Chapter Text
Hattori Heiji had always prided himself on being the kind of person who looked out for his friends. And as a good friend, he couldn't help but be suspicious of Kudo Shinichi's boyfriend.
To put a complex matter simply, Hattori Heiji felt that Kuroba Kaito was not to be trusted.
The reasons for this?
One, he was clearly insane. Not, granted, that he was the kind of insane where he murdered random people just because he could (though Heiji had watched him for signs of such inclinations because you never knew around Kudo. The other detective had an unfortunate tendency to attract criminals like there was no tomorrow). No. Kuroba Kaito was the kind of insane that honestly didn't care about what anyone else thought or how the world was supposed to work. He was the kind of insane that believed he could bend the laws of the universe to his own grand design—and did. He played pranks on people in public and called it magic, and people applauded. He filled restaurants with live doves, and no one complained. It was like—mind control or something.
The second reason Heiji felt that Kuroba Kaito couldn't be trusted was that he was obviously a player. He was always handing out compliments and roses, especially to pretty young women. He had even given Kazuha a rose on the very first day they met!
What kind of alpha in the midst of courting just handed flowers out to other omegas like they were nothing? Right in front of the omega he was supposed to be courting too. Wasn't that breaking some kind of rule or something? Doing things like that should by all rights be the fast track to getting dumped! Yet somehow the guy got away with it. It made no sense! Had Kudo been hypnotized or something?
The third reason Heiji felt that Kuroba Kaito couldn't be trusted was that, for all his apparent openness, the guy had the Poker Face of a master gambler. He was simply impossible to read, and that, in Heiji's mind, meant he had something to hide. Clearly, he was up to something. The only question was what that something was.
Besides, the guy was a magician. Magicians were all about lies and deception. They literally made a living out of it. If that didn't say something about a person's character, Heiji didn't know what did.
"That's just stupid," Kazuha had told him quite bluntly when he had accidently let the thought slip. "You just don't like him because he's another alpha."
"What? That's not it at all!" he'd protested.
"Right. Whatever."
Annoyed by the clear disbelief in Kazuha's voice, Heiji had let the subject drop with a huff and decided on the spot that he was going to investigate the matter.
But secretly. Kazuha obviously wouldn't approve, and he didn't want to upset Shinichi unnecessarily either. The other detective really did seem to like this Kuroba after all. No point causing a fuss until Heiji had proof that there was something to fuss about.
Heiji began his investigation with a quick online search. All he learned from that, however, was that Kuroba Kaito was already a wildly popular magician despite his youth and that everyone was saying that he would no doubt soon surpass his father, who, apparently, had been famous worldwide before he'd met his death in an unfortunate stage accident.
After scrolling through pages upon pages of this sort of content, Heiji found himself thinking cynically that the guy got so much praise that it was no wonder he had such an inflated opinion of himself.
Seriously, what did people see in all this ridiculous magic business anyway? It was all fake after all. Just lies wrapped up in glitter. What was fun about that? Heiji just didn't get it, and he was pretty sure he never would.
Frankly, that was another reason he couldn't understand why Shinichi was dating Kuroba. But Heiji could admit that this was an entirely subjective, personal opinion.
Unable to find much of any use online, Heiji decided it was time to head over to Tokyo in person for some firsthand investigation.
He decided to make the trip early on a Friday when he had no classes but Kazuha did.
He decided to begin by trying to learn more about what Kuroba was like in his day to day life. After all, maybe what he'd seen of the magician in Osaka had been a show—the sort you put on when you were meeting new people and wanted to make an impression. So what was the guy like as an ordinary college student?
To find the answer to this question, Heiji decided to infiltrate the Tokyo U campus and begin asking around. Of course, it was a bit of a problem that he had no idea what Kuroba was studying, but the guy was such a showoff that it shouldn't be too hard to find someone who might have heard of him. And from there, finding the guy would only be a matter of time.
Heiji's prediction was spot on, and it didn't take him long at all to find students who knew of the magician. What frustrated Heiji, however, was that none of them had anything really useful to say. They all agreed that the guy was an excellent magician—which really was not news at this point. They also all agreed that he was friendly and enjoyed a good prank. Again, none of this was news to Heiji who had seen more than enough of said magician's pranks already firsthand. Though he noted once again that none of the students he spoke to seemed to mind those pranks—not even the few that had apparently been caught up in some of them. Some people were just weird.
A dozen more conversations later, however, Heiji managed to determine one interesting fact. For all that everyone agreed that Kuroba Kaito was a friendly, good-natured person, they also unanimously agreed that he was not someone you would want to cross. And that, Heiji thought, was telling.
"Hattori-kun?"
Having been lost in his thoughts, Heiji jumped at the sudden sound of someone saying his name right behind him. He whirled around and cursed inwardly at the sight of Mouri Ran. Normally, he had no problems with Ran. She was a good friend like Shinichi was. But she and Kazuha had super long conversations on the phone at least two to three times a week. That meant that she was pretty much guaranteed to let slip to Kazuha that he had been in Tokyo.
"O—oh, uh, hey," he replied, forcing a grin. "Fancy seeing you here."
Ran gave him a rather odd look—probably because she was the student here and he was the person who was supposed to be in another city entirely. If anyone should be surprised to see anyone here, it ought to be Ran being surprised to see him. But Ran being Ran chose not to point this out. Instead, she smiled and asked if he was here for a case and whether Kazuha had come with him.
"Nah, she had classes today," he said. "I thought I'd just swing by and see how you lot have been doing."
Ran accepted the somewhat weak explanation without question. She spent the next few minutes cheerfully telling him about some of the classes she was taking that semester and asking after him and Kazuha. They ended up seated together at a bench with meat buns from a food stand they passed since Heiji had mentioned that he was starving, and Ran had pointed out the new and apparently very popular food stand.
Then, since they were here and his cover was blown anyway, Heiji decided he might as well continue his investigation with an inside source, so to speak.
"So I met Kudo's alpha the other day," he said, trying to sound casual.
Ran blinked then brightened. "Oh, right. Shinichi told me that he and Kaito went to Osaka two weeks ago. Kazuha said you two gave them the grand tour."
"We did," Heiji replied. "Kazuha was kinda disappointed you didn't come with 'em. Ya know you were invited too, right?"
Ran smiled. "I know, and I would have liked to go, but I had a big report to work on. Besides," she added with a teasing look. "Akira was busy too, and I wouldn't have wanted to be either of your third wheel."
Heiji only just barely caught himself before he grimaced. "Another time then. But anyway, I have to say, I was pretty surprised. I had no idea Kudo'd started dating."
Ran laughed at that. "You wouldn't be the first. To be honest, I'm a little surprised myself, but I'm glad. Kaito-kun's been good for him."
"You think so?:" Heiji couldn't keep the dubious note out of his voice, but Ran didn't notice.
"Shinichi's been a lot happier since they got together," Ran explained. "He still works too hard, if you ask me, but Kaito's been great at getting him to relax more and actually take some time off for himself for a change."
"I…guess that's good," the Osakan detective said a bit uncertainly. "I take it you like Kuroba then."
Ran blinked. "Well, yes. But why do you ask?"
"Er, well, I was just sort of curious," he said. "Since it's Kudo and all. It's crazy how many people he meets turn out to be, er, you know… Not that I'm saying there's anything wrong with Kuroba, mind you," he added hastily when he saw Ran beginning to frown.
"Kaito is a good person," she said firmly, giving him an uncomfortably pointed look. "You just have to get to know him. I'm sure you'll like him if you do."
"Right…" Heiji wasn't so sure about that, but he suspected there was no point trying to argue about it. Ran's attitude made it clear that she approved of this Kuroba and his relationship with Shinichi.
Still, Heiji thought cynically, Ran's instincts about people weren't all that sharp. So he wasn't sure how much her approval really weighed in the magician's favor. The guy could still be a closet serial killer or something.
On the other hand, Kudo's instincts about people were sharp. But of course he was at least infatuated if not outright in love, and that could be impairing his judgment.
Heiji paused at that thought to wonder for a moment why he was so sure that there was something wrong with Kuroba. He thought a touch guiltily of Kazuha's accusation that he was just biased because the magician was another alpha. It was common for alphas to butt heads with other alphas. It was instinct. But Heiji didn't think he was reacting just on instinct…was he?
Heiji chewed over this somewhat uncomfortable thought after he'd said farewell to Ran. After all, a good detective didn't judge a person's guilt based on random aspects of a person's biology that they had absolutely no control over.
On the other hand, the things that bothered him about Kuroba were, he was fairly certain, not figments of his imagination or some instinct-driven overreaction to another alpha. No, he decided. He wasn't just being paranoid. He was looking out for Shinichi like a good friend should.
But just in case, he decided that, if he didn't find any solid reasons to be suspicious of Kuroba Kaito during this trip, he would drop the issue until and unless the guy did something to warrant another investigation.