Mikau: Hello there! Welcome old friends and newcomers alike! I expect we'll be seeing some new faces since this is completely different from what I usually write. (See! I CAN write straight pairings after all!) Anyway, thank you very much for picking this up! I hope you enjoy it!

Disclaimer: I think I've said this before, but if I owned it, I'd make sure that Robo Kaito and the Green Dream chapters made it into the MK 1412 anime. Those are really some of my favorites. As it stands, all I can do is cross my fingers and hold my breath.

…

Chapter One: Falling

Saguru had been planning on spending the evening working on cold cases in his room, but a funny thing happened. Superintendent Hakuba had come home and poked his head into his son's room—an extremely rare occurrence.

"Good afternoon, Saguru. I'm home. Did you not have school today?" the elder Hakuba awkwardly greeted.

Saguru nearly jumped at the sudden break in the silence in what he had thought to be an empty house. At his father's voice, Saguru turned around in his desk chair and stood to greet him. "Welcome home, Father. Actually, today is Sunday, so there wasn't any class."

"Oh. Well…" Hakuba Senior shifted uncomfortably. "What did you do today?"

Saguru rubbed the back of his neck nervously. Were they seriously going to do this? Actually have a normal conversation? "Just…some work. I made some real headway on a couple different cases. How was your day at work, Father?"

Hakuba Akihiko frowned. "Are your friends busy today? Why didn't you go out with them?"

Saguru was left without a satisfactory answer to give. How could he tell his father that he didn't exactly have friends that he could do something like that with? He supposed that he could make plans with Kuroba—they had become close recently—or he could tag along with Nakamori Aoko's group, but… "I…felt like getting some work done, is all." A little white lie wouldn't hurt anyone.

The frowned deepened. "Saguru, a young man your age should be out and about, having fun and meeting people. You've got the rest of your life to work. Go. There's still plenty of the day left. Go enjoy it," he demanded, motioning for Saguru to leave.

"B-But—"

"—No buts." Akihiko was having none of it. "Go have fun."

"R-Right," Saguru conceded, grabbing a light jacket and bowing as he passed his father in the doorway. "Thank you, Sir."

Checking his pocket watch and seeing that he had plenty of time, Saguru started to head to Beika University's library, but he ran into a holdup at a convenience store on the way and ended up down at the police station, giving his statement about how he had judo thrown the culprit into a wall when the robber had threatened the woman with a small child in line ahead of Saguru.

After he'd given his testimony, Saguru was just coming out of the conference room and heading down the hall to the exit when a door opened outward, beaming him right in the face and laying him out flat on the floor.

"Geez, I am so sorry!" the offending party gushed as soon as they noticed that they had taken someone out. "I wasn't watching where I was going at all. You okay?"

Saguru looked up and was met with the most beautiful pair of olive green eyes he had ever seen. They were so mesmerizing that he completely forgot to respond and instead sat there stupidly staring.

Meanwhile, Sera Masumi gazed at the foreign-looking boy in worry. "Are you okay?" she switched to English. "You didn't hit your head, did ya?"

When the blonde still didn't respond, she began to panic. "Geez. Don't move, okay? Hold still." Sera knelt down and cupped Saguru's cheek, looking him over and trying to assess the damage.

Saguru froze, brain absolutely melting at her touch.

"Your pupils seem to be dilated, and your face is really turning red from when the door hit you, but…shoot. What were the signs of a concussion again? Geez…I'll…I'll text my brother!" She stood and rushed to extract her phone from her back pocket, but then she hesitated. "Or maybe I should call an ambulance?"

"N-Neither," Saguru, finally coming to his senses and finding his voice, assured. He got to his feet and attempted to downplay his shame. Perhaps if he brushed it off, she would as well? "Sorry for alarming you, Miss. I was just a little stunned, got the air knocked out of me is all. As you can see, I'm perfectly well."

"Oh, good!" Sera chuckled in relief, rubbing the back of her neck in embarrassment. "Like I said before, I'm really sorry. I shouldn't of thrown open the door like that."

"Not at all," Saguru laughed right along with her. "I wasn't looking where I was going either. Let's just both be more careful next time."

"Yeah," she agreed with a lovely, impish smile. "…Well, I'm really glad you're okay."

Saguru was just about to introduce himself when the phone that was still out in Sera's hand began to ring.

"Sorry again," she finished her conversation with him and turned to go before answering the call. "Hey there! Sonoko-chan!"

At that point, there was nothing he could do short of follow her, but she was heading the opposite way, further into the station while he should, by all means, be on his way out as he had no further legitimate business there that day. It would have been rude to interrupt her phone conversation at that time, and so he watched her walk away with a longing expression on his face.

As one of the officers walked past, he thought to ask, "Excuse me, could you tell me who that girl was? The girl in the fedora? Do you know her name?"

The cop looked and then shook his head and shrugged. "No. I'm sorry. I don't. All I know is she's some kind of amateur detective. She comes in from time to time to give her statement about crimes she witnessed and helped to solve."

As the officer walked away, Saguru pursed his lips and tried to come up with a plan of action. He could always hang around the front of the station and wait for her to come out, but that might draw police suspicion and alarm the girl herself. The last thing he wanted to do was come off looking like some kind of weirdo stalker. It wouldn't do to ask around the station at this point in time either. He'd only be getting in the police's way seeing as they were all busy with very important work on this short-staffed Sunday.

That left him with the option to retreat and regroup for the time being. It wasn't as if she would disappear off of the face of the earth if he didn't get her name right here and now. He knew she hung around Beika, and he knew she occasionally solved crimes with the Beika PD. He was a detective, and that was enough to go on. He would find her.

Unfortunately, once he finally got to the university library and did an extensive variety of internet searches, he came up empty-handed. He scoured the news articles for the day of crimes committed in Beika, hoping he would find some mention of his mystery girl, but he had no luck there either. It had been a longshot in the first place anyway. Saguru went home discouraged.

The following day, he resolved to go back to the police station after school and make a nuisance of himself until he got her name. He was saved some of the trouble, however, when a thought occurred to him as he stared at the back of Kuroba Kaito's head during pre-calc that Monday morning.

"Kuroba," he breeched the subject tentatively during the lunch break. "You're familiar with the detectives of Beika, are you not?"

Kaito's eyes narrowed, and he looked up skeptically at the blonde, his tone borderline offended. "Nooo. What's that supposed to mean? I mean, why would I be?" Kaito snorted.

"Because you're…" Saguru started to reply automatically but then trailed off. "Right. Sorry. Look," he sighed. "I'm looking for someone. A girl." He could feel himself blushing even as he stuffed his hands in his pockets and looked down at his feet. "I ran into her at the police HQ in Beika yesterday, but I didn't get her name, and…"

Kaito's eyes widened as he came to understand the situation. "You want me to ask some of my buddies in Beika if they know anything about her. Is that what you're asking me, Hakuba?"

Saguru nodded sheepishly. "If you could please?"

Kaito sighed. "I guess it can't be helped. Okay. But can you give me a little more info on her? A description?"

"Gorgeous," Saguru started out, but, upon receiving an eye roll from Kaito, amended, "A little taller than average for a woman with short brown hair and the most beautiful mossy green eyes you have ever seen. Apparently she's some kind of amateur detective in Beika. When I saw her, she was wearing a fedora and a brown leather jacket with a fuzzy cream collar. Does that help at all?"

"Sera Masumi. Teitan High School, class 3-B," Kaito groaned, knowing the girl in question all too well. "Man, you've got a crush on her of all people?" Kaito scoffed. "Dude, she's scary! She's got a super painful flying kick. She does, like, Jeet Kune Do or something."

"You know her?!" Saguru gasped, sensing an opportunity. "Could you introduce me?!"

Kaito grimaced. "Sorry. We only met once very briefly, and it wasn't exactly a pleasant encounter for either of us. I doubt she'd recognize me."

With a sigh, Saguru relented. "Very well. Thank you for your help, though, Kuroba. I really do appreciate it."

That day Saguru left early so as to make it over to Beika in time for school to let out.

As the students of Teitan gathered their things, a buzz began to echo through the school about a cute foreign boy waiting by the gate.

"I wonder who he's here to confess to," Sonoko chortled, always a sucker for the latest gossip. "I hear he's wearing an Ekoda High uniform. That's a good twenty minutes from here."

Finally giving in to curiosity, Ran looked out the window to see if she could sneak a peek at this mysterious visitor. Upon seeing him, she blinked in surprise. "That's Hakuba-kun," she reported, and suddenly there was a group of people crowding her, demanding the juicy details.

"He's the high school detective that chases the Kaitou Kid whenever he's in the country. I've met him before, and he's very nice, super smart." Ran shrugged, unable to supply much more than that.

Just then, one of the boys from 3-A came running down the hall and skidded to a stop in front of the 3-B classroom. "Sera Masumi-san, Hakuba Saguru's here to see you!" he announced, and the entire classroom exploded in excited chatter.

Meanwhile, the lady in question blinked in confusion. "Me?"

"Sera-san!" Sonoko squealed. "It's your first confession!"

"Do you know Hakuba-kun, Sera-san?" Ran asked as she grabbed her bag.

"I don't think so." Sera hummed in thought as she went to the window and looked out at the boy by the gate.

She froze as she recognized the boy from the preceding day.

"Ggk," she choked. "I hate to break it to you, Sonoko-chan, but rather than ask me out, I think he's here to call me out. I kind of hit him in the face and knocked him flat with a door while I was at the Tokyo PD's HQ yesterday."

"How romantic!" Sonoko swooned. "You literally swept him off his feet, and he literally fell in love!"

Sera smiled through a frown at her friend's ridiculousness. "Somehow I doubt it."

"Goodness!" Ran chimed in. "Was he okay?"

"I think so." Sera chewed on her lip as she looked down at a very anxious Saguru. "I mean…he was a little rattled at first, but he got up okay, and he said he was fine, so…and then I got that call from you, Sonoko-chan, and I had to go, but…man…he must be pretty angry if he tracked me down to call me out after school."

Ran pursed her lips. "That doesn't sound like Hakuba-kun, though. Well, how about Sonoko and I go with you to see what he wants?"

"Thanks, Ran-chan!" Sera chuckled, brightening up.

They all packed up and went down to the front gate together. Saguru happened to turn and look just as they approached, and when he saw Sera, his face turned red and he forced himself to stand up a little straighter. He took a deep breath to prepare himself.

Sera considered his stance and expression and decided that it didn't look like he was here to challenge her to mortal combat.

At the same time Sonoko was giggling madly and whispering embarrassing, borderline inappropriate things, so Ran took her best friend by the arm and dragged Sonoko off, calling out to Sera that they would see her but to call them later that night.

A little confused as to why her friends were abandoning her, Sera frowned, but she didn't have too much time to contemplate the situation because as soon as she turned back around, she came face to face with Hakuba Saguru.

"H-Hey," she laughed nervously, raising her hand in a casual greeting. She wasn't sure what to expect. "You're from yesterday. How are ya doin'? I mean…how are ya feeling?"

"J-Just fine, thank you," Saguru greeted, equally if not more nervous. "And yes. I'm sorry. I didn't get to properly introduce myself yesterday, but I'm Hakuba Saguru—eighteen years old, blood type A, a Virgo. Um…I work with Division Two over in Ekoda—with the Kaitou Kid Taskforce. I heard you were a detective too, so—"

"—So you work trying to catch that perverted bastard, do you?" Sera growled, still seeing red from that outrageous heist several months ago. She still owed Kid a good punch in the face.

Saguru tensed at the overt animosity towards Kid, the likes of which he hadn't seen in anyone outside of the Nakamori family. "Uh…yes. Yes, I do." Something told him not to ask if he knew what was good for him. "Er…so I heard you were also a detective, and I was wondering…maybe…would you want to go get some coffee with me and chat for a bit? One hardly ever meets another high school detective, so…I had hoped we might discuss work, the difficulties of not being taken seriously by our elders, and other such things. I-If you have time, that is…Sera-san, isn't it?"

Sera blinked, realizing that in her unresolved rage against Kid, she had yet to properly introduce herself. "Oh! Yeah, yeah. Sera Masumi, amateur sleuth. Nice to meet you, Hakuba-kun! And sure, I'd love to grab a cup of coffee with you and shoot the breeze a little. Hey, drinks are on me."

"No, I could never let a lady pay," Saguru politely refused. "Please. Allow me to treat you."

"Seriously," she insisted. "I feel really bad about yesterday. Let me buy to make up for taking you out with that door."

"How about we go Dutch this time?" Saguru compromised.

Sera shrugged with a chuckle. "The man drives a hard bargain. Fine. Fifty-fifty it is. Was there any place in particular that you wanted to go?"

"I didn't have a place in mind really," Saguru admitted, starting to turn scarlet anew. "Was there a café that you prefer, Sera-san?"

Her fern green eyes lit up, and a bright grin spread across her race from one ear to the other. "Poirot Café!" she announced. "That's the café that's just below the place Ran-chan and another good friend of mine live. Wanna go there? It's not too far away."

"Of course. Again, I really have no preference, so wherever you like is fine with me." Saguru paused as a thought occurred to him. He hadn't specifically asked her on a quote unquote "date", so there was still the possibility that they were not on the same page. Better to ask and find out if she were available before he got his hopes up. "Only…I'm sorry. You don't have a boyfriend or anything that's going to challenge me to a duel or something for asking you to coffee, do you?"

"Nah," she laughed. "I fight my own duels. Let's go. They've got really awesome pastries there too!"

Saguru grinned and allowed himself to be pulled along. He was finally able to let go of the breath he had been holding since arriving at Teitan that day, and now he couldn't help but rejoice at his good luck: not only was Sera Masumi absolutely beautiful, she was also smart and witty. If she could be persuaded into having feelings for him, he would have hit the jackpot.

But for now, all he had to do was enjoy his first mini "date" of sorts with Sera and attempt to make a good impression.

…

Mikau: Thanks so much for reading, guys! I hope you enjoyed it. I'm actually really dying to know what you think. How was it honestly? If you could take a minute and leave a review, I'd be really grateful. I've never written this pairing before (I've never written Sera before!), so I'd adore some feedback, especially if you could tell me if you think Sera turned out alright. If you have any tips or advice or even anything you think I actually did a good job on, I'd be glad to hear it. Also, if you'd be interested in me continuing, definitely let me know, otherwise…well, I've got plenty of KaiShin and HakuKai to write that people actually want to read, so…do let me know if you like this pairing and want to see more. Thanks again, guys!