police AU. Kaito is a new officer, and Kokichi is the ultimate lying detective. The two are unwillingly partnered together to solve cases. The two fight a lot due to their different methods, but soon become attracted to each other.
... there will be...
Kaito spent the day interviewing girls who claimed they saw the mysterious stalker and analyzing patterns of appearances. He couldn't understand anything; it seemed like the stalker would disappear from one part of the city and reappear at another. Usually, when he couldn't understand anything, he could rely on his sidekick, but Shuichi was at who-knows-where with the captain. Perhaps he was assigned to a different case.
The bigger problem was that all the stalked girls had very different descriptions of their criminal. Some said the stalker was a man wearing a mask, and others said it was a mysterious, lanky woman with bright red lipstick.
"With such varied accounts, we can't even tell if we are looking for the same person!" complained Himiko, throwing up her fists in frustration, "We don't even know if it's a guy or a girl!"
"What are you saying, it's definitely a degenerate male-"
"Sounds dangerous," Kaito said, "You two girls should be careful when traveling around by yourselves..."
"I can protect myself!" the petite red-haired girl blushed.
"Nehehe~ You three put all off your brains to work, and still can't catch a simple stalker? You really are all useless..."
Kaito turned around to see a smirking face he knew too well. He finally figured out why he was always angry when Kokichi smiled- his dancing eyes always implied that he was smarter and knew something that he didn't.
"There's not enough information! If you're so smart, why don't you find the stalker."
"If there's not enough information, look for more information," Kokichi replied cooly, "I'm working on my own case, and don't have time to solve yours for you."
"I know that!"
Kokichi kept his face cold and collected. Sorry, Kaito, he thought. He really wanted to help, but he had too much on his plate. The stalker was concerning. The patterns were too detailed like he or she was plotting for something big. Kokichi had a bad feeling that if they didn't catch him or her soon, someone was going be killed.
"Tenko and Himiko may be a bit useless, but together they could be pretty scary," Kokichi said, "Keep an eye on them and make sure they don't act recklessly."
"..." Kaito gave Kokichi the weirdest stare.
"What?" he asked vehemently, uncomfortable with the intense eye contact.
"Are you actually asking me for help?"
"Nehehe! What gave you that impression?" Kokichi forced a laugh, "I was just making that you do your job and not be a deadweight~"
"Who are you calling a deadweight?! ...wait a minute, are you lying?"
"For Kaito to tell me that I'm lying... that's pretty good for you. You must be getting smarter."
"Are you lying or not!?"
"I may be lying, I may be telling the truth. Who knows?"
Kaito left with Tenko and Himiko to continue investigating the stalker.
"Kokichi! Gonta needs you to work on the case together!" Gonta's voice boomed into Kokichi's ears.
Kokichi turned around, realizing that he had been staring at Kaito's disappearing silhouette for a long time. What was wrong with him? For some reason, the idiot's tall figure was impossible for Kokichi to take his eyes off of.
"Alright," he replied to Gonta, "Let's solve that robbery case that came in."
...
Kokichi's first thought when he entered the crime scene was: these robbers chose a really eccentric place to rob. The place was an anime studio. Did these criminals not get the memo about starving artists?
The place was smashed into bits. Broken glass littered the floor. The ceiling was ripped out as if the robbers were looking for a secret compartment. Each desk had been tipped over and all of their drawers removed.
"Find a list of any of this studio's enemy competitors," Kokichi told Gonta, though he wasn't sure why anyone would sabotage an art studio. It was time to find out.
The owner of the studio shifted uncomfortably in a corner. He was a rather skinny looking man with light brown hair and a serious case of heavy eye bags.
"Tell me your name, age, and job."
"I-I'm Ryota Mitarai," the timid animator stuttered, "I am 25 years old. I run this anime studio."
"Well, Mister Mitarai, the case is closed."
"What?"
"The culprit is you! You run a hopeless tiny anime company that no one has ever heard of. You must have decided to destroy your own business and get insurance."
"T-that's not true!"
"Haha, yeah, that's a lie!" Kokichi said, "But you better start giving me some names of people who might try to rob your studio, or I'll suspect you again."
"...I don't know. Nobody has anything against me... This is probably just a robbery..."
All the words coming out of the animator's mouth felt weird to Kokichi. He was the best liar, which also made him good at something else; detecting lies. Now, what lie could he spin to get him to spit out the truth?
"You're right. It's a robbery," Kokichi said, "A robbery planned by doofuses! Who would rob a laaaaame anime studio like this? You probably don't even produce anything good!"
The side of Ryota's mouth twitched slightly. Kokichi grinned inside; he sees that he had touched a sensitive subject. "All of our completed works have received excellent critical reviews," he said through gritted teeth.
"Who cares what a few losers think about your anime? What matters is what I think. Anime is useless anyway. Stealing it shouldn't even be reported as a crime!"
"DON'T LOOK DOWN ON ANIME! MY ANIME HAS THE POTENTIAL TO INFLUENCE THE WORLD!"
After that outburst, Ryota saw Kokichi's smug grin, realizing that he said too much.
"Oooh, changing the world, you say? Tell me more."
"Kokichi!" Gonta called, "Come look."
Kokichi briskly walked away from the witness and to his hardworking partner. Gonta was pointing to an odd symbol that was seared into an overturned desk. When Kokichi got close enough to see it clearly his blood went cold.
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The symbol was an oddly cute yet creepy face of a smiling, two-faced bear. Flashbacks started to burn through Kokichi's brain like fire on a savanna. It was a symbol seared into his memories when his brother betrayed him. It was a symbol Kokichi swore to destroy the night he lost his parents.
