Tooi no Koe Chapter 3 Where are you, Shinichi?

A/N:Thanks to the four people who reviewed. To the reviewer who said "thank you", what do you mean? Thanks for the chapter? Please be more specific when you review. I'm looking for a bit more than "great chapter, update soon!" I'd like some constructive-and interesting reviews, all right? I know I can always improve as a writer and so can you!

Chapter 3 Where are you, Shinichi?

Mouri Ran stared at the empty chair across from her seat in worry. She knew from the second that her childhood friend had gotten out of his chair and had claimed that he needed to go to the bathroom that something had come up. If she had to hazard a guess, it was probably a murder case. Still, wasn't his education more important than some dumb murder? After all, the time he lost in school could never be replaced.

Someone nudged her elbow and she whirled around to find herself staring at a girl with short brown hair and blue eyes who was smirking slightly. She sighed aloud, oblivious to the teacher shooting her a death glare. "Sonoko-chan, what do you want?" She asked aloud.

Her friend chuckled slightly under her breath and smirked. "So, are you...worried about your husband, Ran? You know he's probably off on some case, huh?" She snickered.

Ran shushed her friend. "Sonoko-chan, we're in...class! We can't just make social conversation right now!" She hissed.

The teacher had already noticed, however. "Mouri-san, is something the matter? Something tells me that you seem to think that the classroom is a social hall."

"Iie, Kyomi-sensei, I was trying to tell Sonoko-chan to be quiet, because we're in class right now." Ran protested.

The teacher didn't look convinced, however. "Where is Kudou-san? He asked to go to the bathroom nearly thirty minutes ago, and he hasn't returned yet!" She exclaimed.

"He probably had to solve a case. He is a detective, after all." Sonoko explained briefly.

Kyomi-sensei frowned. "It seems more like he's just skipping class to me. I know he's a famous detective, but perhaps he could take some time to consider how important his education is before he goes off to solve these dumb cases." She complained.

The girls in the class sighed forlornly upon seeing that their idol wasn't present for the time being. Obviously, they all were envious of the fact that he got to leave early and they couldn't do the same.

Ran just smiled to herself. Even though Shinichi was a brilliant detective and he was practically a genius when it came to school, sometimes he still lacked common sense. He would sometimes forget to lock his door, forget his keys, or even forget to take his music lessons home...though she knew he hated that class so much that he would do anything to get out of it...anything.

Still, he was her childhood friend, so even though he could be a little irritating, a little conceited, and a little too arrogant for his own good, she still cared about him very much. In fact she supposed that maybe...she had a crush on him. Not that he knew, of course. He was probably too dense to even see that she had feelings for him. All he seemed to care about were his mystery novels, his books, and the mysteries that seemed to plague him everywhere he went.

She blushed a little and smiled out the window. She wondered where exactly he had gone to. She saw him on the news doing his cases, but why did it feel like he was growing apart from her? Was this just her own fears preying on her, or was it accurate? She noticed how much he seemed to talk about his cousin and maybe, just maybe, he cared more about his cousin than her.

She shook her head. She was overthinking things, after all...Shinichi did care about her very much and she was being silly. How dare she question the ways of a detective! That sounded like something Shinichi would say if she ever raised that question up to him for him to consider.

"Shinichi..." She whispered, oblivious to her friend Sonoko's jeering beside her.

Shinichi sneezed all of a sudden. "I bet Ran was thinking about me..." He muttered under his breath. A tall, portly inspector glanced at him in confusion.

"Kudo-kun, was Ran-san thinking about you?" Megure-keibu, or Inspector Megure, teased.

Shinichi blushed before he managed to control himself and shot the inspector a glare. "Urusai. Ran and I are not in love." He snapped. "I can't believe you called me out for such an easy case..."

"Unfortunately, it's not that easy, Kudo-kun. The victim's name was merely an alias, and we have no leads as to who she really was. However, some witnesses said that they saw her with some mysterious men in black...if it's something like that, we can't delve in too deep. Also, someone else...has come to me with something very...well, annoying." Megure explained.

"What is it?" Shinichi asked. His eyes widened as Megure tossed a picture of a certain phantom thief in his hands. "No way...what do you want me to do? I'm not a thief-hunter, Megure-keibu; I'm a detective!"

Megure frowned. "Talk to the nutcase who rang me up this morning for over two hours rambling on about how much he wants someone who is competent enough to help him catch KID. KID's true identity is unknown. All we know is that he wears all white at night, steals jewels and leaves public notices telling the police and the public when he will steal them, and disturbs police. Maybe you could handle him, Kudo-kun. This KID character seems to have a lot of brains, and I think someone with your genius could easily match up with him. What do you think?"

Shinichi stared at him for a long moment. "Are you crazy? All he does is steal jewels! That's boring...what mystery is there?"

"I won't force you to. Let me give you a piece of advice, though-don't cross this man's path. He's quite zealous about KID and he hates being outdone, so try not to be too egotistical." Megure sounded like he was practically pleading the last part.

In the end, Shinichi gave in. "Okay...just tell me what the man's name is..."

"His name is Nakamori Ginzo. His daughter's name is Nakamori Aoko."

That name sounds familiar...wait a second, was she...the girl that Kaito talked about the last time we ever talked on the phone?...that was five years ago.

Shinichi was surprised that he even remembered the girl. Kaito had merely mentioned her whenever they had talked on the phone, however he had had something to do and had abruptly hung up on him after his mother had told him to get off the phone. He had only spoken to him for ten minutes, and yet he felt as though maybe Kaito had something to do with this Kaitou KID fellow.

Kaitou KID was getting ready for his big performance. His gaze trailed over to the picture that sat on the mantelpiece. Two twin boys both had their arms around each other and wore big grins. Behind them were two brown-haired girls, both looking quite envious. A light smirk made its way on his face for a moment.

"That was a long time ago...I wonder if you will come to dance with me tonight, Meitantei-san. Will you really fight against me-Kudou Shinichi...my cousin?" He asked before popping a rose from his hands. "In the style of Tuxedo Mask...here is a rose. A red one, for good luck..."

He spread out his hang-glider. A light smirk danced across his face. It was time for the white knight to play a little game with the foolish detectives who believed in seriousness and law and order-and try to get them to see things his way and have some...FUN. Seriously, why couldn't they laugh and smile and break the law once in a while? After all, the law had its limits.

It was best, Kaitou KID-aka Kaito Kuroba-thought, to cross that line every once in a while.

Shinichi stared at the note in his hands, an invitation from Kaitou KID to the Inspector Megure-keibu had asked him to help. "What have I gotten myself into...?" He moaned. Honestly, looking at it at first, the stupid thing seemed like a twisted joke. But as he looked over it more and more, it seemed more like some kind of riddle.

Shinichi was not that good at riddles, but he had to admit that these riddles were obviously made for an audience that wasn't stupid. He was NOT part of that audience-fortunately.