"Listen, Kid, I know I agreed that I owed you a favor, but isn't this pushing it a little?" Shinichi asked, even as Kid mussed his hair further. Shinichi could hardly recognize himself in the mirror he was sitting in front of.

"Hakuba has been pissing me off lately and having you run around while I am also running around will really make him squirm." Kid explained viciously. "He might even apologize."

Shinichi and Kid both paused to consider that before saying as one, "Weird."

"Fine, then. I do owe you, after all," Shinichi decided.

Shinichi, therefore, agreed to masquerade as Kuroba Kaito in return for Kid's help in saving Ai. And hey, he couldn't deny it would be at least a little funny to see Hakuba with his feathers all ruffled. There was no real harm in helping take the suspicion off Kuroba for a little while.

When Hakuba saw Shinichi, he seemed perplexed, checking his pocket watch before staring at him again. Shinichi grinned cheekily and waved before heading over, a hop in his step as Kid had shown him.

"Kuroba, what are you… Why are you out here instead of…" Hakuba couldn't seem to collect his thoughts properly. Shinichi kept grinning and cocked his head.

"Something wrong, Hakuba? Where else would I go to watch a Kid heist? I wanted to see if I could pick up a few new tricks tonight," Shinichi explained easily.

"So, you wouldn't mind this, then?" Hakuba asked, quickly handcuffing Shinichi's wrist to his own. Shinichi shrugged.

"Didn't know you liked me so much, Hakuba. You should've just said so," Shinichi laughed like Kid had demonstrated and watched some of the color drain from Hakuba's face. Shinichi thought this alone would make up for the explosion, assuming Kid was seeing this.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" Kid called. Hakuba seemed more disturbed than before and Shinichi settled in to watch the heist. There was no reason for him to run around if he was Kuroba, after all.

After the heist, Shinichi met with Kid in a 24-hour coffee shop down the street. Kid was still beaming, despite losing the jewel to Inspector Nakamori.

"God, his face was priceless, though," Kid laughed loudly. Shinichi smiled and shrugged.

"I've never seen him so pale before… It was like he'd just realized the implications of two of you running around," Shinichi trailed off, looking behind Kid for a moment, watching the waitresses as he remembered the exact expression on Hakuba's face.

"Have you ever had any interest in a job as a magician's assistant, O Great Detective?" Kid asked earnestly. Shinichi turned his attention back to the thief and shook his head.

"Too busy with detective work. And besides, if I don't help track you down, no one's going to catch you, right?"

"You do realize," Kid said slowly, leaning forward across the table, "that you are currently sitting across from me and that I still have a lot of evidence of my recent activities on me?" Shinichi huffed and rolled his eyes.

"If it's not during a heist, it doesn't count. That would be cheating. And besides, I owed you a favor."

"You also know, or at least suspect, my identity outside heists."

"It would be cheating," Shinichi repeated simply. Kid seemed surprised and pleased, leaning back in his chair. He seemed to be thinking something over for some time, considering Shinichi intently.

"So, if I told you my name right now, you wouldn't do anything with that information?"

Shinichi shook his head.

"Well then, Great Detective, my name is Kuroba Kaito and I'm going to be a world famous magician." He presented Shinichi with a pink rose, still just a bud. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

Shinichi snorted, but accepted the flower.

"Same to you, Kuroba."

"Please, call me Kaito."

"I think I'll call you Kuroba for now. Maybe some other time," Shinichi allowed, watching as Kuroba's face turned devilish. "I'm sure I'll be seeing an awful lot of you now, after all."

"Oh, I'm absolutely sure," Kuroba agreed. "In fact, how do you feel about lunch tomorrow?"

Shinichi shook his head, setting down enough money to cover his tab and standing.

"Maybe give it a few days. If you start showing up around me, Hakuba will get more suspicious than usual." Shinichi turned and started to walk away.

"You can take me to lunch on Friday," he called over his shoulder.

"It's a date!" Kuroba cheered. Shinichi laughed as he walked out the door. It seemed like things were about to pick up again. He'd been worried about getting bored, but that was definitely not going to be a problem now.