Chapter Text
The lunchroom at Teitan High was buzzing with its usual energy, but at the corner table where the trio usually sat, the atmosphere was unusually focused.
Suzuki Sonoko was currently hunched over her phone, her thumbs moving with the precision of a surgeon. Beside her, Mori Ran was leaning in so close their temples were touching, her eyes wide with anticipation.
"Almost... almost..." Sonoko hissed, her voice trembling. "If I can just trigger the dialogue flag at the Beika Museum level—Yes! There he is!"
Kudo Shinichi, sitting across from them, didn't bother looking up from his bowl of ramen, he didn't have to. For the past three weeks, he had been subjected to a non-stop, play-by-play analysis of the latest mobile gaming sensation: "Moonlight & Magnolias: The Heart’s Heist."
"Let me guess," Shinichi said, his voice flat. "The Silver Magician just pulled another disappearing act, and now you’re both going to spend the next twenty minutes debating if his cape is made of silk or moonlight."
"It’s satin, Shinichi, get it right!" Sonoko snapped without looking up. Then, her expression softened into a dreamy daze. "But he’s not just any character. He’s the hidden route. The legend. The one who makes the main five look like cardboard cutouts."
Shinichi sighed, leaning back. "You mean the five boring clichés? Let's see if I’ve got the detective work right on this one. You’ve got Hayato, the childhood friend who probably brings the player bread every morning. Renjiro, the student president who definitely needs a hug and a personality transplant. Julian, the princely exchange student whose only trait is being rich. Haru, the soft junior who grows flowers but has a hidden side. And Inspector Sato, the mentor who’s probably ten years too old for the protagonist."
Ran blinked, impressed despite herself. "Shinichi, you haven't even downloaded the game. How do you know all their names?"
"I'm a detective, Ran. I can’t help but memorize data, even when that data is useless dating sim trivia that my friends couldn't shut up about," Shinichi grumbled. He pointed a chopstick at Sonoko’s screen. "But the one you’re obsessed with is the real problem. The Phantom Thief."
"He’s the reason the game went viral!" Sonoko defended, finally putting her phone down to gesture wildly. "He’s a ghost in the machine. He doesn't have 'dates.' You just... chase him. It’s a game of wits! And the endings are everything."
Shinichi rolled his eyes, reciting the facts he’d overheard like a police report. "Right. The bad ending, where you’re a good detective, catch him early, and he rots in a cell, never smiling again. The open ending, where he finds that Pandora gem something and vanishes into thin air because you weren't interesting enough to stay for. And the happy ending—which, frankly, sounds like a felony—where you both flee the country to some Promised Wonderland abroad."
"It’s romantic!" Sonoko insisted. "It’s a match of equals!"
"It’s a giant, walking red flag in a top hat," Shinichi countered. "Think about it. He’s arrogant, he’s a narcissist, he manipulates your emotions to get away with theft, and he dresses like a magician from the 19th century. In the real world, that guy wouldn't be a good boyfriend, he’d be a high-priority arrest warrant."
Sonoko smirked then, a mischievous glint in her eyes. She leaned over the table, propping her chin on her hand. "Oh, please, Shinichi. You’re one to talk about red flags and obsessions. How is our love for Kaito KID any different from your weird, borderline-creepy obsession with Sherlock Holmes?"
Shinichi bristled. "That is entirely different! Holmes is a pioneer of forensic science—"
"You literally have half a library dedicated to a man who didn't exist," Sonoko interrupted, grinning. "You memorize his cases by heart and even copy his violin habits. You've probably got his 'route' memorized better than we have the Thief's. If Holmes walked through that door right now, you’d be the first one in line to run away to a promised wonderland—which in your case, is just a dusty apartment in London with no central heating."
Ran giggled as Shinichi’s face turned a light shade of pink.
"I do not want to run away with Sherlock Holmes," Shinichi muttered, though he looked uncharacteristically flustered. "I just appreciate the logic. This Thief character? There’s no logic. Just theatrics. Trust me, if a guy like that ever showed up in reality, he’d be nothing but trouble. A glitch in reality itself."
He didn't notice the slight flicker on Sonoko’s phone screen—a small, silver loading bar that hadn't been there a second ago.
The girls kept teasing him, while Shinichi just grunted, turning back to his ramen. Little did he know, his logic was about to be the only thing keeping him tethered to a reality that was rapidly becoming a script.