Disclaimer: I don't own DC/MK in case there was any question about that.

Let's Play a Game

Let's play a game. The rules are simple. You make a puzzle and I'll solve it.
-S

That was the first letter Kaito ever received from his penpal.

According to his teacher, everyone in the class had been randomly given a letter from another 5th grader somewhere in Tokyo. Kaito's penpal just happened to be the only one that didn't introduce themselves with 'Hi, my name is -.'

To be honest, it seemed more like S was a puzzle that needed to be solved, than someone who should be supplied with puzzles. But with a magician for a father, Kaito had learned that some secrets didn't need to be revealed. Sometimes you just had enjoy the magic.

S,
In the middle of the dAy, in the middle of the Night,
two dead boYs went out to fight.
Back to back they faced each other,
drew their swords and shot one an other.
A deaf policeMan heard the nOise
and came to aRrEst the two dead boys.
If you don't believe my lies aRe trUe,
ask the bLind man, hE Saw it too.
?K

Shinichi couldn't help but smile when he got his first reply from his new penpal. His teacher had been adamant that his introduction letter was inappropriate. She hadn't phrased it quite like that, but the idea was there. It delighted the boy to no end to find that his penpal was willing to play his game. Why else would they reply with: 'Any more rules?'

The dreaded penpal assignment had just gotten much more interesting.

K,
None at all. Let's just play.
-S

Kaito was torn between pleased and miffed when he got his first response from S. The other 5th grader's reply didn't seem to be very thoughtful considering the time Kaito had taken to write his first puzzle. Maybe it just wasn't hard enough?

S,
0100100001101111011101110010000001100100011011110010000001110111011001010010000001100100011001010110001101101001011001000110010100100000011101110110100001101111001000000111011101101001011011100111001100111111
-K

Was ASCII really the best Shinichi's penpal could do? It certainly wasn't difficult to translate the binary code into its exact translation. 'How do we decide who wins?'

K,
We set a time limit. If I haven't solved your puzzle in a month you win. But if it takes you more than a month to write a new puzzle I win. Sound fair?
-S

Kaito had stared blankly at the neatly prepared letter for all of 2 minutes before a smirk settled on his lips. Several of his classmates dove for cover as he dug into his school bag in search of scratch paper. If S wanted a puzzle that took a month to solve, Kaito was going to write one. He never could back down from a challenge.

S,
A joust you say? But of course gentle knight. What then, is your wager?
-K

Shinichi was surprised to see a response to his letter the very next day. K's teacher must have brought it over just for him; the penpal assignment only required them to correspond once a week. Not that the boy was upset by the development. On the contrary, he was excited to see the complexity of his penpal's puzzles grow with every letter. Shinichi had always found games to be more fun with good players. K however, seemed to have a different motive. The latest letter had loosely meant: 'Fair. But what's a game without a prize?'

K,
What did you have in mind?
-S

Kaito concluded that S wrote the shortest letters ever when he got the latest relpy. Despite that, Kaito knew that he had been understood. S only responded to the message in the puzzle, not the words themselves.

S,
All that glitters is not gold.
And in this playhouse are treasures untold.
Upon the arrogant King's defeat,
That is when two hands shall meet.
-K

Seriously? Shinichi's penpal was awfully confident. And Shinichi wasn't exactly happy to be named the 'arrogant king'. The rest of the message had been pretty interesting though. 'Not money. That's boring. When I win... I want applause.'

K,
Then at the end of the game we'll meet face to face. I'll tell you my name and you'll tell me yours. And I'll take a bow to the sound of you clapping.
-S

That conceded... grrr... Kaito sat down to draft a reply as soon as he got the letter.

The prankster's classmates didn't quite seem to understand why, but he was always 'better behaved' on mail day. No one had really noticed at first, but once someone pointed out the correlation, the teacher had arranged for mail to be delivered every other day. And much to everyone's delight, a letter addressed to K would show up every time.

It was a little bit baffling that Kaito was interested in exchanging letters in the first place, but more baffling that someone wrote back with the same level of enthusiasm. Unfortunately, the positive influence on Kaito's behavior was also an omen of terrible things to come.

It all started when the teacher announced that the pen pal assignment was over. He smiled warmly as he recommended that anyone who wanted to stay in touch exchange contact information; the class would be sending their last letters out at the end of the week.

At first, Kaito had been excited about directly exchanging letters, but once he really thought about it... S didn't even trust Kaito with his/her name. There was no way S was going to give Kaito his/her address.

After that Kaito's mood had plummeted and his pranks increased in both frequency and intensity. But wasn't the worst of it. No, it was a very dark and glittery day in Edoka, when for the first time that year, no letter arrived for K. Hair was dyed, confetti was scattered, and doves had started implementing dive attacks at random. The class was in total chaos.

That was why the next morning started out with the teacher taking hesitant steps towards Kaito with an almost blank envelope held before him like a shield. Like all the letters before, there was only a single character in the center of the envelope.

A collective sigh of relief echoed in the classroom as Kaito opened the letter with quick fingers and broke out into a grin.

K,
Let's play again, because it's been fun.
There's only one rule and the game's already begun.
Bragging rights to the winner
And an exchange of names at the end.
What do you say?
Shall we play again?
-S

There was a book of stamps enclosed with a sheet of printed address stickers. The address belonged to a publishing company and the recipient was listed as only K.S.

That was when Kaito set up his first fake identity. If S wasn't ready to reveal himself, Kaito wasn't going to either. His mother was even surprisingly supportive when she 'accidentally' found out. Although, she had asked why Kaito didn't just use carrier doves.

S,
Sorry!
Clue and Guess Who.
-K

Shinichi smiled. He hated to admit it, but he'd been afraid that no more letters would come. But K never failed to deliver exactly the challenge the would-be detective was looking for. 'I'm game. Let's play. But why all the secrecy S?'

K,
Didn't you want a puzzle to solve too?
-S

A/N: I recently discovered the Poirot Café message board and this was inspired by the prompt for their latest competition, 'Games'. I wrote another piece to actually enter in the competition, but this idea just wouldn't leave me alone. I figure Kaito had to have started refining his cryptic note writing skills long before becoming KID. That said, I clearly don't have Kaito's knack for it. But I did have fun trying.