Chapter Text
“Oh, by the way – ” Saguru looks away from Amuro, who is innocently eating his curry, to Edogawa, sitting to the man’s right. “– KID left those teaspoons behind,” Edogawa says.
The teaspoons!
Saguru beams. “That’s wonderful, Edogawa-kun.” He needs those spoons – he can’t live with using the regular ones in his cups of tea. It just looks wrong. “I had begun to worry that I would have to buy a new set.”
“Oh, those are your teaspoons?” Ran asks, setting her chopsticks down. “I was wondering where they’d come from.”
“I suppose they must be mine, if Edogawa says that KID left them here and you’ve noticed a new addition to your cutlery drawer,” Saguru says.
“I’ll go and get them,” Ran says, getting up. Saguru moves to protest, because he doesn’t want to interrupt her meal, but she’s already gone.
Mouri makes a confused noise. “I thought it was just a dream,” he says.
“What happened?” Amuro asks. He really does have a nice smile. Saguru can’t imagine him in a situation that nearly ended up with Kuroba blowing up. Is it possible that Kuroba deserved it? Kuroba does like to be antagonistic, and Saguru can see even the most mellow person losing their cool around him.
“Kaitou KID paid us a visit in the middle of the night,” Edogawa says.
“Oh,” Amuro says, smiling. “He does that to me too.”
“Excuse me?” Saguru splutters.
“Yeah,” Amuro says. “He turns up to threaten me every other week, because I’m apparently very sneaky and evil.” He leans down to share a smile with Edogawa. “But I’m really very trustworthy, right, Conan-kun?”
“Amuro-no-niichan is super trustworthy!” Edogawa chirps, laying on a thick layer of deception. “He helped us get Haibara’s charm back after she lost it.”
And- oh. They both have the same smile. The same fake smile.
This seems to be a game to Edogawa and Amuro, forcing their incredibly fake, cheery personalities on people who are – Saguru glances over at Mouri – utterly oblivious. They’re both internally laughing at everyone.
Saguru feels the remnants of the crush that he had for probably only five minutes dissolve.
Amuro Tooru is even more fake than Edogawa Conan. And Kuroba apparently drops in on Amuro just to tell him that he doesn’t like him.
Saguru can’t help but chuckle.
“Hakuba-niichan?” Edogawa says, tilting his head to the side.
“My apologies,” Saguru says, trying to force the smile away. “I just-” he glances at Mouri and Amuro, people that he doesn’t know very well. And then back to Edogawa, who he feels comfortable around. “It’s just like him to do that.”
Edogawa smiles. “Yeah,” he says good-naturedly.
“I once caught him rooting around my fridge,” Saguru says. It was actually more than once.
“Are we still talking about Kaitou KID?” Ran asks, coming into the room with two teaspoons. She offers them to Saguru as she sits back at the kotatsu.
It’s only two teaspoons, but it’s a start. Maybe KID will make a habit of visiting the Mouris and leave behind even more of his teaspoons.
“Thank you,” Saguru says, taking them. He puts them down beside himself. “And yes, we are.”
Ran lights up. “Sonoko told me that they paint their nails together sometimes.”
God, why is it that everyone who knows KID doesn’t inform the police when he breaks into their homes?
On reflection, it’s probably because they know him.
At least Saguru calls the police when he catches Kuroba in his house. He can still trust in himself, even if everyone else is brain dead.
Although, it’s not as if Kuroba ever does anything worse than breaking into the houses.
Oh- wait. No. He stole Saguru’s teaspoons for apparently no reason.
It’s a quarter to seven by the time they all finish eating. Amuro gathers his belongings and jokingly – or not so jokingly, if Saguru’s suspicions are true – says that he has an overdue murder to commit.
Saguru gives Edogawa a horrified look, but Edogawa just smiles cheerily and says, “Say hi to Subaru-san for me.”
“We need to tell Amuro that we accept his sexuality and that it’s okay that he’s dating that curry guy,” Mouri sighs, shortly after Amuro’s disappeared to commit a murder. Emphasis on the words, ‘commit’ and ‘murder’. “One day someone’s going to call the police on him for all those jokes about murder.”
“But Amuro-san knows that I’m bi,” Ran says. “So, I don’t think he has any reason to think we don’t accept him.”
Saguru looks between them. “Are you completely sure that he isn’t about to commit a murder?” he asks.
Ran giggles. “Of course, we are – it’s Amuro-san we’re talking about here.”
Edogawa, however, says, “He’s completely serious. He attempts to kill Subaru-san at least once a week. Subaru-san’s impressed, he says that each attempt is unique, and that Amuro-san has amazing perseverance to still be making attempts.”
Ran nudges Edogawa. “Don’t make fun of Hakuba-kun like that,” she says. “He seems really concerned.”
“Okay!” Edogawa chirps, the fake child persona back in place.
Saguru stays for another half an hour and then takes photographs of Edogawa’s notes on his own investigations. At 19:24:12:36 he shrugs his coat back on and says his goodbyes. Edogawa tells him to be careful and Saguru is being careful, but probably not as careful as Edogawa believes.
He knows that he can call Baaya to pick him up. The thing is that she’s already done so much for him today and he doesn’t want to interrupt her evening.
So, Saguru walks down the steps leading from the Mouris’ apartment and heads out into the rain, umbrella held above him. He doesn’t like how unnerving just walking to the train station is. Walking alone has never bothered him before and he wishes it wasn’t bothering him now.
Luckily, nothing happens on the way to the train station.
And nothing happens on the walk from the train station to his house either.
Saguru gets inside and props his umbrella up against the wall at the genkan. The water will probably stain the wall, but Saguru can’t find it within himself to care.
He reaches into his pocket and pulls out his pocket watch, hand brushing against the two teaspoons in his pocket as he does so. Twenty-three minutes and fifty-two seconds past eight. Saguru puts the pocket watch away and exchanges his shoes for slippers before pulling the teaspoons out.
It’s satisfying to put them back into the drawer where they belong.
When he’s done with the teaspoons, Saguru works on the buttons of his coat. He gets that off and goes back to the genkan to hang it up on a hook. Then Saguru climbs the stairs and retires to his bedroom. Watson makes a happy screech from the windowsill. He’s covered in water, and so is everything by the window, since it’s raining.
For the first time since leaving the Mouri household, Saguru feels safe.
“Did you have fun today?” Saguru asks as he crosses the room. Watson gives a pointed look to a- a dead rat lying in a pool of blood by his talons. Saguru tuts. “You know you shouldn’t bring your victims into the house,” he says. He reaches over Watson and pulls the window closed.
Watson screeches. He snatches the rat up with his beak and holds it up to Saguru.
“For me?” Saguru asks. He chuckles. “Watson, how many times do I have to tell you that I don’t eat rats?”
Watson looks at him in a way that plainly states, ‘and how many times do I have to tell you that you should.’ Maybe Saguru thinks too much into the bird’s thought process.
“Right,” Saguru says. “I’ll dispose of the rat and then we can both go to bed.” He holds his hands out and Watson happily drops the rat into them. Saguru shudders at the slick feeling of the bloodied, rain-soaked rat.
Maybe if he was a bit more awake, he would have put the gloves he keeps in his pocket for crime scenes on before handling it, but Saguru has been up since 6am and he has no room for thought.
After disposing of the rat and washing his hands three times, Saguru gets changed into his pyjamas. He eyes up the puddle of blood on the windowsill and decides that no, Baaya is not paid enough to deal with that.
Saguru is just about to leave the room to grab a cloth when the ceiling light catches fire and drops to the floor. Saguru can only stare at it numbly as the flame grows taller and taller, eventually reaching the ceiling, somehow not burning anything around it or producing smoke. Koizumi’s face recreates itself in the flames.
“Hakuba-kun,” she says. “Have you ever heard of the Manananggal?”
Saguru can only communicate in stressed noises right now.
“Hakuba-kun?”
“That’s- that’s- Koizumi-san, that’s property damage,” he chokes out. Is it not enough that Kuroba stole his teaspoons?
“No, the Manananggal isn’t property damage. It’s a creature from the Phillipines that looks like the stereotypical – entirely false, by the way – depiction of a witch. They tend to tear themselves in half at the abdomen and fly around searching for sleeping pregnant women. They use their tongues to eat the hearts of the fetuses.”
Saguru…really doesn’t have the energy to argue. He sighs and sits down on his bed, listening as Koizumi info-dumps about creatures from the Phillipines that Saguru really hopes don’t exist. He must fall asleep listening to her, because the next thing he knows, it’s 6am and he’s lying on his bed. Watson is curled up by his head, radiating warmth. The puddle of blood is still at the window, probably crusty and dry by now.
“You have a perch,” Saguru murmurs, but Watson is fast asleep.
Saguru goes downstairs and has breakfast with Baaya. She shows him the two teaspoons, saying that they’ve found their way back.
Saguru apologises for the mess that Watson’s made (hinting that the ceiling light might have been him as well), but Baaya taps him on the head with a teaspoon and tells him to stop being silly. They eat and then Saguru gets ready for school. He opens the window for Watson once again before leaving.
The classroom isn’t very busy quite yet. The time is – Saguru takes out his pocket watch – 07:43:53:12, about half an hour to their first class. Aoko is also early, and she looks up as soon as he walks into the room.
“Hakuba-kun!” she exclaims, getting up from her seat.
“Good morning, Aoko-san,” Saguru says.
Aoko doesn’t waste any time getting to him, she practically runs across the classroom. “Are you okay?” she asks worriedly. Saguru realises that he hasn’t talked to her since Edogawa was attacked.
“I am quite well, Aoko-san,” Saguru says.
Aoko doesn’t look convinced. She frowns and says, “You didn’t sound very well on the phone.”
Saguru flushes at the reminder. “I’m terribly sorry for inconvenie-”
Aoko punches his arm in a way that is probably meant to be light but ends up being mildly painful. “Hakuba-kun wasn’t an inconvenience!” she insists, an angry bite to her tone.
Saguru- he smiles, feeling his shoulders slump as he accepts her words. “Alright, Aoko-san,” he says.
Aoko beams. Saguru likes seeing his friends smile, he likes seeing them happy.
“Can Aoko hug you?” Aoko asks.
Saguru blinks. He shouldn’t be so taken aback by the request, seeing as they’re friends, but he can’t remember the last time he hugged someone.
“I suppose so,” Saguru says, setting his bag down on the floor.
Aoko’s arms wind around him quickly, pressing them together. It’s warm and comfortable, but Saguru’s not really sure what to do with his hands.
“You can put your hands on Aoko’s back,” Aoko says softly. Saguru feels his face heat up. Is he really that obvious?
He leans into her anyway, putting his arms around her. It’s very peaceful, even if he’s aware of the two other students in the classroom.
Of course, the peace is only short lived, because in a classroom that Kuroba frequents, you can’t expect such things to last.
“Alele,” Saguru hears from behind them. He has a thought of, ‘why is Edogawa in our classroom?’ as he disentangles himself from Aoko and spins around, only to find himself face to face with Kuroba. Kuroba grins. “Is it hug the repressed nerd day?” he says, still in Edogawa’s voice.
How unnerving.
“Did you just say, ‘alele’?” Aoko asks, blinking in confusion.
“It’s an inside joke,” Kuroba says, as if it isn’t at all suspicious that he referenced Edogawa Conan’s favourite ‘oh look at me I’m a child’ phrase in his exact tone of voice. Saguru narrows his eyes. “Anyway, it’s totally unfair if you hug Aoko and not me.” Kuroba tells him.
“E-excuse me?” Saguru squeaks. Is Kuroba saying that he wants a hug?
“It’s not fair,” Kuroba whines. “And it’s really evil and sneaky of Aoko to go behind my back like this.”
Aoko’s face turns dark. “What’s that supposed to mean, Bakaito?” she asks, voice loud and demanding.
Kuroba steps back a little, looking wildly amused. “Only that you’re hogging all of Hakubaka’s attention. Did you know, Hakuba?” he turns to Saguru conspiratorially. “That Ahoko always hogs everything? She hogs the blankets when we take naps together, and she hogs the remote when we watch TV-” he steps around Saguru, avoiding a punch from Aoko.
“Stop being an asshole, Bakaito!” Aoko yells, ducking under Saguru’s arm to make a grab for Kuroba. He just about avoids her, making the full circle around Saguru so that he’s back in front of him.
Saguru watches his impish grin with mild concern. “And she hogs Dorito’s attention as well-” Dorito is one of Kuroba’s doves.
Kuroba keeps talking about all of the things that Aoko presumably hogs, dodging Aoko’s attempts to attack him while still managing to walk a perfect circle around Saguru for a good few minutes. Eventually, Aoko full-on body tackles him, and they’re forced to take up the entire classroom with their fighting, instead of just using Saguru’s personal space.
He sighs and picks up his bag before sitting down at his desk.
It’s 08:12:36:54 when Koizumi turns up. Saguru’s half-way through the book she sent him and Kuroba and Aoko are having a swordfight with mops.
Pretty much everyone in the class except for Kuroba and Aoko flood Koizumi at the door, asking if she needs anything and going above and beyond to compliment her.
Koizumi laughs smugly and says, “I could go for a smoothie.” Her fans rush to get one for her, fighting amongst themselves to get out of the classroom first.
“I do believe you’ve started a fight,” Saguru says, setting his book down as Koizumi saunters over.
“En garde!” he hears from the back of the room. Kuroba’s mop misses Aoko’s and smashes against the wall, chipping at the paint.
Koizumi smirks and takes a seat on his desk. “Look at them, all vying for my attention.” She laughs. “I really am the most beautiful woman in the world.”
Saguru shakes his head fondly. “That you are.”
“I’m glad you think so, Hakuba-kun.” She spots the book he’d been reading and picks it up. “Kiyohime, huh? She’s one of my role models.”
Kiyohime is a character in Koizumi’s book who had fallen in love with a monk. When the monk rejected her, she chased after him, transforming into a serpent. She then killed him in a bell that he had hidden within.
“You could probably pick a better role model,” Saguru says.
Koizumi squints her eyes at him and says dangerously, “What’s so bad about Kiyohime?”
“She’s just a little bit murderous, isn’t she?” Saguru points out. “I understand that you like attempting to murder Kuroba, but it’s not very nice to do so.”
Koizumi puts the book down with a heavy thump. She crosses her arms and stares at Saguru. “Well?” she says, raising an eyebrow. “Who would you suggest?”
Saguru’s mind goes straight to Miss Fisher, but she’s a fictional character and he would like to suggest real people. “Possibly Amelia Earhart?” Saguru says. “She was the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean.”
“So?” Koizumi says.
Saguru sighs. “How about Julie d’Aubigny? She was a bisexual opera-singer who challenged a lot of men to swordfights. There were laws against duelling, but she managed to get pardoned because the law only governed men at the time. Once at a court ball in Paris, she kissed a woman on the dancefloor and was challenged by three different noblemen. She fought all three at once and defeated them.”
“She sounds more interesting,” Koizumi says, leaning forward. “I think she will do as a role model.”
“If you wish to learn fencing to be more like her then I can help you find a place to learn.” He’s not too sure that that’s a good idea though, because it would just give Koizumi a new method for killing people.
“Why would I need to learn fencing when I have my magic?” Koizumi huffs. Well, that sorts out that problem. Her eyes trail over to the back of the classroom. “What are those two fighting about this time?”
Aoko makes a jab at Kuroba with her mop, who backflips out of the way and sweeps his own mop at Aoko’s legs. Aoko jumps over it and meets his mop with her own, the clack of the mops loud in the-
Oh. The classroom’s empty. It seems that everyone went to get a smoothie for Koizumi. She’s way too powerful.
“Hakuba-kun?”
Oh, right. Saguru clears his throat. “Kuroba expressed a displeasure at Aoko-san ‘going behind his back’ and she got angry at him and challenged him to a duel.”
“Like Julie d’Aubigny,” Koizumi says.
“That’s right,” Saguru says. “Perhaps Aoko-san would like to learn fencing.”
“She would be very good at it,” Koizumi says.
“I hope you’ve learnt your lesson.”
Conan’s face scrunches up. “I’m a victim, you know. You could be nicer.”
Haibara’s shoulders lift with mirth, an amused smile on her face. “Maybe, but you’re also an idiot.” Conan doesn’t actually mind Haibara’s scolding too much. She has a point and…it’s just nice to be around Haibara. Maybe her way of thinking isn’t like his, and maybe they don’t share the same interests, but Haibara understands him more than anyone ever has.
They’re partners – partners against the organisation. Conan can’t think of anyone he would rather be teaming up with.
“What’s with that look?” Haibara asks, raising an unimpressed eyebrow.
Conan smiles at her.
“Nothing,” he says, shrugging. “I’m just glad that we’re partners.”
Haibara’s face softens uncharacteristically. “Yeah, same,” she says quietly.
Conan grins and adjusts his grip on his backpack straps. “Even if you are a scary old lady,” he laughs.
“I’m only a year older than you,” Haibara huffs. She looks at him out of the corner of her eye, refusing to turn her head. “I was going to stomp on your foot, but I think you’re already injured enough.”
Conan’s grin widens. “Thank you for sparing me, Haibara-sama,” he says teasingly.
The kids stick to him like glue as soon as they see him, acting like tiny guard dogs. They point out every ‘suspicious’ person they see, making plans to incapacitate them before Conan pitches in with the reasons why the people are obviously not guilty of murder.
“Kiyoko-chan is our age,” he points out.
Ayumi pats at his arm, looking around the wall in a way that she thinks hides her from Kiyoko’s view. “That doesn’t rule her out – maybe she was on stilts.”
Conan rolls his eyes. “I think I would know if the guy that attacked me was a seven-year-old girl on stilts.”
“Mitsuhiko read all about concussions and he said they can make you forget things,” Genta says.
“Yeah!” Mitsuhiko chips in. “I’m sorry, Conan-kun, but we can’t trust your judgement.”
Conan groans. “That wore off days ago,” he says. Haibara laughs because she’s evil like that.
Saguru leaves half-way through the day to continue his investigation into Saeki Naomi. He doesn’t exactly need to investigate any further, but he doesn’t like leaving sources alone, and the school that she went to could be a source.
Baaya drives him there, as Saguru had told Edogawa that he wouldn’t investigate anything while alone. Saguru leaves her in the parking lot anyway.
Saguru had forgotten to call the school up to get permission for his investigation on the grounds, so it takes a while before he obtains a visitor’s pass. At 13:43:26:54 the headmaster of the school gives him the key to Naomi’s locker. They’ve already cleared it out and the items inside are in a box back at Junko’s apartment.
“I doubt that you’ll find anything,” the headmaster says as he unlocks the locker. The superiority of the man rubs him the wrong way.
There aren’t any marks inside the locker, though, so Saguru withholds the scathing remark that lingers in his mind.
“Is it alright if I take a look around?” Saguru asks, shutting the locker and handing the key back to the headmaster. He doesn’t wait for an answer and starts looking over the surfaces of everything in the room. Nothing sticks out.
Just as he’d expected.
Saguru tries to smile politely at the headmaster but feels like he only ends up looking stiff and annoyed.
That night, Saguru’s woken by a loud beeping coming from his phone. He recognises it as the intruder alert, which just makes him even more annoyed about being woken up.
He’s barely awake as he grabs the phone off of his side table. He considers alerting the police but decides that he can’t be bothered to deal with them. Instead, he turns the alarm off, deciding that whatever Kuroba wants to do is probably harmless.
So Saguru goes back to sleep.
He’s awoken an unknown amount of time later by horrific screeching that has his eyes wide open in a second, heart thudding dangerously in his chest. His bedroom door slams closed and Watson attacks it with ferocity, talons dragging long jagged lines into it.
The screeching, Saguru realises, hand fisted at his chest, is coming from Watson.
“Watson,” Saguru says, heart settling down a little bit. He swallows. “You scared me.”
Watson doesn’t acknowledge him – he just keeps attacking the door.
“It’s only Kuroba,” Saguru tells Watson. But, something about that isn’t right, because Watson has met Kuroba and while he treats the magician with disdain, he’s never reacted to him so violently. “Oh dear,” Saguru says, the reality of the situation dawning on him. “That’s not Kuroba, is it?”
He grabs his phone off of the side table and enables the torch (noticing that the time is 01:06), getting out of bed. Watson calms down when he sees that. His eyes are trained on Saguru as he opens a drawer and grabs his falconry glove.
“Come along Watson, let’s catch ourselves a murderer.”
The house is pitch black, as one would expect in the middle of the night. Saguru pads down the hallway in his slippers, shining the light from his phone at every nook that looks like it could harbour something vaguely human-shaped. Watson is perched on his arm, keeping his own look-out.
“I expect he’s made a rush for the front door,” Saguru mutters.
He quickens his pace, inwardly cursing his father’s need to have a house far bigger than can be reasonably justified.
The front door isn’t open, but that doesn’t mean that the murderer hasn’t left by it. Saguru shoves his feet into a pair of shoes and hurriedly pulls his coat on before trying the door. It’s unlocked.
Nothing seems out of place in the front garden. Saguru stops short, just outside the front door, wondering how he expects to search out the murderer with no clues.
Still, Saguru trudges down the garden path, figuring that he may as well try.
Watson’s enraged shriek is the only warning he gets. He feels hands shove at his shoulders. Automatically, Saguru’s KID-honed instincts kick in. He falls into a roll, hands stinging at the impact with the hard ground, but body relatively unharmed.
Saguru’s up in a second, which the murderer obviously hadn’t expected. He also hadn’t expected Watson to dive-bomb him. Arms held up to protect his face from Watson’s talons, the murderer stumbles backwards, tripping into a flowerbed.
Watson screeches. He makes to attack again, but-
“Watson!” Saguru shouts, rushing over. “Watson, no! You can’t kill him!” Watson flaps his wings angrily and gives Saguru a look.
Saguru raises his eyebrows at Watson, because he is not letting a man die in his front garden, even if that man is a murderer.
“Awww,” the murderer chuckles, picking himself up from the flowerbed. By his tone, it seems that he’s vastly underestimating Saguru. Which, understandably, makes Saguru even more angry than he already is. “How cute. You detectives can’t injure people because of your moral codes.”
Saguru scoffs. “I have a problem with murdering you, not with injuring you.” And then he reels back his fist. The murderer, caught by surprise, doesn’t have time to dodge.
“Oh, shit!” he yelps, clutching at his bleeding nose. Saguru notes that his hand is bandaged and remembers how Edogawa had broken his thumb. The thought brings a smile to his face.
“Yes, ‘oh, shit,’” Saguru says smoothly, taking a step towards the murderer. “That was for Edogawa-kun, by the way. Not that he isn’t capable of getting his own back.” Watson gives a shriek, as if agreeing with him. Saguru really does love Watson. He acts like he knows what’s going on all the time, but Saguru feels like he’s just going along with everything and pretending his best to have a grasp of the situation.
The murderer swings his fist at him. Saguru ducks.
Watson makes another attempt at the man, talons extended. Saguru had thought he’d gotten his point across – he doesn’t need Watson’s help. The murderer only escapes Watson’s talons by a hair. He steps back and Saguru advances with a punch that gets avoided. The murderer doesn’t anticipate the fact that Saguru has two working legs, however, and Saguru’s foot slams against his shin.
The murderer’s fallen into the flowerbed again. Saguru should call the police. His phone was in his hand- isn’t anymore- he dropped it when the murderer pushed him over-
Watson gives an almighty shriek and makes for the murderer again.
The murderer ducks down, grabbing a flowerpot.
“Watson!” Saguru yells, but Watson isn’t listening.
The flowerpot sails through the air and slams into Watson. Saguru heart leaps out of his chest as his body falls to the damp grass with a dull thud.
“Watson!” he shouts, sprinting towards Watson.
Watson shifts a bit, lifting his head. He makes a small chirping sound, eye wild and confused.
He’s probably shocked, because no one’s ever thrown anything at him before. “You’re alright,” Saguru says, kneeling down. He pats at Watson’s ruffled feathers soothingly. “You’re okay.”
Behind him he hears the grass squelching. Saguru turns just in time to see the murderer’s dark figure closing the front gate behind him, disappearing into the night. Saguru’s not letting him go that easily.
“Stay here, Watson,” he says, standing up. Watson gives a squawk, wings flapping ever so slightly.
Saguru finds his phone on the garden path. The screen is cracked but the torch is still functioning.
Saguru shakes it to loosen the bits of glass that could get stuck in his fingers. He presses the power button and watches the screen light up. Working, then. Just to be sure, he unlocks it. Saguru walks down the path to the gate, opening it as he scrolls through his contacts. He sends a quick text to Megure-keibu about the break-in and then puts his phone in his pocket.
He can’t see the murderer anywhere nearby, but that doesn’t mean he should give up. Saguru starts walking.
He gives up on his search five missed calls from Megure-keibu later, standing in the middle of a park he’s never been in before. It was a fruitless idea anyway.
Sighing, Saguru sits down on a bench. He rubs at his temples as if it’s going to relieve any of the stress. There’s really not much to see, what with how dark it is. The streetlights cast an orange-y glow that probably wouldn’t even light a room well, let alone a street. Saguru sighs again.
“So, what are you so upset about?”
Saguru makes a startled sound, turning on the bench to see Kuroba leaning over the back of it. “K- Kuroba! What are you doing here?”
Kuroba huffs. He steps back from the bench and holds a hand to his chest, somehow lit dramatically by the streetlight. “I am taking a walk. What are you doing?”
“I could also be taking a walk,” Saguru argues.
“Most people take walks near their houses,” Kuroba says. He throws his arms out, gesturing towards one of the houses across the street. “Case in point – my house.” Oh, so Kuroba lives in the area.
“Most people sleep during the night,” Saguru says, turning away from Kuroba to settle back against the bench. He crosses his arms. “But then, we’re not most people.”
Kuroba hums. The wet grass squelches beneath him as he steps around the bench to stand in Saguru’s eyesight. “Image how boring that would be,” he says, sitting down next to Saguru. Kuroba looks tired. There are bags under his eyes that he no doubt covers up with concealer during the day. He’s still wearing his school uniform, though it has the rumpled appearance that neat clothing gains when you sleep in it.
“Long night?” Saguru guesses.
“Yeah,” Kuroba grins. “Stayed up watching Pingu.” That probably means that Kuroba was up late making plans for his next heist.
Saguru narrows his eyes at him. He has half a mind to interrogate him – he wants to know what Kuroba’s planning, where he’s going to break into, what he’s going to steal. Saguru opens his mouth. He closes it.
“Aren’t you gonna accuse me of being KID?” Kuroba asks, a sceptical look on his face.
“I was going to,” Saguru says. “But you never reveal anything.” It’s better than saying, ‘I’m not sure how long we can keep up this friendship if I keep accusing you of a life of crime.’ Friendship really is becoming a big problem in his ongoing investigations.
“Huh,” Kuroba says, grinning. “Maybe that’s because I’m not KID.”
“Maybe,” Saguru sighs.
Kuroba’s face falls. Apparently, that isn’t the answer he wants. “Hey,” he says. “You’re meant to accuse me of being KID, Hakuba.”
Saguru shifts uncomfortably. “It doesn’t go against our friendship?” he asks.
“What part of, ‘you’re meant to accuse me of being KID’ didn’t you get,” Kuroba says, scowling.
Saguru lets out a frustrated puff of air. He looks away from Kuroba. “You make no sense, Kuroba.”
“I don’t like making sense,” Kuroba declares. “There’s no fun in it.” Something about the soft smile on his face makes Saguru relax. He doesn’t think he’s ever been so calm in Kuroba’s presence before. Usually, he’s wondering when the next prank is going to come.
Kuroba’s like a snake – a predator. He attacks without warning. That analogy is kind of false, though, because while Kuroba is clever and sneaky, he’s also one of the safest people that Saguru knows, probably right after Baaya and Aoko.
“I wonder if that’s Koizumi-san’s philosophy also,” Saguru says.
Kuroba makes a face. “You should stay away from her,” he says. “She’s dangerous.”
Kuroba’s being awfully truthful tonight.
“She’s just lonely,” Saguru says. He wonders what Koizumi’s life was like before this, how she became the way she is. It seems that just last week none of his friends were as complicated as he now sees them.
Out of the corner of his eye, he sees someone entering the park. The figure is small – not the murderer.
“I know you probably won’t believe me, because you detectives are all about murder and science and all that,” Kuroba rolls his eyes. “But she’s an actual witch.”
Saguru scoffs and says, “Don’t presume that I’m so stupid I could miss that fact.” He watches the figure approach and realises that it’s Koizumi. Speak of the devil and she shall come.
She’s dressed in a floor-length robe and her hair is up in a ponytail.
“Okay,” Kuroba says disbelievingly. “So, you know. You should still be careful, because she’s going to turn you into a frog or something as soon as you turn your-”
“Are you bitching about me?” Koizumi asks, glaring angrily at Kuroba as she throws herself onto the bench on Saguru’s other side. Kuroba shrieks.
“You!” he shouts. “What are you doing here? Have you been out slaughtering innocent kittens?!”
“Of course not,” Koizumi huffs. “I was doing other rituals.” Saguru thinks she probably just had trouble sleeping. Because, just like Kuroba, she has bags under her eyes. Better not to mention it – he prefers his organs inside his body.
“What? Slaughtering babies?”
“Haha,” Koizumi says, almost snarling. “Very funny. I know Satan, so that obviously means I kill babies.” She leans over Saguru to point at Kuroba. “The only things I kill, Kuroba, are ugly little insects like you.”
They’re getting a bit heated. Saguru should probably say something.
“I am not ugly,” Kuroba says. “You’re ugly.”
Koizumi inhales angrily. “You- you- the absolute-“ Her shoulders hunch up and she shrieks, “How dare you!”
Kuroba opens his mouth. Saguru elbows him. “You’re both pretty,” he says. “Please stop fighting.”
Saguru hadn’t actually expected that to work, yet somehow it does. Kuroba and Koizumi look away, both of them falling silent. It’s very awkward. Saguru should probably say something to make it less awkward.
“Aoko-san would make this less awkward.”
Koizumi nods and Kuroba makes an agreeing sound. Saguru’s phone rings for the sixth time that night. He takes it from his pocket, sees that the caller is Megure-keibu again and declines the call. He sends a text to say that he’s still alive, though, remembering the panic he’d sent Edogawa into when he’d been on his flight to England.
“I need to get back to Watson,” Saguru sighs, not even moving. “He’s probably worried.”
“If you go, I’ll get mad and try to kill Kuroba again,” Koizumi says. Kuroba looks at her angrily.
It’s not stated like a threat, just like fact. Saguru knows Kuroba’s annoying, but he can’t actually imagine getting so annoyed by him that he attempts murder.
Saguru shifts. “Koizumi-san, I hope I don’t have to remind you that murder is bad and that you shouldn’t do it.”
“He deserves it,” Koizumi mutters, hands bunching around the fabric of her robe.
Kuroba splutters. “What the actual fuck is wrong with you? I never even did anything to you!”
Koizumi glares. “You deserve it – you do!”
“No one deserves to be killed!” Saguru shouts. “Not even Kuroba – not even the worst criminal.”
“He-” Koizumi bites at her lip, her shoulders hunched. “He does. He’s not under my control. He-”
“I’m not under your control,” Saguru reminds her.
Koizumi blinks. She looks up. “You’re not?” she says.
Saguru raises his eyebrows. “Of course, I’m not.” Kuroba shifts uncomfortably beside him. “Whatever gave you the impression that I was?”
“Oh,” Koizumi says, looking away with a frown. Her fingers loosening their hold on her robe. “I just- the mirror said-” She turns back to Saguru. “Why aren’t you affected?”
“Because I’m not an idiot,” Saguru says, shrugging. He has no idea if that’s it and by the look on Koizumi’s face it probably isn’t.
Kuroba coughs. “So, like, are you gonna try and kill Hakuba now too? I know he’s annoying, but he has his good points, so I wouldn’t kill him if I were-”
“Hakuba-kun’s my friend!” Koizumi snaps. “I would never try to kill Hakuba-kun!”
“Okay, okay,” Kuroba says, rolling his eyes. “I was just making sure. Geez.”
“While we’re on the concept of friends,” Saguru says. “Do you think you could try to possibly not attempt murder on Kuroba’s person?”
Koizumi scowls. “Maybe,” she mutters. She stands up. “I’m going home.”
“Yeah, bye. See you later,” Kuroba says disinterestedly. The look on Koizumi’s face is furious. She whirls around and starts walking away.
“You could have tried not to aggravate her,” Saguru says tiredly
“She’s annoying as hell,” Kuroba says.
“She can kill you with her mind. I would probably try to be a little less rude to someone like that.”
“Hah!” Kuroba laughs. “She’s never gonna succeed! I’m like…Batman.”
“Batman?” Saguru repeats blandly.
“I don’t actually know,” Kuroba shrugs. “Never watched Batman.”
“Neither have I,” Saguru says. He sighs and picks himself up from the bench, hand going to his pocket. He remembers that his pocket watch is on his side table. “I need to get going now.”
Kuroba nods. He stands up too. “Thanks,” he says awkwardly, gesturing. “For, you know, getting Akako off my back.”
Saguru blinks. He tilts his head. “It was basic human decency,” he says.
Kuroba rolls his eyes. “You’re such a nerd. I am literally only thanking you, Hakubaka.”
That silly nickname again.
“You’re welcome?” Saguru says, squinting his eyes at Kuroba.
Kuroba claps his hands. He lets out a whoop. “Well done! Five points for Hakuba!”
“Christ, I should have just let Koizumi-san kill you.”
“But you didn’t,” Kuroba croons. “So now you’re stuck with me.” He starts circling Saguru, just like he was in the classroom earlier that day. “I’m a problem.”
“You’re giving me a headache, Kuroba.” Saguru grimaces.
“Good.” Kuroba grins.
Saguru starts walking and Kuroba follows. They separate at the edge of the park, the both of them going their own ways.
The flashing lights of police cars at his house make him groan. It looks like he’s having another sleepless night.
Watson screeches from above and Saguru puts his arm out for him, still wearing the falconry glove. Watson lands on it, feathers settling.
“Hakuba-kun!” Megure-keibu calls. Saguru sees that he’s by the front gate.
“Good morning, Megure-keibu,” Saguru smiles as he approaches, hoping that if he lays on enough charm he’s going to get away with this.
“You shouldn’t have gone after the murderer,” Megure-keibu says, opening the gate for him. There are police officers inside the house. “You could have gotten hurt.”
“I was fine,” Saguru says. “Besides, I wasn’t about to let him get away.” Watson makes an agreeing squawk.
Megure-keibu frowns. “Kudou-kun was like you,” he says. “And now he’s gone. We shouldn’t be allowing teenage detectives into our investigations.”
“Yet you do anyway,” Saguru sighs. He turns to Megure-keibu. “Kudou-kun? Kudou Shinichi, you mean? Whatever happened to him? Is he dead? Or in hiding? I hadn’t thought anything much was going on, because if there was something the media would be on it, but something about Kudou-kun seems awfully suspicious.”
Megure-keibu looks so upset that Saguru almost wishes he hadn’t asked.
“I’m not meant to say anything, but we think he’s gotten himself involved in something bad. He’s turned up several times since he’s went missing, but he seemed sick every time and he never stuck around for long.”
This smells like a mystery.
“Please keep safe, Hakuba-kun,” Megure-keibu says. “We don’t want another Kudou Shinichi.”
“Of course,” Saguru says, though he has no intentions of doing anything that Megure-keibu would classify as keeping safe. Keeping safe means no investigations, keeping safe means no mysteries.
“Alright,” Megure-keibu says. “We’ve taken the smashed teacups as evidence. Do you have any idea who broke into your house, Hakuba-kun?”
Ah. He must have not said that it was the murderer in his text. Which is just as well, because he doesn’t want to have any officers getting in the way of his investigation.
Also, teacups? It sounds worryingly like the incident in Saeki Junko’s kitchen that she mentioned.
“I expect Kaitou KID was just pulling a prank,” Saguru lies. “He probably didn’t mean to smash my teacups, though. By teacups, you don’t mean…”
“I’m afraid he’s smashed all of them, Hakuba-kun.”
Saguru grimaces. “Great,” he says. “Perfect.”
Megure-keibu smiles sympathetically. He calls to his officers to clear out, that it was just KID. And KID is such a perfect candidate to pin mischief on, he makes everything easier to smooth over.
“Ah, by the way,” Megure-keibu says off-handed. “We know who the murderer is – for the case with the floorboards.”
Saguru perks up. “Oh?”
“Takahashi Ken – you would have seen reference to him in the case notes. He’s the son of the man that owns the house the bodies were found under. His face is a perfect match to the description that Conan-kun gave. The only problem is that we can’t find him.”
Saguru raises his eyebrows. Watson blinks.
“He can’t be that hard to find,” he says.
Megure-keibu sighs. “He’s just been too silent. He has no address and he’s been missing for five years. We’re still checking security cameras, but it looks like our only hope is that he’ll make an attempt at Saeki Junko-san. Until more information turns up, there’s nothing we can do.”
“But,” Saguru shifts. “He’s been everywhere. He’s been in so many houses – it can’t be that hard to find him.”
“He must be a genius,” Megure-keibu says. “He’s completely vanished.”
The murderer is a complete idiot. The only thing on his side is luck. Saguru sighs.
“Well,” he says. “Good luck with the investigation.”
“Yes,” Megure-keibu says. “Have a goodnight Hakuba-kun.”
Saguru smiles and waves him off. His smile falls as soon as the police cars have cleared the area.
“Today’s been tiring. Don’t you think, Watson?” Watson shrieks. “You know, I have no idea of the time. Better check my pocket watch.”
Only, he can’t find his pocket watch. Watson looks on in concern as Saguru looks everywhere it might possibly be, becoming more and more frustrated when every place he looks turns up with nothing.
“It can’t be gone,” Saguru says. He groans and pulls at his hair. He shoves at his bed, pushing it along the wooden floor so that he can check underneath it. “I’m not so stupid that I could lose it.”
Yet, no matter where he looks, he can’t find it.
Saguru feels frazzled and panicked. The only conclusion he can draw is that the murderer’s taken it. Watson lands next to him and nudges him, but it does nothing to abate the stress.