Only one Truth revealed to the eyes of a dead woman-
Now, you might think Kaito has great luck. He does. Lady Luck loves him exceptionally much! You could even dare say he'd her favourite mortal!
Now, that's true but when the Shinigami detective is around, somehow, Kaito's luck gets sucked up just to prevent another series of gruesome murders! Seriously, it's like the guy just makes bodies drop from the sky and only when Kaito is around, or KID, do things not turn out as … excessively deadly.
Today is one such day.
Today is the day Kaito stumbled upon a murder.
…
Kaito DOES NOT stumble upon murders. The only time he does is when … Oh! Look at that! Tantei-kun and his friends are no less that 3 meters away from him in the game store and pouf! The girl to Kaito's right drops in a shriek and Kaito barely has time to catch her collapsing body. She's cold in his arms and he instantly realises the tragedy when her blank eyes stare back at him.
His stomach turns and unpleasant memories flood his mind.
A stage on fire …
A gravestone …
Aoko's mother in the hospital …
A gravestone …
Midnight's mask …
Hand slipping his fingers …
A gravestone …
Gunshots in the dead of night …
Nakamori-keibu's car blowing up …
Akako falls of her broom, shot while disguised as KID …
Hakuba stuck in web of Spider, eye blank and lifeless …
Aoko … Aoko … Aoko with tears when she visits him in the hospital …
A gravestone …
In the years he'd been KID, Kaito has seen enough of death. In the years before KID, Kaito had also met death. Even now, it seems death still comes to greet him, as if taunting his helplessness.
"Nii-san!"
Kaito jumped at the sudden hand shaking him and he looks straight into Tantei-kun familiar blue eyes. Exceptionally, today, they are at perfect eye level to each other. Kaito was kneeling on the floor of the game shop, the dead girl still cradled in his arms as if he tried to heat up her lifeless body. Tantei-kun standing next to him, holding his shoulders firmly with his tiny grip, eyes strong and watching him, dissecting him, figuring him.
Indigo.
Conan can't help but stare.
When he'd heard the scream and turned to see a girl collapse in the arms of a young man, his first thought was that the man had attacked her. But as he rushed to the scene, he was brought to a pause by the sight.
The man looked pale and was hugging he unconscious … no, dead … the dead woman. His eyes were shadowed by his dark bangs but it was clear that the man was in shock, even as hic body stilled perfectly like a statue. Conan approached him cautiously, calling out gently.
No response.
Did he even hear him?
He tried again but again failed.
He reached out and softly shook the man's shoulder.
Nothing.
Now Conan was worried and shook harder, calling louder.
This time, he must have broken through because the young man looked up and met Conan's eyes.
Indigo.
Conan swore he'd seen those eyes somewhere before but where? Somehow, the eyes looked blank and empty, lost amidst memories but upon meeting Conan's eyes, the Indigo slowly flared back to life and Conan was now staring at eyes akin to a starry sky. It was truly stunning. The swirls of blue and purple, the sudden light brimming from those eyes, it's like the night sky lit up by sparkling jewels.
Where had he seen those eyes …?
"Can you call the police?"
Conan snapped out of his staring as the young man suddenly asked for the most sensible request in this kind of situation.
"Ah! Oh! Yeah! Of course! Mitsuhiko!"
"Already on it, Conan-kun!"
Conan nods at his friends as they are already telling other customers and the shop owner to stay back and not damage the crime scene. He'd really trained them well. Haibara shot Conan a warning gaze but he ignored her, turning back to focus on the young man.
Now that he looks at him fully, and not just his eyes … no matter how pretty they are and how nicely framed by those long eyelashes … ok, stop, Conan! You are in love with Ran! Stop crushing on the random stranger with the pretty eyes who happens to be your main suspect in the murder of a young girl! And … isn't he the guy Ran met at that mixer that one time? Oh damn! That's where he'd seen him before?! What are the odds that Conan would stumble upon that guy again?!
Pretty high actually, Kaito realises.
Somehow, Kaito has a tendency to stumble upon law enforcers just as easily as Tantei-kun stumbles upon murdered victims. In a way, if Kaito weren't KID, he'd be the most well acquainted and protected citizen in Japan given how well he's familiar with the police! So the odds of meeting Tantei-kun at a crime scene …? Yeah, pretty much expected.
When it's not him, it's Hakuba or that Osakan dectective, or Masumi Sera, or the secret agents from the FBI, or Nakamori-keibu, or Hakuba's dad, or the members of the KID Squad, or Kogoro Mouri, or Division 1 which Kudo frequents, or …
Yeah, that's way too many law enforcers and Kaito's not even in the business! At least Kudo is a detective so it makes sense that he would have a wide network among the law and police force. But Kaito's just a magician (and a thief in passing)! Why does he familiarise with so many people out to catch him?! This is bad for his mental health!
"You can put her down you know."
Kaito blinks back at the detective child and shakes his head, both in response and to clear his distracting thoughts about why Thieves should not be so friendly with detectives and inspectors and FBI and …
"I shouldn't temper with the crime scene. After all, I am now part of the scene, aren't I?"
Conan said nothing, simply watching him like he always does when working out a case. Kaito had a bad churning feeling in the pit of his stomach. Maybe Tantei-kun will not pick up on his alternative persona? For now, all Tantei should know about him is that he went to a mixer with his precious Mouri-san.
"You're … you're a magician, right? Kuroba-san, I recall. I'm Ran's brother."
That caught Kaito by surprise but he nodded nonetheless. Conan made a strange expression, like a cross between a frown and a grimace. Does he hate magicians that much?
"Are you … Are you ok?" Conan tried asking again and looked genuinely concerned this time.
Kaito blinked, unsure how to respond.
"I mean … people don't usually stay so calm when they see someone die …" Conan explained.
Oh.
Yeah.
Kaito realises how suspicious he must look. A calm and rational reaction is not what normal people act like when they come across murder. But it's too late to pretend now. All he can do is …
Smile.
He smiled.
It was soft and awkward and … obviously fake.
Conan frowned but didn't say anything. He could tell the smile was fake from how crisped and tensed it was. The indigo eyes still looked weary and haunted, even as the man's face showed nothing but a composed mind.
Conan had only meant to enquire on the well-being on the magician. After all, it was obvious that he was shocked and strongly impacted by the death he witnessed. If anything, Conan would say this young man has already met death one too many times and the dead girl in his arms was dragging back memories the man seemed to fear.
The incredible calmness and rational reaction of the man also suggests that he is familiar with a) police procedure and b) with death such that he can hold back his own feelings for the sake of the case and the victim.
Normally this would be suspicious but … It never crossed Conan's mind. The man's tight grip on the dead girl, the care with which he cradled her, his refusal to let her go as if afraid to accept that she is indeed dead, and the haunted look he'd had earlier …
No.
This man is not acting. He's simply smothering his own feelings and emotions for the sake of the dead girl and everyone else present. Conan couldn't tell if this man was incredibly strong, or incredibly vulnerable.
Leaning closer to the man, Conan felt the urge to wrap his arms around the lithe form of the teen, cover his hunched back with his warmth, and envelop the man completely, shielding him from all the evil this world dared to have thrown too many times at him.
… What the hell is he thinking now?!
"I'm familiar with death. And I'm familiar with police procedure. I guess that's why I'm not as … upset as I should be."
No, you look plenty upset to me, Conan couldn't help thinking.
"You, on the other hand, shouldn't be seeing something so gruesome at such a young age."
Ah. He's worried.
Conan felt himself blush. Normally he'd be angry at the way people patronise him as a child but somehow … this man's eyes weren't looking at him like everyone else does. Instead they looked genuinely concerned but also accepting. It's as if the teen knew that Conan would still be fine no matter how many murders come his way … and that very thought seems to make the teen sad and worried.
Conan swallowed with difficulty, feeling a painful lump in his throat.
Never before had anyone looked at him like that. Like that completely saw through his façade, like they completely understood, like they accepted him but nonetheless regretted their own helplessness to help him.
The kind soul in those midnight eyes is incredibly humbling to the self-righteous detective.
"It's alright! I'm a detective!"
The affirmation rang so sure and so true that Kaito felt the sounds resonate to his very bones. Tantei-kun is always like that. Always so self-assured. Always confident. Always true to his belief and never wavering.
It frightened him sometimes but most of the time, it reassured him.
Tantei-kun isn't weak and nor is he a coward. He doesn't need to hide behind a mask and go in round about ways to achieve his goals, unlike a certain thief. He doesn't let go of a case simply because it could be dangerous. He always honours the victims with their well-deserved justice. He also never lets his own feelings get in the way of saving people.
Of course, seeing a murdered woman, it's obvious the detective can act so efficiently. Conan has seen far more deaths, far more human cruelty, far more violence than KID or Kaito have. And he's still able to walk his straight and just path. That's why he's Meitantei, after all.
Kaito felt another smile pull at his lips but this time, he didn't need to force it.
"Then I hope you can solve this, Tantei-kun."
Conan felt another blush threaten to take over his face but he luckily drowns it down. The smile this time was completely different. It was earnest, it was genuine, it was wistful, and it was … rather beautiful. It's quite odd but Conan, having now seen this smile, couldn't stand the magician's face looking so serious and gloomy. He suits smiles. Definitely.
And he'd sounded so thankful.
It's strange.
Conan hasn't even proven himself but this man, a complete stranger, believes him when he says he's a detective. Not only that but he believes him capable of solving the case. Hopeful even!
What a strange person …
"I'll solve it."
And it sounded like a promise.
Like a pact.
Like a vow.
Blue and Indigo caught in a silent conversation even they knew nothing about.
The case was quickly resolved as Tantei-kun promised.
It didn't take long to solve thanks to the magician's help.
It was weird, being a suspect in Tantei-kun's case instead of his target as KID.
It was strange that no matter how, I couldn't see Kuroba-san as a suspect.
When I felt the dead woman's body get pried from my hands, I suddenly felt really cold …
So I hugged him, shared my warmth with him, offered him the human touch he needed …
And when I felt another pulse beating in my arms, I finally felt the tension and unease leave me and I could breathe again …
And when he hugged back, his body finally trembled, as if realising that he no longer needed to act strong and keep himself together …
It was strange. His small child-like body felt so much larger when he held me …
Even as I was the child, I couldn't help but feel him shrink in my arms, like I was holding a child myself …
I didn't cry of course.
He never cried.
I let him go first. The sharp reminder at the back of my mind warning me that Tantei-kun is a detective and too much contact could jeopardise my identity.
When he let go, he seemed reluctant. Or perhaps that's my own wishful thinking. I wanted to hold him longer, shield him completely, and allow him to finally let himself feel safe enough to cry.
I congratulated him again. The smile came easily this time.
He smiled a third time. This time was the most beautiful one but also the saddest one.
He left with his friends while I was taken by the police to be dropped off at the station for my statement and filing the paperwork on the case. I texted Nakamori, asking if he can pick me up.
I watched him get in a police car and an irrational feeling of dread overtook me. Somehow, it almost felt like he was being arrested. And that very thought revolted me.
Out of the car window, we drive passed the little detective. He looks as professional as ever. And I chuckle, waving back. I'll know I'll be seeing him again soon under the moonlight. Even if we may never meet again as I am now.
He waves at me and for a moment, it feels like he'll disappear. I'll never see him again.
Maybe one day, the detective will recognise him.
Maybe one day, I'll finally meet him again.
When he does, I wonder if he'll arrest me?
When I do, I'll never let him vanish again.
