Disclaimer: I do not own Detective Conan/Case Closed.

Pairing: KaitoxShinichi

In Other Shoes

Chapter 2 - A Change of Pace

Iroyamura turned out to be a thriving little town tucked away in luscious, mountain foothills in what felt like the middle of nowhere (in a good, peaceful way). With its lovely natural scenery and access to numerous beautiful hiking trails as well as several prime fishing locations, the town was popular with tourists, especially during the summer season when the cities with all their glass, metal and concrete began baking like open-air ovens.

In the midst of this busy, busy season, Yukiko's friend Miyako, owner and manager of her own café, had seen a sudden influx of customers and thus was looking to hire an influx of staff. Shinichi was unaware of this as he walked into the little café after closing hours and was directed into the back room. There, however, he began to get an inkling that something might not be quite right.

This room, looking very much like a greenroom in a playhouse, was full of racks upon racks of dresses—black and white frilly maid dresses. Each had its own frilly tiara and apron and shiny, black shoes with short heels.

Shinichi took one look around the room, turned around, and walked straight back out again only to come face to face with his mother.

"And where do you think you're going?" Yukiko asked.

"We got the wrong address," he said.

"Nonsense. This is Miyako's shop, and she's waiting in that room. I saw her. Now turn around and get back in there so we can talk without getting in the way of the cleanup staff."

And so Shinichi was herded back into the frilly greenroom where he watched as his mother embraced a middle-aged woman who somehow managed to make the maid's dress she was wearing look elegant instead of out of place.

"It's so good to see you again Yukiko!" the woman exclaimed. "You're lovely as ever, I see. So this must be your son. He definitely has your eyes." She looked him up and down and beamed. "He'll be perfect. Come here and try this on, Shin-chan."

Shinichi looked at the woman askance. "Try what on?"

Okay, it was kind of a rhetorical question considering where they were standing and what hung on the racks all around them, but he was allowed to hope he was wrong.

He wasn't.

And so, twenty minutes later, he stood in front of a full length mirror and stared at the pretty young maid looking back at him. This was his reflection, he knew, but it looked like a total stranger. Although he had to admit that he could see himself in the girl's big blue eyes and delicate features. He wasn't sure how he felt about that. On the one hand, if he had to appear in public dressed as a girl, he would rather be a convincing one. It was less awkward all around that way. But on the other hand, the minimal makeup meant that he might still be somewhat recognizable, and being recognized was one thing he would like to avoid.

Well, in any case, it could have been worse. At least it sounded like this was a fairly ordinary café. It just had a theme. So working a few shifts as compensation for their room and board upstairs shouldn't be too bad.

Frankly, Shinichi was rather more disturbed by the sight of his mother dressed up in a maid outfit. Oh, Yukiko didn't look out of place. She pulled off the outfit like the professional actress that she was. But it was the principle of the thing. In his opinion, any teenager would be mortified to see his or her mother in cosplay and tittering like a middle school girl. It was wrong in so many ways that Shinichi really didn't want to think about.

"Think about it this way," his mother told him later as they unpacked their luggage in Miyako-san's upstairs apartment where she had given them free reign and use of her two spare rooms. "No one knows you here. You'll just be Shinko, my dear younger daughter. This is your chance to leave all that stuff that was bothering you behind. Forget about the cases and the criminals and all that for now and just be yourself! Or, no, what I meant to say is you have the chance here to be someone else. You should take advantage of it. Breathe, relax, and just have fun!"

"I don't think people typically consider working part time as a waiter to be something you do for fun," Shinichi felt compelled to point out.

Yukiko only laughed. "Think about it as part of the experience."

Later, as he lay in the guest bed, gazing blankly at the dark ceiling overhead and wondering why exactly he had let his mother drag him out here, he found that he could maybe, just sort of, see his mother's point. If he really wanted to take a break from his hectic and increasingly suffocating existence, what better way was there than to just become someone else for a while?

Provided no one dropped dead, this might not be as dreadful an idea as it had seemed at the outset.

Of course, the fact that he was thinking this at all was clearly yet another sign that he was losing his mind.

-0-

It was as he checked the clock ten seconds before his latest heist was scheduled to start that Kuroba Kaito realized that he was bored. But being the professional phantom thief that he was, he finished the heist before putting any more thought into the matter.

It was, he supposed, the way everything had slowly become routine. College classes were interesting, but there was only so much time Kaito could stand sitting around and doing desk work. Aoko wasn't helping. She and that twit Hakuba had started dating, and while she often invited him to hang out with them, he had no desire to be the third wheel at their outings—especially not since the nuisance of a detective was still as insufferable as he'd always been. Except these days Kaito had to be careful how much he pranked the blond lest he make Aoko mad. All in all, there were good reasons Kaito wasn't spending much time with his childhood friend these days.

Even his heists were beginning to feel like just another part of the routine. That wasn't to say that being KID wasn't still fun, but, without the need to lure out hidden killers, he had begun to wonder if he should really be turning the bulk of his attention to pursuing the daylight stage. He wouldn't stop hunting for Pandora, but he had always intended to become a professional—legal—magician. It felt like it was time to get serious about those dreams.

His only real reservation was that, if he cut back on the number of heists he pulled, he would also be cutting back on the time he got to spend with his little Tantei-kun. Well, not quite so little anymore, he thought with a fond grin. He had been pleased to see that the detective had been able to return to his proper age. After everything the boy had gone through, he deserved a lucky break. Though Kaito would admit privately that there were selfish elements to his delight at the change, but that was neither here nor there.

To make a long story short, having just made the decision to focus on his career as a magician, he didn't need to think twice when his mother asked him if he would like to do a few shows for some friends of hers in a place called Iroyamura over the summer break.

-To be Continued-