Disclaimer: I do not own, nor claim to own, Detective Conan or Magic Kaito.

Setting: Set after the destruction of the BO, with Shinichi regaining his own body. Kaito and Shinichi attend the same high school.

Technical Jargon: Kohai=under classmate (fellow student who's younger than you), and sempai=upper classmate (fellow student who's older than you). In Japan, girls are supposed to give chocolate on Valentine's Day, and boys return the favour with something white on White Day, a month later; this fic is kind of based on that ritual.

"Sempai, please fall in love with me..."

And with those words, a blushing kohai presented Shinichi with a box of chocolates, a pale rose, a bow, and the name of Kuroba Kaito.

"I don't know you..." Shinichi replied lamely, blunt from the stress of rejecting and the tears (and Hattori just had to be so clueless, oblivious to why he was receiving so much candy; not helping!). Masochistic as it may sound, Shinichi was starting to miss the days before his fame when girls would yell and push him out of the way, when he was not the one being showered in gifts but the one mistreated. He would never again envy any of the luckier guys with that mountain of sweets: it took a lot of guts to deal with all that anticipated grief.

Instead of the waterworks, however, Kuroba Kaito smiled hysterically, his face engulfed with laughter.

"Well, of course! That's why I'm asking you to get to know me better!

Shinichi remembered his mother imploring him to be gentle. He knew all her love advice by heart. Half the time his friends had relationship problems, Shinichi talked them through it. It wasn't as if he wanted to try and make his kohai cry but...

...still, he was just the slightest bit curious as to why this was happening. Hey, he wasn't heartless, no matter what Ran said sometimes. So he had to ask...

"Why me?"

The answer was immediate and unexpected, like that spontaneous kohai himself.

"Because, even if you are not aware of it, you saved me. So from now on, I'll walk you home. Xth street, Beika District, isn't it?"

It was more of a statement than the question Kuroba Kaito passed it off as. And so high school detective Kudo Shinichi heard of the various interests (magic tricks, Kaitou KID, and pranking), preferences (white chocolate, staying up late, and coffee with lots of sugar), and dislikes (f-i-s-h!) of his magician kohai on his way home.

That night, Shinichi pondered about how he could have possibly helped his mysterious kohai.

Roses bloomed in the moonlight as a spark of something new burst in his heart.

Was was that called again?

AN: Does anyone know which street Shinichi lives on? I couldn't find it online... Please review if it's any good? I can promise longer chapters in the future...