Detective Conan and Magic Kaito characters, settings, and ideas do not belong to me but to Aoyama Gōshō.
Warnings: Language, minor violence
TMPD Antics
By Taliya
LXXXII: Hakuba and Kudou
I don't—how—? Shinichi's thoughts stuttered along as he chased Kaito into the museum, the Division Three officer sprinting towards the main gallery several paces ahead. In the room beyond, Kaitou KID's elated laughter echoed down the hallway, bouncing off the high, arched ceiling and wood-paneled walls.
Kaito came to a stop, gaze focused upwards at the phantom thief standing on a ceiling strut. He leered in eagerness, and Shinichi instinctively took a step back. In his peripheral vision, he noted that both Heiji and Saguru had as well.
"Kaitou KID!" Kaito called out as he pointed at the magician, "As your number one fan, I hereby challenge you to a duel of mystery and illusions!"
"What is he doing?" Saguru hissed in a harried whisper as KID laughed and replied, "Oh? My number one fan, are you?"
"I don't know, but which one is he?" he whispered back urgently, his eyes darting from KID to Kaito and back.
"I want to prove that my father, the late Kuroba Touichi, was the better magician! He trained me, and I will not have his name tarnished!" Kaito announced, and there was a faint wobble of emotion in his declaration.
KID was still for a moment, then he tilted his head in assent. "Very well, Kuroba Kaito, son of Kuroba Touichi," he intoned solemnly. "Your move?"
Kaito shook his head. "As challenger, the first move is yours."
The phantom thief grinned. "Very well then."
"Get back!" Heiji shouted suddenly, pushing the two back into the hallway right as KID jumped from the ceiling and threw down several smoke bombs at Kaito as his opening salvo. The three detectives coughed, and in the haze they could hear the rest of Division Two's members hacking, along with Inspector Nakamori's cursing as well.
"You do realize," Kaito's voice echoed from the cloudiness with a grunt, "that I am also trying to catch you, right?"
KID's chuckle came in response. "I wouldn't have expected anything less, Tantei-chan."
"What?" Kaito yelped, "Why am I Tantei-chan?!"
"Well…" the thief hummed, "I call Hakuba 'Tantei-san', Hattori 'Tantei-han', and Kudou 'Meitantei'."
There was another grunt, followed by a dull explosion of sorts. "So why can't I be 'Tantei-kun'?!"
A gasp. "'Tantei-kun' was Edogawa Conan, Tantei-chan," was KID's rebuke. "Besides, you're almost as cute as Tantei-kun was."
By now the smoke had cleared just enough for Heiji, Shinichi, and Saguru to see each other. Shinichi gurgled a choke at KID's comment and sent Saguru a pained look as he asked, "Is Kuroba really trying to give himself a nickname…?"
A boggled Saguru blinked back and murmured, "I think so…?"
Author's Note: Mmm, am sort of running out of honorifics unless I want to start into some weird ones. Confused yet? I hope so. I hope you enjoyed it.
Edit: It didn't occur to me to use something along the lines of "Magician-Detective" and I'd honestly forgotten about Sera Masumi, but "Tantei-chan" applied to Kaito is just plain funny, right?
Completed: 09.07.2016