Day 37: Arts and Crafts Room

[host_club_honey]

Honey was relieved when breakfast was over.  Even though there'd been plenty of sticky-sweet french toast to be had, the company left him feeling a little inadequate.  Usually girls fawned all over him, but Callisto had been downright mean.  Had he done something wrong?  What kind of girl wanted to fight rather than play?  It'd only been a few days

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[flashyaudacity]

"That pretty much sums it up," Kaito said with a nod. "I know it sounds pretty crazy when you hear about it, but... Well, you'll see for yourself tonight."

He had to make a decision about when he came from, and quick. Even though he'd decided that his identity as "Kid" needed to remain the one with the most information, it was difficult to decide to put his knowledge as "Kaito" too far behind. He wondered if the Purple Nail job was really the most recent one for Kudou, or if he was from further in the future and playing at the same game that he was...

Another possibility was that he could tell the truth about when he'd come from, and avoid giving any information about Kid's timeline. As Kid, he had no real obligation to give the detectives any information that he didn't want to; the benefit in sharing any information was solely to create a further distinction between "Kaito" and "Kid."

Of course, if Hakuba showed up next, any distinction he tried to create was going to get shot to hell as soon as he fired off his accusations... But that detective wasn't here, and Kaito had other detectives to deal with. It all came down to whether or not having a gap between the memories of Kaito and Kid was actually going to be convincing enough evidence.

"Purple what?" he asked, making his decision. "No, no, his target was called 'Ocean's Miracle.' Some guy challenged him to steal it, and this little kid stopped him. Edogawa..." He trailed off there, his brow furrowed as though in thought. Then, with a frustrated tone, he groaned, "Aah, Hattori told me the kid's name last week. Something about parents that were real Conan Doyle nuts... Edogawa Doyle? No, that's not right... Arthur? Conan? Yeah, that's it: Edogawa Conan!"

He finished tearing up his paper, and started trying to wrap it into flower-like shapes. "Hattori may've just had a lot on his mind, with you showing up and all. I wouldn't wish this place on anyone, and especially not on friends." He fiddled with the paper; it wasn't working the way he'd hoped because of the weight. "But he told you about Okita-san, did he? Hijikata-san was here, too, but I'm not sure if he is any more... I haven't seen him around lately."

Frustrated, he tossed the paper aside. Maybe he could find something more lightweight for his flowers... "I'm in the second year of high school, same as you and Hattori, I assume," he answered. "You're seventeen, aren't you?"

[meitantei]

Shinichi cracked a wry grin at that. "Gee," he said sarcastically, "I can't wait." And, in a way, he couldn't. He was interested in how all this was possible, even if it was more of an academic interest than anything. If there actually were monsters roaming the halls at night, it would lend a lot more credence to the rest of what Heiji had told him earlier. Speaking of the Detective of the West, where had he gone, anyway? Their nurses had separated them after breakfast was over, and Shinichi hadn't seen them since. Hopefully they'd be able to regroup later in the day.

"Ocean's Miracle? When Kaitou Kid walked in midair?" That was...the first time they'd met Suzuki Jirokichi, wasn't it? The golden statue holding the bright blue jewel, the one that had once been the figurehead on the prow of a pirate ship. It was also months ago. The detective was...distantly disappointed, in a way. Kaito came from even earlier than Hattori did. Still, he dutifully marked it off on his sheet of paper. Yeah, it was a little depressing to have months worth of memories that the others didn't, but he couldn't ignore his calling as a detective. He had to find the truth behind this place and get all these people--and himself--back to where they should be. "Yeah, Edogawa Conan. Weird kid. Bit of a brat, but smart. He's the distant relative of a friend of mine, and one of my other friends and her father are taking care of him while his parents are abroad." Good. Stick to the story, add in a deprecating comment about the child. Maybe a little bit complementary as well.

"...Hijikata too?" Who was next, Saitou? Kondou, maybe? Why not the whole Shinsengumi, with the Ishin Shishi thrown in for good measure? It did confirm one point, though--Kaito had met this man who claimed to be Okita. At least he existed beyond a random name on the bulletin board.

Shinichi watched Kuroba try to fold flowers for little while, but the other boy didn't seem to be having much success. "Yeah, my birthday was in the spring."

[flashyaudacity]

"Yeah, that's the one. Interesting trick, wasn't it? What's that Purple Nail thing you mentioned? Is that something that Kaitou Kid has stolen since then?" He crossed his arms. "I haven't seen a single newspaper since coming here, and it really sucks not being up to date on the news."

He prevented himself from laughing, or even just smirking at Kudou's description of Edogawa. Nice, Kudou, but you forgot the part where he's you. Somehow. "He's related to you? Hattori told me that he had died, too, but I kind of get the feeling he was lying about that. He said it when he said that you were dead, after all, so in light of you being alive..."

Kaito riffled through a nearby stack of paper, making a sound of triumph when he located some brightly-colored tissue paper. He set to work again, nodding. "Yeah, Hijikata too. I don't really know him all that well; he's pretty stoic. Okita-san is much more friendly." And had a nice mischievous streak in him.

"Ah, when the in spring?" he asked; maybe furthering the line of small talk would help to cement himself as someone that was not Kaitou Kid. "Mine's in the summer."

[meitantei]

"Yeah, it was only a few weeks ago," Shinichi replied, nodding. "As far as I know, it's the most recent thing he's tried to steal. It was the same guy who challenged him, too." Suzuki was...an odd one. A perfect example of the excesses of the super-wealthy, especially the eccentric and egocentric ones.

...Hattori had told Kuroba that Conan was dead, too? "What the hell? Really?" Shinichi couldn't help the look of utter disbelief that registered on his face, but he figured that it would look more like confusion than anything else. "I can understand killing me off to...protect me, but why Conan? He's just a little kid who likes playing detective and is actually kind of good at it." Stick to the story.

"May 4th. So I guess I'm a little older, then."

[flashyaudacity]

So Kudou did know how that job had ended... He hadn't volunteered any direct information about whether or not Kid had gotten away safe and sound and with his target, but the lack of information (and accusations) was comforting. If he'd gotten caught, that would've been big news, and Kudou wouldn't have said anything about Purple Nail being the "most recent" job.

That was good... very good. The reminder that the little detective's voice was the last thing he remembered before waking up here had been agitating him, but now that he had a reasonable amount of proof that he hadn't gotten caught then, he could relax a little.

"That's what I want to know," Kaito said, frowning. "He implied that Edogawa was murdered, for getting too close to something. To close to Kaitou Kid, maybe; Hattori said something about the police thinking he was killed because he kept getting in Kid's way, but that doesn't make much sense if you ask me. Kid doesn't kill, and who'd want to kill someone for stopping a phantom thief?"

Truthfully Kaito knew enough people who might've gotten antsy over someone getting too close to Kid, but he shrugged anyway. "But like I said: now that you're here safe and sound, I think Hattori was just making it up to protect the kid. He seemed pretty worried about the wrong people hearing about either of you."

And then came the small talk. Despite his intentions of sharing mundane information in an attempt to seem more open (and decidedly not suspicious), he couldn't resist a tiny jibe at the timing of Kudou's birthday... "The day before Children's Day, huh?" he said. It was such a shame it wasn't one day later... "I'm June 21st, myself, so there's not too much difference between our ages... It would've been something if we'd happened to have the same birthday, given our looks."

[meitantei]

Shinichi just rubbed his temples. This latest revelation was not helping his headache any. He supposed he ought to be thankful to Hattori for his somewhat misguided efforts at protecting his identity, but he was taking the greatly exaggerated reports of his death rather personally. Conan needed to exist for the whole alter-ego thing to actually work. Killing him off wasn't very conducive to keeping the ruse going. "...No, as far as I know, the kid's fine. I just talked to him yesterday. Since I seem to be further ahead than both of you..." He shrugged. And of course Kid wouldn't do that. The guy may have been a criminal, but he wasn't a violent one.

"I appreciate that." The detective smiled. "Hattori's heart was in the right place, but I'm not sure his head was. Whatever. I'll talk with him about it later."

And he would. Oh, he would.

"Yeah, I guess," Shinichi replied kind of distractedly, not really getting the implication. "And yeah, it would have." He laughed. "Sorry. I mean, I'm sure you're a great guy and all, but I don't want a twin, thanks."

[flashyaudacity]

"That's good to hear. Thinking about a little kid getting murdered is pretty upsetting," he said sincerely, twisting one end of the paper he was working on. Even though Kudou hadn't gotten tangled up in Kid's other business this time, the idea that he could had served as a warning to Kaito. He would have to be more careful in the future to prevent the detective (or anyone else, for that matter) from ending up in the line of fire.

"Alright. I should probably ask him myself if there's anything else he was... exaggerating about when we met, but if I recall, that was it for killing people off," he said, chuckling. He felt distantly guilty about possibly getting Hattori into trouble with Kudou, but he brushed the feeling off. Kudou had been obviously surprised, but he didn't sound too upset... Maybe he could warn the Osakan detective before Kudou found him again, to give him a heads up. That would settle any debt.

"I don't want a twin, either," Kaito agreed. "I'm perfectly happy without a brother." The fact that he and Kudou looked so much alike was a peculiarity he'd taken advantage of in the past, as Kid. He wondered if he could take advantage of it again, here, but the risks were far, far greater than at home... Without his masks and tricks, posing as Kudou Shinichi would paint him as the perpetrator right away if Kudou or Hattori ever caught wind of it.