Mitsuhiko was the first to notice. He usually was, though Ayumi-chan nearly always voiced the observation first. Genta was too busy arguing with Haibara-san over what could be considered a healthy diet and Ran-san was too busy talking to Sonoko-san to notice. But... Conan-kun was acting strange. Even for him.

It was almost like conan-kun felt they were being watched, only he wasn't quite like that if they were, and that had the young freckled detective perplexed. No, his fellow detective was hard to read at the best of times, and Mitsuhiko was not stupid; he knew the other boy was hiding something from them; something big enough that it frightened the usually calm, overly mature boy.

Not even Haibara-san was that closed off from people. Oh sure, Conan-kun played with them, talked, laughed and joked with them, but there was always a sort of ...of distance he kept between them that made Mitsuhiko think they didn't know the true Edogowa Conan. The freckled detective may be wrong, but he just had a feeling that Conan-kun played down his intelligence.

(Which was a scary thought really. He was already well above average as it was. Mitsuhiko dreaded to think how utterly terrifying his friend would seem if the other boy actually used the full extent of his mental abilities.)

Ran-san didn't seem too worried though, and she was usually the best indicator of whether or not there was something wrong or up with Conan-kun. It was strange, seeing how the two interacted, and Mitsuhiko could never figure out if Conan-kun saw Ran-san as his Okaasan or just his Neechan. Especially when the karate champion started mothering the bespectacled boy.

They were all out at a café in Beika, one that Ran-san herself had recommended because of how close it was to the largest bookshop in the area. The Karate champion was treating them to lunch as a reward for getting top marks in their class (Mitsuhiko, Haibara-san and Conan-kun) and for trying their very best (Ayumi-chan and Genta.)

     Genta of course, was being greedy, having already eaten two bowls of eel on rice, and somehow Ayumi-chan and Haibara-san had begun discussing the best way to draw cats as they picked at their sandwiches. (Haibara-san's was better.) Sonoko-san was berating Ran-san for still waiting for 'her husband' who, as far as Mitsuhiko could tell, wasn't even Ran-san's boyfriend.

      (Because clearly, Sonoko-san had never seen Kudo-san and Heiji-niichan together. That had been only the second time Mitsuhiko had met the Heisei Holmes, and it was after the freckled boy had walked in on the two famous detectives holding hands. Before Heiji-niichan kissed Kudo-san on the cheek and bolted from the room.

     Ran-san had been just behind him, but she just cleared her throat and charged after Heiji-niichan with and angry About-To-Claw-You-To-Shreds cat sound that had Kudo-san going very very pale. Ran had returned dragging Heiji-niichan along by his shirt, the words 'sorry' and 'Kazuha' and 'kill you both' uttered as she stalked along, Kudo-san falling in step behind her looking almost scared.)

    "Mou, Sonoko. He's not my husband."

      "That's right Sonoko-neechan. Ran-neechan could do so much better than Shin'ichi-niichan." That tone of voice halted everyone's activities as they full on stared at the speaker. Conan just grinned a saccharine smile, causing everyone except Ran to shudder involuntarily.

     "Wha..?" Sonoko managed to spit out, not quite believing it. The brat was insulting Shin'ichi-kun? Chibi-kun practically worshipped the stupid detective nerd. Why?

     "See?" Conan held 'his' phone up, making sure only Ran and Sonoko could see. After all, it wasn't something the kids (or Haibara) should see...

     Sonoko's eyes widened comically as she digested the content of the text, turning stiffly to stare open mouthed and silent at Ran, who calmly popped a piece of cake in her mouth as if she'd seen it before.

     (She had. In fact, she had been the one to suggest it a while back when Hattori confessed to him. Shin'ichi had panicked at the time, and had told Ran, who had calmed him down and then explained to Hattori why that had spooked her childhood friend so much. It had ended in an agreement that suited them both. Not that Sonoko knew any of this.)

     "B...but.... that... it's... RAN! You could've told me!" Sonoko wailed, stumbling over the first words in a miserable attempt at a coherent sentence.

"Wow Conan. You got Sonoko-neechan to shut up!" Genta's rough voice commented around a mouthful of cake, echoes of similar content coming from both Ayumi-chan and Mitsuhiko. Haibara just glared at him with her special 'give me what I want or suffer horribly' look that had Conan mentally plotting seven different escape routes in case they were needed.

     A loud, frightened yell had Conan jumping up out of his seat, looking more than a little spooked until he spotted the owner of the voice. Six pairs of eyes stared at him as he began to laugh in that unrestrained childish way all children did. He didn't care about being stared at.

     "Damnit Ahoko! Why?" A whiny voice uttered from the table behind them, Sonoko exchanging a look with Ran as they recognised the voice. Ran quirked an eyebrow at Conan as he sat back down, because if she hadn't known Shin'ichi was right there in front of her, she would have sworn blind the voice she'd just heard belonged to him.

     Sonoko was already up and out of her seat, causing both Conan and Ran to sigh. They pitied whoever it was who'd just spoken.

     "Shin'ichi-kun?! What are you...?"

     "I think you have the wrong person miss. That quivering wreck there is Kuroba." Haibara's glare dropped another few degrees from 'chilling' to 'frosty' as the miniature detective got up to see what Sonoko was doing.

     "Kai-nii?" Conan exclaimed, as he spotted the messy haired brunette version of teen-Shin'ichi, who was cowering in the corner of his booth, as far from the plate of fish-shaped cake as possible. Beside him was a rather irritated Hakuba Saguru and opposite was an overly triumphant looking messy clone of Ran.

     Ok. It seemed the messy haired Ran-clone knew Kai-nii was icthyophobic and was using it against him. Conan tapped a silent message against Ran's leg as he 'hid' behind her in an unusual display of shyness, the older girl looking down at him as she got the message.

Kai-nii glanced at his friends and then at Sonoko, before a look of gratefulness crossed his features as Conan darted out from behind Ran, swiped the fish-shaped cake and deposited it in front Genta, where it was safely out of sight. He returned to his spot behind Ran's legs, peering around her to glare suspiciously at the Ran-clone in the way that only a small child could.

"Ran? Does the brat know this guy?" Conan shot Sonoko an acidic glare. He was not a brat. Sonoko took a step back. The boy grinned in a way that'd have Kaitou Kid backing up as Ran turned to drag Sonoko back to their table, explaining as she went that yes, Conan knew Kuroba-san, and yes, she trusted the other teen with her little brother.

"Onee-san, That was mean. Kai-nii doesn't like those bug eyed scaly things. What did Kai-nii do to you?" The young detective scolded, sending Kaito a meaningful look as the Ran-clone scowled.

"Kaito flipped Aoko's skirt." The teen grumbled, stabbing at her cake violently with her fork.

"I'd be worried if he didn't flip your skirt." Hakuba-nii shot back, jabbing an elbow into the magician's ribs as the teen twitched slightly. Conan grinned up at the girl and clapped his hands, a small puff of smoke hiding his trick as Tama-chan appeared in his hands, feathers perfectly preened.

The girl's eyes widened, though whether that was due to surprise or shock was beyond the young detective. "I'm Edogowa Conan. Detective. Nice to meet you." He grinned, as Tama-chan gave a soft coo and flew over to nest in Kaito's hair.

"I'm Nakamori Aoko. Aoko didn't realise the Kid Killer knew magic tricks. How does Edogowa-kun know Kaito?" Kaito paled slightly as a familiar look crossed the small detective's face. Tanti-kun knew something. Or at least thought he did. He turned to Kaito.

"Kai-nii, she knows." The boy stated calmly. Nakamori-san looked startled.

"Hah?!?"

"Very articulate Kuroba. Try again." Saguru commented dryly.

"Kai-nii. She knows. About your night job." Kaito just about bolted out of the cafe. The only thing stopping him was the warm weight of Saguru's hand on his knee, where Aoko couldn't see. (Though with how tall... or rather how short Tantei-kun was, he could probably see just fine.)

Aoko exchanged a knowing look with Saguru, before she pouted and made a strange noise in the back of her throat.

"Aoko's known for a while now." The teen agreed, a sad smile gracing her features. "Aoko's known since Kaito used her as an alibi. How does Edogowa-kun know?" She asked, turning to the boy in question. Tantei-kun shook his head, glancing up at Kaito with wide blue eyes from behind his oversized glasses.

"Not here, Nakamori-oneesan. There's lots of things I know." Tantei-kun looked up at Kaito with sad, puppy eyes. the boy then spoke rapid fire English. "Shin'ichi-niichan's place is safe from bugs. Give me half an hour to ditch the kids and make a call. I'll meet you all there."

The magician nodded in agreement before standing up and leaving to pay for his little group. Conan turned and headed back to his table, a grim expression on his face. This.... what he'd found out in only 48hours.... was big. Maybe even too big for the group he was already planning on forming.

Ran took one one look at Conan's puppy eyes and understood. The boy drummed his fingers against his outer thigh in a familiar pattern, telling Ran all she needed to know. The older girl patted the seat next to her (Sonoko was nowhere in sight, probably in the bathroom) in a silent invitation to sit down beside his big sister.

      Once he had, Ran drummed a deliberate pattern on the table, softly so that it sounded more like she was wondering what was taking Sonoko so long, when in actual fact she was asking in their tap-code if Shin'ichi was ok. The boy tapped a response on her knee.

For now, yes, he was ok. But he had to go home —the manor, not the agency— and... well, she knew the rest, didn't she?

They continued their mostly silent conversation for a few minutes, right up until Sonoko came back from her toilet break. That signalled Conan's departure, and he knew it. The commotion of Sonoko arriving at the table and berating Ran for not telling her about the ' Shin'ichi-kun' look-alike provided the perfect moment for him to slip out of the cafe unnoticed by his schoolmates.

As soon as he was clear of the cafe, Conan pulled out his 'Conan' phone and dialled a number he'd committed to memory. (It just wasn't safe to keep it on either phone. Not after the whole Scarlet Incident.)

"Akai-san?" The boy needed 'Subaru-san' out of the house for a while. He really didn't want Akai-san involved with Kid at this stage of things; Kai-nii may trust him now, but the presence of an FBI agent during one of their more confidential chats, and that could all end. He needed the theif's cooperation for this.

(And maybe it helped that the thief also needed Shin'ichi's assistance too. A sort of mutual partnership for now. Though the not-child hoped they could become friends outside of heists one day. But, those lines of thought were for another day, when he wasn't plotting the downfall of a seemingly international crime syndicate.)

💎⚽️💎⚽️💎⚽️💎⚽️💎

Kaito led the way through Beika-Chou, towards where he knew Tantei-kun lived when he was Normal-Sized. It wasn't exactly far from the detective agency where the not-child lived now, but far enough to confuse Aoko, who'd apparently missed where they were meeting him and assumed Tantei-kun had meant his house, as in the Mouri Residence and not the Kudo Residence.

     When they finally arrived at the front gates to the Kudo mansion (and it was most certainly a mansion. No mere house was that huge.) Aoko rounded on Kaito with a glare, the mop seemingly materialising in her hand as she did. That look was enough to freeze the magician in his tracks.

     "BaKaito! Edogowa-kun lives that way!" She growled, gesturing in the general direction of the Mouri Detective Agency with the head of her mop. Hah? Oh. She probably hadn't heard Tantei-kun when he'd said ' Shin'ichi-niichan's' place.

     Scratch that. The magician thought, as he nimbly dodged a brutal swing of Aoko's mop. She definitely didn't hear me. He didn't correct her as he crouched down to better pick the lock on the mansion's gate, more than prepared to dodge the Mop-Of-Doom should he need to.

     Saguru's eyes went all sharp and calculating as the detective went into his 'case-mode'. The look only lasted for a few seconds, to be replaced by a look Kaito wasn't that familiar with on saguru's face. It was a sort of mixture between extreme horror, relief and a little bit of... was that nervousness?

     Nah. Saguru was never nervous. (Unless he was on an airplane, but everyone had a fear of something. And the blonde did fairly well covering up his fear of flying.)

     "Kaito? Why is Aoko and Hakuba-kun watching you break into a random house?" She asked curiously, though Kaito could hear the warning in her tone. He knew what she was thinking. And no, he really wasn't after any gemstones the Kudo's might have. (Tantei-kin has assured him there were no Big Jewel quality gemstones anywhere in the house, so he wasn't interested.)

     Kaito opened his mouth to reply, but a childish voice beat him to it.

     "Because I used to live here with Shin'ichi-niichan, Nakamori-oneesan. Subaru-san has gone out for a few hours, so we've got lots of time to talk! Come on, let's go. I have Shin'ichi-niichan's key." The not-child stated, sounding very much like his apparent age, and somehow seeming rather creepy for it. Tantei-kun unlocked the front door with little effort, despite being rather too short to reach the keyhole.

     (Unbeknownst to Kaito, the locks on the Kudo manor were anything but standard. They'd been fitted to be both kid proof and Kaitou Kid proof. They were all higher than normal too, to compensate for Shin'ichi's two-year-old Houdini self.

     Kuroba Toichi himself had tested those locks personally, and they were up to the Phantom thief's standards -and wasn't that a surprise? It seemed the Kudo-Kaitou friendly rivalry wasn't just him and Kaito. Of course, Kaitou Kid and child proof did not mean Shin'ichi proof. Not by a long shot. Those specialist locks hadn't prevented toddler-Shin'ichi from escaping.) (The two storey library had.)

     Conan walked into the entryway, swapping his shoes for 'his' pair of red child-sized slippers, handing a pair of adult-sized slippers to each of the three teens behind him with a cheeky smile and a wink to Kaito-niichan.

    The magician frowned slightly behind his poker-face as he recognised the pattern on the young detective's slippers. They looked suspiciously like indoor versions of his demonic outdoor shoes.

    Conan's childish façade vanished the moment he was sure the front door was securely locked. He led the guests to the library, where two settees and a low tea-table had been added to replace Kudo Yuusaku's old desk, which had been moved upstairs to the mystery writer's lair. (And it was a lair). The three teens each took a seat on one of the settees at Conan's insistence.

     Two white doves appeared, seemingly from thin air, causing the boy to roll his eyes. (Conan knew the trick, but didn't comment. There were more pressing matters.) both doves were identical to one another. Or at least, they would be, if one of them hadn't been the one and a half legged Tama-chan. The shrunken detective ignored the bird's in favour of offering his three older guests a drink.

     Once the drinks were made; coffee for Nakamori-oneesan, hot chocolate for Kaito-niichan, tea for Hakuba-nii and a shallow dish of water for the doves (at Tama's request.); Conan made his way to a shelf lined with photo albums, pulling out two of them. He wanted Hakuba-nii to be as informed as Kaito was when it came to his secret; and by the look on the magician's face, he knew that too.

     As far as Conan knew, Nakamori-oneesan was basically Kaito's Ran, And Hakuba-nii Kaito's Hattori. Which meant both could be trusted with his secret, even if the young Heisei-Holmes hadn't actually planned on meeting Nakamori-oneesan for at least another few weeks. He glared at the second shelf of photo albums.

     Each book covered a mere three months of Shin'ichi's life, dating from the day he was born, right up until he was fourteen, when his parents had gone galavanting without him for the first time. Then there were only four more photo Albums. Two covering his 14th to 16th birthday, one covering 'Conan's' first year of existence (In other words, the young detective's 'seventh' year of life.) and one only half full of pictures. Mostly photographs of 'Conan' with his friends. (Yes. That included a group photo of him with the officers of Tokyo's Division one -homicide.)

     The two albums he wanted the three teens to see however.... they were... important. The first was the fifth book of Shin'ichi's childhood pictures. The second... was the book he was currently filling. He scowled at both albums before handing the older one to Kaito, feeling just a little nervous. Some of those photographs.... well, he could see why his mother had squirrelled them far from his reach for so many years.

     (It hadn't been until he'd accused her of knowing the Kuroba's were a family of international thieves that the earlier books 'mysteriously' appeared in the photo album section of the Kudo Library. Considering Shin'ichi knew his parents had been in Hawaii at their holiday home at the time.... it had been mildly creepy.)

     The magician opened the book on the first page, and promptly dropped it in shock as he saw what it showed. He glanced down at the book numbly, then at Conan, then back at the book. Saguru picked up the book in his stead, as his boyfriend was clearly too distracted to focus.

     Two photographs, side by side, both with two pairs of people in it. The first... was of Kaitou Kid and a woman with bandages around her head -was that the phantom lady?- who seemed to be squaring off with a man and woman both dressed head to toe in black, much like the Night Baron from Kudo Yuusaku's well known book series. Below was a caption in very neat, almost printed handwriting. 'Kaitou Kid, Phantom Lady, Night Baron and Night Baroness.' Saguru raised an eyebrow. (He seemed to be doing that a lot recently.)

     The second... well, he could see why Kaito had dropped the album. It was almost exactly the same as the previous photo. Only the two women were each holding a rather small child who were almost, but not quite, identical, save for their costumes. The boy in Phantom Lady's arms was happily cuddled into her, a rose clutched tightly in his tiny left hand, the white cape tucked around him like a blanket. It couldn't be anyone but Kaito. The boy in the night baroness's arms however...

Well, he wondered what it said about whoever was she was. The toddler was obviously struggling to get away from the woman, his arms reaching out to the white-clad boy, tears streaming down his furious little face.

The caption read 'Kaitou Kid, his wife and son, Night Baron, his wife and son.' Why.... why would Edogowa-kun show them these photographs, when they'd clearly been taken long before he'd been born? Saguru took sip of his tea at just the wrong moment.

"We knew each other?" Kaito exclaimed, clearly not quite with it. Saguru felt a chill run up his spine as he witnessed one of the most terrifying child-glares he'd ever witnessed as Edogowa-kun shot Kaito a look, and choked on a mouthful of tea.

"Nakamori-oneesan, Hakuba-nii, what I tell you here... mustn't leave these walls. Do you understand? You too Kaito." The childish act was mostly discarded in favour of his more serious Conan-at-a-heist mode. Not full on Shin'ichi, but not full on Conan either. Nakamori-oneesan looked a little taken aback at the sudden switch in personality.

"They know how to keep secrets Tantei-kun. You're going to tell them aren't you?" Conan gave a brief nod to Kaito. Yes. He was going to tell them, but like Kaito, they wouldn't get the whole truth. He wouldn't lie about this, but he would omit a few tiny key details. (Because Shin'ichi had promised his mother that he wouldn't tell anyone. Even the one person who probably should know.)

     "Hakuba-nii. Do you remember that Kid heist you missed, the one where someone in a helicopter ran rings around Kaitou Kid at a clock tower?" A rather stunned look appeared on Nakamori-oneesan's face.

     "Kaito.... did kaito pull that heist off to... to save that clock tower?" She asked hesitantly, tearing up as the thief nodded, a soft smile on his face.

     "It was never mentioned who the person was, only that they were a consultant for Division one on their way to a hard to reach murder site. Apparently the consultant shot at Kaitou Kid. Though how true that is I don't know." Hakuba-nii confirmed, eyes widening. Kaito-nii went pale.

     "That was you?" He exclaimed. Conan grinned.

     "Yes, Kaito-nii. That was me. I'm a crack-shot and I deliberately didn't aim for you. I just wanted that screen down. Maybe if I'd known it was you, I'd have acted differently." For some reason Kaito spluttered at that.

"But wasn't the clock tower heist three years ago? Aoko thought Conan-kun was seven. Wouldn't that have made you four?" Well, she did have a point, Saguru mused. And what sort of sane adult took a four year old..... oh. Oh. What if... what if Edogowa-kun....

"Edogowa-Kun isn't really seven. Are you?" He had to ask that. And it would make so many strange things about the boy make sense if he was indeed older. Much older, because the young detective had a look in his eye that suggested the boy was far, far older than his physical appearance suggested.

"I'm almost eight, Hakuba-nii" he corrected childishly, then switched over to full Shin'ichi-mode. "Aaaa. You would be correct Hakuba-san." Conan eyed the magician, trying to convey his thoughts silently. Kaito-nii, being the master of body language that he was, got the hint.

"Tantei-kun is actually one month and seventeen days older than me. I don't know how he ended up looking so young though." Kaito added seriously, any traces of his usually obnoxiously cheerful masks gone.

"I was at an amusement park with my friend, who'd just wont the Karate championship. I saw a suspicious pair and followed them....." Conan then explained how he'd been poisoned and passed out, expecting never to wake up, and then on to his improvised new life as Edogowa Conan, right up until his meeting with a witch (Akako, Kaito spat out venomously) and finally learning that he could converse with birds. (Which he had to prove before anyone believed him.)

He conveniently left out his real name and that Hattori, Ran, Agasa Hakase and Akai-san knew his secret. He also omitted Haibara's name, though he did reference a 'terrifying biochemist who used to work for them but now works for me'.

By the time he'd finished, two pairs of indigo-blue eyes and one pair of topaz ones were staring at him incredulously. Aoko wasn't sure if she believed the boy yet, Kaito was reeling from the knowledge that the de-ageing was due to poison and Saguru was just.... horrified.

"Kudo-sempai?!?" Conan's eyes widened behind his oversized glasses as Hakuba-nii finally, finally made the connection. The not-child couldn't help it. He really couldn't.

"Took you long enough." The casual, offhanded comment clearly caught the currently older detective by surprise. "Though saying that, a sixteen year old de-ageing to the size of a six year old is a bit of a stretch of the imagination isn't it? Also, Kaito? Is that seriously what he calls me?"

"Aaaa. If you don't like it, I can tell you his English na....mmphhh!" A hand slapped over the magician's face, cutting off whatever he was going to say.

"We don't say that name, ok Kuroba?" A series of taps in Morse code had the blonde scowling in a way that'd put Haibara's to shame. Conan pretended not to understand the message. It was all he could do really.

"Don't make me use the F-word Kuroba. I'm sure Aoko-chan has a picture of one in her pocket still." The cheeky magician deflated and the nodded meekly, huffing in a childish manner when the blonde removed his hand.

     The Not-child grinned up at his three guests, producing a scrap of paper from thin air with a grace reminiscent of Kaitou Kid himself. All three teens stared at him incredulously, even more so when he produced two more scraps of paper by pulling them out of the first scrap.

"You know magic Kudo-sempai?" Saguru asked, just a little hesitant. Sure, Kaito's pranks had toned down a bit since the magician had started dating him, but still. Two magicians? With Thief and Detective tagged on the end respectively? He didn't think he'd be able to cope. Magicians were too complex a breed to be dealing with more than one.

"Before you ask your next question Kaito, the answer is..." Kudo-sempai began, only to be cut off by Kaito.

"Hawaii. Just like driving a speedboat, piloting a Cessna, flying a helicopter and safely handling and firing most firearms. Ne Tantei-kun? Or is it Meitantei in the presence of those in the know?" The boy smiled weakly as he handed his scraps of paper to the three of them. (Huh. It appeared to be Kudo Shin'ichi's mobile number, along with Edogowa Conan's right after that.)

"actually, it was in France. And You forgot lock-picking, horse riding and bomb disposal, though I learnt those skills in America." The young detective reminded a little too cheerfully, before his tone went dead serious. "Now, about what Hakuba saw..." Saguru noticed Aoko-chan going pale as the not-child explained what he knew, which wasn't much, but enough to frighten Aoko-chan and put a serious frown on his (secret) boyfriend's face.

Once explanations were out of the way, the four began Outlining a few basic plans, though Aoko felt just a little out of her depth rather more nervous that Kaito, Hakuba-kun And Conan-kun.

After all, out of the four of them, she had the least experience in these sorts of things. Or at least it felt that way. Kaito, she knew, was an internationally wanted phantom thief, who'd been doing heists since he was fifteen...

....Conan-kun (Kudo-san, she reminded herself) was a famous high school detective with a reputation that was downright scary (if even a fraction of the rumours were remotely true.) and a solved case list that could fill a novel.....

....and Hakuba-kun was the son of the man they were plotting against; a genius in his own right, good at judo, able to keep up with Kaito! And a strangely creative planner. (Which was weird to know, considering how unimaginative he was at school.)

Which left Aoko, who was only just above average when it came to intelligence, her only real defence being the mop she 'carried' on her at all times. She'd never solved a case, or successfully committed large scale larceny (repeatedly in Kaito's case) or fooled the entirety of the Japanese police force into thinking she was just an unusually bright six year old child. (Though Conan-kun would be turning eight soon apparently. But that was beside the point.)

She didn't think she'd be any help, but Kaito and Hakuba-kun had given her bizarrely synchronised puppy-eyed looks, practically begging her to stay and assist them. So... she knuckled down like the rest of them, more than surprised when, after a mere hour, Conan-kun (Kudo-san, she had to remind herself.) grabbed at his hair in frustration and made a frustrated 'Grah!' Sound.

The not-child got up and left the room, returning moments later with an object that had an oddly similar effect on Kaito as fish did. The 'normal' teen watched with mounting confusion as the young detective began juggling the object with his feet and head.

"Ano...Kudo-sempai? Aren't we supposed... Ack!" Aoko's eyes went wide as she witnessed a physically seven year old boy boot a leather football into the wall beside Hakuba-kun's head, leaving cracked plaster and an obvious indent in the wall.

"Hakuba, don't interrupt Tantei-kun when he's power thinking. Even Mouri-chan is wary of interrupting a thinking Tantei-kun, and she can break reinforced concrete with her fists." Kaito warned seriously, bouncing over to the now-sitting Half-Brit and offering him a hand up.

"Sorry Hakuba. I need time to think through a few things on my own. Possibly talk to Ran-neechan and possibly 'Conan's' best friend." Conan stated, looking apologetically from magician, to detective to cops daughter and back, before continuing. "My friend is to me what Hakuba-nii is to Kaito-nii." The implications of that were lost on Nakamori-chan, but Kaito and Hakuba understood them, and looked just a little concerned until Conan smiled and reassured them.

"Because at least Heiji-niichan treats me like me and not like a child. Probably because he pegged Conan as Shinichi in only two encounters." Saguru frowned but didn't comment. He wasn't all that fond of the hot-headed western detective, but Kaito appeared relieved so that must mean the idiot was trustworthy. Right?

(Kaito was relieved. Tantei-han wasn't stupid by any standard, and the few times he -as kid- had seen the western and eastern detective together, the Osaka had been quite protective of the Chibi. He'd also been respectful, as if the older detective was in the presence of an equal rather than in the presence of the small child Conan appeared to be. He had wondered if the Osaka knew. But he hadn't been sure.)

At least it seemed Tantei-kun had people he could trust completely. Though... ok, so telling Saguru had been the right thing to do; both because detective's who could willingly work with the not-child were few and far between, and because the magician hated keeping secrets from his 'Ru. But why tell Aoko?

...actually, now he thought about it, the answer was obvious. Aoko knew he was Kaitou Kid, and her dad was the man in charge of his precious Kid task force. Now Aoko knew she could turn to both Saguru and Conan-kun for backup should something happen to him or her dad.

Tantei-kun had given Aoko two detective's she could absolutely trust with Kaito's secret, because they already knew it, had known it probably before she had.

Had that been intentional? Or had he done it for Kaito's sake? Because Kaito knew the boy could read him like a book, even through the poker-face, and likely knew how much Kaito disliked keeping secrets from his two closest friends. (Only friends really, barring Tantei-kun. And possibly Keiko, because where there was Aoko, there was usually a Keiko not far behind.)

He must have zoned out for a bit, because by the time he'd come back to reality, he'd already been dragged out of the Kudo manor and onto a train to goodness knows where. Honestly, if it hadn't been Tantei-kun guiding him along, he would have been 110% aware, because Kaito couldn't afford to be lax. It just showed how much he trusted his smallest critic really. Didn't it?