A/N: I am very tired and kinda sick but here is a chapter. It has things I usually like in a fic in it and I hope you will like them too.
Last week, I posted a picture of what Eisuke's doves look like and some stuff about Kiyoshi on Tumblr, so check out the Riddle in Reverse tag if you're interested (there's also other story-related stuff there; and you can totally come there and ask me questions on anon if you want).
My autistic!Heiji headcanon hasn't really affected the fic plot up to now, but in this chapter it's a little more relevant than usual. The short version is that Heiji's brain is Not Happy about this situation and so he's having some difficulty with stuff like getting words together and being tactful in ways that affect the plot; the longer version is in the end note if you're interested.
The end note also contains warnings and some thank-yous to people who contributed to the chapter!
Chapter 17
Heiji wasn't sure what he'd been expecting when Eisuke called him to tell him they had to skip some school, but it sure wasn't any of this. He was still uneasy about the fact that he was skipping school-he did that, sometimes, for cases, but his dad always gave him a hard time about it, and he was usually the one who decided to do it. Having someone else tell him he had to, out of the blue, without telling him when he'd be able to get back or even why, that had him a little pissed off, in a way that still kinda buzzed under his skin.
Added onto that, there was what Eisuke had finally gotten around to telling them, which Heiji was honestly still trying to make sense of, because Eisuke was apparently the kind of witness who got things out of order when he was upset.
Heiji frowned, and drummed a steady beat on his thigh with his fingers as he tried to focus on the facts at hand. "Ugh, lemme get this straight, KID was in Eisuke's apartment building—"
"No, KID's here," Kudou interrupted, impatient.
"Ugh, I know that, I meant Hakuba," Heiji gritted out, at once annoyed at the interruption and frustrated with himself. Kudou's gonna get annoying about this, I jus' know it, he thought. He knows what I meant—I don' see why he can't jus' keep 'imself from nitpickin' every once in a while…
Anyhow, it ain't hard to mix those two up, nowadays, what with Hakuba actin' like a scarier version o' KID and KID's version of detectin' bein' jus' as meticulous as Hakuba's...
"Hakuba was here, yeah, that's what I'm saying," Eisuke said.
Kudou's eyes narrowed. "KID, why did you react to that?
"Eh?" Heiji asked. That...was not what I expected 'im to focus on.
"KID flinched when you said he was in Eisuke's apartment building," Kudou said slowly. "Why?"
KID just grinned. "I was just surprised Tantei-han made a mistake," he said blithely.
"You're neither that rude nor that open with your emotions," Kudou pressed.
"You agreed not to poke at things that would reveal my identity," KID said.
Kudou took a breath, and then nodded slightly, as if in decision. "Hattori, remember what I said to you all that time ago, about cornering suspects?"
"'Course," Heiji said, half-absently running his thumb across the scar on his stomach, a memento both of Kudou's first trip to Osaka as Conan and Heiji's first time wrestling a gun away from a suicidal culprit. Neither had exactly been an unequivocal success, but he wasn't forgetting them in a hurry, either. Kudou's eyes followed his movement, and he knew the other detective understood.
He gave Kudou a searching look. "H*** of a non sequitur, though. What're ya on about?"
"If a detective who uses his deductive powers to corner a suspect and then does nothing to stop them from committing suicide is no better than the murderer himself, what should we think about a detective who corners a suspect on the behalf of people who would definitely kill them?" Kudou asked. "We know there's no way to safely keep KID's arrest from ending with him in Their hands."
"So you won't arrest me?" KID asked, in what was nearly a whisper.
"I don't think we can, not without unintentionally inflicting the death penalty," Kudou said. "And for something you've done with the intent of opposing Them, no less."
"Been thinkin' along those lines awhile myself," Heiji admitted. "An'…if I were in yer shoes…maybe I woulda done what you did. Who knows?" It's a thing ta keep myself up at night wit', for sure.
"Just in case it's necessary for me to say it, I have never been interested in arresting you," Eisuke said.
KID blinked at the rest of them, eyes wide and face pale enough for the makeup to stand out obviously.
"So, with that out of the way, can we stop dancing around your secret identity?" Kudou asked. "I know who you are."
KID choked. Eisuke let out a nervous giggle. Heiji gaped.
"Th' actual f***, Kudou?" he managed.
"What he said," KID put in.
"It's your own fault," Kudou said, a little petulantly. "You're the one who told me Phantom Lady was your mother."
"Oh no, I did, didn't I?" KID said, slapping himself in the forehead.
"Did she even warn you before she impersonated you?" Kudou asked.
"I am not saying anything; you didn't promise not to arrest her," KID said.
"That's a no," Heiji said, a little gleefully.
"I'm serious, here," KID said, frowning.
"I'm not an expert on international law, but I'm pretty sure the statute of limitations on Phantom Lady's crimes is long past," Kudou said calmly.
"Ah, yeah, of course," KID said, showing about six different textbook tells of lying in tone and posture.
"Has she been stealing under another name?" Kudou asked, looking more surprised than anything.
KID quickly shook his head.
"Kudou-san, what if we transferred that original agreement not to arrest KID to Phantom Lady, or whoever she actually is?" Eisuke said carefully. "Could you agree to that?"
"Is the new persona still a phantom thief?" Kudou asked flatly. "Because if she's keeping things, this is going to be harder to agree to."
"Of course!" KID said sharply. "She's done some stupid things in the last few months, but she hasn't crossed that line, at least."
"Um…" Eisuke said.
KID took a deep breath. "I've been covering for her, a little. She's a big part of the reason Hakuba left. She got worried about him chasing me, decided to investigate him, and turned up the things about him that I told you I didn't think I should know."
Kudou's expression said that a few puzzle pieces had clicked. "You've been trying to lie as little as possible, haven't you? You practically told me that, the first time we met about all of this."
"Guess so," KID said. "I don't mind lying, but I didn't want you to miss something important because your information was bad. Still...she's definitely part of the reason he's gone. Knowing that, will you still agree not to arrest her?"
"I think Eisuke's suggestion is sensible," Kudou said. "...if she's being that protective, does she know about this?"
"No," KID said. He turned pale. "Oh. S***. She's gonna kill me."
"Not literally, right?" Eisuke said, sounding actually worried.
"No, no, gosh, she's...she's a good person, it's just...detectives! Secrets! I can't tell you things like this without her permission!"
"That makes sense," Kudou said. "So, instead, what if we do what we've been doing with my ex-Black Org source. You know who she is, by now, right?"
KID nodded.
"But you've been pretending you don't," Kudou said. "I'll do the same."
KID nodded. "That's acceptable."
Heiji was secretly a little disappointed that he didn't get to find out who Phantom Lady was, but he was still apparently about to find out KID's identity. He'd take it.
"So?" he asked aloud.
"Okay, sheesh, don't push me!" KID said, a bit shrilly. "This is the first time I've ever told anyone any of this, I don't even know where to start!"
"Your name would be a good place," Kudou said smugly.
"And you, you can just shut up unless you can manage to stop sounding like the cat that ate the canary," KID snapped, though the tone held no heat.
His body language was completely different—much more relaxed and easier to read. With a jolt, Heiji realized that he was seeing whoever KID was when he wasn't KID. Even if KID didn't give a name, he could see this guy in plainclothes and recognize things about the way he moved and gestured. Not that Heiji would be able to read all of it—the lexicon he'd spent the last few months constructing for all of KID's various facial twitches and subtle posture changes was likely going to be useless for the person behind the facade. But the fact that they were seeing it at all...
So this was what KID trusting them felt like.
KID very deliberately ran a hand through his hair, then mussed it until it stuck out everywhere. He looked up at them with a smile that wasn't quite KID's, though Heiji couldn't lay a finger on what made it not KID's—there was something different about the brittleness of it, maybe? But he couldn't say for sure if it was more brittle, or less.
"My name's Kuroba Kaito, Ekoda High Class 2-B," KID said. His voice was no longer KID's rolling baritone— it was just a bit higher, and his Tokyo accent now colored his pronunciation instead of just affecting word choice.
"That's Hakuba's class," Eisuke said.
KID— Kuroba— nodded. "He's in my homeroom. Accused me of being KID in front of everyone, once." Of all things, he smiled nostalgically at that.
"Seriously?" Kudou asked.
"Since then, almost no one's seriously suspected me," Kuroba half-chirped. "He all but admitted to doing it on purpose to Phantom Lady."
Kudou let out a huff of surprise.
"So, you're our age," Eisuke said. And then, more hesitantly, "...KID's been around long enough that it couldn't have always been you."
There was something of KID back in Kuroba's expression—a certain neutral distance that Heiji recognized as belonging to the thief persona. Given circumstances, Heiji's first guess would normally have been that Eisuke's question crossed a line, but Kuroba's reaction didn't quite fit that. Heiji remembered that argument between KID and Kudou after Omsk, and watching the thief's neutral expression fall into place like an iron gate slamming down. This wasn't that—there was something less harsh about it, though puzzling out what exactly was a bit beyond Heiji at the moment.
"I guess you could say I inherited the title?" he said lightly.
"My father and Kuroba Toichi were friends," Kudou said quietly. "And he was mom's teacher. This...explains a lot."
Kuroba's eyes flicked to him, keen, with an edge of interest that broke through the KID-like remove just a bit. "Like what?"
"Ran and I met KID, once, when we were kids," Kudou said. "He was trying to get us to help him leave a riddle for Dad but I insisted on trying to solve it myself. I guess now I know why Dad felt comfortable having an ongoing game with an international thief."
"Yeah, I guess," Kuroba said, tone uncomfortable, but expression still blanketed in KID's impassiveness.
In that moment, a few particularly ugly-looking puzzle pieces fell into place for Heiji. Kuroba Toichi was famous enough that his manner of death was a matter of entertainment news, and it didn't take a genius intellect to realize why KID had reacted badly to Hakuba's use of explosives in Omsk.
Oh, h***, he's pretendin' he don't care for his own sake as much as he is for ours, isn't he? Heiji realized, more exhausted than anything by the new information. Screw me, but Kudou jus' attracts pieces o' work.
He swore out loud, and found everyone staring at him.
S***. Um, how do I explain this? he thought. I mean, I can't lie. Well, I can, but I'm s*** at it and Kudou's both real good at catchin' me and paranoid as h***. Never mind KID, who's prob'ly jus' as good and...well, I'm sure he'd like us ta think he ain't as paranoid but I don't know I trust him on that. And they're both high-strung as h*** righ now—I can practically feel the tension all the way from Osaka. Lyin' won't help a thing.
'Sides, I do owe the guy an apology, don't I?
"Uh, sorry about poking at you when I thought Hakuba might have bombs in Omsk," Heiji said to Kuroba. "That was...really, it woulda been kinda outta line anyhow, I know you kinda got a thing about people not gettin' hurt, but it was a lot farther outta line than I thought it was."
Kuroba blinked at him, mouth slightly open. "Uh, it's okay, really?" he said, sounding uncertain.
Heiji raised an eyebrow. "Yer allowed to be upset, ya know."
"But you didn't know, and it's not as if—" Kuroba shook his head. "Ugh. Whatever. Okay, Eisuke, do you know what happened to my dad?"
"I have Google," Eisuke said. "He sounds like a really impressive person. I'm sorry for your loss."
Kuroba smiled at Eisuke, but it looked even more brittle than before. "Yeah, he was. So, yeah, he was the mentor I was talking about."
"How'd he train Hakuba?" Heiji asked.
Kudou gave him a sharp look, which Heiji didn't really understand and thus ignored.
Kuroba's barely-there smile flattened out. "That's a Hakuba's-privacy kind of question."
Heiji sighed.
"So, only the last few years were you," Kudou said. "That's still a lot of getting shot at for someone just about our age."
"You should talk," Kuroba replied, annoyed.
"It was only a few times!"
"Bulletproof glasses, Tantei-kun," Kuroba said, with an air of exhaustion.
"After you got shot into Osaka Bay," Kudou replied sulkily.
Eisuke made an alarmed noise, which was echoed by a warbling noise and the sound of fluttering.
"Have you named him yet?" Kuroba asked, instantly distracted.
"Not yet," Eisuke said. "I'd take suggestions, but we'd get way too far off track. Okay, so you're Kuroba Kaito. What does that let you tell us that you couldn't before?"
"Well, everything I know about Hakuba comes from either spending time in class with him or Mom interrogating him," Kuroba said. "So I can at least be less vague."
"That's a start," Eisuke said. "And...if he knows you, personally…"
"That's a big part of his motivation for protecting me," Kuroba said. "Though, there's another thing—look, it's not only private, it's complicated and you're never going to believe me."
"You thought we wouldn't believe you about the gem you're looking for," Kudou pointed out.
"I'm not sure Tantei-han does," Kuroba said. "You seem to, and Eisuke trusts me for whatever weird reason, but—"
"I believe ya," Heiji interrupted. "It's still yer decision, whether ta trust us or not. But time's running out. We don't know where he is again. S***'s gettin' a li'l desperate."
"It is, at that," Kuroba agreed, with a strained laugh.
"I think we're at a point where my asking Vermouth about how close They are to finding him would be worth it," Kudou said.
"Oh no," Kuroba said with passion. "You are not telling me you set up all of this just so you could take away my ability to convincingly pretend to be the adult in the situation and overrule you and your stupid reckless plans. I like my detectives intact."
"I told you before, she won't kill me," Kudou said firmly.
"You're the ones who have been introducing me to all the lovely things our opponents can do before they resort to anything as pedestrian as death," Kuroba said. "It's not worth it. We'll think of something else."
"What?" Kudou demanded. "It's been months. Even with Hakuba's skills, there's only so much one person can do to avoid a network that enormous. Especially while actively provoking them. They have to at least have noticed what he's doing, so it's no longer so much of a risk to Hakuba to ask."
"It's still somewhat of a risk, though," Eisuke said. "And Kuroba-san is right. You'll still be at risk, too, even if you know she won't kill you."
"I did not convince you to tell us who you were just so you couldn't overrule my decision," Kudou said. "I was just tired of dancing around your identity. And I'm tired of not knowing how much danger Hakuba is in, too. The way we've been investigating is reliable, but slow—if it turns out Hakuba's in immediate danger, there's no way that tracking crime rates will get us there quickly enough."
Kaito frowned, then swore. "You have a point."
Eisuke looked nervous. "I guess this wasn't such a good idea, then..."
Kudou blinked. "What, the crime rate tracking?" he asked. "No, it was a great idea, back when this all started. But it's been over two months, now, that Hakuba's been missing, and a slow method like that one might not be enough anymore. An investigation needs to be responsive, you know?"
Eisuke smiled a little. "Yeah, that makes sense." And then paused. "But I still don't like the risk. Why exactly isn't she going to kill you, again?"
Kudou squirmed a bit—or, at least, his movement in front of the camera gave the impression that he was squirming. "Uh, Ran and I saved her life once. It's a long story."
Eisuke narrowed his eyes. "That doesn't seem right. What about since then? How do you know she won't kill you?"
"Well, there's been a few times we encountered her since then and she's chosen not to kill us—" he broke off, with a frown that wrinkled his nose
"We need to know," Eisuke insisted.
"She's given me information, before," Kudou said. "During the Mah-Jongg Serial Killer case...and a few other times, too. She acts like she thinks I'm useful."
"So she thinks you're a potential asset," Eisuke said, eyes wide.
Kudou blinked. "Asset?"
"I'm training to be in the CIA, remember?" Eisuke asked, words slow and tone gentle. "Kudou-san, it sounds like she's trying to recruit you."
Kudou froze, statue-still, eyes wide and terrified.
"Okay, I want to take my original objection to this plan and multiply it by twenty," Kuroba said with feeling.
"God, I'd even be the right age…" Kudou said, voice faint. Then, he stopped short. "Wait. No. That doesn't make sense. She doesn't seem...loyal enough for that. She acts outside of orders enough that her coworkers notice."
"Does she hafta be recruitin' ya ta Them ta be recruitin' ya?" Heiji asked. "If she was plannin' ta leave, or ta stage some kinda coup...all of the trouble ya cause Them would be the perfect opportunity."
He tried to ignore the way his stomach churned at the thought of Kudou in the same room as Vermouth for more than ten minutes.
"It would, at that," Kuroba agreed. "She might also simply want an apprentice." He laughed harshly. "She trained with my father, you know, perhaps she wants to continue the tradition?"
Kudou looked distinctly unsettled.
"She could have a number of reasons for wanting you as a source, but it seems likely that she, specifically, wants you, rather than her, ah, employer," Eisuke said. "After all, they don't know what you are, and if they did they would kill you. She must be keeping you a secret. Which affords you a little safety, at least."
"Not enough," Kuroba said darkly.
"No," Eisuke agreed. "Which is why you need to be extremely careful when you do this, Kudou-san. Tell her you know what she's doing, if you have to. And don't tell her anything that could be dangerous."
"You're enabling it?" Kuroba demanded.
"If we tell 'im not to do it, he'll sneak off an' do it anyway," Heiji said, a little more viciously than absolutely necessary.
Kudou glared.
"Yer the one who reminded me of the Naniwa Serial Murderer case," Heiji said, glaring right back. "When I told ya ta leave the rest of the case ta me because it was dangerous, ya pretended to be an actual kid, clung ta my leg, and when that didn't work, snuck outta the police car and onta the crime scene anyway."
"You confronted the criminal alone," Kudou muttered.
"You jumped between Nee-chan an' a murderer, like that," Heiji snapped. "Ya could at least try ta pretend ya know how ta be careful."
"Look, one of us had to go to the hospital after that case, and it wasn't me, so why don't you just lay off," Kudou replied testily.
Kuroba made a small whimpering noise.
"I think the two of you are doing bad things to Kuroba-san's blood pressure," Eisuke said.
"He's probably singlehandedly responsible for Inspector Nakamori's, so I don't really see the problem," Kudou said, unperturbed.
"That's hereditary, I keep telling Aoko—" Kuroba broke off, looking cornered.
"Oh my gosh, you know them, don't ya?" Heiji said, in unabashed wonder. "Are ya—are ya actually friends with the head of the KID Task Force and his daughter?"
Kuroba actually turned a bit red. "I do not have to answer that."
"You're actually worse off than me," Kudou said, almost reverently. "I didn't think that was possible."
"I'm not—It's not like—" Kuroba broke off at the mounting disbelief on the others' faces. "You're not buying it."
"You called her by her first name, and the way you paused didn't make it seem like you broke off before the honorific," Kudou said. "It sounded like you just don't use one."
"Um."
"You could try not poking into every one of Kuroba-san's secrets, Kudou-san," Eisuke admonished. "I don't think this is relevant to the case."
Kuroba chuckled awkwardly. "Okay, now you actually have me; it might be. Aoko's my childhood friend, Hakuba...had a thing for her, I guess? He flirted with her a lot when he first transferred in, but then he stopped. His dad said he thought she liked someone else."
"No points for guessing who?" Kudou said, with something like sympathy to his tone. "How'd you get to be childhood friends with the daughter of the head of your task force?"
"We're next door neighbors," Kuroba said, shrugging. "And, um, it's not like I knew, when I made friends with Aoko."
"Well, if ya were really young, I guess he wouldn't've told ya yet," Heiji said. "Li'l kids ain't so good wit' secrets."
Kuroba's expression froze again, and Eisuke's eyes narrowed at the change. "It's more than that," he said. "You're like me. You didn't find out at all until you were older."
Heiji connected the dots and swallowed dryly. 'Til after his dad was dead, Eisuke means.
He nodded. "Yeah," he said. He suddenly grinned. "But, hey, now that all of this is out, we can officially look down on Tantei-kun for being the only one who isn't planning to continue in the family business."
"Dad does detective work too!" Kudou protested.
"Yeah, but he's a novelist by trade," Heiji said. "KI-Kuroba-han's got a point. I'm gonna be police, he's a thief—"
"I'm also a rising professional magician," Kuroba practically sing-songed.
"And Hondou-han's going for the CIA," Heiji said. "Yer the odd man out."
"To be fair, would you want me following in their footsteps?" Kudou asked, scowling.
"Okay, no," Heiji grimaced. I don't want ya turnin' out a thing like those two. Bad enough that ya got raised by 'em. "But professionally?"
"I'm a mediocre writer and a worse actor," Kudou said flatly. "I'll stick to detective work."
"Ugh, critics," Kuroba said, with a roll of his eyes.
Kudou made a small noise of offense.
Sobering, Kuroba sighed. "If you're that determined to go through with it...there are some risks I can take, too, if it turns out that Hakuba really is in immediate danger. So, let us know when you find out."
Kudou frowned. "Of course," he said.
Kuroba clapped his hands. "Then, I think we've all had enough excitement for the night, what do you guys think? Or does anyone else have an Earth-shattering revelation to contribute? Tantei-han, anything?"
Heiji chuckled and shook his head. "Nah, I'm good."
"Thank God," Eisuke murmured in English.
Heiji caught him grinning when that pulled a giggle out of Kuroba.
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A/N: Warnings for discussion of canon character death, mourning, some unpleasant implications related to what Vermouth might canonically want Shinichi for, vague implications about how crap the Kudous are at parenting, and a lot of really intense, emotionally charged discussion.
I owe miladyRanger a lot of credit for this chapter. The way I write Kaito draws heavily on the way she writes and conceptualizes him, and she caught a lot of really nasty errors in the first chapter as a result. Additionally, I want to thank donahermurphy of FFN for giving me permission to use her idea of having Heiji notice the similarities between the way Kaito operates as a detective and the way Hakuba does. She also guessed that KID telling Shinichi that Phantom Lady was his mother would be relevant right after I wrote this chapter but way before I published it.
To explain what's going on with Heiji a little more-resistance to change is a common trait among autistics, but it shows up in every person differently. A headcanon I have is that for Heiji, who is a Japanese student and thus stuck with a pretty regimented schedule anyway, this trait shows up in him feeling most comfortable when he has a schedule that he knows about ahead of time and is more-or-less in control of. (That doesn't stop him from springing things on Kudou; Heiji's a good guy but occasionally really thoughtless.) So this sudden unexplained during-school meeting is a bigger disruption for him than it is for the others, and dealing with that, combined with the sheer surprise of the information presented (which is enough to throw everyone off) is taking available focus away from other tasks. Specifically, getting his thoughts together into coherent words, reading subtle social cues, and remembering all the relevant social rules he'd need to use in order to be tactful.
I'll be posting some art for this chapter on Tumblr later this week, too! The link will be up on A03 if you don't want to follow me, but FFN hasn't allowed links inside fics in many a year.
Thank you so much for reading! I really appreciate it. I really love reading reviews, too, so leave me one if you have the time?