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Epilogue

six months later

Shinichi Kudo looked out of the window of his office with a happy smile. It hadn't taken him that long to get his life together. The matter of Conan had been taken care of with a little help from Kaito and Ai.

His "cousin" had moved back to America with his pseudoparents. His own disappearance had been much simpler. He told the truth. Well, part of the truth. Shinichi had witnessed something he shouldn't have and gone into hiding after narrowly escaping death at the Black Organization's hands.

The detective felt a little guilty that all the shards of the Pandora gem were gone, but Ai didn't mind. The former member of the Black Organization had privately told him that she had never intended to take the cure. As far as she was concerned, Shiho was dead. Professer Agasa had offered to adopt her, and she had accepted. After hearing the explanation, Kudo had been happy for her.

As for himself, he had made plans to open this detective agency after testing out of the classes to get his degree, and later his license. He had been studying things more complicated than basic algebra these last few years. The tantei also intended to ask Ran out, if she would still have him.

Kudo turned around and let out an exasperated sigh when he saw he was no longer alone. "What have I told you about doing that Kuroba?" he asked.

"Not to," the magician laughed unrepentantly. "I would think you would be glad to have me where you can keep an eye on me. Besides," he whined. "I'm bored."

The detective regarded the ex-thief speculatively. "Don't you have degree that can be used for designing and testing security systems?" he asked.

Kuroba gave him a slightly puzzled look. "Yeah, no one found it to surprising given my connection with Nakamori-keibu and my fascination with making things vanish and then reappear." The magician demonstrated with the juggling balls he held in his hand. "I thought Hakuba was going to have an epileptic fit when he heard my plans," Kaito confided. "The whole class was staring at him."

Kudo nodded slowly. "I've been thinking, how would you like to be my partner? I know you don't like death," he added, "but I could work those cases."

"Work," Kaito asked surprised. "With you?"

"Why not?" was the reply. "Think of what we could accomplish together."

The ex-thief just stared at him a moment before his eyes lit up. He grinned wickedly, "We would be unstoppable." He offered the detective his hand, "besides, life is never dull with you around."

Shinichi placed his hand in Kaito's, and with a firm shake, a legendary team was formed.

DBCDBCDBCDBC

This story is complete

Cue evil laughter