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

Pairing: KaitoxShinichi

Chapter Rating: M

Collection Summary: No matter where or what they are, their lives are always entwined. KaiShin stories in fantasy settings.

Chapter Summary: Shinichi is the new detective at the magical crimes division, and Kaito is the demon he's made a contract with to help him on his cases. Their successes are drawing a lot of attention—perhaps too much.

A Demon's Jealousy

[Demon Verse]

Part 3

Shinichi had no idea how he'd ended up here, sprawled on his desk with his pants and undergarments missing and a certain demon moving between his legs.

Scratch that. He knew how, there really wasn't much to wonder about in that department even if his recollection of the exact sequence of events was blurred by the speed with which it had all happened. He was more confused about why. Although he suspected that most people wouldn't understand why that was a question either. After all, most people would probably say that a desire for intimacy with your significant other was reason enough in and of itself. But that wasn't what was causing Shinichi's confusion. The part of the whole situation that was bugging him was how sudden it had been. He'd had no warning at all. One moment he was working, the next he'd been grabbed.

Now he knew that Kaito was the spontaneous sort, but he was big on atmosphere. Everything about his actions now seemed rushed.

There was something else too. But Shinichi's ability to think was rapidly going down the drain.

He moaned loudly. His fingers tangled themselves in Kaito's wild hair. All he could think about was that mouth and that tongue and oh god—

His back arched and he came. Stars danced across his vision.

Kaito rose, licking his lips as he surveyed his handiwork. Shinichi lay sprawled on the large and now rather disorderly desk, bare legs open and dangling over the side. His chest was still rising and falling rapidly as he panted for breath, eyes fluttering and cheeks flushed pink.

Such a tantalizing image. And all just for him. He snapped his fingers, conjuring the bottle from the drawer of the nightstand in their room.

Having caught his breath, Shinichi made to slide off the desk only to be stopped by a hand on his chest. A hot mouth covered his before he could speak, and a tongue plunged into his mouth. He made a muffled noise—though even he didn't know if it was supposed to be a protest or encouragement. Whatever it had been meant to be, it turned quickly to a moan when two slick fingers pushed their way inside him. They immediately went to work, thrusting in and out as they twisted and scissored, stretching him. His own spent member twitched and began to harden again at the stimulation.

Almost too quickly, a third finger joined the first two. The increased strain in his rear made Shinichi squirm. Those talented fingers were touching all the most sensitive places inside him, sending tingling jolts of heat and pleasure pulsing through his body. The hungry mouth now trailing biting kisses down his throat were not helping at all (or maybe he should say that they were helping all too much). He moaned, scraping blunt nails over Kaito's shoulder blades.

The fingers stilled then withdrew. He whimpered. He was almost painfully hard once again, and he just wanted to feel Kaito inside him again—

Something pressed against his entrance, and his breath hitched. His pulse sped up in anticipation.

They moaned together as Kaito thrust himself inside. He relished the feeling of Shinichi's tight, searing heat sliding over and around him in that oh so intimate embrace. He continued to press forward until he was fully sheathed. He stilled then, partly to give his lover time to adjust to his invasion and partly to just savor the pleasure of being buried deep in his detective's quivering body.

Shinichi had his eyes shut, panting softly as he ordered himself to relax and not clench against the intrusion. He thought he would have gotten used to this feeling by now, but it seemed he'd been wrong. The sensation was just as overwhelmingly intense every time as it had been that first time. The pressure and slight burning sensation of being stretched and filled by Kaito sent shudders up his spine that escaped his lips in soft gasps and small, breathless whimpers.

Wanting more, he shifted his hips in an attempt to get Kaito to move. The demon was all too eager to oblige.

There was something incredibly satisfying about having Shinichi writhing on the desk under him with reports and evidence files strewn haphazardly about them, completely forgotten. In these moments, as Shinichi cried out his name each time Kaito's thrusts hit that spot inside him that made the detective's spine arch, he knew with absolute certainty that Shinichi was thinking about no one and nothing but him.

And damn but Shinichi always did make the most beautiful sounds when they were like this.

He crushed his lips to Shinichi's, swallowing his detective's next cry as Shinichi clenched tight around him—capturing and holding him close as they rode the waves of passion together.

Mine.

-0-

"What's gotten into you lately?" Shinichi asked, frowning at Kaito. He was now sitting on the demon's lap. They were still rather less than fully dressed, but that was the least of Shinichi's concerns at the moment.

The demon gave him an innocent look that Shinichi didn't buy for an instant. "What do you mean?"

Shinichi was not impressed. "Is something wrong?"

"Of course not." The demon leaned in to recapture his detective's lips.

With an effort, Shinichi broke the kiss and pushed Kaito away. "That's exactly what I mean! You keep doing that. Something's bothering you, and you won't talk to me about it. You just keep—changing the subject."

Kaito laughed lightly, wrapping his hands around Shinichi's and bringing them up to brush his lips over the detective's knuckles. "You're imagining things."

"No I'm not."

The demon only pressed a kiss to his palm. "Come now, Detective. Don't frown. You're much prettier when you smile~."

Shinichi huffed, pulling his hands free and sliding off of Kaito's lap to stand, clean up, and straighten out his messed up outfit. "If you really don't want to tell me then fine, but I just wish—" He choked a little and turned away quickly so that Kaito wouldn't be able to see his face. His hands busied themselves organizing the items strewn across the desk. "I'm going back to the shopping center. Are you coming with me?"

Indigo eyes softened as they watched Shinichi putting things away. "Of course."

-0-

Shinichi knew he wasn't imagining things. Something was up with Kaito, but the demon just would not tell him. And while Shinichi prided himself on his ability to get to the bottom of mysteries, it was kind of difficult to pursue a line of questioning when the person you were trying to question had his tongue in your mouth and his hands somewhere it would have been indecent of them to be had the two of you been in public. It was, Shinichi was certain, Kaito's way of distracting him from asking more questions.

Why didn't Kaito trust him with—with whatever it was? The question echoed in his head even as he made his way through the bustling crowds at the shopping center.

He kept telling himself that Kaito must have his reasons, but that didn't make it hurt any less that Kaito wasn't willing to share his problems with him.

Sighing, he continued on his rounds, looking at the stalls and talking to the passersby. It was when he stopped for a drink at a fruit juice venue that he saw it.

This stall had a wind chime hanging from the awnings. Most wind chimes had at least one centerpiece. And the pendulum centerpiece of his wind chime was danging a jewel pendant that looked almost exactly like those that the cursed girls had been given.

Shinichi turned to tell Kaito then remembered that he'd asked the demon to search the next street over. Turning back, he strode up to the counter. "Excuse me, but can you tell me where you got that wind chime? That ornament on it is really beautiful."

"Ah," the man running the booth exclaimed with a beaming smile. "It is quite a pretty piece, isn't it? My daughter brought it home yesterday. She said she won it off a man running a raffle. So she brought it home. My Emi isn't really into jewelry though. And our wind chime was broken, so we thought we'd fix it by using the pendant. It's worked out wonderfully."

"Yes," Shinichi murmured, staring hard at the pendant. "It has. Would you be willing to sell this wind chime to me?"

The juice seller looked startled. "I'm sorry, but it isn't for sale. It was a gift from my wife's late sister. She would be terribly upset to part with it. That's why we repaired it instead of getting a new one."

"Oh. I see. I'm sorry, I didn't know."

"That's alright. Would you like a mango passion fruit smoothie? It's our newest flavor."

Shinichi bought the smoothie then found himself a position on the other side of the street from where he could watch the wind chimes. They couldn't just leave the pendant there. Not only would it be a danger to people, it could also be an important clue. They could just confidscate it as part of the investigation, but he would prefer if there was another way.

"Yo! Taking a break?"

Shinichi looked up to find that Kaito was back. The demon leaned back against the railing behind them. He cast a glance down at the river running past on the other side then turned to grin at Shinichi.

"Not exactly. I found one of the pendants. One that's not being used."

"Oh?" Kaito followed Shinichi's gaze to the wind chimes at the juice vendor's. He laughed. "Now that's not a place you see jewelry every day. Shouldn't we be taking it?"

"I asked if he would sell the wind chimes to me, but it has sentimental value. And he seemed quite proud of the way he used the pendant to fix the chimes."

"I see. Well, if you're trying to avoid a disturbance, I could always create a replica. Then we can swap out the real pendant and be on our way with no one the wiser."

Shinichi considered this option. It was perhaps a bit unorthodox, but it would save everyone a lot of trouble and unnecessary anxiety. "How long would it take you to make a replica?"

"I had a good look at the others, so it won't take long. Twenty minutes, give or take. Just wait here. When we're done, we'll have dinner."

Shinichi would have liked to take the pendant directly to a lab, but he knew from Kaito's tone that the issue would not be negotiable.

Left with nothing to do but to wait, Shinichi turned to look out over the river. The day was a mild one with slightly cloudy skies and a soft, pleasant breeze.

"Oh hey, I've seen you in the papers!"

Startled, Shinichi turned to find himself the focus of attention of half a dozen teenagers. It was one of the guys who had spoken. He was pointing excitedly—and a little rudely—at Shinichi as he spoke to his friends. "He's that detective. You know, the one they keep talking about in the papers."

The girl standing next to him lit up. "You're right." Excited, she fumbled through her purse. "Hey, can we take a picture with you?" Not waiting for an answer, the entire group crowded forward.

Shinichi would have backed up if it weren't for the fact that it would mean falling into the river. They were obscuring his view of the juice vendor.

"Excuse me," he tried to excuse himself, but none of them were listening. They were already arranging themselves as they appointed a photographer. When he finally managed to escape their clutches, he stumbled straight into Kaito.

"Don't laugh," he grumbled as he stepped quickly around so that Kaito would be blocking him from the view of the enthusiastic teenagers. He set about straightening out his clothes. "Did you get the pendant?" He looked up then and paused. He'd expected to see amusement on the demon's face. Instead, he found Kaito frowning. The expression vanished an instant later though. It had gone so quickly that Shinichi wasn't entirely sure he'd seen it.

"Right here," Kaito said with his usual good cheer. He held up the small, glittering pendant. "It turns out it's synthetic."

Shinichi blinked. "What?"

"The stone. It's manmade."

Understanding dawned. "That could be useful. The lab might be able to determine which makers are more likely to have created it. The curse maker should be a client or someone else with access."

"Yep." The pendant vanished with a flick of Kaito's wrist. "We'll take it to the lab right after we have dinner."

-0-

Since the gems used in the cursed necklaces were synthetic, they had collected sample stones from every maker of synthetic gems in the city and sent the whole lot down to the lab for analysis. If they could figure out where the culprit was getting his or her stones, it would go a long way in tracking the person down. Unfortunately, that meant that all Shinichi and the others could do now was wait for the lab.

Frustrating or not, it was a fact that they couldn't get around. So they had been assigned to handle some smaller, less dangerous cases while they waited. This left them with time to help the new transfers resume their interrupted magical training in addition to getting to know them better.

It was in hopes of the latter that Shinichi was here now, seated across a café table from Hakuba Saguru. Technically they had met up to go over the details of a minor case where an old, paranoid wizard was cursing everyone who knocked on his door (the man had been given multiple warnings about his behavior but to no avail. His grandchildren, also his only living relatives, were hoping to be able to convince him to see a psychiatrist, but they needed the police to help them approach the man as he wouldn't answer his phone, and the postman refused to go anywhere near his home. Even said grandchildren had had to dodge curses last time they tried to visit). The two detectives had already finished reviewing the case and settled on a time and plan of approach though. With business out of the way, Shinichi hesitated a moment before clearing his throat.

"Excuse me, but there's something I've been meaning to ask you."

"Yes?"

Shinichi took a sip of his coffee before continuing, picking his words with utmost care. "Before you transferred into this division, did you happen to have any cases involving demons?"

"You wish to know what kinds of dealings I have had with them."

Shinichi nodded. There really wasn't any point beating around the bush. The blond was too sharp not to notice.

"I'll tell you then. Perhaps then you will learn that you need to begin heeding my warnings."

Shinichi didn't say anything. He just waited.

Hakuba took a drink of his tea before speaking. "I mostly dealt with fraud cases, as I have mentioned before. One day, a young woman came to us. She came, she told us, because a dear friend of hers had been tricked, and she wanted us to deal with the culprit before he could claim any more victims. The officers she spoke to were confused, so they sent her to me. She wished to tell me about her friend, Midori. They had graduated from the same university and had been good friends for many years.

"Miss Midori, she told me, went back to live with her mother after university in order to take care of her. The woman had a terrible sickness that none of the doctors could cure. In fact, they couldn't even identify the illness. As her husband had passed away many years ago, it fell to her daughter—her only living relative—to look after her. Being a nurse herself, Miss Midori spent much of her free time trying to find a cure for her mother's ailment. She spoke to dozens of specialists and read all the books she could find on rare maladies and their treatments. After much hard work, she succeeded in identifying the problem. It was a very ancient disease that had last been seen centuries ago. Unfortunately, the books did not reveal a cure. The disease was simply too obscure, and, with the cases being from so long ago, no one had studied it either. Suffice to say, she did not find a cure. She did, however, find references to a demon who might have her answers. Her friend did her best to persuade her not to, but Midori decided to call upon the demon for aid despite her warnings. The demon did indeed agree to help her create the cure for her mother's illness. Apparently, it was a difficult process that took many weeks. During that time, the demon lived with Miss Midori and her mother. Long story short, they became intimately involved. According to her friend, she truly loved that demon. They finished creating the cure, and Miss Midori's mother's condition began to improve.

"As you can imagine, the girl was delighted. To her, it seemed everything was going perfectly. However, Miss Midori was out walking back with her mother from the grocery store one evening when they were hit by a drunk driver. Her injuries were light, but her mother died at the hospital. Heartbroken, she sought out that demon. Her friend, the one who brought her story to us, didn't know exactly what words passed between them. What she did know was that the creature's words had been cruel. He mocked her then left, as he had apparently found someone else he was interested in playing with." The blond's lip curled in disgust as he recounted the tale. "Having lost both her mother and her lover in one day, Miss Midori succumbed to depression and eventually took her own life. Of course, technically speaking, the demon did not break any laws. And there is the matter that we have no power to enforce our laws upon them. So I had no choice but to inform the girl's friend that there was nothing we could do. I did, however, do some investigating into the matter. It took a lot of digging, but I was able to discover several other cases of women who suffered similar fates at the hands of that demon."

"That's awful," Shinichi agreed solemnly. "But there are humans like that too. People who get their kicks from toying with other people's feelings. We've both arrested enough of them to know that."

"Perhaps. However, humans cannot simply escape all responsibility by vanishing to another plane of existence. Demons are not bound to the laws of our world, either those of society or even those of physics. They can do whatever they please however they please even if that means hurting others, and yet they never have to face the consequences. And that is why you should never trust one. They will give their aid just as willingly to a villainous cause as a just one just so long as they get what they want in return. I am not claiming that they are evil by nature, but they lack our sense of responsibility. And that means that all their actions are guided only by their own selfish desires."

-0-

Shinichi sighed, poking halfheartedly at the food on his plate. His thoughts kept drifting back to the conversation he'd had with Hakuba earlier. He felt like he should have said more. He'd wanted to point out that responsibility was something that had to be learned. Humans weren't born responsible either. But he supposed that if he'd pointed that out, Hakuba would have pointed out that demons, immortal and self sufficient as they were, had no reason to learn.

Across the table, Kaito frowned at his detective's pensive expression. "Did that prat say something to bother you? If he did, I'll—"

"No, no, it's not that," Shinichi said quickly. The last thing he needed was Kaito going off to punish Hakuba for some imaginary insult. "He didn't say anything like that, really. We just…had a talk about a case he had before. One that involved a demon."

He recounted the story.

Kaito listened without saying anything until he was done. "I think I know who that was."

"You mean the girl who died?"

"No, the demon she made a contract with. If it's who I'm thinking then he's always been like that. He only signs contracts with women, and he only accepts one form of payment."

Shinichi's mind put two and two together and he grimaced in disgust. "That's just…" He couldn't even find the words to express his revulsion, so he just shook his head. "Why would anyone agree?"

Kaito shrugged. "It depends. When people are desperate or just want something badly enough, they'll often agree to things they wouldn't have under normal circumstances. See, his specialty is herb lore, medicine, poisons and antidotes. Most people who go looking for him do so because there's someone they want to save. And generally, with his help, they succeed."

Shinichi opened his mouth then closed it again, not sure what to say. Put that way, he supposed he could understand. He couldn't approve, but he couldn't say it was entirely without conscience either. It was just unfortunate that no amount of planning could account for rotten luck.

He let out a heavy sigh. "So you know him?"

Kaito coughed. "Not well. I've spoken to him a few times in passing. But last time we talked, I sort of blasted him off the material plane. I haven't seen him since, though I've heard through the grapevine that he's been telling everyone who'll listen that I'm an unreasonable jerk."

"…You mean you fought him?"

"Er, no." Kaito looked shifty. "Let's just say he has a lousy sense of humor."

"So…you attacked him because he made a joke you didn't like."

"Something like that."

Shinichi couldn't help it. He had to ask. "What did he say?"

"You don't want to know." Kaito could see that Shinichi was still curious, but he changed the subject. He wasn't about to tell his detective that the other demon had originally come to chat with him out of the misguided notion that they were of a similar mind, albeit with different tastes. Kaito supposed his reaction may have been just a tiny bit over the top, especially considering the other demon probably thought he was being friendly, but that crack he'd made about Shinichi had been the last straw. Hearing someone talk about the love of his life like the detective was nothing more than some kind of—of sex toy had made his blood boil.

Besides, it wasn't like he'd done the other demon any lasting damage.

"So I guess now we know why Blondie thinks we're all con artists."

Shinichi sighed. "Yeah…"

"That doesn't make him any less of a prat."

"Kaito…"

"Hey, I'm just telling the truth. Having a reason doesn't excuse bad manners."

"That's true," Shinichi admitted. "But I don't think any of us are going to be changing each other's minds. We just need to accept that and move on."

Kaito made a noncommittal noise and changed the subject.

-0-

"We've been invited to a ball?"

"Yeah," Hattori said amiably, holding up the gold trimmed invitation. "It's for the whole department."

Shinichi blinked. "But…why?" It was certainly strange. Whoever heard of anyone going out of their way to invite a department of police to attend a ball? Personal invites from people who knew them, sure, but for the department? "Are they expecting trouble?"

"Don't think so. The host's some rich old guy. I think he's old buddies with some of the chiefs."

"Oh." That explained a lot, he supposed. "Is it mandatory that we go?"

The dark-skinned detective laughed at the hopeful note in Shinichi's voice. "Sorry ta disappoint ya, but it is. Ya can't skip out on this one unless ya want to offend a lot o' important people."

Shinichi bit back a sigh.

A heavy arm landed across his shoulders. "Oh come on, it should be fun," Kaito said. "It's not like we're all that busy right now."

"But the labs should have our results any time now. Those girls don't have much time left."

"They'll notify you when the results come in. Sitting around fretting won't make them work any faster."

"Kuroba's right about that," Hattori put in. "But, uh, the ball is invitation only…"

Indigo eyes narrowed. "Your point is?"

Hattori squirmed under the demon's stare. He knew that Kaito knew exactly what his point was. "It's just, well, it'd be kinda rude for us ta bring uninvited guests, ya know?"

Kaito knew, but, frankly, he didn't care. So it was that when Shinichi set out for the estate where the ball was going to be held the following evening, Kaito was right there with him. They ran into Hattori, Hakuba, and Sera on the way. The blond looked askance at the demon's presence but, for once, said nothing about it.

They didn't run into any problems until they reached the estate's main gates. The gates themselves had been opened wide for the occasion. Other guests were already making their way up the drive.

Kaito stopped abruptly just outside the gates.

Confused, Shinichi turned to look at him. "Kai?"

"There's a barrier here."

Shinichi frowned slightly. "I don't feel anything."

"It's directed at demons." Kaito looked up at the distant roof of the mansion just barely visible over the tops of the trees that surrounded the grounds. Such barriers were not uncommon around important public buildings and large estates. However, it was rare for any to be strong enough to warrant any attention from him. "It's very powerful. I can break it, but if I do, it's going to cause some serious fireworks."

"It is hardly a surprise," Hakuba muttered from where he was standing with Sera and Hattori a few steps away. He fell quiet when the dark-skinned detective elbowed him.

Shinichi pretended not to hear. "It might be better if you didn't break it," he said, looking down. "Do you mind waiting outside? I'll just go say hello and come back."

Kaito's gaze softened. "No, that's all right. You wouldn't want to be rude. Take your time."

Reluctant, Shinichi trailed after his colleagues. Kaito watched them go before he vanished, making several of the men and women passing by jump and exclaim in shock.

It didn't take Shinichi long to start wishing that Kaito had come with them. He'd never been very fond of big parties. They were boring and tiring with all the pointless small talk and shameless boasting. Large amounts of free food were not all that interesting to him, and he didn't particularly like to dance. Just about the only aspect of the party he enjoyed was the music. There was actually a small orchestra playing live on one of the largest balconies overlooking the ballroom.

Politely declining several invitations to dance, he picked up a cup of coffee and found a place at one of the small tables set up along one side of the dance floor.

"Pardon me for the intrusion, but would you happen to be the detective Kudo Shinichi?"

Shinichi looked around to find that a young man with dark, curly hair and rather narrow eyes had sat down on the other side of the table. "I am."

The stranger nodded, unsurprised. "My name is Kusanagi Takaharu. It's a pleasure to meet you. I do hope you are enjoying the ball."

So this was the son of their host, Shinichi thought. "Thank you. The orchestra is very skilled, and it's been a while since I've been able to attend a concert."

"I'm glad you approve." Takaharu paused to take a drink from his own glass of red wine before continuing. "Incidentally, I happen to be a practitioner of magic as well. I do a lot of research in the magical arts. Although I do not have the talent for summoning. My latest study, unfortunately, requires knowledge of demon magic that I do not have. I was hoping, therefore, to consult you on the matter. I understand that you are a wizard yourself?"

"I am," Shinichi said, surprised but pleased. This sounded interesting for a change. "I would be happy to share what I know if it'll help. What are you studying?"

"Spell diagrams," Takaharu replied. He glanced around then as though looking for eavesdroppers. "The particular diagram in question is an entirely new design. If you wouldn't mind stepping out to my workroom with me, I can show you what I have. Then perhaps you could show me how I might complete it."

Intrigued, Shinichi agreed.

Together, the two young men left the ballroom. They passed through several long, thickly carpeted halls and down several flights of stairs until they came to a pair of double doors carved from dark, polished wood. Shinichi was a little surprised. This place, wherever it was, was underground. It was an odd location to choose for a workroom since an accidental explosion would bring everything overhead down on top of you. Then again, maybe they were no longer directly under the mansion.

Inside, the room was quite spacious. The outer edges were a little cluttered though because all the furniture had been pushed to the sides of the room to make space for the spell diagram drawn on the floor in white chalk.

"I'm having trouble with that area over there," Takaharu explained, pointing to a stretch of blank floor on the far side of the circle. "Any advice you could give me would be very much appreciated."

Shinichi stepped gingerly over the sprawl of chalk lines to the bare patch in question. Behind him, he could hear the door clicking shut. With the exit closed off and no windows anywhere, the room felt smaller and darker than it was. He had a sudden feeling of unease. Glancing back over his shoulder, he saw Takaharu arranging the papers on his desk. Nothing odd there. Shaking off his unsettled feeling, Shinichi moved to stand on the blank patch and examine the diagram.

He wasn't an expert on spell diagrams. Such diagrams were used only to cast large and extremely complicated, long-lasting spells. As a detective, one rarely had the luxury of time you would need to draw up and employ such a diagram. Therefore, the only diagrams Shinichi was particularly familiar with were the ones that involved demons (it being necessary knowledge for a wizard). He could see where a summoning circle would fit into this diagram too, but the overall diagram was much more complex. The summoning was only a tiny part of it, and he couldn't help but wonder what the spell was for.

Kneeling on the wood floor, he made a show of examining the edges of the blank area and the openings left for incorporating the summoning circle while he scrutinized the rest of the diagram. The diagram was the most complex one he had ever seen. He marveled at the intricacy. Most of it was nonsensical to him. He did know a few runes, recognizing them to be from a very ancient language. He could have sworn it was a language that was no longer used in magical practice. But he supposed that wasn't strange for a scholar's research…?

Over there on the other side though, he thought he saw some patterns he understood. It was partially hidden by a splay of random papers.

He looked again at Takaharu. The man was now scribbling notes into an open notebook. Telling himself that it would be helpful to know more about the overall structure of the spell and therefore he would not be snooping, Shinichi crossed the diagram and carefully cleared away the papers.

He was right. This part of the diagram was composed of patterns that he knew even if he'd never seen them arranged together in such a way before. If he was reading it right then they meant that—

His breath caught in his throat. A chill swept through him.

"You know, you really shouldn't snoop."

Shinichi refused to jump even as his heart rate picked up at the sudden address. Instead, he rose slowly and turned to face Takaharu.

The man was still standing at his desk, but he was now facing Shinichi. In the dim light from the lamps attached to the corners of the room, his formerly friendly expression now took on a sinister cast.

"This spell," Shinichi said, tone level. "What does it do?"

"It's nothing you should be concerning yourself with," the man said lightly.

Shinichi's eyes narrowed. "This is forbidden magic." He pointed at the stretch of runes at his feet. "It calls for a blood sacrifice." An extremely large one at that.

"I promise you, this is merely for research. I have no intentions of using it."

"I see." Shinichi didn't believe him for a moment, but if Takaharu wanted to play dumb, that was his business. "I'm sorry, but I can't help you."

Takaharu's smile didn't waver. "And I'm sorry, but you don't have a choice. Not if you want to see your friends upstairs again anyway. So, why don't we get started?"

-To Be Continued-