When Pandora bleeds... (Shinkai)

A Sweet Farewell

Standing in front of the huge airport, two shiny gems sitting proudly on their hibs, Kaito confidently strutted towards the doors. His invention had been polished up by Haibara herself, serving as a functional way to hide Pandora in plain sight.

Embedded into their own pants as a makeshift fake button, Kaito knew the belts would have to come off- but the pants? Not a chance. He flashed a glance at Shinichi, now with completely mussed up hair, indestinguishable from Kaito himself. He was confident, he felt confident, and Kaito could see that.
Today was the day.

They were going to leave, once and for all. Back on tour and back towards the show life. He honestly wondered if Meitantei was going to like this life. But future was going to have a lot for them in store from now on, and Kaito knew pondering about it wasn't going to change a thing.

"...so you are going to leave, Kuroba-kun. Without a goodbye? To me?"
Kaito froze on the spot, eyes locked with a certain redhead in front of both of them. Shinichi who had been casually going through his new phone looked up as well, surprised.
"I'm sorry, Kuroba-kun," Haibara smiled sheepishly, "I tried to stop her from coming."

Koizumi Akako took a step forward, smiling at Kaito, calm and collected as usual yet with a certain fondness in her eyes. It had been so long since they had actively spoken and yet Kaito knew as well, she hadn't changed at all. In fact, she had become only more beautiful than she was during highschool.
"I have my methods of convincing others~" Akako smiled, shooting a mischievous look at the now sheepish looking Haibara, before turning back to the look alikes. Shinichi hesitated, then slowly extended a hand towards Akako.
"Nice to meet you."

Surprised yet pleased, Akako shook Shinichi's hand and chuckled. "A pleasure to talk to you, Kudo-kun." Shinichi's lips formed an 'Oh'. Well, now it was obvious to him who that was. Haibara had mentioned a Koizumi Akako she had begun to spend a lot of time with... a former classmate of Kuroba? A quick glance into Kaito's direction told him clear as day, he wasn't happy about seeing her. In a way, Shinichi understood why; she used to be part of his former life he had tossed away.
"...it's a surprise to see you, Akako-chan," Kaito finally smiled, a pokerface put in place. He had finally gathered himself but was distrusting her sudden appearance again.

"I should have announced myself, I know. However, before you leave, there is something I wanted to talk to you about... both of you. Do you have a minute?"
"Actually, we..." Kaito began but Shinichi cut him off, "Of course. What's the matter?" No way am I going to let you just brush her off after she saved our lives, bakaito.
Akako took a step closer, satisfied, lowering her tone of voice. She knew just as well people would become curious if the name of Pandora was going to be said too loud.
"Right now, both of you are still heavily influenced by Pandora, and as long as you don't unite it again you will neither die nor be able to let go of the gemstones. While this is quite fortunate for its protection, it could drive you insane sooner or later. The urge to put it together can end up costing one's sanity if ignored for too long. Are you clear about this?"
Both men fell silent and exchanged a glance with one another. Finally, Kaito breathed out a deep sigh and shook his head before locking his eyes with Akako's.
"It won't become easy, I'm not going to lie about this. It is difficult to ignore it. But... I've managed it for months."
"I can agree," Shinichi threw calmly in, "while it is annoying and will cost us some nerves sooner or later, the closer we are together the more bearable it is. Right now it's actually quite easy... and while it'll stay a background thought through the rest of our lives from now on, we can end it someday as well."

Akako smiled, nodding. That was a satisfying answer, from both of them. Was she even going to suggest that to them? Akako flashed a glance towards Haibara who shot a guilty smile back at her, no, obviously she hadn't told them.
"Pandora will soon enough take a worse turn again considering its blood... soon it'll revert back to its large production of it. There is a way to end it completely without uniting the gem..."
She trailed off, and Kaito quirked an eyebrow. That's so like her, never telling the complete truth and talking in riddles.
"A way to end it? No, don't say it. Cutting of Pandora's blood means we will never be able to unite it again, won't we?"
"Exactly."

The woman shifted, digging in her large handbag for something. Kaito eyed her from head to toe, then looked over to Shinichi with a soft frown. She seemed to have somewhat of an influence on him, just like on all the other people during highschool. Kaito found he didn't like that at all but on the other hand, he had no reason to be hostile. Finally, his smile turned somewhat warm. It was worth giving her a chance.
"There does exist a ritual to seal the blood and create two seperate gems that coexist with one another..." More digging. Lips pursed, Akako seemd upset she couldn't find what she obviously searched for.

"That's a clear no from me. Two Pandoras would double our problem."
"I know I know... where is it..." Finally, Akako pulled something out of her handbag; two charms with a foreign imprinted word written on it. Neither Shinichi nor Kaito recognized the language.
"What is that?" Shinichi asked, slowly taking one of the two from her, feeling a certain calm wash over him.
"That, Kudo-kun, is a parting gift of mine. It's a special charm I have been working on for a long time... it took me close to a year to perfect it."

Kaito finally took the second one from her outstretched hand, wrinkling his nose. Magic again, huh?
"If it gets worse again, the nagging to put it together and Pandora producing too much blood to dispose of... Place the charms onto the gem halves. It will be absorbed and render Pandora useless for a day, before the cycle will begin once again."
Akako's sharp smile turned somewhat bitter.
"For now, that is all I can do and all I have... this charm is very difficult to make, one messup could ruin it entirely. I will need a while to make more... But for now this should be enough."

Frowning, Shinichi examined the charm from every angle, even holding it up against the light.
"And that'll work? But if it cancels the magic for a day, won't we die?"
"No. To dissolve into ash, you would have to be freed of Pandora for almost a month. It is true that if applied, the charm will break Pandora's powers over you for a day... and you will fall asleep... but it won't break its corruption. As soon as Pandora has overcome the charm in 24 hours, it will all resume back to how it was."
Kaito stuffed the charm into his pocket and sighed, shaking his head. Complicated. Also he didn't know if he liked the idea of putting himself into a coma for an entire day. With Shinichi close to him, on the other hand...

"I'm sure you need to catch your flight. It was... good to talk to you, Kuroba-kun, Kudo-kun."
Shinichi smiled in response and thanked her, while Kaito did something entirely different. He stepped closer and wrapped his arms around the now surprised witch for a soft, awkward and short hug.
"...take care, Akako-chan."

Waving at the lookalikes as they left through security, Akako smiled secretively, playing with a small paper in her pocket she had noticed Kaito slipping in.
"What did he give you?" Haibara asked, quietly walking alongside her out of the airport. Akako slowly pulled out the note and opened it to reveal a phone number, lips curling up into an amused smile.

"...I'm glad he seems to be doing well."