setsunameioh

[setsunameioh]

static

canon: happiness charge precure characters: seiji sagara, megumi aino, red summary: His thoughts were like static in his head. (AO3 link)

His thoughts were like static in his head. Just when he thought he'd be able to grasp one, it fizzled out, crackling like it had never been there.

All that was left was the overwhelming surge of anger and hatred, which he knew had already swallowed him whole. The need to reach out, to destroy- to eliminate anyone that stood in his path, that got in his way.

There were four girls before him. They were saying something to him- the one with pink hair kept calling out, over and over. What was she saying? He couldn't grasp it. He thought it felt a bit familiar, but in what way, he couldn't place.

He couldn't think.

All he wanted to do was fight, to lash out. As if this would somehow drive out all of this anger and hate from within him, leaving him free of it.

It would not, some part of him knew. Even if he managed, what would that leave him as? Did he even have anything beyond this? Wouldn't he just become an empty shell?

The crystal. They were saying something about destroying the crystal. His crystal. He couldn't let them do that. He didn't know why, but he couldn't let them do that. Whoever these girls were, he wouldn't let them have it.

They sure talked a lot, though. Every so often, the static in his head would clear long enough for him to vaguely understand what they were saying- not that it made any sense. It almost sounded like they were claiming that they knew him, but that was impossible. There was nothing before this, and there would be nothing after this.

All would fall into despair. All would be eliminated from this world, taking their cursed love with them.

Then what of him? It didn't matter, there was no purpose for him other than this. He was here to fulfill the orders of his god- only that, and nothing more.

He would crush those four, and then the world.

They struck against his crystal, the one with pink hair trying to force her way past the barrier with all her might. It didn't matter in the end- she was forced back, forced back the new wave of hatred that gripped him, by the loud burst of static in his head.

They were in despair. No, not quite there yet. Just a little more. Just another push.

When they lay on the ground, broken and defeated, for some reason, he felt as if something in him should stir. Nothing did.

The one with pink hair kept calling out over and over again, what he now understood was some sort of name. Seiji, she cried, over and over again, until he was sick of hearing it. Whose name was that? Why wouldn't she stop saying already? Just shut up already!

It didn't matter. Where they were going, those four didn't have the power left to follow. Even if they did, he would fight them again, and the results would only be the same. The power that his god had given him couldn't be defeated by anyone, he wouldn't let it.

His god's planet was cold, empty. Quiet, unlike his head.

Past the static in his head, he realized that there had been something here once, but no longer. Probably not for a long, long time.

Something other than anger and hatred stirred.

He didn't know what it was.

Even if he wanted to think about it, he couldn't. There was too much noise.

Those four were back. He'd stop them before they arrived here. Something about them had changed, but he paid it no mind. It wouldn't change anything.

First it was four, then it was three. Blue, yellow, purple. They called out, just like the pink one had.

The static got louder.

The blue one couldn't aim. No, she wasn't trying to aim. A smokescreen.

The yellow one was trying to go for his crystal. He wouldn't let her. But she was clever, she tried to trap him. He wouldn't let her do that either.

The purple one faced him head on. Not with magic, but with her fists. He responded. When she had knocked him away, he thought that something deep inside of him sparked, past the static. Not thoughts, but motion.

Motion. He knew this motion. It was deeply rooted inside of him.

They'd all trapped him, now. It was fruitless. Their magic buckled underneath the crystal's power, shattering into pieces.

Then it too, shattered into pieces, struck head on by a powerful, unyielding magic. What was the pink one fighting so hard for, some dim part of him wondered. She'd even shattered apart her own power with the force of the blow, using up every ounce of the white form's strength.

She was back as she was now, the first time he'd seen her. She was still talking- but her mood had changed. She was still calling out that name, but her tone had changed.

Confusing. The pink one was too confusing. She just made the static louder.

He just wanted her to shut up, to stop talking already. The static crackled in his head, overpowering everything else, rendering him unable to think. Maybe if he wiped her away, the static would disappear.

The power that surged through him, the hatred that surged through him- that was not his own, some part of him dimly realized. It was the god's- his god. His body was a vessel for it, a way to channel it all.

That's all. That's all, and yet...

Seiji.

Just for a moment, as the pink one absorbed that massive fireball of hatred, the static in his head cleared.

That was his name.

Then the static was back, and his body braced itself to counterattack. The pink one was coming, and he had to be ready to fight off whatever she had planned.

It wasn't an attack.

It was... what was this. He couldn't remember.

Warm hands wrapped around his body, drawing him close. The static crackled, clearing for a moment, spitting out a single word- embrace.

And then another- Megumi.

Megumi. So this girl was Megumi.

She wasn't alone. Hime. Omori. Hikawa.

Something within him gave way, though he didn't know what. The static crackled, making one last attempt to consume his thoughts- before it sputtered out, leaving his head clear, free to think.

Sagara Seiji. He was Sagara Seiji. He wasn't some vessel of hatred and anger- though he had allowed himself to be turned into that, had shown a moment's weakness, that had then been exploited, turned against him.

Turned against those he loved dear.

He'd hurt them.

It was almost enough for him to want to retreat back into the sanctuary of the static again, so he wouldn't have to think about the pain he'd caused the four of them- his dearest friends. But no, he wouldn't run away from these feelings like that, not when they had been fighting so hard to bring him out of them.

Not when not excepting his own feelings were what got him into this in the first place.

Not when they were all waiting for him.

"Welcome back, Seiji."

"I'm home, Megumi."

[setsunameioh]

So I was reading this new fanfiction called “cosmic dust” by discordiansamba and it felt like a cherub pierced my hearth. I think it’s a original and funny and the way se describes garla!Keith is so innovative that I fell in love. It only has 3 chapters so far but it looks so promising!

Anyway, she mentioned “space pirates” and I immediately came up with this. Discordiansamba probably has a clearer interpretation of what Keith and Pidge should look like, but this is what I imagined. ^^;

Pidge has armor all over because Keith worries about his puny human, and Keith wear basically a leotard with some protection here and there because we all know he’d rather look cool than protected. :P

[setsunameioh]

there is not nearly enough kanyui content out there, so here I am, set to fix that, one fic at a time, if I must. this takes someplace in the future, though I’m not precisely quite sure when!

canon: detective conan characters: yamato kansuke, morofushi takaaki, uehara yui summary: Yamato Kansuke never really thought of himself as the paternal type- and yet here he was, nearly about to be a father. (you can also read on AO3!)

"Shouldn't you be in there?"

The cessation of noise was a blessing, Morofushi thought, though he'd long since grown used to the sound of Kansuke's crutch striking the floor. Even so, he had his limits- and when the man was all but pacing back and forth seemingly without end, it was enough to wind down even his last nerve.

In such a tense situation, all the more so.

"Uehara'll be fine." Kansuke shortly responded, not even bothering to look at him.

"Mm." Merely arching a brow, Morofushi took that for what it was- a mark of him not being honest with himself. "Then why are you pacing so restlessly, Kansuke-kun?"

"I'm not." Kansuke said curtly, even as he began doing very much that all over again, much to Morofushi's growing annoyance.

"I see." Morofushi noted. "So I suppose it's merely just my imagination that you've been winding a path down in the hallway."

"Always did have an active one." Kansuke noted, turning on his heel, taking care not to unbalance himself as he did so. "She'll be fine."

"I didn't even ask this time." Morofushi observed.

Stopping in his tracks once more, Kansuke locked eyes with him, using the fact that he was the only one standing to all but loom over him. It would never work, and the man knew that, but it never stopped him from trying anyways. Merely lifting his arched brow higher in response, Morofushi let out a long sigh.

This simply could not go on.

"You're worried about her." Morofushi stated plainly.

"Of course I'm worried." Kansuke responded, his tone and expression both terse. "But Uehara can handle this."

"I'm sure that she can." Morofushi noted. "Her midwife is more than talented. Still," lifting his chin so that he could level his gaze with his longtime friend, "...one would think that the father should be in there with her right now."

The long silence that his words earned was rather unlike Kansuke- normally, he was the type to lash out with angry words, whether or not he'd had the time to think them through. The fact that his response to this was silence was not lost on Morofushi.

"The baby is only premature by a week." Morofushi noted. "By all means, it should be a fairly easy birth."

Nothing. That wasn't it then, Morofushi realized.

With a slight frown, he mulled over what the cause of Kansuke's behavior could be. His eyes falling on Kansuke's left, the one scarred shut, Morofushi pursed his lips together, a faint thought drifting up in his mind. Letting out a short sigh, he couldn't help but find the thought ridiculous himself, but then again, this was Yamato Kansuke he was speaking of here.

"Don't tell me you're afraid it will cry." Morofushi dryly noted.

"Of course it'll cry, it's a baby." Kansuke retorted. "Other than shit themselves, that's all they know how to do."

"Mm." Wondering for a moment if he should perhaps leave it at that, Morofushi merely let out another curt sigh. He owed it to Yui to try and talk this foolishness out of her husband- there was probably still time to get him in there with her, during this all too critical moment.

"You know that's not what I meant, Kansuke-kun."

Another long pause, Morofushi noted. Kansuke's gaze didn't drop from his own, but his good eye did narrow- before he finally jerked his head away, turning on his heel to face the door of the room that Yui had been brought into.

"Shut your damn mouth, Koumei."

Ah, so he'd hit his mark.

"Not until you go in there to be with Yui-san, I won't." Morofushi said simply. "She needs you."

"I thought we both agreed she'd be fine." Kansuke grumbled.

"Oh yes, she'll be fine." Morofushi agreed. "But you know just as well that wasn't what I meant either, Kansuke-kun."

Nothing. Heaving a long sigh, feeling like he was speaking to a particularly difficult child, Morofushi rose to his feet at last. For a man who spent most of his time taking advantage of his admittedly somewhat intimidating appearance, one wouldn't think Kansuke would ever be sensitive about it- but that would merely be because they were thinking logically, unlike the scarred man in question, who outside of police work, barely seemed to have need for such a thing.

Thankfully, he knew exactly how Kansuke worked- more than he ever wished to, at times.

"I never thought that you were a coward, Kansuke-kun."

Ah yes, there we go. That was the response that he had been looking for. Goodness but he was rather fond of lifting people by their collars- he was almost entirely certain it was all but second nature to him now.

"What the hell did you say, Koumei!?" Kansuke spat out, looming over him for everything that he was worth, even as the mustached police inspector barely even batted an eye at it. "You want to say that again!?"

"I called you a coward, Kansuke-kun." Morofushi merely repeated, deftly removing his hand from his collar. "You're so afraid of a mere infant, that you can't even be by your wife's side as she gives birth to your first child together."

"Listen here-" Kansuke began, his step forward punctuated by the sound of his crutch.

Morofushi, however, didn't let him finish.

"If I'm wrong, then go in and be with her." Morofushi told him simply.

There was another long pause, filled with Kansuke opening and shutting his mouth, trying and failing to think of something to say in retort- before he finally turned on his heel, making a disgusted sound.

He half thought that he might start pacing again, but instead, he headed for the door, leaving him alone in the empty hallway.

Letting out a long sigh, Morofushi merely shook his head, fixing his collar, and taking his seat once more.

To think out of all things, Yamato Kansuke would be afraid of his newborn son crying at the sight of his face... goodness, but this friend of his was nothing but trouble.

"Kan-chan."

Yui's soft smile was somehow more radiant than ever- not that he'd ever admit something that cheesy out loud, Kansuke thought to himself. Maybe it was the glow of motherhood- or just the vast relief that came with not being in the throes of labor pains anymore, he didn't know.

Didn't much care either, not in this moment.

"Ue-" He began, before cutting himself off. Maybe he didn't have much of a right to complain about her persistent use of his childhood nickname, when he couldn't shake the habit of calling her Uehara, in spite of the fact that they were married now. In his defense, she still used it professionally- just to spare the rest of the Nagano Prefectural Police from having to deal with both a Detective and Inspector Yamato in the same department.

"...Yui."

"Do you want to hold him?" Yui asked, softly cradling the tightly wrapped bundle in her arms. A baby boy, perfectly healthy, from the sound of what the doctor had to say.

"Do I look like I know how to hold a baby?" Kansuke asked.

"You would, if you went to any of my classes with me." Yui noted. "This is why I told you-"

"Like I said, I was busy!" Kansuke retorted, narrowing his eyes- and for once in his life, regretting his action, as the baby, which had been rather silent in his mother's arms up until now, began wailing once more, startled by the sudden loud sound.

"Geez, look what you've done now, Kan-chan." Yui lightly chided him. "There, there, it's okay, Kai, it's just your father being noisy. That's just his natural state of being."

Kai.

When they had learned the baby was going to be a boy, they had decided on that name without a second thought.

(It would have been Aoi, were it a girl.)

"Don't teach the kid weird things." Kansuke grumbled, before holding out his arms. "Fine, I'll hold the kid, if he's going to be so whiny about it. Just show me how."

Turning back to him, Yui gave him a soft smile, shifting a little in her hospital bed. "Be careful of his head." She told him, gently transferring the still crying baby into his arms, fussing with them until he held the small, shrieking infant correctly- a process through which Kansuke grumbled throughout, yet did nothing to impede her process.

Damn, this baby sure could cry though.

Yui must have been thinking the same thing, because she lifted a brow. "I see he gets his lung capacity from his father."

"You say that like it's a bad thing." Kansuke noted.

"It sure will be in the middle of the night, when we're both trying to sleep." Yui merely replied, folding her hands in her lap, watching the rather amusing scene of feared police Inspector Yamato Kansuke cradling a small infant.

"Fair." Kansuke noted, casting a glance down towards the baby. "He has two eyes."

In spite of herself, Yui let out a faint snort. "I don't think your scar is hereditary, Kan-chan."

"Never know." Kansuke shrugged.

"Mm." Leaning back, Yui merely gave him a soft, gentle smile. "Shouldn't we let in Inspector Morofushi sometime soon?"

"Not until the baby stops crying." Kansuke told her. "Not sure why you gave him to me, now he's never going to stop."

"You asked me to." Yui pointed out. "And he'll stop. You've got a face that can quiet even a crying child, after all."

"Yeah, right after I make it cry." Kansuke dryly noted.

"Maybe you should try learning how to smile then, Kan-chan." Yui playfully teased.

"Nah," rocking his infant son in his arms, much in the same fashion Yui had been doing just before, Kansuke hid that very same expression, "...too much work."

[setsunameioh]

how about a roleswap kind of thing where the childhood friends were swapped around (as in, ran in kazuha's place and kazuha in ran's place)? canon pairings still though!

I can do that, anon!

For this oneshot, I wrote it mainly with Shinichi and Ran in mind, since their relationship would face the most complications given Shinichi’s whole... situation and all. It’s set around Desperate Revival, given that it’s the first time she would have the chance in canon to meet “Kudo Shinichi” (after their brief meeting in preschool, that is).

you can also read this on AO3!

He hadn't seen her in over ten years, and yet, from the very moment he set on eyes on her, he knew who she was right away.

...alright, so that was a bit of an exaggeration, Shinichi would admit. It hadn't been right away- not until after she properly introduced herself- but he had gotten the inkling that he knew her from somewhere even before that. It counted, right?

She, on the other hand, didn't seem to recognize him at all.

To be fair, that was to be expected- even if she did have cause to remember the boy with whom she had briefly gone to preschool with, she would have expected him to be around her age right now. Not six years old again, as he so happened to find himself. While he'd fallen in love with her at first sight- at first smile, really- he doubted that he'd amounted as much more than a small blip on her radar, easily forgotten as the years went by.

Sonoko, she would probably recognize, but Kudo Shinichi? The odds of that were low.

He'd never actually expected to see her again himself, to be honest. It had all been such a mess after she had transferred away, after that whole Efune mess. It could have been much worse than it was, he knew that now- but at the time, the news that Mouri Ran would be leaving them, moving to Osaka with her father, was nearly enough to devastate him.

He'd kind of assumed that his feelings for her would fade with time- and to be fair, they did, somewhat. But not to the extent that he would have thought- and upon seeing her again, after all these years, all he could think of was that she had gotten even more beautiful than he could have possibly imagined.

And to think, Hattori had been hiding her all this time. Payback for stealing away his own childhood friend, maybe.

He wasn't serious, of course- though it was surprising that they had managed to essentially swap the two of them. He didn't know what to make of it when Hattori Heiji first turned up at the Toyama's place, and he and Kazuha had just started shouting at each other for a good half minute.

If only he could have been half as recognizable as Hattori was, he glumly thought to himself. Not that it would matter much given his current situation.

Right now, he doubted that the girl he was- and apparently was still- in love with, would see him as anything more than the six year old child he appeared to be. Even if he did literally hurl himself in front of her to protect her from a knife.

"Are ya alright, Conan-kun!?"

Still... having her fret over him in concern honestly wasn't really so bad. He should count himself lucky though, that the lucky charm that Heiji had lent him had ended up catching the knife like it did- Kazuha sure as hell was giving him an earful about it, even as Ran tried to calm her down.

(He honestly didn't know if she'd be more or less mad at him if she knew the truth. Probably more, he guessed.)

Well... at least this way, he'd be able to see a lot more of Mouri Ran from now on. Perhaps there would come a time yet with which Kudo Shinichi could try and get to know her a little better- and not just Edogawa Conan.

(Suffice to say, he was very annoyed with Hattori when he turned up next with no Ran in sight. Bring her with you next time, you idiot, and maybe you won't get shoved off a goddamn cruise ship.)

He'd been so focused on the case, that he'd barely had the time to give thought to her presence. Now, however, she was staring him right in the face- and he came to learn later that the person who had actually carried him to the nurse's office in the first place had been Ran.

If it wasn't clear enough that he'd done it on purpose, then the way he escorted everyone else out of the room on some rather thin excuses made it crystal clear to Shinichi. It wasn't that he didn't appreciate the alone time with her, but as it stood, the last time the two of them had talked to each other was back when they were both in preschool.

And to think, he'd only taken this form in order to convince Kazuha that he wasn't Conan. At least he'd managed to work things out there.

"We've met before, haven't we?"

Taken aback by the sudden question, Shinichi blinked, before slowly nodding his head. "Y-yeah. We were in preschool together, for a short while."

"I see." It almost looked as if a weight had been taken off her chest- up until now, she had looked somewhat uncertain of herself. "Heiji told me that the two of us had met before, but since ya were never around..."

"Ah, I guess it would be hard to remember." Shinichi said. "We weren't together for very long before you transferred. I'm Kudo Shinichi, by the way. You're Mouri Ran, right?"

"That's right." Ran said, giving him a small smile. "If I recall... ya were the boy I made that paper nameplate fer, right?"

"Oh, you remember that?" Shinichi asked, hoping that he didn't sound too eager about it. From the sound of it, she hadn't remembered it on her own- Heiji's apparent mention of him had likely jogged her memory. He would have to thank him for that later, although he couldn't help but be curious as to what, exactly, he had told her about him.

"Just a little." Ran told him. "It's nice to meet ya again, Kudo-kun."

"You as well, Mouri-san." Shinichi said. "Though it seems like I worried everyone, collapsing like that."

"Are ya really alright?" She'd asked him that question before as Conan too, but somehow, it felt a bit different now. She was asking it of an equal- albeit one that she didn't know all that well, as opposed to a child. "Heiji said that ya'd be fine, so we probably shouldn't make a big deal out of it, but..."

"Yeah, I'll be fine." Shinichi was quick to reassure her. "Sorry about that."

As to be expected, the pair fell into something of an awkward silence there. Racking his brain for something to say, Shinichi cleared his throat. "...did you enjoy the play?"

"Ah, yes." Nodding her head, Ran smiled at that- and lord help him, but he felt his heart pound at the sight of it. "It was very interesting. It's a shame we didn't get ta watch the whole thing through."

"I'm sure if you asked Sonoko, she'd show you the script." Shinichi told her. "I could even ask her, if you want."

"I am a bit curious." Ran admitted after a moment. "But ya don't have ta trouble yerself like that, Kudo-kun. I can always ask Suzuki-san myself."

"I suppose you could." Shinichi admitted, recalling the way that they had been chatting backstage like old friends. As he thought, the two of them really did remember each other- but well, it was to be expected. Still, he couldn't help but admit that he was just a little bit jealous of Sonoko.

...and there was that awkward silence again. Racking his brain for something to say, he decided to try and go out on a limb.

"...are you going to be in Tokyo for awhile, Mouri-san?" Shinichi ventured.

"At least until Sunday evening." Ran told him, tilting her head. "Why?"

Good, he had a chance then. The fact that Ran wasn't showing any outward signs of nervousness was an encouraging sign, but he had to admit, this was a bit of a gamble. The last thing he wanted to do was to force her into doing anything she didn't want- and Ran, as he had learned, was something of too nice a girl to always strongly refuse polite requests. The last thing he wanted to do was to take advantage of that, but well...

Since he had gotten his real body back, he might as well take a chance.

"Actually, I thought it might be nice to give Hattori and Kazuha a chance to spend some time together." Shinichi told her, honestly making this up as he went. "You know, since the two of them seem to be childhood friends in their own right."

"Actually, I was thinking the same thing." Ran admitted, giving him a small smile. "I don't know if ya know this, Kudo-kun, but after he came back home that one time, all he could talk about fer awhile was both ya an' Kazuha-chan."

"Heh, is that so?" He actually knew that already, but as this was information that he had gleaned as Conan, it was best to pretend he had no idea. "So... what I'm trying to get to is, that if you want, it might be nice to maybe... go somewhere to get to know each other a little better while they're doing that."

"Ah, only if you want, though." Shinichi said quickly, holding up a hand. "If you have other plans, then that's fine."

"I don't mind." Ran told him. "Truth is, I don't know what I'd do by myself. If ya could show me around Tokyo, Kudo-kun, it'd help."

"Sure." Nodding his head, fighting the urge to let out a great big victory whoop, Shinichi tried not to seem too overeager. "I don't mind. Of course, we just need to get Hattori and Kazuha to agree first."

Though given the fact that he was pretty sure the two of them were spying on them from behind the door, he didn't imagine it would be hard.

It was only after they had been seated, and handed their menus, that he realized that he might have made something of a mistake.

He'd known, of course, what restaurant this was. When Ran had asked after it, after seeing such a well dressed couple enter the hotel it was located in, he'd been more than happy to tell her all that he knew about it. It was, after all, a restaurant that his parents frequented when they happened to be in town.

When she'd looked interested in it, saying that she really didn't have many chances to eat in such a fancy place, he hadn't hesitated to ask if she would like to have dinner there. For a moment, he almost wondered if he'd gone too far- but she accepted his invitation after some thought. Perhaps she just thought it would be rude to say no at this point, which had been the main worry filling his mind- right up until he realized the bigger problem.

This wasn't just the restaurant that his parents frequented- it was also the restaurant his father had proposed to his mother at.

It wasn't as if he had forgotten, per say, but it had just sort of... not been the first thing that came to mind for him. He was, after all, only trying to make today's 'date'- if one could call it that- about getting to know Ran- and more importantly, giving her a chance to get to know him. So that he could be something more than the boy she'd briefly known in preschool, Kazuha's childhood friend, and Heiji's rival.

Right now, it was all he could do to keep that thought from showing on his face.

"I've haven't been in a restaurant this fancy since Heiji's father was promoted." Ran observed, even as she tried to downplay the way that she was so very obviously looking at her surroundings in wonder. She needn't do so- to be honest, he only thought of it as cute.

"Really?" Shinichi asked, hoping to relax her some. "Truth be told, I don't really come to places like this much myself either. Not unless my parents are dragging me somewhere."

His words seemed to have their desired effect- as Ran gave him a small smile in return. "Your mother is an actress, right?" She asked. "Kazuha-chan mentioned it during the play."

At the mention of his mother, his thoughts briefly drifted back towards what he was trying not to think about- though he really only had himself to blame for this. "Yes, she is." He said, nodding his head. "That's probably why Sonoko wanted me to play the knight so badly."

He fought back the urge to twitch as he said that, trying not to think too hard on the real reason why- namely, that Sonoko thought he was the only guy in the class dramatic enough to say half of the lines that she had written in any earnest. Honestly, if she knew that, why had she gone through the trouble of writing the character like that in the first place?

"Yer acting was pretty good." Ran observed, her smile taking on a more amused edge. "Better than Heiji's, at least."

"...ah." Giving her something of a nervous laugh, Shinichi leaned back in his chair. "If you're going to ask why he dressed up as me, to be honest, I have no idea myself. You'd know him better than I."

"I do, but sometimes even that doesn't help." Ran lightly joked. "I'm sure he an' Kazuha-chan are having a lot of fun right now."

"Probably." Shinichi said, shoulders slumping that she had let go of that topic so easily. "You're staying over at her place, right?"

"Yes." Ran told him. "Her mother always offers ta let us stay there whenever we come visit. I always tell her that it's fine, but, well..."

"Yeah, she can be pretty insistent." Shinichi told her, feeling somewhat more at ease now himself. "Big on hospitality."

There was another, slightly awkward pause then, as the two of them searched for a topic to discuss- and he noted the way Ran's lips pursed together as she scanned the menu. "Is it really alright, though?" She asked. "Fer us to eat in a place as fancy as this. We're only high school students, I mean."

"Don't worry about it." Shinichi reassured her. The last thing he wanted to do was make her uncomfortable- or even worse, guilty. "My old man lets me use his card every once in awhile for emergency expenses."

"I don't exactly think this counts as an emergency expense, Kudo-kun." Ran noted, lifting her brows.

"Well... what he doesn't know won't hurt him." Shinichi said after a moment, grinning a little. "Besides, I've never actually been here myself, so I got a little curious myself."

"They don't bring ya here?" Ran asked, tilting her head.

"No." Shaking his head, Shinichi cursed himself mentally for walking back into the topic he had been trying to avoid thinking about again. "Never here."

"Why not?" Ran inquired, a glint of curiosity in her eyes. As much as he was glad to see that she was interested in anything regarding him, the answer to that was...

Thankfully, he didn't have to give it. Good fortune must have been on his side for once, for the waitress to interrupt them right at that timing.

...or not.

Of all the timing... he'd just solved a murder case yesterday, he couldn't have possibly run into yet another one, could he? Even his luck wasn't that bad- at least, he didn't think it was.

Debating for only a moment, Shinichi eventually let out a long sigh, pushing back his chair. "Sorry, I better go check that out."

"It's okay, I understand." Ran told him, a knowing look on her face. "It happens all the time with Heiji too. Go on, Kudo-kun."

"So I've gathered." Shinichi observed, reaching into his pocket and pulling out his wallet. "Here, use this to order yourself something nice for dessert. I'll be back when I can."

"Then, I'll wait fer ya right here." Ran told him, taking the card from him after a moment's thought. "At least we were able ta finish dinner first."

Giving her a wry grin at that, Shinichi made his exit. A murder case it was indeed, as it turned out- but nothing that he couldn't solve. He'd wrap this up quick, and return to Ran's side, where he would apology for the delay and would finish the evening by escorting her back to the Toyama house.

At least, that was the plan.

What wasn't in the plan was for a familiar pain to stab his chest- one that left him gasping for breath, and one that he recognized. Though he managed to muddle through it, solving the case at hand, by the time the case had been closed, it was all he could do to stagger into the bathroom, clutching his chest and praying that it would go away again, as it had before.

When Ai appeared behind him, reflected in the mirror, still dressed as Conan, he knew that it wouldn't. As if she were some kind of ominous grim reaper, gazing down at her wristwatch, it sunk into him that Kudo Shinichi would not be returning to the date, so-called or otherwise, that he had left behind.

So much for making a good impression.

"I knew it!"

...eh.

If he hadn't expected Ai to show up, he'd expected Toyama Kazuha to turn up all the less- much less that she would burst forward from one of the stalls. And judging from Haibara's reaction... suffice to say, she'd expected it even less.

"K-Kazuha...?"

He didn't even have the presence of mind to tack a neechan onto that, even though he'd returned to Conan form, all but swimming in the clothes he'd put on that morning as Shinichi.

"I knew it!" Kazuha repeated, a triumphant expression on her face. "You tried to pull a fast on me with Ai-chan here, but you couldn't fool me! I've got you now, Kudo Shinichi!"

At a loss as to what to do in this situation, Conan opened and closed his mouth, before just giving voice to the first thought that came to his mind.

"...this is the men's restroom, you know."

The hand that she clamped on his shoulder was not one that brokered any arguments. "Don't try and weasel your way out of this with irrelevant observations, Shinichi."

"...yes ma'am."

"Good." With a firm nod of her head, Kazuha reached out her other hand, preventing Ai from taking the first chance that she saw to escape. "Now then, I'm going to have the two of you tell me what this is all about, in great detail~!"

Exchanging a glance with each other, both Conan and Ai alike agreed on one thing- that this was not the outcome that they had been expecting of this evening.

(At the very least, after some prompting, he managed to convince Kazuha to keep quiet about this to Ran. She'd even been more than happy to come up with an excuse for her as to why Shinichi had left so suddenly.

...on the other hand, well... he sure hoped his father was ready for tonight's price tag.)

[setsunameioh]

hello, hello, back with the next roleswap case! It’s the Tottori Spider Mansion case, always a favorite! As always, for more information about this roleswap, please visit the about!

Without further ado, let’s get to the fic!

“What’s that ya got, Kazuha?”

“Wait, Heiji, don’t just take things from me!” Though she just as quickly reached to take the letter that had been so rudely snatched out of her hands back, she found it move just out of her reach instead. “Hand it back already! It doesn’t involve ya anyhow!”

“Not a chance~.” Taking a step back from her, Heiji flashed her a broad grin, scanning over the letter, ignoring Kazuha’s not-so-quiet mutterings about when the hell he’d even gotten here. “Uwah, sounds shady!”

“Right?” Kazuha agreed, finally taking the letter back from him. “An’ on top of it, they didn’t even give me a number ta contact them by, an’ sent me a load of cash ta boot.”

“Yer not seriously thinkin’ of takin’ the case, are ya?” Heiji asked, arching his brows. “Remember what happened the last time ya followed up on a shady letter.”

“Yer not gonna let that go, are ya?” Kazuha asked, heaving a short sigh as her friend merely nodded his head in response. “It’ll be fine, Heiji. It’s not like I’ll be on a boat this time. The address is in the mountains.”

“So yer tradin’ in bein’ shoved off ships fer bein’ shoved off a cliff?” Heiji asked. “Doesn’t sound like much of an upgrade ta me.”

“I’m not gonna be shoved off any cliffs!” Kazuha said shortly, plopping back down in her chair, setting the letter aside on the desk. “Besides, ya know I can’t just take this money. At the very least, I have ta go an’ give it back ta this damn Takeda fool.”

“An’ ya might as well solve the case while yer at it?” Heiji finished, folding his arms in front of his chest. She almost flinched under that gaze, one that told her he’d read her like a book. “Forget it. If yer that damn worried about the money, just donate it ta charity or somethin’.”

“Ya know I can’t do that.” Kazuha told him, her brows knitting together. “Besides, when did ya become the boss of me anyways, Heiji? I’m free ta do what I want, ya know.”

“I’m not-!” Heiji protested, before grumbling to himself, clearly realizing she had a point. Forced into a corner, he grumpily admitted what he was obviously trying to otherwise avoid saying. “Look, I’m just… I’m just worried, okay?”

Letting her shoulders slump, Kazuha gazed up at him. Even if he hadn’t admitted it, it was written all over his face. She didn’t need to be any kind of detective to tell that much- just his childhood friend, who could read him just as easily as he could read her. “I know ya are, Heiji. But I promise, I’ll be careful. No more surprises.” She told him. “Besides, if yer that worried, why don’t ya just come with me yerself?”

“Oh?” Amused, Heiji took a step forward. “Is that an invitation, Kazuha?”

“What else would it be, idiot?” Kazuha replied. “It ain’t a circus animal.”

Letting out a snort, Heiji let his hands drop. “Fine, in that case, I’ll take ya up on that offer, Kazuha. Be yer bodyguard, maybe.”

“I don’t need a bodyguard.” Kazuha told him- though her amused smile told him that she’d caught his attempt at a joke. A joke that was likely trying to cover up how unusual it was for him to offer to come with her on a job request- unfortunately not well enough that she failed to notice it.

He really was worried about her, wasn’t he?

“Besides, with yer luck, yer a lot more likely ta get into trouble than me.” Kazuha finished.

“…I want ta deny that, but…” Trailing off a little, Heiji shrugged his shoulders, giving her something of a helpless look. She did have a fair point, loathe as he was to admit it. “Okay then. In that case, ya can act as my bodyguard, Kazuha.”

“In that case, why don’t ya just not come?” Kazuha shot back, quirking a brow.

“Ya make a fair argument, but I’m still comin’.” Heiji told her, his tone firm. “So? When are we goin’?”

“This weekend.” Kazuha told him. “I’m worried about the contents of the message, so I want ta get there as soon as I can. Hopefully it’s just a bad prank.”

“Whoever can throw away that much money on a prank doesn’t deserve ta have it.” Heiji couldn’t help but note. “So? Ya know anythin’ about this Takeda place?”

“No, not at all.” Kazuha said, shaking her head. “I suppose we’ll find out when we get there. If I show ‘em the letter an’ explain everythin’, surely they’ll talk.”

“How optimistic.” Heiji observed, before pausing, a slight frown on his face. “Yer mom… she’s not around, right?”

“No.” Kazuha said, shaking her head. “Did ya need her fer somethin’? She’s always at therapy around this time of day. Thought ya knew that, Heiji.”

“Ah, right… yer right. Just forgot.” Rubbing the back of his neck, Heiji’s frown deepened, before he quickly tried to cover it back up. “An’ don’t worry, it’s nothin’! Just my mom wanted ta pass on a message ta her since I was goin’ over ta yer place, that’s all.”

Forgot, he said. She had reason to doubt that- and reason to doubt that his mother, of all people would forget her mother’s schedule. If she didn’t miss her guess, he was double checking to make sure that she wasn’t around, so that he wouldn’t run into her.

After all this time, he was really still avoiding her, wasn’t he?

Well… at least he’d made it inside of the house this time, she thought to herself. That was progress in and of itself, since she could count on one hand the number of times he’d been over here since the incident happened. When her father had told her that he’d shown up at their doorstep early in the morning on the day that she had left for that ill fated cruise, she had been rather surprised- though not unpleasantly so.

It would seem that wasn’t merely a fluke, and hopefully, a sign for more positive things to come. It was almost enough to make her want to push him some more, but…

Well, this was progress, and the last thing she wanted to get was pushback. More than herself, the person that Heiji needed to speak to the most was her mother- hence why he was working so hard on avoiding her.

“Then ya can just tell Auntie Shizuka ta call her later.” Kazuha told him, getting to her feet. “Since yer here, ya wanna split the pudding I got the other day? It’s from that new shop by the station.”

“Oh, that trendy one?” Heiji asked. “Sure, sounds great!”

“Technically we only bought enough fer the three of us, but ya can have my father’s share.” Kazuha told him, grinning from ear to ear. “I’m sure he won’t mind!”

(read the rest of the chapter on AO3!)

[setsunameioh]

Heyo! I just want to say, I really love your Nagano AU, and that it’s actually inspiring me to start writing my own Nagano-au! Keep up the good work ~

I’m glad that I could inspire you, though I can’t take credit for nagano au all by myself! It’s an idea bounced around on the detco discord that I’m a part of, mostly with @presumenothing and @deductionfreak!

but thank you very much for your kind words!

[setsunameioh]

Honey, Honey

Canon: Happiness Charge Precure Characters: Hime Shirayuki, Yuko Omori, Ribbon Summary: This may, quite literally, be just too much for her little gay heart to handle. (also read on AO3!)

"You aren't dressed for your date yet, Hime?" Ribbon asked, a deep set frown on the small fairy's face. "Yuko will be here in at least ten minutes, and it's not like her to be late."

"But I can't decide!" Hime whined, spinning on her heel. "This is my important first date, after all! If I don't wear the perfect outfit, it'll be ruined!"

"I don't think Yuko will-" Ribbon began.

"But I'll care!" Hime cut in, puffing out her cheeks. "I can't just wear any old thing!

Heaving a sigh, sensing that there would be no convincing her otherwise, Ribbon floated further into the room. Yuko had a key to the place, so even if she wasn't there to answer the door, she could still let herself inside. She'd probably understand what was taking Hime so long anyways, being such good friends with her and all.

"Then, which outfit do you like best?" Ribbon inquired.

"That's the problem!" Hime told her. "All of them look cute on me, so I can't decide!"

She'd have to approach this from a different angle, Ribbon realized. "Then, which outfit do you think Yuko would like the best? Since it is your date with her that you're trying to dress up for."

"Yuko?" Hime blinked, frowning a little. "Yuko, huh..."

Turning on her heel, she made her way over towards her bed, brows furrowing together in deep thought as she looked over the five outfits that she had set aside on it. An outfit that Yuko would like... maybe the one with orange frills?

"Then, this one!" Holding up the dress, Hime pivoted on her heel, a bright smile on her face. "What do you think, Ribbon?"

"I think it will look very cute on you, Hime!" Ribbon told her, before making out the faint sound of the front door opening. "Then, it sounds like Yuko's here, so hurry up and get changed. I'll go and greet her."

"Well of course it will!" Puffing out her chest, Hime's bright smile lasted exactly until she heard the same thing Ribbon did- at which point her cheeks turned a bright red. "R-right! Tell her I'll be down in just a minute!"

Ah, but her heart was beating so fast! It was so strange, since she was so used to hanging out with her as a friend, but somehow when she thought about the prospect of spending time with her on a date... well, that changed everything. What she would have otherwise thought nothing much of, she found herself threatening to pound out of her chest at the mere thought of it.

Was this how love felt, she wondered. She didn't know how much of this she could take!

Still, since she had worked up the nerve to both confess and ask her out- in one very strung together, blurted out sentence that she wished she could have taken back, far from the ideal confession that she had planned out in her head, Hime was hardly going to keep her waiting! Drawing in a deep breath, she steeled herself, preparing her heart for the day to come.

She could do this! She could totally do this!

She'd helped save the world, so a little date was nothing!

Nodding her head, Hime hurried to get changed. Carefully packing her things into the handbag that she had picked out for this outfit, Hime scurried down the stairs. "Sorry to you keep you waiting, Yuko!"

"Ah, Hime-chan," glancing up towards her, somehow that usual smile of Yuko's was almost enough to stop her heart, "...don't worry, you didn't keep me waiting at all."

"She couldn't decide on an outfit." Ribbon supplied.

"Geez, Ribbon! You don't have to tell her something like that!" Puffing out her cheeks, Hime stomped into the living room proper. Yuko didn't need to know that kind of thing!

"Really? That's just like you." Yuko said, a faint hint of laughter escaping her. "It looks very cute on you though, Hime-chan."

And now, Hime thought, her heart truly did stop. Yuko had called her clothes cute many times before, but somehow today, somehow today-!

Ah, maybe she really couldn't do this after all. She was going to die. She was definitely going to die.

Still, as Yuko smiled at her, reaching out to take her hand, asking her in a soft tone where she'd like to go today, she decided that maybe out of all the ways to go, this was far, far from the worst.

[setsunameioh]

intermission time! today’s subject is heiji’s part time job and his muscles!

for more information about this roleswap, please visit the about!

canon: detective conan, heiji/kazuha roleswap au characters: toyama kazuha, hattori heiji summary: kendo, kazuha decided, did some very great things for a person’s muscles.

“What, it’s just ya again, Kazuha?”

“There’s no need ta sound so disappointed.” Planting her hands on her hips, Toyama Kazuha’s eyebrow arched, locking eyes with her childhood friend. “I’m a payin’ customer ya know, Heiji.”

“Ya say that, but I know ya just come here cause ya can get a discount on service.” Barely even sparing her a glance in turn, Hattori Heiji merely let out a somewhat disgruntled click of his tongue. “So? What did ya do ta it this time?”

“Don’t make me sound like some kind of walkin’ accident.” Kazuha noted, before letting out a rather curt sigh. “If I knew what had happened, I wouldn’t need ya ta look at it.”

“Still need me ta fix it though, unless miss detective is interested in breakin’ the law today.” Heiji noted with a shrug. “Ya towed it in ta the usual place?”

“I could just take it somewhere else, ya know.” There was no actual bite to her threat- and he knew it too. “But yeah. I parked it in the usual place.”

Keep reading

[setsunameioh]

knock knock it’s october so it’s time for some halloweenverse au! you can also read this one on AO3!

canon: detective conan characters: hattori heiji, toyama kazuha summary: He'd begged her later, but it was just his luck that Kazuha seemed to have no intention not to tell the whole world that he'd gone and confessed to her as nothing more than a head.

"I swear, if ya make so much as one head joke-"

"Oh, are ya really in a position ta threaten me right now?" Arching her brows, Toyama Kazuha couldn't even begin to manage to wipe the amused grin off her face, nor did she even so much as try. "What is that ya plan on doin', Heiji, bite me?"

"Ah, sorry." Her grin growing all the wider. "I forgot ya can't even really do that now."

"Shut up, idiot." Glaring up at her as much as he could manage, Hattori Heiji clicked his tongue. "Besides, it's yer fault that this happened anyways. Ya don't think ya could have secured somethin' so important a little better?"

"Sure, sure, blame the person who brought ya back ta life." Kazuha said, nodding her head. "I'd say that ya shouldn't go losin' yer head in anger, but it seems like it's a bit too late fer that."

"Ah, pardon me." Before he got a chance to protest her joke, Kazuha cracked another one. "I suppose it's not yer head that ya lost, so much as it is the rest of ya."

"...yer actually enjoyin' this, aren't ya?" Grumbling to himself, Heiji couldn't even begin to believe his luck. For something like this to happen at a timing like this... honestly, it couldn't be worse.

He'd thought misplacing his hand during the fireworks show could have been the worst thing to happen, but this? This outmatched that by far.

And to think, it wasn't even the first time this had happened.

...though it was, admittedly, the first time that the had actually lost the rest of his body at the same time. Well, lost, he said, but in truth, they knew where to find it- at the bottom of the cliff that he had slipped down, like some kind of total fool. He'd rather have tumbled down with the rest of it, rather than have only just his head snap off upon hitting the side of the cliff.

There was no way that Kazuha was going to let him live this one down. And to think, he had brought her out all this way in hopes of confessing to her. Looks like that plan was totally ruined now!

"Sorry, sorry." Kazuha let out a faint laugh, carefully cradling Heiji's head underneath one arm as she slowly made her way down the animal trail that she had found. Heiji might be able to survive a fall that long, but she wasn't about to take her chances with that. "But ya have ta admit, it's pretty funny, right?"

"It's not!" Heiji insisted, closing his eyes, feeling a distinct twitch. "Ya think I like bein' just a goddamn head?"

"Ya say that, but ya took it right off that one time we had ta go through airport security." Kazuha pointed out. "That was sure a sight ta see, though pushin' ya through the metal detector was a super pain in the ass!"

"That was different!" Heiji grumbled, closing his eyes. "I don't want ta hear that from the person who drilled two metal screws into my head in the first place!"

"An' who's the idiot who forgot people with metal plates in them can walk through anyways?" Kazuha asked, glancing down at him, catching his glower in the early morning sun. "Ya'd just need ta tell them. It's not like they can miss them anyways."

"Shut up, I'm new ta this!" Heiji protested, not missing this chance to deepen his glower while she was still looking at him. What a pain- he couldn't do anything other than that, not even turn his head.

"Yes, yes, I suppose ya are." Kazuha said, pointedly looking away from him, almost feeling him seethe without needing to see it. "But it's yer fault this time, ya know. I don't see why ya needed ta drag me out here so early in the mornin'. Ya should have known the ground would be soft from the rain still, so ya should have taken a bit more caution!"

Well, she had to admit, though it had been brief, the scenery that she had gotten a chance to see had been beautiful. It was almost a waste that it had been broken by Heiji's clumsiness.

"Just so ya know, I was watchin' where I was goin'." Heiji insisted, lips twisting in a tight frown. "I just still haven't completely gotten used ta this body, that's all."

"That's kind of hard ta believe, seein' as ya've pretty much always been this clumsy." Kazuha observed. "Remember when ya nearly fell off the cliff on that mermaid island?"

"How could I forget that?" Heiji asked, almost a bit grateful that she couldn't really see his expression without looking right now. "Seein' as ya dove after me like some kind of idiot."

"Hah? Ya were the one who dove after me, idiot!" Kazuha protested, sparing him only a slight glance as she finally made her way down to the bottom of the cliff. "It's not like ya had an immortal body back then, so I don't know what ya were thinkin'."

"At least I'd have been in one piece when ya brought me back." Heiji grumbled. "Now hurry up an' find the rest of me, idiot. Ya know it's a pain when I'm separated from the rest fer this long."

"Yes, yes, I was plannin' on doin' that." Now her turn to grumble, Kazuha did so without hesitation. "I'm just sayin', sometimes ya don't sound very grateful, Heiji."

"Of course I am, idiot." Heiji told her, now very, very grateful for the fact that he couldn't give himself away by turning red. "But I still reserve the right ta complain about it if I wanna."

"Well ya seem a lot grumpier about it than usual." Kazuha couldn't help but note, even as she stared up at the cliff with a slight frown, trying to figure out where his body would have even landed. It was a good thing she had taken up the habit of carrying her sewing set with her everywhere.

"Well forgive me if I'm grumpy, but-"

Kazuha was only half listening at this point, having caught sight of what she was pretty sure was the rest of Heiji's body, and started making her way towards it. He tended to get pretty rambley when he was like this anyways, so after a certain point she had just learned to tune him out, unless it turned out that he actually had something important to say.

"...it's not like I was plannin' on confessin' ta ya today, or anythin' like that!"

"...eh?"

"...ah."

"...ya what, Heiji?" Kazuha asked, and god help him, he wished that she hadn't just lifted up his head so that she could stare him dead in the eye. "Say that again."

"No, no, let's just forget I said anythin'." God he would have killed for some hands to cover his face with now, but for the moment, it was all he could do to just not look her in the eye.

"Forgettin' ya said somethin' means ya said somethin', Heiji." Kazuha insisted, narrowing her eyes- even as the faintest of red tints touched her cheeks. "Repeat it."

"No, no, there's no way-!" Heiji began, chancing a glance back in her direction, before quickly darting his eyes away again. "I mean, c'mon... there's no way ya'd want ta hear somethin' like that from someone who's just a head, right? So just forget that I said-!"

Cutting him off with a kiss was almost unfair, in this situation, seeing as there wasn't a damn thing he could do to stop her.

And honestly, given how surprisingly soft her lips were, he almost didn't want to.

...that, he decided, was also very, very unfair.

"...so about that do over."

Yanking far harder on the thread than she needed to, Kazuha's responded with merely a rather sharp-

"No way."

[setsunameioh]

Umm...If you don't know what to write, could you write a story about Akane X Nao? I ship them so much... Only do it if you want.

while I don’t quite ship them together as a couple, I can at least write you some interaction with them! So here’s a quick little thing that I put together this afternoon, hopefully you like, anon!

"But are ya sure it's alright?"

Pausing from prodding the fire, Midorikawa Nao tossed in the stick she had been using to do so, before glancing up at her friend. "What is?"

"Leavin' Miyuki an' Yayoi ta go ta the camp store." Hino Akane finished, listening to the sound of the campfire crackling as the new piece of wood was tossed in. "Don't ya think they might get lost? It'll be dark soon."

"It'll be fine." Nao said simply. "That's why I sent Reika with them. Besides," letting out a long sigh, her eyes narrowed, "...if someone hadn't forgotten to bring the things they promised to, they wouldn't have to be going at this time of evening in the first place."

"Well that's..." Obviously trying to think up an excuse, Akane let out a long sigh of her own, giving Nao a rather helpless shrug of her shoulders. "I even bought the stuff, but dad distracted me while I was packin', so I ended up forgettin' all of it."

"Geez." Frowning, Nao could only turn her gaze back to the campfire. "Weren't you the one who said to leave it to you?"

"Yeah, sorry, sorry." Holding up a hand in a pleading gesture, Akane closed one of her eyes, slightly tilting her head. "Ya can forgive me, right, Nao?"

Allowing for a slight pause before she answered, the sound of wood crackling in the fire acting as her signal, Nao spared a glance back towards Akane. "I suppose I can't help it. It isn't really your fault. Just try and remember next time!"

"I will, I will!" Nodding her head, Akane glanced behind her. "But it's lucky that this campin' site had a camp store in the first place. I mean, given the luck we were havin' at fishin' this afternoon, an' all. I think Yayoi was the only one who caught anythin'."

"Well, not that we could have eaten the fish she caught in the first place." Nao recalled. "Something that small would barely even qualify as a snack."

"Right? It sure put up a hell of a fight fer all that, though. When it turned out ta be that small, I couldn't help but be surprised!" Akane said, a quick grin on her face. "But speakin' of Yayoi, they're sure takin' their time, those four."

"Now that you mention it..." Nao noted, glancing back into the forest, a slight frown on her face. Even though their campsite was lit by their campfire, and even though the sun was still present, the forest that divided them from the camp store was already starting to grow dark. "Maybe they did get lost after all."

"Or maybe Candy wandered off somewhere." Akane suggested.

"...that's possible, too." Nao admitted. "Maybe we should have had Candy stay here."

"Probably." Akane noted, before shrugging her shoulders. "Well, it's probably fine. As long as they didn't run into that."

It was all that Akane could do to not let her expression change as she watched Nao's very much do the same- an entirely different kind of worry surfacing on her face than before. "T-that? W-what do you mean by that, Akane?"

"Oh, ya didn't know?" Akane asked, leaning back a little, tilting her head. "There's apparently a legend around these parts about a super scary monster."

"No, no, that can't be right." Even as Nao said that, she didn't fool her- not with the way she nervously glanced towards the woods, almost seeming to make herself a bit smaller. "They wouldn't let people camp around here if that were true, right?"

"Ya think?" Akane asked. "Maybe they're just coverin' it up?"

"N-no way." Nao stammered. "I bet you're just making that up to scare me. Besides, if you knew something like that, you wouldn't have let those four go off on their own!"

There was another slight pause, and Akane swore that Nao nearly jumped at the sound of the campfire crackling- before she had decided that she'd probably played this up enough. "Ya got me there. I was only just jokin'. There's no monster or anythin' like that in these-"

"M-monster!?"

Ah.

Turning her head, Akane realized a second too late that hadn't been the sound of the campfire crackling at all- but the sound of a stick that Miyuki had broken upon returning to the campsite. Judging from her expression, she had only heard the word monster, and nothing else.

"T-there's a monster here, Akane-chan!?"

"No, that's not-!" Springing to her feet, Akane glanced back down at Nao, taking one look at her expression, and realized that any pleas of assistance were going to fall on deaf ears here. "That's not it, Miyuki! Listen fer a-!"

...well, at least Yayoi looked weirdly excited about this.

[setsunameioh]

knock knock it’s even more nagano au. in which koumei has a near encounter with local osakan cryptid, hattori heiji

canon: detective conan (nagano au) characters: morofushi takaaki, mentions of hattori heiji summary: should kansuke wake, perhaps it would be prudent to ask if he was aware of any clones- namely, those of the younger variety.

He'd only stepped out for fifteen minutes, to fetch some tea. Yet judging from the state of the station, he would have thought it had been much longer than that. There was no actual damage to any physical piece of the station itself- what damage there was seemed to lie more squarely in the state of his men, all with a look to them as if they had stayed up for far too many nights straight while on stakeout.

"...by any chance, did something happen while I was away?"

"Oh, you're back, inspector." One of his subordinates, one of the rookies, Morofushi recalled, finally looked up to acknowledge his presence. "You had a visitor."

"Had?" Morofushi asked, merely arching a brow. "As in, not any longer?"

"No, he left already." The same officer said, shaking his head. "Didn't even bother to introduce himself."

"I see." Morofushi said, blinking. It must have quite some visitor, judging from the circumstances. "And? What did this guest want from me?"

"He wanted to ask you some questions. About that high school detective, Kudo Shinichi." The officer told him.

Now that caught his attention right away. After all, it hadn't really been all that long since the one in question had found himself in the most peculiar of circumstances, shrunk back down to his childhood state. Naturally, this was knowledge that was kept well under wraps, and not something that anyone at the small local station that he had found himself stationed at would have any reason to know.

So to hear of someone looking for him... it piqued his interest, to say the least. The only reason it failed to raise the sound of alarm was because it wasn't the first time it had happened- there had been at least one other time before this, with a young woman who he would later learned attempted to claim that she was his girlfriend, in order to draw him out and receive his assistance.

What did bother him, rather, was the strange sense of deja vu this scene seemed to bring about. Barging in without nary a mind to any formalities- he could almost call it Kansuke's trademark.

"Oh?" Morofushi asked. "I don't suppose he told you, what exactly it was that he wanted from Shinichi-kun."

"He didn't say that either." The officer told him, shaking his head. "He asked a lot of questions, mostly, barely even let us answer half of them. Asked after you specifically. We told him you were out, and would be back in a few minutes, but apparently he couldn't wait that long."

"Not much of one for patience, then." Morofushi noted. "Sounds familiar."

"Hm?"

"Ah, no, it's nothing. Continue." Morofushi told him. After all, there was no way that that one could come here, not in his condition, no matter how similar the description of someone loudly demanding to meet him without prior appointment or warning was.

It surely wasn't as if the young man in question resembled him. Though he had not yet heard what it was that he looked like, the odds for such a thing... ridiculous.

"Continue, you say... there's not much to tell beyond that, though." The officer noted with a frown. "Well, it shouldn't be that hard to find him if you want to speak with him yourself. Just look for the dark skinned young man making as much noise as possible, and you'll have found him."

...and that, Morofushi did find himself taking slight pause at. "...come again?"

"Like I said, a dark skinned-"

Not usually one to interrupt when others were speaking, Morofushi put aside some of his usual tact, holding up a hand to stop them. "If you'll pardon me for a moment."

Stepping outside with nary another word, Morofushi pulled out his cellphone, hesitating for a moment. It was an absurd thought, to be sure- if something like that had happened, not only would they have called him about it already, but there was almost no way that he would be up and moving around already.

Still, that description... it couldn't possibly be that there were two people like Yamato Kansuke in this world. The thought was enough to make him shudder.

...just to be on the safe side, he should probably check to confirm that the man in question was very much still sleeping.

"Yes, I am calling to inquire about a certain patient in your care. The name is-"

(He'd find out later that the young man in question was named Hattori Heiji, and was apparently a high school detective.

He was, supposedly, not in any way related to the still sleeping Yamato Kansuke, but to be quite frank, on that matter, Morofushi found himself entirely unconvinced.

...and very much sorely hoping that nobody had cloned said comatose inspector.)

[setsunameioh]

knock knock it’s nagano au time. shout out to my buddies @presumenothing and @deductionfreak bc they were involved in this nonsense.

in short, an au where ran and shinichi were raised in nagano, as opposed to tokyo, and thus of course, grew up around a certain trio.

He knew he'd forgotten about something.

"Yo, bozu."

The ka thunk of the inspector's crutch as it struck the ground was a sound that was already becoming rather familiar to him. In this case, the emotion it invoked in him was dread, apprehension.

He'd let down his guard.

"I think the two of us need to have a nice, long chat about something."

Turning slowly on his heel, Morofushi Conan swallowed, nervously looking up in the inspector's direction. Even before he had shrunk, Yamato Kansuke had always loomed over him- but in most cases, it was a benevolent loom, that of someone watching fondly over him.

Now... well, even without the huge scar on his face to add to the effect, the expression on it was enough to make a chill run down his spine.

"W-what are you talking about, Inspector Yamato?" Conan slowly asked, taking half a step back. "I don't think-"

"Oh please, kid." Brows furrowing together- as much as they could, seeing as he was missing half of his left- Kansuke took a step forward, the ka thunk of the butt of his crutch striking the floor making Conan slightly finch. "You thought piling on the sugar would be enough to fool me? That act you pulled was too sweet, even for me."

"W-what are you talking about?" The effort was probably in vain, but Conan couldn't help but go for one last spurt. "What act do you mean?"

"Listen, I don't know what's going on here, but the one thing I do know is that damn Koumei's been quiet as a lamb about you since I woke up." Kansuke told him, shifting his weight onto his good right leg, so that he could lightly press the butt of his crutch against Conan's forehead. "Starting to see why."

"...when did you figure it out?" Conan asked, his shoulders slumping, finally giving up.

"First time I saw you. What do you think I am, some kind of idiot?" Kansuke asked, setting his crutch back down on the floor, shifting his weight back.

"No, of course not." Conan said, shaking his head. "It's just..."

"Just what?" Kansuke asked, leaning down as much as he was able, staring him dead in the eye. "I would have thought that you'd depend on me if something went wrong, bozu. Which," arching his good brow, he cast a quick glance up and down his small figure, "...clearly something has."

"It's not that!" Conan quickly protested, shaking his head. "It's just... you were still recovering and everything, and the whole situation is really complicated. We didn't-"

"We, huh?" Kansuke asked, pulling himself up back to his full height- or at least, mostly. "I thought it seemed like Uehara was awfully friendly with you. She knows too, huh?"

"Well that's..." Conan trailed off a little. "It's not like I was planning on keeping it from you forever, Inspector Yamato, it just..."

"You know it's not inspector right now." Kansuke noted. "I'm just a police detective right now."

"I'm sure you'll get your old rank back soon, though." Conan pointed out, before heaving a sigh. "It was just... a bit awkward, that's all."

"Awkward?" Kansuke asked, tilting his head back. "What's awkward about it?"

"What isn't awkward about it?" Conan replied, arching a brow. "I'm tiny."

"Really? You look about the same height to me." It was a joke- and to that effect, the scarred officer cracked half a smile. "But still, what the hell happened to you while I was sleeping? The first thing I heard when I asked about you was that you had disappeared after a case in Tokyo, and nobody would tell me anything more. Don't you know how worried I was?"

"Honestly, between you and Uehara-" Clicking his tongue, Kansuke stopped himself there, leaving the sentence hanging. "Well whatever. You going to tell your uncle here the story or what? From the looks of you, there's one hell of one."

"You of all people have no right to say that, you know." Conan observed.

"Shut up." Kansuke grumbled. "I didn't come here to be sassed by a toddler."

"And yet..." Trailing off a little, Conan spread out his hands, giving the scarred man a helpless expression.

"Want me to tell Akira-san?" Kansuke asked.

"Ah, no." Conan said quickly. "Sorry."

"That's what I thought. Now," shifting his weight again, Kansuke leaned more heavily on his crutch, "...you gonna talk, or do I have to hoist you by the collar too?"

"I'll talk, I'll talk."

"That's all well and good and all, but I've got just one question for you, bozu."

"What's that?"

"The hell did you take on Koumei's name for?"

[setsunameioh]

the second part of this. please enjoy the fallout of tiny, shrunken Kansuke.

Series: Detective Conan Characters: Uehara Yui, Yamato Kansuke, Morofushi Takaaki, Edogawa Conan, Haibara Ai Summary: Conan gets what might very well be the most unexpected phone call of his entire life.

Contrary to popular belief, Edogawa Conan in fact did not panic every time an unknown number called his phone. As it turned out, his number was just one digit away from that of a popular bakery, so he'd grown rather used to getting the occasional wrong number from someone who wanted to ask him if they had run out of creme brulee yet. So when he got a call from an unknown number, he felt no sense of apprehension towards it.

In hindsight, he should have.

"Oh, you finally picked up!"

He didn't recognize the voice, but that was a given. What was surprising was that the person on the other end of the line sounded like a child. Perhaps then not someone calling for the bakery, but rather, a classmate?

No, if it was a classmate, he would have recognized their voice. Someone else from school then? Those three could be pretty liberal about giving out their phone numbers, his own included, to any of the students who might want to request the help of the Detective Boys. Though Genta's shoe locker was still the main method of communication, from time to time, they did get calls.

"Yeah, sorry about that, I just finished dinner." Conan said, a slight frown on his face. It did kind of bother him that the kid hadn't introduced himself at first, but he was probably just on the slightly rude side, like Genta could be at times. "Just to be sure, you're not calling about creme brulee are you?"

"Creme brulee? What is that, some kind of French thing?" There was a note of disdain in the child's voice, and Conan could almost picture a nose crinkling. "I don't like that kind of thing. This is Edogawa Conan, right?"

"Yeah, that's me, but who is this-"

"Great, then I got the right number after all!" The child cut him off. Dimly, in the background, he thought he could make out the sound of another voice. Older, female... his mother, perhaps? She seemed to be trying to tell him something, but he couldn't make out what it was that she was saying, and it didn't seem that the kid was paying her much mind either.

...it sounded a bit familiar actually, the voice. But where had he heard it before...?

"Anyways, as it turns out, you and I might need to have a chat about something. I was planning on coming over there tonight, but if you'd rather-"

Okay, now it was his turn to cut the kid off. "Tonight? It's late, and there's school tomorrow."

"What, not tonight? It's kind of important, you know!" The kid almost sounded a bit disappointed- but more annoyed than anything. For some reason, he couldn't shake the feeling that his annoyance was somehow familiar, but... It wasn't that the voice was ringing any bells, but something about their manner of speech...

...and that woman's voice. He was pretty sure he knew it from somewhere, but...

"Well, I'm sure it's important, but-" Conan began, only to internally grumble when he found himself being cut off again. Couldn't this kid let people finish their sentences?

"Besides, it's just first grade right anyways? I might not have a case to offer you this time, but I can promise that it'll be far more interesting than grade school busywork, bozu."

...ah.

The realization struck him like a pile of bricks, that final keyword helping things finally fall into place. The voice in the background was still faint, but he could at least make out part of it now- and at once, realized why it had sounded so familiar to him. He hadn't made out everything that she had said, but what he had caught was more than enough.

Kan-chan.

The boy, she'd called him Kan-chan.

Pulling the phone away from his ear, drowning out the sound of the voice that was much too young for it's owner, Conan confirmed what his worst fear was. The area code was indeed that of where he knew Nagano's police headquarters was located, though the number itself wasn't one that he recognized. And speaking of people he knew of in Nagano who called him bozu...

Drawing in a deep breath, Conan pressed the phone to his ear right now, putting aside the growing temptation to just hang up.

"...Inspector Yamato?"

(this part ended up being rather long, so click me to read the rest on AO3!)

[setsunameioh]

nobody asked for this but have this one anyways. special shout out to @deductionfreak and @presumenothing who ended up helping me create this au in the first place!

Series: Detective Conan Characters: Uehara Yui, Yamato Kansuke, Morofushi Takaaki Summary: Yamato Kansuke had a knack for showing up at the most unexpected of times, so when he turned up at her doorstep late at night, it hardly gave Yui any pause. What did, however, was the simple fact that he was far shorter than she remembered him to be. (aka what if kansuke shrank)

Even before he had lost an eye and started walking with a cane, her childhood friend always been of the recognizable sort. She'd never once in her life had the problem of mistaking him for someone else, nor vice versa, and could recognize him easily, even from quite the distance. She knew the sound of his footsteps well- both the gait that he had before the accident, and the one he had gained after it.

It was no small surprise, really. Compared to the amount of her life that she had spent following after Yamato Kansuke, the amount of time she had spent without him was really quite small. It was no wonder she knew him half as well as she did.

It was also why, when he so unexpectedly turned up on her doorstep late at night, that she recognized him instantly- or at the very least, she did once the gears in her head started working again. That was no wonder either- was there anyone who wouldn't have even the slightest moment of pause when confronted with someone they knew to be older than them, but instead found them quite a bit younger?

By over twenty years, she found herself thinking, making a quick mental check against the photographs that she had seen before. Yes, that sounded about right. Without a doubt, the Yamato Kansuke that stood before her was not the brash thirty five year old police inspector, but rather...

If she had to guess, she'd say that he was no older than eight.

"...Kan-chan?"

"How many times do I have to tell you, it's not Kan-chan." Ah, so it wasn't just his body that had returned to being a child's, she thought to herself, making note of fact that his pitch had risen quite considerably. "And how about letting me in already, Uehara?"

"Ah, right, of course!" As if suddenly remembering her manners in spite of the absurd situation, Yui stepped aside, watching as the now much smaller Kansuke half dragged himself inside of her apartment. Dragged was a good word for it, since though he'd brought it with him, his usual crutch was far too large to be of much use, causing his gait to be far more unbalanced than it usually was.

Whatever had turned the clock back for him had apparently not healed all wounds- but she could tell that much just from the scar on his face, which somehow seemed all the larger when placed on the face of a child. Though she had been able to roughly place his age right away, she couldn't say that the child she was looking at was an exact replica of the Yamato Kansuke from those photographs- for one thing, even without the obvious marks that his accident had left behind, his hair never been that long as a child.

Dimly noting that he had seemed to have lost his shoes somewhere- as well as his pants, Yui turned to watch him make his way into her apartment. Since the only thing he seemed to be wearing was a hooded sweatshirt meant for jogging, it was no wonder he was cold- even if he now practically swam in said sweatshirt.

Well, given the fact that he only seemed to come about up to her thigh now, it was no small wonder his own clothes didn't seem to fit.

"Close the door already, it's freezing outside!" Though his voice was no longer the gruff tone that she had gotten used to, somehow, that usual irritated snap of his hadn't changed. It was enough to startle her out of her thoughts, causing her to shut the door behind her- and to lock it too, just for good measure.

What on earth had he managed to get into this time?

"Um, Kan-chan...?" Yui began, only to find herself cut off again, as he all but made himself at home, taking a seat on the floor, resting his crutch against the sofa behind him.

"Well, don't just stand there, Uehara. I'm cold! Is it too much to ask for something warm to drink around here?" It was actually quite amazing how he could still bark, even with that childish voice. "And it's not Kan-chan."

Drawing in a sharp breath, deciding that if she wasn't going to put up with that kind of behavior from the thirty five year old Yamato Kansuke, she most certainly wasn't going to let the eight year old Yamato Kansuke get away with it, Yui placed her hands on her hips, narrowing her eyes. "And I hardly think you're suited for the name of Inspector Yamato right now, Kan-chan. I don't think the police department hires toddlers."

At that, she made the shrunken inspector sputter, opening and shutting his mouth as he tried to speak without first thinking of a proper response. When he did come up with one, the irritation that had been only lightly dusting his voice before all at once became far more intense- though coming from a child, it was a bit hard to take seriously.

Well, not that she ever had. Kansuke's bark might put others off, but she was entirely used to it, fully aware that more than half the time, there was no actual bite behind it.

"I'm not a toddler, Uehara." Kansuke told her. "I'm at least grade school age!"

The amount of indignation in his voice was almost too much for her- and in spite of herself, she couldn't help but snort. Kansuke, it would seem, saw the humor in it himself- for he finally let a smile crack his otherwise sour expression.

"Yes, yes, grade school I suppose is more accurate." Yui said finally. "You want something warm, right? I guess I can't exactly give you coffee now."

"I wouldn't want any of your nasty coffee anyways." Kansuke remarked.

"Oh, maybe I'll make it then." Yui remarked right back, casting a glance back towards him, even as she reached for a pair of cups from her cupboard. As he opened up his mouth to protest, she let out a faint laugh, cutting him off. "I'm only joking. I got some tea from Inspector Morofushi the other day, so I'll make us that. While you explain this, I hope."

"I was getting there!" Kansuke almost huffed, cocking his head to the side. "And speaking of that tiny mustache bastard, there's not going to be a word of this to him! If he finds out about this..."

"Ah, actually-" Yui began.

"Find out what?"

"...he's actually already here." Yui finished, letting out a long sigh.

"That I am." Koumei remarked with ease, seeming to take the whole situation in stride. "I see Kansuke-kun has gotten shorter since I saw him last."

For a long moment, no one else spoke, only the sound of the kettle heating up breaking what otherwise was a rather awkward silence. Finally, Kansuke broke it, glancing between the pair, the expression on his face a mixture between exasperation and annoyance. "...do I even want to know what Koumei is doing in your apartment, Uehara?"

"If you must know, the heating in my unit broke." Koumei told him. "Since Uehara-san has a guest room, she kindly invited me to spend the night as it seems it won't be fixed until tomorrow."

"What, you couldn't handle a little chill?" Kansuke asked, sour tone not fading. "Why don't you hurry up and get lost, Koumei? Uehara and I were talking about something important here."

"I can see that." Koumei said simply, taking a seat at the table. "Ah, a cup of tea for me as well, if you could, Uehara-san."

"...you're not leaving, are you?"

"And miss something as interesting as this?" Koumei asked, merely arching his brow. "Hardly."

Clicking his tongue, Kansuke looked away in disgust, refusing to face the man- a tactic that Yui somehow couldn't help but feel was entirely appropriate for his new body. "Damnit."

"Language, Kan-chan." Now that she had composed herself somewhat, Yui lightly scolded the boy, doing her best to mask her teasing intent. "Children don't swear."

"Like I said, I'm not a child, Uehara!" Kansuke snapped.

"Your appearance would indicate otherwise." Koumei noted. "Perhaps you should address Uehara-san with a bit more respect."

"Perhaps I should start calling you Koumei-ojisan." Kansuke remarked dryly.

That earned a twitch in Koumei's otherwise perfectly composed expression. "So you admit that you're a child, then."

"I'm not a-!" Kansuke began, only to be cut off by the sound of Yui slamming a tray against the table.

"Right now, you're both acting like children." Yui pointed out. "And since only one of you actually looks it, I would advise the both of you to desist, before I revoke my generous offer and let you both enjoy the cold together."

"...I'm still not a child." Kansuke muttered underneath his breath.

"Yes, yes, you're not a child." Yui said simply, placing a cup of tea in front of him. "But Inspector Morofushi is right. You do look like one. Any chance you care to explain, Kan-chan?"

"I was rather hoping for that myself. Even for you, turning into a child is most unusual." Koumei remarked, accepting the cup that he was being offered. "Ah, thank you."

Heaving a long, disgruntled sigh, Kansuke took a long sip of tea before he addressed the question at hand. "Just so you know, if I had both of my eyes, something like this wouldn't have happened. Damn bastard came up on my blind side."

"And don't language me again, Uehara." Kansuke added, his good eye flickering in her direction.

"I wasn't going to." Yui half pouted. "Don't get so mad, Kan-chan. I was only just teasing you a bit."

He was actually a bit cute, so it was hard to resist. But somehow she felt that calling him cute wouldn't go over well with him, so she wisely decided to keep it to herself.

There was a slight pause at that, Kansuke's lips curling into a frown- before he seemed to let it go with a slight shrug. "Well, whatever. I only managed to see one of them, and didn't get a chance to see the partner of his that took me by surprise, but like hell I'd ever forget the face of the one I did see."

"Did you get their names by any chance?" Yui asked, biting back a comment about unforgettable faces. "And what do you mean, took you by surprise? Are you saying that someone did this to you?"

"I've heard of monsters that steal youth, but never the reverse." Koumei noted.

"Not monsters, people." Kansuke stressed, turning his head to look at Koumei. "Just a pair of crooks. That huge brute seemed to be up to something, so I thought I would look into it a bit, and look how things turned out for me."

"But what exactly did they do to you, Kan-chan?" Yui asked. "You still haven't told us yet."

"About that," Kansuke said, hand straying up behind his head, grimacing a little as his fingers brushed over the back of it. "...I don't actually remember."

"No wonder. Judging from the knot on your head, you must have been hit fairly hard." Koumei noted. "Though I'm surprised that anyone could have knocked someone with as thick a skull as yours out."

"Well, maybe if my skull was as thick as yours, Koumei." Kansuke shot back, dropping his hand away from his head.

"Eh? You got hit on the head?" Yui asked, rising to her feet, wasting no time in inserting herself behind him, crouching down. Though Kansuke grumbled at the attention, he didn't stop her from fussing over him, only averting his eye so that he didn't have to look at the expression Koumei was giving him.

Bastard was probably thinking something along the lines of it looking like a mother fussing over her child anyways. Honestly. He was supposed to be the older one here.

"You're right!" Yui exclaimed after a moment. "Since your hair is so dark, I didn't notice at all. Are you sure you don't need to go to the hospital?"

"I'll be fine. I've taken worse hits before." Kansuke told her. "Even if I wanted to, it's not like I have any identification that we could use anyways. Who's going to believe I'm actually in my thirties when I have this sort of appearance?"

There was a slight pause, and then- "Besides, I've had more than enough of hospitals for one lifetime."

"...that's true." Yui admitted after a moment, pulling her hands away. "I guess you would have."

"Well, don't worry about it, Uehara." As if sensing her worries, he glanced back in her direction, flashing her a broad grin. "I'm made of pretty tough stuff!"

"If you say so, Kan-chan." Yui simply said. She might have accepted his refusal, but she knew full well that he was the type to downplay his own injuries, so watching over him wouldn't hurt. Even if he did complain about it later, she was used to the sound of his protests.

"Still, I doubt that turning you into a child was their intention." Koumei mused, ignoring how strange that sentence felt on his lips. In truth, he was working very hard to keep his composure in this moment, surreal as this situation was. "If you really saw something that you shouldn't have, it would make more sense for them to try and silence you."

"Yeah, that's what I was thinking. From what little I could gather before I blacked out, they seemed to recognize I was a cop, at least." Kansuke noted, pausing for a moment to glance behind him again. It didn't look as if Yui was going to move out from behind him, but at the very least, she was warm, so he wasn't going to protest too much. "Of course, by the time I woke up like this, they were long gone."

"I suppose all we can do at this point is go back to where you attacked." Koumei said, his gaze briefly flickering in Kansuke's direction, lips curling into a tight frown. "And perhaps find you some clothes that actually fit. Dare I ask where you left your pants?"

"Eh, somewhere." Kansuke said with a shrug. "Does it really matter?"

"If that pair really wanted to kill you, they might serve as evidence." Koumei noted. Normally he'd chide Kansuke for forgetting something that important, but to be fair, he did seem to have other things on his mind at the moment. He'd let him off- but only this once. "Regardless, there's not much else that can be done this late at night. What were you doing out at this hour anyways, Kansuke-kun?"

"Evening rehab." Kansuke said simply, finishing off his tea. "Oi, Uehara, seconds."

"Yes, yes." Taking the cup from him, Yui rose to her feet, making her way back over towards the kitchen. "But if you were using your usual route, that should have brought you closer to Inspector Morofushi's place... why come out all the way here, Kan-chan? It couldn't have been easy with your leg."

"I believe he already stated that he didn't want me to see him in such a comprising state." Koumei noted, leveling his gaze on him even as he took a polite sip of his tea. "Well, it would seem that his strategy this time failed."

"I swear, if you're setting up another Yamamoto Kansuke crack-" Kansuke began, pausing briefly mid sentence to accept the cup that Yui placed in his hand, "...then I suggest you quit. I'm seriously not in the mood."

"Now, now, you two." Yui said, taking her place at the table across from Kansuke back up, finally taking a moment to take a sip of her own tea. "I don't think bickering will get us anywhere at this point. I'm sure Kan-chan is tired anyways. It's pretty late."

"It's barely even nine." Kansuke noted, brows furrowing together. "I wouldn't call that late."

"For a child, it is." Koumei pointed out, ignoring Kansuke's pointed glower as he finished off his tea and rose to his feet. "Well then, I suppose I should go and collect the evidence that Kansuke-kun clumsily left behind."

"You try being compacted down to three times your height, and see how you handle it, Koumei." Kansuke dryly remarked. "Well, not that I'd ever want to see a child with that tiny mustache of yours, Koumei-ojisan."

"Yes, well," narrowing his eyes at the latter remark, Koumei refused to give the one who for all the world looked no different from any other mischievous child the satisfaction of further reaction, "...we'll finish this discussion when I return. Provided Kansuke-kun hasn't fallen asleep by then."

"Like I said, just because I look like a kid doesn't mean I am-!"

Though she thought she would have to interrupt their bickering once more, Yui found it was Kansuke himself who schooled himself into silence. He appeared to be rather lost in thought, though as to what it could be that had caused his thoughts to drift so inward was beyond her ability to guess.

"Hey, Uehara." Kansuke began, sparing her a glance. "You still have that girl's phone number, don't you? The one with the ponytail, who followed around that loudmouthed Osakan kid?"

"You mean Kazuha-chan?" Yui asked, blinking a little, before nodding her head. "Yes, I do. But what on earth do you need her for?"

Even as she asked that, the gears in her own head began to turn- and out of the corner of her eye, she could see them doing very much the same in Koumei's head as well. Speaking of children who didn't always act very much like children...

"...do you perhaps want Conan-kun's phone number?"

"That'd be bingo."

Elsewhere, in Tokyo, Edogawa Conan let out a loud sneeze, hoping that he wasn't catching a cold again.

[setsunameioh]

a reminder that you can always drop prompt requests in my inbox!

I currently take prompts for Sailor Moon, Detective Conan, and (most) Precure series!

[setsunameioh]

Fashion Pinch!

aka that oneshot where Hime finally calls Blue out on his lousy fashion sense

"Where do you think you're going, God?!"

"My date...?"

"In those clothes?" He had thought that Hime had been quiet for awhile now, but never could he have imagined that he'd find her blocking his way on the stairs, hands planted firmly on her hips, thick brows furrowed in marked displeasure.

"Is there something wrong with my clothes?" Blue asked, plucking at the collar of his shirt. "I dress like this everyday, Hime."

"And that's exactly the problem!" Jutting a finger forward, it lingered mere inches from his face, Hime's glare sharpening. "Don't you realize how special of a day this is, God?! It's your first date, your first date!

It was, in truth. Though he had been together with Mirage for some time now, most of that time had been spent helping his brother bring new life to his planet. With that matter finally starting to show some promise, Blue had returned with Mirage back to his own planet, at the very least, for the time being. Should his brother even need him back, he wouldn't hesitate to head there once more.

Now that they had returned to Earth, he had decided that he would see to it that he show Mirage a good time- just as she deserved, and more. He never could have imagined that the one standing in his way of that would be Hime, of all people... and over such a thing. Especially since she had been so excited about it before, helping him to make a plan and everything.

"Of course I realize that it's a special day." Blue told her, frowning a bit. At the very least, he could hear the girl out, even if he didn't understand what it was that had made her so upset. "And I think my clothes are..."

"Your clothes are unacceptable even on a regular day, God." Hime told him frankly, folding her arms in front of his chest, her gaze falling downwards, just a bit. From the way that she crinkled her nose, it was clear that she didn't like what she saw. "But for your first date with Mirage-san, you're going to wear something better than that!"

"Unacceptable...?" Frankly quite astonished at the harsh tone the girl that he had come to think of as a daughter had taken, Blue glanced down at his own ensemble. He'd always thought of himself as quite stylish, actually, so to hear that from someone who prided herself on being fashion forward was...

It stung, to be honest.

"That's right, unacceptable!" Hime said. "I kept quiet about it until now, God, but the way you dress is so unfashionable! No one wants to see that much of your chest! And your collar! Why does your collar need to be so high?"

"R-really?" Stammering a little, the god of earth couldn't help but be flabbergasted at this information, reacting as if it were completely new to him. "But when I purchased this shirt it was..."

"And when was that?" Hime asked, once again bringing up her gaze to the level of his eyes. "Because right now, it's the twenty first century, God! Styles have changed, and I don't think that shirt of yours will ever go retro!"

"That's why I can't possibly allow you to leave this house without a proper date outfit!" Hime told him, the firm nod of her head all the clue he needed that even if he should try and escape through a mirror, he wouldn't actually be able to get away. "But don't worry. I thought that something like this would happen, and planned ahead."

"No, I couldn't possibly trouble you..." Blue began, before he found himself being cut off, once more.

"I'm troubled! I'm super troubled! To think that the god of this planet dresses this way... it's super troubling!" Hime told him. "Mirage-san deserves to have you at your best, God, and your best isn't a shirt that's a few centuries out of date!"

Well, Blue thought to himself, as Hime all but took him by the arm and dragged him back upstairs- she'd already helped to defeat one God. That he wouldn't stand a chance against her himself... that was probably something that he should have seen coming.

[setsunameioh]

To Adjust

you can definitely consider this one a continuation of the previous halloweenverse au oneshot that I wrote. Dying and coming back to life isn’t that easy, but thankfully, Heiji thinks he knows just how to deal with all of the resulting issues.

Ignore them.

(Heiji may be wrong about this.) you can also read on AO3!

The sound of his alarm drowned out the soft beep of the device that had become something of his lifeline. There was irony in that, but not one that he much cared to dwell on.

There was no longer any need for his alarm clock, yet he still hadn't brought himself to disable it yet. In some ways, it all still felt surreal, the reality that he found himself in. As if he would wake up from it one day, the whole thing having been a rather strange dream. He would tell Kazuha about it, and the two of them would laugh it off together, once she finished getting angry at him for being an idiot and getting himself into an accident.

But reality was reality, and the faster he accepted, the better. He wasn't the type to run away from that sort of thing.

Even if it did involve accepting his own death.

"Yes, yes, I hear ya, I hear ya." Heiji muttered to himself, reaching out to silence his alarm clock. His other hand straying up towards the wire that dangled from his head, he carefully plucked it out of the bolt that he had inserted it into it. "An' ya too. Shut up, both of ya."

It was morning already. As he thought, Ellery Queen's works really were the best- the night had flown right by as he was reading them. Still, he was going to have to find some other way to spend his nights, because he was nearly out of things to read. And well...

"An' here comes the fun part." Heiji muttered to himself, dimly noting that even his jaw felt stiff. The novels might be good, and he was glad to have the time to revisit them, but he had to wonder if they were seriously worth the stiffness that they brought in the morning. Listening to the way his joints creaked as he moved from the position he had been in for most of the night, Heiji grimaced.

"Maybe I should take up night joggin' or somethin'." Finally working out enough of it to allow himself to move properly, at least to the point where he could move himself from his desk chair, Heiji took the chance to take a nice big stretch, almost feeling the surge of electricity flowing through him, reminding his muscles that he wasn't quite dead yet.

It was the only thing that was keeping him alive, really. He still didn't fully understand how it was that Kazuha had done it, nor even what it was exactly that she had done to him, but the one thing that he did understand was that he was now dependent on the stuff. It had all been rather touch and go at first- but his need to keep the electric current in his body going was something that they had discovered rather early on.

Mainly by him dying, again. Once had been bad enough, but twice? Needless to say, he was definitely trying to avoid going for a third time.

"Least I don't need jumper cables anymore." Heiji muttered to himself, unplugging the other end of the charging device that had been made for him. It had been a gift, from Kudo, and one that he had been rather grateful, considering his previous method of getting more juice. "I'll have ta tell Kudo ta thank that professor friend of his. Looks like it worked out pretty well."

Coiling it up, Heiji placed it on his desk. The fact that it was portable was handy- he hadn't gotten a single one since he had come back to life, but he imagined that sooner or later, people would be requesting his services again. Granted, people coming back from the dead wasn't really that common, but to be frank, he was hardly the strangest thing out there.

But well... he was probably the only person who had been brought back to life using jumper cables, a lightning rod, and a pair of large bolts, drilled right into his skull. How Kazuha had managed to obtain even one of those things, nevermind them all, was still quite the mystery to him. But that, much like the question of how she'd managed to even drill the things into his skull in the first place, were questions he felt that were better unasked.

He was grateful, in the end. Being alive was way better than being dead, even if the body that she had brought him back in was somewhat half assed.

And well... it wasn't like was a zombie, or anything like that. His heart still beat, if rather weakly, and his body tended to protest if he stopped breathing for too long. There was no desire to munch on brains or human flesh, and he figured if something like that was going to come, it would have already happened. Since it hadn't, he figured in that regard, he was in the clear.

Really, the only downsides that he could see was the fact that he couldn't sleep anymore, the fact that he more or less required an external power supply, and well... there was the stiffness, that too. Thankfully, the latter only happened when he remained in one place for too long- which for him, wasn't all that common.

Okay, so he might have left out some things- like the fact that his body parts tended to fall off every now and again, and the fact that he couldn't control his own strength all that well anymore. But aside from that-!

...okay, so there was also the fact that he stood out a lot more than he previously did, and the fact that he was pretty sure that he no longer had a soul, but other than that- other than that, there were pretty much no downsides to having been resurrected.

Okay, in hindsight, that was actually a lot of downsides. But hey, still better than being six feet under!

On the plus side, he didn't smell like a corpse. He also seemed to be safe from decomposition, and as far as he knew, he'd never attracted any maggots. And if he could just harness it, the fact that he was somewhat stronger than he used to be might actually come in handy one day.

That harnessing part was important, though. The last thing he wanted to do was accidentally kill a guy just because he had underestimated exactly who much strength he was putting out. The running theory was that his lack of control had to do with the fact that his limbs had been sewn back on to him- and again, their sometimes tendency to just... fall off.

He just wished that didn't also happen to include his head.

The yawn he let out was mostly habit, as he made his way from his room. At the very least, his legs seemed to be loosening up as he walked, making him feel less like a living corpse, and more like a human being. Technically he was both of those things, but meh, semantics.

At least he'd gotten used to the sight of himself. It wasn't as if he was ugly or anything now, god forbid that ever happen, but there was no way to miss the fact that he had two large bolts drilled into either side of his skull, even if one somehow managed to miss the very obvious stitch work that held him together now.

He fancied himself as being pretty good at covering up the fact that there were some parts of this that he wasn't okay with just yet, but he was pretty sure everyone had noticed his recent fondness for long sleeves and raised hoods. It wasn't as if people staring at him made him self-conscious, not exactly (okay, so it did actually, but you weren't about to hear him admit that), but rather, it kind of made him want to pick a fight with them.

Was it this bad for Kudo and Neechan, whenever they visited Osaka? He'd always been aware that there weren't many non-humans living in the city, so those that did tended to stick out, but he'd never thought it had been that bad. If that really was the case... maybe he owed the two of them an apology, for dragging them here and there.

(Had it felt like he was putting them on display? God, he hoped not.)

Shaking off such thoughts, Heiji splashed his face with water, wiping it down with a towel. Well, at the very least, there were some things that hadn't changed. His morning routine was no different than usual, other than the waking up part. For the moment, he hadn't been going to school, though his mother had made arrangements for him to return when he was ready.

He'd tried to point out that since he'd died, there was no need for him to go back, but she wasn't about to have any of that. Either finish high school, or find another house to live in- and he wasn't about to find out if she was actually serious about that threat.

Routine was good, he'd come to decide. As he tried to readjust to what sometimes felt as if it were an entirely new body, even though it was the one he'd had all his life, just changed, it helped to ground him somewhat. So while he dreaded it in part, maybe going back to school would do him more favors that it would harm.

Besides, he missed having that time with Kazuha. And he was pretty sure getting back into the swing of things with kendo would help him resolve those issues with controlling his strength. Not to mention that if he avoided it forever, it would probably come across as him running away- rumor had spread, of course it had, that the famous high school detective of the west had not only died, but had also come back to life.

Thankfully, the part where he had come back to life buck naked in the middle of an empty parking lot hadn't gotten out yet. Nor the fact that he had been buck naked in the middle of an empty parking lot, while his best friend's girlfriend had also been there. Talk about awkward.

As much as he usually liked being the center of attention, this time was different. While the buzz had not yet spread outside of Osaka, at least to his knowledge, it had prompted a debate over both the ethical and legal ramifications of his resurrection. He was pretty sure that Kazuha had been thinking about neither of those things when she'd done it- hell, he wasn't even sure if she was really thinking anything at all.

She'd just done it, and it had worked. How it had, nobody quite knew, but he was here now, and like hell he was planning on dying all over again just because someone said it was morally wrong for him to be here now. It wasn't technically against the law, at least not in Japan anyways- though he had gained a rather extensive list of countries which he could no longer enter.

Ah, another drawback.

He'd been asked to give interviews, naturally, but he'd turned them down. Normally he would have jumped at the chance, always happy to get his name out there if he could, but he got the feeling that they would probably ask him questions he'd rather not answer. He wasn't ready to discuss it yet, the accident that had lead up to his death, nor anything that had happened afterwards.

Because yeah, he could still remember some of the after, though only vaguely. The first time, at the very least, he did- the second time he had died? Not so much. He'd been here, and then he hadn't been, which was pretty much when he had started to suspect that he'd ditched his soul somewhere along the road.

Though considering he hadn't been acting weird or anything like that, maybe he didn't really need it? Still, it felt like the sort of thing he should probably keep to himself- the last thing he wanted was for Kazuha to feel responsible for it.

She was, but he wasn't about to hold it against her.

Letting out a long breath, Heiji dragged himself out of the bathroom, heading towards the kitchen. If there was one thing he was thankful for, it was the fact that he was still capable of eating- he didn't need to, per say, but like hell he was going to let that get in the way. Going without eating for the rest of his life... that there sounded like a regular hell on earth.

"Oh, Heiji, you're awake?"

His mother, like his father, wasn't the type to let things slip all that often- but he could make out the way she flinched at her own poor choice of words. It was only natural- it might be his body, but he wasn't the only one who had to get used to it. It wasn't as if it made him angry or anything like that, not when he did very much the same thing himself. If anything, what he disliked more was when people made a big deal out of it.

"Yeah, got up a few minutes." Heiji told her, flashing his mother a broad grin, trying to let her know it didn't bother him. "Where's the old man? He already at work?"

"He never left work." Shizuka noted, pursing her lips together. "Something about a big case."

"A big case?" Heiji asked, perking right up at that. "So about that..."

"No." Shizuka said sharply, turning back on her heel, locking eyes with her son. "It's not a murder case anyways, Heiji."

"Tch." Clicking his tongue, Heiji pulled out a chair, leaning back in it. "That's no fun. Besides, it's not like I got killed by a murderer or anythin' like that!"

"You got into that accident on the way back from a request, might I point out." Shizuka noted, before she let out a long sigh. Realistically speaking, she knew that even if she wanted to, there was no way she could keep him away from detective work forever. And it wasn't even as if she really wanted to- she didn't want to become the type of mother that crushed her own child's dreams.

"Fair point." Heiji admitted, letting the chair fall back on the floor. "Can't believe they revoked my license."

"You'll get it back, in due time." Shizuka said simply. "It's not as if you have a bike to use it with at the moment anyways. It was in even more pieces than you were."

"An impressive feat." Heiji muttered, half under his breath. "Guess it would be cheaper ta buy a new one at this point. Too bad, I liked that bike."

"Be more careful this time." Shizuka advised him, a note of something different creeping into the usual stern tone her lectures took on. However slight it was, Heiji recognized it for what it was right away, it's presence enough to force him to avert his eyes from her.

Well of course. Her only son had died. Their child dying before them... where there any decent parent that didn't fear that the most?

He wasn't ready to face that either yet, so he didn't.

"You're lucky that Kazuha-chan managed to even pull this off." Shizuka noted, her gaze straying up towards one of the bolts, her lips twisting into an even deeper frown. "If she hadn't..."

Closing her eyes, Shizuka drew in a long breath. Apparently he wasn't the only one not yet ready to talk about it.

"Just be careful." Shizuka told him, before opening up her eyes, changing the topic. "Now, breakfast's almost ready. It's just you and me this morning, but do me a favor and put out the dishes, would you?"

Swallowing back anything else that he might have wanted to say, Heiji instead forced a smile. Maybe he'd be ready to discuss it one day, but not today- and probably not the day after that either. "Leave it ta me!"

"Kazuha~!"

Nearly leaping out of her skin at the sound of the unexpected greeting, Kazuha turned sharply on her heel, shooting a glower towards the source of it. From the look on his face, she could tell full well that had been his intention.

"An' just how long were ya waitin' outside my house, hopin' ta give ma heart attack, Heiji?" Kazuha asked, folding her arms in front of her chest, letting her schoolbag dangle.

"Not that long." Heiji told her, tucking his hands into his pockets, the broad grin on his face not fading. "Just long enough to make it totally worth it."

"Just like all the vampire puns were at Kudo-kun's expense?" Kazuha asked, arching a brow.

"Yeah, totally worth it." Heiji confirmed, giving her a nod of his head. Karma had sure caught up to him in a hell of a way for it, but there was no way he could pass up the chance to crack a few jokes, not when the culprit of that case had been imitating a vampire of all things. If he missed that chance, he might have not gotten another one!

"Yer unbelievable." Kazuha said, letting out a slight sigh, before she finally returned his smile, dropping her arms. "What, ya came here ta walk me ta school? Based on how yer dressed, it doesn't look like yer plannin' on goin' in with me."

"Not yet." Heiji admitted, a hand straying up towards the back of his neck, awkwardly rubbing it. "Maybe next week. There's a limit ta how long I can play hooky, after all. Well, at the very least, they won't count the week I was dead against me, absence wise."

"Rather, I'm just amazed there's actually a law fer that." Kazuha noted. "But it works out fer us, so I'm not about ta complain. Everyone's excited ta see ya come back though, it's just not the same without ya, Heiji."

"What, they miss seein' my handsome face around?" Heiji asked, placing a hand against his chin, flashing her another smile. "It can't be helped then! If they really want ta see me that badly, I suppose I'll have ta grant their wishes."

There was another meaning behind her words- that it was alright for him to come back, but he wasn't about to comment on that out loud. It wasn't as if he was really worried about that, just-!

...just... actually, he didn't know how to put it. Maybe it was because he had died, but sometimes it felt as if he was somewhere where he shouldn't be, like he had walked into a room full of strangers in a place he didn't know. It was silly, really, seeing as he had grown up here, and very much belonged here, but it was a feeling that he couldn't shake.

Maybe if he ignored it, it would just go away.

"That's the spirit!" Kazuha said, her smile growing. She had been worried for awhile, but it seemed as if Heiji was gradually getting used to things. Really, she had been afraid for awhile if things would really work out- after all, even she hadn't fully expected her plan to work.

Or plans, really. She had several, and for the life of her, couldn't tell which one had worked. Still, he was glad that it had- more than being the person she was in love with, Heiji was her childhood friend. Ever since she could remember, he had been there, by her side, so to suddenly not have him there... she didn't want it.

And if she didn't have to accept it... then, why should she? Some might call her selfish, but she failed to see how bringing someone who obviously didn't want to die back to life was selfish!

It wasn't... was it?

"Then, let's go, shall we?" Heiji asked, his hands straying back towards his pockets again. "Do ya have practice today?"

"No, not today." Kazuha said, shaking her head. "What, ya plannin' on comin' ta pick me up too?"

"Ya got a problem with that?" Heiji asked, brows furrowing. "I just realized that I haven't done anythin' ta thank ya fer well... bringin' me back ta life, so I figured I should probably do somethin' fer ya."

"What, yer actually offerin' ta buy me somethin' without havin' ta lose at janken first?!" Kazuha asked, taking a step back, her eyes going wide from shock. "Are ya feelin' alright, Heiji? Maybe I really did screw somethin' up after all!"

"If yer gonna act that way about it, I'm gonna take my offer back, idiot." Heiji told her, shooting her a rather sour look. "Besides, it's not like I'm plannin' on takin' ya on a shoppin' trip or anythin' like that. I was just thinkin' that we could go an' grab a bite ta eat together or somethin'."

"I was only jokin', idiot." Kazuha said lightly, giving him a smile. "What, ya decided that bein' a hermit wasn't the life fer ya?"

"Shut up, I wasn't bein' a hermit." Heiji told her. "I just thought it was about time fer me ta start gettin' back ta my life, since ya went through the trouble of givin' it back ta me an' all. Could have afforded ta do a better job at it, though."

"I think I did a pretty good job of it myself!" Kazuha said, placing her hand on her chest, allowing it to swell with pride. "What, ya got complaints?"

"A whole bunch." Heiji said, leaning a bit closer to her. "Fer one thing, why the bolts?"

"That's just what was written in the notes! I'll have ya know, it wasn't easy ta get them in there." Kazuha said, frowning a bit, her gaze straying up in their direction. Even with the hood of his favorite hoodie raised, she could still make out where they were, appearing as two bumps on either side of his head.

He really didn't like them being there, did he? Well, it was to be expected- they did make him stand out, and not in a good way. It was only natural that he might be a bit self-conscious about it, even if he would never actually admit that much. Truth be told, at the time, she hadn't been thinking at all about how things would end up if she actually managed to pull it off- she hadn't been thinking much of anything, really.

Just that she couldn't accept this.

"...ya don't like it, do ya?" Kazuha finally asked, her grip on her schoolbag growing so tight, that the faux leather material dug into her hands. "...what I did ta ya."

Of course he didn't. Even if he had been brought back to life, she had robbed him of all sorts of important things, so there was no way that anyone actually-!

The knock on her forehead probably came out a bit stronger than Heiji had actually intended, but it served to break her free of the spiral of her own thoughts. Glancing up at him, one hand strayed up to where she had been tapped.

"Idiot." Heiji stated plainly, folding his arms in front of his chest. "Sure it's true that there's a lot of annoyances, but they're nothin' that I can't get used ta! I just need a bit of time ta adjust, that's all. There's no way I would resent ya fer goin' so far fer me, Kazuha, so don't ya dare say anythin' like that ever again!"

For a moment, the only reaction Kazuha could make was silence- before slowly, but surely, a smile spread out across her face. Those words, at least, had been perfectly honest.

"I see!" Kazuha said, her smile only growing, a weight all but lifting from her chest. "I'm glad!"

Returning her smile with one of his own, Heiji briefly took note of the fact that for a moment, it seemed almost as if his slowed heartbeat had quickened. It was a feeling that was gone as soon as it had come, so he didn't have long to dwell on it- it was probably nothing important, anyways.

"But still... why the bolts?"

"If ya keep up that kind of talk, I'm gonna have ya treat me ta the bakery by the station, Heiji. The expensive one."

"...I'm sorry. Please forgive me, Kazuha-sama."