Despite his warning, Aoko came to his heist again.

Kaitou Kid pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed inwardly as he peered through the vent on the ceiling he was hiding in. Aoko, in her old jeans and plain shirt, was walking around the hallway cautiously, her eyes glancing at each corner of the room in suspicion. She looked almost liked a lost and abandoned dog who got betrayed by its owner and the more he thought about it, the more he wanted to laugh.

He began fiddling with the sleeping gas balls in his hands. Three more minutes and he would carry out the plans he tattooed in his brain for the night. If everything went smoothly, today's heist could probably end early, even after he added the time he would spend if he and Aoko were to cross path. Unknowingly, Kid smirked at the thought.

On the cue, the hall below him suddenly went black and his eyes narrowed. He was hundred percent sure that he never set up any trap to cause a blackout. Millions of thoughts began racing in his mind as he tensed his shoulders while hearing the shouts yelling all over the room. There was an uneasy feeling in his gut and he quickly stuffed the sleeping gas bombs into his pocket.

Is this blackout a coincidence or...

Kid began to unscrew the vent but he made no move to jump down to join the blind mice running around the hall. Instead, he flashed out his night goggles he prepared in his white suit and wore it skillfully. Apparently Inspector Nakamori was hugging onto the glass case and waving a free arm to knock everyone that was trying to get near him while the rest of the police squad were still frantically finding a way to get the lights back on.

He frowned. Where's Aoko?

When that thought occurred in his mind, the lights began flickering back to life and Kid removed his goggles instantly.

Aoko was screaming from the corner of the room. A man clad in the all too familiar brown coat and black hat raised his hand that held a gun.

"Give me the jewel now." The man that Kid knew as Snake roared as he pointed the gun at the inspector.

"Who the hell are you?!"

"Dad!" Aoko cried out. All of the sudden, she was struggling in the tight grip of two Snake's men and was pushed towards Snake.

No.

Snake then moved the position of his gun and pointed at Aoko's head instead.

Kaitou Kid wanted to shout, to tell her to move her ass away, to get out of this place immediately, to run for her life, but his chest tightened so much that he couldn't even breathe.

No.

Snake pulled the trigger.

No!

Kaito sprang up from his bed, his eyes wide and forehead drenched with sweat.

"Shit." He breathed out and run his trembling hands through his hair. Closing his eyes and forcing himself to steady his breath, he only opened his eyes when he was able to feel his heart beating normally against his chest. His hand dropped limply to the side of his bed as he tiredly glanced to the clock by the bed.

The red digits showed four in the morning.

He let out a soft sigh and threw his blankets away. His cold feet touched the floor and a hand wiped across his face before he let it fell to his side. Slowly, his eyes moved to the full portrait of his dead father fixated right on the wall opposite of him.

The nightmares had been nothing but repetitive lately. It wasn't always the same, however. Kaito had many different kind of dreams but all of them had that same ending; Aoko being killed by Snake at one of his heist. He watched too many ways Snake used his guns, he heard too many piercing screams echoing in his head, he smelt too much metal, too much blood that it made him sick.

And there he was, the almighty Kaitou Kid everyone worshiped, powerless, frozen and gaping like a stupid fool and not able to do anything but could only witness Snake's victory and Aoko fall the entire time.

Everything was just a dream and he knew it was stupid of him to think it meant anything superstitiously. But even if he didn't have those nightmares at the start, he still couldn't take the risk because he couldn't bear it to let to happen at all.

One mistake, one second was all it took for him to lose everything. If he had to trade days, months, years of his life just to make sure that one second wouldn't happen, he would.

"Goddamn it." Kaito muttered.

This wasn't a trading game, but there was always a cause an effect. The only way he could think of to make Aoko stop going to the heist was to make her hate it. And the only way for her to hate it was to admit Kuroba Kaito was Kaitou Kid. As simple as that.

Kaito had been seriously contemplating this issue since the start of his constant nightmares that occurred while he was healing from his gun wound.

Recently when Aoko accidentally came across Kaitou Kid's portrait, he knew things would be slightly different between them even if nothing had been said. That was also when he used the time to test the waters; to experience how it felt when he couldn't approach her and she didn't approach him.

Throughout the period when the distance between them continued to grow, he watched her struggle alone painfully while his own chest constantly cringed and had this incredibly weird and annoying feeling whenever he saw her...

It was downright horrible.

And this made him pondered on his choices again. He would lose Aoko with both choices he made, but if he was faster, stronger... maybe the choice of lying to her and keeping his identity a secret would be better. He wouldn't lose her yet, and there was a chance that he wouldn't lose her at all.

But ever since he considered that, his nightmares became more frequent than ever and he barely got enough sleep to survive as a normal high school student, much less a Phantom Thief.

"Dad." Kaito continued staring at his father who was smiling back at him. He couldn't even find the energy to smile back. "What should I do?"

"Beep, beep, beep."

His eyes slowly glanced over at his clock again and he immediately hit the button to shut it up. It was six thirty in the morning. Great, two and a half hour just passed like seconds and he just wasted the precious amount of hours he could use to sleep. He gave an amused scoff to himself. Who was he kidding? There was no way he could fall back to sleep after those nightmares.

He weakly pushed himself off his bed and headed to the bathroom.

.o.

The door of Mouri Detective Agency swung open with a loud bang against the wall as a figure stepped in with a hand raised up high. "Yo!" The voice called out, heavily carrying the all too familiar Kansai accent.

Two heads from the sofa turned immediately.

"Hattori-kun? What brings you here?" Ran stood up from her seat, eyes wide in surprise.

"Just thought I'll drop by on a Sunday."

Ran walked around the couch and gazed back at the empty door. "Kazuha-chan isn't with you?"

"She got some Aikido training over the weekends ya." Heiji waved Ran off and gave a devious grin at Conan, who was standing on his couch seat and scrutinizing back at him. Apparently the TV show they were watching previously before the newcomer came to disrupt them was left forgotten. "I'll be borrowing that kid for a while though. I wanna bring him to somewhere for a moment."

Conan narrowed his eyes while Ran tilted her head in confusion. "Somewhere?"

"An ice cream place I know here. Conan has been begging me to bring him to get some bitter, dark chocolate ice cream since forever and I thought it'll be nice today ya."

"You came all the way from Osaka just to treat Conan-kun ice cream?"

"Why not?"

"Ice cream!" Conan jumped off his seat and rushed over to Heiji's pants and continued his jumping. "I want some ice cream!"

Heiji ruffled his kid's hair with a proud look. "Hell yeah."

"Can I go get some ice cream, Ran-neechan?"

She gave a knowing smile. "I can't say no, right? Hattori-kun came all the way too. Just don't eat too much sweets, you just had lunch."

"Yay!"

Heiji didn't waste any time and left as quickly as he came, while dragging the poor little detective down the stairs without any considerations. Not until when they were further down the streets and far from the windows of the detective agency then Conan began struggling in his grip.

"You can let go of me. I can walk by myself."

"Nee-chan entrusted you to me so I wouldn't want you to get lost ya."

The struggle was too much for Heiji to bear and he had no choice but to stop in his tracks and let Conan go or people would get suspicious of him. He glanced over at the small detective as the latter stuffed two of his hands into his pocket, obviously unhappy with the situation that just happened.

"I didn't expect you to come to me though."

"Hmm? For ice cream?"

"Bitter, dark chocolate." Conan sent a wary look. "That's the ice cream I would eat, only with Kaitou Kid."

Kaito smirked and began fiddling with the cap he painstakingly found for this particular disguise. It was limited edition after all. "Not bad, I thought you really just wanted to have some ice cream." He dropped the dialect instantly. His throat felt itchy the entire time he had to mimic that accent.

"Are you underestimating me?" Conan scowled. "I knew you weren't Hattori when you first stepped into the agency."

"Oh?" Kaito reached for his face. "I thought I made a perfect copy of him."

"Nothing's wrong with your disguise. Hattori called me a while ago and we conversed for a bit. He didn't mention about coming here at all."

"Pardon me for my mistake." Kaito turned and began walking again. He didn't care about that. His main motive was to get that brat out of the office successfully and he had done that perfectly well so there wasn't any mistake made, none at all. But just to give that detective some face and pride, he shall humor him for a bit. "I'll bug your phone next time we meet. Thanks for the tip though."

He didn't need to check to see if the kid was following him when he already caught up with him and was trying to sync his steps made by his short and pathetic legs with Kaito's. For the brat's sake, Kaito decided to slow down.

"You better don't do that." Conan gritted his teeth.

"But how can I ignore such great advice made by you? Wouldn't that dash your honor?"

"What's the trouble now? You contacted me much earlier than I thought you would."

I've entertained his plays but he can't even entertain my jokes. Kaito gave a casual shrug. "I've got enough people running after me and you're not welcomed to the chase. I thought it'll be better if we have a talk under normal circumstances instead."

"True enough. I guess there's too many people that want you behind bars, or dead even. Your life must be tough."

"It can't be as tough as yours." Kaito didn't even feel the need to elaborate.

He could feel a glare shooting right through his head but choose to ignore it. He was already a pro at ignoring death-threatening glares sent to him wherever he went, be it from the girl's from the lockers room, Hakuba or even Aoko.

Ah, yes, Aoko. It wasn't exactly directed at himself but at Kaitou Kid most of the time, though there wasn't much difference at all.

"Where the hell are we going?"

What perfect timing, they had finally reached the place Kaito wanted to go. He whirled to his side and was about to step inside.

Conan continued. "Seriously?"

Kaito turned and stared at the detective who was still gaping at the cafe he was about to go in.

"What's the matter?"

"A cafe? You're seriously getting ice cream?"

"Then what? Are you expecting me to invite you to my tree-house and have tea or something?" Kaito rolled his eyes, but not forgetting to add a sly smile at the irritated looking detective, "besides, I can't lie to your girlfriend, right?"

"When you first stepped into the agency, you're already lying." Conan sent a glare over and Kaito's smirk grew bigger. No matter how tired or exhausted he was, seeing irritation flashing across this kid's face seemed to give him a boost of energy in a weird way, even greater than seeing Hakuba being pranked by his magic tricks.

They both walked inside the cafe and glanced around. It wasn't surprising to find the cafe filled since it was a Sunday, but he was always lucky to get a seat whenever he came here, no matter rain or shine, weekends or weekdays. The only difference today was the one accompanying him was this brat and not Aoko, and that, may be the reason why his luck wasn't on his side today.

"I didn't know you spill your secrets so easily though."

Kaito glanced down at Conan. "What the heck are you talking about?"

Without looking up, Conan gestured his head to the direction where he had been staring for a while and Kaito followed his gaze until his eyes were set upon a lone figure sitting by the window.

Aoko. Her name echoed soothingly in his mind like a wave of cool water brushing against his feet. He last seen her on a Friday and he still remembered they bade their insulting goodbyes to each other before adding a sentence; see you on Monday.

"Oi. Oi!"

Kaito sent an annoyed look down at the boy. "What?"

"Are you done staring? We're standing here like idiots the entire time. "

Before he could reply him with a sarcastic remark, a voice snapped their attention away from the stupid argument and towards the direction where Kaito had been staring for the past full minute.

"Conan-kun!" Aoko waved from her seat.

Conan waved back enthusiastically.

Kaito stared at Aoko for a moment, his fingers slowly moving to the brim of his cap and pulling it down, hoping to hide the fact that he was whispering back to Conan. "I'll introduce myself to Aoko if I have to. You can just continuing acting cute."

"What?" Conan gave a sidelong glance over at Kaito. "You're staying here?"

At that moment, a couple a few tables behind Aoko began preparing to leave their seats. When a waitress was about to approach the table to clean, she jogged over to them and gave them the brightest smile she could muster even at the busiest period in the cafe. "Would you like to take a seat over there? We'll clean it as soon as possible."

"Sure." Kaito said and Conan gave a look of disbelief but the former didn't care.

Before they went over to their seats, they headed straight to Aoko and just stood by her table. Kaito glanced at her, who still had a warm smile plastered on her face the entire time when she watched them walking towards her.

"Aoko-neechan!" Conan greeted.

Kaito sneered inwardly.

"Hello, good to see you again!" She chirped. Tentatively, she glanced up at Kaito who was still in his disguise and he gave a cheeky smile that Heiji always use. Actually, it wasn't much different from his own.

"Hey, nice to meet ya." The Kansai dialect was back. "I'm Hattori Heiji."

Aoko smiled. "I'm Nakamori Aoko. Nice to meet you." Her smile grew bigger and Kaito heaved a silent sigh. Instantly, his body just relaxed on its own just by looking at the gentle smile on her face.

Am I sick in the head or what?

"Are you from Osaka?"

"The dialect ya?"

She chuckled softly behind her hand. "Yeah." When a second passed, her hand fell back down to the table before looking back at the seats the two of them were heading in the first place. "I shall not hold you back any longer. I bet Conan couldn't wait to eat his ice cream now, right?"

"Yeap!"

Her eyes met Kaito's. That brief moment when her relaxed face, filled with nothing but sincere pleasure and kindness stared at him... it made Kaito wondered why he rarely or never get to see this gentle and calm Aoko before. Was this even the Aoko he knew since young? As long as he could remember, the only looks she gave him were always her angry, hurt, crying, embarrassed and disappointed faces.

Were those what she truly felt about him?

When she looked away in politeness, he took the chance to catch a glimpse of the drink she ordered.

Ice latte again. She picked ice latte last time too. Since when did her taste change?

And then another thought came crashing onto him.

When's the last time we spent time together in a cafe and enjoying a drink or two?

He couldn't recall.

"Bye Aoko-neechan!" Conan skipped towards the clean table that was just cleared by the waitress. Kaito followed as well, leaving Aoko behind without another word said.

Conan choose the seat that showed his back to the cafe while Kaito sat opposite of Conan, his face exposed to everyone. Kaito turned his hat backwards and leaned against his seat with a sigh.

"I should be the one sighing." Conan glared.

Kaito narrowed his eyes. "Did a pole got stuck in your ass or something?"

"It's because we're here. Don't waste my time even if you want to waste yours" Conan glanced back at Aoko. "You can join her if you want. I'll head home."

"You don't waste my time." Kaito gritted his teeth. "Ever heard, the most dangerous place is the safest place?"

Conan scowled before glancing around. Seated at an isolated corner in a noisy and busy cafe where they could converse easily without a care if anyone could hear them. Kaito was pretty sure the fussy detective shouldn't have anything to complain about his choice of location, although the seats they got were actually a bonus point for him.

"We're just lucky to be seated at a decent place here." Conan looked down at the menu in disdain.

"Of course. Lady Luck never disappoint me."

"Are you sure?"

"Very sure." He raised his hand while the other was flipping through the menu.

"May I take your order?" The same waitress approached their table with a writing pad on her hand.

Kaito stopped at the page he was looking for and pointed at the picture of his favorite parfait ice cream, the one he would always order whenever he came to the cafe, except during the winter period. He saved that order for a cup of hot chocolate instead, to feel that warm, mini heater in his hand while Aoko sat opposite him with a cup too. His eyes slowly moved away from the menu, past Conan's shoulder and over a few tables until Aoko caught his eye.

She was sitting alone, stirring her drink while looking through her phone, engrossed.

His mind was snapped back to reality when Conan cleared his throat. Kaito scratched his nose, hoping to dispel his awkward pause back then and tapped on the menu again. "One of this." Kaito turned to Conan who looked uninterested. "This kid would like ta' have a scoop of dark chocolate ice cream ya."

When the waitress left, Kaito dropped the unnecessary change in voice and dialect and looked at Conan across him. "Suzuki is holding another exhibition soon. Are you going to drop by like always?"

"Exactly you said. Like always."

Kaito rolled his eyes.

"Is Nakamori-san going to the heist?"

This topic instantly soured Kaito's mood. He wished he could say no on her behalf but he knew it was nearly impossible when his warnings and visits were all clearly ignored without a care. He tried using his real identity, to mock her for following her father's footsteps, to demoralize her, to piss her enough to let her stay away. None of those worked too.

In order to keep her safe from danger, must he really make her know the truth and hate him for the rest of her life? He hid one of his hand under the table and clutched it tightly, feeling his nails digging deep into his skin. The only thing he could do to stop himself from thinking or allowing that image of a bloodied Aoko from flashing across his mind was to inflict enough pain and distracting him.

"I don't know." Kaito muttered.

Conan blinked carefully at him before glancing behind his shoulders. He turned to look back at Kaito again. "Having trouble stopping her from going?"

The reason why he dragged the little detective out was to have a conversation and the one they were having now wasn't what he had in mind. Kaito sighed and gave an impassive look. "It isn't your concern."

He sighed back. "Fine. Then what's your next plan?"

"Do what I've been doing since the start."

"For collection? Money? Treasure?"

Kaito tilted his head. "Huh?"

"You're looking for a particular jewel, aren't you?" Conan drawled. "To finish your collection? An insurance scam? A key to a treasure?"

On the cue, the waitress was back with their orders and Kaito took the time to consider his reply. Either he lie or explain the truth. Both seemed exhausting for Kaito's brain to process and he didn't really want to be showing all his cards when the food was just served.

For a smart and logical person; a detective like Conan, Kaito wondered what he would think about the truth behind the Pandora. A myth. A legend. A stupid spin-off tale. The more he thought about it, the more he wanted to laugh at himself.

He called Snake and his members a fool for trying to achieve immortality through a gemstone. And now here he was, struggling between sleep, health, studies, future and his relationships for a gem when he himself didn't have the entire heart to believe it existed.

But if he choose not to believe it entirely, then what did his father die for? In the end, he joined the chase, the fun, the adventure in finding the gem that he swore would destroy once it laid his hand.

Now, who's the fool?

After the waitress left, Kaito's mouth moved on its own. "Pandora Gem." He paused. "A hidden jewel inside a larger jewel that will glow red under the moonlight."

"That explains a lot."

Kaito gave a wry smile. "It has a special power." He paused, finding a little ridiculous to continue this stupid explanation. "Under special circumstances, it can bring immortality to the person who attains it."

There was silence, saved for the background chattering and the pleasant music playing in the busy cafe. Kaito made use of the silence to begin on his desert.

"Immortal." Conan spoke in a whisper.

"Yeah." The cautious tone in Conan's voice wasn't mistaken when his face darkened in a way that Kaito thought looked really disturbing to have on a child's face. That wasn't exactly the reaction he was expecting for. He thought the detective would laugh at him for wasting his time to search for such a thing but ended up, it was exactly different.

Conan narrowed his eyes. "Why are you looking for it?"

"Because I don't want the enemy to get it."

"And who's the enemy?"

In reaction to Conan's agitated tone, Kaito casually leaned back against his seat, carefully deciding what he should say and shouldn't say in his head. "People who kill, just to get what they want."

"An organization?"

Kaito cast a question gaze. There was something in Conan's voice that made his gut uncomfortable. For now, he still wasn't sure if there was an organization under or above Snake, but even if there wasn't, a lie wouldn't matter. The way Conan sounded seemed like his answer to his question was critical to whatever he was thinking in his tiny brain.

"Perhaps." He replied.

"Immortal... Pandora..."

"So you're finally done interrogating me." Kaito crossed his arms. "What are you mumbling about?"

"...There's something I need to confirm with someone, about that Pandora you're talking about."

What? Don't tell me he- "You know something about it?" Kaito leaned forward and only relaxed himself when Conan glanced up at him sharply and he instantly regretted his outburst. Although he didn't have a choice but to cooperate with this detective at the given moment, he still didn't want to give him any opportunity to uncover more things that shouldn't be revealed to others.

"I'm not sure. That's why I said I need to confirm with that person first."

Kaito uncrossed his arms and began drumming his fingers on the table. "That person. How is he or she related to this?"

Conan seemed to be contemplating for a moment. "She was once part of my opponent's team. Now she's on my side."

Pandora. Immortal. Opponent. Was something about the gem and immortality and the organization he wanted to bring down related? Kaito's mind was racing and he quickly took a bite of his ice cream. He needed to calm down and leave the thinking back at home. For now, he should continue the conversation before it ended.

"You seemed more eager to spill the secrets about your identity more than me."

"She can be trusted."

Kaito raised an eyebrow. Recruiting such a person, even when she was once an enemy? Judging by how Conan spent that few extra seconds considering telling him or not, that person must have been an important part of his game that the brat couldn't even reveal to him.

Who could it be?

At least he mentioned that the person was a female. If Kaito could spend some time snooping around and investigating, he might be able to find some things himself.

Jii was useful and efficient in finding information about jewels and people he needed to know about, including the identity of Edogawa Conan. But there were things that were out of Jii's capability too. If he could find that girl, woman or old hag and ask about Pandora and whatever immortal scheme they were planning instead of waiting for Conan to tell him...

It wasn't like he didn't have the patience, but time really wasn't on his side, not to mention the Volley Comet that was going to pass close to Earth in the near future too. He couldn't let Snake get hold of the Pandora, not even after the comet passed.

"What are you thinking?"

Kaito blinked and his attention focused back on the child who was casting him a suspicious gaze. He simply grinned.

"Nothing. You sure do know how to gather weird and interesting chess pieces."

"It doesn't matter as long as I'm going to win."

How confident. It'll be interesting to see his devastated look when he loses, but I'd rather he win this time round. "So, what piece am I?"

Conan smirked. "For that, you don't have to know."

Kaito rolled his eyes. "I bet it's some crappy piece that you'll use as a sacrifice and dump me aside once you've made full use of me."

"Everyone has a part to play."

His gaze left Conan and back to his own ice cream. For Kaito, he never thought of wanting anyone to be involved in the game or whatever he was risking and playing. There should be no sacrificial pieces, no King, no Queen. Just himself.

He's the Joker and he played alone. He wanted to face the challenges and opponents alone, getting to crush the Pandora with his own bare hands alone. The pleasure of winning and the glory would be only his and all the danger and death would be entitled to him. That was the rule of his game. No blood shed, no one in pain. Only his were allowed, and the opponent's.

As for this brat that labelled the great Kaitou Kid as a mere chess piece... Kaito wasn't sure if it was right for him to join a new game when he hadn't finished his, but then again, he wouldn't mind just loitering around to see the great detective of the East serious at work and how exactly he would use Kaitou Kid to make things right.

Maybe both of their games were played on the same table. Maybe if either of them win, everything would end.

"Then what about you?"

Kaito regarded Conan for a moment, slightly knowing what the question exactly meant but he said nothing until Conan continued.

"What game are you playing?"

Kaito shrugged effortlessly, the corner of his mouth twitched.

"Snake and ladder."

.o.

"So how did you become small and useless?"

Conan closed his eyes, a vein popping on his temple. "I'd witnessed something I shouldn't see and was knocked out. They fed me a pill and I became like this."

He quirked an eyebrow. "A pill? What's the point of making you small again?"

"No. The pill's alternate effect turned me back to my younger self. The true effect they had in mind was to kill me."

Kaito flicked the cap in his hand. He just dropped that kid back to his second home and only after escaping from a dinner that Ran wanted to prepare for him (Heiji), he was walking down Beika streets and towards a small market that connected to his neighborhood. It wasn't like he couldn't stay and piss that brat and enjoy free dinner, for now, he would rather spend more time at his home and doing his research instead.

Not enough time.

As bizarre as it sounded, the gem story seemed more believable than a pill that could make a person turn ten years younger. No wonder the brat didn't laugh. That detective's back story of how he ended up so pathetic wasn't something cool or badass either.

Kaito's finger went to his lips, a frown quickly etched on his face.

Something was missing, the pieces in his head couldn't match up somehow.

Yes, a link was missing.

A pill that kills. Side effect: de-aged a person. An organization. Immortality.

There was something missing to connect all the dots, but Kaito wasn't sure what it was.

He knew it. That brat didn't exactly trust him to tell him his whole plan or what exactly was going on, though he couldn't blame him when he wasn't exactly honest himself. This was their first meeting and with the amount of information he got, he was fairly impressed. At least his effort and time wasn't wasted.

Is Snake related to the organization that the little detective is going against? What are the chances? Kaito pursed his lips. Maybe around 60% or a little lower.

Those thoughts continuously echoed in his mind until his eyes found its way to a familiar-looking girl standing by a vegetable stall.

Previously at the cafe, he was too into the discussion that he failed to notice Aoko when she left. He never expected her to leave so fast, at least not when he thought she was meeting someone there and not just having a drink alone.

The Aoko he knew was one who was afraid of loneliness, afraid of eating alone, afraid of the echo of her own breathing. She liked noises, parties, crowd, basically preferring to be with people than by herself. As an individualistic himself, he couldn't exactly grasp Aoko's desire for company, but at least he knew it was his fault that she was feeling lonely in the first place.

That was what surprised him, the fact that she was at the cafe all by herself. Why hadn't she called to ask him out instead? Did someone ditch her in the end? Was it Keiko? Was it a guy?!

"Thank you!" Aoko handed the money over to the owner and glanced at her groceries happily before she turned to his direction. Kaito hastily touched his face, not sure to feel relief or doubtful about the disguise he had yet to remove but it was too late for him to do anything too. Their eyes met almost as quickly as she turned and they stared at each other for a moment until Aoko broke the staring competition.

She gave a small wave and made her way over. Kaito followed her actions as he fixated the hat back onto his head.

"You're Conan-kun's friend, right?"

"Ya." He feigned a thinking look. "Nakamori-san?"

"Hattori-kun." She smiled. "What brings you here? And Conan-kun...?"

"Just sent him back home. I thought I'll walk around for a bit before heading home ya."

"I see."

Kaito should leave. As Hattori Heiji, he should end this conversation perfectly and get it over and done with. His throat tightened and no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't say those simple words of goodbye. His eyes lowered to the plastic bags instead.

"Makin' dinner?"

"Yeah." Aoko lifted the bags up. "I'm heading to get some meat. You want to join me?"

That was unexpected. Kaito scowled in his mind. Is Aoko always this friendly to strangers? Even if they are friends of friends, but still... What if I'm some bad guy instead? This girl really needs some education about safety.

"Sure."

They began walking down the market, with her leading the way while he followed closely behind her. He rarely came to the market since his destination for food was always the convenience store. So even when he lived around here, he wasn't familiar with this place at all.

"I've never been to Osaka for a long time." Aoko suddenly said.

Kaito gave a sidelong glance. Osaka, Osaka... "Osaka's a nice place of cos', ya should go there sometime to eat the real-deal Takoyaki."

"If I ever got the time." Aoko sighed before she stopped on her tracks. Kaito stopped too.

He cringed immediately when he realized he was standing beside a seafood stall, with all kinds of fishes lying on the pile of ice and staring back at him with their dead eyes. He stepped back a little and gulped as quietly as he could.

"There's an offer..." Aoko bit her lips.

"That's great." He bit his lips and forced himself to say with a neutral tone.

She shook her head and continued her way down the market again. Kaito quickly followed behind her, letting out a silent sigh of relief before looking at Aoko with a genuine curious look.

Aoko was usually generous in spending for others. But after Kaito knew about a book she had, one where she kept all the cut-out coupons or offered fliers inside, it made him reconsider his opinion about her and her views on money. Whenever there's a way to help her save some money, she rarely missed that chance.

Not long later, she would use the money she saved so painfully on other people, such as buying food for parties, making sweets and chocolates to distribute them freely... She did all of those instead of buying nice clothes or things for herself.

Sometimes Kaito just couldn't comprehend her and her overwhelming kindness towards other people. So in his own way and method, he would treat her to meals, just to make her a little happy once in a while. What goes around comes around. She had been giving others so much, there should be people out there to give something back to her and he decided to be one of those people, even if one day he might not be able to do that for her anymore.

Kaito gave a last and disgusted glance back at the seafood stall. "Why aren't ya buying? There's an offer like you said."

Aoko gave a light laugh, her eyes grew distant. "He doesn't like fish."

He widened his eyes. He quickly put his mind back in place and carefully phrased his words. "Your dad?"

"A friend of mine. I've forgotten the last time I cooked fish for dinner." She stopped on her track again and directed her smile at the owner of the meat stall.

But I didn't say I'm coming over today, so why...? Kaito furrowed his brows. Does she cook my portion, no matter if I told her I'm coming over or not?

"Thank you!" Aoko took the bag of meat and handed the money while Kaito watched the exchange in silence.

Why does she do that?

"Now I've got all the ingredients." Aoko chirped to herself. She absentmindedly took a look at her phone and widened her eyes. "I think you should hurry to the train station soon before it gets too crowded. It's almost evening time."

"Ya, I really should." He glanced over his shoulder and at the direction of the train station. Weirdly, you're the one that asked me to tag along with you in the first place. "The train station's dat' way, I'll go first."

"See you soon."

Not a good idea. "Bye."

They turned and went on their way, not until when Kaito stopped in his track mid-way and slowly turned around, just in time to see Aoko disappeared behind a stall.

.o.

The door swung open.

"Yo." He raised a hand.

"Kaito?" Aoko blinked and blinked again. "You didn't tell me you're coming."

"I didn't?" Of course he didn't. Kaito scooped his phone out of his pocket and looked through it mindlessly, not even bothering to open his message inbox. "Darn, I've forgotten to press send."

She sighed. "I can't believe it."

Maybe I've mistaken. She couldn't have... Kaito fitted both of his hands into his pocket and stepped back. "I'll go off first."

"Wait!"

Kaito waited.

"Why are you leaving?" Aoko asked genuinely.

"Uhh, to get my dinner?"

"You can eat here. I-I've cooked enough. Dad just told me he isn't eating at home tonight." She stepped aside and held the door, allowing space for him to enter.

His eyes widened by a fraction. Kaito was hoping that the door would shut in his face after she yelled at him for being a stupid idiot, but she didn't. Instead, she gave a lie, just to cover up her embarrassing secret of cooking his portion of meal every single day even when she had to throw them out at the end of the day when he didn't turn up miraculously like she hoped for.

Because of who he was, he had taken enough from her and now he was trying his best to repay her little by little, even when the amount was nearly insignificant that it caused a red in his ledger. That was why Aoko shouldn't be doing this. He didn't need her to do this too, at least not for him. He didn't deserve it. Her kindness was meant for someone else, not him, not the person who betrayed her trust, not the person who lied to her.

All of the sudden, Aoko abruptly turned her head to face the inside of her house and gave a scream that immediately slammed Kaito back down to reality. He flinched, eyes almost bulging out as he watched her with a horrified look.

"What the-"

"The fire!" Aoko left the door and rushed back inside, the door still wide open.

Not a few seconds passed and Kaito heard another loud frustrated yell.

He stood right outside her house, too stunned to move. Slowly, his head turned towards the gates. There was still enough time for him to escape before he had to taste the burnt crisp of death-

"Kuroba Kaito! Come in here right now!"

Oh, crap.

Thank you for reading and sticking with me through these 10 chapters. *wipes tear*
Really appreciate all the reviews so far, each and every one of it. Just want to say thank you for all the support and I hope I'll do even better in the future.
Reviews, hehe, are very appreciated!