Sincerely, Me [Kindaichi Yuutarou] | ✔

Crows

Kindaichi all but flew into the bus bay, the soles of his shoes burning as he screeched to an abrupt halt, hunching forward and clutching his knees, panting hard. "Yes," he puffed, a broad grin appearing on his face. I made it here within five minutes! "I'm not late—eh?" His legs wobbling, Kindaichi straightened, looking around in confusion. Where was everyone? The bus were still here, which meant that they hadn't left yet. "Kunimi?" he called uncertainly. "KUNIMI!"

"Hey, kid, keep your voice down."

"Gek!" Kindaichi flinched, bringing his arms up at the gravelly voice. It turned out to be a graying old man. He was sitting down, facing the bus. "Oh, sorry—"

"Damn right you should be," the man grumbled. "I don't get paid enough for this... Why are you here so early, anyway, kid?"

"Training camp," Kindaichi responded, as if that answered every possible question the man might have. "What about you?"

The old man was doing something to the bus, but Kindaichi couldn't really see what from his position.

"What does it look like?" the man snorted as Kindaichi leaned to the right to see what the man was doing. "I'm refilling the bus."

"What?!" His hand twitched as something dawned on him. "Sir... what time is it?" It'd better be no earlier than five o'clock.

"Heck if I know. Last time I checked—what, er, what five minutes ago?—it'd just turned four."

Kindaichi didn't reply, simply staring at the old man in stunned disbelief. Then the boy took a deep breath—

The man raised his eyebrow. "Hey, kid, you alright?"

—and let out an almighty scream, "YUUUUUUUUUUUUUKIIIIIIIIIIIIII!"

xXx

"Ahou," the crows cawed as they flew overhead Shino's house. "Ahou. Ahou." The birds disappeared into the clouds as Shino exited her house, stretching on her porch. Her spine curved backward delicately as the early morning zephyr pushed her short hair forwards and backwards. She had with her all the essentials she would possible need for the week-long training camp, including her Rubik's Cube.

She had just closed the front gate when a cat approached her, his green eyes gleaming. The tom meowed.

"Good morning to you, too," Shino murmured, crouching down to stroke Keiji's soft fur. "It's been a while, Keiji." She picked him up. "I see you're still as well-fed as ever. Who else have you been mooching off?"

Keiji mewed.

Shino set down the cat. "See you next week, Keiji."

As Shino walked to school, Keiji followed her from a respectable distance, mostly travelling on the tops of fences and walls. His keen eyes watched her every move until he disappeared into a neighbor's hedge and didn't come out again.

The journey to school always took her down to a small, suburban business district, where Kindaichi's favorite bakery was located. This morning, the owner was outside her store, scribbling discounts and offers on a chalkboard display. Hearing Shino's footsteps, the woman turned and smiled.

"Good morning, sweetheart!" the lady greeted warmly. Her name was Asagi. "Where are the boys? Is it because it's not a school day?"

"Dunno," Shino replied dispassionately, giving her a lazy shrug. "They're normally waiting for me at the front of my house. I guess they must have gone on ahead or not woken up yet."

"Ah. Training camp, correct? I remember Kindaichi-kun mentioning something about that. Say, why don't you come in and I'll give you some bread? On the house!"