Chapter Text
The gentle blowing of the breeze and the slight scent of sakura that accompanied it would indicate, such as any other day, that nothing extraordinary would take place. Sunlight trickled it’s way through the overhead trees, dappling the path with it’s light as Ran chattered on next to him. She asked a question and he answered back noncommittally. Annoyed as she was with the response, she didn’t hit him too hard as they walked down another winding side path back towards the dorms. Shinichi closed his eyes, breathing in lightly through his nose as he simply let himself bathe in the comfortable atmosphere of it all.
It had been over a month since he had last accidentally encountered a body, and at least three months since he had successfully dismantled the Black Organization and helped put away those in the upper echelon.
Since the take down, Haibara had refined her cure for him to return to his life as Kudou Shinichi. Ran and the Detective Boys had been sad to hear that Conan was to go, but he couldn’t get himself to feel the same way. He hadn’t wanted to restart his life under a fake name, and especially not continue it when he had so much to look forward to as a proper adult. Those concerned had all gathered outside of the Mouri Detective Agency to say goodbye to him, and he wasn’t too surprised when his mother had come completely decked out in her disguise for the most dramatic whisking away of a child he had ever witnessed, leaving all those who were present feeling bittersweet about the departure.
In the car ride, he had nearly had to plead with Yukiko to let him go to the Kid heist nearby. His mother had been against him going, saying it was time he moved on since he was going to transition back, but his father had waved away her concerns, insisting that Shinichi needed it for closure. He couldn’t help but roll his eyes at that, but they had made the detour regardless to allow Conan to go.
He had kept up with his usual antics (aiding the police and making Kid work overtime to not get caught) so as not to make him suspicious, knowing just how astute the phantom thief was when deciphering his emotions… apparently he did not do well enough. When he finally intercepted Kid on the roof, his face was already adorned with a frown.
“Meitantei-kun, what’s all this about?”
“I’m not sure what you mean.” Conan had said, fighting the rising anxiety in his chest at those words.
“You left me so many openings tonight that for a while there I thought that you were leading me into some sort of trap, but I know it’s not that or you would’ve already said something snarky and infuriating like you always do.”
Conan wanted to refute that, wanted to banter like normal, but couldn’t: he had already been found out, there was no reason to try to pretend otherwise. Swallowing his complaint and squaring his shoulders as best as he could, he took a tiny step forward, locking eyes with the phantom thief. His expression didn’t change at his attitude shift. Conan breathes. “I’ll be leaving Japan…”
Kid’s face did change at that, his eyes widening slightly and his mouth opening for a split second before he hardened it into a thin line, thoughts clouding his face. Drawing in another breath, he took one more step forward, not backing down from the anxiety he could feel in his chest begging him to not go through with this. “I… I won’t be coming back. This is my last heist.” The phantom thief completely froze at that, not that he already didn’t stand abnormally still, but it was even more evident as the wind that usually whipped around the top of the building fell still as well, Kid’s cape barely rustling in its absence.
“You-”
“I wanted to tell you sooner.” Conan cut him off, his eyes darting to the ground between them. He traced Kid’s shadow with his eyes, fighting to keep calm as he felt tears surge upwards. “But I wanted things to be normal ‘till the end, and I didn’t want you to worry about me, and I didn’t-” he couldn’t finish the last sentence, his throat closing as he felt a tear make its way down his face. After the first, soon followed the others. He closed his eyes briefly, forcing the rest out as his hands clenched into fists. How embarrassing. This had been the very thing he had wanted to avoid. He went to wipe at his cheek angrily, when he felt a gloved hand catch his wrist, another hand swiping at the runaway tears in his stead.
“It’s okay, Meitantei-kun.” He felt Kid’s arms wrap around him, his breath catching at the unexpected closeness. “You don’t have to explain: I forgive you.” He saw as the moon, hanging low in the sky, turned into a blurry circle as the tears he had been trying to hold back all came rushing out. From that point, the rest of the night went by fairly quickly: He didn’t know how long he had cried into Kid’s shoulder or how he had explained away his silence in the car ride following to his parents, though he does recall them exchanging worried glances to each other.
That moment was the one thing that he was able to hold onto once he got back home and took the medicine to revert back; the one thing that grounded him as he went through the excruciating pain of returning to an eighteen year old’s body. It has been a welcome comfort to him, since this final transformation had been the most draining one thus far.
Due to the drawbacks of the drug Haibara had developed, she had given Shinichi about a week of projected recovery time for him to be able to function without assistance in his original body once again, and another two or three weeks for him to get back the muscle mass he had possessed beforehand. While these side effects weren’t present in the other medicines he had been given, it’s because they had been temporary reversions and not permanent ones, or at least that’s what Haibara had insisted on. Either way, he had trouble just sitting up and eating food the first couple days without any help. He didn’t like not being able to do anything by himself, but it gave him a ton of time to catch up on the schoolwork he had missed, which proved to be useful, since as soon as he was back up to Haibara’s health standards, he was sent back to school around the time midterms began. Wonderful.
Since his recovery, he hadn’t had any time to really do more detective work or catch any heists, nearly all his time going back into school and rejoining the soccer team so he could get a scholarship to a nearby university with a good forensics program. He hadn’t had time to explain to Kid that he’d be able to come back as Shinichi rather than Conan, and everything else that had entailed, but he figured that it was best he hadn’t been able to seeing as how busy he had gotten. Now that he had successfully made it to college, and things were starting to settle down a bit, he had finally begun to feel… relaxed? It was the only way he could describe what he was feeling, but it still felt so foreign that it was hard to feel at ease with it. He was learning to accept it little by little, and Ran had definitely helped him get used to returning to normal.
Shinichi looked over at Ran, who still seemed content in continuing to complain about one of her professors and the amount of work she had already been assigned. He nodded in sympathy when she looked over at him for support before resuming. He couldn’t help but smile, because while his romantic feelings had faded, he had a new respect for her as a sister figure, probably from all those months as being Conan.
He shakes his head, refocusing himself on the conversation Ran was having with herself as they finally approached the dorms.
“I’m just saying, if you’re going to give out that much homework you could at least have the decency to grade it.” She ended with a huff, slinging her backpack off her back to retrieve her keys.
Shinichi shrugged, leaning against a nearby wall as he flipped open his phone to see if he had a any new messages. He didn’t. “He probably depended on his TA to do all the grading for him, and since they’re out sick right now, he doesn’t want to do any of the work himself and decided it’d be a completion grade instead.”
“Yeah, but that doesn’t make it right.” Ran said, pointing her keys at him before jamming them into the lock. “I didn’t spend over three hours finishing that packet last night for this to happen.”
“You’re not wrong there, but I’m sure the effort will be appreciated nonetheless.” He said, trying to be reassuring, giving a light pat on her back as she rolled her eyes humorlessly.
“Nothing you say will convince me that this semester isn’t going to be a long one with that professor.” He laughs as he follows her into the dorm room, setting his bag down at the entrance as she plops down onto her bed. She groans and rolls over, throwing an arm dramatically over her eyes. “I don’t want to go to the study session.”
“I thought you were the studious type?” He teased, poking her side. She swatted at his hand as she sat up, poking him back.
“No, you’re the studious type, and I’ve been up since nine A.M.” She yawns, as if to prove her point. “Besides, I’m sure Aoko will understand if I just text her to reschedule.”
“Oh? The girl from Ekoda?” He remembers vaguely from other study sessions he had sat in on, mostly because they looked nearly identical until Ran had cut her hair short. “You’re probably right, she’s plenty smart enough to skip a study session or two, but you?” He watches as his friend’s face contorts into a knowing grimace. “Not so much: that math class is still kicking your butt.” She whines and puts a pillow over her face, muffling her words for a bit until she pops her head up, locking eyes with him.
“I’ll go.”
“Great!”
“But you’re buying me dinner tonight.”
“What? Not great.”
Ran giggled at that, jumping off her bed to pat his head, a bright smile back on her face. “You’ll be fine, you’ve got a ton of money to help me keep my sanity, right?”
“Yeah yeah, whatever, I just hope Nakamori-san doesn’t mind that I’m tagging along.”
“She won’t.” She chirped as she twirled around and headed to her closet, speaking over her shoulder as she walked away from him. “She was gonna drag along Kuroba-kun anyways, so at the very least you won’t be alone.” He found himself nodding at that but then stopped, realization dawning on him at what had just happened. Ran had always intended to go to the study session. Her pouting hadn’t been about going, but rather manipulating him to go on a social outing with her. Shinichi had been played.
He could only shake his head at himself as she came back around the corner in a different outfit and dragged him back towards the entrance, chattering about how she hoped that Shinichi hadn’t been planning on resting or getting a bite to eat yet because they had to get going now to make it in time. He was barely able to grab his own bag before the door closed shut behind him, the key clicking it locked.
“Alright, since you don’t have the same math course to worry about, you can write that essay you’ve been procrastinating on while Aoko and I are studying, or maybe decide to make a friend for once.”
“I have friends.” Shinichi says, feeling a frown forming on his face as he crossed his arms.
Ran smiles at him in a way that shows obvious pity. “The Detective Boys don’t count, no matter how much they’ve come to adore you.” He feels his face heat in indignation as she laughs in the face of his discomfort. “Professor Agasa is a family friend, I’ve been with you since your childhood, and Heiji-kun befriended you, not the other way around. You need more friends your age.”
“You didn’t have to word it like that.” He muttered to himself as he readjusted the bag on his shoulder to a more comfortable position before beginning to follow Ran’s quick steps away from the dorms. “Who did you say Nakamori-san was bringing? Kaiba?”
“Kaito, Kuroba Kaito, and he’s pretty fun to be around, unlike a certain someone.” She side eyes him as he puts a hand to his chest in mock hurt.
“Whoa, did I miss the memo or is it “Drag Shinichi Time” right now?”
She laughs again, shaking her head at him as she leads them towards downtown. “You know I don’t mean it like that. I’m just worried for you is all. You’re a good person, and I want other people to be able to get to know that about you too.”
“Okay, nevermind, go back to being mean, that’s just embarrassing.” The heat spreading across his face let’s him know that the blush has begun to creep down his neck, and he’s not proud of that at all. He ignores the way Ran attempts to stifle her giggles with a punch to his shoulder that’s for sure going to leave a bruise the next day. She goes to apologize after he had winced, but her laughter begins anew upon seeing his face, which gives him little hope that he’d be making a good impression on anyone anytime soon.
After crossing three more streets and walking another half a dozen blocks, she finally stops him at an older looking café tucked behind a much larger, neighboring book store. Ran peered through one of the side windows and waved to a girl inside, who waved enthusiastically back. He squinted a bit and saw it to be Aoko, who nudged the person next to her, who looked up from a laptop to wave to the two of them. Shinichi felt his heart leap into his throat, mind racing at the fact that Kaito Kid was here at this café. Then he stopped his gut reaction, forcing himself to calm down and think rationally. There’s no way he’d just reveal himself so plainly in the middle of the day, there was surely another explanation.
Shinichi locked eyes with the boy, taking in his features as a new person. Lithe, lanky, dark hair and bright eyes, not any more unusual then he was. Everything that he could see pointed to this being a perfectly normal college student such as himself. This was not Kid, this was Aoko’s friend, Kuroba Kaito: not an internationally renown phantom thief. After shaking his head a bit to get rid of wayward thoughts, Shinichi took a steadying deep breath to ease his nerves and forced himself to smile. As he went to wave back, however, he felt something bloom in his chest. Literally. Turning almost violently to the side, he coughed hard, feeling something come up his throat, wanting to come out.
Ran turned to him, unease evident in her voice as she patted his back in an attempt to get him to cough up whatever it was, but he saw a single flower petal fall into his hand and decided to swallow back whatever it was that was stuck in his throat, fist clenching in response. It was painful, but he managed to do so as he straightened himself back up. He waved her off, wiping at his mouth with his other hand. “Haha sorry, accidentally inhaled my own spit, don’t worry about it.”
“The last time you said not to worry, you ended up missing for a week and came back with a broken arm.” Ran said, hands on her hips. Shinichi blinked, and then remembered, that oh, yeah, guess that did happen. He looked over his shoulder, back into the café and saw that Aoko looked a bit concerned, but he didn’t dare look back at her friend, fearing for the same reaction as earlier. His throat itched at the thought.
“You’re right, I’m sorry for that.” He commented distractedly, turning to Ran again. “Would it make you feel better if I went to see Agasa instead of staying for the study session?” Her brow furrows at that, conflict showing itself on her face as she seemed torn on what to do. “I promise I’ll still get you dinner.” He said almost pleadingly, seeing the two in the shop getting up to come and see what was taking so long. “I’ll even get you dessert.” Despite still seeming uneasy, she nodded at that, forcing herself to smile.
“Fine, but you’re coming to the next study session. Don’t think I forgot about that essay of yours.” He managed to laugh at that, but then started coughing again when he saw Aoko’s friend come out the door behind her. He clenched his one fist a bit tighter.
“Is everything okay?” Aoko asked, sounding distressed at seeing him like that.
“Oh, yeah.” He cleared his throat, looking over Ran’s shoulder with an appeasing smile, “I was going to join you guys tonight, but I forgot I had a doctor’s appointment to get to. Pollen’s been really getting to me lately.” Ran huffed next to him, knowing it was a lie, and for some reason, it seems Aoko’s friend, Kaito was it?, also felt the same way about his statement. Aoko seemed to be the only one who believed him though, as he saw her face morph into a happier expression.
“Don’t worry about it, you can join us next time. Hope you feel better.”
“Thank you Nakamori-san, I hope next time I’ll be well enough to join you. I trust you to take care of Ran’s atrocious math grades.” Aoko giggled a bit at that and earned a scowl from Ran, but she didn’t say anything. Shinichi bowed a bit to them as he excused himself, coughing once more when he accidentally looked back up at Kaito. How peculiar, maybe he was allergic to meeting new people, he thought to himself sardonically. He waved goodbye to Ran before quickly making his escape around the corner, where he pulled out his phone and dialed the number from his emergency contacts list.
“Kudou-kun, what is it? You don’t usually call me at this time of day.”
“Sorry Haibara, but I’m coming over to Agasa’s real quick, think you can run a test on me?” he asked, still feeling a bit of a lump in his throat. He moved a hand to his neck, rubbing it in an attempt to soothe whatever it was as he heard her standing from her desk chair (identifiable by the squeak they hadn’t been able to get rid of after it had been broken one too many times).
“Do you think it’s a side effect of the antidote?” She asked, stoic voice as always, but he knew her too well, could tell by the lilt in her voice that she was worried, and that this was her way of showing concern without saying it aloud, and it resonated differently with him then Ran’s worry had. Maybe it’s because Ran still didn’t know of his time as Conan. He sighed at that, hailing for a taxi as he neared the city center.
“Let’s hope not.”
“I should be ready by the time you get here.”
“Thank you.”
“Hmph.” Shinichi’s phone clicked as the call ended, and he could only presume her worry was much more potent then she cared to let on if she didn’t even dane to respond properly, usually too proud and snarky to let him get away with just saying thank you. As he got in the cab and gave the driver the address to Agasa’s place, he let himself sink into the seats, finally unclenching his fist. He looked down at the white petal in his hand, and could only stare on in confusion. What was going on with his body