Hi again guys, thanks for still reading my translation ^^
So, without further ado, here's the next chapter~
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Words count: 2,626
Rate: T
Warning: typo(s), grammar error(s), possibly OOC, alternate timeline, chara(s) death, possible BL/shonen-ai
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Disclaimer :
Detective Conan and Magic Kaito fully belong to Aoyama Gosho
This story belong to reiei
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Now, let the story begins…
o.O.O.o.o.O.O.o
Chapter 11
- 11st Memory –
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"So, ready to tell me about your phobia now?"
This time Kaito's the one who puts a long face, his smirk gone without a trace. "Can we just skip this part?"
"No. I've told you I'll make you talk, haven't I?"
Kaito grumbles. Shinichi is still staring at him intensely. The magician gives out a long sigh, he knows how stubborn Shinichi can be and seems like it'll be useless to avoid it.
"Okay, okay! I'll try to explain it to you…" Kaito takes his time to gulp down a piece of waffle, munching it slowly, tying to stall some time. "I think you can figure it out even without asking me."
"It'll be rude of me to dig and deduce your past just like that."
"Oh, aren't you the one who used to say, 'Stupid, it's a detective job to deduce things without being told' and so on so forth?" Kaito sneered.
Shinichi, seems unaffected by Kaito's provocation, just stare at him as he sips at his milk tea unimpressed, "You're just trying to buy time. No problem, today I have afternoon shift. You can take all the time you want."
Kaito rolls his eyes, apparently he really can't avoid this topic. And so he begin his storytelling, about Pandora, his heist on that day, his mother's warning which he ignore, the fire that killed his family… After a long time he finally shared that incident, that truthfully he doesn't want to remember anymore, that incident that always haunting him in his nightmare on almost every night, and he unconsciously tears are already streaming down his face.
He hurriedly wipes it away, and with s trembling voice finished up his story, "That's it… And that incident plagues me every night, and somehow, I ended up afraid of fire."
"…All kind of fire?"
Kaito shakes his head slowly, "Initially yes, I can still contain myself if it's just small fires like from lighters. But fire from stoves, waste combustion or even fire from a crumple of burning paper makes me panicked…"
Shinichi nods in understanding, silently noted the new information to his memory. Then uncomfortable silence befalls them. Kaito's no longer crying, but he's still abnormally pale, making Shinichi feels a bit guilty bringing up the topic. But this is important, for him and for Kaito himself.
"Thank you for sharing your story with me,"
"You're the one forcing me to tell you," Kaito protests, even though in Shinichi's ear he doesn't sound that annoyed with it.
"I'm sure I'm not forcing you that hard," the detective decides to retort back. "I assume that burn mark in your back is caused by that incident too?"
"…Shinichi Kudo, don't tell me you peek at me when I'm taking a bath?!"
"Ha–?! Why should I peek at you in your bath, stupid! It's your fault that you often parading inside my house half naked!"
"That's because I have to ask for your permission first before taking your shirts!"
"I've told you to do as you like, don't make an excuse out of it!"
Shinichi has anticipated that they'll be awkward for a moment after he forces – yeah, he admits he was kind of forcing Kaito to tell him, but not that hard – Kaito to share his past with him, but fortunately that doesn't happen. Instead, he feels that now, they can talk to each other better without trying to pry each other's past.
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"Do you want to flee, Shin?" Kaito asks as he eyeing the suitcase that Shinichi carries, three days after their little conversation. Honestly, he feels just a bit better after sharing his burden with someone else, aside the police of course, even though Shinichi in fact part of the police too.
"Oh, I think I forgot to tell you, I have a conference in Kanagawa for a few days."
"And you just tell me that 5 minutes before you go? Marvelous, Shin," Kaito says practically dropping with sarcasm.
"Hey, I've apologized for it. Why? Afraid of being left alone?"
"Funny."
And Shinichi laughs, it's rare that he can makes Kaito annoyed, not the other way around.
"I'm off then."
"Aa, take care."
Shinichi gives a nod before stepping out of the house. "You too. Take care."
"Hai, hai," Kaito waves nonchalantly as Shinichi shuts the front door, and then goes to the kitchen. Luckily he hasn't makes any breakfast, it might go to waste. Wait, today's Shinichi's turn to cook, isn't it? Oh, look, a tamagoyaki is served on the dining table.
'At least he still kindly makes some breakfast for me," Kaito thought with a small smile ghosted in his lips.
Kaito enjoy his meal slowly, take a glance at the wall clock once in a while. Today he promised Shinichi to meet up with his psychologist acquaintance. Yeah, he has finally decided to cure him of his phobia, and Shinichi gladly assists him on it.
'It's fine even if you change your mind when you meet her, but at least try it first,' Shinichi said at that time, and, well, Kaito thinks it won't hurt him to try. He's also tired to keep running from his nightmare, he knows for sure that his mother and Jii won't be happy to see him turning out into a coward that can only cower in fear… will they?
He heaves a long sigh, washing his now empty plate and then getting ready to go.
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When Shinichi arrives at the place where the conference will be held, there's been a lot of other district's representative already. He stops by few of them to say hello, chatting with some familiar faces before finally have the chance to place his suitcase inside the room that was prepared for him. The conference will begin in about 30 minutes so he decided to just go to the hall where it will be held.
They have packed schedule until nightfall and only then they have free time to finally take a rest. For Shinichi, being forced to listen to other people's speech is more tiring rather than going after a running away suspects.
He stretched his stiff shoulders as he walk to his cabin. He has politely refused his colleagues' invitation to drink with them, intending to take a shower, preparing for his presentation tomorrow, and, if he has time, asking Kaito about his appointment with the psychologist. He's forced out of his thoughts when someone pats his shoulder.
"Kudo," greets a blonde with the same age as him.
"Ah, Hakuba. Long time no see," he replies with a small smile.
"Yes. Few months ago when I last visit Beika I didn't have the chance to meet you. You seem busy as usual."
Both of them are walking side by side as they continue their talk.
"Can't help it… What about you? I've heard that your wife is pregnant? Congratulation, you'll be a father in no time," Shinichi says half teasing.
Hakuba gives out a proud smile, "Aa, thank you. I can't wait for my first daughter to be born."
"Oh, female? What month?
"Yes, and it'll be seventh month soon."
"Hee, 7th month, huh. You sure it's alright to left her by herself?"
"It's okay, it's only a few days after all. And she's currently in hospital…," Hakuba's voice getting lower in the last sentence, his smile is faltering slightly.
"Is there something wrong with the baby?" Shinichi asks in confusion.
"No, it's not about the baby…"
Shinichi waits for him to continue, doesn't want to meddle more than he should.
"You know, she had amnesia before we were married."
Now Shinichi raise his eyebrow. He's not that close with Hakuba, even though he'd know his name since senior high. That few things he knows about him is that he's the son of Superintendent Hakuba, very discipline with time, and obviously not a person Shinichi expects to share his marriage problems. So if he brings up this particular topic then he must have some objective.
"That time her condition was very unstable, and we were afraid that if she remembered about what was happened then she'll collapse. So we had decided to let her forget parts of her past."
Shinichi snorts lowly, honestly, he doesn't agree with his way to 'manipulate' memories. She has the rights to know about her own past. But if he's in Hakuba's place, maybe he'll do the same.
"And suddenly her condition worsened? Isn't it been, like, years since that unlucky incident?" Shinichi asks as he stole a glance at Hakuba whose expression turn more depressed.
"…her memories are coming back."
Shinichi deepen his frown, "Her memories that you try to hide from her, you mean?"
Hakuba gives a simple nod, "She's confused because her newly returned memories are different than what she has knows all this time. She's starting to ask around about it, but her family is reluctant to explain it to her. I've just been told about this a few days ago, and now her mental health is dropping because of this matter."
Hakuba heaves heavy sighs, his fingers raking his blonde hair, small gesture that shows how stressed the detective is.
"If you guys can hide it for 8 whole years then you should have some excuses ready to cover this easily, no?" Shinichi asks, more inclined to confirm his deduction.
"We can't. She has meets that person."
Aha.
"And now she wishes to meet him to ask for the truth."
They've try to make her forget about him for years, and suddenly she wants to meet him, of course they'll panic. But there's still one thing that Shinichi doesn't understand.
"So, why are you telling me this, Hakuba? I'm sure I've never have anything to do with your wife before."
Aside from her resemblance with Ran, Shinichi thoughts.
Then he stopped walking, seeing as they've arrived in front of his room. Hakuba turns to face the shorter young man and stares at him awkwardly.
"I've heard you live with Kuroba Kaito…"
And that is his last piece of puzzle. Kuroba Kaito. He remembers him mentioned Hakuba's name that night, but who knows that he was referring to this Hakuba? Or that the ex-thief has some sort of relationship with Hakuba's wife?
Then he remembers Kaito's state that night, or the night thereafter to be exact, because Kaito didn't come home that one night. He's certain it was that night that Kaito had meet with Hakuba and his wife. Nothing more depressing than having your only surviving relative forgets all about you, and being married to another man that you also know.
Kaito, with strong liquor smell and colorful dim light from the television that made his silhouette seems more depressed. There are only sadness and despair in his eyes. And his lips – stop, Shinichi, you've promised yourself to forget that one incident.
"Yea," he answered as he stopped his train of thoughts, "but if you want to talk to him, go see him yourself," Shinichi said indifferently.
"I don't think he'll want to see me."
"Oh?"
"Last time we met, he punched me and banned me to ever show myself in front of him," Hakuba grumbles.
And Shinichi can't stop his lips from curving upward. "I believe it's your fault. You must have hurt him a lot to make him that angry."
"Don't laugh at me, Kudo. I was just saying what I have to," Hakuba said infuriated as he folds his arms in front of his chest. "Do you want to help me or not?"
Shinichi just shrugs, then he turns around to unlock his cabin room. "I'll try to talk to him, but if he refuses to see you or your wife then I won't persuade him any further."
"Yes, just telling him about this is enough. I really appreciate your help, Kudo."
Shinichi gives a simple nod, and then hurriedly goes in to his room, "good night then, Hakuba," he says before closing the door before him. Vaguely he can hear Hakuba saying 'good night' from the other side of the door, accompanied by fading footsteps.
And now suddenly he has lost any motivation to do his presentation, imagining how he must convey this news to Kaito, how he'll react then… He's half-expecting Kaito to refuse it, but he's not Kaito, so he doesn't know how Kaito will handle it. Ah, he just hopes that Kaito won't be too depressed later.
He plans to ask Kaito about this later when he gets home, choosing not to tell him though mail or phone call because he won't be able to see how he will react. It'll be bad if he goes into depression again while nobody is home.
Shinichi let out a sigh, decided to set aside Kaito's touble and focus on his presentation first.
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That conference is finished 3 days later. It's already nightfall when he gets home, but what surprising is when he sees a girl come out from his house.
"Oh, welcome home, Shin," Kaito greets with his usual cheerful smile.
"I'm home," he replies after parking his car in the garage. "I don't know that you already have a girlfriend, Kaito."
"Ha? Ah, that girl earlier, you mean? He's just my co-worker. Boss wants me to duplicate the storage room key earlier and send that girl to pick it up," Kaito explains casually.
"Why aren't you the one who bring it back?"
"I was planning to take it with me tomorrow morning, but she said she'll gladly drop by on her way to the shop so… that's it."
"Hoo? She's clearly interested with you," Shinichi teases as he nudges Kaito's at the ribs – quite hard – that happen to block his way in as well and so he managed to make him move aside.
"Sorry that I'm more popular than you, Mr. Detective," Kaito replies with growing smirk.
Shinichi snorts, flopping down to the living room couch as he enjoys the snacks served in front of him. "Like I care," he mumbles.
Kaito just laugh it off, "want me to get your drinks?" he asks while walking toward the kitchen.
"Mm, water."
Shinichi's enjoying his cookies while waiting for Kaito, he won't admit that he's a little tense to have to tell Kaito about Hakuba's offer. But he doesn't have the leisure to form his words as Kaito come back from the kitchen. He drinks the water in few gulps before he starts.
"I've meet Hakuba in the conference."
And sure enough, Kaito tenses right away with only that few words. Shinichi also doesn't like the stares Kaito's giving him. He straightens his sitting position before continuing.
"Listen, I really don't want to but in but, Hakuba was asking for my help. AND –" he intentionally raise up his voice a bit as he sees Kaito wants to interrupt him, and seems like it works," –remembering your last meeting, I personally thinks it'll be better for you two not to meet for a while."
Kaito knits his eyebrows, sharpen his gaze, as if he's searching whether he can trust Shinichi or not. Finally he nods, allowing Shinichi to continue.
"So, err… Do you still want to meet with his wife, who's it again – Aoko'san?"
Kaito's eyes widen, and Shinichi doesn't know whether it is a good or a bad sign.
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To Be Continued
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