The Detective And The Thief (On Hiatus)

chapter 9

Shinichi started to traverse the familiar streets as she headed towards Ran's house. She was so glad that she could finally tell Ran that she is returning and wouldn't leave her behind again.

"How do you think she will take it?" Pandora asked Shinichi as she floated next to her.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you have been gone for ages and the whole explosion last time it doesn't seem like it's gonna work out so well,"  Pandora said carefully trying not to rattle Shinichi up too much.

"Thank you for those kind words of comfort Pandora,"  Shinichi said anxiously.

Shinichi stood in front of the doors to the detective agency unsure whether to knock or not when it burst open almost smacking her in the face. Kogoro dashed passed her into a taxi parked on the side of the road calling out to Ran to hurry up. Soon after Ran stepped out and saw the slightly stunned Shinichi at the entryway.

"Oh, Shinichi what are you doing here." Ran said surprised.

"Well I came to talk to you but you seem busy so I can talk to you later." Shinichi went to walk away awkwardly.

"You can come with us!" Ran shouted. "Only if you want to that is."

"Sure ok if I'm not intruding," Shinichi said with a confident smile happy that she didn't have to be alone with Ran just yet.

"The let's get into the taxi before my dad leaves without us."

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When they got in the taxi Ran explained that they were going to a restaurant to meet her mother. This news didn't exactly make Shinichi happy. During her time as Conan and Christie, she had gotten slightly over her fear of Ran's mother but that was only because she liked Christie; as Shinichi, her mother always told her off for getting Ran in trouble. Hopefully, this goes well.

As they pulled up to the restaurant Eri was standing out front tapping her foot impatiently. This was not good. As they approached her head turned sharply towards them with an annoyed look on her face. She was obviously angry.

"Don't be so worried Shin-chan it's not as bad as you think it might be," Pandora said trying to comfort Shinichi.

"Your only saying that because she doesn't know you exist and can't attack you." Shinichi snapped.

"Well, maybe but you're different now and she liked you as Conan and Christie so what's the difference," Pandora said trying to recover the situation.

"Ok but if this goes wrong I won't drink that hot chocolate for you."

"You're so mean Shin-chan," Pandora whined.

"Stop calling me Shin-chan, Pan-chan."

When Shinichi returned to reality she noticed that everyone was looking at her expectantly. While Shinichi was zoning out someone asked her a question.

"Oh, I'm sorry what did you say," Shinichi said filled with embarrassment.

"Geez, Shinichi I thought you lost that habit 8 years ago." Ran joked.

"Yeah, I thought so too..."

"Well, I was asking everyone if they were ready to go in," Eri explained politely.

"Oh yeah let's go and sorry again."

"It's alright Shinichi-chan."

"Told you." 

"Can you please be silent for this dinner"

"aye, aye captain."

The dinner went very smoothly that evening. Everyone had a good time; they were all laughing and having fun, it also seemed like Eri and Kogoro got closer together. As everyone was having so much fun they decided to go to the cinema, except Shinichi.

The restaurant was in Ekoda so Shinichi decided to go visit Kaito before going home; she needed to see if he would change his mind about the heist before she gave the note to the police, if not they would have to come up with a plan. It was very quiet and the sky was clear so Shinichi couldn't help look at the stars for most of the way. Pandora also decided to keep the peace by staying quiet and nestling in the back of Shinichi's mind.

As she approached the door she could hear a commotion coming from inside. She knocked on the door but no one answered and the commotion continued so she decided to knock again this time louder. After she finished knocking it went silent and a dishevelled Kaito answered the door. He was covered in feathers and splats of different neon colours covered his clothes. He was completely shocked that Shinichi was there that he forgot about his current situation. After a moment of exchanging shocked looks, Kaito looked down and in a puff of smoke, he was perfectly clean.

"Why are you here?" Kaito asked puzzled why Shinichi would visit him that evening.

"Well I saw your heist note and thought I would convince you to not go through with it, but then I remembered who you were and decided to help you come up with a plan to convince the Black Organisation that you are a new KID," Shinichi explained slightly exasperated.

"Ok, well would you like to discuss this over some coffee and hot chocolate."

"Sure."

Shinichi sat down on the sofa while Kaito went into the kitchen to make the drinks. Being as curious as she was Shinichi got up and started to look around the living room. There wasn't much there except for the TV and sofa, it seemed so bare and empty. It was odd to see a house of this size with so little in it. Usually, there would be photos of family moments and odd little trinkets that you collect over time. Then again this isn't the usual family.

"So what's your plan?"

"Huh?"

Kaito let out a little chuckle before saying, " the reason you're here. To help me trick the Black Organisation into thinking I'm a new KID so they don't try to kill me."

"Oh yeah sorry just got a little distracted."

"Does the mind of a detective get any rest?"

"Nope but it isn't the worst thing it can be very interesting sometimes," Shinichi said jokingly thinking of Pandora.

"But it also ruins surprises, doesn't it. You can figure out all my magic tricks and I bet no one has been able to surprise you with a party."

"True but that is something I don't mind if I'm able to put bad people behind bars." Shinichi shook her head with a sad smile. "Anyway, we need to think of how to trick the Black Organisation."

Shinichi and Kaito discussed different plans well into the night going through multiple mugs of coffee and hot chocolate. (If that seems like a cop-out to you... congratulations! Have a cookie...)

"Well it's pretty late you shouldn't really be walking home at this time of night. We have a spare room in the house if you want to stay."

"Thank you that would be very nice.  I never got any sleep last night as I was solving a case so I'm glad I finally can get some rest."

"You should really do something about that. Anyway, goodnight."

"Goodnight."

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Autor's Note

I'm glad I was finally able this update. I put a reference to something I love in here and I would be so happy if someone knew where it was from but that is unlikely. I cut some off the end of this chapter so I could finish it sooner but it also seemed nice to end the update here I dunno.