Aoko was late.

It wasn't on purpose. It was hard to find the thing she needed during this period of the year.

She decided on walking to the clock tower instead to catch her breath along the way. After her meeting with Hakuba yesterday, she had thought about it the whole day and night. Forgiving Kaito was one thing she knew she had to do, but she wanted Kaito to forgive himself too.

He had a knack for pretending everything was fine when it was not. And as his best friend, it was depressing to say that it wasn't once she mistakened his weariness, indifference and distant nature for something else but the true reason. That silly Kaito was anything but expressive with his true feelings, and Aoko knew his intention for today's meeting was because he thought it was his duty to explain things to her.

But she didn't really want that. She wanted him to share his story with her, not for necessity.

She wanted to start everything over.

Start anew.

Aoko spotted Kaito on the lone bench in front of the clock tower. The weather was slightly turning cold despite reaching the noon of the day, and it was just as crowded as Aoko thought it would be. Despite her observations, it still wouldn't be stopping her from doing what she wanted to do.

She carefully tiptoed behind Kaito, closing the distance between them. His usual poker face, messy hair and those bright blue eyes that lit up much more than those miserable days; it was distracting her and her racing heartbeat wasn't helping.

Finally reaching the bench, she heavily slumped onto the cold seat beside Kaito. He glanced up with a look of relief washing over his face, as if he didn't expect her to come at all.

"Ao-"

She cut him off with a firm look and whipped out a bouquet of roses she hid inside her jacket and showed it before Kaito's face. Showers of red petals fluttered all over and littered onto the bench and onto their lap.

Kaito blinked.

"H-Hello." She took in a deep breath. "My name is Nakamori Aoko! Nice to meet you!"

He blinked again before he tentatively looked at Aoko who was hiding behind the roses, her face so red it would blend perfectly with the flowers. She was not a pretty girl like Akako, or charismatic like Hakuba, but here she was, presenting flowers to a boy in the middle of the day. From her side long glance, she noted several passer-by looking over their direction and some even stopped to watch.

Aoko felt a sense of warmth wrapping around her hands and the bouquet of roses was set onto their laps. She nervously glanced up, eyes widened at the slightly red-looking Kaito sitting before her. Her eyes twitched when the snort finally escaped from his mouth and he began chortling behind the back of his hand.

"Wh-What-"

His laughter died down. It was then Aoko realized she actually wanted to hear more of it.

"Hello." His lips curled up. "My name is Kuroba Kaito. Nice to meet you too."

.o.

.

.

.

.o.

"I think we need to talk to the school teacher about Emi's sexual harassment."

"Don't be silly. How is that sexual harassment?"

"Well, maybe because even the neighbours are asking if we're selling roses as our part-time jobs. I think it's getting way too ridiculous."

Shinichi recalled the dozen of vases and pots Emi pestered him to buy, all lined up along the front garden in neat rows. Each of the vases and pots contained a handful of roses that she always brought back home from school. Some were fresh while some were withered and old. He could barely see any green on his yard now, and he had seen enough red during work that he wasn't really anticipating back at home too.

"She loves them." Ran said.

"Did she mention who she got it from?"

"A boy in a class."

"What's his name?"

"She didn't say, and I didn't pry either."

"You should have."

"Well, maybe because I'm too busy pitying myself that my daughter gets more flowers from a boy than me in my whole life."

"Ran-"

"I'll talk to the teachers first thing in the morning. Just get some sleep now. You have a big meeting tomorrow."

She pecked her husband's cheeks, muttered a good night and closed the bed lights to sleep. Just when she was all comfortable under the warm blankets, she felt a hand smoothly wrapping around her waist.

"What is your favourite flower?" Shinichi whispered into her ears.

Ran chuckled. "Too late for that."

.o.

"And all along I've been wondering if some rat was using my roses to hook up when it's you who's been stealing them."

"I'm sorr-"

Kaito bent down and ruffled Conan's hair. "Well done son, I've taught you well."

"What the heck are you saying?!"

"Ow-Ow Ahouko! My ear!"

Aoko released her grip while Kaito grudgingly rubbed the side of his cheeks. "First thing first," She knelt in front of Conan with a sweet smile. "Stealing is bad. You should ask before you take things that doesn't belong to you, even if it's your father's. Do you understand?"

"Yes mom."

"Second. Why did you give roses to the girl?"

"Because she's pretty and I like her."

Aoko smiled. "And what did she say"

"She say it's pretty and thank you."

"The problem must have been her parents. Overprotective and boring." Kaito muttered. "What's the girl's name?"

"Emi." Conan pondered hard. "Kudo Emi."

There was a short silence.

Aoko glanced back at Kaito. "The teacher told me about her before and her family name has always been ringing a bell. Are we of acquaintance?"

"Nope. A total blank. I have no idea who it is. You must have remembered wrongly."

She narrowed her eyes.

"You're going to go to the teacher-meeting session with me tomorrow."

"Can I skip it?"

"What do you think?"

Kaito sighed.

Oh God...

.end.

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A/n:
I'm... done... yeap it's the end.
It's been a long ride and YOU have NO idea how much it means to be that you are still sticking to this and reading on for so long. I have nothing to give but this final chapter, which I hope it's good enough. About the ultimate ending of Emi and Conan and the possible in-laws, I'll leave the imagination up to you.
(Kaito and Aoko's kid is named after Conan?! Yeap, I just thought it would be a funny joke between the two. The Kid killer, you know.)
Anyway, that's all for now. Thank you once again, and hope to see you soon, I hope. :p