A/N: Hello! The original chapter 5 was originally intended as a longer than usual special, divided into smaller parts, similar to Detective's Koshien. However I had ended having to split it up due to life hitting very hard at the end of 2021. Only recently did I manage to come back and make revisions to some details that bothered me in the published parts to date. I decided to commit to the split chapters and go with it.
The two updates today are still from 2021. These two years have truly been a journey, and my goal is to have the last part before the end of 2023.
Thank you for waiting. Let's begin!
Approach of Absolute ZERO
by fluxfiction
5. Poker Face (Opening)
Another school day, another shiner.
"FISH!" screeches Kaito, as he leaps to his toes, shooting upright. "You just tipped fish onto my desk! A bazillion of them!"
The culprit closes the lid on her ice box. Her wild hair is no more extreme than her drastic measures, and she adds pointedly, "You called Aoko heavy and asked if she was getting fat."
"And my concern f-for you means f-f-f-f—finny things?!" Kaito demands.
Even as he speaks, the finny things have conquered his desk with sheer numbers. The pile of scaly, shiny, slippery monsters lie wordlessly on the tabletop. They have no hope, no future, these defrosted eldritch beings from the frozen goods section of the supermarket. Aoko proceeds to throw some gleaming corpses at Kaito, and Kaito's reflex has him transposing all the fish off of his desk into a hidden packet.
Once the minor smokescreen dissipates, Aoko's disappointment manifests in the most minuscule pout. It's flattering for a full moment how she acts like he's truly made items disappear from the mortal plane. Then horror dawns, like sunshine on dewdrops.
He has to remove the f... fish.
Uuuguhuuugh.
"I suppose you haven't heard the news," comments a voice in a light, pompous accent. Hakuba strides up, joining Kaito and Aoko, making Kaito think his situation cannot possibly get any worse.
"News?" Kaito asks. "What news?"
"Strange, I thought you would have known by now."
"Oi..."
"Or, perhaps..." Hakuba turns and offers a hand to Aoko like he's a gentleman. "KID's newest heist notice is a fake. What say you, Miss Nakamori?"
In hindsight, Kaito should have known better than to tempt fate. Aoko accepts Hakuba's hand, her cheeks slightly pinked. "Aoko's dad is going to catch that thief!"
Unlikely, Kaito thinks, since he's secretly Kaitou KID.
"Back in Japan for three days and you're already getting on my nerves," Kaito mutters, unlocking his tablet. "I've been busy, not like you know what that means. Let's see..."
KAITOU KID DECLARES HEIST ON FLORAL FORTUNE
He is indeed greeted with the news of a brand new KID heist notice.
Hakuba comes up next to him. "What do you think?"
Fake, obviously, is what Kaito thinks, since he's KID and he certainly didn't send the notice. The Floral Fortune is pictured in the article as a draped necklace with a nature motif, made of silver overlaid with gold. Delicate enamel veins adorn its hand-fabricated metalwork. The photograph, a publicly released image of a private collection piece, is taken in artificial studio lighting, processed with digital touch-ups. The reflections in the central gem are unusually bright.
Many know that KID has taken to jewels. Far fewer realise the Floral Fortune is a piece which has already appeared on Jii's list of jewellery already checked for Pandora.
Certainly,
I will reclaim natural luck from a king without one.
Kaitou Kid
Hakuba indicates the deep green emerald with a fracture on its outer face.
"Fifteen years ago, Kaitou KID made an attempt to steal the Floral Fortune at a Parisian gala. It happened to fall from his pocket and hit the ground during his escape."
There's no way that fracture came from an accident, thinks Kaito. He's tempted to say so and test Hakuba's credentials. But he shouldn't. He's a phantom thief.
"Before the police were able to recover the gem, it was stolen again by a second thief," Hakuba continues. "When the second thief's hideout was found, the gem had been stolen by a third. Finally, after a month had passed, the gem reappeared, damaged, signed by Kaitou KID."
"So people think he stole it from the second thief," says Kaito, "and according to the note, he's coming to take it again after Saturday."
"Oh?"
The conversation is cut short by a sudden commotion from the window. A group of girls have gathered, Keiko and Aoko among them, peering outside onto the grounds.
"Look, there he is!" says Keiko. "He's so cool!"
"It's true," says Aoko.
If Aoko hasn't started her anti-KID rant, they can't be talking about him. Curious, Kaito goes up to Aoko's other side.
The instant he glimpses what the girls are looking at, his blood turns to ice.
"Kaito—" Aoko yelps as Kaito appears in her way, pushing her back and out of sight. Her fingers hit his school uniform, scrabbling for a grip. "What are you—let go!"
Kaito senses movement and ducks Aoko's swing. It tears his vision away from the blond, dark-skinned man dressed neatly in a suit and slacks, an image which lingers like a bad taste. The man's face, relaxed and passive, is nothing like the cold, flinty stare behind a shiny, finely-engineered semi-automatic handgun of German make. Gaudy and sophisticated, the weapon spoke volumes of the criminal that Tantei-kun had KID lure away from little miss Haibara on Suzuki Jirokochi's Mystery Express.
Aoko throws a second punch. He dodges it. Then he plants his hands on Aoko's back, fingers against the bumps of her bra strap. "If you're not getting heavier, take more breaks when you're studying!"
She turns red. "Kaito...!"
"Look, you're all hunched up!" Kaito risks a glance back to the window under the guise of a careless toss of his head. "I thought it was an elephant I was hearing, but it was actually your footsteps!"
Thump. That does it. Aoko storms deeper into the classroom, past Hakuba, far enough that she's no longer visible from the window. Tension leaves his frame until she picks up his desk by its sides and raises it towards the heavens.
A threat from above. A clear directive to repent.
"WHO ARE YOU CALLING AN ELEPHANT, BA-KAITO?!"
A pile of bright, shiny, scaly fish tumble onto her shoulders and land on her head.
"It's not Aoko's fault you haven't been going home at the usual time," Aoko mutters as they leave school. "You'd have seen that guy earlier if you weren't staying back to catch up on what you missed."
Kaito tries to not make a face at how she still smells vaguely fishy. Study period ended at a snail's pace, and he's still pondering how to get rid of the blond with a gun. So far he's ruled out chopping heads, dagger boxes, saw-a-man-in-half, and pretending that school has permanently burned down.
"Yeah? What's that guy doing here?" Kaito asks, pulling his outdoor shoes from his locker. Maybe if he drops a few hints around Wannabe Sherlock and the Task Force Leader's daughter...
"He's Hakuba's new housekeeper."
They're suddenly in the school courtyard and Aoko appears in front of his face. "...re you okay, Kaito? Does Aoko need to reboot you? Just now you were completely frozen, like a computer program—"
"What," says Kaito. "I thought you said he's Hakuba's new housekeeper."
She huffs. "That's exactly what Aoko said!"
A noise escapes Kaito's throat like a dying f... f—
"Kaito! Were you listening to Aoko? The teachers are saying you won't get into any university if you keep skipping classes all the time!"
"F-f-f-f-f-f—"
"Unless you're not going?" Aoko asks. She fiddles with her hem and her expression turns downcast.
Kaito sighs, closing one of his hands in his pockets. He swallows over the distance that's appeared between them. Any last thoughts of finny things leave for good.
"The truth is, Aoko..." he starts, "I need to find something."
"Something?" she asks, looking into him with big eyes.
"Something you'll never find, dummy."
"What's that?"
Kaito doesn't bother pushing through the crowd of students leaving through the gate. He breaks into a run and jumps the fence. They've been childhood friends for a dozen years. He doesn't need to look back to confirm her startled expression.
He doesn't look back as she tries to follow him.
"Kaito—!"
Outside the Ekoda High School grounds, one blond transfer student and one blond undercover agent watch Kuroba Kaito leap over a high wall and vanish around the next corner. The daughter of the Metropolitan Police's KID Task Force lead, Nakamori Aoko, appears almost a second later. Her hands rest on her knees and she sighs with worry thick and puzzled.
She catches a glimpse of Saguru and their eyes meet. A shot of pleasant fondness fills Saguru like hot chocolate. He waves, ignoring the usual disappointment. He's pinpointed her essence of indelible inspiration from the day he first joined their classroom. She wields it whenever she offers answers, a small furrow between her brows, her voice ringing clearly with no hesitation. All signs show she's clearly fond of Kuroba.
Kuroba has no idea what he's losing by being distant.
"A classmate?" asks Amuro Tooru, the new housekeeper hired by his Baaya shortly before her retirement.
"Yes," says Saguru. "She and the boy who jumped the fence are both in my class."
"And the KID notice, sir?" Amuro asks, walking with Saguru to the car.
Saguru observes Aoko's departure. "He's already deduced it means Saturday."
"That's impressive."
"The puzzle was elementary."
They reach the Hakuba family's gunmetal AC Cobra. Amuro has well noted Saguru's attention to time, and Saguru has a good impression of Amuro's timeliness. His new housekeeper is meticulous in ensuring the car arrives at least five minutes before final period ends. Amuro opens the door for Saguru in the manner of someone trained in European white gloved service.
"I'd say your classroom is very lively," Amuro comments.
Saguru takes the passenger seat, counting seconds in his head. Eight minutes and thirty seconds past the hour: he leaves school. "You wouldn't know the half of it."
Kuroba Kaito, KID the Phantom Thief, is getting predictable. His escape is hardly a disappearing act. There's no other explanation for why he's in the Blue Parrot billiards bar. Aoko's come with him many times and she knows that his father's old assistant is one of the few people he trusts following Kuroba Touichi's dramatic on-stage death. She and the rest of the world still believe it to be an accident.
Kaito's adventures as KID has revealed to him the truth: his father was murdered.
Kounosuke Jii sensed Kaito's mood as soon as he stepped into the front door. The bar is closed without question or comment. This habit of seeking Jii-chan out would one day come back to bite him, Kaito knows. But for now, his little outburst to Aoko would keep her out of the way. She'll go home and call for advice from his globe-trotting mother.
She's all yours, mum.
"Did you find anything, Jii-chan?" Kaito asks, changed into a set of spare clothes he keeps at Jii's.
"Young master Kaito," says Jii, watching Kaito pick two cues from the rack. "The photo you sent me of this man, I'm still looking into it, but... all I can tell is that he was a popular waiter in Beika City up until a handful of months ago, Amuro Tooru."
"Beika, huh..." Kaito sets up the closest billiards table. He lines up with the centre of the cue, and follows through on the break. The balls spin from the force of impact, hurtling into separate areas of the table. He has a bad feeling and he trusts his feelings. "That's where the squirt is. Are they related?"
"The cafe which Amuro used to work at, Café Poirot, is—"
"—the one under the kid's detective agency. Shit." Kaito's first shot, wide open, misses the cue ball and whiffs. "What's he doing with Hakuba?"
"No idea, young master." Jii sounds genuinely distressed. "It seems he doesn't like being photographed, and any other records are few and far between. One blogger claims she recognised him previously as a clerk in Ginza. But I cannot verify the statement's accuracy."
Kaito corrects his posture and focuses on centre table. He finishes off the rest of his shots.
The ninth ball drops into a corner pocket and the table is cleared.
Jii has a cup of coffee ready, just how Kaito likes it. Kaito takes a seat at the counter and takes it gratefully.
"The new heist?" says Kaito.
"I saw the news. I didn't think you would put forward a notice."
"It wasn't me. More importantly, you're sure the Floral Fortune is definitely not Pandora?"
Jii nods. "Master Touichi mentioned it was a false lead. At the time I wasn't aware he was speaking of Pandora. Floral Fortune's heart is a combination of emerald and quartz. The Pandora gem sought by his killers, which is said to contain an inner stone which grants immortality, explains why he was searching for doublets. Master Touichi stole the jewel and was the one to return it from those who stole it from him."
Finishing his coffee, Kaito ponders.
"Young master, forgive Jii for changing the subject," Jii continues, "However... did you ever explain why you felt the need to go to Singapore?"
Kaito produces a deck of unmarked cards with red backs. "There was a fake calling card in the elevator, remember?"
"Yes, but... you could have ignored it and let the police conduct their process."
"Not with all that online activity." He springs the deck, cards leaping off his fingers and into his waiting hand. "That spike in rumours about KID, all the gossip about KID's nationality? The most active users posted in East Asian time zones. Know what I found in Singapore? That speculation designed to ruin my reputation didn't turn out to be a coincidence."
"Then it was planned, young master?"
"By that Leon Lowe, the one who masterminded the murder. His network ID matched multiple personalities. Online, they call them 'sock puppets', fake identities made to spread information. Drawing me out for his own use—an easy trick for a criminal behaviour psychologist."
And if what he understood was correct, Lowe had used a similar mind trick on Makoto Kyougoku to manipulate his belief into losing.
"I see..." says Jii. "Then the search you asked me to run, I found something that might explain how he did it."
Kaito neatens up the deck he's cutting one-handedly. "You did?"
Jii nods and gestures for Kaito to follow. They walk past the pool table which Kaito is yet to reset and Jii extracts a file folder from a hidden nook. Kaito flips through the contents.
"Singapore's reputation for being home to business made it appear as a potential destination for the original KID," Jii explains. "Furthermore, many of the wealthy owned art collections which might be targeted by an international phantom thief."
Kaito closes the folder. "Leon Lowe was involved with making an assessment of dad while he was a psychologist with the Singaporean police."
"That's correct, young master."
"Did dad ever go to Singapore, Jii-chan?"
"Not that I know."
"Then Lowe used my return as the great Kaitou KID to prevent his research from going to waste. Tch."
"One last thing, Master Kaito," says Jii. "Leon Lowe... I examined his properties. In addition to his Singapore mansion, he owns a condominium in Tokyo and another in San Francisco."
"That's a lot of inheritances."
Jii turns his laptop around, navigating between menus to bring up historical snapshots. Images of a city appear, spaces made for walking filled with people, pixels depicting electric energy. Distinctive trees line the street and a miniature shrine is visible through one shopfront. The architecture and atmosphere matches a Japanese street. Modern buildings suggest a location close to a city centre. "I examined his properties, and..."
The next image appears with two figures, wearing all black. Blurry and yet distinct, Kaito recognises one of them and grips the table without thinking.
"Snake," he hisses.
The second figure is taller than Snake. Long silver hair falls over the edge of a longer black coat. The position of the elbows and hips indicate a high centre of gravity belonging to a man.
Jii hesitates. "There are rumours of this person... a professional assassin who specialises in creating untraceable kills and unfortunate accidents."
"Then..."
"It seems that master Touichi was too famous to be eliminated through any usual methods."
Kaito doesn't know why he looks outside. He happens to see a black car coming to a stop. It has round fenders and headlights, a unique shape to the rear. There's movement and Kaito ducks as one of the windows rolls open shop-side, revealing a tall figure with a hat. A stream of silver hair and a collar of a long black coat flashes out.
It's not the first time Lady Luck has smiled on Kaitou KID, nor will it be the last. But Kuroba Kaito has a bad feeling about the person, and he trusts his feelings.
"Snake's group outsourced the hit," he whispers.
"Korn. Kir. Do you see a child?"
"I see boy," confirms Korn. "Taking photo. Will send one."
"Do we kill him?" Kir asks nervously.
"No," says Gin. "Not yet. Follow him, and find where he lives."
In the stairwell they're stationed, Korn and Kir exchange a look. For all Chianti goes on about Vermouth's habit of shooting underlings when they are no longer useful to her, if Gin is changing the target, then this is a situation about his pride, not their money.
Kir chooses her words carefully. "If Chianti was here, she would say something smells, wouldn't she?"
Stoic Korn seems to blink. Kir thinks that means he's listening.
"Chianti," says Korn. "Is not here."
In well-practised movements, they pack the pieces of their gear.
"That photo," she says, "May I get a copy?"
Korn finishes zipping up his bag.
"Boy," says Korn. "Short. I will hunt boy."
"You don't want my help?" asks Kir, managing to sound insulted.
"You..." Korn pauses. "You like children."
Korn gets to his feet. The line opens before Kir can express offence.
"Be quick. Finish up," says Gin. "The next target is Agasa Hiroshi, an inventor in Beika."
Korn looks at Kir, who is more familiar with Beika than himself.
"Alright," says Kir, seeing no other choice. "I'll take the Beika target."
"Not a child," says Korn. There's a light in his goggles, almost like he's pleased for her ability to do a job without a crisis of conscience. "Shoot target happy."
Absurd.
Kir might just be imagining it.
Zero's message comes in with the number of a coin locker, a date, and a key code. The information takes a few minutes to extract from the encoding, but once Shin'ichi accomplishes it, he waits for the day to come and responds with an affirmative.
The drop is a key to Furuya Rei's house.
A phone rings on his way to Kazami's. These days he carries three phones: Conan's and Shin'ichi's and Furuya Rei's. He needs to get a dual-SIM device, but until then, he keeps Conan's and Furuya's in his pockets. Shin'ichi's phone is in a backpack.
The backpack also contains his glasses, suspenders, various tracers, and the set of elevator inserts which are supposed to contain his latest gadget.
He isn't wearing the elevator inserts since they do not currently contain his latest gadget.
Conan's phone is ringing, and Shin'ichi answers it. "Hey Professor, what's your update?"
"Well, repairs on the recording devices will take longer than expected."
"Sheesh, still mechanical issues?"
"Yes, I'm afraid. There was some interference I didn't anticipate from the kick system in your sneakers."
"Shouldn't you have tested for that?"
"I should have, yes... but you'll also love these upgrades! That said, Shin'ichi—you're still using the satellite wristwatch, aren't you?"
"Yes," says Shin'ichi, who's been keeping it just in case, though he hasn't called Hattori since the Osakan's near-accident on a motorway. He's wearing it today: this amazing gadget with a tranquiliser needle, satellite communications and USB device functionality, while the normal wristwatch is charging at Kazami's. "Why?"
"I'm thinking of taking it to market," Agasa replies. "Without the stun-gun, of course. I'll embed an LCD screen in the face and add sensors for fitness tracking, altitude and velocity of movement. Then, brushed aluminium and retro fittings. It'll be a smart watch with real space-age flair and double as a portable memory storage device! What do you think?"
"I think we're a little past the original space age, Professor."
This area of urban Tokyo starts to drop off in foot traffic. Shin'ichi drops his skateboard and hops onto it. He doesn't feel guilty about not wearing the elevator inserts, since he's more used to skateboarding without them. He flips the board while waiting for the light to change.
It's not weird if Kazami Shin knows how to skateboard. Is it?
He hops off the board and onto a pedestrian overpass. Over the sight of the multi-lane road, he takes in the view of streams of cars bordered by office blocks and foliage green. Removed from the flow of people, it's like he's witnessing pieces of the world assembled into a whole. The crowds, collectives full of individuals, are served by the transmission antennas and lightning rods on the roofs where buildings touch the sky. Truths, motives and reasons are layered underneath thousands of public faces.
Kudou Shin'ichi is hidden as Edogawa Conan. Edogawa Conan is hidden as Kazami Shin.
Unlike the people around him, his layers are not to protect social unity. They're layers to protect him.
The crowd walks around the young man on the pedestrian overpass, hidden in plain sight. The young man scrolls to a number on his recent calls.
Ran-neechan, 52 minutes ago.
"Ran," he murmurs, trying to remember the sound of her voice speaking his real name.
Shin'ichi puts the phone away. He finishes crossing the overpass, jumping the last step like he's a child.
He's been thinking, and his feet take him to the building called the Blue Parrot where Zero arranged his third identity. His thoughts come back to something which has bothered him since Zero told him about his friend who died undercover in the Black Organization.
Shin'ichi's parents were the ones who gave him a way to disguise himself.
They have nothing to do with Zero's motives and Kazami Shin.
Possibility: Yuusaku has made a deduction that Shin'ichi hasn't.
Wherever Yuusaku gets his information—not the FBI, nor the Japanese police—
He must have decided that pulling Shin'ichi out of Japan was worth the risk.
Shin'ichi leaps onto the skateboard and accelerates to a new destination, determination in each heartbeat. The bookstore is on the second floor of a four story building. He hops out of the elevator, circles around the walls which house the elevator shaft, and passes the stairs as he enters the shop. Shop staff welcome him in a chorus. He glances briefly at a line of magazines before making his way to the latest bestsellers arranged near a window overlooking the main street.
There it is: the latest Night Baron book, published two months ago. Yuusaku had been working on it in Hawaii during their discussions about spies. Whatever he had been thinking about, it would be in there.
"Hey, kid," says a familiar voice. "What'd you do to be followed by a Porsche?"
Shin'ichi has never had the same reflexes as Ran does. He freezes, his blood running cold. Kudou Shin'ichi smiles down at him in casual clothes, thumbs resting casually at his belt.
Now that outfit—a rolled silver jacket, a three-quarter sleeve shirt with a punkish logo on the front—is something that Shin'ichi is sure he'll never wear in his life. But there's a dream like this, a distant memory of Amuro Tooru in all black and Kaitou KID falling into him after being shot in the heart. He shouldn't be surprised about being identified: he's got Conan's skateboard and the prosthetics for Kazami Shin would easily be seen through by a master of disguise.
The words register after the voice. A Porsche.
KID is here, disguised as Kudou Shin'ichi.
Shin'ichi dives for the thief and quickly pulls him behind a stand. He doesn't let go of KID's hand until they're near the stationery corner, shelves of planners a strange parody of how today's plans have gone awry all at once.
"That Porsche," Shin'ichi hisses, "is it a black 356A, with left-side steering?"
KID scratches his cheek. "Yup."
"Did they see you?!"
"Possibly? Is that your best greeting now, meitantei? After I came to do a public service—"
Shin'ichi stares into the face so similar to his own. KID stares back, and there's never been a police force able to catch him for good reason. He has a nose for danger and a knack for navigating precarious situations. The dawning horror on the Kudou Shin'ichi disguise must be mirroring the expression under Kazami Shin's.
Simultaneously, with the instincts of two people who have suffered the consequences of each other's decisions, they duck behind the shelf of planners.
Inside the black Porsche 356A, parked in a side street which gives its occupants a wide view of the road, Gin receives contact from Korn first.
"Following boy," says Korn. "Tracking enabled."
Gin does not wait for Vodka to finish setting up a laptop. He holds out his fingers, and Vodka stops what he's doing to hand over a set of binoculars. The binoculars are pointed towards the window of the building which housed Korn and Kir. Gin adjusts the focus until the image clears.
Then he hangs up on Korn and dials Kir.
"You aren't with Korn," Gin tells her, watching her answer the phone.
"We're splitting up to cover ground," says Kir. "How should I take this Agasa?"
"Did I say to split up?"
"Both requests sounded urgent. Is that a problem?"
She tries to hide it, but her discomfort is still obvious. She's too soft with children.
But she's not wrong. Gin allows it.
"Spook him." Gin forwards her the image of the old man sent to him by his contact. "He's created something that releases fireworks. Make the inventor sweat until he squeals."
"Anything specific?"
"You're a popular woman on TV. Promise him an exclusive segment... under the condition his background check passes scrutiny."
"Understood."
Beep-beep. Vodka has finished with the laptop, which has now registered the tracking device in Korn's equipment. Korn's position lights up on a map. There's a moment's pause and then Kir's positional beacon appears too.
If Gin is easily pleased, he would have smiled. But he understands it as an attempt by her to regain his trust. She knows her place.
The beacons move, and time passes.
"Boy entering shops," Korn's voice says, on loudspeaker. Vodka must have connected to his phone. "Clear to approach."
The shops in question are a handful of minutes away by road. Gin starts the car, letting the 356A's classic engine noise ripple throughout the leather interior. He follows a route which enters another side road. The street is narrow enough to make an ordinary person nervous about driving an expensive import.
It has no public parking. Gin takes the empty private parking space for a shop which is closed.
Some further communication has Vodka indicating a four-storey building on the opposite side of the main road. Gin reads the signs. Office supply shop, home supplies, craft shop, bookstore.
"Seems... he's meeting someone," Korn reports.
Vodka picks up the binoculars and goes still. "Bro," he says.
"What?" Gin responds.
"That's Kudou Shin'ichi. No doubt."
"Who?"
"He... he's supposed to be dead. You poisoned him, bro. At Tropical Land."
Gin narrows his eyes. "And Vermouth?"
"Can't be her, bro." Vodka says. "She brushed us off for a party, remember? Some kinda Chris Vineyard business."
Gin holds a hand out and Vodka gives him the phone.
"Korn," Gin orders. "That item for the other mission. Use it."
"Understood."
In many ways, Vodka isn't like Gin. Give him a knife or a revolver and Vodka can entertain himself for a day.
Vodka grins.
Shin'ichi and the fake Shin'ichi duck behind the shelf of planners just as an alarm begins to sound from beneath the flooring. There's a drawn-out pause, like an intake of breath, as shoppers grow puzzled about the interruption to their ordinary lives. The two in disguise exchange a glance, sharing the same thought.
This is not a coincidence.
They don't have many vantage points to review the situation. The stationery corner is just that: a corner in a deeper part of the store. The closest windows are several sections away, and Shin'ichi pulled the phantom thief here with the intention of getting them out of sight, not to survey.
"Everything must always be as exciting as an action movie around you," KID remarks helpfully.
Shin'ichi bites down his retort as the screaming begins.
"There's smoke!"
"It's a fire!"
Between one beat and the next, the shop's evacuation procedures kick in. The two crouching boys find themselves being yelled at by an individual wearing a reflective vest.
"They're smoking you out," says Shin'ichi flatly.
"I'm not the one at fault, chibi-tantei," KID protests.
"Any disguise, you could have picked any disguise, and you picked my face?"
"How was I meant to know you were pretending to play dead!"
A loud shattering sound comes from the window side. The smell of smoke permeates the air before they see it. As Shin'ichi covers his nose and mouth, he's sure that KID's handkerchief wasn't there one second previously.
KID's expression darkens at first whiff.
"Ammonium nitrate and newspaper," says KID.
"They must have tied it to a rock," finishes Shin'ichi.
The person in the reflective vest comes up to them, telling them to get up, to get out before the situation becomes any more dangerous. Gravity suddenly changes direction as KID picks him up like he's weightless. Unprepared, the skateboard falls out of Shin's grip.
KID twists with inhuman smoothness and catches it in the hand not holding onto a shrunken teenage detective.
They join the fleeing crowd, blending in better than any teenager holding a child ought to be. Fire extinguishers hiss. Shin'ichi looks past the flow of people pushing outside and sees another person in a reflective vest directing traffic down the steps.
From the sea of people, KID crosses over and taps them.
"Hi, sorry," KID says fluidly, in a stranger's voice. "I think I saw someone inside. They looked like they were stuck."
The person nods a thanks and instructs another staff member to check.
By the time they turn back to thank the stranger, the phantom thief and his charge have disappeared. KID slipped past in that moment of distraction. He takes Shin'ichi around the elevator shaft into a blind spot away from the crowd: in front of the elevator doors. He drops the shrunken teenager and presses the call button.
The elevator's doors open and they walk in.
KID drops what appears to be an ID card. Shin'ichi ends up looking at it. This must be exclusive access to a KID escape, he thinks, hearing and ignoring the sound of fabric. Disappointingly, the card is not a real ID.
An item with a band is tugged, like a blindfold, over his head. His bag comes off as he's trying to regain visual autonomy.
By the time Shin'ichi pulls the cap out of his eyes, the Kudou Shin'ichi disguise has been replaced by a teenager with brown hair and thick tortoiseshell glasses.
"Be natural, Conan-kun," KID winks. Carrying Shin'ichi's backpack, he props something onto Shin'ichi's nose.
Shin'ichi pulls off the criminal tracking glasses and discovers the chin prosthetic has been removed when he touches his face.
The elevator's doors open to the fourth floor.
Minutes later, Edogawa Conan exits the building on a young adult's back. The young adult is wearing a strangely made silver crossbody, and Conan's backpack has his skateboard secured in the largest pocket. Nobody seems to have noticed they were never inside the craft supplies shop when the building was evacuated, but when they leave, Conan gets a glimpse of a black Porsche 356A where it's parked across the street.
"I can walk," Shin'ichi mutters.
Surrounded by a crowd, KID doesn't respond.
Shin'ichi isn't sure why he's disappointed.
They don't stop, even once Shin'ichi's muscles unlock after passing the street containing the Porsche. KID takes him to a bridge which crosses over a storm drain and wanders around the back of a building which hides them from curious eyes. He bounces on his toes, testing his balance with Conan and the skateboard attached, before hopping onto an air-conditioning unit. Then he reaches up and pulls their combined weight over a safety fence.
In Singapore, Shin'ichi saw the naked aluminium frame of KID's hang glider up close. Though lighter than steel, it's still an indicator of the full weight packed by the phantom thief on each of his heists.
KID lands in the storm drain effortlessly after that demonstration of upper body strength.
They follow the drain for about a block. When KID slides over a metal bar, Shin'ichi feels in his legs the moment KID's soles find purchase. They end up atop a layer of uneven ground, on the mouth of a winding road, facing the backdoors of several buildings. Some have plastic bags, crates, lockboxes closed and locked.
Shin'ichi stumbles faintly after he's dropped. The past fifteen minutes come back to him all at once. The Porsche 356A. Gin. Them, seeing who they believe is Kudou Shin'ichi.
"Ran," Shin'ichi gasps.
He pulls his bag off and searches inside it. A small medicine container is under the Shin'ichi phone, tucked under his rolled suspenders. The lid pops open to reveal a pill in blue and white. He's kept it this whole time: one last antidote from Kyoto.
He can use it and warn Ran.
There's a movement and Shin'ichi freezes. But it's just KID, crouching to hand him a fleshy disc: the Kazami Shin chin prosthetic.
"Your disguise sucks, you know that?" says the phantom thief.
Shin'ichi opens his mouth and nothing comes out.
KID sighs.
Shin'ichi scowls. How is he meant to respond to that?
"Wait here," says the thief, getting to his feet. "Don't do anything rash, meitantei. I'll catch you in five minutes." He pauses. "Count them."
KID tosses a hand up like a wave and slides into an alley little more than a gap between two buildings.
Shin'ichi counts, despite himself. He finds himself staring as the figure leaves. The thief does resemble Shin'ichi from behind, only with hair in a wild, untamed mess. It's because Shin'ichi has been trying to remember Ran recently that he remembers the day he was shrunk. He remembers telling her to go home first from Tropical Land.
Was that figure what Ran saw when he followed Gin and Vodka?
The last time Shin'ichi could have a normal life as himself, not ever encountering the Black Organization?
KID returns, wearing a blue shirt and dark dress slacks. He's kept the tortoiseshell glasses, except he's added a hat. Shin'ichi makes out contoured eyes, nose, the corners of a mouth. Astonishing how so little makeup could stop Shin'ichi seeing their resemblance.
"A thank you would be great," KID suggests, an odd tightness in the sentence. It occurs to Shin'ichi that, despite the usual breezy demeanour, the thief might be trying to regain his own bearings. What a sign that he knows the thief too well.
"Thanks," he says, since they aren't friends, and Yukiko did beat politeness into him.
KID doesn't acknowledge the embarrassing amount of emotion in Shin'ichi's voice. "You critics must always make everything complicated."
"Eh?"
KID points. "When you're making a disguise, target the illusion based on structure, not the shallow features of a face. The aim is a memorable presence, careful personality, subconscious suggestions that give people a reason to forget. If you can't maintain your own cover, then you lose their suspension of disbelief." He reaches into a pocket. "As long as that believability is there, people will go along with your chosen narrative."
The phantom thief removes a book and Shin'ichi recognises the cover.
"You stole a book," Shin'ichi says.
The spine of Kudou Yuusaku's newest Night Baron novel waves around. "I'll give it back. Why are you wearing a different face?"
"No reason."
KID thumbs through the pages. "Get into trouble?"
"No."
"Someone around you say too much?"
Shin'ichi twitches.
"Ah-ha," says the thief. "You fell for a bluff."
"How did you—" Shin'ichi spots the mirror attached to a thumb, which KID must have been using to read his face. "Fine. You're right."
"Hope it's not to keep you safe," KID says, offhandedly.
Shin'ichi's eyes narrow. That's exactly the reason he's accepted being 'Kazami Shin'. "What?"
KID peers up from the pages and appears to think.
"Nothing," the thief decides.
"Nothing?"
"Nothing. You're absolutely correct, tantei-kun. Being locked in a different identity will keep you safe. Overlook what I said." KID flashes him a grin of teeth. "Whoever taught you to disguise is good. But they're not the best."
"Who's the best?"
"That would be Kaitou KID."
What a joke. KID's smirk becomes infinitely infuriating, encapsulating his egocentric statement like glossy gift-wrap. He must be doing it on purpose. I know something you don't, is what Shin'ichi hears.
Shin'ichi's detective sense pings. "Are you after Them?" he asks.
"Who's Them?"
"The group which made the drug that turned me into this. The one who owns that black Porsche 356A is one of them—Gin."
Something flickers behind KID's gaze. "This 'Gin' wouldn't happen to be a person with long silver hair who specialises in unfortunate accidents?"
The Conan phone buzzes with a new message. Shin'ichi ignores the thief reading a stolen Night Baron book, inspecting the message contents.
Shin'ichi re-shoulders his backpack.
"Going back home?" KID asks.
"My house is bugged."
"Really? By your bad guys?"
"Gin will kill me and everyone Kudou Shin'ichi knows."
"Sounds rough."
Shin'ichi raises his eyebrows. "You're not coming?"
"That's not my problem, is it?"
"You wore my face!"
"And?"
Shin'ichi glances at the Conan phone and the new message sent by Akai. It has two images sent through a secure messaging app. One is a screenshot from a phone which is not Akai's phone, containing the time and a photo from when Professor Agasa was once invited to do a newspaper interview. The other is a photograph of Kir walking up to Agasa's house, taken from the Kudou mansion, with the inclusion of Akai's watch indicating a date and time which corresponds to a minute earlier.
KID is a criminal, not a citizen that fulfills public duty.
They're not friends.
Child-sized or not, just as Shin'ichi decides he can find his way to a main road and then to Beika by himself, KID closes the Night Baron novel and tucks it under his arm.
A small smile quirks on KID's mouth. "There's a fate worse than death, Tantei-kun. Care to have a guess?"
Shin'ichi glares at KID as he fishes out his skateboard. He needs gadgets to do what he used to be able to do, thanks to his small body.
"Guess I don't have a choice," says KID, flicking a hand. The novel disappears from sight, transferred to an inner pocket through sleight-of-hand. "If this 'Gin' is involved, I'll go with you."
"I have a plan," says Shin'ichi, unable to wait for the full monologue.
"What a coincidence," remarks KID. "So do I."
In the most general sense, people will often have one or more items of knowledge they would rather they never learned. Further, getting involved with Kudou Shin'ichi will elevate anyone away from the mean. From a statistical standpoint, these stand as valid facts.
In other words, there is no such thing as having an 'average experience' around Edogawa Conan.
"Kudou-kun," Ai says, slowly, "You were identified by Gin because Kaitou KID was at the right place in the wrong disguise."
"Yeah. Haibara—"
"And that KID—" Ai inhales, feeling the pinching of a headache. "KID, is he still with you? You're with him?"
"Yes." Pause. "We might be close to one of his hideouts. Haibara, listen—"
Ai sighs, and it's a heady thing. It's a week of following around the Professor trying to make sure he hasn't been cutting corners for their mutually agreed-upon health goals only for them to find Kir of the Organization on the other side of a ringing doorbell, and the hurried escape which Ai makes to the basement has left her feeling, ah, Kudou has done something again. And then, still, there's a note in Kudou's tone which she knows better than anyone else, she thinks, as he tells her bare minimum information she already knows. Stay in the basement. Don't be seen under any cost. After the Mystery Train, she's dropped her guard. He's started sharing information with her, but now he's doing it again: withholding precious background knowledge.
Old habits die hard.
She understands this.
"Kudou-kun," says Ai, with the infinite patience cultivated from babysitting Genta, Mitsuhiko and Ayumi for hours, "The Professor is playing pretend with Mizunashi Rena, having her believe he's a massive fan. They'll run out of DVDs soon enough. He won't last under the strain of having to keep her entertained while simultaneously providing no answers."
"What's she asking about?"
"No idea. I can't hear them from the basement."
Kudou groans. "We also can't put a tracker on her. Gin recognises the Professor's designs."
"That's right," says Ai, having concluded this alongside Kir's appearance. "I took all the inventions he made for you down to the basement."
"Thanks, Haibara." He pauses. "My gadgets? You have all my gadgets?"
"All the prototypes and spares. Yes."
"What about the voice recorder?" he asks. "It's new—the Professor made it only recently, didn't he? The Professor can... place it in a gift, and Kir would take it back unknowingly—"
"There's a problem with your conclusion, Kudou-kun."
"What?"
Ai looks down at her toes, where they dangle from her chair. "Gin hasn't determined that the Professor needs to die... not yet. Most likely... he's investigating a lead. After all, they sent Kir by herself, which means they haven't made the connection that the house next door is the one that they sent me to investigate."
Kudou asks, "Did they send you by yourself?"
"No," Ai admits. "Miyano Shiho couldn't go further than the bathroom without her guards."
"Then—when the Organization investigated my house—that means they weren't trying to guarantee my death. If they were, they would have made sure they sent an assassin," Kudou deduces. "What do they want?"
Ai doesn't answer that question. Professor Agasa is a knife's width away from becoming a target. With danger in her home, she can't think back into her past.
Instead, she says, "Before you went to Hawaii, I found several call history logs between the Professor's phone and an international number. I've traced it. It belongs to your parents. Your father might have something he hasn't shared."
"Something my father knows..."
The Organization has come to her house.
I'm sorry, Shiho. They forced your hand. Drowning, sinking in the rain, she imagined. Running from the Organization, Akemi's voice played in her head countless times before she finally made it to this part of Beika. I'll get you out. I'm working hard. I'm sorry for being late.
After all the efforts to escape. They've come to take her from her house.
"Why didn't you tell her it was you?" asks Shiho.
"Huh?"
"If it was onee-chan who found me—" The image of Miyano Akemi blends together with the image of Mouri Ran. Ai comes back to herself, just as her vision flashes. Shiho returns to the beyond. She doesn't need to know why Kudou has never told the truth to Mouri Ran; she knows him and his foolish inclinations. He believes people too easily. She focuses on Kudou's voice, forces her way through a panic attack she should have expected. "If it was the choice between telling the truth and lying to someone I loved. I would have told her. Why?"
"Why, huh... after it happened and I shrunk... the Professor said I needed a new identity..."
Ai falls into the desk in the Professor's basement, clutching the phone, curled up.
If only the Professor were here. Someone.
Anyone.
"I couldn't," is what Kudou finally answers. "I tried to. I can't count how many times I tried to tell her. I... I just... I couldn't."
He's waiting for a verdict. But those like her, who play at being God, have no right to cast judgement. He's a truth-seeker who lies. So what? So is she. She's created a drug that's taken so many lives and trying to capture freedom with tiny hands.
"Is that so?" is what Ai tells him, unable to forget everything. She peels the phone away from her head and stares into the screen for a long moment, close to hanging up.
She's more than this. She can analyse this.
The phone goes back to her ear and she takes a careful breath. "You have six hours."
"What?"
"Gin knows he's made a mistake. That he's bothering to investigate means he's trying to find every loose end." She closes her eyes, remembering their last encounter. Haido City Hotel. The roof, lingering effects of baiju, Gin's bitterness. His gall to call her falling blood fiery when he can see her burning up. Just as he knows her from long ago, she knows him; this man with a joyless heart trapped in the shell of a cicada which has never shed in spring. "If he knows about the Professor... you have six hours. Gin will have everything he needs by sundown."
"So we just have to take him out before the sun sets."
"Kudou-kun," Ai hisses, so angry and fearful she stands on her feet. "He knows me. He knows your gadgets! As soon as he sees you, he'll kill you! And then he will kill everyone else he knows you know like nothing you can ever imagine."
"Sorry, Haibara, but you're wrong. We still have one face he doesn't know yet. The face of someone who wants revenge against him... more than either you or me."
There are two remarkable houses on this Beika street. One is the Kudou Mansion, sometimes said to be haunted. The other is Professor Agasa's house, a building with an open floor plan and large windows. He's the Kudous' neighbour and has been living there for dozens of years.
In the open area, Professor Agasa makes small-talk with a woman from an international criminal syndicate. They have all the cards and Agasa is not trained to withhold secrets. If she was ordered to, she could kill him. It would be easy to arrange the situation into one that looks like he tried to attack her before she makes a miraculous escape.
In the basement, a fugitive from the Organization finds her call ends.
And at the back door, there echoes a knock.
"Alright," says Shin'ichi, turning to look at the thief return for the second time. "I've set up on my side."
KID adjusts the thick blazer over his shoulders, disguised again as Kudou Shin'ichi. Blue and black. Smart casual. This getup is far more reasonable-looking than that garish silver jacket.
Shin'ichi very reluctantly approves.
"And your plan?" Shin'ichi asks, unable to keep the skepticism from his tone. "Whenever there's an emergency, standard procedure is to evacuate."
KID flashes his teeth in an expression feral for any Kudou. "That, my dear detective, depends on what emergency."
Next Conan's hint: Kaitou KID's M.O.