One plus One

Everything was fine like how it always was, until two eccentric neighbors moved into the house just next to Kudo Shinichi's.

Murders and crimes were the essence of Shinichi's life, but being here was truly where his heart belonged.

"Welcome home," Ran smiled, taking off the apron. "And by the way. We have new neighbors."

"Is it?" Shinichi loosened his tie and pecked his lips onto Ran's cheek, a usual substitute for his I'm back greeting. He took a sniff and smelled the heavenly cooked meal that Ran prepared, ready to be settled into his stomach. "How are they?"

"They seemed nice," Ran hung the apron inside its cabinet while Shinichi helped to prepare the utensils. "It's a couple. I think. They sent us donuts as a welcome gift this afternoon."

"Donuts?"

"Yeah, I left the box in the-"

On the cue, the doorbell rung, echoing loudly throughout the house. Shinichi got to give credit to the person who installed the bell for the house.

"I'll get it." He squeezed Ran's shoulder in assurance and ambled his way out of the kitchen, past the living room and towards the door. The bell chimed once more before he flung open the door, revealing a lady carrying a box. Just a few meters behind her, a man was grudgingly rubbing one side of his face.

"Good evening, sorry to bother again," she grinned, sending a nasty glare at the man over her shoulder before looking sheepishly back at Shinichi. "Here's the box of donuts."

Again? Shinichi gracefully accepted the box and raised a skeptical eyebrow back at the two visitors. "Are you the new neighbor?"

"Ah, yes! We are!" she moved back and tugged the arm of the scowling man. "Really sorry about the missing donuts. We're here to return it back to you."

Okay. What the hell is going on? Shinichi didn't bother to hide his confusion. "What? Missing donuts?"

The lady jabbed her elbow into the man's rib as the latter groaned.

"I'm sorry for taking the donuts back without permission," the man sighed and ruffled his already messy and uncombed hair. "I will not do it again."

"Um," Shinichi sucked a breath through his teeth. What was he supposed to say? Did this man steal the donuts he'd given as a gift? Was this guy serious? Was this even real? "I supposed... You're forgiven?"

"Thank you so much!" the woman squealed, much to Shinichi's dismay. "Anyway, my name is Aoko and he's Kaito. I've heard from your wife about you, Detective of the East."

"I'm a bit over with that," Shinichi waved a hand. "Just Kudo Shinichi, a detective. That's all."

"But I'm a big fan of yours!" Aoko exclaimed and clasped both of her hands together in glee. "Especially that time when you righteously went head to head with Kaitou Kid last week-"

Kaito suddenly cleared his throat, the cause of Aoko's abrupt pause and the red bloom on her cheeks.

"Anyway, sorry to disturb you. Enjoy your evening!" She bowed before pulling Kaito away by the arm. Shinichi could hear their incoherent, angry rambles after they walked a distance away and towards the house right next to his. Having no reason to watch them any longer, he closed the door, eyed down at the gift for two puzzling seconds before walking back to the kitchen.

"Who is it?" Ran asked, drying her hands with a towel before her eyes fell upon the box in Shinichi's hand. "And what's that?"

"We've got donuts."

"Donuts?" She blinked.

"From the new neighbor."

"But didn't they give us a box already?" Ran skipped over to the refrigerator and opened the fridge door. Her stunned silence was all Shinichi need to know the answer. "What in the world...? I thought I put the box inside there."

"Maybe it's some kind of trickery. A prank," he shrugged. "They might think it's funny, but well, I guess it didn't work for us."

"Luckily, or I could've accusingly questioned Conan if I didn't know." Ran sighed and closed the fridge.

"Well, they'd admitted in the end and it's one mystery less for me to solve," Shinichi settled the box on the table, along with all the ready home cooked food. "Is Conan still having his nap?"

The incident was put aside and Ran regained her composure in no time to answer his question. "He's in the library. Help me tell him it's time for dinner."

"Right away."

.o.

"Best husband and dad award goes to... Kudo Shinichi!" Sonoko clapped her hands before gesturing at the said man, who was climbing down the stairs to the living room.

Shinichi managed to stop himself from rolling his eyes and sat on the seat next to Ran, his arms hung around the sofa. Sonoko was sitting on another chair just across the twin couch, their pot of warm tea and half-eaten dessert were on the coffee table between them.

"Did Conan give you a hard time?" Ran chortled.

"He's good today," Shinichi shared a faint smile and Ran returned the same. "Just two stories and he's asleep."

"Don't tell me you read Sherlock Holmes to Conan as bedtime stories." Sonoko stuck out a tongue.

Shinichi frowned, not really liking the brief disdain look she was giving. "What wrong with that if that's true?"

Just in time, like every other occasion, Ran intercepted before the conversation turned to the bad side. "That's only for Sunday nights. And it isn't that bad," Ran clarified. "Conan can practice his vocabularies as well."

Sonoko shook her head and was about to retaliate when a loud yell blasted from outside the house. It was muffled, but the shout clearly depicted a sign of help.

"What was that?" Ran jumped up from the sofa, eyes darting around. Sonoko was on her feet, alarmed and shock too.

"I'm going to check." Shinichi declared before sprinting out of the living room, towards the door and out of the house. Ran followed hastily behind, along with Sonoko who was also catching up with him. Under the dark sky, they stood in the middle of the yard in front of their house, trying to detect where the sound came from. At the moment, their previous mild tension was gone just as quick as it came.

The ear-splitting scream returned again and was coming... from the house next door.

"It's Aoko-chan and Kaito-kun!" Ran bit her lips worriedly. "Could something have happened?"

"Finally after ten years! There's a chance for the Deduction Queen Sonoko to be awakened!" Sonoko clasped her hands together to form the shape of a gun. "Is it suicide? Is it murder? Is it cyanide poisoning or a gunshot?"

"Sonoko!" Ran wailed.

Without a word, Shinichi rushed over to the said house and towards the door, ignoring the couple of plants he'd destroyed as he stepped over the little flower garden the owners had planted in their front yard.

Another scream erupted.

"Oi! Is anyone in there?" Shinichi banged his knuckles against the door. There wasn't an answer, but he heard lots of shuffling and running inside the house. Was the murderer escaping? Shit! He needed to act fast! He began struggling with the doorknob and to his greatest luck, it was already unlocked and he flung it open at the chance, stepping inside and ready to-

"Aoko! Please- I beg you! AHHHHHHHH!"

"This. Is. What. You. Get. For. Replacing my bubble bath with CONDENSED MILK!"

It was a chaos.

Kaito was hopping on top of the dining table, holding onto a magazine and using it as a sort of defense shield. Aoko was standing on the ground, a towel clasped around her body while she was holding onto an arm-sized fish in her hands. She was in the midst of attempting to climb up a chair and onto the dining table when Ran and Sonoko burst into the house, their loud heaves and pants finally broke the two's attention from their battle. Aoko and Kaito turned their heads and stared at the three intruders, their respective angry and pleading expressions died away to an impressive blank look.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"I'm so sorry. We were worried something happened, but I guess all is well." Ran was the first to break the silence. With an embarrassed laugh, she took Shinichi and Sonoko's arm and quietly led them out of the house. "So sorry that we came in without permission. Please continue whatever you guys are doing."

Ran shut the house door behind them.

Three seconds later, the thunderous howls and shouts continued inside.

Sonoko blinked, her hand slowly lifted to close her gaping mouth. "What the hell was that?"

For once in Shinichi's life, he was dumbfounded. "I don't know." He admitted quietly.

"It's shocking, isn't it?" Ran chuckled and shook her head pitifully at Shinichi. "This is the first time a scream didn't represent a dead body."

"...You're probably right."

.o.

"From that previous incident, are you really sure you want to do this?"

"We don't have a choice, do we?"

Shinichi sighed, defeated. Ran was right, they didn't really have a choice. Ran was supposed to go to Osaka to help Kazuha with her pregnancy preparations, and he was supposed to report to the temple situated in the middle of a forest for a case he was called in for at the last minute. Both of them couldn't bring Conan along, and no one in town was available to help to look after Conan. There really wasn't any choice.

No more arguments. No more contemplation. Ran rang the doorbell. The door opened almost the very next second.

While Ran was in the middle of the vague explanation, the mistress of the house, Aoko, beamed. "We'll be super glad to help you guys look after Conan!" She said merrily.

"Thank you so much," Ran thought it would take some convincing, but it turned out much easier than she expected. "Sorry to bother your nice weekend."

"No problem," Aoko nodded her head pleasingly.

From behind the door, Kaito appeared, with his arms crossed as he glanced past Shinichi and Ran with a nonplussed look, until his eyes settled on Conan. He simply smirked.

"He looks like you." Kaito blurted to no one.

Shinichi raised an eyebrow. Whenever he saw Kaito, there's this sort of conflicted feeling of not knowing what to feel. Was he supposed to be offended? Was he supposed to laugh? He had no idea what was up with Kaito and the meaning behind his words and those charming, plastic smiles, but he decided to just go with the flow. What else could he do anyway?

"Well, he's my son, what do you expect?" Shinichi retorted.

Kaito's grin grew bigger. "Of course."

"Anyway, we've got to go now or we'll be late." Ran tugged onto Shinichi's arm. "You still got to drive me to the train station."

Shinichi pat Conan's head. "We'll see you later, alright?"

"Thank you again." Ran bowed over at Kaito and Aoko. "We'll come back to pick him up soon latest by tomorrow morning. Afterwards, let's have a meal together soon."

"No worries about that," Aoko gave a thumbs up before squeezing Conan's shoulder playfully. "Conan will be great for company. We love kids."

"Then you two should have one soon!" Ran giggled.

Aoko scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Who wants to bear a child with this person?"

Kaito sneered. "Same words from me to you."

After Conan skipped inside the house, their continuous banters ceased to be heard once the door closed behind him. Shinichi casted a worried look over at the house, which Ran noticed almost immediately.

"He'll be fine." Ran assured.

"I don't doubt Aoko-san. But that Kaito guy gives me a weird feeling." Shinichi muttered as they headed to the car parked outside of their house.

Ran tilted her head. "Why? He's nice."

"Don't know," Shinichi shrugged. "Just a sense."

The next morning when Ran and Shinichi came back to pick Conan, he couldn't bear to leave. Conan only obliged in the end after a few minutes of convincing and promises that he would be allowed to visit and hang out at their house sometime in the future. Although Shinichi was reluctant, there wasn't any other choice but to agree to Conan's pleas.

"I wonder what they did to Conan." Shinichi narrowed his eyes as he watched Conan bounce up the stairs of their house.

"You can ask him tonight during bedtime," Ran smiled. "Today is Sunday, your special Sherlock Holmes' story-telling day."

It was the only thing that made Shinichi's mood turned better.

And really, that was legitimately the only time Shinichi was the least unhappy. Because when Shinichi was about to share his favourite part of the Sherlock Holmes series during Conan's bedtime, Conan ended up arguing and wanted to hear the story about Arsene Lupin instead.

From all the parenting books Shinichi ever read, this was just way too early to be the rebellious stage.

.o.

"Last night when I was going down to the kitchen to grab a glass of water, I thought I saw a large white bird flying past our garden." Ran said to Shinichi one evening as they were in the midst of their dinner.

"Large white bird?" Shinichi raised an eyebrow and gobbled a spoonful of rice and swallowed. "What's so spectacular about it?"

"It's really large," Ran animatedly tried to size it out with her arms. "And it landed on our neighbor's balcony; Aoko-chan and Kaito-kun's house."

"Is it?"

"I might have mistaken about the exact size, but when I asked Aoko-chan this afternoon when we were taking our mails, she denied about the existence of the bird even though I thought I saw her on the balcony too," Ran tapped the end of her spoon against her chin thoughtfully. "She said she already had a lot of trouble handling a giant donkey in her house to own another bird."

Shinichi almost choked onto his food. "A giant... what?"

Ran gave a sheepish laugh and eyed over at Conan, who was also eating at the table.

"Donkey." Shinichi repeated before realization dawned upon him. "Of course, a donkey." Ass.

"Maybe it's all just my imagination." Ran shrugged.

"It's dark outside, and perhaps you'd just woken up from your sleep." Shinichi tried to fill up the loopholes.

"You're right."

They continued eating their dinner.

.o.

Shinichi was proud to say he wasn't part of the gossiping community in his neighborhood. He did observe and take note of things around him, but never had he once bothered to ask or pry into anyone's life or matters.

But there were exceptions, like this.

He was on his way out to throw out the trash when he saw Kaito carrying a bunch of bags and hefting them onto his car.

"What are you doing?" Shinichi frowned. "Are you moving out?"

"Aw, will you miss me?"

-the hell? "First thing first, no. Secondly, you're not answering my question."

"It's Aoko's birthday today," Kaito went inside his yard to carry the remaining bags to put inside the loot of his car. "I'm planning a surprise."

"Oh," Shinichi scratched the side of his cheek, suddenly unsure of what to say. "Help me to send her my wishes."

"Fraid' not. I haven't even told her mine."

Another puzzling fact again. "Why's that?"

"She thought I'd forgotten and I'm keeping it that way," a small smile appeared on his lips, so brief and faint yet one of the realest emotion Shinichi had ever seen for the first time from Kaito. But in a blink, it was gone. Kaito turned away and shut his car boot. "But like I said, it's a surprise."

The thought of those bags were getting more and more suspicious as each seconds passed, but Shinichi honestly didn't have the rights to flaunt his position as a detective to ransack Kaito's stuff. After some seconds of inner struggles, he decided to stick to his nonchalant ways. Kaito might be weird, but Shinichi trusted him enough to not go overboard with whatever surprise he was planning.

"Good luck." Shinichi finally mustered the courage to say.

"Wow," Kaito stopped by the side of his car door and blinked at Shinichi, looking exaggeratedly taken aback. "Thanks."

What was that supposed to mean?

The afternoon conversation was almost erased away from Shinichi's head when his mind was all focused on the murder that happened later on in a coffee shop he was visiting. The memory of it only slowly floated back to him on that same night, a few minutes before midnight when loud crackles could be heard blasting repetitively outside. Shinichi was in the middle of finishing his report in his library, but out of curiosity, he walked to the hall, to also find a puzzled and sleepy Ran looking dazedly at him. They trudged out of the house and onto their yard, to be surprised and jolted wide awake by the colors and sizzling sparkles at a distance away. If Shinichi wasn't wrong, the only famous landmark the area where the fireworks were sprouting in the sky was the clock tower.

"What in the world...?" Ran gaped at the sky, unblinking. "Did I miss the date of a festive occasion?"

"No one in the right mind would put fireworks this late," Shinichi scoffed before nodding to himself. "Yeah, no one in the right mind would do this at all." He then glanced over at the house next to theirs, the only one that didn't stir or light up despite the current commotion. Most of the other neighbors were already disturbed from their sleep and standing out of their house, but none of them were complaining when there was a free show in the sky.

"Well, it's pretty anyway." Ran smiled.

"It is." Shinichi mumbled.

Without a word, their hands entwined as the fireworks continuously brightened their sky.

.o.

It was unusual for the doorbell to ring at the timing since mostly everyone she knew should be busy doing whatever they were doing for the day. Ran quickly dried the plates she just used for Conan's lunch and headed for the door.

Before she even opened the door, she already heard voices from outside. Ran's lips automatically tugged on both ends to welcome the visitors.

Apparently her greeting was ignored at the moment.

"Why are you following me? We could split the work and give out the cupcakes faster." Aoko scowled.

"I want to follow you." Kaito simply said and impassively munched onto the cupcake in his hand.

Aoko shook her head before turning to acknowledge Ran with an apologetic grin. "Good afternoon! Sorry to bother your lunch."

"Good afternoon!" Ran returned the same enthusiastic chime. "Conan and I just finished our lunch, no worries. What brings you here?"

"We've baked some cupcakes for all the neighbors," Aoko handed a box over to Ran as the latter accepted it gratefully. "We aren't great in this and truthfully, we sort of over spilled the sugar into the mixture." She rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly.

Now that Ran noticed, there was a few specks of flour on one side of Aoko's forehead, while Kaito got it on the bottom of his chin. Must be some great baking experiences.

"It's the thoughts that count," Ran said honestly. "Thank you for the goodies."

"You're welcome!" Aoko then jabbed a thumb to her house. "We've got a bunch more to distribute so we'll go ahead first."

"No problem." Ran waved and bade them goodbye as they departed. Knowing better, Ran left the door opened to watch the two stumbling their way, expecting more to see than their footsteps being in sync. True enough, Kaito suddenly swiped part of the whip cream with his finger and dabbed it on Aoko's cheek, which she ended up giving a loud yelp and their normal walk back to their house ended up being a chase. Even when the brick wall had covered Ran's view, she could hear the melodic laughter from where she was.

She closed the door and headed to the kitchen with her gift. Conan was already by her side, curious at its peak.

"What is that?" He asked.

Ran opened the lid, revealing six similar cupcake Kaito was eating (and playing in the end).

"Aoko-neechan and Kaito-niichan from next door delivered this to us. Homemade." She answered.

"Can I try one?"

Well, Ran was intrigued about the taste too. She handed one to Conan before picking one for herself and taking a bite.

Indeed, the whip cream and chocolate filling was too sweet for Ran's taste, which was on an extreme level since she had always loved baked goods. But disregarding the taste buds, Ran thought the combination fitted the two bakers. Sweet and filled with love, a match-make in heaven.

.o.

It wasn't like Shinichi cared, but at the same time, it was hard to say he didn't. He solemnly watched Kaito hefting bags and bags onto the boot of his car, and then luggage and luggage...

"I'll miss you." Conan blabbered and sniffed, trying hard to prevent the snorts and pent up tears from spilling.

"We'll miss you too," Aoko did just a bit better at what Conan was trying to do. "We'll come and visit whenever we can."

"Promise?" Conan looked up expectedly.

Kaito slammed the car boot close, finally stepping out of his frequent silent shell and spoke. "Promise." He patted Conan's head.

Ran rubbed Conan's shoulders comfortingly before looking up at the two. "It's been a great year and a half. Really didn't expect the sudden decision though."

"We couldn't bear to leave too." Aoko sighed.

"Then you should stay." Ran insisted for the sixth time that day.

"But there's some stuff we have to finish doing," Aoko inputted. "Until then, we can't really settle down yet."

"Need any help?" Shinichi prompted. Well, this was the least he could do as a neighbor. Admittedly, they did help him a lot with taking care of Conan whenever Ran and him couldn't, even though there were times when Conan went totally brainwashed about certain aspects like Arsene Lupin and such.

"We'll see about that in the future," Kaito said. "For now, it's alright."

"Stay in contact." Ran spread out her hands and Aoko did the same as they hugged. Shinichi glimpsed at Kaito and looked away awkwardly as the latter simply smirked.

As Ran and Aoko broke the hug, Shinichi cleared his throat. "Anyway, where are you two moving to again?"

Kaito and Aoko glanced at each other, their eyes brightened in sync.

"Osaka."

.o.

"There's new neighbors moving in today." The sound of sizzles echoed the kitchen as the hot pan touched the tap water.

A flip of newspaper. "Beside us?"

"Ya."

"Da' house next door had been empty since foreva' anyway. Expected."

"They've bought us donuts as welcome gifts."

"Donuts?" Heiji raised an eyebrow and closed the newspaper, the title on the front page revealing Kaitou Kid targets Osaka prized Moon Stone!

"Do ya want some?" Kazuha headed for the fridge. "They personally gave them dis' morning."

On the cue, the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it." Heiji jumped off his chair and trudged towards the entrance of his house. Just as he opened the door, a loud shrill came from inside the kitchen.

"Heiji! Da' donuts disappeared!"

"I'll solve dat mystery in two seconds!" Heiji laughed and yelled behind his shoulder. "I bet it's in ya stomach!"

"Heiji!"

"Um, hello."

The dark-skinned man turned and glanced at his visitors. The lady who had spoken was carrying a box and standing closely behind her was a scowling man who looked quite familiar...

"What can I do for ya?"

The woman lifted the box.

"We're here to deliver the donuts, again."

.end.