A/N: This chapter's the Gosho Boy meeting you've all been waiting for (or, at least, I know I normally read DCMK fics waiting for this point in the plot). This, gentlefolk, is the chapter with the major spoilers, so go back and read that description in the first chapter of what this fic's gonna spoil, and make sure you're okay with it before proceeding. I'm adding a warning for minor Mystery Train spoilers (a case that happens in the 700's, episode-wise), though all you're going to find out is a few of the characters who appear, not what they'll be doing. (Also, thank miladyRanger both for being an awesome beta and for being the reason that I left out the more recent spoilers.)

There is art for this chapter on Tumblr; please check it out!

See the end-note for warnings and an attempt at a list of the cases referenced this chapter.

Edit 5/30/16: I mixed up some stuff about Anokata/That Person and Rum in the first post of this chapter; don't blame my beta for not catching it since she's not read that chapter. It's now fixed.

Chapter 6

The time Shinichi set for the meeting was late evening—early morning for Eisuke. Ran protested when they tried to leave, but let them go eventually. When they showed up at the apartment building, there was a teenager that Shinichi vaguely recognized there, waiting for them.

"Ah, Nakamori-nee-chan!" he exclaimed, in Conan's tones. "Your dad is the head of the KID Task Force, right? Did something happen?"

"Hi, Tantei-kun," the-girl-who-was-apparently-KID replied.

"Seriously?" Hattori asked.

"I've used this disguise before, so it's easy to put together," KID said. "I prefer not to wear the costume outside of heists unless necessary."

"Fair," Shinichi said, following KID into the apartment building and wondering, again, how they were going to find Hakuba if he was better than that.

Sure enough, they stopped at an apartment that Shinchi vaguely remembered running towards after hearing a scream. It was so normal-looking without terrified witnesses or police congregating around it.

The interior was almost empty—no couch, thankfully—but there was a desk against one of the walls and an unplugged fridge in the kitchen.

"An associate of mine knows the person who runs this apartment building, and since he's having trouble renting out this unit, we get to use it for a while." KID said, taking off his shoes as he looked around, absently. "It seems nice enough. Wonder why no one wants it."

"I don't," Shinichi muttered, following the thief in.

"Wait, wasn't this where—" Heiji started, as he toed off his shoes. Shinichi was starting to regret telling him the story of what had happened.

KID paled, and Shinichi intervened. "Uh, Hattori, maybe not—"

"But, I mean, that one case—"

"Hattori," Shinichi said, more firmly, setting his own shoes on the genkan. "I don't think KID's interested."

Heiji glanced at KID's decidedly green complexion. "Oh, don' worry, they didn't die he—"

"That's enough, Hattori!" Shinichi interrupted. "He's not a detective. He steals things, he apparently gets shot at, but if he's ever seen a dead body it wasn't by choice and I doubt it's something he wants to think about."

"Oh," Heiji said. He chuckled, nervously, then said, "I, uh, forget sometimes, that not everyone's surrounded by police officers constantly."

"I'm pretty sure that if KID was surrounded by police officers constantly, this meeting would be taking place at a prison, so let's be grateful he isn't," Shinichi said. He waited a beat. "Prisons don't have very good wi-fi."

"You do have a sense of humor but it's still terrifying; why am I not surprised?" KID said, the words coming out in a rush.

Shinichi rolled his eyes.

KID, meanwhile, turned his attention to Heiji and smiled, then ducked his head just slightly. "Kaitou KID," he said. "I don't believe we've ever met when you've known it was me under the mask."

Hattori nodded back and grinned. "Seems weird to say it, but good ta meet ya."

"What, no interrogation?" KID asked, something almost like surprise crossing his expression.

"Nah, Kudou trusts you, that's good enough for now," Hattori said.

"Some friend you've managed to find here," KID said to Shinichi.

Shinichi nodded. "I know it, believe me." He glanced at Hattori. "Thanks for showing up. Now we're just waiting for Eisuke."

"I still think including him makes everything more complicated," Hattori said, taking off his cap to run a hand through his hair. "I mean, it's one thing to share information, but he doesn't know hardly anything."

"He knows They exist…and we don't know what he might've heard from his father," Shinichi pointed out. "It's possible that he even knows something useful. Don't make up your mind too quickly."

Hattori jammed his cap back onto his head. "I ain't going to, but…geez. Do you have any idea of what he does an' doesn't know?"

"I tried to get a read on it but I didn't have enough data," Shinichi said with a shrug.

KID glanced at him, expression questioning.

"Like Hattori said, depending on what Eisuke knows…this discussion could end up being longer than planned," Shinichi said, deciding to go with part of the truth instead of the whole, for the sake of Eisuke's privacy. "I'm assuming that you're going to know at least some of what I do, but Eisuke might not."

KID pursed his lips. "Could be worse."

It might be, Shinichi thought, opting to fiddle with the smartphone Ai had set up for Eisuke to call instead of replying. It was cobbled together out of older phones, so what official tracking devices remained in it were hopelessly broken. The screen was cracked and the casing badly scratched, but it would take even the best hacker some time to get into its systems—and that was the point.

The phone rang loudly, startling a curse out of Heiji and making Shinichi jump a bit—though if KID was startled, he didn't show it. Shinichi accepted the call and leaned the phone against the wall, then settled on the floor, cross-legged, well in view of the camera but off to one side.

"Good morning, Hondou-san," Shinichi said, as KID and Heiji followed his lead and formed a semicircle around the phone. He wasn't surprised to see KID taking the place across from him, leaving the one across from the phone to Hattori.

Eisuke yawned, then replied in a voice thick with sleep, "Good evening, Conan-kun."

"Time zones," KID said, in a sympathetic tone, and Eisuke startled and fell out of the camera's view. There was a loud crashing sound.

Hattori and KID winced, Hattori looking alarmed and KID actually looking…well, not completely impassive, which was pretty significant.

"That was KID," Shinichi said quickly, before Eisuke could panic further. "Are you all right?"

"Chair fell over," Eisuke said as he came back into view, his hair mussed and glasses crooked.

KID snickered. Shinichi glared.

"No, it's fine, I know it's funny," Eisuke said quickly, smoothing down his hair and fixing his glasses. "That wasn't a very good first impression." He took a breath. "My name is Hondou Eisuke. It's good to meet everyone."

"Hondou-san, this is Kaitou KID," Shinichi said, gesturing toward KID, "though he's disguised as the daughter of the head of the KID Task Force right now." He gestured to Hattori. "And this is Hattori Heiji, a high school detective from Osaka."

"Ran-san mentioned you," Eisuke said to Hattori with a nod. He turned in KID's "direction." "And of course, I've heard of you."

"Ah, my reputation still precedes me," KID said, grinning.

"Also, Hondou-san, it's fine to call me 'Kudou-san' when it's a meeting between the four of us,'" Shinichi added. "Everyone here knows about it, so…"

Eisuke nodded. "Thank you, Kudou-san," he said.

"So, now that the introductions are outta the way, should we get down to it?" Hattori asked.

Shinichi nodded. "Though, there's one other thing. Some of what I know, I learned from other people. Some of whom I need you not to mention outside of this room. Do you understand?"

KID looked a bit confused. "You're a detective," he said. "I can understand keeping that," he gestured at Shinichi, indicating his currently-first-grader-sized body, " a secret, but—exactly how many secrets are you keeping?"

Shinichi pushed down his initial offense, and understood that KID was asking why a detective was doing something he saw as 'un-detective-like'—no, why another detective was doing un-detective-like things. Because Hakuba had been doing things KID didn't think of detectives doing—and then he'd upended KID's world view and pulled a vanishing act.

"As many as I need to in order to keep people safe from the group that was shooting at you," Shinichi said.

"That was—what?" Eisuke half-screeched. "That's how KID's involved?" He turned wide eyes on KID. "Are you okay?"

"I got shot, so perhaps 'all right' is an exaggeration, but I'm not dead," KID said, expression flat. Then, he grinned. "One could almost consider that a win."

Eisuke's eyes were wide and worried, but he didn't say anything else, so Shinichi decided to continue.

"First, there is a person who has defected from that organization who is under my protection," Shinichi said. "They are terrified, they are paranoid, but they are also in very real danger if those people get even one piece of solid evidence that they aren't dead."

KID's eyes lit with realization.

Right, he was the decoy on the Mystery Train, it isn't that much of a leap…"If you have a guess about who it is, I'm asking you not to tell me," Shinichi continued. "Because if I know for certain that you know, I have to tell the person that you know. And that is guaranteed to cause problems."

KID frowned.

"Sh—They don't trust easily, and their methods of determining whether people are trustworthy can be a little extreme," Shinichi said. "Another source, Hondou-san and Hattori both know about," he lowered his voice, almost unthinkingly. "There's a group of active FBI agents in Tokyo."

KID raised an eyebrow. "FBI Agents, Tantei-kun?" he asked, a hint of incredulity to his tone.

"They don't have permission to be here…it's a group of agents who have various personal reasons to want to go after these people," Shinichi said. "I've worked with them in the past. As Conan. One of them might know I'm Kudou, but he started working with me before that. I don't really understand Americans."

"They aren't understandable," Eisuke muttered under his breath. It was the most frustrated Shinichi had seen him since he'd nearly stabbed his sister—and since he'd been accused of murder between then and the present, that was saying something. Shinichi was beginning to get the feeling that Eisuke wasn't enjoying the United States.

KID made a vague noise of assent, which was even odder, given that he was a thief whose trademark line was in English—but there was something a bit hard in his eyes.

Shinichi sighed, then added, "The third source…well, that's where we can get down to discussing particulars. There is one member of the group—I've heard it called the Black Organization, but I'm wary of using that name over the phone too often, no matter how good our encryption is—one member who seems to think my remaining alive is useful. So she occasionally tells me things."

KID's eyes were narrowed—but in calculation, not suspicion.

"She's as smart as any of us, at least," Shinichi said, before KID could get too far. "And the only people she will protect are me and Ran, because of something that happened in New York when I was still Shinichi. If I ask her about this, I need to be sure that They know as much about Hakuba as we do—otherwise, I'm just giving her information and endangering him."

KID frowned slightly. "Right."

"She's someone involved with Them whose real name I know," Shinichi said. "Her codename is Vermouth, but her real name is Sharon Vineyard. Her daughter Chris is a fabricated identity."

KID was actually staring. "Sharon Vineyard?" he repeated, tone oddly urgent.

Shinichi nodded. And then KID's expression went absolutely flat, so quickly it was almost unsettling.

"She's an actress, right?" Eisuke asked.

"D*** right," Hattori said. "Knows her way around a disguise, too."

"She could match you," Shinichi said.

"I don't doubt it," KID said tonelessly. "The name is…familiar."

Vermouth has a connection to KID?

"Familiar how?" Hattori asked, before Shinichi could.

"The person who taught me knew her," KID said, expression still blank. Abruptly, he asked, "This…Black Organization, the group that you think is the same one that I've crossed paths with, what exactly do they do? What are their goals?"

"Their goals…presumably, money and power," Shinichi said. "Though, they've also been researching some odd things. As for what they do…it's more a matter of what they don't. Extortion, blackmail, corruption of justice, robbery, murder…I've seen Their members do all those things."

Eisuke looked decidedly pale—no doubt wondering what Hidemi was being asked to do as an NOC. Hattori, having heard all of this before, was still relatively calm. KID's expression was still blank…but the stiff set of his shoulders wasn't entirely explicable by pain. Something he'd said had struck a nerve.

"Because, you see, the group I'm familiar with is primarily interested in theft and murder," KID said, deliberately casual. "And their goals are ones that I really wouldn't expect rational people like yourselves to take seriously."

"You're disguised as a girl roughly my chronological age," Shinichi said, a bit testily. "Look down at me, and ask yourself if you're certain of that."

"Fair," KID said. "But I'm sure there's some sort of scientific explanation for it, right?"

"Technically, yes," Shinichi said. "But it's made me a little more open-minded about certain things. Try me."

"The people shooting at me seem to think that they're going to find a jewel that grants immortality," KID said stiffly, clearly bracing himself for laughter.

Heiji giggled nervously. Shinichi, recalling various bits of what Haibara had said about APTX-4689's development, didn't.

"Well, if they're willing to shoot you over it, the question of whether it's real is kind of academic, isn't it?" Eisuke said.

"Okay, he's got a point there," Hattori said.

"My ex-Black Org source did research related to the project she was working on at that island with the mermaid legend," Shinichi said quietly.

"The one where we found the guy hanging from the—" Heiji started, breaking off when he noticed Shinichi's glare.

"Yeah," Shinichi said, thinking. "There wasn't much else to research there, besides those legends about mermaids and immortality. The wildlife there isn't that different from the rest of Japan, and field research generally wasn't a big part of their process unless it was important. It doesn't make any sense, but…"

Hattori gave Shinichi a long, considering look.

"She said it wasn't originally meant to be a poison," Shinichi finished.

Hattori looked away, still thoughtful.

"Okay, so you're hiding someone who made poison for them, and you're okay with that?" KID asked sharply.

"She grew up in their organization, it wasn't as if she had options," Shinichi replied, his own tone a bit more sharp than necessary. "And, no, I wasn't okay with it at first, but she didn't want to be part of Them anymore and she needed help. It would've been wrong to let personal feelings get in the way."

"Personal feelings?" Eisuke ventured.

Shinichi sighed, then glanced at KID. "Do you require more convincing that these are the same group, or can we go straight into the story of how I got involved in all of this?"

KID waved his hand. "No, no, you've made a good case for them at least being related so far, and more importantly, I've wanted to hear this since that mess with the Memories Egg." He paused. "Though, I'm a little concerned that you felt the discussion of poison was a good lead-in."

"I wouldn't call it a good lead-in, but it's the one I had," Shinichi said, not quite looking at anyone. "I was at Tropical Land with Ran, I saw some suspicious men, I followed them, they noticed, and they decided to test an experimental poison on me instead of shooting me." Time to find his sneakers very interesting. "Luckily, I had an atypical reaction."

"And then one of the people involved in making the poison came to you and you decided to offer them sanctuary," KID said. "Tantei-kun." Somehow, he managed to inflect the title as if it were profanity.

"It wasn't like I was gracious about it at first," Shinichi said. "She wasn't exactly the best guest either."

"She's scary," Hattori put in.

"But she's been working on an antidote," Shinichi finished. "So far, everything she's come up with has been temporary, but…if this case ever requires it, Kudou Shinichi can show up for about 48 hours."

Hattori raised an eyebrow. "Minus the last half-hour or so when you start lookin' like you're gonna pass out."

Shinichi shrugged.

"So, for the whole time you've been involved in this, you've been that size?" Eisuke asked.

Shinichi nodded.

"And you had the nerve to tell them to lock me in an empty room?" Eisuke demanded. "How are you not dead?"

"I told you, atypical—"

"Not that, but, They are adults with weapons and an organization and codenames, apparently, and you—" Eisuke broke off. "Not to be rude, but you aren't exactly physically imposing."

"It's the soccer ball," KID said simply. "Now what's this about being locked in an empty room?"

"It was his FBI buddies," Eisuke said, a bit viciously. "I got dragged out of the room, and into an empty examination room. I spent the next half-hour trying to decipher a German medical journal because that was the only thing in the room besides the bed."

"Do I need to remind you what almost happened five minutes prior to that?" Shinichi asked lightly, pleased to be off the topic of his attempted murder.

"You used me as part of a setup, don't bother denying it—" Eisuke snapped.

"Yes, because otherwise we wouldn't have been able to talk to her, and we needed to talk to her to execute the plan with the best chance of getting her out of there alive!" Shinichi replied.

"Hey, Kudou, not all of us were there," Hattori said, annoyed.

"Okay," Shinichi took a breath. "Hondou-san, it's up to you how much you want to share about your situation and how you got involved. But, if you wouldn't mind, when I go through the list of codenames I know…"

"That might be a good idea," Eisuke said.

"The boss of the Organization is only referred to as 'That Person' and all I know about them is that when you dial their phone, the touch-tone noises sound like 'The Seven Children,'" Shinichi said. "I know that he and his organization have some pull with the police, and possibly members in placed in high positions. Gin is the one who almost killed me. I don't know his real name, but he's tall, he has grey hair down to his mid-back, and he usually wears a black trenchcoat and a fedora. He's the other one besides Vermouth who's smart enough to match one of us. His partner is Vodka—the man looks like a gangster movie stereotype, complete with fedora and sunglasses—and he generally relies on Gin to be the brains of the operation."

"So it's all alcohol-themed?" KID asked. "My persistent annoyance goes by Jackal."

"Just the fact that he has a codename indicates a connection," Shinichi said. "Most criminals don't use them anymore, unless they're trying to be noticed—like you. Nicknames are one thing—yakuza have those. But Jackal is not a yakuza nickname; it's not going to intimidate anyone just by the way it sounds."

"That's a good point," KID said, looking troubled.

"There are at least two snipers I know of—Korn and Chianti," Shinichi continued. "Chianti's the more bloodthirsty and easier to pick out—auburn hair and a butterfly-wing tattoo under her right eye. Korn's an old man; he usually wears a baseball cap and doesn't talk much. There's also a highly-placed member named Rum, who has mismatched eyes. Finally, there's a NOC." He glanced at Eisuke.

"NOC?" KID asked.

"Non-official cover," Shinichi said. "Her codename is Kir."

"I know more about her, but it's the same as Shinichi's sources," Eisuke said. "It can't leave this room."

KID's tight-lipped expression indicated that he'd already connected a few dots. "I understand," he said.

Heiji nodded, a bit unnecessarily—but, to be fair, while Shinichi knew that Hattori knew about Kir, KID, and more importantly Eisuke, didn't.

"They know Kir as Mizunashi Rena, but her real name is Hondou Hidemi," Eisuke said, looking down. "She's working for the CIA. She's my older sister."

"The news anchor, right?" KID murmured. "If I look for it, I can see the resemblance,"

"She's feeding information to the FBI and CIA about their movements," Shinichi said. He thought for a moment. "And before this goes any further—if you do, at some point, end up in contact with any of the FBI agents who are in Japan right now, she did not kill Akai Shuuichi. But you shouldn't tell them that."

Oh, good, now everyone's staring at me again.

"Faking his murder was the only way to keep Them from killing her in a fit of suspicion," Shinichi said, holding up his hands.

"Your life, Tantei-kun," KID breathed.

"Seriously," Hattori added.

"KID, your life apparently involves you with a card-gun against snipers; don't start with me," Shinichi replied.

"But—she's okay?" Eisuke asked.

"Last we heard from her, yes," Shinichi said. "It's hard to keep in constant contact with the FBI as I am, but they would've told me if she'd cut off contact or gotten in trouble."

"Thank you," Eisuke said.

Shinichi nodded. "The codenames Tequila, Pisco, Calvados, Sherry, Rye, and Irish belong to agents who have either died or are presumed dead by the organization, but you might hear them anyway."

"Very impressive, Tantei-kun," KID said. "As for me—there are occasionally multiple snipers at heists, but the only one I have a name for seems to be the one who holds rank over the others. His codename is Jackal; he shares a fondness for fedoras with, ah, 'Gin,' and has a handlebar moustache." He paused, thoughtful. "An evaluation of his competence is a difficult matter. On one hand, the attempts on my life so far have relied heavily on surprise rather than skill. And he persists in believing that he knows my identity, while calling me a name I can assure you is not mine."

His expression flattened completely, as blank as if he were discussing the weather. Meanwhile, his voice turned chilly. "On the other, however…he claimed responsibility for the death of my mentor. And that was no mean feat."

"Over the same jewel?" Shinichi ventured cautiously.

"They wanted KID to steal it for them," KID said. He laughed, but there was no humor to it. "KID, of course, does not steal without returning. The refusal cost my mentor's life."

Was his mentor KID at the time, or was he? Shinichi wondered. The way he's phrasing things, either could be true…and either way, it's ugly.

"So now you want to get to it first?" Hattori asked, eyes narrowed. "What, exactly, are ya plannin' ta do with it?"

"The legend I heard from a man Jackal called 'boss'—certainly not That Person you mentioned, as he was utterly unintimidating—stated that it was a doublet—that the immortality-granting jewel was hidden inside another," KID said. A cold, disturbing grin stole onto his face. "So, I should be able to smash it to pieces—and still return the jewel it was inside," he finished, dark tone turning cheery.

"No interest in immortality, then?" Eisuke asked.

"That thing has only brought misfortune," KID said, still all forced cheer. "I don't see why it should continue to exist if people are going to be killed over it."

Well, it's far from the worst response I've seen to the death of a mentor figure, Shinichi thought. Though I think the worst response I've seen was a serial killer, so my experiences might not be the best metric.

"I appreciate that you were willing to tell us this much," Shinichi said. "But…about this 'boss'…even if he's not That Person, he might still be someone in that organization. Could you describe him?"

"…he looked a little bit like a villain from a low-budget period drama set in the Heian, actually," KID said, looking off to the side. "Short, fat, balding, thick eyebrows, small moustache…he was even wearing traditional clothing. If you ever wanted to do something slightly dangerous, I might be able to find his house again…but last time I was there, I got shot at a lot, so I'd feel better if everyone was full-sized and wearing Kevlar."

"That might be able to be arranged, but Hakuba-san is the priority and I'd feel better if we had a plan beyond 'Go in and make a mess,'" Shinichi said.

Hattori rolled his eyes.

KID snickered. "You're supposed to be the detective, here, Tantei-han," he said. "At least pretend you like following rules."

"I like followin' rules fine, I jus' also like—" Hattori started.

"Hattori-san, how did you get involved in all of this?" Eisuke interrupted.

"I went lookin' for Kudou, found 'im, and then figured out what happened," Hattori said. "Since then, I've been helping him out where I can, but I've mostly been in Osaka for the big stuff."

"Still, he's the reason I figured out who you and your sister were, and that the Mah-jongg Serial Killer case didn't turn out worse than it did."

"I heard about that!" Eisuke said. "That was these people?"

"No, the killer was just a killer, but one of their members impersonated a police officer during the case because one of the victims was one of Them," Shinichi explained. "I had a chance to talk to the infiltrator because Hattori helped me solve the case."

"You still need to come get okonomiyaki with me," Hattori said.

"Oh, yeah, right," Shinichi said. "That restaurant you mentioned?"

"Yep," Hattori said. "I've been waiting until you could come with me to go. Kazuha's pretty ticked off about it."

Shinichi laughed softly.

"Well, it seems like we've gone over everything," KID said. "I can start explaining how Hakuba ties into all of this, if you want…"

"Not quite," Eisuke said, voice pitched to carry, even over the phone's less-than-high-quality speakers. "There's a question I have that I think Kudou-san knows the answer to."

Shinichi felt his stomach twist. Please, don't be the question I think it's going to be. "Yes?"

"At the hospital, you told me that my sister and my father were CIA agents," Eisuke said. "Did you find anything out about where he is?"

Shinichi swore mentally. "…Didn't the CIA agents you talked to say anything?"

"No," Eisuke said. "They just wanted to talk about Witness Protection. If I tried to bring anything else up, they changed the subject."

Shinichi glanced at Hattori, who looked as panicked as he felt. He could feel KID's eyes on the two of them, no doubt surmising that they did know something.

We can't lie to him, but—Shinichi thought, stomach churning.

"You don't want to hear this from me," he found himself saying.

The video flickered, slightly, but Eisuke's gaze never wavered. "I want to know," he said.

Shinichi wasn't a police officer, he wasn't, and he didn't want to be…but he'd given notice of people's deaths before. Usually just by saying "They're dead," because said person was on the ground in a pool of blood in front of him. But…he'd also been with officers when they'd told suspects about deaths after the fact. In theory, he knew how to do this.

"I'm sorry," he said, doing his level best to meet Eisuke's eyes because the other boy deserved that, at least. "Hondou Ethan died…I don't know exactly when. But a few years ago, protecting your sister, his daughter, from being exposed as a spy."

Eisuke just stared back at him, for a few seconds, then choked out a sob. "I—I'm just going to…I'll be back in a few minutes, okay?" he said, voice slightly thick.

"Okay," Shinichi said.

Eisuke dashed offscreen. There was a soft thump, some loud and surprisingly creative cursing, and…well, if Shinichi could hear crying it wasn't his place to comment. If Eisuke wanted privacy, he'd have it.

"F***," Heiji said lowly, after a few seconds had passed.

Shinichi hummed in agreement but didn't quite know what else to say. Across from him, KID was expressionless, but his face was bone-white under the makeup. Shinichi could practically pick out which parts of his face were makeup and which were facial prosthetics. It was a little creepy, honestly.

They passed the next few minutes like that—Heiji occasionally swearing softly, Shinichi saying nothing at all, and KID pale as plaster and not regaining a shade of color. Finally, Eisuke returned to the phone's screen, eyes bright and cheeks rubbed raw.

"I…I kind of thought, that you might say something like that, but I guess I wasn't as prepared as I thought I was," Eisuke said quietly, his voice rough.

"I don't think it's possible to be prepared for something like that," KID said, tilting his head forward so that the lighting hid his expression. "You have my condolences, if you would accept them."

"Thanks," Eisuke said, a little shakily.

"Mine too," Hattori said.

Eisuke nodded. "It's just, um, a lot. Though, I guess, if he was protecting Hidemi-nee, it's…that's a thing that's important to him. Was important to him."

"Could you be available this time tomorrow, to discuss the case?" KID asked, face still obscured.

"Y-yeah," Eisuke said. "That might be better. I-I'm gonna need some time to, uh, clean up, before school."

Heiji swore under his breath. Shinichi spent a few seconds trying not to be angry at himself and then gave it up for a lost cause. KID finally looked up.

"Then, I suggest we adjourn for the night," he said. "Thank you all for coming."

And then, with absolutely no warning other than a sharp crack, the room filled with pink smoke.

"Did the camera break?" Eisuke shouted. "Are you still there?"

"KID set off a smoke bomb," Shinichi replied with a cough. "He apparently didn't want us to see him leave."

"Yeah, so, meeting's over," Hattori said, waving at the smoke around him.

"You know, you could probably explain some of this to your school, if you didn't want to go in today," Shinichi said, picking up the phone Eisuke's image was displayed on.

Eisuke was clearly forcing his smile. "But my father was a deep-cover CIA agent," he said. "So if they decided to check, I'm sure they'd just be told he's on a business trip."

He's right, Shinichi realized, chilled. If the CIA agents didn't tell him, he might not even have proper clearance to know about his father's death, and his principal definitely doesn't.

"I'll be fine," Eisuke said firmly. "KID's very good at keeping his expression blank, but he's not the only person who knows things about acting."

"Hondou-san, that's not reassuring," Shinichi said, a little desperately.

"Don't worry about me," Eisuke said, wearing the fake smile again. "You'll make Ran-san worried, if you do, and then I'll have to get angry with you."

Shinichi blinked, not sure if Eisuke was being serious or not.

"I'll see you tomorrow," Eisuke said, and then hung up.

Hattori had opened a window, and the pink smoke was quickly dissipating.

"He concerns me," Shinichi said. "Just, in general."

"Yeah, me too," Hattori said with a nod. He paused, then gave Shinichi a searching look. "Wait. Are we talking about Hondou, or did we go back to KID?"

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A/N: Warnings for discussion of past canon character death, grieving, and a veritable parade of bad coping mechanisms. Ah, these dorks.

The last bit of this chapter was inspired by my impatient wait through the Clash of Red and Black for any indication of whether Eisuke knew his father was dead. Canon never gave me a darn thing, so I ficced about it.

Here's an overview of cases being referenced—not a comprehensive one, but the ones most likely to be relevant. I am not doing this on a regular basis but this is the infoheavy chapter so might as well go with it. The murder in the apartment was discussed in last chapter's notes; "the case with the mermaids is "And Then There Were No Mermaids"/ The Mermaid's Curse case, from chapters 279-283/episodes 222-224 of DC. The Mah-Jongg serial killer is from movie thirteen. The Clash of Red and Black spans volumes 56-59 and episodes 491-501 and contains all of the information about Eisuke included here, in the form of choppy flashbacks and/or cutscenes interspersed through other plotlines. The Mystery Train is chapters 818-824/episodes 701-704 (for reference, while I am letting the timeline in this fic be very vague, The Mystery Train is probably the most recent major plot arc in DC-world that had already happened when this fic came in and stepped all over the timeline). As for MK, Kaito is mentioning the "boss" from MK 1412 episode 2, "Blue Birthday," specifically.

By the way, a quick note on characters I didn't include, specifically, Sera Masumi and Tooru Amuro, both of whom technically exist by now in the fic timeline and both of whom are well-liked. Sera has a legitimate canon reason to really dislike KID that I would need to either have not happen or have other characters talk her down from in order to make the fic work. The former option feels cheap, and the latter would be inordinately time-consuming. On a meta level, her character hasn't been fully explored in canon, and I'm wary of making someone who Gosho is clearly storing up mysteries about a central character in a fic like this one. As for Amuro, it's mostly a matter of spoilers—there are too many gorram chapters of this series, and a lot of people who want to read (or for that matter, write) this fic haven't read all of them. While including the Mystery Train isn't a huge spoiler, Amuro would be, and I'd rather this fic be accessible to people who are still largely in the 500's or so. Surprisingly, despite my Tumblr rants about him, I wouldn't mind writing him in otherwise—characters I dislike can be fun to write, especially if I can use an AU as a chance to write them better.

Thanks for reading, and let me know what you thought of how I had these Gosho Boys meet!