((A/N: SO A MONTH LATER after finally getting this chapter up - I finally catch a message from a kind reader letting me know the format just straight up died for some reason anD MY GOD IM SO SORRY I FIXED IT PLEASE DONT HATE ME))

"As if Bakaito! Stop playing dumb!" Shinichi shifts uneasily, slowly becoming even more at a loss of what to do with this girl.

His lack of response seems to anger her more, and she whips out her phone, holding it with a triumphant air in front of his face. The reptile along his neck, eyes barely poking out of it's scarf-den, stiffens, small claws tightening their hold. Something's obviously upsetting it, and Shinichi frowns slightly, craning his neck at a mildly awkward angle to glance at it.

It's eyes are wide, and he can feel it's tail flick like an agitated cat's. The reptile had been fine a moment ago, he glances back up at the girl, who looks confused and so so lost, and studies the phone. It just seems like something strange for the previously calm animal to be upset over. Sure, the fish shaped charm is a rather interesting choice, but he's not one to judge.

The lack of reaction from him seems to crush the girl, and he's sincerely not sure why. Before she turns away, he glimpses tears in her eyes and suddenly he's even more at a loss. He's never been very good dealing with emotions if not directly connected to a case, and Ran herself was bad enough. Let alone this stranger who comes so close to sharing her face.

On his neck, the small reptile makes a quiet, though high pitched, drawn out noise, obviously expressing something negative.

Seeing as it didn't seem to be trying to get away, it's not fear. When he glances at it, craning his neck at an awkward angle, it doesn't seem to be any more uncomfortable than when he'd found it earlier. If anything, the look in it's eyes are sad.

Shinichi reaches out, managing to brush the girl's shoulder as she turns to leave. She stops, but doesn't turn, shoulders shaking.

"This isn't the type of case I typically take on, but I'll do what I can." He's hesitant, acutely aware of the depressed lizard and sobbing girl, but at the same time, Kid's fearless grin appears in the back of his mind, and he can't quite place why. A knot tangles itself in the pit of his stomach, and he knows that something's wrong, something's out of place, and he's making connections, but it doesn't make sense, and his mind's making leaps and the puzzle won't come together.

Kid had just had a heist the night before, and nothing was out of the ordinary. Though, Shinichi himself couldn't attend because a corpse had literally fallen out of the sky. Again. But being mistaken so easily, by someone who obviously knows this missing person well, makes him feel sick. Though, surely, if he was being mistaken for a civilian Kid... No. The chances that he'd be incapacitated somewhere were low. Not impossible, but low.

Besides, it isn't like it's any of his business. Shinichi doesn't actually know Kid outside of heists. Of course, even with him trying to reject the creeping feeling, he couldn't help but worry for the thief. Throughout his... Conan situation, Kid had been one of the few who, even before he found out he wasn't a true child, had treated him with respect. And through that, they had managed a shaky pseudo-friendship, a bond of finding another person who held secrets that could never be seen in the light of day. And that, even if he had no right, was what made Kudou Shinichi finally search out Kid's civilian persona.

—

As Shinichi leads the girl back to his home, she stays silent. The look in her eyes is the one of someone who's lost something - or someone - dear to them. She's pale, almost sickly looking, and that just proves how much Kid must mean to her.

Which by itself is amusing in a somewhat twisted way. He absently wonders if she knows that her friend spends his nights stealing the most expensive jewels in the world. Or if it's a relationship like what his and Ran's had developed into; one of a secret almost out in the open, but either party refusing to confirm what they both knew. It could be possible that she didn't know at all, though he held a creeping suspicion that she, at the very least, had a clue, no matter how small.

He swings the gate open, and the girl seems to nervously look around, still staying silent as she fidgets. Shinichi slips in, waiting for the girl to follow. She hesitates, shooting him a nervous glance.

"Is this - is this really okay? I'm thankful you're willing to help, but..."

"There's no one staying here besides me." Shinichi makes the remark dryly. And then realized how bad that could sound to someone who should have no inclination to trust him whatsoever. Well, they were certainly just continuing to get off on the right foot, weren't they?

The girl is hesitant, but for some reason follows him through the gates, eyes steeled in determination. She observes her surroundings with a clear gaze, watching Shinichi's movements. It's obvious that if something happens here, if there's any sort of danger, she'll struggle. It makes him think of Ran. She trails behind him as he heads back to his chair in the library, momentarily forgetting about his reptilian passenger as he plops down, earning him a disgruntled huff and a momentary prick of claws. It settles again almost immediately however, and Shinichi turns his attention back to the girl.

"Who's the person you're looking for? You two are obviously close." The reptile snuggled against his neck, shifting it's weight between it's feet, almost kneading his skin in anxiety. Shinichi makes a valiant attempt to ignore it.

"He disappeared last night... Typically it wouldn't be a problem! He does it all the time! But Bakaito didn't even leave a message with Jii-chan..."

Ah. Kid had gone missing. Shinichi feels the knot in the pit of his stomach grow, and the deep sense of dread grows with it.

It still didn't mean that the thief was endangered, but it did mean something had happened. Then again, he could try to convince himself that this... "Bakaito", whatever his actual name was, wasn't actually Kid. Somehow he feels it's futile thinking that way. He tries to brush his feelings away, tries to focus more completely on the girl in front of him.

"Do you know where he was when he went missing?"

"There's a chance he went to Kid's heist last night, though he could've stayed home..." she trails off, realizing that no, she wasn't sure where her friend had gone off to before not returning. Shinichi fights the urge to roll his eyes or pinch the bridge of his nose. The girl's already upset and, even though he's not good in any way shape or form with someone breaking down in front of him, Shinichi understands that he shouldn't aggravate the situation.

A few more questions spring to mind, and to start any sort of investigation of this kind he'd normally have to ask them, but in this case, the missing person was in all likelihood the infamous phantom thief.

Even in his civilian life and with the closest of friends, Kid isn't the type to spread around whatever safe houses he has set up. There's no doubt that the man's the kind to prepare for every circumstance, and in doing so he'd only share that information with his assistant. Or assistants. There's always a chance that there's more than one, and he can't tell for sure, even if the thief himself makes a claim, unless he's involved with them. Which, to be fair, wouldn't be ideal.

Shinichi attempts to drag his attention back to the girl again.

"What's his name?" A part of himself seems to have been shocked about how easy that was, simply asking three words and being given the key to a part of the puzzle of Kid. Another part of him can't believe what he had just done. He had broken their unspoken truce, the understanding they'd come to after many encounters. Sure, it's out of concern for the thief's personal safety, but it's still a breach.

"Kuroba Kaito."