“Well, I am alive, as you can see but… if you don’t mind, I’d like it if you didn’t talk to anyone about it. I may be able to walk around without much harm, but if a certain group of people find out that I’m active again then… I really don’t want to think about what would happen.” He explained it calmly and seemed completely nonchalant about it, but there was still a hint of fear in his voice.
“And please, if you could…” he began again. “Don’t tell any of that to Ran. She worries enough as it is.“ He gave Hakuba a nervous smile and continued. “It’s not as though it’s a huge deal, but she’ll take it badly, you know?”
With the level of interest that Hakuba displayed, he wouldn’t be surprised if he had investigated him a little bit already. So there would be no point in flat out lying about his situation. However, he could graze over the truth. “Our secret, okay?“
Investigated a little? An understatement of depressing proportions. But Hakuba wasn’t going to mention that. Not even a peep.
The foreign detective walked with Kudou toward the cafe, pace a steady clip but not overly brisk. He nodded at the appropriate times during the other detective’s explanation, and blushed, faintly at each unintentionally significant moment.
Our secret? Keep it from my childhood friend?
Hakuba looked skyward, cheeks tinted from the heat of his shy embarrassment. What did Kudou mean by that? They’d only just met; why would he trust…? Unless he really had been reading the letters. Perhaps he couldn’t contact Hakuba because he knew that the half-Brit would stop at nothing to help and he had wanted to spare him the danger?
"A-ahh.. Yes, of course. I would never betray your trust, Kudou-san…”
That little hint of fear in his voice. The uneasy smiles and polite hesitance. So casual, so calm. Everything Hakuba had expected of the great Kudou Shinichi.
