Saguru goes to the roof.

It's the most reliable solution to the problem of 'where is Kuroba?', insofar as anything about the magician can be reliably dependable. Aoko agrees, too, which is to say that she'd told Saguru that it was one of her top ten rules when it came to handling one Kuroba Kaito.

(He is… still unsure, to this day, how serious she had been about that. Saguru's own proclivity for rules is unusual, he knows that much, but then again Aoko does have a tendency of defying everyone's expectations. She and Kuroba have that in common, among other things.)

At any rate, they'd reached a consensus: if you wanted to find Kuroba, you went up, and out.

(Saguru suspects that it's at least partly due to Kuroba's aerokinetic abilities – Aoko liked being in the water, and many of the elementals he'd met had been the same, though since Saguru lacks tendencies towards large-scale arson he can't exactly confirm it himself – and partly just because the magician had a general affinity for high places and other off-limit areas.

Though at least Kuroba could catch himself and fly if he ever actually fell from any such areas, which was admittedly unlikely for him, and also more than could be said for most other people.)

Ekoda High is no skyscraper, of course – the main classroom building is only six storeys tall, but it's still high enough that a frigid wind whips past Saguru's face once he pushes open the roof access door.

Kuroba is easy to spot, for once, his school uniform constrasting starkly with the dull grey of the cement. He's sitting near the edge of the roof, legs dangling out in between the railings.

Saguru almost hesitates at this point, but Aoko's worried expression comes to mind (Kuroba had skipped three classes in a row, which was unusual even by his standards) and he sighs before walking over.

The wind is loud enough that his footsteps are almost inaudible. Saguru has little doubt that Kuroba noticed him anyway, though the magician doesn't so much as turn around as he approaches. "Aoko sent you up here?"

"Aoko-kun is concerned, yes, but I made the decision mys–" Saguru cuts himself off mid-sentence, and would probably have said something impolite if he'd been the type to swear. "You're shivering, Kuroba-kun."

"Really." Kuroba looks at his hands with a frown, then clenches them until they stop trembling. "I hadn't noticed."

Oh, for – Kuroba's being serious, isn't he, Saguru thinks despairingly, already unbuttoning and shrugging off his own uniform jacket, which he drapes over Kuroba's shoulders in a deft motion. "At least bring a heavier coat if you're going to brood up here, I'd credited you with more intelligence than this."

Kuroba doesn't move to pull the jacket any closer around himself, but he does look over at Saguru, at least. "Aren't you co– oh, pyrokinetic, right."

Saguru nods as he sits down next to Kuroba, with his back to the railing. (He'd have been really disturbed if Kuroba hadn't figured that one out, honestly.)

They sit in silence for five and a half minutes – not an especially awkward silence, but certainly more unusual for Kuroba than himself – before the magician speaks up, apropos of nothing. "I guess I've been kind of an ass to you, Hakuba. Sorry."

Saguru blinks, completely taken aback. "…well, it's past lunch, but I suppose impossible things can't always happen on a schedule, can they?"

Kuroba actually laughs at that one, which is slightly better than what Saguru had been aiming for, and further evidence (not that Saguru needed it) for the fact that his classmate is far more well-read and knowledgeable than he usually appears. "The impossible is my specialty!" he quips with some of his customary cheer, though even Saguru can tell it's a little forced.

"That much is obvious," Saguru answers dryly. "Apology accepted, by the way, though I wasn't looking for one. Let's just say that I've had significantly less amiable encounters at my previous school, and leave it at that."

To put it mildly, he adds mentally. It'd never been anything overt, but then it never had to be, and the small things added up quickly – his half-Japanese heritage, his skills, even the apparent mismatch between his element and personality. (Even though extensive research had already demonstrated the lack of significant correlation between the two, but Holmes forbid anyone consult the literature before forming completely unfounded beliefs.)

Kuroba, expression now sober again, gives him a look that suggests he's more or less guessed what Saguru is thinking. Fortunately, he doesn't pursue it any further, though Saguru doesn't expect it when he changes the topic.

"My dad…" Kuroba trails off, and exhales, leaning forward against the rail. "You know what day it is?"

"I am aware of the date's significance, yes," Saguru answers cautiously – he'd read the case file and whatever articles he could get ahold of regarding Kuroba Toichi's death, though they had been ultimately uninformative beyond the basic facts. "For what it's worth, I am sorry for your loss, Kuroba-kun. All the evidence suggests that he was a great man."

"Yes, he was." Kuroba, when Saguru chances a look at him, is staring off into the distance. Saguru wonders what he sees. "Shortly before you transferred to our class… I discovered that his death was most probably not an accident."

Saguru breathes in sharply, a hiss of surprise, but his mind is already piecing together the puzzle – his suspicions about Kuroba Toichi, the increasingly bold snipers at heists (which he fully intends to confront Kid about when he gets the opportunity, just not today), the relatively few ways one could ensure a death by fire – and he doesn't like the answer that's taking shape. "Why didn't you go to the police, if you had evidence of foul play?"

"I didn't. Nothing they could act on, at least." Kuroba's voice is bitter. "But you can see why I took your abilities badly."

Saguru tries to imagine himself in the same position – suddenly confronted with the same ability he suspected was involved in the death of someone he cared deeply about – and can't quite suppress a shudder of his own, though he manages to keep his tone even when he answers. "A perfectly understandable response. And as I said, I wasn't bothered by your attitude, even if it wasn't quite for the usual reasons."

"Just thought you'd like to know, that's all," Kuroba says before lapsing back into silence, during which Saguru makes a mental note to look into the records over at Organised Crime – any pyrokinetic that powerful (allowing for the use of accelerants, of course, which lowered the required strength considerably) would probably have been noted down somewhere.

Saguru would know, after all.

He breaks the silence five minutes later, standing up and dusting his pants off. "Come on, we'd better head back to class before Aoko threatens to water jet us. Or worse."

Kuroba looks up at him, something searching in his gaze. "If I said I'd come down later… you wouldn't trust me, would you?"

Saguru gives the question honest thought, considering the probabilities, then shakes his head with some regret. "Not on this, no."

"Fair enough." Kuroba shrugs, handing the extra jacket back as he stands up, showing no signs of stiffness even though Saguru is certain that he's been essentially sitting stock still in the same spot for hours.

(Abilities aside, it was little wonder that Kaitou Kid ran circles around the Task Force, Saguru couldn't help but think, even with Kuroba near single-handedly planning all of the heists. Though if the Task Force made good on their whispered plans to hire Aoko when she graduated – assuming Nakamori-keibu didn't throw a fit first – then… Saguru has the sudden mental image of Kaitou Kid being chased with a mop by an irate inspector.)

At Saguru's badly stifled snicker, Kuroba turns around, walking backwards without even bothering to glance behind him. "What?"

"Nothing," Saguru answers smoothly. "Just imagining Aoko-kun chasing the Kaitou Kid while armed with mops and high-powered water jets."

Kuroba blanches briefly, then starts laughing as well, until he almost backs into the door without noticing.

Saguru lets that one pass uncommented, and Kuroba huffs in seeming annoyance before turning back to open the door.

For all that the cold never really gets to Saguru – he hadn't been misdirecting Kuroba earlier, his pyrokinetic abilities did serve as a buffer against all but the most extreme of weather – he's still glad to leave the wind behind as he closes the access door behind them.

"You know, there's this kid from Beika that you should meet." Kuroba grins at him as they head down the stairs, looking considerably more like his usual self. "Electrokinetic, and a powerful one to boot."

Saguru flips through a mental list of people he knows from Beika, and stops short. "…you can't possibly mean Edogawa Conan. He's a little young to have fully manifested his powers, isn't he?"

"Oh, he has them, all right." Kaito's expression falters, presumably recalling some past incident. "Did you know that electrokinetics are apparently resistant to tasers?"

"I do now," Saguru answers with a raised eyebrow. "And how did you find that out, then? Electrokinetics are rare enough that the research on them is rather sparse, as I recall."

Kuroba waves a hand airily, carefree grin already firmly back in place. "Oh, I just overheard some of the Task Force people talking about it. Kaitou Kid tried it at a heist, apparently, and the little detective gave him a earful on the dangers of using tasers on children."

…well, Saguru's definitely going to find the original witness statements from that heist – clearly not one he'd been around for – and have a good bout of amusement at Kid's expense. (He wonders if this is some gesture of gratitude on Kuroba's part, but he'll take it anyway, whatever it is.) "Seems like we can add child endangerment to Kid's list of crimes, then? I'm sure Division One would be happy to help use with the paperwork."

The answer is rife with indignation. "Hey! Kid-sama would never do anything to actually endanger a kid, okay – "

END

(again, I don't know if I'm done with this verse – will keep it marked as complete since I don't have plans of actively updating it beyond individual ficlets like this one, so your choice to subscribe or not if you want to see more)

in case it wasn't clear – the fact that they're all verbally dancing around is that it's the anniversary of Toichi's death (which Aoko also knows), and in this verse it seems distinctly possible that Snake got a pyrokinetic to do it, which genuinely doesn't bear thinking about, honestly

(it's deliberately left open to interpretation, but I assume Snake probably isn't one himself, and as Saguru thinks here the pyrokinetic was possibly just involved in starting the fire, with the rest being dong via accelerants/damaged equipment/whatever nefarious setup have you)