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Something incredibly wrong must have happened to the world, Kaito mused out as he opened his apartment door at 4:30 AM in the morning to reveal a disheveled Hakuba Saguru wearing nothing but a white button up shirt, embarrassing Sherlock themed boxers and his pretentiously long-ass trench coat.
Naturally, Kaito slammed the door back closed and made a great effort in trying to lock 10 locks simultaneously while Saguru banged on the door with a loud 'Kaito, open the door or I will break it down!' And Kaito really didn't know what he warranted to deserve drama this early in the morning.
It was Shinichi who opened the door and invited the Brit in after 30 minutes of coaxing Kaito into unlocking the door and Saguru having a mental breakdown outside.
Now here they were, sitting at Kaito's dining table with Shinichi casually sipping black coffee and Kaito inching closer to the kitchen drawer to probably get a knife.
"I need your help," Saguru started with a breath and—
"I knew it!" Kaito jumped to his feet and pointed an accusing finger at the blonde while his other hand held a card gun menacingly, "Who are you and what have you done to Hakuba?!" He hissed out and threatened to shoot a measly card at the blonde, Saguru let his head fall forward with a thunk followed by a loud prolonged groan.
"I am Hakuba Saguru, I am a British Detective who came to Japan a few years ago and I have a mole on my lower left back and only you know that Kaito because you've disguised yourself as me countless of times."
"Oh," Kaito visibly relaxed at the man's words, card gun disappearing with a puff of smoke and the thief innocently sat back down as if he wasn't about to kill Saguru with paper cuts a few moments ago, "Why the fuck do you need my help?"
Kaito sat an inch closer to Shinichi as if contemplating on using the detective as a human meat shield just in case Saguru snapped or something,
"I need your help," Saguru started once more, hands wringing the bottom of his trench coat as he swallowed all his pride, "Because I'm in love with Akako and I need your 100% success rate."
The blonde was fairly certain that the hysteric laughs were coming from Kaito but when he took a quick look at the other two he found Kudo Shinichi on the floor, clutching his stomach and choking on his own spit while Kaito, the poor thief looked like someone just murdered his puppy.
"I need your help and advice so that I can court Akako," The blonde repeated, further aggravating Shinichi's laughs and Kaito looked like a vampire just sucked all the blood from his face.
"This is not a laughing matter Kudo!" Saguru hissed out, flushing a bright pink as the detective clambered back onto his seat, "I told him last night that I'd never accept another detective client ever again," Kaito supplied with a traumatized expression.
"Heiji was first, then Shinichi and now you. Gods please don't let Mouri Kogoro be next," Kaito cradled his head with both his hands while Shinichi's laughter grew louder at the melodramatics, "I'll pay you." Saguru tried weakly, throwing a thick wad of (euros) cash on the table.
Kaito stared at the money for a few more moments before letting out a sigh and mumbling gravely, "Give me the payment after you're happily married to Akako, meet us at Aphrodite's Love later this afternoon and I'll see what I can do," Saguru was positively beaming at this point as he nodded and stood up, to which Kaito shielded his eyes from the horrendous boxers the Brit wore.
"I'll see you later!" Saguru called out with a tone that screamed 'No Escape' before leaving the duo alone, after confirming that the blonde had indeed left Kaito flopped on the couch and let out a childish whine, "I don't want to help another detective!!" Shinichi could only chuckle as he threaded his hand through the ex-thief's hair, "I'll help you," The detective reassured but it didn't seem to help Kaito as his whines grew even louder.
Why, oh why did Kaito choose to be a matchmaker?!
☆★☆
Aphrodite's Love was normally quiet and peaceful as customers rarely appeared on weekdays but today was an exception as Kaito was shrieking and running around while Shinichi manned the front door waiting for a certain blonde to appear.
A familiar chime of bells signaled the brit's arrival as Kaito promptly shut himself in his private room and Shinichi greeted Saguru with a nod and a motion for him to follow, "Shouldn't you be at the police department today Kudo?" The blonde held a questioning tone as if he only expected to see Kaito in Aphrodite's Love, "I work part-time here as the concierge, secretary, Kaito's caretaker and occasional matchmaker." Shinichi supplied with far more confidence than he intended because taking care of Kaito whilst listening to other people's love woes wasn't exactly good for anyone's sanity.
"I see," Saguru nodded his head as Shinichi halted in front of Kaito's private room, wrenching the door open to reveal one Kuroba Kaito who looked resigned from his fate. "Fill up the papers and we'll get started," The matchmaker literally threw an entire folder as the blonde as he flopped down onto his chair, Shinichi pushing him aside and scooting closer until Kaito sat on his lap while the thief grumbled and pouted like a kid.
Saguru wrote in fancy English script that made Kaito's head hurt, fueling the ex-thief's urge to strangle Saguru even more.
"Let me get this straight," The matchmaker started while batting away Shinichi's face that seemed intent in making Kaito laugh by blowing light breaths of air onto his sensitive neck, "You realized that you love Akako at 2 AM in the morning while you solved a case regarding witch hunt fanatics and now you want to love and protect her for the rest of time?"
"Pretty much, yes." Saguru grimaced at the show of affection in front of him and pointedly glared at the two, "Kudo why don't you sit here on the couch?" The blonde offered gesturing to the four seater couch, "No can do," Was what Shinichi answered as azure eyes twinkled with slight mischief.
"Kaito's couch is rumored to be enchanted so that whoever sits there, let's say two people, will be forever bound to each other and will be forced to love one another," The detective explained and Saguru didn't believe a word he said.
"Actually, it's enchanted to let whoever sits on it succeed in their love life and Shinichi's just finding clever loop holes to use," The further explanation didn't alleviate Saguru's situation as a migraine threatened to terrorize the blonde's head.
"Can we go back to the matchmaking?" His tone was borderline begging as Kaito craned his neck to the side to press a light kiss on the corner of Shinichi's lips.
"Right," Kaito answered with a clear of his throat, detaching himself from the detective and going to fetch an old, tattered notebook. "I have a plan already, it involves Tropical Land and two fast lane tickets." Kaito revealed, fishing out said fast lane tickets and handing them to Saguru. "Take Akako out on a date, she tends to stay in her mansion brewing up spells and potions so a change of scenery would be nice." The ex-thief was adamantly pushing Saguru out of the room as he spoke out nasty tips and advices and before he knew it, Saguru was outside of the room with the door promptly locked and a few minutes later he heard something that suspiciously sounded like a moan and he decided he should leave before he heard more.
☆★☆
Leaving Aphrodite's Love, Saguru stopped by the cross roads just left of the tiny shop and wondered What the hell was he going to do?, he couldn't just walk up to Akako's mansion and go 'Hey, I miraculously have two tickets to Tropical Land, wanna elope together?'.
His mental anguish was timely saved by a text from Kaito, with varying caps lock letters and lots of typos telling Saguru that the thief must have typed with one hand and behind his back, clearly preoccupied by some other activity.
'I just texted Akako and told her that there were sightings of a Phoenix circling above Tropical Land and right now she's probably teleporting herself there so hurry, sweep her off her feet with those two tickets I gave you.'
The British detective didn't know if he should thank the man or worry about the text Kaito sent to Akako, needless to say Saguru ran as fast as he could towards Tropical Land.
He got there after 15 minutes of nonstop running, spotting the familiar black haired female attempting to sneak into the amusement park, "Koizumi!" The blonde called out in his best casual, not breathless voice as he approached the lady.
"Hakuba-kun," Akako greeted with surprise turning to look at the blonde as she quickly hid what looked like a vial into her pocket, "What are you doing here?" The lady asked with a short laugh.
"I won the market lottery yesterday, the prize were two tickets to Tropical Land and no one I knew was available and since it's a waste to just throw away the tickets I came here on my own," Saguru lied as smoothly as he could, fishing out the two tickets from his trench coat's pocket. "If you have nothing to do, maybe you could join me?" His voice faltered towards the end as he became uncertain of his own offer, was it too rash?
"Yes! I don't mind," Akako answered with an eager nod, taking a step closer. "If you'll have me, that is," She bashfully added, clearing her throat as she noticed her own eagerness. "I don't mind," Saguru answered, handing her one of the tickets and off they went.
Entering the amusement park, Saguru took in deep breaths as he looked at a map of the park memorizing it and planning their entire course. First were roller coaster (better do it before afternoon tea, Saguru didn't want to vomit on Akako), next were teacups then bumper cars and after that they'll take a small break at the outdoor cafes then resume going through attractions then parlor games then—
"Hakuba-kun, can we go ride the Ferris wheel?" Akako asked pointing at the circular attraction and Saguru's entire plans crashed and burned but that was okay he could revise it later, "Sure," The blonde led her to the attraction, flashing his fast pass and skipping the line. The carriage was air-conditioned, sealed and silent as Akako looked out the window probably searching for the imaginary Phoenix Kaito told her while Saguru just stared at the lady across him.
Akako was, in the simplest terms perfect, her straight black hair cascaded down her back like a waterfall, her scarlet gaze was fiery yet gentle and almost hypnotic as the redness swirled on and on and Saguru could lose himself just looking at them, her frame wasn't too petite nor was it too muscular just the perfect frame that Saguru could easily wrap his arms around and he longed to do so but love was patient and he'd wait until he was sure that he had a chance.
"Koizumi," The blonde started with a dry mouth, "Where would you like to go after this ride?" He had intended to make small talk but what came out sounded diplomatic and he could hear Kaito screaming in frustration already.
"I have no preference," Akako answered with a shrug, scarlet gaze finding their way towards the blonde and Saguru blushed, the witch seemed to notice the color change of the brit's cheeks as she giggled against a dainty hand.
"I-I see, then maybe we could ride the roller coaster?" The male stumbled with his words, fumbling to gain a semblance of coolness but failed utterly. Akako seemed to not quite like the idea of a roller coaster but nodded her head along and the rest of the ride was spent in silence.
The next stop was the roller coaster, complete with two loops, three drops and many more torturous tracks but better now than later as Saguru chose the middle seat, Akako trailed behind him oddly quiet and one look at her face gave Saguru an idea of what she was thinking of, "Is this your first time riding a roller coaster?" He asked as the cushioned metal bars locked them in place, Akako let out a sharp laugh whilst vehemently denying the question.
The cart started moving, ascending towards their first drop and Saguru was worried that Akako might bend the metal of the safety bars with how tight she was holding it. "Don't worry, I'm here—" The blonde's attempts at being charming were cutoff as the cart swan dived down 5 stories and Saguru found himself screaming just as loud as Akako was and he wasn't sure if it was Akako who was screaming in a high pitched tone or if it was himself.
The entire ride was hellish, Saguru's throat hurt and when it ended the blonde clambered out on shaking legs. "Are you alright?" He had the audacity to ask his partner who looked equally traumatized as him, "Peachy," Akako answered leaning against a lamppost. "Let's take a break before we go to the next attraction?" The blonde stated instead of asking and the two found themselves sitting at an outdoor cafe, in embarrassed silence as both their throats hurt from all the screaming.
"You—" They started at the same time causing the two to fluster and wildly gesture for the other to go first, Saguru went first after 30 seconds of 'No you go first'. "First time riding the roller coaster?" And Akako begrudgingly nodded with a scarlet blush, "Same here," Saguru admitted with a sheepish smile watching as Akako's expression turned into genuine surprise, "I've only ever rode the Ferris wheel in London but other than that I've never ridden anything in an amusement park," He confessed with flushed cheeks, taking a sip of his tea to try and alleviate his embarrassment.
"Likewise," Akako answered, threading her hands together, "I was a rather sheltered child and I wasn't allowed to play outside so amusement parks only existed in my dreams." Saguru frowned at the implications.
"Well, we are at an amusement park right now," He stated nonchalantly before giving his best (admittedly crooked from the earlier ride) smile, "Why don't we try out every ride?"
Akako gave him a reluctantly scared but nonetheless happy beam as she nodded along, "That would be wonderful!" The witch exclaimed, finishing her own tea before standing and beckoning Saguru to follow her to the next ride.
The teacups were far tamer than the roller coaster as Akako spun the cup clockwise, abruptly stopping and spinning it counter-clockwise and it would have made Saguru vomit if he wasn't so busy laughing and spinning with her.
Bumper cars were a little bit more complicated as Saguru counted five times he went in reverse rather than forward, he spent half of the time attempting to control the car while Akako kept getting bumped by other people, resulting in a lot of jolting and almost falling off the car as she didn't wear the seatbelt. When Saguru finally got the controls, he bumped against Akako and let out a bark of laughter as the lady smacked her forehead on the steering wheel. "Wear the belt!" He called out over the obnoxious pop music, pointing at the leather strap that secured his frame. Akako seemed to understand as she fumbled with the belt and ended up tangled and twisted in it resulting in Saguru abandoning his car and taking the steering wheel while Akako scooted aside, shrinking from the sudden closeness of the Brit and the two spent the rest of the ride bumping into one another as another car bumped theirs.
The next attraction was the horror house and well, it wasn't that horrific as Saguru's experienced worse on KID heists and he really didn't want to remember then especially the Hallow's Eve Heist Kaito had 'lovingly' prepared all those years back. The setting was an abandoned town, burnt to the ground and ghosts of lingering people whispered and brushed against the attraction visitors and surprisingly, Saguru discovered that Akako was a very jumpy girl as she had clung onto Saguru's arm halfway through the walk where a ghost had breathed up their necks and brushed past them, Saguru deduced that they were using mechanical fans to pinpoint visitors and deliver cold gushes of air while the feather touches were well, feathers that were programmed to motion sensors and yada yada yada.
He didn't tell any of his deductions to Akako as he frankly liked the contact he received from the lady.
Next up was the merry-go-round where Akako sat in one of the rocking carriages while Saguru took a white horse just for the sake of the pun and didn't regret it as Akako let out a short laugh when she got it.
Last were parlor games where Saguru got banned for hitting all the targets in the game of darts and shooting cans and scoring himself multiple large plushies all which he gave to Akako, the ring toss was slightly more difficult as the Brit had to calculate his strength and throwing motion, it took all of three tries to get the ring around the tiny bottle and the staff looked horrified as Saguru won his fifth large prize of the evening. Akako held all of them, impressively so as she juggled a fluffy lion, a smooth elephant, a striped cat, a golden retriever and a dove with both of her arms and Saguru offered to carry some but the witch spirited them away when they turned a corner and kept only the dove plushie with her.
"I had fun today," Akako said against the plush cloth of the stuff toy, hugging it close and thanking Saguru, "Me too," He agreed with a dorky grin, bidding her goodnight Saguru went back home with a huge ass smile much to Baaya's confusion.
☆★☆
The next morning, Saguru waited by Aphrodite's Love for Kaito as the Brit had arrived before opening time (he was already there by 7:30, the shop doesn't open till 8) and watched as Kaito rounded the corner wearing a necklace of well-hidden hickeys and tooth marks, "Do you ever do other activities other than coitus with your boyfriend or is that your only pastime?" The blonde sniped as Kaito approached the shop rather reluctantly.
"Shut up, my entire body is aching and my head hurts and you aren't helping," Kaito grumbled as he unlocked the entrance to the shop and stomped in,
"I didn't peg you for a bottom," Saguru hummed out as he entered the shop, striding towards the private room to give his report or whatever it was called. "Shinichi just has a kink for handcuffs," Kaito defended, massaging his wrists that were noticeably purple and bruised.
"Did I ask for your bedtime experiences?" Saguru scrunched his nose in disgust at the mental image that was now forever imprinted in his imagination, "Forget about your sex life, I consider yesterday as a success."
Now Kaito was listening attentively as he sat down, chewing on chocolate gum rather obnoxiously as if to on purposefully annoy Saguru, the blonde recounted his experiences from yesterday and Kaito held an expression that was borderline murderous and at the same time relieved.
"So you didn't run off to solve a case or said something insensitive, you just hung out?" Kaito repeated with an incredulous, "Yes? What were you expecting?" Saguru did not like the tone Kaito used, it rubbed off as disbelieving and almost as if Kaito was expecting something else.
"Hakuba, I'll be completely honest with you," Kaito started with an expression that looked like he was remembering something related to fish, "Two of my past detective clients fucked up my plans so much I almost burned my notebook and swan dived off of Beika Tower," There was a slight raise in pitch towards the end, Saguru noted.
"Like seriously, Heiji couldn't even take Kazuha to the right cafe for a date and they ended up in a backstreet mixed martial arts championship and Kazuha's favorite dress got ruined when Heiji smacked her on the face thinking that she was an enemy and don't even get me started on Shinichi," Saguru did not want to hear more because the more Kaito revealed about the other two detectives the more Saguru winced because all were things he'd most likely do and he knew that Kaito was capable of murder.
"Okay so next step, you're going a little bit away from the city this time," Kaito informed shifting ever so slightly, handing Saguru two train tickets to a place the Brit wasn't familiar with but trusted the ex-thief enough to accept. "It's a far-off meadow, Akako, despite her personality, is still a girl and would probably love beautiful sceneries so take her there and probably do a picnic or something. Me and Shinichi might tail you guys but the meadow doesn't really have hiding spots so don't count on it."
"Better be off then," Saguru stood up and moved to the door but stopped to look back, "Don't think I didn't notice that you have a plug up your ass, I'm telling Aoko." Satisfied with the shouts of protest and mixed embarrassment/anger he elicited from the ex-thief, Saguru made his way out, hailing a cab to take him to Ekoda and to Akako's mansion.
He arrived after 30 minutes, knocking on the door and was greeted by a short very Igor-like butler who looked up at him with a very judge mental gaze making Saguru feel self-conscious in his simple white shirt-brown leather jacket-denim jeans ensemble, "Who may you be?" The butler asked in a raspy voice, "Hakuba Saguru, a friend of Koizumi's. Can I talk to her for a second?" The butler contemplated his choices for a moment before letting him in and calling the witch.
"Hakuba-kun?" Akako called out from a top the white marble stairs, wearing a simple maroon dress with a pale pink cardigan. "Hi, are you busy today?" The blonde greeted as nonchalantly as he could because damn, he was going to die from a heart attack at this rate.
"No, why do you ask?" There was a hopeful gleam in Akako's eyes that Saguru thought was just a figment of his own imagination, "There's somewhere I'd like to take you, since you said yesterday that you haven't really seen the world that much."
It took 10 deep breaths for Saguru to build up enough courage to take her hand and tug her out of the door. "My bag!" Akako exclaimed, as Igor-Butler hurriedly followed with a small red clutch bag in hand. "Sorry," Saguru apologized awkwardly as Igor-Butler gave Akako her bag and off they were.
The train they rode was empty and Saguru suspected Kaito for that. It was just Akako and Saguru on the train and silence enveloped them like a thick blanket until the blonde opened the window to let air seep in and watched as the scenery changed from urban buildings to trees, the sea and just simple nature.
Akako sat by his side, marveling at the scenery that Saguru found pale compared to her, "Are those cherry blossoms?" Akako whispered after 15 minutes of silence as they passed by a few trees of the said pink flower, "A farm of it probably," The blonde answered as a few flowers fluttered into the train, scattering over the floor and on their hairs.
Saguru shot out a hand and brushed a few petals from Akako's hair, causing the dark haired beauty to splutter and blush a bright red, "The cherry blossoms are very pretty!" Akako attempted to divert Saguru's attention but nothing could tear the blonde's gaze away from the sight in front of him, it was definitely the type of sight he'd forever keep with him. Akako sat in front of him, flushed cheeks and glinting eyes, a few more stray petals found their way to their window, landing on her hair and clothes and the sunlight cascaded down on her like a gentle halo and overall, she looked like a goddess.
The train came to a sudden halt, inertia kicking in and causing Saguru to lurch forward and onto Akako who stumbled back at the sudden impact. At that moment, Saguru contemplated suicide because Akako was pinned underneath him and very warm and Saguru didn't want to pull back but reality was that Akako was increasingly getting redder by the second and any longer she might explode.
"I'm sorry!" The blonde apologized profusely, standing to his feet and looking everywhere but the lady, "It's quite alright..." Akako answered in a soft voice, shuffling out of the train and Saguru followed in suit.
What they saw after leaving the station was a bright open field, a meadow, filled with arrays of flowers ranging from sunflowers, daisies, daffodils and spider lilies all different colors that contrasted with one another. A small cottage stood at the corner of the meadow, with a sign saying 'Use as you please, for trackers and stop overs' but the condition of the cottage told Saguru that no one's visited this place in a long time and he didn't know how Kaito even managed to find out about it.
Akako had disappeared from his line of vision, leaving behind a track of footsteps as the lady raced to the field, letting out small laughs and amused noises as her hands threaded through the multitude of flowers. Saguru followed behind her, admiring the sight before him before tackling the lady and tumbling down the hill with her, landing on a soft patch of grass with dandelions surrounding them. Saguru let out small sneezes as the pollen of the flowers spread across his face and clothes, Akako let out a small laugh before sneezing herself.
They laid there for minutes, just admiring the blue sky and making shapes out of the clouds that passed by and Saguru was content to share such a precious moment with Akako and didn't mind if an eternity passed as long as she was by his side.
His wishful thinking was cut short when the clouds gradually grew darker until the sky dimmed to an eerie gray before pouring down on them. "Shit!" Saguru cussed in English as he took of his jacket and placed it on top of Akako's head before sprinting towards the cottage with the witch in tow.
The cottage was barren with only an electric heater inside and Saguru could have laughed if he wasn't soaking wet because there was no electricity in the cottage. "It's really raining out there," Akako observed from a cracked window, watching as the rain raged on. "Yeah," Saguru answered against chittering teeth, he was very cold, all he wore was a t-shirt and right now it was soaked to the bone while Akako was rather perfectly dry having used Saguru's jacket as a shield from the rain and he didn't mind, better him than her.
"Hey Akako, do you think you could light is a fire or use your magic?" It was a brilliant idea, Akako had an arsenal of ready to use potions, spells and tricks and surely she could poof up a fireball like it was child's play.
"No," Akako answered in a rather angry tone akin to a child throwing a tantrum as she threw the leather jacket towards him, "I refuse." She reiterated with a cross of her arms as Saguru could only look on at the sudden change of behavior, had he done something wrong?
They waited for the rain to let up before sprinting towards the stations and returning to Ekoda, Akako had given Saguru the cold shoulder throughout the entire trip back and Saguru could only wonder what he had done wrong for they were just laughing together a few hours ago.
☆★☆
When he recounted the events to Kaito the next day, he watched the magician fall into hysteria.
Like, sobbing-while-laughing-like-a-madman type of hysteria and Saguru didn't know if he should get a shield just in case Kaito tried to stab him or comfort the matchmaker.
"Why are detectives so dense?!" The magician cried out in between crazed laughter, falling back against his chair as Shinichi came cruising in with a steaming cup of coffee in hand. "Did you break Kaito?" The detective asked, placing his mug on the coffee table to collect the crazed magician onto his lap.
"He broke himself technically?" Saguru answered as he stared at the laughing magician, "What did you do?" Shinichi spoke in a far saner tone compared to his significant other and Saguru was thankful for that so he retold his experience to the man once again.
"Wow," Shinichi held a mystified expression on his face as his hand that was previously petting Kaito's head stopped as Saguru finished his story, "You are really dense," Saguru gave him a glare.
"Like seriously, maybe even denser than me." Shinichi decided and Kaito chose that specific moment to come back to the land of reason, "No, not even close. You are the epitome of denseness, Shinichi. Hakuba's a baby compared to you,"
Saguru didn't know if it was a compliment or not, he decided to take it as a compliment despite Shinichi's words.
"Akako refused to use her magic for you because she might feel insecure about it!" Kaito hissed out, finally giving Saguru an understandable explanation, or understandable to an extent because he didn't know why the witch would be insecure over something he knew about.
"Go talk to her or something," Kaito suggested with a wince as he saw the look of pure confusion on Saguru's face, "Clear things out and don't fuck up because I know how sucky you detectives are at communicating feelings."
"But Kaito, I was the first one to confess in our relationship!" Shinichi gasped out with mock offense, "You ripped apart the contract! You tried to force yourself on me while you were still dating Ran," Kaito wiggled out of his grasp to fetch himself a cup of hot chocolate and Saguru didn't wait any longer to leave as Shinichi fetched a pair of handcuffs while drawling the next words, "Since when did Mouri-chan become Ran?"
Saguru made a mental note to never visit Aphrodite's Love during Shinichi's shift ever again.
☆★☆
Akako's mansion was eerily quiet, even during the night as Saguru took an entire day to build up the courage to walk up her front porch with a bouquet of asters, jonquils and forget-me-nots (he asked Kaito for advice).
Igor-Butler greeted him with the hottest glare the Brit has ever experienced, begrudgingly letting him in and guiding him to the studies where one Koizumi Akako sat at, reading a book of the History of Witch Hunt and Saguru physically winced at how somber the scene looked.
"Hey," He greeted softly, abandoning his bouquet at the desk before stalking closer to the female who's gaze was pinned at the window. "I'm sorry if I offended you yesterday," The blonde said, stopping just a step away from where Akako sat at. "You shouldn't be the one apologizing," Akako answered after a minute of anguish, "It should be me because I'm stubborn and sentimental."
Saguru didn't realize the soft growl that escaped his lips at Akako's words, "You aren't, I'm sure you've got your reasons and I don't mind because I know they're good reasons and—" He was cut off by a sharp laugh coming from the lady in front of him.
"Don't speak," The lady ordered and Saguru found himself unable to ope his mouth, "You don't mean a word you say, Saguru." Akako had a forlorn end expression as her words were tinged with sadness, "You don't mean anything, what you're feeling is a lie fabricated by a curse of beauty, a curse of love." The blonde wanted to tell her otherwise that he loved her for her childish antics, for her hidden care, for the times she had saved not only him but even Kaito when they got into a tight spot during a heist, for the times she enchanted Kaito's hang glider before heists just so that it wouldn't break so easily, for the times she gifted him a deerstalker for his birthday every year because it was one of the only things that Saguru loved to wear, for the times where she would shyly turn up at Ekoda High where Saguru taught part-time English just because it was where they first met, for for.
"You don't truly love me," Akako whispered out in broken syllables as she bit her lower lip, "You are just forced to love me," And just like that, Saguru blacked out.
He woke up in his room with Baaya telling him that he just magically appeared on his bed without a noise and Saguru couldn't care less because all he could think of a scarlet lady who held her tears back.
☆★☆
Today was the day Kaito would get admitted into the asylum, Saguru nonchalantly mused out as Kaito bashed his head against the concrete wall with enough force to crack it. "Kuroba," Saguru called out to the ex-thief who was currently bashing his brains out, "We won't be able to find a solution if you keep banging your head against the wall,"
Kaito momentarily halted to pour himself a mug of overly sweet hot chocolate, ignoring the cuts that littered his forehead. "Fuck my job, I quit. If I stay any longer Mouri Kogorou will come cruising in asking for my help to fix his divorce and then tell me that he got caught in a scandal with Okino Yoko." Ah, did Saguru just hear the doorbell chime?
Kaito went out of the room to check and after a few minutes Shinichi came careening in with a very amused expression, "Where's Kuroba?" The blonde was almost reluctant to ask as he heard the sound of a pot breaking outside.
"Engaged," Shinichi answered with a tone-deaf hum and as if on cue Saguru heard hysteric laughter coming from outside followed by an inhumane scream and all was quiet. "Did he commit murder?" Saguru asked taking a peek outside to find a passed out Kuroba Kaito with a very terrified Mouri Kogoro who held a newspaper with a blurry body shot of himself and you guessed it, Okino Yoko.
"Well," Saguru started as he closed the door, "Could you help me?" He was pleading, begging at this point as Shinichi casually stirred his coffee.
"One question: do you love her?" Shinichi asked,
"Of course I do! Why would I even consider asking Kuroba for help if I wasn't truly in love?" Saguru bit back with a frown, why was everyone thinking that he didn't love her?
"Great because Akako's got the entire population of men wrapped around her finger in some weird ass curse and only Kaito is unaffected by it, in extension me too." Shinichi explained and Saguru knew most of that, Kaito told them during their 3rd year of high school.
"I know and I love her," Saguru said with finality and Shinichi seemed to have given up as he opened Kaito's sacred notebook and flipped to a random page. "We'll go with this," Shinichi showed him the page and Saguru felt like the other detective was showing him a sacred scripture or something.
"I'll rope in Kaito, for now you get ready." And Saguru was out of the shop, passing by a dead Kuroba Kaito and a suffering Mouri Kogorou.
☆★☆
The night was silent, Saguru wore a trench coat (it was his comfort item okay?) over a simple black tux with a red tie.
The venue was simple, a garden with a simple white marble fountain in the center but something told him that it had Kaito's handiwork all over it, judging from the strategically placed out of season mistletoes to the array of romantic flowers, the prerecorded romantic violin pieces and yeah, the garden was definitely prepared before hand.
Saguru waited by the gazebo, waiting expectantly for a certain lady.
Who did appear, dressed in pants and a simple shirt, having came in a hurry. "Where's the unicorn?!" She exclaimed, halting at the gazebo before finally taking in her surroundings and realizing that she was set up.
"I will murder that detective and curse him to eternal punishment," The lady mumbled more threats under her breath as Saguru cleared his throat gaining the lady's attention.
"Hakuba..." Akako whispered out, taking a step back. "The music's telling us to dance," Saguru informed as the violin piece grew louder and louder as if to tell the two to dance. Which they did, rather awkwardly as Akako wore mismatched a high heel and a shoe and Saguru fumbled with his rhythm because he was in close proximity with his love hello?
"What you said last night was wrong," Saguru spoke up after their second song, pulling Akako closer as the female made moves to pull away, "I do love you—"
"You only love me because I have this stupid curse on me, I could be any girl and you'd still say the same thing," Akako let out what seemed to be a humorless laugh but it came out pained,
"You're wrong," Saguru fought back with a slight frown, "I fell in love with you not for your looks but for you, Akako."
"You're not making any sense," The lady stammered against the blonde's chest.
"Let me elaborate then," Saguru took a deep breath.
"I love the way you give me a side smile whenever you think I'm not looking, I love the way you always buy the same deerstalker because you know it made me happy the first time and you're too stubborn to ask me what I want, I love the way you tuck your hair behind your ear when your flustered, I love the way you stay up whenever KID does a heist just to confirm that I didn't get hurt, I love the way you visit Ekoda High to reminisce about our school days, I love the way you try to hide your English books from me when I know that you're trying to learn better English just because I teach it in school,"
Saguru took a deep breath as he pulled back to map out the amber flames that illuminated Akako's eyes, "I love you for being you, Akako. I love you for your personality and everything that makes you, you and I'll fall in love with you even without that stupid curse. Just you watch."
Without further ado, the blonde pulled Akako into a soft kiss, as the garden lit up with numerous bright lights, tiny fireworks were fired behind them and Saguru didn't notice because he was focused on the woman in front of him.
Only after they pulled back did Saguru notice that Akako was crying, tears of diamond cascading down her rosy cheeks. "Akako, you—" He was hushed by another kiss.
"I'm just a normal girl now," She whispered against Saguru's lips, "Do you still love me?"
Saguru gave her a brilliant smile as he pulled her close, resting his head on top of hers while whispering; "When have I not?"
And the magic faded as the world turned silent but something about kissing Akako, who tasted faintly of cherries and strawberries was purely magical.