Author's note: Okay, two things I neglected to say for the two first chapters… First, the usual disclaimer-I-don't-own-Magic-Kaito-or-Detective-Conan thing (but you had already figured that out), and, second, I'm not English. I'm French. And still young, thank you very much, which probably accounts for the lack of vocabulary, grammar, syntaxes and meaning in general.
Back to the story…
In the street
The trio Kudo, Hattori and Kuroba was rather an unusual one.
Two of them were detectives, the third was a thief.
They were both rivals and friends, and Kudo and Kuroba were so alike one another they could have been siblings.
Each of them had such a full temper that their arguments over whose-model-was-the-best were dates in history.
One often wondered how the hell they managed to bear each other, but the fact was that they did. More or less.
Their love stories weren't better. Hattori Heiji had refused to realize how much he was in love with his childhood friend Kazuha Toyama for over seventeen years before ending up kissing her unexpectedly three months ago. Kudo Shinichi had been perfectly aware of his love for Mouri Ran but his declaration had been somewhat… retarded for a time. Well… being changed into a seven-year-old hadn't helped.
As for Kaito… that was another problem. The one and only woman he would ever think as the love of his life was very, very eager as to get him under arrest.
"Guys…" he said as his two friends were arguing again over their which-of-Sherlock-or-Ellery-was-the-best-blah-blah, "would you please turn the volume down? People's looking at you."
This wasn't exactly true. Most of the passer-bys in the street were too busy to pay any attention to the two arguing and extremely noisy young men. Neither did the two arguing and extremely noisy young men pay any attention to the passer-bys.
Anyway–
"Shut up or I'll bury you under a ton of confetti…"
No answer whatsoever – keep on…
"Shut up or I'll steal every jewel in the country…"
'Well, I will anyway,' he thought confusedly. Not that it changed anything.
"SHUT UP OR ONE OF YOU IS GONNA BE TURNED INTO A KID AGAIN AND THE OTHER'LL SEE HIS STUPID CAP FLUSED DOWN THE TOILETS!"
It was rather a long sentence to be said in one breath like he had meant it to be, but it worked quite nicely.
They broke off.
They glared.
He shrugged.
"Well, Holmes…"
"Well, Queen…"
"I said SHUT UP!"
They glared some more.
'Change the subject," he thought hurriedly. "Quick... change…"
"Erm… Queen… I mean, Hattori, what were you saying about Kazuha-chan and you before Kudo began boasting over Holmes again?"
"I wasn't…" Shinichi began, then cut off.
Hattori's gaze was dangerously wandering back and forth between his two exactly alike friends. They had already seen those odd looks onto his usually arrogant features… when he was talking to Kazuha. It was… shyness? Kaito checked himself, preparing to laugh.
"We got mpheged."
"What?"
"We got enphemged."
"What?"
"Speak louder, Hattori," Kudo said calmly.
'I SAID WE GOT ENGAGED!" Heiji shouted so loud everybody two miles away could hear him.
"Is that what you're looking so desperate about?" Kaito asked. Shinichi had to bit his lip no to chuckle, but he frowned when the thief then turned to him.
"Hey, Kudo, what about you and," he switched his voice to Conan's, "Ran-neechan?"
"I'm seeing her tonight. What about you, Kuroba?" Shinichi shot back, and was glad to see Poker Face suddenly coming up. That usually meant he was emotionally involved.
"Let's say that I'm not very much into matrimony right now," the magician said lightly. "Besides, I have a date tonight. With a jewel. Called Blue Dawn. Why they always assign weird names to gems, for that matter, is beyond me."
"No sign from a Blue Child?" Heiji asked innocently.
"Yeah, she'll be there tonight." A sarcastic smile curled his lips, like a wolf's. "At least, if these so-called police experts deciphered the message I sent them yesterday."
"Oh, you mean this one?" Kudo asked, pointing at the rather crumpled newspaper he had hold in his hand all the while. "Seems that you haven't been working a lot on this, Kuroba." He read out,
"Don't you dare contradict a phantom.
But on that night try to keep me from stealing
The lonely cock who's giving at random
The blue melancholy of his singing."
Kudo grinned. "Now you've done better than that."
Kaito shrugged. What if he liked writing out riddle-like enigmas? None of a detective's business. To trick the police expert was part of the mockery.
"Existential fun," he said. "Takes them two days to understand them."
"Took me two minutes."
Kuroba shot him a sharp glance. "I'd dearly love to hear about that."
"Elementary," Shinichi said, switching to his great-meitantei-Kudo-Shinichi mode. "The first line – the phantom represents both midnight and Halloween, which, surprisingly, happens to be today. The second line confirms this – that night, I mean. Which gives us the date and time of the heist. Now the second two – they're tougher. Of course, the "cock" is immediately to relate with a wind vane – and there's not many wind vanes that keep a precious gem in its beck. Actually, there's only one. As if we needed precisions, the last line gives us the jewel's name – blue, certainly, and then the cock only sings at dawn. That makes Blue Dawn. Really elementary."
Kaito snorted.
The first one she saw was Hattori-kun. He was easily recognisable, because of his cap and dark skin. By his side was Kudo-kun, with a newspaper in his hand, and immediately next to him, so exactly alike, was–
Oh, God.
She didn't need this.
She broke as the car approached the crossroad. The light turned to red and they started to cross the street. They walked right before her car, animatedly talking. She could see Kudo gesturing, Hattori frowning – and Kaito laughing.
Kaito – she meant, Kid.
Kid – not Kaito.
There was no Kaito anymore, just Kid. Kid. Kid.
A protective horn behind her car informed her that the lights had turned to green a good moment ago. She engaged the clutch and rushed forward.
A thief who meant to steal another jewel tonight.
She had to put a stop to this.