Fated Friendship

Opportune Phone Calls

It had been late by the time all case formalities had been completed and the police left. Dousan-san kindly offered to let them stay over for another night, and Heiji and Conan finally allowed themselves a peaceful night sleep.

The previous two nights had been spent half awake-half asleep, trying to piece together clues and witness statements. All they caught was a couple of hours of shut-eye in the library after lunch, or at the breakfast table with a cup of coffee. The case had been a priority and nothing Ran could say had deterred Conan. As even Mouri senior had spent most of his time helping out the police, Conan had been free to stay up as long as he wished to.

"You two can share a room, if you like," a maid offered, "unless Conan-sama would be sleeping in Mouri-sama's room?"

"No, I'll be with Heiji-nii-chan," Conan agreed almost immediately.

"The old man snores?" Heiji asked in amusement after the maid left.

"You wouldn't believe how loudly," came the grumble, "Never during a case, but in the middle of the night? Totally."

That reminded Heiji, "Yeah, you were going to tell me. The reason behind 'Sleeping Kogoro'..."

The pseudo-child paused at that. Taking off the covers, he climbed onto the bed, allowing Heiji to occupy the other side, before he spoke,

"My first case – a false kidnapping turned real – ended with me banged up against a wall, and Ran playing karate master to bring down the perp,"

Heiji quietly listened, not interrupting when he realised that Kudo wasn't merely telling him about the story behind 'Sleeping Kogoro', but the whole story form the beginning. While he knew about the men in black, he did not know much else. Heiji still followed Tokyo Times to keep up with the news, but Mouri's cases had been less of a priority than finding Kudo Shinichi and the reason behind his disappearance.

"I then realised, how much of a liability this body was. Not only could I not keep up with criminals physically, but also mentally. I mean, I was just a kid – the police would definitely not listen to me. And if I proved myself intelligent beyond my years, that would draw a lot of attention towards me, attention I did not need,"

Kudo turned to look at him, trying to impart how important it was that he listen to the truth – the previously undisclosed, unbridled, clear truth – and understand, with just his gaze.

"I began staying with Ran because Kogoro-san is a detective. A detective agency brings in cases. The more famous it is, the better the quality of cases. It was my only means of accessing cases and investigating the men who shrunk me."

"Did you, then? Come across a case leading to them?"

"Yes," Conan whispered, "yes, I did."

A beat of silence, then,

"So, first I had to make Occhan famous. But that was no easy job, you know. He wouldn't listen to me because I'm a kid, so there was no way I could help him in investigations. Then Hakase made the bow-tie,"

"Hakase?"

"My neighbour, Kudo Shinichi's neighbour, I mean," Conan made a frustrated sound, "that's irritating. Having to specify who is acquainted with which me,"

Heiji couldn't say anything to that but, "I understand. You can talk freely, ya know? I can only ever see ya as Kudo anyway. Unless ya tell me something specific abou' Conan, I'm gonna keep assumin' that it's yourself yer talking about,"

"Myself, huh?" Conan sighed, "I'm not even myself any longer,"

"You could be," Heiji suggested quietly, "Being Conan in front of everyone must be stressful... With me, ya could be just Kudo."