Chapter 7

A/n- Hey! I forgot to update D: Sorry (About this chapter: it's kinda boring, cause when I began writing it, after I wrote three paragraphs I left it alone for many months xP This gave me SUCH bad writer's block :P I'd open it and stare at it and write absolutely nothing.)

Shinichi awoke the next morning to singing and very loud shushing. He groaned and shuffled out of his room in time to hear his father scolding his mother. "Yukiko, Shinichi is sleeping and it's only 7:30 AM. Don't you remember being a teenager once? Cut him some slack and stop singing…And I'd like to have some peace and quiet for once as well."

"Aw, Yusaku!" his mother complained, already bubbly at such an early hour, "Shin-chan never sleeps longer than eight anyway, what's wrong with wanting some quality time to spend with him?"

Shinichi sighed as he walked into the Kudou family living room. "It doesn't matter whether you want to spend time with me or not. You know very well that today is Monday and I have school." He watched his mother pout and stared her down relentlessly. But she pouted…and pouted…and pouted. "Mother! Stop it! I'm going to school and there's nothing you can do about it."

Shinichi made it to school finally, after his mother made a fuss about stupid quality time with her own son. Yeah, right. He entered his classroom to see his classmates scattered around the room excitedly chattering about something or other.

"Shinichi!" Ran called. She beckoned him over to where she sat with Sonoko, reading what looked like a newspaper. "You've read the paper this morning, right? Sonoko's just raving with jealousy right now." Sonoko pointedly turned her head away from him when he looked at her.

"Uh…my parents are home right now, and they're a little nuts, as you know. I didn't actually have time to do any reading this morning. No newspaper, no Sherlock Holmes, nothing." He stared out the window in a wistful sort of way. Oh, if only he'd had time to read!

"Well, Kaito Kid sent a heist note and it was publicized today. Everyone's saying it's a challenge to you!"

Shinichi glanced back at Ran in surprise, motioning for her to hand him the newspaper. Sure enough, a copy of a heist note was printed on the paper. He quickly scanned it first, and then read it again slowly to let the entire meaning sink in.

Where the sun rises, the challenged one waits.

On the wing of pure swan, in the night of full light, the challenger swoops in.

I will arrive at eight o'clock to acquire The Reward of Faith.

Kaito Kid

He was already calculating the information the note handed out. Meanwhile, Ran was trying to get his attention. "Hey..HEY. Shinichi!"

Shinichi sighed. "What? I'm trying to figure this out, Ran."

"Well, what do you think?"

Shinichi surveyed her for a moment, and then began to describe his suspicions. "Well, it seems that everyone's correct about the 'challenged one', or challengee if you will, being me. The sun rises in the east, as you know, and I've been nicknamed the Detective of the East. As for the second line…well, 'on the wing of pure swan' makes it obvious he's coming by his usual hang glider; in the night of full light probably means a full moon. The final line seems self-explanatory...I'm not sure what this 'Reward of Faith' is though. I'll have to research that."

"That's great, Shinichi! But you're not leaving now, are you? To research and plan? School's just about to start." Ran glanced worriedly at the teacher's empty desk and then the clock. Only two minutes until the final bell, and the teacher would be in class very soon.

Shinichi opened his mouth to whine and protest and absolutely insist that he go that instant. But then he decided that Ran could have her moment of happiness, so he sat down in his chair, ready to learn. Of course, he couldn't pay much attention to school when thoughts of the thief swirled through his mind.

The detective all but ran into his house, eager and curious after an entire day of wondering.

"Hello!" called a chipper voice. "How was school?"

Shinichi slowed, seeing his mother smiling up at him from a chair positioned randomly in the middle of the foyer. He wasn't going to question her strange furniture-moving style. Oh yeah, he thought. Almost forgot they were still here. "It was great, Mother. Uh, can I talk to you a bit later? I've got something to do."

"Must be about the Kid heist," chuckled Yusaku as he walked in. "Excited, are you?"

Shinichi nodded, and then looked at the two in confusion. "Okay, at first I wasn't going to say anything, but honestly. What are you two doing hanging around in the foyer?"

"Your mother wanted to. Just because she's strange." Yusaku shrugged. Shinichi paid no mind now, continuing his determined walk to the nearest computer. "Oh, Shinichi," his father called before Shinichi got too far. He turned around, almost bouncing with impatience. "Instead of spending time searching on the computer, try calling Megure-keibu about the information. He'd be helpful, right?"

"Oh, I was planning on going to the headquarters after I looked it up and talking with Nakamori-keibu about it."

"So?" his mother inquired. "Do you think you know what he's going to do?"

Shinichi nodded. "It's pretty straightforward, really...Not much to it."

Yukiko pouted a bit. "Your father took absolutely no time in figuring it out either. You two are just no fun; I don't get to see you squirm when you don't understand something. There's always a chance it could be something deeper than it seems, but no. You two are just so sure of yourselves."

Now he let out a full-fledged laugh. "Well, in any case, I suppose I'll just need to spend a moment on the computer and then I'll head out to tell them about it."

On the computer, Shinichi found exactly what he was looking for: next Sunday night, there would be an exact full moon. And the Harimiya Museum on that night was showcasing an exquisite sapphire named The Reward Of Faith. At eight o'clock, Kid would be there.

After discussing a few details of the heist with Nakamori-keibu, who was fired up already and furiously yelled at him for "interfering in police affairs" (meaning that he was childishly jealous that a teenager understood a criminal notice better than the inspector in charge of catching said criminal did), and promising to attend the heist and help catch Kid, Shinichi decided to eat dinner away from his crazy foyer-lounging parents. In a spur of the moment decision, he found himself at the Super Pepper. Ah, the root beer smell…What made it smell that way, anyhow?

"Shinichi-kun?" Shinichi looked up from his menu, not expecting to come face to face with himself. And yet here he was, Kaito Kuroba, smiling down at his best friend. He didn't wait for Shinichi to say anything else, just began sliding into the booth across from him, babbling the entire time. "Wow, I didn't know you really liked it here that much, I mean I do, I love it, but you? Weird. Oh, we met here too! That's cool. It's just pretty weird seeing you here, right? And Kaito Kid's heist! Ah! You've seen it, I presume, of course you have, it's definitely meant just for you. Haha! I'm so jealous, Shinichi-kun. Ooh, what are you going to get? I think I'll have some soup. Will you pay for me? Please? I'll be your best friend. Oh, I already am and I have something for you, here!" Finally he shut up and offered yet another white rose to Shinichi.

Shinichi sighed inwardly, even though he knew that he didn't mind all that much…he actually liked Kaito a lot more than he pretended to. He smiled and took the rose. "Thanks, Kaito-kun. Don't you live in Ekoda though? That's pretty far from here, isn't it?"

"Well, yes, I suppose. I don't come here that often, just when I feel especially like coming this far. I was going to visit you later anyway."

Shinichi raised an eyebrow. "Good thing you didn't."

"Huh? Why's that? You didn't want me to visit? Oh, Shinichi-kun, silly, I wasn't going to impose and bother you and spend the night again. Don't worry!"

"Well, no, that's not it. It's just that my parents are staying for the week…"

"Your mother's very nice! I'd really love to meet your dad. What's he like?"

"He's…" Shinichi stopped for a moment and thought. "I guess he's sort of like me. He's an author."

The waiter came and took their orders. When he left again, Shinichi habitually surveyed the room for a moment and then looked back at Kaito to see him smiling and staring intently. At Shinichi. Kind of creepy. "Wh-what are you doing?" he asked.

Kaito smirked. "I like watching you. It's fun." He blinked fondly and continued staring.

Why do I like him? At all?

Haha. The end :D I got un-blocked in the middle, but by the end my bowels for writing were just not working. I actually was looking at something totally unrelated when I found the name Nubou, and I was like "Oh my gosh, the sapphire's name is the Reward of Faith!" and that's a real sapphire, by the way. So I decided to make it more tricky and like Shinichi could figure out because he's smart and knows English.

Review, yeeees? Please? Shpank you all!