#their 'newspaper' club is literally just the detective club in another font and the only one who knows is conan. he isn't commenting on it.

[achairwithapandaonit]

i’m finally having success on my very depressing au where shinichi’s stuck as conan and also lost most of his allies to the org so i thought i might share a snippet (:

“And you want to go in there?” Hattori says. His face is turned away in the direction of the museum, but Ayumi’s sure that he and Conan are having a conversation with their eyes. Something silent and uncomfortable that makes Conan huff and Hattori sigh.

“Of course!” Mitsuhiko says. “It’s for our club.”

“Ah. The detective club.”

He’s wrong. They’ve rebranded and started anew after last year. No longer the Shounen Tantei-dan, now the-

“The newspaper club!” they all chime in as one. Even Conan, though his voice is more a sarcastic mumble.

Hattori blinks. “Huh? The newspaper club? I thought you kids were all into mysteries.”

“Well…it’s not really a newspaper club,” Mitsuhiko says, embarrassed. 

Genta lets go of Ayumi’s hand just to cross his arms. “We’re making a newspaper, aren’t we?” 

Mitsuhiko grimaces, as if to say, ‘you call that a newspaper?’. 

“It’s more like an anything goes club,” Conan mutters.

“It’s a fun club!” Ayumi says, elbowing him in the side. “We’re having fun! We’re reporting and telling stories and having fun field trips!”

They’re doing what they want, because after last year they deserve to. Maybe the whole newspaper thing isn’t a good veil when they’re just not that good at it and the proper newspaper club does it a hundred times better, but it’s the thought that counts. 

Plus it’s dragged Conan back out of his shell. Ayumi thinks he might be slightly less depressed than he was when they started.

“Oh,” Hattori says, smirking. He bends at the waist to look at Conan specifically. “So you’re blowing off club funds just to play around at KID heists, huh?”

Conan raises an eyebrow. He shoves his hands in his pockets, finally breaking the hand holding chain. He says nothing, and this nothing causes Hattori to deflate ever so slightly.