File Seventy-Three: Midnight Crow

"Eh? Quit being a thief and go to Las Vegas?"

Kaito stared at his mother for the longest time, until he ascertained that she wasn't joking and dropped his gaze to the table, thoughtfully. Frankly, it didn't sound that bad ─ he had always dreamed to become the greatest magician, just like his father, and actually getting the chance to work on-stage there would get him a step closer to that.

But then, what about everything? All he had done was Kaito KID… Would it be for naught?

"Shinichi-kun can stay here and watch the house," continued Kuroba Chikage, as she stirred the stew she was preparing. "And you can come with me to Las Vegas. It wouldn't be a bad idea to quit being a thief and become a Las Vegas magician instead."

Her son didn't respond, just gazed at the space in front of him as he actually considered it.

"Hey, I'm back," Shinichi's voice resounded throughout the entire house and, sure enough, he made an appearance inside the kitchen. Once he was there, his steps came into a halt and the confused blinking arrived instantly. "Ah, Kuroba-san! Long time no see."

"Welcome home, Arthur-kun," smiled the woman. "It's nice to see you."

The magician was confused at that. Why did Mom call him-? His thoughts came to a stop when he turned to the detective's direction and realized, with a shuddering breath, that there was a little living something standing behind his legs.

"Good evening," said the boy, politely, as he stepped in front of Arthur. "I'm Edogawa-"

"Conan-kun, right?" Grinning brightly, she moved closer to the kid and kneeled in front of him. "Oh, my. You have grown a lot… I suddenly feel so old."

"Uh, excuse me, but..." Conan's head tilted to one side. "Have we met before?"

"Of course we do! Your mother was my husband's student, and a good friend of mine," she answered, not paying attention to the way the child took a sharp intake of air. "You were too young then. I guess it's understandable you don't remember-"

"Mom!" Kaito's startled gasp brought her attention away from the paling child. "You know that kid?!"

"What are you talking about, Kaito? You know him as well. He's-"

"Nevermind, Mom!" Still shaking at the chain of events developing far too fast for his own liking, he stood up from the table and sprinted to Arthur, who simply stood there, frozen with shock. "I'm borrowing this guy over there for a moment."

"Eh? But dinner will be ready soon..."

"We'll be right back," he assured her and then roughly dragged him away by his arm.

Both the child and the woman stared blankly at the place the teenagers had disappeared from, before looking at each other again. Conan shrugged, then smiled. "Do you need help with that, Kuroba-san?"

Meanwhile, Shinichi set an annoyed gaze at Kaito, yanking his arm away from his grasp as soon as they were out of hearing range. Crossing his arms in front of his chest, he silently demanded an answer. The thief seemed to be barely affected, angrily pointing at the direction where the kitchen was.

"Why?" He sounded terribly stressed out. "Why did you get Tantei-kun in my house?!"

"Hey, calm down-"

"How am I supposed to calm down?! Tantei-kun is in my house. That's a disaster waiting to happen, for both of us!"

"I can't just drop an eight-year-old in a train station in the middle of the night! What was I supposed to do?! Go to Beika myself and hope that Ran doesn't recognize me?!"

"That kid chased me in a paraglider across the city. I'm pretty sure he can endure a fifteen-minute trip home..."

"He did what-?!"

"Ah, right. I didn't tell you that. The kid just pretended to fall off a building-"

"You let him fall off a building?!"

Kaito was about to defend himself, but then took notice of Shinichi's scandalized face and smirked. "I didn't take you as the overprotective kind of brother, Meitantei."

He was definitely not going to mention that he had actually left the kid stranded on top of a train that night. Just nope. Not a chance.

"Overprotective, you say?! Conan is eight! Eight." The detective waved his hands around, struggling to get his point across. "How am I supposed to react-?"

Kaito's eyebrow rose, prompting him to pause, then let out a long, exhausted sigh.

"... Forget it." Groaning, he pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling a terrible headache coming. "You have a futon somewhere, right? I'm having Conan to sleep with me so I can watch him, just in case he tries… to investigate or something. I can sleep with my contacts and wig on, I guess..."

"That's the worst idea you have ever had."

"Would you rather have him in your room?"

"... On a second thought, that's the best idea you have ever had."

This is going to be a long night, thought Shinichi as he laid on the bed, facing the ceiling, unwilling to look at his side.

If he did, he knew his false identity would crumble into pieces by the pair of eyes intensely staring at him from the darkness. Seriously, that kid looked as if he could see right through his soul, and it genuinely scared Shinichi.

He wouldn't be that surprised if he knew, actually...

"Why didn't you say something?"

That startled him. "W-What?"

"About that trick," replied Conan, unblinking. "You know what trick Kaito Corbeau used, right? How was it done?"

Shinichi could have sighed in relief when he realized the true meaning behind his words. Then he looked at the child who was staring at the ceiling, deep in thought.

"He didn't use a trick," answered the high school detective, causing the kid to look back at him in shock. "He used magic."

It was silent for a moment. Shinichi could tell without looking that his brother was looking at him as if he had grown a second head.

"Idiot." Conan scoffed. "There's not such a thing as magic."

Shinichi laughed nervously at that. You would be surprised, he thought while the face of a certain scarlet-eyed witch popped in his mind. Finally, he turned to face the little child, mouth opening to say something, until he paused.

"You forgot to take out your glasses," he told the young boy with an amused smile.

His hand reached to his face. "Ah, right." He chuckled, taking his glasses off. "It's not the first time I forget about them. Luckily, I don't wear contacts." After setting the glasses beside his head, he turned to look at the older boy and, with a bright smile that caused Shinichi to shiver, he continued. "Did you know it's very dangerous to sleep with your contacts on?"

"A-Ah, really? Is that true?"

"Yeah! The contact prevents the eye from getting oxygen and makes it dry. It could even get it infected," then he added with a big grin. "It must hurt a lot, right?"

"... Sounds like it."

"You could even go blind..."

Shinichi actually wondered if it wouldn't be best to get blind, so not to have to keep looking at Conan's bone-chilling smiles he had been sending his way for almost an entire day now.

"Do you wear contacts, Arthur-niichan?"

"... No. I have a perfect sight, I don't need them."

"Ah, is that so? I'm really jealous, if I'm being honest."

"A-Anyway, it's late. We should really go to sleep, Conan-kun."

"You're right. Goodnight, Arthur-niichan!"

"Goodnight."

With that, the teenager turned around, giving his back at the child who copied his movements. He didn't close his eyes, just focused on the quietness of the night. Conan did the same.

And while they pretended to sleep, a single thought rang in both of their minds:

He is not sleeping.

"Oh, Arthur-kun, Conan-kun," smiled Chikage, upon seeing the two boys slowly making their way to the kitchen. "Good morning!"

"... G-Good morning."

Kaito, who was sitting on the table with his back facing the doorway, turned around, curious about the two weary voices that had greeted his mother in unison. He grimaced at the sight of two identical black rings contrasting against pale white faces. Conan sat in Arthur's arm ─ who, frankly speaking, didn't look any better ─ rubbing his eye, mumbling something under his breath. He looked annoyed, Kaito noted, and attributed it to the fact that he was being carried to the kitchen.

He didn't take his gaze away from them, watching Arthur setting the boy into a chair. Meitantei… acting like a mother-hen? The magician truly couldn't believe his own eyes. Hopefully, this doesn't blow his cover off…

… If he still has a cover, anyway. It is Tantei-kun, after all...

"Here you go, Conan-kun."

The kid jumped, startled at the plate that was placed right in front of him, before he nodded at the woman with a tired smile. Chikage winked in return before returning to the kitchen, leaving the boy to give his breakfast another stare, before he slowly dug in.

"You're almost ready, aren't you?" asked Arthur, his breakfast now in front of him, as he looked at the little child. "We'll drop you at the station… You can walk to school from there, right?"

Stifling a yawn with his hand, the young boy nodded his head, prompting the teenager to chuckle amusedly. Kaito, alongside his mother, gave the older detective a long look, before the magician smirked. The rest of the meal went relatively quiet, with a comment about yesterday's heist here and there from Conan's part, Kaito scoffing when the child pointed out that the Corbeau was one million times better than KID…

"It was delicious, Kuroba-san," smiled Arthur, once he was done, standing with his plate in hand.

"Don't worry, I'll do it," hurriedly, the woman pried it away from his hands. "You and Kaito should go grab your things. Conan-kun's train is going to leave soon."

"Ah, thank you." The teen nodded his head, showing his appreciation. "You heard her, Conan-kun, wait here-" He came into a confused halt when his eyes landed on the child, whose head was tipped slightly forward, definitely not looking at him ─ or anywhere else, really. "Conan-kun?"

Conan jerked at that, head spinning to his way. "Uh… Yeah," he said, blinking repeatedly. "I'll wait here." Followed by that, the kid gazed back ahead, blankly, resting his head against an open palm with a heavy sigh.

Hirai gave him a long, indiscernible look before leaving the room.

"Seriously, that deduction-freak..." sighed Ran exasperatedly as she flipped her phone close, rather violently.

"What?" questioned Kogoro, looking from over the newspaper. "His phone is still off?"

"Yeah." Shaking her head, dejectedly, she put her phone away and focused on the breakfast she had prepared, that still sat in front of her. "He must have turned it off after I called yesterday, that coward..." She continued to grumble, obviously annoyed, as she munched on her food. "He couldn't even call to say anything about Conan-kun..."

"Why don't you call the brat, instead?"

"He isn't answering either."

Kogoro scoffed at that. "It goes in the blood, huh?"

Ran couldn't really deny her father's words, just let out a frustrated groan in response. The detective stayed silent, observing the girl that was merely staring at her plate, deep in thought until she sighed. For less than a second, Kogoro caught her eyeing the empty seat at her side, where a certain troublesome brat with glasses would sit every other morning.

"Don't worry, Ran." he said, prompting the teenager to look back at him, startled. "You said that you heard his voice you spoke with the detective brat, right?"

"Yeah, but-"

"The kid is okay," he interrupted her, and went back to his breakfast. "That detective brat can be a lot of things, but if it concerns his brother, he'll make a good job."

Ran hummed thoughtfully, realizing that her father had a point in that. She smiled a bit with a nod until her eyes fell on the newspaper that lied right beside him. "Huh?" She blinked, focusing on a certain article. "There was a KID's heist yesterday."

"And tonight as well. The jewel wasn't stolen, it seems," replied the detective, casually. "Though it appears there's another thief fooling around ─ a black KID."

"Say, Dad..." This black KID didn't settle well with Ran. "Didn't Mitsuhiko-kun describe those people as-?"

"Men wearing black, yeah. And there's also this 'Snake' character, who has been showing in many KID's heists lately. Though, it might be just a coincidence but..." He closed the newspaper, taking it as he stood up, then added as he whined. "I had to cancel Yoko-chan's invitation for a talk show tonight and everything… So there's no turning around now."

Ran only nodded, ignoring the annoyed facade her father had just put on, with a tight frown decorating her face.

"Be careful."

"So, I assume he didn't find himself in Kaito KID's secret room, right?"

"How am I supposed to know?" Shinichi rolled his eyes, opening the room of the guest room he had been borrowing for a year now. "You were in your room all night."

"Yeah, sleeping." He then added with a chuckle. "Unlike others."

The detective gave him a dirty look, walking inside the room. He stopped in his steps when he realized something on top of his bed. That kid, he almost forgot this. He shook his head, moving closer to the school bag and skateboard that he had brought with him to Ekoda, hands reaching to grab them, until he froze into place. Come to think of it, why is he here, all of a sudden?

He even brought his bag with him… Didn't he stop by the agency?

"Hey!" Kaito was startled when the detective dashed out of the room, empty-handed. "What's with you?"

Not even bothering to give him a reply, the detective continued his way, until he stopped right in the doorway to the living room. He was confused for a moment more than necessary, but then he let his shoulders drop with a sigh, before creeping up on the boy, whose face was currently burrowed between his arms, resting on top of the table.

"H-Hey," whispered Kuroba, with a panicked tone, as he watched him gently picking his brother up. "What are you planning?"

Shinichi gave the magician a blank look, and without replying, crossed the room to the couch.

"Wait," Kaito was beside him the moment he set the child down. "You aren't leaving him here, are you?"

"Can't exactly skip school, can I?" Shinichi shrugged. "Hakuba is onto me already. Better face him than give him another motive to stalk me secretly."

"So you're leaving Tantei-kun to sleep in my house, when I'm not in it."

"You might want to lock your door."

"What's there to say that he doesn't know how to pick-lock?!" Kaito was exasperated ─ he could see him doing that. "In fact, how do you know he isn't faking being asleep?!"

"Breathing patterns."

"... Whatever, just wake him up already and ship him off to Beika, for goodness' sake!"

The detective went strangely silent at that, kneeling down in front of the couch and, observing his brother up from close, passed a hand through his hair, keeping his bangs away from his forehead. A frown carved itself deep into Shinichi's face as he took into the ghostly paleness of his skin contrasting against black rings under his eyelashes.

"I can't do it," he admitted. "Not when he looks this exhausted."

"Well, that's natural," commented Kuroba, shrugging. "He didn't sleep last night either, did he?"

To his surprise, Shinichi shook his head. "Something else happened."

"How do you know?" At the lack of an answer, Kaito sneered. "Is that your detective instinct or brother instinct speaking?"

"Don't be stupid."

"Whatever it was, you are right, it seems. Tantei-kun got into a fight yesterday at school."

"Eh?! How did you-?" His head snapped towards Kaito's direction, who was waving a piece of paper with a mischievous grin on his face, and instantly snatched it from him. Eyes widening at the referral form in his hands, he gave the thief a bewildered look. "Where did you get that?!"

"Why, from Tantei-kun's school bag, of course."

"You went through Conan's bag?!"

Kaito raised an eyebrow. "Is forgetting my profession a family thing or...?"

Shinichi looked as if he wanted to ask what was that about, but ultimately decided not to. With an irritated huff, he stood up and headed back to the guest room, the paper still in his hand.

The magician watched him leave before looking at the kid sleeping peacefully on the couch, in silence for several seconds before chuckling to himself.

Who could have said that this is the same miniature detective that almost killed me with a soccer ball when we first met?

Though that wasn't their first meeting, actually, Kaito reminded himself. With a puff of smoke, the magician produced a blanket and laid it on top of the innocent-looking child.

"Wow! You're amazing, Kaito-niichan!"

This time, he could see the resemblance.

What is going on with you, Conan?

The question had never left his mind ever since he had read that referral slip Kaito had stolen that morning. Conan, a child who strongly despised violence and relied on logic for his everyday life, had tried to start a fight with Genta when his teacher had separated them before it could escalate any further. The boy was definitely not like that, Shinichi could safely bet on it.

"Huh? You're asking me if something is bothering Conan-kun?" Thus, when recess had rolled about, the detective had decided to move to a more private place in the school to call the only person who would be able to shed some light into his concerns. "Haven't you considered actually asking your brother?"

"You probably know him as much as I do, Ai-chan." Shinichi rolled his eyes. "That stubborn kid isn't going to say a word, and you know that."

"Point taken. You're two peas in a pod, so I guess that's the natural outcome."

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?"

"That you are a blockhead," she stated without hesitation. "And so is Conan-kun."

Shinichi groaned at that, but refrained from saying anything else.

"I assume you already know about Hondou Eisuke." He made an affirmative sound. "He told him that someone in the FBI died."

Damn it, that guy… The detective sighed, audibly, at that.

"Tsuburaya-kun and the others overheard it," continued the girl, evenly. "Panicking, Tsuburaya-kun ended up calling Ran-san and telling her everything."

"Hey, hey, with 'everything' you mean..."

"I mean everything, Shinichi-san. Every single little detail Conan-kun had entrusted him with. Everything."

Silence followed her words, causing her to glance briefly at the screen to confirm that, yes, the detective was still on the line. For several moments he said nothing, but then he groaned loudly and distinctly exasperated. Her lips pressed against each other, then her eyes slid closed.

"You know, Shinichi-san," she spoke up, with a soft voice. "I've been thinking about this all night… Couldn't this actually be a good thing?"

"What?" Shinichi was seriously taken by surprise by that statement ─ coming from her, of all people.

"I know it's not good to involve so many people. It's dangerous, and the thought of it honestly scares me, but..." She paused in order to take a deep breath before continuing. "Detective Mouri can be a lousy detective most of the time, but if he gets serious about something, he can be quite a competent one. Ran-san has a good head over her shoulders and is a karate champion."

"Everyone is an easy target for the Organization, you know that."

"Shinichi-san. Everyone in this world knows Ran-san is one of the people to hold closest to your heart. If they found out you are alive, do you think they were going to leave her alone even if she didn't know?"

Shinichi could not emit an answer, even if he wanted to.

"I don't know how you did it so they didn't attempt to eliminate her, but... As it was, she was only a defenseless prey wandering in the dark. More than protecting her, you were just making things unnecessarily harder. Besides..." Even though he couldn't see her, he knew that the girl was smiling, ever so softly, on the other side of the phone. "It might be a freeing feeling, not having to hide everything for once."

Shiho-chan… It wasn't like he couldn't understand where all of that was coming from. While having to hide and lie his way for an entire year had been immensely hard, he didn't think he could ever imagine doing that for his entire life, like it had happened to the young girl on the phone. So it was understandable that she might want to give up lying so much…

Even if the prospect obviously scared her beyond belief.

"So, how did it go?" she then asked suddenly. Shinichi blinked, confused. "I imagine Conan-kun would have wanted to kick himself when he realized the brother he has been looking for so long was just a fifteen minute-long trip away from his home."

It didn't even surprise him that she knew where he was. Must have used the spare glasses to track Conan.

"W-Well..."

"Wait." Ai said, slowly. "You didn't tell him."

"No?"

He heard a slapping sound. Shinichi imagined she had slapped her face, and with the groan that followed, he was certain that she was frustrated.

"That's stupid," she said, without holding anything back. "Ran-san already knows he's with you. You even sent her a text asking her to call in sick for Conan-kun… And you still believe that, somehow, Conan-kun won't realize he was with you when he gets back home. Assuming he doesn't know already, of course."

"... It sounds rather stupid when you say it out loud."

"Because it is." She sounded beyond irritated right now. "Why didn't you say anything by now? Do you seriously want him to kill you?"

"Of course not! It's just that..." His voice trailed down into an uncertain whisper. "I… I don't want him to ask..."

Her heavy, long sigh followed his statement. "Look, I'm aware that you're afraid of confrontation, but it's going to happen someday. Stalling won't help any of you."

He said nothing to that.

"And that applies not only to him. Don't be a coward and call Ran-san, would you?"

Not even waiting for the answer she knew it wouldn't come, Ai ended up the call, leaving Shinichi alone to stare blankly ahead, the beeping sound still in his ear, before he sighed and shoved the phone back in his pocket and headed back to his classroom. Class was just about to start, after all.

The sight of Kuroba leaning against the window frame and playing with the coin that Corbeau had left behind last night didn't really surprise Shinichi. Shrugging, he moved closer to him, but the magician didn't even notice him. He simply stared at the sky with a thoughtful expression.

"Hey, hey," sighed Arthur, causing the boy to jump, startled. "Still haven't figured it out?"

His surprise drained into annoyance once he caught sight of him. "Don't tell me you already did."

"It isn't so hard, if you know where you're supposed to look." He shrugged, moving closer, and leaned on the windowsill next to him. "Do you want a hint or something?"

Kaito scoffed at the idea. "I can figure it out myself, thanks."

"Well, I guess working as a stage magician in Las Vegas doesn't sound that bad..."

"What is that supposed to mean?!"

"Hey, it's not my fault you made a deal with a fellow phantom thief you don't know and promised you'd quit being Kaito KID if you lost. You overestimated yourself there, Kuroba."

Kuroba grumbled something under his breath, to which Shinichi didn't pay attention at all. Just looked back ahead, eyes narrowing at the memory of black feathers dancing all around them. Kaito Corbeau. He frowned, deeply. A thief that just came out of nowhere. And wants Kaito KID to suddenly retire?

Then Kuroba-san gets back home and says that Kuroba should just quit being a thief...

That's a bit too much for it to be a coincidence.

"Hey," Kaito then said, bringing him out of his own thoughts. "Don't stick your nose where it doesn't belong. You have a case at home already, don't you?"

"You mean a headache."

"Don't be too grim, didn't you say it will be fine? He won't get in my room." The magician shrugged. "It's locked."

It's locked.

Conan grunted, stepping away from the door. He had woken up on the couch a few minutes ago and, while it initially confused him because he couldn't remember how he had gotten there, it had dawned on him that it was past the time he was supposed to get to school, and he was still there. He had avoided getting sent back to Beika, somehow.

So he had sprung into action, silently slipping away from the living room without Chikage, who was chatting with someone over the phone in the kitchen, noticing. First had been Hirai Arthur's room, but as expected there was nothing of relevance there.

Then, Kuroba Kaito's room had caught his eye and had tried to open it, but to no avail. Why would he lock his room? He moved closer and, with a focused frown, tried to turn the knob again. Maybe he just wants to get his mother away from his room… Or maybe...

At that moment, he fervently wished he knew how to pick-lock a door.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Just as he was considering kicking it down with his powered shoes or something, a voice called from behind him. "It's not okay to get into people's rooms, Conan-kun."

The boy apologized with a sheepish smile. "Sorry," he apologized. "It's just that I smelled something..."

"Something?"

"Yeah, like something was burning."

Chikage sniffed the air. "I can't smell anything," she stated while rummaging through her pants' pocket and pulled out a key. "But we can check it out together if you want."

Conan nodded eagerly, not even bothering to ask if Kaito knew that his mother had the keys to his room, and followed her suit once she opened the door. Gaze wandered around, studying every single spot of it, only to let out a disappointed sigh at the realization that it was just an ordinary, high-schooler's room.

That was until he moved to the center and spotted something peculiar. His eyes gained a curious glint.

"Everything seems okay to me," the woman said, turning to the child. "Maybe you imagined it, Conan-kun."

Yet the kid didn't seem to hear, far too mesmerized with the framed picture displayed in front of him. A magician wearing black was smiling at the camera, holding a hat in one hand, a white dove resting in the other, as another two birds flew around him.

Could this man be…? he wondered, his hand raising slowly, fingers stretching to touch the picture.

He didn't get to. "Hey, don't do that, Conan-kun," scolded Chikage, lightly, as she plucked him from the ground and away from the picture. "Kaito won't appreciate it if you touch his things."

"Who is that person?" Not batting an eye at the previous statement, he craned his neck to look at her. "Kaito-niichan must look up to him a lot, to put his picture in his wall..."

"Of course he does." Chikage smiled, settling him back on the ground, and gently ushering him away from the room. "That person is his father, after all."

"Kuroba Toichi-san?" he questioned, following after her when she started walk away. "He passed away nine years ago, didn't he?"

"Yeah," she nodded at that. "Maybe you were too young to remember, but you were at his funeral, with your family."

"But how is that possible?" Conan was genuinely confused. "I'm eight."

"He had an accident. They didn't declare him dead until almost three years later."

"Was his body found?"

"No, they never did. But the case was archived because there was absolutely no way he could be alive."

"Oh." Conan didn't really know what to say. "I guess it must have been tough."

The woman stopped in her tracks at that and said nothing for a while. Conan momentarily worried he had said too much, until she turned around, kneeling in front of him. "Try not to talk about that in front of Kaito, alright?" she then said to him, her gentle smile untouched despite the conversation they were having. "He loved his father a lot, he still does. To him, he is the greatest magician to have ever existed."

"Kuroba Toichi is, after all..." He couldn't help but think back at that certain magician, standing under the pale silver glow of the night. "... the magician I respect the most."

A frown pinched his face, causing Chikage's head to tilt in slight confusion at the child that seemed to be somewhere else. But then, a blank expression took hold of his face. No way. He let out a low, dry chuckle at the ridiculous thought.

"Is something wrong, Conan-kun?"

Conan snapped out of it with her voice. "No, it's nothing." He pulled out a smile right away. "I was just thinking… He must have been such an incredible man, for Kaito-niichan to adore him so much!"

"One of the best!" she declared, standing up. "A wonderful teacher as well."

That for sure… Not that it's actually a good thing, though, all things considered.

"Every time I see his students on TV, I can't help but remember him," she continued, standing up and heading back to the living room. "He truly did an excellent job."

"Students? Did he have a student other than my mother?"

"A few. Besides her, just another one was more interested in his disguise skills, rather than his magic tricks..." He blinked big, innocent eyes at her, surprised from hearing that. "She was rather famous as well, I think you must have heard about her… Is the name Sharon Vineyard familiar to you?"

Chikage waited for his reply, yet she didn't get one. Turning around, she was surprised to see the little kid standing there, eyes wide open with horror and sickly pale skin growing even whiter, if possible. He recovered right away, as soon as he noticed it, and smiled again, his cheerful facade back again.

"Nope, I don't think I so."

"KID! KID! KID!"

"Corbeau! Corbeau! Corbeau!"

Hirai Arthur groaned, tiredly, as the pair squeezed their way through the loud crowd of people. "Seriously," he whined out loud, glaring at another fangirl that had just screamed KID's name in his ear as he passed by. "Why am I even here?"

"Because Hakuba-niichan said you should come," answered the child, looking more-or-less as irritated as the teenager at the multitude. Also, because Arthur's hand was gripping his tightly enough to hurt, probably fearing that he could lose him with so many people around. "Besides, doesn't it intrigue you?"

"What exactly?"

"Ah, yeah. You did figure it out." Hirai's mouth clicked shut, avoiding the child's curious gaze set on him. "How did you do it? And please, don't say 'magic' or else..."

"It isn't hard once you realize where to look." There was a genuinely bright grin on Arthur's face as he spoke with the kid ─ a grin that, secretly, Conan could recognize. "Like, for example, the pedestal the inspector was sitting at."

Conan hummed thoughtfully at that. "It was hot," he mumbled to himself. "Why?"

"Rather than 'why', ask yourself 'for what purpose?' and you will be good to go, Conan… kun."

The kid ignored the very obvious slip in favor of carefully thinking over his words. His eyes narrowed in thought ─ his finger would have raised to his chin automatically if it wasn't for the skateboard tucked under his arm ─ struggling to come up with the purpose of keeping some sort of heater in there, unaware of the teenager that was gazing at him, with a small satisfied smile on his face.

It vanished right away, breath hitching with a chill running down Arthur's spine, leaving him shivering. Instantly, his head snapped to look over his shoulder, only to see nothing but crazed fans waiting for their favourite thief's appearance, and let out a shaky breath, barely looking at the officer that let them through and crossing the street.

"Arthur-niichan?" Conan's innocent voice and all-too-seeing gaze snapped him out of his stupor. "Is something the matter?"

He shook his head right away, even if he could feel the cold sweat making its way down his temple. "Nothing you should worry about," he told the child upon reaching the door to the building, and kneeling in front of him. "I just… don't like crowds that much."

Conan raised an eyebrow, expression plain, not quite believing him but said nothing else. Arthur barely paid attention, his hands fumbling with Kaito's old jacket that the child was currently wearing, which he had forced him to wear, zipping it up ─ with astounding ease, although he was using winter gloves ─ while mumbling something about 'being cold inside' and 'you will catch a cold, Conan-kun'.

Yet, the kid didn't even protest, annoyed about him fussing over him. He was frowning instead, staring intently at the teen's hands. They were trembling slightly.

I'm just being a tad paranoid, Arthur told himself, looking back at the child with a smile. They are not here...

That was until he saw it. Over Conan's shoulder, he distinguished something passing by so quickly that he would have missed it if he hadn't been looking. An old, black car that he would have recognized anywhere…

A Porsche 365A.

"-niichan?" Arthur blinked at the child who was looking back at him, worried beyond a doubt. "Are you feeling okay?"

"Actually, I'm a bit dizzy," he lied straight away. "I wonder if I caught a cold from yesterday..."

Conan's eyebrows furrowed together, studying his face for an awfully long moment, before his hand raised. Arthur realized he was trying to touch his face, so he quickly stood up and smiled down at him, away from his reach. "I don't think it's a good idea to go in there," he said to the confused kid. "Tell Hakuba I'm sorry, but I'm not coming."

"Hey, wait-" Little fingers stretched towards him.

His words fell into deaf ears, and his hand fell limply at his side. For the longest time, he just stared at the teen who was gradually becoming smaller with every step he took, before his eyes took into a serious glint.

The teen took a step forward. So did the child.

But a hand grasping his shoulder prevented him from going anywhere, roughly spinning him around instead. He was about to complain to whoever was doing it, until he realized that, in front of him, was a face he easily recognized, staring wide-eyed back at him.

"Brat?!"

"Occhan?!" Conan gasped. "What are you doing here?"

"I invited him," said Hakuba, as he appeared from behind the shocked, older detective. "Just I met him a few minutes ago and said he wanted to attend the heist, and couldn't deny his request."

The child gave the high schooler a silent, unreadable stare at that.

"More importantly..." Kogoro's eyebrow raised, as he gave the kid a rather intense look. "What are you doing here?"

The child took a step back. "What are you talking about? I'm the KID Killer, aren't I?" he tried with a nervous laugh. "I wanted to see who was this phantom thief that is giving KID so much trouble."

Kogoro looked as if he wanted to add something. "We should get going." But he didn't get to, since Hakuba spoke before anything else could be said. "Inspector Nakamori is waiting for us inside."

"Waiting for you, you mean," the kid started with a plain tone.

Merely shrugging at that, Hakuba promptly turned around and went ahead. Conan, on the other hand, watched Kogoro standing up with a sigh and stepping up to follow him. He was about to do the same, but his eyes drifted to the darkened streets, where the teen had just disappeared from.

"So, where is he?" His gaze snapped to the man standing in front of him. "The detective brat. He was with you, wasn't he?"

It took him a moment more than necessary, but he finally shook his head. "He ran off," he admitted, with a smile that looked awfully forced, even to Kogoro's eyes. Probably because he noticed that the adult could see it, he avoided his gaze, staring at a random point on the floor. As he always does.

Kogoro didn't emit any reply right away, prompting Conan to wonder if he would just let it be, turn around and continue as if nothing had happened. "You know, squirt..." But then he heard a resigned sigh. "You… You are not in trouble."

"Ah, is that so?" He let out a chuckle, but did not meet his eyes. "I'm glad. It would've been awful if I got grounded just the day before Golden Week."

So, deciding that this awkward conversation was finally over, the boy's hands slid inside his pockets and was about to go inside the building. He didn't walk two steps ahead from Kogoro when he felt a hand falling on his hair.

"Listen, I don't know how to properly tell you this, but..." Kogoro crouched right behind him, his hand still awkwardly resting on top of his head, obviously struggling with what to say next. "We'll figure this out. I promise you that."

It was followed by a groan coming from the boy, as the adult roughly ruffled his hair and, ever so stiffly, walked away and inside the building.

Conan honestly didn't know what to make out of it.

Shinichi was wheezing, leaning forward slightly as he tried to get the air his body didn't seem to want. Damn it, he cursed in his mind, resting his hands on his knees. Did I lose them?

His hand rose to wipe some sweat from his forehead. He was exhausted ─ was that normal, actually? I hadn't been running for so long, he reasoned, with a frown. And I'm this winded...

The detective straightened up with a sigh, carefully looking through his surroundings. Most of the streets are closed because of the heist. Putting the hood over his head, he moved closer to the crossing lane where the red light was shining in the middle of the night, and pulled out his phone. If he didn't leave already… With his teeth, he took one of his gloves off so that he could touch the screen.

He carefully studied the map. The only way he can go is…

The very same crossing he was standing at. Just one. His hand grasped a little something he had inside his pocket. Just this one chance. That's all I have.

He saw lights in the distance and took a deep breath in. It's all or nothing, he thought, gaze fixed on the smartphone in his hand.

And stepped up into the street.

"It's so cold!"

At that, Conan couldn't help but give Kogoro a bored look. "I told you to wear a jacket," stated the kid with an even tone.

"Where was I supposed to get a jacket? I didn't have one with me!"

He crossed his arms behind his head in reply. "It's not my fault you didn't investigate enough." His eyebrow raised. "This is the exact same technique they used last night. And the night before."

"But..." Though Inspector Nakamori was feeling a bit annoyed over the fact that Hakuba seemed to bring so many people along lately, he seemed to have calmed down somehow ─ probably having given up because, seriously, he couldn't really change it. "Isn't this floor getting even colder?"

"Yeah." Nezu smirked. "That's because I had a contractor cover the walls and ceiling with refrigerants."

Yeah, getting the room to be even colder. Conan's eyelids dropped slightly as he raised an eyebrow. Like that's going to be of any help.

His eyes focused on the jewel in Nezu's hands, as he gave it a final check. I wonder if he's going to switch it with a fake again, even if he had said that he wouldn't use the same trick twice. The cold room strategy is getting a bit old, though.

"Rather than 'why', ask yourself 'for what purpose?'"

He approached the jewel, silent in thought. The pedestal from before was hot… Hot, in a cold room… What would it have been done for?

Nezu asked the police to bring 'the fan' and, sure enough, a fan of ridiculous proportions was brought right behind the jewel, with the pretense that it would blow the crow feathers away and prevent them from obscuring their sight.

Just like last time, Nakamori was told to kneel over the crystal and hold on to the handles with all his might. Talk about not repeating a trick. Conan let out a dry laugh.

"Inspector," Hakuba said, looking into his pocket watch. "We're nearing midnight."

"So it's around time, huh?" Through his chattering teeth, Kogoro managed.

He turned to look at the kid, who seemed to be unfazed by the cold, a fact that didn't really surprise him. What startled him a bit, however, was that he wasn't looking anywhere near the jewel's direction.

Conan's just narrowed slightly, not moving from Hakuba Saguru's form.

"Hey! Do you have a death wish or something?!"

Gasping lightly, Shinichi stood up, resting gloved hands on top of the car in front of him in order to stand up. "Sorry," he apologized, not daring to look up and show them his face. "I wasn't looking..."

His hand cradled his shoulder, his other resting against the car to regain his balance. Slowly, he approached the passenger's window and, with a gasp, he stumbled forward, hand instantly reaching for the door to keep himself from falling. "Excuse me..." he said between gasps. "Would you please take me to-?"

Giving nothing but a scowl, the Gin drove off, leaving Shinichi to drop into his rear. He didn't look up, even after the black Porsche had disappeared.

It took a long time for the pressure to vanish, and for the lump in Shinichi's throat to loosen up, but once it did, a satisfied smirk blossomed in his features.

Got you, Gin.

Slowly standing up, Shinichi put on his earphone and casually started to walk away.

"Seriously, that brat..." Vodka's distinctive gruff voice ran through his ears. "Too bad you didn't run him over, Aniki."

At this point, it didn't bother him that Vodka wouldn't have minded if he had suffered a slow, painful death ─ seriously, his organization already killed him in one sense, so there was no difference. Instead of that, he let his smirk grow wider.

He felt unbelievably lucky that he had asked for those adhesive microphones, along with the voice-changer choker he gave Akai for his secret identity. Jii-san's professor friend is incredible. Really, he had made those in record time without asking the reason. He had done most Kuroba's gadgets, too. I wonder if Professor Agasa could learn a thing or two about him...

"We can't bring attention to ourselves." Shinichi would recognize Gin's gelid voice anywhere. "At least until that woman reports back to us."

Vermouth, the detective's brain supplied.

"We're lucky that he decided to attend that thief's heist." There was a halt in his steps when he heard that. "So all we can do is wait for her to call, huh? Since she had to leave her car in a parking lot, several kilometers away from her position so that nobody sees through her disguise, we have to pick her up after she's finished there."

Instantly, Shinichi's eyes were on the phone, looking for nearby parking lots. Got it. He smirked to himself. That was the only one around, so that had to be it.

"But then? What are we going to do after we receive that information?"

"Isn't it obvious? Whoever is the rat endangering the Organization will be eliminated by the end of this night." The detective could hear Gin's sadistic smirk. "Be it Great Detective Mouri Kogoro, or anyone else."

Shinichi couldn't help himself. In the middle of the silent night, he gasped loudly.

"Still, between this cold and the strong wind… I feel like I'm going to freeze to death-! Wait..." From his spot where he was protecting the jewel, the inspector blinked, dumbly. "... It's not cold?"

Conan frowned upon the realization that, indeed, the room wasn't as cold as it was before. Hakuba soon realized that the reason was the cooling system ─ it had been shut down, somehow. It's not cold anymore… He wondered if that was crucial for the trick to work. The other time, the heater under the jewel… There has to be a relation to that.

Can a jewel disappear just by adding some heat?

No, that doesn't make sense… Unless… there was no jewel to begin with.

… Is there something that can disappear from plain sight by raising its temperature?

His eyes fell on Nezu, observing that he was wearing black gloves ─ he had used them the other day. Then, he gazed at the pedestal where the Midnight Crow rested, protected by a thick crystal, on top of a black cushion… Wait. Black?

Realization struck him. I see… Now it was clear. So that was it!

It explained everything… Why the room was kept in such a low temperature, why it was essential for warmth to be applied.

He smirked, eyeing Nezu from the corner of the eye.

Found you, Kaito Corbeau.

Black and white feathers soon covered his vision. This time around, however, the child didn't seem to be fazed at it.

And also...

Shinichi jumped out of the taxi and closed the door as soon as it stopped, quickly giving the driver money that he deemed enough to cover his expenses and bolted inside the parking lot.

I can't just make an appearance there. It would be dangerous with those people around ─ especially since he wasn't sure that it was just Vermouth there ─ but not just for him. Mouri was there. Conan was there.

He couldn't put them in risk.

But he still had to figure something out, and quickly. He didn't know what, but guessed that something would occur to him if he found that.

Sure enough, he did. There in front of him was Vermouth's Tomaso de Pantera.

Hands inside his pockets, he moved closer and observed it, just like an ordinary passerby would check a rare car like that one. No good. Smoked windows, he noted right away. I can't see anything inside.

He thought of just leaving and trying to confront the woman face-to-face, when he realized something. This model... Has a manual lock, if I'm not mistaken...

Looking from side to side, he realized there was nobody nearby and sighed. Here goes nothing, I guess. He kneeled down and took his shoelaces off, tying them together to get a longer rope, then making a slip knot in it.

I feel like a criminal, the detective grimaced as he, carefully, slid the rope through the door from the top corner. Technically speaking, I am a criminal, though. And pulled it down.

Fitting the knot over the lock proved to be especially hard with smoked windows but, eventually, a smirk drew itself in his features when he realized that he had managed to do it, then immediately pulled upwards, diagonally.

Vermouth's car was finally unlocked. Taking a deep breath, the teenage detective opened the door.

What he found there left him speechless.

There, knocked out cold ─ but definitely alive, thank God for that ─ a person lied against the passenger seat. Someone that Shinichi could recognize right away.

His blood froze in his veins.

Hakuba?!

And also...

Conan's gaze pierced through the back of Hakuba Saguru's head.

Found you as well, Kaito KID.