Ran heaved a small sigh as she walked the short distance home from the station, grateful that no one was around to witness her sour mood. Really, she chided herself, she had no reason to be this frustrated. So what if everyone else at the midterm celebration party had a significant other with them? It was just bad luck that Sera had to return home early, and Makoto had decided to surprise Sonoko at the last minute, thus leaving Ran on the sidelines by herself. But she shouldn't be upset about it, especially since it was partly her fault for not even bothering to ask Shinichi if he could make it.
So Ran was frustrated, and frustrated with herself for being frustrated. Normally she prided herself on being so forgiving and patient with how well she was waiting for Shinichi, which was something Sonoko constantly praised her for. And though Ran did worry about her reckless friend and all the danger he was surely sticking his nose in at any given moment, she wasn't upset about him being 'gone' to deal with whatever case had left him impersonating a grade schooler.
Obviously it helped that she knew he was living with her; she didn't have to miss him or wonder if he was even still alive whenever he went weeks without calling. But even more than that, she was finding that the long delays didn't bother her as much as they probably should have. She was fine waiting. More than fine, in fact. Actually, she wasn't entirely how she would feel when he finally did return.
The idea that they were technically 'dating' still felt abstract and distant. Every once in a while, the concept would jump into the front of her mind with sudden clarity and fill her with an unpleasant sense of apprehension. All excitement at the novelty of the idea had long since worn off, and now she just felt confused and stressed whenever she tried to imagine actually dating him.
Sometimes she doubted if she even wanted it.
But she never allowed herself to dwell on those fears for very long. She preferred to chalk her reservations up to nerves and just hope that she would grow to enjoy a relationship once it actually started. And in the meantime, she refused to break his heart and risk distracting him from his case. Plus, it would make things awkward with Conan. So there was nothing for it — whatever was going to happen between them would just have to wait until he returned. Until then, she just had to continue not thinking about it and not feeling sorry for herself when others gave her very unnecessary pitying looks.
Ran suppressed another sigh as she approached the door to her home, and thought ahead to the lovely moment of taking her shoes off in order to add sincerity to her smile in case her dad or Conan were there to greet her. (Why were high heels even a thing, honestly?) So she smiled and pushed the door open and—
"Shinichi?" she gasped.
The boy standing in the middle of the living room looked up in mild surprise and met her eyes with deep indigo ones. She let out a small breath. Looks just like Shinichi, but isn't. Very bold sense of fashion. General air of mischief about him. It could really only be one person.
"…Kaitou KID," she said. Not an accusation or a guess, just a statement of fact. He gave her a cheery half smile and didn't bother denying it.
"Ok, the water's heating up, so do you want green tea, oolong, or..." Conan said as he emerged from the kitchen, then stopped abruptly when he saw Ran. "Oh, welcome home, Ran-neechan!" He switched to his childlike act for her. "Did you go somewhere fancy? You look really nice!"
"Thank you, Conan-kun. It was just a get-together with some classmates, nothing too fancy," she told him.
"Ok. Ah, this is Kaito-niichan, the friend I told you about."
"It's nice to meet you," Ran told him with a kind smile that she hoped was neutral enough to obscure her various mixed emotions. "Conan-kun's told me a lot about you."
"All of it slander and lies, I'm sure," Kaito answered with a charming grin. "The name's Kuroba Kaito. Please, call me Kaito." He held up a fist that suddenly produced a beautiful pink rose the same shade as her dress. "I've heard a lot about you as well~"
Ran highly doubted that, but it was a decent cover story for everything he surely already knew about her from his identity-thievery habits. So she smiled pleasantly and accepted the rose.
"I'd like hot chocolate instead of tea," Kaito announced to Conan, who responded with an unimpressed tilt of his head.
"We don't have any hot chocolate."
"A terrible tragedy, but one that is easily remedied!" Kaito told him with a grin, then made a few bills in the form of origami birds suddenly appear to dance along his knuckles. "You know where the stores are, don't you?"
"That's not—" Conan began, but never got any further. Ran watched in amazement. She'd never seen any human make such a persuasive argument with only their eyes before. That face could surely get anyone to do anything, but she was nevertheless shocked to see Conan moved by it. She'd never known anyone to have such influence over her stubborn friend before.
"Ch. Fine." Conan assumed an air of irritation, snatched the bills, and put on his shoes.
"With marshmallows~!" Kaito sang out after him, getting only an annoyed huff as Conan closed the door after himself.
In the ensuing silence, Kaito held Ran's gaze for a moment before sauntering easily to her kitchen and preparing the tea.
"You prefer green tea, yes?" he asked conversationally.
"Huh? Oh, yes, thank you." She watched him pour a downright frightening quantity of sugar into of the cups and really hoped that he didn't expect her to drink that. "So you don't actually want hot chocolate?" she asked curiously.
"I always want hot chocolate!" he replied brightly, handing her the unsweetened tea as he returned to the sitting room and settled on the couch, gesturing for her to take the one opposite. "But tea will be nice while we wait for him to get back. Especially since it'll be a little while — the kind with marshmallows is not available in the nearest two convenience stores. Which I don't think he knows, so I expect he'll waste a few extra minutes searching."
She chuckled despite herself, then wondered belatedly if it was ok to feel this comfortable sitting and drinking tea with an internationally wanted criminal. Even if he wasn't dangerous, this ordinary-looking teenager was still technically a high-profile jewel thief famous throughout the country.
"Sonoko would be so jealous," Ran remarked suddenly. "She's been talking about you even more than usual lately, you know."
"That's only natural. I am incredibly fascinating," he replied with badly feigned humility.
"I think she's actually really worried about you, since you disappeared after your last notice. Are you planning any more heists soon?"
Kaito leaned back against the sofa with an expression of deep contemplation. "I'm actually not sure," he finally admitted. "I would like to at least make an appearance, so that my adoring fans know I'm still alive. But things are… a little more complicated now."
"I see," Ran nodded. "I guess that does tend to happen whenever Conan-kun gets involved."
Kaito let out a startled laugh, then grinned broadly. "Yes, I guess it does," he agreed. "But I'm told you were actually the one who found the jewel I was searching for. Thank you."
The ever present teasing lilt of his voice faded to nothing but sincerity and gratitude, and Ran blinked in surprise, taken aback by the honesty that was so contrary to everything she thought she knew about the elusive moonlight magician. "It was nothing. I just got lucky," she diverted with a self-conscious shrug.
"It's not nothing. People were willing to kill over that thing. It had to be stopped. I can't thank you enough."
"Well… you're welcome," she answered after a pause, then decided to give in to her curiosity. "So is that what you were doing a few weeks ago? Did it have anything to do with the crime ring that was broken up the day after your notice?"
"Unfortunately I've signed a non-disclosure agreement. So I could tell you… but then I'd have to kill you," he replied with very convincing regret and an apologetic tilt of his head, then laughed when she did a double-take. His laughter was genuine and rich, and she found herself naturally joining in.
"Ok then," Ran said after her laughter subsided. "In that case, I have a different question for you."
"Shoot."
She frowned at the cup in her hands as she considered how best to voice her concerns. It was sometimes hard to balance her fierce protectiveness of her friends with her deeply ingrained need to be polite. Finally, she settled on a direct but non-offensive question. "What are your intentions toward Conan-kun? He likes you a lot, and I don't want to see him get hurt."
Kaito's eyebrows shot up briefly, which was a large enough slip in his otherwise unshakable composure that she figured the question must've caught him off-guard.
"Um," he frowned, dramatically looking around as if searching for hidden cameras that would reveal this to be a prank show. "I don't have intentions toward him? He's six?"
"No, he's not," Ran stated. "You know about him, don't you?"
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"You had better know, or else it's creepy how close you two are," she said, narrowing her eyes at him. She knew she wasn't being entirely fair — their relationship could probably pass as friendship to someone didn't know better. But Ran did know better and needed to discuss it with him, which meant convincing him to admit it.
He raised both hands in a gesture of surrender, but just repeated his denial. For a moment, Ran's anger flared, and she thought about threatening him with a karate kick or two. She was sick of being left out of the loop and lied to, especially about this issue in particular. But as she thought about how much effort Shinchi put into keeping her away, she realized that Kaito was surely just following his lead. In fact, it was probably a good sign that the magician was willing to go so far as to let himself look bad in order to protect Shinichi's secret.
"I'm not trying to trick you," Ran sighed wearily. "I already know. Look, I even have proof." She down her cup and took out her phone, navigating to the saved file that showed the results of the fingerprint analysis she'd asked for months ago. It was anonymous, only comparing two sets of unlabeled fingerprints and confirming them to be from the same person, so it wouldn't give anything away to anyone who didn't already know. She handed the phone to Kaito.
He studied the file with a neutral expression for a long, quiet moment. "Why haven't you told him?" he asked eventually.
Ran scoffed bitterly, then caught herself and plastered on a resigned smile. "I have," she said simply. "Several times. He kept finding new ways to trick me. I got tired of it."
Kaito considered her a moment, then said quietly and cautiously, "I'm sure he only wants to protect you."
Ran pursed her lips and shrugged, pushing away the burning indignation that always accompanied that thought. "But you did know, right?" she pressed, wanting to get back on topic.
"Yes," he confirmed immediately. "If it makes you feel any better, I also had to find out through subterfuge."
That did make her feel better, and she smiled a touch more genuinely in the comfortable silence that followed.
"So… you mentioned he likes me?" Kaito asked airily, so masterfully casual that she almost answered on reflex, which was surely his goal.
She laughed, and he smiled sheepishly at being caught. "Don't get ahead of yourself," she warned, wagging a finger at him. "Just because I decided not to beat you up at this exact moment doesn't mean I approve of you yet."
"Oh? So I have to pass a test first?"
She thought about that, then nodded. 'Test' did sound more polite than 'interrogation.'
"Alright, let's do this!" he said, rubbing his hand together eagerly. "Fair warning, though: I always ace tests, so prepare to be blown away~"
Ran resolutely refused to crack a smile, forcing her features to adopt the more stern expression of someone looking out for a friend. "We'll see about that," she answered firmly. "This is no small responsibility, you know. He's always getting himself into trouble, so he needs someone who can keep up with him and help him out whenever he gets in over his head."
"Of course," Kaito agreed quickly. "Well, I'm sadly not a karate master, but I am rather good at keeping up with him, and I do have a few tricks up my sleeve."
He began to list off some of his strengths as well as other emergency preparedness skills (and just how exactly had he learned Conan's blood type?), but Ran was barely listening. Of course her first thought had been for Conan's physical safety, but in hindsight she realized what a silly question it was. She was already well aware of how incredibly competent Kaitou KID was. He had already saved countless people on multiple occasions. Ran had seen with her own eyes how KID threw himself out of an airship without a second's hesitation to save Conan's life. Of course he had the skills and desire to keep Conan safe.
More than that, KID was one of the only people she'd known to ever actually work with Conan. That is, Conan seemed to trust him and accept his help, rather than trying to push him away to 'protect' him. She hadn't seen much of it, but even from the glimpses she'd caught of them working together in Singapore, she had no doubt they made an incredible team, stronger than either one individually.
So, really, all she had to worry about was… well, everything else.
"…and I could learn a martial art or two as well, if you think it's necessary," Kaito finished his pitch then met her gaze expectantly. He looked every bit the hopeful candidate eager to impress.
"No, I know you're able to protect him," Ran answered lightly, ignoring the way he brightened at having 'passed' that part of the test. "You both know how to handle dangerous situations, after all. But there are other things that Shinichi doesn't know how to handle quite that well. For instance, he doesn't have much patience for small talk."
"You don't say?" Kaito huffed, equal parts sarcastic and fond. "I can't say I blame him; I also much prefer the engaging conversations we have with each other. Personally, I think his blunt remarks are rather witty. But in a group, it does go a little smoother when I pick up the slack in conversations like that. He tends to get a little more serious and polite if he feels like he has to compensate for me being too ridiculous."
"Huh." That was… clever. She'd never thought of that before, probably because she was the type to sit on the sidelines and not contribute much to the conversation whenever there were multiple people gathered. Which had inadvertently put more pressure on Shinchi to speak up. Kaito's approach seemed like a much better match. But she tried not to let her face reveal how impressed she was as she continued on. "He's not great at expressing himself in anything except deduction shows."
"That's fine! I'm exceptionally fantastic at reading people," Kaito answered with a wide, cocky grin. Which, yeah, actually, that was a great point.
"He has trouble receiving affection of any sort."
"You'd be surprised," he shrugged. "He's really shy, but he has been getting better about it."
Well, she certainly would be surprised, if she believed it. But she would have to see it with her own eyes first. Moving on. "There are a lot of normal couple things that he… finds unimportant. Like anniversaries."
"All the better to surprise him with!" he returned with a jovial smile. "He's really hard to surprise otherwise, so that's a huge bonus for me."
"Oh. Yeah, I guess that's true," she acknowledged, shocked. Somehow that had never once occurred to her before, perhaps out of frustration for a trait that she just couldn't empathize with, or perhaps because she was the one who wished to be surprised. "He also tends to not show up when he's agreed to, or abandon people halfway through conversations."
"You mean because of…"
"Dead bodies, yes," she finished the sentence with obvious distaste.
"Ah, well, I don't mind that. I actually enjoy trying to figure out the tricks and watching him solve everything. And I love his sense of justice — I've never really met anyone else who cares about bringing murderers to justice as much as I do."
Ran had to bite her lower lip to keep from smiling at how sweet that answer was. She hadn't even finished her best-friend-obligated interrogation, yet was already rooting for them to get together. She cleared her throat and continued the questioning. "Shinichi constantly makes deductions about everyone around him, even during casual gatherings."
"Oh, I have been having so much fun with that! I love to randomly change subtle things and plant faulty clues just to mess with him. The other day, I almost got him to falsely deduce that I'd been learning to play the banjo!" Kaito puffed out his chest as he spoke, obviously inordinately proud of himself for that accomplishment.
She snickered despite herself, then shook her head to clear her expression again. "I hope your favorite hobby isn't karaoke."
"Uh… no? My favorite hobby is stealing priceless gems from your friend's rich uncle. Why?"
"No reason. How do you feel about Sherlock Holmes?"
At that, Kaito set his cup down and groaned dramatically into his hands. "Ok," he said heavily, looking up to meet Ran's startled gaze, "I'm going to tell you something that nobody else knows about me. But you have to promise to never repeat this, alright?"
She nodded wordlessly, surprised yet excited to be trusted with a secret.
Kaito sighed deeply, then admitted in a reluctant tone, as if confessing to something horribly embarrassing, "I have read and enjoyed all of the Sherlock Holmes books."
"Really?" she sat up a little straighter, then frowned. "Wait, why is that a secret?"
"No one can know!" he insisted desperately, and she was shocked to see that it didn't appear to be an act. "I have a reputation to uphold here! I'm a well-known KID fan, I'm not supposed to like detective stories! Plus, Hakuba is always going on about it, and I hate him, so I have to antagonize him every chance I get! In fact, I refused to even touch those books until I learned that Tantei-kun also liked them, and then… well, I just got a little hooked, alright? I can't help it — I like books that make me think, and they're genuinely well-written, and—"
He trailed off when he noticed Ran pressing a hand tightly over her mouth to smother her giggling, then he let out another miserable groan. "I know, I know, it's embarrassing!"
"No, not at all!" she assured him, though her words were likely undermined by her continued laughter. "But if you read the books for Shinichi, shouldn't you tell him? I think he would be so happy about it that he wouldn't even tease you."
"Oh no, you misunderstand. I don't care if he teases me, but I would be devastated if I lost this opportunity to tease him."
"What do you mean?"
"See, as long as I feign ignorance," he explained, "I can make up or blatantly twist Holmes quotes, cite stories from the Lupin books as if they're Holmes canon, and constantly reference those cheap spin-off movie adaptations. I know all the exact details that Holmes fans obsess over, and all the right buttons to push. It drives him absolutely crazy. Oh you should see his face, Ran; he hates it so much! There is no better way to rile him up. Sometimes he gets so irritated that he even pulls elaborate pranks on me! No way can I lose that!"
By now, Ran wasn't even trying to hide her laughter, and it took several moments for her to calm down enough to manage words again. "Well, even if he finds out about that someday, there's still Detective Samoji, right?" she tried to comfort him.
"Oh I know! Obnoxious, isn't it? Does he make you sit through all those movies with him as well?"
"Yes! You know, I actually did enjoy the series the first time, but he's insisted on rewatching it so many times that by now I've accidentally memorized a few of the cases!"
"Right, exactly! And he can't stop sharing his deductions constantly, even for reruns of episodes you've already watched together. And then he gets so worked up about the most minor plot holes!"
"But then if you point out anything wrong in the show, he gets really offended about you 'insulting a work of art' and will start defending it like it's his job!" Ran laughed along with him.
"It is a work of art, and you two are being mean," Conan interjected from the doorway as he entered, having caught just enough of the conversation to guess that they were making fun of something he liked. He pouted as he came over to return the leftover change from the purchase.
Ran observed how Conan walked right up to Kaito until he was pressing against the thief's knees, and how he let their hands linger as he passed the coins over, and how he squirmed in a display of annoyance but didn't actually try to escape when Kaito hugged him tightly and nuzzled into his hair. Suddenly Kaito's comment about 'getting better at receiving affection' made a lot more sense. Ran was floored — of course such a strategy of pushing past the mock protests made sense in hindsight. But even so, she never would've had the utterly insane death-defying levels of self-confidence needed to pull it off.
"Clingy," Conan complained in a quiet and exceedingly fond tone, before heading to the kitchen to prepare the hot chocolate. They both watched him go, Kaito with a soft expression and sappy smile, and Ran with a sense of relief and freedom that she hadn't realized was even missing before. And she could see that Conan was genuinely happy under that thin outer layer of pretend irritation. He was in good hands.
"So?" Kaito asked her, quietly enough to not be overheard.
"Yes," she answered simply. Yes, he'd passed the test; yes, they had her blessing to pursue a relationship; and yes, Shinchi liked him back. Kaito grinned back in a completely honest display of unbridled joy that took Ran by surprise. Yes, she decided, Kaito would be very good indeed for her stubborn childhood friend.
Ran set her cup down and stood up to leave. "Well, I need to get to bed now. It was very nice to meet you, Kaito-kun. Good night, Conan-kun, don't stay up too late!"
"Don't worry, I won't!" Conan called back from the kitchen. And, even though she knew he was lying, she didn't care. Somehow, it just didn't feel like her problem anymore.
—
Ran had been so impressed at what a good match Kaito and Shinichi were that she hadn't even consciously realized that she'd effectively given away her boyfriend. But no friend of Sonoko's could realistically expect to go more than a few days at a time without being reminded of romance. So it was really no surprise when, just a few days later, during a standard school lunch, the conversation turned inevitably toward romance and the familiar questions and ribbing about Ran's 'husband' began again. But, to her surprise and relief, Ran found that it didn't bother her anymore. She merely smiled patiently at Sonoko and waited for her to finish.
It didn't take the self-proclaimed 'romance expert' long to notice the change.
"Eh? Ran? Did something happen with you and Shinichi-kun? I swear, if that mystery geek was mean to you—"
"No no, it's nothing like that!" Ran assured her.
"But something did happen?" Sera prodded cautiously, with a contemplative frown. "Are you two… not together anymore?"
"Um…" Ran thought about that a moment. "Not really? I don't know. It's complicated?"
"Ehh? 'Complicated' how?" Sonoko demanded.
"I, uh… kind of… set him up with someone else?" she answered with a shy smile and half-shrug, as if it were no big deal.
"What?" Sonoko exclaimed, nearly falling over in shock. "You— Wh— Bu— When? Who? What? How? WHY?"
"Hmmm…" Ran hummed as she contemplated the answer. Because she was tired of waiting? Because she just didn't like Shinichi that way and therefore didn't want to date him? Because Shinichi might not even be interested in women in the first place? Because he was in love with someone else? Because that someone else was also head over heels for him? Because Shinichi and Kaito just made so much sense together? But she either couldn't or didn't want to share any of those reasons. So she just shrugged and said, "I just thought they were cute together."
She studiously ignored their flabbergasted expressions and confused stammering, and tried to focus on her lunch in order to hide her amused smile.
Author's Notes:
Next Up: Another chapter from Haibara's perspective that includes some excerpts from her field journal, where she's documented some important scientific findings from her research. Please be sure to brush up on the scientific method before next time!