Hi Everyone!

Kaito groaned, barely resisting the urge to slam his head into the wall in frustration. A week. It's been an entire week since he talked to Kudo-kun. Was it something he did? Every time he attempted to approach the man, the other teen stuttered out some flimsy excuse and rushed out of the classroom as if hell hounds were on his tail. Kaito mourned the reversal of progress. He was getting so close to becoming friends with the other too… And here he thought that everything was going great at the cafe too. Well, except the part when Kudo-kun rushed out saying something about needing to feed the neighborhood cat? He really didn't know. Oh, but how he wanted to… He was just itching to unravel the secrets hidden under the other's icy exterior and Kaito was never one to ignore something he wanted. Still, he thought, as the teacher walked in and Kudo-kun's desk was still empty, it was kind of hard to do that when the subject of his interest was adamantly avoiding his existence.

...

Shinichi slid into his seat right as the teacher began role call. There was absolutely no way he could let Kuroba-san have a chance of talking to him or, more specifically, asking him what the hell was up with that excuse he gave last week. Even thinking about it made him want to go back in time and smack himself in the face. What was he even thinking? A neighborhood cat?! … Oh right, he wasn't thinking. There aren't even any cats in the neighborhood, he bemoaned silently. Wait, that isn't the point. The point was that he definitely was not thinking. That was probably the only explanation for such a horrible lie. He had never wanted even just at least a drop of his mother's acting ability as much as he did now. It doesn't help that he couldn't think of a good explanation either. As much as he (reluctantly) enjoyed Kuroba-san's company, it was probably better to just cut it off now. Before they became friends. Before he learns about Shinichi's secret. Before he gets hurt again. Shinichi doesn't think he could take losing another friend. It was better to stay alone after all.

Fate seemed to have different plans however, Shinichi thought wildly, clutching at his chest as he was faced with Kuroba-san in front of the courtyard after school. He had thought he was safe since he managed to leave the classroom before anyone was done packing. That was until Kuroba-san literally jumped out of the 3rd floor classroom's window to land right in front of Shinichi. I'm going to have a heart attack and die early and not even at the hands of some criminal, just some guy in school who decided that windows were a proper way to exit buildings, he thought wildly before remembering to address said guy.

"Kuroba-san! What-"

"You were avoiding me," Kuroba-san cut him off plainly. "I decided that I didn't want to be avoided anymore."

Shinichi gaped, "That doesn't mean you should jump out of a window!"

Kuroba-san shrugged, grinning, "It got you to stop avoiding me, didn't it?"

Shinichi coughed, belatedly (and violently) remembering why he didn't want to be around the other, "I wasn't avoiding you…" he lied. The deadpan look the other gave him told him that he wasn't fooling anyone. Sighing, Shinichi awkwardly attempted to explain, "Look. I'm just really busy… with the cats… yeah. I-"

He was cut off by the sounds of running feet and distant cries of iterations of "Kuroba-san". Ignoring the mild deja-vu, Shinichi inwardly thanked Kuroba-san's crazy fans for saving him from his own stupidity, "Sounds like people are looking for you I gotta go bye," he muttered quickly before turning to sprint away.

Reaching the gate, Shinichi turned around to see the messy-haired teen, surrounded by a crowd of their schoolmates. The other was smiling and laughing as he conversed with all of them at once. That's where he belongs, Shinichi thought, not here in the shadows with me. With that thought, he turned and headed to the cafe that Megure texted him about earlier. There was another case to solve.

...

Ignoring his irritation, Kaito smiled as he chatted with his classmates on the way to the karaoke place for a party that he was roped into going to. It had been the first time in a week since he got to talk to Kudo-kun and now it was ruined. Lost in his thoughts, Kaito didn't notice that the people in front of him had stopped walking and ended up bumping into the boy in front of him.

"Hey, Sawada, what gives?" he complained irately, rubbing at his reddening nose. He frowned when the other did not reply and moved in front of him to wave his hand in the other's face. "What are you zoning out about?" He asked before turning to see a crowd of people gathered around a cafe.

"It's him," Sawada whispered.

"Who?" Kaito questioned, confused. He didn't see anyone he recognized from school.

"Conan-sama!" the girl next to him, Takeda-san? (was it? He knew she was in class 3-A but that was about it), squealed.

"Who?" Kaito repeated.

Sawada looked at him in disbelief, "Have you not heard of the mysterious teenage detective, Edogawa Conan?" he questioned.

Kaito shrugged, losing his interest in the subject, "Can't say I have. Aren't we going to head to karaoke now?"

"Wait a bit!" Takeda-san (he's just going to hope that's her name) insisted, tugging at Kaito's sleeve, "I wanna see if I can see his face. No one has seen it yet but, I bet he's handsome!"

Ah! Kaito thought, this was probably the same guy those girls were talking about that day at the cafe with Kudo-kun before he became all weird. Speaking of Kudo-ku-

"He's coming out!" Takeda-san squealed, clutching harder onto Kaito's arm.

Kaito shifted to take a look at what the girl was squealing at, curious despite himself. Standing among a group of police officers, was a glasses wearing teen. As if to compensate for the light disguise, the mysterious detective wore a hood pulled low over his head, casting his face into shadow. Kaito studied figure in the baggy, navy blue hoodie with a bow tie and magnifying glass motif on the front. Despite the looseness of the clothes, Kaito vaguely thought that the concealed, slender figure looked familiar. Dismissing the thought (after all, there were a lot of tall, willowy people in Ekoda probably), Kaito began to turn away from the crowd before the detective's voice caught his attention. Whipping around, Kaito stared at the figure. Now, where did he hear that voice again…

Shinichi held his breath, tense ever since he got a glimpse of messy-hair and the familiar school uniform, identical to the one he had stashed away in the bottom of his bag. He silently prayed that Kuroba-san and the other students that came with him did not recognize him. He laughed stiltedly as Megure-keibu complimented the swiftness in which he solved the case (a depressing but simple murder due to jealousy over a relationship and a well crafted alibi which he managed to pull apart), edging toward the yellow caution tape, ready to make a dash as soon as he was able to in order to avoid his classmates and reporters alike. His thoughts drifted to an image of cameras flashing as a crowd of people closed in on his younger self, each vying for his attention and shouting incomprehensible words at him. Shinichi shivered and tugged on his hood again, willing it to be longer and cover more of his face. Never again.

...

"Hey, did you hear about Conan-sama's latest case?"

"The one at that cafe near the train station, right? I was there!"

"Really?! Did you get to see his face?"

Kaito broke off from his conversation with Sawada, excusing himself before bouncing over to the two girls. "Hey, what are you talking about?" He questioned cheerfully.

One of the girls, Miko-chan, blushed lightly, "K-Kuroba-sama", she greeted. "We were just talking about Conan-sama, right Sakura?"

The other nodded, eyes bright as she held up a magazine.

Kaito took the magazine and studied the hooded figure on the cover, "Ah, that detective guy everyone has been talking about," he mumbled before turning to the two, "Can you tell me more about him?"

Sakura giggled, "I didn't think you were interested in detectives, Kaito-kun. What changed your mind?"

"Oh you know," Kaito stated feigning nonchalance, "I just wanted to get to know who my competition was."

"Your competition?" the girls echoed, confused.

Kaito winked and gave them a playful grin."For the attention of you beautiful ladies, of course!" He stated dramatically before presenting both of them with pink roses. The two flushed and accepted the proffered flowers.

Miko held the blooms close to her chest and declared in a burst of confidence, "Your still our number 1, Kuroba-sama!" Sakura nodding vehemently to her words.

Kaito grinned, and gave them a quick showman's bow, "Wow, I'm pleased to hear that I'm ranked so highly in your minds."

Sakura opened her mouth to reply, but never got the chance to as she was cut off by the arrival of Sawada.

"Oi, Kuroba, you flirt, you left me to talk to girls!" he complained swinging his arm across Kaito's shoulders and began loudly commenting on the previous night's baseball game. Soon after, some of their other classmates came to join in while Mika and Sakura excused themselves. Kaito ignored the stab of disappointment from his failed attempt at learning more about the mysteriously familiar detective and joined in on the conversation. Poker face, he reminded himself. Information could wait.

A sudden slam, interrupted their lively conversation. The class went deathly silent as they simultaneously turned to the source of the noise. Kaito was not surprised to see Kudo-kun glaring at them, holding a rather large book which he assumed was the source of the noise.

"Class is starting," the other stated tersely, "Would you lot keep it down so that you don't give me a headache so early in the morning."

The class began to murmur as they disbanded, each heading to their seats.

"Ungh. It's Kudo again."

"Why do we have to be quiet, it's not like the teacher said anything yet?"

Kaito tuned out the complaints, sitting down and glancing subtly at the other. He wondered why Kudo-kun behaved so coldly at school when he could look like that in front of the cafe. It was like he was trying to get his classmates to hate him although Kaito couldn't fathom why.

...

Kaito yawned, clicking onto yet another article about the mysterious detective. He blinked, glaring blearily at the corner of the screen, reading 2:04 am in taunting letters. 5 hours. He had been at this for 5 whole hours now and there was still nothing concrete about the detective. Shutting off his computer, Kaito stood and stretched. It was probably wise to just call it a day considering he had class tomorrow morning, or rather, today. Still, he thought, as he headed to the bathroom to brush his teeth and shower, he couldn't quite put his finger on what about the detective was so familiar, and more importantly, why he was so interested.

Thank you for reading! See you soon!

Up next: Kaito meets Conan?!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHINICHI!