Hate seemed like a strong word, but Kaito wasn't sure what else to term his feelings towards Hakuba when all he wanted to do was to put laxative in his tea every day.

And amazingly, even when Hakuba was thousand over miles away, Kaito still stayed true to his feelings, and he considered the cost-benefits analysis of flying to London to spike the very tea Hakuba was sipping now.

Then, on the top of Kaito's phone screen, Hakuba made a show of placing his porcelain cup on a round and exquisite-looking table before shifting his front camera back to his face.

"Do you like my coffee table? You can only find this design in Britain," Hakuba said, flicking his (stupid) fringe aside. "I can send one over to you as a house-warming gift."

Kaito gritted his teeth. "No."

"What about a mirror?" Akako suggested on the bottom of Kaito's phone screen. "I know places that can do special customization."

"I don't need anything from the both of you."

"Clearly." Akako scoffed, narrowing her eyes. "Seeing that your birds are taking up most of the spaces in your house."

Kaito glanced over his shoulder, checking what Akako saw to make the statement. And it was true. His doves were all over the living room, standing on everything that was possible for them to perch on; he should probably only let the few obedient ones out if he didn't want his neighbours to think he was planning a coup d'état with his doves.

Saying nothing to Akako's comment, Kaito returned to his front door. He was still in the midst of moving his things inside his house before the three-way video call happened, and the two pesky non-humans (one devil and one witch) called him and demanded a house tour inside.

"Ok. I'm ending the call—"

"Wait."

"What now." Kaito scowled at Hakuba on the screen.

"So… Are you sure about this?"

Kaito sighed. "For the hundredth time, I've already said I will honour the bet—"

"Not that." Hakuba waved a hand. "I'm asking if you're sure you don't want a coffee table—"

Kaito cut the video call and headed out of the house.

Pushing his phone in his back pocket, he walked to his mailbox, where the delivery guys kindly left his moving boxes. He was about to lift one up when a voice called out from behind.

"Hello."

Kaito placed the box back on the ground and turned.

When their eyes met, the middle-age woman smiled as she approached to Kaito's side. "I heard the truck pulled over and figured today's the day," the woman said, before handing a pack of cookies to Kaito. "Here's a little welcome gift for you; I baked them this morning."

"Oh, wow thanks." Kaito bowed, accepting the bag. He hadn't eaten anything since yesterday afternoon so this would definitely come in handy... "After I unpack my stuff, I'll be sure to pop by with a gift," he said.

"Please don't worry about it." The woman laughed. "Anyway, my name is Chiyo, and—"

"Good afternoon, Chiyo-san," a lady across Kaito's house called out, one hand holding onto a little girl while the other hand was in the air, ready to give a wave. But she stopped and tilted her head instead when she spotted Kaito.

"Good afternoon," Chiyo greeted back before gesturing to Kaito. "He's the new neighbour."

Realization dawned upon the other lady's face as she and the little girl crossed over to Kaito's house. "Hello."

"Hi." Kaito smiled. And when Chiyo casted him a curious look, he remembered he hadn't introduced himself, and added, "My name is Kuroba Kaito."

"I'm Mizuno Kyoko." Kyoko then gestured to the little girl, who was standing behind her. "This is my daughter, Sakura."

The girl hid even further behind her mother when Kaito glanced at her.

"Sorry about that, she's shy around new people," Kyoko said apologetically.

"That's alright." Kaito slowly bent forward and showed an encouraging smile. "Hello Sakura-chan, nice to meet you."

Then, with a flick of a wrist and a snap later, a lollipop appeared in between his fingers.

Sakura gasped in awe and unconsciously stepped towards Kaito's hand. She glanced hopefully at Kyoko, seemingly to ask for permission, and when Kyoko nodded, Sakura gleefully took the lollipop from Kaito's hand.

"Thank you," Sakura said bashfully.

Kaito smiled. And at the exact moment after he straightened up, Kyoko suddenly waved at whatever was over Kaito's shoulder.

"Oh, Kudo-san."

Kaito blinked.

Kudo?

Sakura's face lit up, a complete 360 degree change from her timid demeanour. "Shinichi nii-san!" she exclaimed.

Kaito blinked again.

Kudo and Shinichi?

KUDO SHINICHI?!

Kaito robotically turned, and he barely managed to stop his eyes from widening too much and rolling out of his sockets.

There, in the damn flesh, was indeed the Kudo Shinichi he wasn't hoping to be.

Kaito had checked every resident's information before deciding to purchase his house in this area, like knowing Chiyo was now living alone after her second daughter recently married off, and that Kyoko's ex-husband and Sakura's father was an alcoholic and serving a long and deserving time in prison.

And as for the house next to his, Kaito was sure it would be empty, given the fact he knew the family who owned it had migrated to Australia.

Kaito closed his eyes briefly, but when he opened them, Shinichi was still standing there, his hand hovering over his mailbox's latch.

Great. Another nightmare I can't wake up from.

With the lack of news coverage about the detective's Shinigami ability, Kaito thought Shinichi had gone undercover in Africa or something after he defeated the Black Organization. But who knew he was still in Japan, and living right next to him—

Chiyo waved, bidding Shinichi over. "Shinichi boy, come and introduce yourself to the new neighbour."

Shinichi boy? Well, I'll be damned.

Leaving his mailbox, Shinichi trudged over to Kaito and the little crowd. He greeted everyone—while patting Sakura's head—before acknowledging Kaito with a look.

An observing look, to be exact.

Then, to Kaito's surprise, Shinichi raised a hand, but rather than pulling Kaito's cheek or pointing his tranquilliser watch, his hand stopped at their waists' level.

"Hi, I'm Kudo Shinichi," Shinichi said.

"Uh, um, hi, my name is Ta—" Kaito pursed his lips, glancing at the witnesses that would definitely expose the fake name he was about to use. Groaning inwardly, he mustered a smile, and tentatively reached out for Shinichi's hand. "My name is Kuroba Kaito."

"Well," Shinichi said, dropping his hand to his side after the handshake (which was the most awkward one Kaito ever had in his life). "Hope you'll enjoy staying here."

Barely an hour had passed since he moved in and Kaito was already wondering if it was even remotely possible… But nonetheless, he showed a grin and a thumbs up, hoping it was enough as a facade.

"Thanks, neighbour; I'll count on you for that."

Shinichi didn't return the smile, but he gave a nod back in the end.

"I'll try to do what I can."

.

.

.

.

Kaito groaned and put a hand over his eyes.

When it didn't help to reduce the intensity of the glaring sunlight on his eyelids, he kicked his legs around, trying find his blanket and hide underneath it. But then he remembered it was still hanging outside to dry since yesterday afternoon...

Kaito groaned again, already losing the drowsiness in him to get back the sleep he wanted. He peeled open his eyes and stared at the ceiling in frustration.

There were two things Kaito could blame for his current predicament: One, the sun's existence, or two, his laziness for not drawing the curtain close last night—

"Ow." Kaito sat up, swatting a hand over Yoshi who just pecked his forehead. The three jabs were a lot more painful than the morning greetings it usually gave, until Kaito realized it wasn't really morning now. The clock on his wall showed half past noon.

Rubbing his forehead, Kaito climbed out of his bed. He figured the aggressiveness might be linked to the, perhaps, empty bird feeder bowl in the backyard, until he saw where Yoshi had flew off after pecking Kaito.

It was standing next to the closed balcony window, and on the other side of the glass was its comrade, Tamago—who didn't return when Kaito did roll-call last night.

"Wow." Kaito scoffed before shuffling towards the glass and squatted down. "So you're finally back. And I thought you've eloped or something—"

Then Kaito frowned, eyes squinting at the note he found tied to Tamago's leg. Sighing, he pushed the balcony door open, and Tamago flew right in, landing on his bed.

Kaito whistled, signalling Tamgo back as it flew to his wrist. He untied the string and unrolled the note.

Come to my house once you see this.
- Kudo Shinichi

"Huh. Did you stay over at Shinichi's house?" Kaito cast Tamago a scandalised look. "So is he your new owner now? Are you his messenger too?"

Tamago cooed.

"First was Aoko, and now—" Kaito sighed. "Why did I waste so much money on sunflower seeds for you..."

Looking at the paper one last time, Kaito rolled it up and kept it pressed under a stationary holder on his desk (it was too cute(?) to be thrown away, but he wasn't sure what to do with it at the moment either). The meeting didn't sound urgent, and even if it was, he believed Shinichi wouldn't send it via a note like this. So he spent some time in the bathroom to freshen himself, top up the bird feeder bowl, and water his rose plantations (including Aoko's blue roses), before heading over to Shinichi's home.

While walking the short distance, Kaito wondered what the meeting could be about. He already briefed Shinichi about the things they needed to do for their next volunteering session, and when he checked the Shinichi's mailbox, it was clear from shit too—

Kaito sucked a breath through his teeth at a new thought. Could it be that Tamago shit inside his house? Damn, he hoped it was anything but the sofa. Knowing the material, it would take ages for him to rub it off.

Reaching outside Shinichi's door, Kaito raised a hand and prepared to knock, but his arm fell back to his side when he read the note that was pasted on it.

The door isn't lock.

Kaito raised an eyebrow. Am I in some Alice in Wonderland dream or something... Shrugging to himself, he twisted the door knob and entered.

"Uh, yo?" Kaito said into the seemingly empty house—

"Just in time," Shinichi called out from where Kaito knew was the direction of the kitchen. "Come here."

Taking in a breath, Kaito widened his eyes.

"What on earth...?" he muttered, before mindlessly taking the first step towards the kitchen, and another, and another—

Standing by the dining table in the weirdest-looking apron Kaito ever seen, Shinichi closed the cap of the squeeze bottle. He then turned, smiling expectedly at Kaito before showing the plate of omelette rice with squiggly red lines made out of tomato sauce.

"Happy Birthday, Kaito," Shinichi said.

Kaito blinked. Then, stupidly, he fished out the phone in his pocket, which he hadn't gotten around to checking after waking up. Below the date that stated June 21, there were multiple birthday texts and missed calls from different people: his mother, Jii, Hakuba, Akako, Keiko and even... Aoko's dad.

He had completely forgotten about his birthday.

"How did you—" Kaito raised his head, but stopped when he realized Shinichi knew it from one of Aoko's diary entries.

Shinichi didn't respond to Kaito's unfinished question, probably knowing Kaito already figured it out himself.

"I don't know what to do or give you, too, so I figured this," Shinichi said, awkwardly glancing at the kitchen—where Kaito also spotted a new frying pan—and then at the omelette rice. "You said you craved for omelette rice."

Kaito frowned. "When did I ever say that?"

"You did," Shinichi said firmly as he untied the apron's ribbon around his neck and placed it on the back of a chair. "Remember that volunteer session when Rina's mom brought omelette rice for lunch and you saw it? You said that back then."

"Wha— That's months ago."

"You know how to speed read and I have a good memory. Life's fair and equal."

"Um, actually I also have a good memory—"

Shinichi narrowed his eyes. "This is not a competition."

Chortling, Kaito walked towards the edge of the dining table. He stared at the omelette rice, the same scent that hit him when he first stepped into the house was still strong and lingering.

"The rice isn't any kind of rice," Shinichi said, as if reading Kaito's thoughts. "It's the fried rice that Aoko taught you to cook."

Kaito slowly nodded. "Yeah, I know."

Though the yearning had toned down comparatively, this was still the greatest gift Kaito ever received; he thought he only missed Aoko's cooking, who knew he would miss something as silly as the smell too—cooking on his own had deprived him the ability to take in the strong scent of the fried rice at one go...

"Just a disclaimer, though," Shinichi began as he passed a spoon to Kaito. "I used mostly my gut-feelings and observations—from when you were cooking—to make the rice. As for the omelette, I asked Rina's mother for advice, and also looked up video tutorials online."

Kaito mutely nodded.

"It may not taste the best, but it's the best I can do." Shinichi nervously scratched the side of his cheek before looking back at Kaito. "So, yeah. Happy Birthday."

Kaito twiddled with the spoon, feeling the weight of the utensil and the words he hadn't figured out to say.

Thanks felt too much of an understatement for all the things Shinichi had done for Kaito—and it wasn't including this or his birthday wish. He got to admit he wasn't good at expressing his feelings all that outwardly or verbally besides showing grins and smiles, be it fake or real, but this time, Kaito thought Shinichi should know.

Shinichi should know.

Kaito placed the spoon back on the table, which earned him a questionable look from Shinichi.

This might not be the best way, but it was the best Kaito could do too.

Walking around the dining table and closing the distance between them, Kaito pulled Shinichi in for a hug.

A/N:

this is the end! thank u all for the support, if you're kind enough, please do leave a review!