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Walking down the Osaka sidewalk, passing shops as he went with his hands stuffed in his pocket and scarf wrapped around his neck, Kaito was currently inspecting each and every shop that he passed for any signs of a coffee or preferably a chocolate shop that sold some form of hot chocolate, a look of annoyance clear on his face with his eyebrows scrunched together and cheeks slightly puffed. If one would happen to inquire why he wasn’t using his phone GPS for such a task, it was simply because it lay dead in his pocket.
The reason for why it died in the first place though, would remain unsaid, as it was secretly used to hack into the security system of the Osakan Museum currently holding the Angel's Tear, his current heist objective. Kaito was intently studying the current blueprints of the museum while comparing them with the positioning of officers which was conveniently on Nakamori’s desktop. He has long since left a personal bug onto his computer weeks ago, so he could easily access it at any point. Because of his attention being adverted he didn't really pay attention to his phone's warning for a low battery. He only needed 5 more minutes max! From the dimensions given and the room design this would be a fairly easy heist, so that was ample of time to formulate an entrance and exit plan.
Kaitos overconfidence in his remaining battery led to his phone dying just mere seconds after the original system warning. After a brief slew of curses under his breath with some mention of a shitty phone, he quickly decided that there was no use hanging around the library anymore. The free wifi was useful at least while it lasted. Heading out in the cold December air, Kaito began his search for the warm creamy chocolate somewhere in downtown Osaka before heading back to his hotel to charge his phone.
Kicking a stray pebble after checking the third coffee shop with no signs of the beautiful, sweet and creamy beverages, he was beginning to think, 'Did Osaka run out of hot chocolate, or did they have a secret overnight ban on this delicious beverage? The former seemed more realistic, but even so, how could three coffee shops not have hot chocolate? Isn't that like a staple? But by chance it was the latter, then he would definitely steal all of the secret hot chocolate reserves forbidden to the Osakan people, no questions asked.
‘If that was a thing that would probably be the first thing I would not return.’ Giving a small snort to himself at the idea he would glance up and notice a somewhat familiar cowlick.
'What the hell? Why is he here? I thought Shinichi only operated in Beika?' He casually pulled his scarf up on instinct to help hide his face a little more. He did not want to draw unwanted attention to himself now especially, and with Shinichi . . . Phew . . . That's a can of worms he did not want to open.
'At least now this heist will be somewhat of a challenge then. This could be a bit entertaining.' At this thought a KID-like grin would form under the scarves hiding his mouth.
'Well . . . I guess Ran does drag him along to quite a few places. She did do it quite a bit when he was still Conan, but . . .',
Glancing back over to the tuft of hair, Kaito narrowed his eyes slightly. 'Didn't it seem slightly... longer? Also, where is Ran? Wait!' Hopefully he wasn't too obvious that he was trying to get a better look.’
'Wait! Why does Shinichi have a Kendo sword?!"'
Eyes widening and face paling at the image of an angry Shinichi charging after him at a heist swinging one of those wooden sticks at him, Kaito gulped loudly as a bead of sweat formed on his brows 'Those devilish soccer balls are bad enough! I do not want to picture Shinichi doing that, but with a sword.'
Stuffing his hands back in his pocket, he would look back down at the sidewalk and quickened his pace this time until he heard a voice call out. The voice was coming from the other side of the street. Exactly where `Shinichi` was.
"Yo Kudo! What are you doing over here? Where did Ran go?" A series of footsteps could then be heard running up to right behind Kaito.
Freezing in his tracks, a series of emotions would flash through Kaito's mind. Firstly, terror at the thought that his staring has been found out. Secondly, anxiety about why Shinichi was calling himself Shinichi– has Shinichi realized that he was Kaito KID? Third, confusion as to why Shinichi was asking about Ran, if his identity hadn’t been revealed?
Turning around, Kaito would see the figure who he thought was Shinichi run up and stop in front of him. Looking him over once again he could easily tell why he thought he was Shinichi. He is almost identical to him, spare a few traits like the ponytail in the back and the slightly tanner skin. 'No wonder I thought his hair looked longer! Maybe this heist will really be as easy as I originally thought,’ he would think with a relieved sigh.
Suddenly remembering that this person (who now clearly wasn’t Shinichi) was trying to talk to him, Kaito's mind would run to come up with, "Um, sorry I have no idea who you are talking about."
Before realizing exactly what he said, Kaito panicked and thought, 'Oh crap, why did I say that! I clearly look like I could be his twin… well whoever this is also could be, I guess. Why do so many people look like him? Not that I'm completely complaining. It makes it easier to disguise as them if need be.'
"Oh, my bad. I'm sorry I thought you were someone else!" Kaito would give a small snort at this comment as he would think, 'You and me both',
Not noting the snort, Okita would continue, "I was hoping to run into him before the match today. I wanted to ask him something." He would say with a slight blush on his face.
Kaito grinned curiously. "Oh! What is this?"
Blush disappearing, Okita would turn with a slight pout on his face, "I'm not sure it's anyone's business for someone who doesn’t even know the person I was planning on asking."
"Well, I do happen to know a Kudo, but even if it is not the same person, maybe I could help with whatever you were planning on asking." Curiosity took over logic for the moment, and he decided to play along for the moment for a chance at potential blackmail material for Shinichi later.
"Well maybe . . ." Okita would mumble, blush, returning. "I wanted to ask Kudo if I happen to win my match against Heiji if I could ask Ran out. He is always super protective of her, but if I am able to prove to him my determination through my victory then maybe he could give me his blessing!"
'Oh? Is Kudo and Ran not a thing anymore? I always assumed they would be inseparable' Kaito would think as he would nod along in thought towards the situation. "Well assuming that this Shinichi of yours is very close to the Ran you would like to ask out, I could see this being quite respectable of you, but do you know for sure if this Kudo does not have feelings for Ran."
"Yeah, I'm fairly sure. I'm surprised you have not heard. I'm talking about the Shinichi Kudo who has been all over the news lately. Weirdly they have been all over his return to civilization, and just did an article on how he and Ran just broke up."
"Does that not count as an invasion of privacy?" Kaito would question while trying to put on the most innocent face he could manage. 'It's not like I ever abide by that either to get the information I need.' He would chuckle mentally.
"Well it is the media, so maybe. Anyways though! How I got this information does not matter very much!"
"I mean I guess . . . I'm not really sure how else you would do it."
"That's what I was thinking, but I was having some doubts. I'm not sure what I would do if he said no."
"Umm . . . You could still go out with her? Kudo's opinion should not matter much on this?" Kaito would ask as he would try to step away. This blackmail material has maybe gotten too personal for his tastes. Plus he did have more work to do to prepare for his heist.
"True, but I don't want to be on negative terms with Ran's best friend. If she does go out with me I don't want our relationship to negatively impact her friendship." Okita would continue, not really noticing Kaito’s subtle backing away.
"Well I guess there is only one way to really know?" Kaito would take a few more steps backwards.
"Yeah, that's what others have told me too." 'Sigh . . .' "I might just be overcomplicating things, but firstly I have to focus on winning my match! What time is it anyways?" Pulling out his phone to check the time Okita would let out a quick yelp!
"Is it already that time! I'm going to be late for my match!" He jumped from foot to foot anxiously as if running in place. "I guess I'll see you around then! Wish me luck!" He would then trunk to run off, right hand holding the hilt of the sword while waving back with the left.
"Good luck?" Kaito would awkwardly shout back as he turned back around to not walk backwards.
"Phew, that was close . . . I think?" He would mutter under his breath. "What was I doing again?" He would mutter to himself while taking a few more steps as e pulled up his scarf to cover his face once more as the windchill picks up, and begins to walk forward.
"Oh chocolate! Oh right! Damn chocolate-hating Osakans." He would frown under his scarf. 'I wonder what happened to Shinichi and Ran. Well anyways with him confirmed to be here I wonder if he will be visiting the heist tonight. I have so many new tricks I want to try out, but wasting them just on the task force would be a shame.' He would wonder to himself as he absent-mindedly began to walk in a random direction.
Pulling out his phone again to check the time the screen would turn up black. 'Oh yeah dead . . Forgot about that for a moment.' Looking back up and then around he would wonder. 'Where exactly am I?'
It seems that he's walked from the downtown shopping district to a more residential area. Brown brick walls line the edges of the sidewalk closer to the buildings as houses can be seen sprinkled down the street. On the other side the entrance to a park can be seen with some bike stands resting out front. Thinking that the park would maybe have a map in it, he would cross the street and enter inside of it.
Following the walkway into the park where the white birch and occasional pine trees line the edges, he would make his way into the more center area of the park where a small little river ran across. Even from his short distance away he could see some fish swimming in it and turtles resting along its banks. A small little bridge was built over it for a better view, but currently the only view he cared about was what the sign to the right of the bride had to offer. Walking up to it he would take note of the little illustration of this small residential area. park seemed to be located at the upper right, with houses scaling to the upper and middle left of the map. Slightly below the park and a few residential blocks seemed to have a larger building, presumably a school of some sort , and below that seemed to be a subway entrance.
'Bingo! If I can get there then I can get back to my hotel easily enough.' Jotting down the directions mentally, Kaito would start to head in that direction going outside the park first and then walking down along the sidewalk.
'I just need to continue straight down here until a little past the school, which should hopefully not take too long. If I'm lucky then I might have time to grab a bowl of ramen before the heist because somehow I can not find a single cup of hot chocolate in this entire city!'
As he continued down the path, passing the couple of residential blocks Kaito would approach the school which seemed to be quite popular for an off day. Raising an eyebrow at this fact he would look curiously for any sort of information or indication as to why with the answer slapping him plain in the face with the large fabric banners hanging from the top of the school reading:
"20XX Country Kendo Championship"
'Oh! So this is where it was at . . .' He would calmly think at first before an anxious expression breaks across his face, 'Well time for me to go!'
Picking up his pace he would start to walk quickly towards the subway, hopefully just on the other side of the school, but it seems like Lady Luck has decided to forgo him in this moment as a familiar voice called out to him from the side of the school.
"Oh, it's you again!" The rapid approaching of familiar footsteps filled Kaito’s ears as he quickly correlates him getting caught now would lead to disastrous events later that he would very much like to prevent.
That information like his hacking earlier today no one needed to know, so he turned around with his best poker face grin on to respond. "Yeah, I just so happened to be walking around and noticed where I was. Thought I would come and check up on you." He would half-lie while his mind races to try to figure a way out of this situation, so far all answers were turning up negative. He might just have to play by the seat of his pants, but it wasn’t like he had never done that before with it working out.
"Thanks for the support! I have not yet had a chance to talk to him as I have been preoccupied . . . I did tell Heji I wanted to talk with him. He seemed supportive too . . . I think." Okita would sheepishly look in another direction as Kaito would discretely roll his eyes, but not caring enough to risk his identity.
"Well I'm sure you will have your chance soon! I just really wanted to stop by for a little. I have to get back to my . . . grandfather soon."
"Ahh I see. Well thank you very much for stopping by. I'm not sure I ever got your name. Mine is Soshi Okita by the way!" He would say with an oblivious childlike smile.
'How did I ever think this idiot was Shinichi . . . Maybe I'm the idiot' Kaito would chuckle to himself as he cracked a sincere smile. "Name’s Kuroba Kaito, it's nice to off-"
"Hey Okita! I heard you wanted to talk to me. What's up?" A sudden new voice sounds from behind Okita coming from the direction of the school.
At the sound of the voice though Kaito's entire body would flinch, stiffening up as hard as rock itself as all he would mutter was a single "Meep!" As Okita would turn back completely ignorant.
"Kudo! You surprised me!" He would turn to face him as Kaito would use this slight distraction to unstiffen and to s l o w l y turn away to avoid getting noticed.
"Yeah, what's up? From what Heiji said it sounds fairly important." He would say in a matter of fact tone with little to nothing showing as the eyes glanced s l o w l y to the right.
"Umm . . . Yes." He would look nervous for all but a second before shedding any and all of that to replace with pure confidence for the matter at hand. "Ku- no, Shinichi! if I am able to defeat Heiji in today's match and win the Championship I wanted to ask if I could have your blessing to ask Ran out?"
Shinichi wasn’t as focused on the matter at hand than he should be as most of his attention was on the figure trying to stealthily sneak away. "Umm yeah sure. Hey wait, you there, why are you trying to sneak away?"
"Wait really!" Excitement emits naturally off of his voice as the other figure emits a high pitch squeal and stops in place before turning around casually.
"I'm trying not to be roped into another conversation?" Kaito would technically tell the truth with a shrug.
Walking right past Okita without a care and going straight to Kaito, Shinchi would narrow his eyes in slight examination. "Have I seen you before? I feel like I have."
'Poker face!!!' "Nope, I don't think so. Nope, not at all!" Kaito would say, maybe a little too quickly.
"Hmm . . . I'm fairly sure that I have." Shinichi responds as his confused expression morphs into an amused one.
"Do you two know each other?" Okita says fairly much left out.
"NO!"
"Perhaps."
Rubbing his temples Okita would look to Kaito before asking, "I thought you said you did not know a Kudo."
Sticking to his lie as best as possible, "I said I don't! I have no idea what this guy is saying. I'm just as confused as you are!"
"Ahhh yes I see. I supposed I don't know you. Yes. You are right. This was my mistake." Shinichi would look at Kaito once more with an even more smug cat-like grin that in his smile alone Kaito could tell that he knows all as his face turns 2 shades lighter, if that was possible at this moment.
"Ahh I see. . . " Okita would respond much quite and somber than before, confusion clearly still there.
"Anyways Okita you best get back unless you wish to miss your match." Shinichi would slyly comment as Okita would once again panic, giving Kaito a sense of Déjà vu before running off inside leaving just Shinichi and Kaito.
"Well then I best be off as well. Don't think you have gotten out of this so easily, KID." Shinichi would grin once more before turning back to walk inside.
Kaito in the meantime would just be left freaking out behind the remnants of his poker face with only 1 thing on his mind from his day today. 'Oh Shit, there's two of them!'