A/N: Short-ish chapter this week due to both RL and how the the scenes divided themselves. I just started a new job; I'm somewhere between hyped and anxious as all heck. I'm hoping the RL shakeup won't affect fic progress overmuch but it's a possibility. Any story-relevant updates will be in the riddle in reverse tag on Tumblr, as usual.

Morofushi quotes someone this chapter; predictably, it's Zhuge Liang in Romance of the Three Kingdoms. In general, if Morofushi quotes anyone ever, you can probably assume it is Zhuge Liang. He's a dork and I love him.

I owe miladyRanger for keeping this thing borderline coherent. Warnings in the end-note, per usual.

Chapter 37

The early-morning chill hit Kansuke full in the face when he stepped out the door. Still, at least the sun was fully up, and there were even cars on the road-a far cry from a few hour ago, when Koumei had arrived before the sun or the morning traffic.

Koumei strode past him, coming to a stop next to his car and fixing Kansuke with a glare.

"The futons are already in your hall closet," he said, crossing his arms.

"But we're outside, now, and the kids will have to make an effort to eavesdrop," Kansuke countered, leaning back on his cane. "What a f***ing mess."

Koumei nodded agreement. "How did we miss it?"

"They really wanted us to, that's how," Kansuke said, grim. "I'll bet money that one of those people Hakuba said he lost to this was police."

"I'll not take that bet, thank you," Koumei replied, sighing. "None of them should be out solvin' cases like that."

"Well, Kuroba at least isn't," Kansuke said. And then paused, considering. "Well, probably. H*** if I know what he is but he's no civilian."

"You noticed as well," Koumei said, a grin tugging at the corner of his lips for a moment.

"Yeah, the thing with his face was kinda hard to miss," Kansuke said flatly. "The h*** does a civilian kid learn to do that?"

"He is a performer, perhaps-" Koumei began, then broke off with a huff. "No, that at most begins explainin' it, and both of us know it. But I doubt he'll take questions about it well."

"Considerin' he tried to bolt and scared a few years off of both of us in the process, yeah, not too likely," Kansuke agreed.

"We do trust them, about him not having a weapon, don't we?" Koumei asked.

"We trust the freakout he had at the mention of guns," Kansuke said. "That was a little too incoherent to be staged. If he'd been doing it on purpose he would've gotten to the point a little faster, yeah?"

Koumei made a hum of consideration. "Which brings us to an entirely different matter—exactly how does a supposed civilian in a country with strict gun laws gain such an extreme reaction to their very mention?"

"F***, I didn't even think of that," Kansuke said, feeling his stomach clench.

"I've heard that Hattori-kun was shot once, during that Naniwa Serial Killer Case," Koumei said. "At first I thought perhaps the story was an exaggeration, but it sounded so much like him I thought it must be the truth. The rumors about Conan-kun, on the other hand, I hope very much are distorted. Still, that reaction was not consistent with having had a friend endangered by gun violence. He's seen guns before, himself, maybe even had one pointed at him. The people they're all so worried about must have them."

"What f***ing rumors about the elementary schooler?" Kansuke asked. "And of course they have guns; what else gets people as scared as those kids are?"

Koumei nodded. "You make a good point. As for the rumors about Conan-kun, I've heard there was an incident involving some bank robbers and a cave. The rumors were thin by the time they made it out here; I know he received a blood transfusion but reports varied as to why he needed it."

"But at least one of the versions said he got shot, huh?" Kansuke said. "Still, only rumors. For all we know he just broke his leg and bled a lot or something."

"Do you really believe that?"

Kansuke sighed. "Not really, no."

"He's—how old, precisely, seven? Eight?" Koumei asked.

Kansuke shrugged. "Elementary school. Too d*** young to be involved in all of this. Beyond that, I don't know."

"They're all too young to be involved in this," Koumei said. "But they won't accept help. Hakuba-kun all but panicked at the very idea."

"Kuroba doesn't trust us, for some reason, but the rest of them are actually trying to keep us safe by keeping us out of it," Kansuke said. "Which is screwed up. We're the adults here."

"Hondou-kun lives alone, and so did Hakuba-kun, before the superintendent-gen'ral took him in," Koumei pointed out. "And those two and Kuroba-kun all but admitted they lost family members to this. Add to that Conan-kun, whose parents left him with guardians while they travelled—these children have learned self-reliance. Perhaps too well."

"Speakin' of that, do the Mouris know?" Kansuke asked. "Superintendent-Gen'ral Hattori can't, or Hattori wouldn't've left without explainin'. Superintendent-Gen'ral Hakuba doesn't, either."

"They mustn't," Koumei said. "You've spoken with Mouri-kun; she's occasionally worried for Kudou-kun but more often annoyed that he doesn't call. If she knew the nature of the case keeping him away, her attitude toward matters would be different. The Edogawas may be a different matter though, and the Kudous are obviously aware, as they arranged the boys' flight."

"They got all the kids out except theirs," Kansuke said. "There's something screwy there and it's gonna bother me 'til I figure it out what's behind it."

"It may be best to let that lie for now," Koumei said. "I don't believe for a second that he's still in London. But I think they've decided not to trust us with wherever he is."

Kansuke rubbed his eyes. "Seriously? We are the police. They know us. I woke up in the middle of the d*** night to let them sleep in my house. What else do we need to do?"

"Convince them to abandon what is probably years' worth of seemingly justified paranoia," Koumei said flatly. "Which I doubt we'll be able to do. Particularly as only Conan-kun and Hattori-kun really know us; Hakuba-kun's only spoken to you briefly and the other two just met us."

Kansuke groaned. "So, what, we just give up on the idea of them trusting us?"

Koumei gave him a fanged grin. "No, it simply means we need to wait them out. We've both read enough on siege tactics for this, haven't we?"

"Huh, I guess we have," Kansuke said, grinning right back. "Still, hard to feel patient enough for a long game, with kids in danger." He sighed. "But we won't get anywhere by scaring them off."

"No, we won't," Koumei agreed. "You know the superintendent-gen'ral better than I do. Is he prepared to deal with his son in this state?"

"He's been prepared," Kansuke said. "He never explained exactly, but he knew or suspected something of the kid's past, somehow. He told me to treat him gently, and asked me if I knew any psychologists."

"All the way out here?" Koumei asked.

"He's superintendent-gen'ral of Tokyo, and you know how the old-fashioned types would get about that sort of thing, if it got out," Kansuke said. "The last thing he'd want would be his kid's mental health gettin' dragged into politics. Besides, it isn't all that long by bullet train."

Koumei sighed. "I suppose it isn't. Did you give him names?"

"Yeah, and I'll give 'em again, if he lost 'em," Kansuke said. "My guess is that the kid wouldn't go. Hopefully his dad will push a bit harder this time."

"It's the others I worry about," Koumei said. "Hondou-kun lives alone, on another continent. I'm very certain that Conan-kun lies to the Mouris, and will keep doing so when he gets back to them. Hattori-kun is about to be grounded for misbehavior…and I'm quite certain that Kuroba-kun deliberately gave us as little data as he could regarding his living situation."

"Kuroba's scared of us," Kansuke said slowly. "I don't think it's just not trusting, he's scared. Kid's facial expression may not change much, but how else do you explain the twitchiness?"

"You can be a bit…shall we say, intimidating, when annoyed," Koumei said. "I doubt you greeted them as warmly as you could have in the small hours of the morning. And as a civilian, or at least a non-detective, he may not be as used to casual interaction with ranking police as the others."

Kansuske considered that. "You've got a point."

"Also, while it's less than ideal, he and Hondou-kun seem to be looking after one another, to some extent, between monitoring Hakuba-kun," Koumei said. "Which is reassuring, in that they've figured out how to do that, but worrying, in that it leaves Hattori-kun responsible for both Kudou-kun and Conan-kun."

"And neither of those two are gonna be reciprocatin', particularly," Kansuke muttered. "I mean, sure, the kid can do the 'cheer up big brother' act but if Hattori actually needs to talk about something he's too young and Kudou's probably too much of a trainwreck. Holy s***, kid nearly dies and goes into hiding, and I don't think he's told a single cop, just his parents and Hattori."

"It's a bit concerning," Koumei agreed. "If the opportunity arises, I would like to have a word with him."

"Kudou, or Hattori?" Kansuke asked.

"Both, ideally, though I think you might actually be better suited to speaking with Kudou-kun, should the opportunity present itself," Koumei said. "But I was speaking of Hattori-kun."

"Wouldn't hurt to try to get contact information for any of them that'll give it, either," Kansuke said. "You're right, we're gonna have to play the long game. Probably one that'll take a bit longer than they can afford to stay here. There's a pretty good chance we ain't gettin' the chance to properly talk to any of them 'til a while after they leave."

"Which is a whole other matter," Koumei said.

"What is?"

"Their leaving," Koumei said. "Do you really think any of them are in a state to be taking a bullet train back to Tokyo?"

Kansuke winced. "Pretty sure Hakuba has martial arts trainin', so that'd be a no," he said. "He's gonna end up sendin' some poor b*****d into a wall 'cause they bumped into him too hard."

"Assuming someone doesn't jostle Kuroba and set off the smoke bombs first," Koumei said dryly.

"Ehh, Hondou was talkin' like he has them on him all the time," Kansuke said, dismissive. "If that's the case, I'm sure he's careful enough with them that they wouldn't go off just by someone bumpin' him."

"We have to get them back to Tokyo somehow," Koumei said.

"We'd need a van to drive 'em," Kansuke said. "I think our best bet is waitin' and hopin' they calm the heck down in a bit."

"And in the meantime?" Koumei asked. "Not one of them has made so much as a move to call the superintendent-gen'ral."

Kansuke scowled. "I don't like havin' a friend's missin' kid at my house and not tellin' him, but the kid didn't look up to makin' decisions, and I'm not violatin' his trust by goin' behind his back when he's already shaken up. If givin' him time doesn't help the problem, I say we talk to Hondou."

"That seems sensible."

Kansuke grinned. "So, wait 'em out, at least for now?"

"I think it would be for the best," Koumei said. "Ready to go back in?"

"Might be good to make sure they aren't tryin' to make a run for it again," Kansuke joked.

Koumei's eyes widened just a bit. "I hadn't even considered…"

"Wait, ya don't really think…"

Koumei just ran for the door, leaving Kansuke to follow.

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Heiji sat against the sliding door of the inspector's spare room and breathed.

The others would be all right for a little while. Eisuke had talked Kudou and Kaito out of making a run for it. Heck, Kaito had even settled down enough to try calling his mom, though it ended up ringing through. Hakuba was still a mess, but he wasn't shaking anymore and once they'd been sure their hosts weren't coming back right away, he'd even started going through a few tentative card tricks with that deck Kaito gave him.

But Heiji—Heiji just needed things to not be loud for a few seconds. He needed not to have to pay attention to half a dozen people's faces and voices and phrasing just to keep the situation from turning violent—and seriously, what the heck was his life, now, that he even had to worry about that. He'd spent the last hour—few days—no, week, really—pushing his ability to do tact as far as it could go and trying to keep his pack of dysfunctional friends functional enough that they could do what they needed to do, but they were back in Japan now and it was supposed to be over.

He just needed a break.

So he'd lied badly about needing something from his suitcase and pretty much everyone but Eisuke had been too busy having psychological trauma to notice and now it was quiet and no one was talking at him.

Someone knocked on the door and Hattori cursed, loud enough that they probably heard it out at the table.

"Hattori-kun?" Morofushi asked gently, voice muffled by the door. "May I come in?"

Uuuugh, talking, but if I don't let 'im in it's suspicious, Heiji thought. "Sure," he said, standing and turning to face the door before he opened it.

"Whaddya need?" he asked.

Morofushi looked him over, lips pursed and eyebrows knitted up. Heiji squirmed under the scrutiny despite himself.

"I would like to speak to you," Morofushi said at last. "Would you do me the favor of listening?"

Heiji nodded, not sure where this was going.

Morofushi sat down, seiza-style, back straight and legs folded perfectly. Heiji mirrored him without thinking, years of kendo and his mother's tea ceremonies taking over before conscious thought could catch up.

"When a friend is in danger or hurting, it is only natural to want to do as much as you can to help," Morofushi said, expression smoothed out in a way that made Heiji think of Kaito just a little.

"If you're tryin' to tell me to butt out of Kudou's mess 'cause I ain't involved directly, you can jus'—" Heiji started hotly.

"I would be a hypocrite, to give you a lecture I have, myself, ignored many times," Morofushi said, grinning for just a moment before his expression turned back into something hard to read. "Particularly one that, if I heeded, might have left Kansuke-kun to wait longer for rescue, if it came at all. No, 'loyalty and filial duty are the essentials of a person's being.' I would not ask you to turn your back on your friend."

He took a breath. "However, one must remember, even in the midst of such efforts, to take care of oneself, as well."

"Whaddya think I'm tryin'a do?" Heiji asked, a bit more sulkily than he'd meant to.

"Have you ever heard the phrase, 'Too little, too late'?" Morofushi asked.

Heiji bristled. "Look, they needed—"

"You've been taking on both Kudou-kun and Conan-kun's burdens, correct?" Morofushi asked. "I think it's excellent of you to offer them such support. But they likely can't reciprocate, and that must be difficult, yes?"

"Hey, I talk to Kudou 'bout things!" Heiji protested. An' Conan, seein' as they're the same person, but I ain't tellin' you that.

"But you can't talk to him about the difficulties of supporting a friend who is hurting and in danger, not without hurting him," Morofushi pressed, leaning forward slightly. "And whatever other friends you have, I imagine you've taken pains to keep them out of this matter."

"Well, yeah, but—it's not—" Heiji started. I mean, yeah, sometimes it's tough worryin' about Kudou an' bein' the only person he really talks about stuff with, 'cept maybe Ai, and he's gotta watch what he says 'round her sometimes—but I'm managin' fine!

"To wait, and worry, can be just as difficult," Morofushi said quietly, lips pressed together into something that looked faintly like a smile, an expression belied by the tired slope of his shoulders.

Guess he of all people would know 'bout that, huh? Heiji thought. Can't imagine what it must've been like, thinkin' Inspector Yamato was dead; don't wanna imagine what goin' through that with Kudou'd be like.

"Then, what'd you do?" Heiji asked aloud.

"Nothing constructive," Morofushi said plainly. "Not when it was most important. But Yui-chan and I worry about him together, now, and that's…helpful."

"So you're sayin' I should talk to the others?" Heiji said. "Because, seriously, you have no idea. My s*** ain't even on the same level—"

"I don't believe this is a contest," Morofushi said.

"An' I ain't tryin' to win," Heiji said. "But I don't want ta ask them ta deal wit' my stuff when they already got all o' their stuff."

"Let me ask you something," Koumei began, eyes narrowed. "Is one of them, even one, completely realistic about and aware of their own issues?"

"No," Heiji said, almost reflexively. S***, Kudou really thinks he isn't paranoid, half the time, and let's not get started on KID. Even Hondou's got that thing with pretendin' he ain't upset, and Hakuba doesn't seem to think that it's weird when he treats himself like the only unimportant human on Earth.

"Then why, precisely, do you believe yourself the exception to that?" Morofushi asked.

Heiji stared at him for a few seconds, then cursed, out loud this time.

"Do attempt to talk to one of your friends," Morofushi said, standing. "I'll make your excuses at the table and give you a bit more time to collect yourself."

He'd closed the door behind him before Heiji could even gather the words for a reply.

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A/N: Warnings for: In the first half, discussion of child endangerment, peril, near-death experiences, death, violence, gun violence, blood, trauma, mental health issues and the stigma surrounding mental health issues. In the second half, Hattori being close to sensory overload, followed by more discussion of trauma (particularly lack of awareness of trauma) and a lot of Hattori devaluing his own issues.

Hattori, as I've mentioned previously, is not aware that he's autistic. He does, however, know that everything gets kind of overwhelming sometimes, and he has some ways of dealing with that, one of which is going someplace quiet.

Thank you so much for reading, and please leave a review if you're so inclined! (I will catch up on replies, eventually, I promise!)