"It's Shinichi-oniisan!" Ayumi pointed enthusiastically, as they exited the school building to see the unexpected guest waiting for them at the gates.
"Nuh-uh! That guy's clothes are way more colorful than Shinichi-oniichan's!" Genta corrected her.
"I believe Shinichi-san also brushes his hair, which means that person probably isn't him," Mitsuhiko added thoughtfully.
"Conan-kun!" the not-Shinichi boy yelled, likely noticing Conan's less-than-subtle attempt to sneak back into the school, and he jogged over to grab Conan in a tight bear hug.
Conan squirmed in vain but was unable to evade the mandatory affection, so he heaved a long-suffering sigh, apparently deciding it would be easier to just wait it out.
"Who's your friend, Edogawa-kun?" Haibara asked innocently, not bothering to suppress her delighted smirk.
"He's not a friend, just some idio—"
"Kuroba Kaito, magician extraordinaire, at your service!" Kaito finally released Conan in order to bow to the others and offer them each a yellow rose. The three real children gasped in delight, and even though it took more than magically appearing flowers to impress Haibara, she still appreciated the quality and fresh scent of the rose which she twirled in her fingers.
"Are you friends with Conan-kun?" Ayumi asked.
"I sure am! We're super best friends! He was supposed to come visit me yesterday, but then he ditched me to solve a case instead, so I thought I'd save some time by coming here today."
"Yeah, he's always doing that! It's not fair," Genta pouted.
"The Detective Boys are supposed to stick together," Ayumi whined, "but he keeps noticing us when we try to follow him!"
"Yes, you have to watch him very closely to make sure he doesn't slip away," Mitsuhiko agreed solemnly.
"Oh, don't worry, I intend to do just that," Kaito answered smoothly, with a sideways glance at Conan that made him blush and look away.
"So are you the friend he's been spending time with recently?" Mitsuhiko asked. "I thought he said you were in the hospital?"
"That's right! I was in the hospital for a bit, but then I escaped. A little fresh air is good for recovery, after all~"
"Are you related to Shinichi-oniichan?" Genta asked suspiciously.
"No," Kaito replied a touch too emphatically. "No, I am not! Absolutley not. I checked both our family histories quite thoroughly, and I can assure you that we are not related even the slightest bit."
"But you look the same!" Ayumi smiled at him, clearly intending it as a compliment.
"A lucky coincidence for him~. Shinichi and I are actually very good friends. That's why he asked me to look after his reckless little cousin here, to make sure he doesn't get into too much trouble," Kaito said fondly, ruffling Conan's hair and ignoring the boy's grumbled complaints.
"Well, I'm sorry you had to come all this way, but we're busy today," Conan told him dryly. Haibara couldn't help but bask in the irony. She knew perfectly well that Conan had intended to spend the day in Ekoda again and was only trying to change his mind now due to the embarrassment of Kaito showing up to meet his friends.
"Aww, but I was going to take all you kids out for ice cream!" Kaito said with a mock pout and a hint of mischief that indicated he knew exactly what would come next.
"Ice cream!" the children shouted in unison, jumping for joy and rushing ahead to lead the way to their favorite ice cream parlor.
"That was a dirty trick," Conan grumbled.
"Still a trick~" Kaito beamed at him, reaching down to grab Conan's hand.
Conan gave a few half-hearted tugs to try to free himself until Kaito cheerfully reminded him that they were both still recovering and shouldn't aggravate their injuries. Once again, Conan seemed to recognize the futility of resistance, so merely sighed deeply and made no further complaints.
Haibara trailed behind them, a twisted smile slowly spreading over her face. Excellent. She hadn't been able to see the two of them interact since the day KID flew them home from that heist. She suspected she'd been missing quite a show, judging by Conan's flustered blushing whenever she asked him about the thief. And now she had a front-row seat to the best live romcom in all of Japan. Excellent indeed.
—
Haibara watched with great amusement as Conan deliberately chose the most expensive toppings in a weak attempt to get back at Kaito. An attempt that entirely backfired, judging by the way the thief was smirking in triumph and looking as pleased as if he'd just paid for a date. Which probably wasn't that far off, Haibara thought to herself with glee.
Once they'd settled around an outdoor table with their ice cream, Mitsuhiko finally had the presence of mind to wonder about the cast on Kaito's arm. "How did you get hurt, Kaito-san?" he asked, pointing.
"Oh this?" Kaito replied nonchalantly, lifting his arm to show off the colorful cast already decorated with signatures and doodles. "Gator wrestling."
"Whaaat?" Genta exclaimed. "Nuh-uh!"
"Yeah-huh!" Kaito insisted.
"But there aren't any alligators in Tokyo… right?" Ayumi asked nervously.
"No, no, don't worry," he assured her. "It was in Australia! I was just doing a small errand for the Secret Intelligence Service real quick, but I had to single-handedly fight off a swarm of gators on my way back from rescuing the prime minister. I would've had no trouble, of course, except that I'd already used up all my ammunition fighting off the legions of venomous snakes, and my rocket-powered boomerang got lost in the kangaroo attack."
Even the Detective Boys were sensible enough to laugh at that.
"Is that seriously what you've been telling everyone at school?" Conan asked incredulously.
"Of course not!" Kaito looked affronted at the question. "No, I told Aoko that I got mauled by a unicorn, I told Akako that I lost an arm-wrestling contest with an angry ghost, and I told Hakuba that my arm snapped in two while I was trying to lift his ego." He leaned back in his chair, looking altogether too pleased with himself. "Yeah… he's still not talking to me. It's awesome."
"So what really happened?" Genta asked with an attempt at intimidation that was wholly ruined by the streaks of ice cream already covering his face.
Kaito's next story was even less believable, but it took the children longer to call him on it and demand a new story. And thus the cycle continued. Conan sometimes listened in amusement and sometimes contributed a hard question that would either bring the entire tale crashing down or provide an opportunity for an extravagant side-story. Haibara had never been so entertained.
The afternoon was over before they knew it.
—
Kaito was waiting for them the next day too, casually leaning against the gate and grinning that blindingly bright smile at them.
"If you're well enough to come all the way to Beika, then you're well enough to attend your own classes," Conan told him as a way to cover the obvious excitement he felt at seeing Kaito.
"Funny, that's just what my mom said! And, for your information, I actually did go to school! Then I left early because it was boring and I wanted to see you. Here~" Then, with a dramatic hand gesture, he magically revealed five juice boxes and bent down to offer them to the Detective Boys. The other three took theirs eagerly while Haibara took one so that Conan would be forced to. She looked over expectantly and was rewarded with Conan's deadpan glare as he tried to hide his confusion.
"It was in your sleeve," Conan stated.
"Yes, you're very smart. Take the juice box."
"I don't want it."
"Just take the juice box, Tantei-kun," he said, pushing it forward to gently bump against Conan's nose.
And, as he always did, Conan gave in to Kaito's wishes, but only after making a show of sighing loudly so that everyone in the general vicinity would know just how much he was forced to put up with. But as soon as he took the first sip, his eyes widened in shock. He stared at the juice, then up at Kaito, who smirked back at him. And all of a sudden, Conan was wearing an expression of bliss as he drank, so lost in happiness that he hardly seemed to notice when Kaito took his hand and started leading him after the children toward the park.
Coffee. Haibara knew her idiot friend well enough to recognize that face anywhere — the juice box was a lie. A mere facade for a secret gift of coffee. She hated it when he got his hands on coffee because he had a child's body that was adversely affected by caffeine and also no self-regulation mechanisms whatsoever. It probably wasn't too bad in quantities as small as this, but she still hated it. So she directed a potent, unimpressed stare at the magician, who met her gaze and broke into a Cheshire Cat grin.
'Decaf' he mouthed at her, subtly pointing at Conan. Haibara snorted and turned her head away to hide her face.
She regained her composure, looked up to face Kaito again, and mouthed 'Chai' while pointing at her own drink. He smiled and nodded. Well, perhaps Haibara could learn to get along with this person after all.
—
Once at the park, they all sat down on the grass under a tree, and Haibara noticed with amusement how Conan naturally positioned himself by Kaito's side, so close they were nearly touching. Given the concentration on the detective's face as he focused on inhaling the last drops of secret coffee, he probably hadn't even noticed his subconscious acceptance of their proximity.
"Kaito-san, what's that coin you're holding?" Mitsuhiko asked curiously.
"What coin?" Kaito returned playfully.
"There! It's in your other hand now!" Genta shouted, pointing.
"Ohhh, you mean this coin?" he said, pulling it out from behind Ayumi's ear, much to her delight. And there was no stopping him from there — every new spectator who joined and every gasp of amazement only egged him on further until what felt like every child in the neighborhood and half their parents stood applauding the grand finale nearly half an hour later. Kaito bowed deeply several times while grinning like a maniac.
"All this attention is clearly unhealthy for you," Conan told him dryly after the crowd had dissipated. "You've got a look in your eye like you want to go commit a crime now."
Well, that was certainly true, Haibara thought with a wary glance at the manic glint in the man's eye. At the same time, she knew that Conan was overcompensating in his attempt to appear unimpressed at what was, objectively speaking, a very impressive show. Even she had enjoyed it to the point of not noticing how the time had flown.
"Why, Tantei-kun, I would never! Me, commit a crime? The very idea is simply unthinkable!" Kaito gasped in mock indignation, a hand held dramatically over his heart.
"Yeah! Kaito-oniisan would never commit a crime!" Ayumi reprimanded Conan.
"Yeah! How could you say something like that about someone who's your friend?" Mitsuhiko chided.
Conan's face contorted with all the frustration of a mile-long list of facts and evidence that he wasn't allowed to use in his defense. Kaito's shoulders shook with the force of his silent laughter, and he was smirking so wildly that it was honestly shocking how few people ever suspected his secret identity.
Haibara idly wondered if they would notice if she took out her phone to try to film this fascinating debacle.
"Yeah! And besides," Genta added, "if he did commit a crime, we'd catch him for sure, because we're the Detective Boys!"
"Oh~? All of you are detectives?" Kaito asked, even though he must've surely known the extended monologue this would provoke.
"We're not just detectives, we're the best detectives in our age group — the newspapers said so!" Ayumi boasted. "Hey, hey, Kaito-oniisan, since you're a magician, are you a fan of Kaitou KID?"
"I sure am!" he replied, matching her energy. "I'm his biggest fan!" Then he switched to a more contemplative expression, tapped his chin thoughtfully, and amended, "Well, actually, I guess I'm probably his second-biggest fan."
Only Haibara and Conan noticed the subtle way Kaito's eyes darted to Conan as he spoke, clearly implying who he thought was the 'biggest' fan. Conan immediately shoved his hands into his pockets and found a nice patch of grass to glare at. The children, meanwhile, sensing a willing new audience for their tales of heroism, eagerly began describing every case they'd ever been involved in that had even tangentially involved Kaitou KID.
Kaito seemed absolutely captivated by their stories, and put on a very convincing show of asking the children questions about the 'marvelous KID-sama' and acting surprised by their answers. Judging by Conan's expressions, Kaito must've been doing it entirely to tease the detective. Excellent.
The payback came when Conan finally collected his wits and spoke up to point out a few areas where KID had been 'sloppy' on several occasions and 'made it so easy to guess his disguise that it wasn't any fun at all.' Which, judging by Kaito's expressions, he must've done entirely to tease the magician. Excellent indeed.
Thankfully, the children were utterly oblivious to the flirting going on before their very eyes. In fact, Haibara thought, the two idiots might also be oblivious to their own blatant flirting. How wonderfully comical. Would she eventually have to intervene to help them see their mutual pining? Hmm, that could be fun. But it would still be quite a while before she tired of watching this.
At some point, the children ran out of anecdotes about KID and moved on to other fascinating cases, such as puzzles the Professor had left for them and lost cats they'd found.
Kaito listened in quiet contentment, while Conan wore an expression of almost meditative peacefulness as his eyes subconsciously tracked the magic coin still performing elaborate routines as if by itself. Haibara marveled at both the magician's patience with children and his apparent ability to keep Conan relaxed instead of losing his mind with boredom as he usually would at a time like this. Interesting. And good. The reckless detective could do with a little more patience.
—
Nobody was surprised to find Kaito waiting for them at the gates the next day, and the three children all grabbed the offered juice boxes eagerly. Haibara took hers and was pleased to find that her 'apple juice' was indeed a front for a sweet and spicy Chai.
"How is it, Ojousan?"
She started to reply that it was too sweet, stopped herself, considered it a moment, took another analytical sip, then gave a single curt nod. "Passable."
He beamed at her, then, without a backwards glance at Conan, started to stand up.
"Oi oi," Conan interrupted, tugging on Kaito's sleeve to keep him within reach. "Forgetting someone?"
Kaito suddenly turned to him, his face inches away from Conan's, with a suspicious sly grin on his face. Then he switched to a perfectly innocent smile that might as well have been a verbal declaration that he was up to no good, and held up a juice box.
Right as Conan lifted his hand, Kaito pulled back so that his hand was just out of reach. Conan glared at him, and they froze in a standoff for a second. Then Conan fell right into the trap, lunging for the juice box, which disappeared so quickly that he lost his balance and ended up inadvertently pressed against Kaito with his arms around his neck. Kaito grinned like a maniac and wrapped his arms around Conan in return.
"Aww, Tantei-kun, you're so cute! If you wanted a hug, all you had to do was say so~!"
Conan barely had time to begin a stammered complaint before he was released and had a secret cup of coffee placed in his hands. Haibara could practically see the inner turmoil play out across his face before he finally settled on a mild scowl and silent acceptance. Kaito couldn't look happier.
Haibara was slightly disappointed that the magician was so easily satisfied. Oh well, she thought, it was a start. Hopefully he would raise his standards over time.
—
As the group walked leisurely down the sidewalk toward the park, the children stopped short at Ayumi's loud gasp. "Did you hear that?" she asked.
"It sounded like a cat!" Genta yelled.
"We should check on it in case it's lost!" Mitsuhiko added urgently.
"Wait, no, you guys, there's no cat, it's just a dumb trick—" Conan tried to explain, but was too late to quell their enthusiasm. He shot a dirty look at the prankster who was holding his hand and feigning innocence.
The children continued chasing the 'cat' even though it seemed to be always just out of sight around the next corner. It led them block after block, down increasingly narrow side streets and into a residential district. Conan attempted several more times to inform them of Kaito's talent for ventriloquism and bad habit of messing with people. But each time Kaito would turn to the children with an expression of such genuine hurt in Conan's distrust and concern for the 'poor lost cat,' that Conan's friends would always berate him for his 'false accusations.' He was now thoroughly flustered and muttering unkind things under his breath, while Kaito and Haibara could barely contain their mirth.
"Kekekeke!" Kaito snickered at him, causing Conan to blush and stare down at the sidewalk. "Come now, Tantei-kun! Do you really believe I would lead you astray like this?" he teased.
"YES."
"How mean! Wouldn't you feel bad now if there really was a lost little kitty?"
"But there isn't, and you know—" he was cut off by the shouts from the kids, who had rounded the next corner then started sprinting. Conan managed to free himself from Kaito's grip on his hand to join them, then stopped in his tracks and gave his most scathing deadpan glare back toward the magician.
Conan pressed his hands together in front of his face when he spoke, enunciating clearly and slowly to properly convey the depth of his disappointment. "I. Can not. Believe! That you drugged. Every. Single. Cat. In the entire district! For a stupid. Prank!"
"Aw, it's just a little ol' catnip!"
"It no longer counts as 'just' anything when you dump ten kilos of it into the middle of the street like this! I'm pretty sure this counts as vandalism! Look, you even blocked the traffic down this stretch of road! Where did you even get this much catnip?"
"Oh, tomato, to-mah-to, the cats love it! And just think, now the brave Detective Boys will get to return so many lost cats to their owners! After we pet them all and take lots of pictures, of course~!"
Conan made a meme-worthy 'wtf' face at him. "I can not believe we're even friends."
"I know! Usually you have such bad luck that it must feel really strange to win the lottery for once, eh~?"
Conan's scowl only deepened, and he turned his face away, which Haibara recognized as his tell for whenever he tried to use irritation to force other emotions away. Kaito must've noticed this too, radiating joy as he was. When he held his hand out, Conan took it automatically.
Haibara was torn between watching her favorite live soap opera or trying to wade through the sea of stoned cats around her ankles. The cats won this round. She just really loved animals. Were any of these cats strays? What would the Professor say if one of them happened to follow her home? Perhaps it was worth finding out.
—
And just like that, it became routine. Kaito always waited for them outside the gates after school, presented them with juice boxes, extorted a hug from his favorite detective, then took Conan's hand as the group walked together toward whatever the rest of the day held for them.
After several more instances of Kaito skipping his own lessons to meet them after school, Conan mysteriously hung back one day to volunteer for some clean-up tasks. He must've told the thief to stop skipping and promised to wait for him in return. Well, Haibara had nothing better to do than watch them, so of course she volunteered with Conan, only smirking at him when he gave her a look for it. The Detective Boys then also deduced what was happening and stayed as well. Nobody seemed to mind the extra chores, even when they fell into a habit of volunteering every single day, since all of them were always excited to see Kaito (even if one of them still pretended not to care, which was an act that was getting flimsier by the day).
The only surprising part about all of it was just how naturally Kaito fit into their ordinary, everyday lives. He played soccer with them, went to the library to do homework with them, played video games with them, and joined in passionate discussions about the latest Kamen Yaiba episodes with them. At first, Conan had been visibly reluctant and embarrassed to allow Kaito to see so much of his child persona. That was only natural: Shinichi hated being Conan, found it demeaning and humiliating, and most people who saw it (such as certain Osakan detectives) would make fun of him for it.
Kaito clearly had no such ideas; rather, the simple fact that he participated in everything with no hint of shame or condescension, instead enjoying himself with an easy and natural confidence, actually helped Conan accept this part of his life. He seemed more at ease these days, less upset about being stuck in elementary school, and more cheerful. Clearly the international criminal was a good influence on the renowned detective.
With Kaito becoming such an integral and normal part of their daily routine, it was only a matter of time until he was present for a murder.
It happened in a café. They were seated in a corner booth, Conan positioned unnaturally close to Kaito and the rest of them sitting at normal distances around the table to Conan's other side. They were in the middle of a heated discussion regarding fan theories for the upcoming Gomera movie when suddenly a scream pierced the air.
Kaito and Conan were the first to react and reach the scene. Conan bent over the body and placed two fingers to check for a pulse, then stood with a stony expression and ordered that no one leave. Kaito was already dialing the emergency number, while also subtly directing the children away from the body.
Conan immediately fell into case mode, casting his sharp gaze about the room for clues and listening in on the stammered explanations from confused witnesses who were more than a little surprised to have three small children relentlessly interrogating them. As annoying and disruptive as the children could be sometimes, they had at least learned how to ask decent interrogation questions by now. At times, it could even be more effective like this, as it did have a way of throwing people off-balance and getting them to lower their guard. Either way, it was better than having the kids poking around an actual corpse.
The police arrived ten minutes later and dutifully removed the children from the crime scene with their usual insistence about too much murder being unhealthy for young children, despite the loud protests from the kids. That's when Conan noticed Kaito waiting patiently at their booth, propping his head up on his hand. Conan instinctively hurried to his side.
"Hey," Conan said, placing one of his small hands on the other's knee. Haibara wondered if he even realized he was doing it at this point.
"Hey," Kaito smiled at him, and placed his other hand in Conan's hair. And yeah, Conan absolutely didn't consciously realize what he was doing, or else he wouldn't be subtly leaning into the touch like that.
"Sorry about this. Are you doing ok?"
"Hmm, it's fine. I mean, I don't like dead bodies, but I do like watching you solve a case, so it evens out ok."
"You're not going to be traumatized or anything?" Conan pressed, concerned.
"Depends. How are you going to comfort me if I am?" he answered with a smirk, wiggling his eyebrows.
"Tsk. Baby." That was definitely the insult version and not the pet-name version, but Kaito grinned all the same. As usual, his energy was contagious, invariably brightening the mood of anyone who stood too close.
"So have you figured out the case then, love?" Kaito asked quietly. He was careful to only use pet names in private when no one else could overhear, and Haibara was ecstatic to find that her presence still counted as 'in private.' Watching Conan flush and try to choose between looking annoyed and pretending it didn't happen was perfectly awkward, and she loved it. Friendship could be so rewarding, really.
"Yeah, now I just need to figure out a good person to dart."
"I can do it! Uh, the deduction show, not the darting," Kaito clarified hastily at the strange look Conan gave him.
Conan was caught off-guard by that. "You don't mind?" he asked, surprised.
"Happy to~"
"Well… thank you," he said sincerely, and handed one of his tiny speakers to Kaito, who tucked it under his collar and strode over to the police with confident ease.
"Well, I think he's lovely," Haibara told Conan as soon as the other teen was out of earshot. "You have fine taste in men."
Too bad he wasn't drinking anything at the moment; otherwise he probably would've choked on it with his reaction. "Haibara! Honestly, what's wrong with you?" Conan hissed at her.
"No really, it's a compliment," she insisted, wondering just how red Conan's face could become. She wanted to find out. For science. "You two make a very sweet couple."
"Oh for— No, I am not dealing with this! Seriously, knock it off!" he retorted angrily. He fumbled the bowtie only a little as he attempted to regain his composure, then refocused on the case and began the deduction show with Kaito.
—
The culprit confessed, the police thanked Kaito for his 'lucky guesses from watching too many spy movies,' and the rest of the Detective Boys accepted Takagi-keiji's offer of a ride home. Conan knew they just liked the novelty of riding in a police car (and Haibara didn't like walking), but he suspected Kaito probably wasn't keen on the idea. Besides, Conan could use some fresh air after everything, so he insisted on walking home. Kaito, of course, insisted on accompanying him. So they waved goodbye to the others and set off down the sidewalk together, hand in hand as always.
Try as he might, Conan couldn't get a read on his friend's mood. Sure, the bounce in his step and subtle humming and peaceful aura about him all seemed normal, but that couldn't possibly be right, could it? Not everybody was as tragically accustomed to murder as he was. Conan wasn't sure what he expected. Would Kaito berate him? Or complain about the frequency of dead bodies in his presence? Maybe he'd stop showing up at the school gates, or worse, bottle it all up to suffer in silence like Ran always did? Conan waited in apprehension for some sign, but, after several blocks of companionable silence, as Kaito's infectious cheer steadily drove his worries away, Conan made the bold and unprecedented decision to try to address the issue with actual words.
"Kaito?" he asked, rather more shyly than he'd meant to. The effect was far more intense than he'd anticipated, with Kaito reflexively tensing and tightening his grip on Conan's hand. A moment too late, Conan realized why and could've smacked himself. Why had he used the dumb thief's first name? No honorifics even? How could he slip up so badly? Come to think of it, exactly how long had he been thinking of him as 'Kaito' rather than 'KID' or even 'Kuroba'? And why hadn't any of this struck him as odd before?
But Kaito's surprise had already vanished, to be replaced with only warm affection. "Shinichi?" he replied, quietly enough that only Conan could hear him.
"Um," Conan tried to stifle his embarrassment to get back to his original question. "Are you ok? I mean, there was a murder. And you're not used to dead bodies. So…"
"That's true. Thanks for asking. But I'm ok."
"Kaito, I…" he dropped his head with a sigh. "This sort of thing happens around me all the time."
"Oh really gee I had no idea wow this is such a shocking surprise."
"I'm serious! Nobody can be my friend without getting caught up in murders and kidnappings and bomb threats and terrorist attacks and… well, it's just ridiculous! Honestly, it's really dangerous to spend any amount of time near me."
The grip on his hand tightened, and Kaito replied firmly, "I'm not going anywhere."
"But—"
"This is part of your life, isn't it? And that's why I come all the way to Beika every day, to be part of your life. All of it. Together. Got it?"
Conan blushed without knowing why, feeling vaguely warm all over. "I— …yeah, got it." It felt odd to just agree that easily, but he already knew by now that it was pointless to argue with the stubborn thief. He assured himself that was why he didn't feel like putting up more resistance. He felt like he was supposed to say more, but couldn't figure out what that might be. But the lull in the conversation didn't carry any awkwardness, and his concerns once again began dissipating as they continued on and the humming resumed. He chanced a quick glance up at his friend's smile, genuine and warm, and found that he actually believed that they would be ok.
"Kaito?"
"Hm?"
"Thanks."
Author's Notes:
Next Up: Back to Ran's POV as she finds a somewhat familiar stranger in her living room and has an interesting conversation with him.