More Than A Gemstone (Kaishin)

Bedrotting

The way home was silent.

Kaito was oddly stiff.
Aoko was quietly sniffling, fiddling with her hands, the gun left at the crime scene after Kaito had desinfected it properly.
Shinichi was trailing behind, still not fully there yet due to being under Hope's spell for hours and hours.

And Pandora? Pandora was holding Kaito's hand, trying to ground both of them with it. He still couldn't quite believe it. Hope was gone. The one thing that could contain his powers, it was gone. What if he were to accidentally curse someone? What if he cursed someone and it turned out to be unwanted again? Like with Shinichi?
Pandora didn't want to hurt his friends and yet, he did. Over and over and over again.

"Did you know?"
Shinichi looked up, meeting Aoko's gaze. He flashed a hesitant look at Kaito who ignored the two of them, so he gave her a quiet nod.
"Yes. Curtesy of Pandora, I was let in on this information a while after KID had retired."
"Retired, huh..." Aoko mumbled, gaze moving straight ahead. She was once again trying to fight back tears. She felt like a fool, having defended Kaito not only to Hakuba but also her father. And by god, it was painful.

Shinichi came to a slow halt, awkwardly motioning with his thumb to the right, signaling to a train station.
"I'll... be parting from you now. I'm going home. Call me if you need anything."
Flashing a glance back at Shinichi, Kaito gave a solemn nod before trotting off.
It was a little reassuring to know that Aoko hadn't stormed off after all of this, that she was content walking home with Kaito and Pandora, even after all this.
Although, Kaito believed this was just the current shock that was coursing through her veins- the true fallout was bound to happen later on, he could feel it.

At the very least, Aoko and him were in desperate need of a long and honest talk. Especially about who Pandora really was.

In front of their houses, Aoko stopped, exhaling sharply.
"..."
She didn't bother to say anything, she gave the two boys a quiet nod without making eye contact and turned to unlock her own front door, signaling a goodbye for now. Kaito frowned. Alright then. He knew better than to bother her right now. All this was... a lot to digest.

None of them visited school the next day, of the following days. Aoko had come over the next day for a long and excruciating talk, and Kaito had tried to be as honest as possible. There had been tears, screaming, insults and accusations, but in the end, Aoko finally knew everything.
Aoko hadn't left her home, even with her father joining her not even a day later, and Kaito had locked himself into his secret lair with Pandora, vegetating away on the couch.
There were points were he felt too nauseous to even move. All he could think about was the blood, the corpses and the unconscious, and the death of Hope. He knew that now, Pandora was uncontained. One mess up, and an entire city could be doomed.
The fact that Nakamori-keibu hadn't come in barreling down Kaito's door so far told him that Aoko hadn't spilled his secret, and by god he was grateful.

"Kuroba-kun? What are you going to do now?"
Kaito sighed, rolling over in his bed, phone gently pressed against his ear.
"How would I know? This is pretty much uncharted territory. I might as well just wing it."
"Wing it."
Koizumi let out a sarcastic chuckle.
"You've got an all powerful and uncontained godlike being in your grasp, and you decide to 'wing it'? Where is the body of Hope?"
"Hopefully six feet under by now."
"Well at least there's one positive aspect. Hope is not a gemstone, and in death he looks like a genuine human, so a burial is all we have waited for. How is Pandora dealing with this? Last thing I need is another catastrophic outbreak."

Kaito flashed a glance at Pandora, silently watching television.
"He's doing as good as he can. I know it's bothering him, I can tell. It was him ending it, after all. I just wish he can put it past himself, one day."
"In any case," Koizumi cut him off, "I'm working on a way to make containing Pandora far easier, but it's a long road ahead. I'll call you if I've got any news."
Kaito opened his mouth to reply but the familiar tone of an ended call shut him up again. Once again, Koizumi proved to be useless in listening to any concerns beyond her own interests.

Kaito sighed, slowly getting off of his bed. At some point he had to do something, it wasn't like him to just lie down and waste away. He would at least take a walk today. Take it slow.

The moment he opened his door, he was met face to face with a surprised Shinichi who had been about to knock.
"...Shinichi. What are you doing here?"
"Ah. Well."
Shinichi sheepishly rubbed the back of his head, not having expected to be caught like this.
"I heard from Hakuba you weren't in school the last days. Thought I'd check up on you. We both agreed it'd rather be me than him bothering you."
Kaito let out a tired chuckle, then moved aside to let Shinichi into his house.

Both settled down on the couch, Shinichi awkwardly wringing his hands together.
"And also... I wanted to apologize. I almost got you killed with my own stupidity to get caught by this lunatic."
"Don't."
Kaito made a dismissive hand gesture and sighed, leaning back into the couch.
"Nobody but Pandora can resist him... that much we already established."
Shinichi chuckled somewhat unamused, then gave Kaito a teasing nudge to the side.
"Surprised I could keep you down for so long. Lost a little of your bite, haven't you?"

Kaito scoffed, cheeks turning the slightest bit pink.
"Shut up, I didn't have my usual gear with me."
"Excuses."
The former thief threw a pointed look at Shinichi, unamused.
"What were you trying to accomplish, anyway? Almost everyone went for murder. Why didn't you? All you did was just... tackle me."

Shinichi stiffed a little, now being the one to become a little embarassed.
"I don't really know, quite frankly. Since it wasn't the first time, either."
The two of them fell silent, with Kaito shooting small glances over to Shinichi. This was getting just a little awkward, but he had to admit, it was gnawing just a little at his pride that Kaito couldn't get away from him until Shinichi had lowered his guard a little.