Work Text:
Tropical Land Carousel - Dream And Fairytale Land - 9:15am
It was strange.
He didn’t remember coming to Tropical Land.
He found himself underneath one of the horses of the carousel. However taking a closer look at it he realized it wasn’t a horse, but a bear.
A monochrome-coloured one at that.
It was something he’d never seen on a carousel before. It was usually horses, seahorses or other cutesy animals for kids.
But a bear?
Something was definitely off there.
‘Why would they change the theme of the carousel all of the sudden?’ The thought swirled through his head.
”Are ya gonna keep laying there or are ya gonna get up?” A voice spoke up, making him turn his head to face the baseball-capped detective; Heiji Hattori.
”Hattori?” He said, frowning to himself. His blue eyes travelled over the park from his position on the floor of the carousel. “Is this really Tropical Land?”
Heiji nodded his head, but he seemed doubtful. “It looks like it, but there’s a lot of things that are different.” He gestured to horses. “The bears around the park seem to be a common occurrence and it’s weird. I don’t get it.”
The Heisei Holmes hummed to himself as he lifted himself off of the carousel floor and to his feet. They may as well examine the area and see what was so different about the theme park.
He couldn’t shake this bad feeling in his gut though.
The same feeling he always got before a murder was about to happen.
Shinichi shrugged off these thoughts as he and Heiji headed out of the carousel and made it just past the entrance gate of the ride when something caught his eye. He turned his head, tapping his fellow detective on the shoulder; who turned to face him, confused.
They were both faced with the sight of a short, curly-haired boy with his face planted against the pavement. There was blood pooling around his head.
The two were instantly at his side to check his pulse and for any other injuries, but they didn’t expect the boy’s head to pop up with a shaky grin on his face and shout out, “It’s a lie!”
The two were taken aback by the sudden movement. Usually if someone was knocked unconscious they would be like that for some time. So, he either was pretending or was already unconscious for a while.
Heiji scoffed and looked ready to manhandle the kid, but Shinichi held his hand up as if to signal him not to.
Kudou turned back to the boy, frowning at him. “You do realize how dangerous it is to lie about these types of things, right?” The boy only frowned. Shinichi let out a sigh, grabbing him by the arm and slowly lifting him up. “Let’s get you cleaned up, so that wound doesn’t get infected.”
”It’ll …. h…heal on its …. own…” the boy stuttered, wincing at his own voice. Shinichi narrowed his eyes at the boy.
“It’s still a good idea to get your injuries treated….” Shinichi gestured to the boy for him to give him a name.
“K….Kokichi Ouma…”
”Shinichi Kudou,” the detective responded. “It may heal, but you may also have a concussion. It’s best if you sit down and we look over you. We’re not doctors, but we’ve been around enough injuries to know what to do.”
”So a … d…detective then…”
Shinichi gave no response and with the help of Heiji they got Kokichi over to the carousel waiting bench just outside of the entrance gate. As Shinichi was setting Kokichi down, Heiji went to go get some water, cloth and bandages to help clean Kokichi’s injury up.
The shorter of the two stayed silent as the detective looked his injury over. “It looks as though you just hit your head, but getting up might make you dizzy. It’d be best if you stayed put for a while.”
The boy turned his head away; a scowl on his face, his stutter starting to go away. “W…Why are you … helping me?”
This seemed to catch Shinichi off-guard for a split-second before a sympathetic smile appeared on his face. “I don’t know what made you think that you aren’t required help when you clearly needed it…” Shinichi turned his head away from the other teenager. “…but it’s not a good idea to shut people out.”
Kokichi’s gaze went over to the other and frowned, scanning the other teen with a keen eye even if he felt a little hazy at the moment.
The words he spoke felt true.
First that Kuroba guy and now this Kudou guy.
Why were these people so nice to him?
They didn’t know him at all.
They didn’t know what he could do.
Kokichi scoffed, making sure to keep up his sense of bravado. “You keep … talking down to me l…like that and I’ll … send my subordinates after you.” Kokichi narrowed his eyes at the detective. “A…All 10,000 of them.”
Shinichi let out a snort along with a laugh causing Kokichi to clench his teeth in irritation. “Uh huh…” The detective turned around to face the leader; a smug smile on his face. “…A clumsy kid like you.”
”I’m seventeen….” Kokichi growled out. “…and the leader of a super-secret evil organization.”
”Well, you just don’t give off the impression of a leader of an organization is all,” Shinichi said, trying to hold in his laughter as the leader seethed.
“Evil organization!”
The detective snorted once more. “Evil, right…”
Shinichi couldn’t help, but think this kid was playing pretend.
It reminded Shinichi of the Detective Boys.
The way they would play pretend as detectives, but because of his luck they’d eventually come across a murder.
There was a silence drifting between the two as Shinichi eyed the carousel; a frown marring his features. Kokichi followed his gaze and a frown settled on his own face as well.
”So, Monokuma is behind this….” He muttered to himself.
”What?” The detective turned to the leader.
”Nothing…”
Kudou kept his gaze on Ouma before turning his head away once more. The wait for Hattori to come back was excruciating.
’What is taking him so long…?’ Shinichi thought to him, scowling.
A white bird suddenly landed beside Kokichi and Shinichi blinked, regarding the dove with careful eyes. He put a hand out towards the bird. “Is this one of…”
The dove tried to nip the detective and he pulled away almost instantly. ‘Okay. Note to self; do not try to pat KID’s doves.’
It was mostly that Kokichi had met KID’s civilian form and had gifted the bird to him as a ways to cheer the boy up.
So, Kokichi probably didn’t know the guy who gave him the dove was a renowned jewel thief.
The dove was probably trying to keep it a secret from the boy.
‘KID trained them well.’
”Yea, a magician with the same name as a classmate of mine let me borrow Wingspan,” Kokichi said; a smile appearing on his face.
”What was his name?” Shinichi asked, curiosity getting the better of him.
Kokichi tilted his head. “Why should I tell you?” A smug smile crossed the boy’s face. “Unless I was right and he was a criminal. But that’s you’re job to figure out, detective.”
Shinichi let out a sigh.
He was right.
It was his job and there would be no challenge in figuring out KID’s identity if it was just given to him like that.
“Dumb question, but I am right in assuming you’re a detective, right?” Kokichi spoke up causing said detective to turn to him.
Shinichi lifted a brow at him. “Yea…”
”If you had no clue who the culprit or victim was … how would you identify them?” Kokichi asked; narrowed gaze on Shinichi.
He was testing him.
He wanted to see if this detective was just as good or better than Shuichi.
Kudou blinked before a smile spread across his face.
A confident smile.
One he’s never seen on Shuichi before.
This guy was obviously very confident in his abilities as a detective.
”Well, there’s three ways for that to happen.” Kokichi stared at the detective; wanting to see if he got it right. “One: the body was never found and goes on as a missing person. Two: You create an unsolvable murder. Or three: The culprit and victim swapped giving the illusion that the victim was the culprit when it was actually the other way around.”
Kokichi blinked, staring at the detective with wide eyes. “How…?”
”I try to look at cases from every perspective…” He rubbed behind his head, looking slightly sheepish. “…I’m also a huge mystery geek, so you could say I got it from reading too much of Conan Doyle’s novels as a kid.”
“I keep telling ya, Kudou, that Ellery Queen is the better mystery series,” A voice spoke up breaking the two from their earlier conversation.
Hattori was back and with what he had left to get.
”And I keep telling you that’s not true,” Shinichi said, annoyed. “Sherlock Holmes is!”
The two almost instantly got into argument about which mystery series was better.
Sherlock Holmes or Ellery Queen.
Kokichi let out a sigh, ‘Great. I’m with two mystery nerds instead of one now…’
“Hey…” Kokichi spoke up, breaking the two up and causing the two to look at him. ‘What? Did they forget I was here? Tch … detectives…’
”Oh, right!” Heiji exclaimed, handing the bandages over to Shinichi as he gave Kokichi a bottle of water.
The boy looked at it in confusion.
“Ya probably thirsty and with an injured head it’ll help ease the pain. Just don’t drink too quickly.”
Kokichi nodded his head, but not too much as to not bother his injury or cause himself to get a headache. He opened the bottle and drank the water inside, slowly. From the corner of his eye he watched as Shinichi poured water from another bottle onto some paper towels and slowly, gently dabbed at his forehead to clean the blood up.
Kokichi winced at the sharp pain that went through his skull. The detective noticed and stopped whenever he needed a breather from the pain. After the detective handed the half-empty bottle of water back to Hattori and grabbed the bandages; he lifted Kokichi’s fringe up and wrapped it around his head.
Once Shinichi had finished up with that he finally gave Kokichi a look. “Okay, we’ve helped you … now how did you get that injury?”
”I tripped and fell!” Kokichi exclaimed, grinning. “It’s like you deduced! I’m a klutz!”
“I don’t think so.” Kokichi pursed his lips together. “There’s nothing around to really trip over.”
“Why can’t you just believe what I’m saying! It’s the truth!”
Shinichi closed his eyes. “When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.” He opened his eyes and kept them trained on Kokichi.
“Wha…?”
”I know you’re lying. I won’t ask why you do it, but…” He breathed in through his nose, shaking his head. “…never-mind.”
Kokichi’s eyes widened at hearing this.
“Umm…” Kokichi swallowed, wanting to change the topic. “…what you said earlier.”
”That was a quote from Sherlock Holmes!” Shinichi grinned as if he was proud of quoting his hero.
Kokichi stared at the detective before him.
He didn’t know what to think of him.
He didn’t really have an opinion on Hattori yet.
But Kudou … he was impressed by him.
“How about we move somewhere else and…” Shinichi was cut off when someone came running over.
”Kokichi, are you okay!” A feminine voice spoke up.
He looked up and saw that it was Kaede of all people asking. He let a smile break across his face. “I’m fine, Kaede.”
”But…” She turned her attention to the two taller boys, bowing at them. “Thank you for treating him! He’s a bit of a troublemaker! I’m sorry if he caused you any trouble!”
”I’m not a troublemaker…” He whined, causing Kaede to giggle.
Hattori and Kudou shook their heads at her. “He was no problem at all. Nothing we couldn’t handle, especially me.”
Heiji gave Shinichi a small glare, but stopped when Kaede let out a laugh. “Thanks again.”
Shinichi waved his hands at her. “Really. It was nothing.” He turned back to Kokichi and gave him a smile. “We’ll be off now. Try not to ‘trip’ from now on, okay?”
The leader puffed up his cheeks in annoyance at being talked down to like a child. This caused the detective to laugh and pat the other teen on the head, lightly, making sure to watch his injury.
Kokichi froze at the physical contact, but when it was gone he looked up to see Shinichi and Hattori walking away, waving.
He was already missing it.
Why?
He’s never felt like this around anyone.
Did he … actually want to have friends?
Was his mask finally coming off?
”Kokichi?” His eyes looked up to the pianist; who was looking at him in curiosity.
“It’s nothing…”
Shinichi and Hattori were already a ways away when the Osakan turned to his fellow detective. “Hey Kudou, are ya sure that kid is okay?”
”What do you mean, Hattori?”
”I mean with his lying shtick.”
A thoughtful look crossed Shinichi’s face before a smile replaced it soon after. “Yea. He may lie, but I think he’s just got a lot on his plate.”
The detective turned his head back to look at the two Ultimates behind them as Kaede seemed to be checking Kokichi’s bandages while the leader tried to wave her off.
Shinichi smiled at seeing this.
”He’s got a lot of growing to do like I still do…”