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Despite the calming cafe music playing in the background, Kaito found his eye twitching the longer he stared at the problem set on his tablet. It wasn't like the questions were hard per se... no, the issue was that he couldn't muster enough sheer strength of will to sit down and focus on them for the necessary amount of hours (4, he guessed, just based on the number of them and the fact that they were for Heat Transfer of all things).
He twirled the mechanical pencil in his hand a few more times before he decided to release a huge sigh and throw in the metaphorical towel. At least the assignment wasn't due for another few days. Worst case scenario, he was sure that he could get it done last minute.
With a minimal poof of smoke, the pencil in his hand was replaced with a deck of cards that he began to shuffle almost absent-mindedly. The pad of engineering graph paper that had been resting in front of him had similarly vanished, along with the tablet.
Across the table, Shinichi merely glanced up and released a long-suffering sigh of his own before his eyes dropped back down to the case file he had been looking through. Despite his behavior, Shinichi's lips twitched, like he was forcing himself to keep frowning.
"So..." Kaito trailed off, smirking like a cat that had gotten the canary.
"So." Shinichi replied with minimal intonation, like he responded merely on autopilot. Knowing his mannerisms, he probably did.
Continuing to shuffle his cards all the while, Kaito leaned forward in his chair to peer over the edge of the file. He couldn't make out much, but from what he could see, the case was a doozy. It involved a series of murders from a few years ago, and if he thought back, he could even recall some details from when they had been on the news--the victims were all young couples, newlyweds, and there were about 8 of them killed over the span of 18 months before the murders suddenly stopped.
Kaito found himself frowning at the recollection.
There were theories on why the murders stopped, but he hadn't paid any attention to them. At the time, he was far more focused on finishing up high school and completing his entrance exams while balancing his... nightly past times. If Shinichi was taking a gander at the case, though, it was probably safe to assume that it would be closed soon.
Kaito leaned back in his chair, making sure he was in a far more comfortable position before momentarily pausing his shuffling to take a sip from the mug of hot chocolate resting next to him.
When Shinichi honed in on a cold case, he usually didn't move until he had it solved... it was a habit that tended to irritate pretty much everyone the detective knew.
...Or at least everyone except for Kaito. For someone who often struggled to keep still, there was something the amateur magician found mesmerizing about observing Shinichi when he focused on solving his cold cases.
Was it the way the detective's eyes narrowed when he found something odd? The way his eyes marginally widened when something clicked? Or was it the predatory smirk that always appeared when everything fell into place and finally made sense?
Kaito didn't know, but he didn't particularly care to figure it out either. He just appreciated having a front row seat as a mere spectator.
Shinichi, oblivious to Kaito's musings, suddenly froze, eyes narrowing, then widening, before that smirk finally appeared.
He looked up from the case file, folding it closed and setting it down on the table with one hand while his other fished around in a pocket for his cell phone.
He spoke, somewhat hurried and mind still focused on the case, as he carefully got up from his chair to step out.
"I'll be back in a bit, I just need to make a quick call to Megure-kebu."
Kaito nodded with a smile, "Alright, I'll be here.”
The magician found his eyes following Shinichi as he made his way to a quiet area of the cafe to make his call.
Definitely a far more enjoyable way to spend his time than working on a problem set.