#and for listening to the pandora's box that unfolded within this drawing

[lalaboy]

anatolleee silly little guy

[mintchocolateleaves]

Cost of Freedom: (9/??)

Summary: In which the plan starts to come together and Kaito makes a decision. Prison ! AU

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As soon as the lights are out, Kaito shuffles from his bunk, dropping to the floor. While he pulling a pencil from his pillow case, Shinichi unfolds the building plans, placing it on the cell floor. He holds his torch in his hands, cradling it between his thumb and index finger.

"Okay," Kaito says, sitting cross legged as he peers over at the plans, "let's get this started."

Shinichi gives him a glance, turns the torch on and points it at paper. It's not a bright light, a low powered torch with batteries Kaito is certain are running out of energy, but it is good enough to see the darker lines.

"How many of the cameras do you remember Shinichi?" Kaito asks, pencil in hand. If they can mark the various cameras and avoid showing up on the video feed, then he's certain they'll have a longer time to run before the alarms are triggered - hopefully they'll be long gone from the prison by then.

Kaito marks the camera's on the page with his pencil, a faint arrow pointing at the direction if they're pointing in specific directions. There aren't too many in their cell block, as far as they've seen. The bottom floor has the most, spread out, monitoring the doorway and the staircase upstairs.

"There's one on our floor," Shinichi says, "it moves from looking at the staircase to the hallway, every few minutes."

The prison yard doesn't have many cameras, they realise - mainly because it's constantly monitored by guards.  Kaito scrawls what he remembers about the beams they use to check for any people, scribbling the time it takes to get from C-block over to the gate house. If he uses that, he can estimate the time it'll take to race to other places as well.

"I think you were doing great with your last escape," Shinichi says, pointing down at the the map, "until you went into the gatehouse."

Kaito nods. He'd given Shinichi the overview of his previous escape plans, hoping that it would help them with any their new plan. The vent had been a good idea, but from what Shinichi's seen of the visiting room, it's far too riddled with cameras to be used again.

"That's the only actual way out of here though," Kaito says, squinting at the map. He runs a hand through his hair, resists pulling it out, before shaking his head. It'll be hard, he knows, after all, the prison's been made to keep them in, and civilians out.

Not that this has ever stopped Kaito in the past - he wouldn't have been labelled an 'escape artist' if it had.

"Yes there is," Shinichi says, and he moves his finger to rest on a single building - solitary. "I'm not sure what the camera's are like inside, I've never really bothered to look, but there's a gate around the back of it."

Kaito pauses, leans closer to the page. He draws a faint line from C-block over to solitary, wonders how many guards will be inside and whether he'd seen many cameras when he'd been in there. Most of his time had been stuck in his cell, so he hadn't bothered to be as observant as he should have been.

"It looks like you need to actually go through the building to get there though," He says, "and we don't exactly know if we can get through without getting caught."

Shinichi frowns, moving the torch to double check for any other routes they could take. The entrance and exit of the gatehouse is heavily controlled, cameras focusing on everyone entering the place.

"If I get myself placed into solitary again," he says, "then I can try and take note of all the cameras I can."

Jerking back, Kaito turns to him, looking the ex-detective up and down. His lips are pursed, brows furrowed as shakes his head. "That's not a good idea, and you know it. You've been in solitary a lot, right? What's to stop them from turning around and deciding that they should just leave you in there?"

Pausing,  Shinichi huffs. He clicks the torch off, folding the paper back up, "there's not much of an option else, is there?"

"I'll figure it out." Kaito says, crossing his arms. He climbs back up to his bed, seemingly finished with the plans for the evening. It's getting late, and they can't exactly spend the entire evening awake without creating questions from the guards as to why they're sleep deprived. "I've only been in solitary once, so there's less chance of them keeping me there."

"I suppose."

Kaito doesn't exactly know what he'll do to get into solitary - another escape would make the guards up their guards, especially if they realise he can easily get out of his cell, and that his first escape wasn't a fluke. Violence isn't really an option - if he wants to escape, then he needs to be on the top of his game, can't be injured.

He'll figure it out.

He hopes.

"Who did it?"

The following day, Kaito finds that his tongue can't keep the question in. He wants to know, doesn't like mysteries, especially the type he needs to solve by himself. He's not like Shinichi - he doesn't enjoy living inside his head, musing over things. He needs to be active, needs to be able to work with things, not think about them for too long.

"Who did what?" Shinichi asks.

They're both walking to the kitchens, afternoon sun beating down on their backs, preparing to wash plates from lunch. Kaito isn't exactly excited per se, for the work, but at least it gives him something to do.

"Who framed you." Kaito says, turning to look at his cell mate. "You're innocent, right? It means someone obviously wanted you in here, do you have any idea who?"

Shinichi doesn't look at him, and for a moment it is almost as if Kaito can see the barrier he keeps to avoid answering any questions. It's a shield, keeping his mind in tact, his emotions sealed. Personally, Kaito thinks it's unhealthy - not that he can point it out, when he does it too.

The other prisoner takes a deep breath. He says, "I have a faint idea."

It doesn't sound promising, but at least there's something he can pursue. Kaito wonders how he will do it, how Shinichi will prove his innocence when they break out. He's certain that's what the detective will do - after all, it's not like he can live the rest of his life on the run, he's not exactly well suited to something like that.

He still has people to go back to. Shinichi, in that aspect, is nothing like Kaito.

"That's something at least." Kaito says, prompting him further. He stares expectantly, raising an eyebrow when he is met with hesitation. "...Shinichi?"

Shinichi turns then, and his expression is grave, despite the smile he tries to plaster to his face. He looks like his mind is faraway, his skin pale. He says, "I'll tell you when we're out of here, one day, but right now... I can't be sure no one won't be listening."

It's dangerous then - possibly a gang, maybe some sort of group operating in organised crime. It's disappointing, to say the least, but if there's any risk of people relaying the information on to others...

"On that day," Kaito says, sticking his hands into his pockets, raising his gaze to look at the sky, "I'll tell you about Pandora. It's only fair."

It starts to bug him though, how little he knows about Shinichi's circumstances.

He's innocent - he has to be, Kaito can't let himself doubt it - but somehow the police came to the wrong conclusion. The police, despite the thoughts of many, aren't incompetent. Inspector Nakamori and the KID task force weren't stupid, KID was just good at reading them during heists. He knows that those in division one are similar, they're smart people, or else they wouldn't be detectives in the first place.

But they do overlook things. Things that Kaito knows teen detectives would have spotted. And overlooking these things have obviously led them to a fake verdict, leaving an innocent teenager staring at his own death, the noose wrapped around his neck.

If there's anyway he can change the verdict - if there's any chance at all, Kaito knows Shinichi will find a way. But... He's been here for over a year, has been sitting in the same cell, waiting for the guards to apologise and let him go free...

Part of Kaito knows that if Shinichi escapes with him, the other detective will never be free. He will be hunted down until he is caught, and guilty or not of murder, he will still have to carry out a sentence for breaking out of the prison. And after all of that, he'd still be haunted by the voices from within the prison itself, plagued with memories of solitary confinement and the beatings of prisoners.

Another part of Kaito realises that even if Shinichi's lawfully freed, he's not going to escape the memories. He's never going to forget what it feels like to be unable to breath, hands squeezing against his throat, just like Kaito will never forget the moment he first started to crumble, when his closest friend had looked at him like he was a stranger.

But still. Still.

If Kaito can find a way to make things easier for Shinichi, he wants to. He doesn't know why, maybe it's because he's the only decent person in here, maybe it's because he feels some sort of friendship between them, but he does.

However, there's not much he can do really.

Only... Only maybe there is.

He stands at the phone box and hesitates.

He waits until he hears a prisoner clear his throat from behind him, and then Kaito presses buttons, holding the phone up to his ear.

And he waits.

The call goes unanswered - Kaito tries again.

This time, they pick up which is good, because honestly, Kaito hadn't thought that Aoko would pick up after the first phone call.

"Hello?"

"Aoko," Kaito says, "it's me, Kaito."

She's quiet on the other side of the phone for a moment. Then: "Aoko's currently eating lunch, this isn't the best time. Maybe you should phone after school."

Impatience bleeds through the phone, but Kaito doesn't blame her. He's just glad that she hasn't hung up yet.

"It's because your at school that I'm phoning," Kaito says, and he closes his eyes imaging the classroom and times when everything was normal. "I... need a favour actually."

"A favour?" The words are dry.

"I need you to pass the phone to... Oh my god I can't believe I'm asking this... I need you to pass your phone to Hakuba." He pauses, lets out a small sigh, "please."

"Eh?"

Kaito doesn't respond, taps his finger against the side of the phone. He waits for Aoko's response - there's no shuffling in the background, she's not moving.

From what Hakuba had told him before, they're not on good terms, but that could just be a misinterpretation - the Englishman has never been very good at reading people.

"But Hakuba-kun is-"

"You don't like him anymore? You practically adored him when he was hunting down KID." His tone is flippant now, an attempt to spur her into action.

He imagines that right now she's glaring at her phone, imagining it's him, feeling an overwhelming need to throttle it.

"Yeah, well, that was before..." Aoko sighs - which... isn't what he'd expected. She'd been livelier when he'd last talked to her, now she just seems worn out. Kaito wants to put it to the fact that it's only a few more days until the end of the school year, but...

"I'm sorry," Kaito says, and he means it. He's sorry for lying, sorry for being the one person she hates over everything else - he's just... sorry.

Another pause, if he knows Aoko at all, she's probably biting her lower lip - a terrible habit she's brought with her since she was a child - trying to find the right words to respond with.

"I'll pass you over to Hakuba-kun."

"Thank you." He says, and he hears shuffling behind him, as Aoko stands. He can hear a sudden questioning of 'Aoko?' from who he can only assume is Keiko, as she makes her way over to Hakuba.

Aoko's voice is quiet when she asks, "do you know the difference between the two yet? Between Kaito and KID?"

"Not yet," Kaito says, "but I promise I'll figure it out."

There's more shuffling in the background, and Kaito hears Hakuba's alarmed 'Aoko-kun?' from the background, but all he can focus on is the sad laughter from Aoko as she tells him to hurry up, because she's not the type who's going to wait forever.

"Aoko's passing you over now," she says, "but she won't talk to you again until you really do figure it out, okay?"

He doesn't have time to respond, to agree, before the phone is passed over and Hakuba is questioning who it is.

"When can you next visit the prison?"

Hakuba's voice is confused, "Kuroba? What?"

"I'll tell you about the men who shoot at my heists," Kaito says, "the next time you come to visit."

There is a bit of hesitation, as if the detective is trying to figure out just what is going on. "What's in it for you?"

Kaito takes a breath, tries to avoid the anxious feeling festering in his stomach.

"It's something you'd enjoy actually," he chirps, faking calmness, "I want you to look into a murder case for me."