For three years, Shinichi had lived a quiet life.

It wasn't something to boast, and neither was it a sad thing, really. It was just a quiet life where he was no longer in the body of a child, encountering murders on a unhealthy daily basis or dealing with organization filled with deadly psychopaths.

Yes, the quiet life.

But not normal.

After that entire Edogawa Conan mess, the only thing that returned normal was Shinichi's body. As for his life... The lies he had built up had turned into an empire, and when that empire fell, the consequences were dire, and he had a lot to pay back.

Nothing could ever be normal from that.

The moment he got his body back, Shinichi quietly left his old high-school and attended a new one. He then quietly graduated and worked his way into the police force without the need for a degree. He quietly solved his cases with little media attention, and quietly became an Inspector within a year in the job...

Even though Ran left home the moment she got accepted into a college located at the other end of Japan, Shinichi didn't wish his name to ever appear in her sight. As for her father, who remained in Tokyo, he still wasn't handling well after realising the only thing he thought he was good at—being the Sleeping Kogoro—was all just a pack of lies. The last cruel thing Shinichi could do was to claim any sort of limelight again, so he decided to leave their lives, stay low, and lead a quiet life for the next three years after graduation...

Actually, screw that quiet part.

Shinichi hadn't been living any close to quiet since the new neighbour moved in next door two months ago.

Kuroba Kaito.

Literally, there wasn't anything quiet about that guy; often blasting loud music; not keeping his ill-mannered doves in check; different women and men occasionally coming in and out of his house… Shinichi's annoyance was one level above his roof every time he remembered Kuroba's existence, but the one that takes the cake was his weird demeanour.

Kuroba had his ways with charming their neighbours, like the single mother living opposite their street and the old lady who baked cookies every Sunday. And that was the thing; as Edogawa Conan, Shinichi charmed his way through unsuspecting policemen and even the murderers, dropping their guards as Shinichi manipulated them to get what he wanted. Maybe it was because they thought he was literally a child, but his acting played a big part too.

Basically, Shinichi saw the Edogawa Conan in Kuroba.

(It takes one to know one.)

And he wondered why.

.

.Tonight was just like most other nights; Shinichi had finally returned home, tired and not really looking forward to reading two stacks of notes on the latest serial killer on the loose. After downing a cup of black coffee, he went to the kitchen to wash the mug and causally glanced up at the window that faced Kuroba's back garden.

He frowned.

Placing the mug on the rack, Shinichi trudged past the kitchen counter, his eyes remained staring through the window glass.

He swore he just saw a glimpse of white flying by.

Shinichi didn't believe in ghost. So if he had eliminated the impossible, the only thing he could come up to explain that white thing was a big blanket or a cloth happening to blow past—

Aha, he was right. Shinichi smirked as he saw the white cloth caught itself onto Kuroba's fence and flapping wildly when a wind passed—

Wait.

Or maybe he wasn't entirely right.

Noticing something was wrong, Shinichi frowned as he jogged towards the door to his backyard. Skipping past his few pitiful attempts of trying to grow some potted plants, he peered over his fence to get a better look at the cloth.

It wasn't white. Not entirely.

It was red too, and he recognised that red, even if it was in the damn bloody middle of the night.

Shinichi glanced towards Kuroba's house. The cloth couldn't have come from the second floor, but the first floor of Kuroba's house was dark. In fact, it was too dark fore Shinichi's taste.

A twist of his gut sent him climbing over the fence without hesitation. After jumping over to Kuroba's side, Shinichi went to check on the cloth, and for the first time he hoped he was wrong.

But he was hardly wrong—The good portion of the cloth was indeed tainted by blood. Shinichi highly doubted the blood was caused by a paper cut… but he decided not to think anymore, because the more he did, the more he fear he would be right.

Clutching onto the cloth, he turned and decided to find the source—

Originally from Shinichi's house, he couldn't see anything, but now from the angle of Kuroba's backyard, Shinichi instantly found him lying right behind the rows of his thick, rose plantations.

And he also found out the cloth in his hand wasn't any kind of cloth.

It was Kaitou Kid's cape.