sighed.
"What?"
"I don't know if you'll change back," Haibara clarified with a tired voice.
"But-"
"There are too many variables and I don't know enough about what you were injected with."
A pregnant silence took over the Kudou mansion as Natsuki let that information sink in.
"I can't go home then," he finally said.
"At this point, no. It'd be too dangerous. In fact, I'm not really sure why we let you go back to your house when you were so obviously targeted by the B.O."
"So then where-"
"You'll have to find a place to stay for the time being. Like that apartment you had," the little scientist sighed. "Preferably somewhere where you won't really be recognized."
"...Natsuki was already enrolled at Ekoda High for a short time before... so maybe I could go back there?"
Ok, ok, this is a really short chapter. Yell at me. I've been kind of in an unproductive slump for the past month or so. It's my depression getting to me. And I don't really have a support system going (anymore) so it's just been this really bad cycle of "Shit, I need to do something with my life" and "But why don't I just sit in bed and slowly die? Not like anyone'll care" and "But there's so much anime to watch"(Yes, that is actually what prompts me to keep going). Soooo... yeah. And I really don't want to seem needy or whiny it's just... agh.
Anyway, I know that KID not really recognizing Natsuki is terrible continuity because Natsuki went to Ekoda High for a short time and met the entire gang. That will be addressed in the next line.
I'm thinking about re-writing Something Taken, Something Given. Although, re-writing isn't really the right word. "Facelift" is more accurate. But the thing is: I don't know if I have the energy to do it. I'm well aware that there's so much wrong with STSG that I've been thinking about this for at least a few months. But again, I don't know if I have the energy and drive to do it.
Which is why I'm saying this right now. If for some reason I post up a chapter and it's title is "Goodbye and Thank You", it means I'm ending STSG prematurely. I definitely don't want that to happen, of course, but it may.
Anyway,
NEXT TIME: HELLO AGAIN, EKODA HIGH
DFTBA