“Se-senpai! Er, Kudou-san! Ah! Wh-what?!”
Tag Archives: askkudoushinichi
He smiled casually, knowing very well that he had caught an inconsistency in Hakuba’s story and as hard as he tried to play it off, it was obvious that the blond detective was just covering his tracks. He knew that Shinichi was suspicious of him and rightly so. Then again, Shinichi was suspicious of almost everyone nowadays.
“I greatly enjoy the Boscombe Valley Mystery. Watson was already married by that time as well,” he rambled on a little. “I particularly enjoy the ending. It was an interesting addition to Sherlock’s profile.”
“So you do know it’s actually The Sign of Four,” he remarked afterward, opening the door for him and fixing him with a hard smile, knowing very well he had caught him. “I’m glad you remember.”
The foreign detective, sufficiently mortified, nodded his thanks and concession as he moved into the cafe with a walk of shame. He knew better than to have tried to trick Kudou Shinichi, his senpai and idol. Once inside and out of the way, he looked back to the other detective and winced, forcing a smile that was nothing if not apologetic.
“Ah, you’re far too clever for me, Kudou-san, as to be expected. I’ll confess that I’m terribly nervous, finally getting to meet you face to face, and desperate for this to go well. Ridiculous, isn’t it?” Hakuba tilted his head at the admission, hopeful.
“Please pardon my faux pas; I’ll attempt to be more forthright. Ah, you’ve… been to London, right?"
Oh, how he would love to chatter on and on about his favorite story of the series but something was nagging in the back of his mind. It still slightly unnerved him that Hakuba knew so much about him and that made him all the more suspicious about forgetting something that he talked about a lot in interviews.
Reporters were always asking things like that. What’s your favorite color? Do you like cats or dogs better? What’s your favorite book? If they asked that last question, eventually they would get bored and try to end the talk as quickly as possible and he supposed that was about half the reason he loved that question.
“Ah, that would be the story of Mr. John Douglas of Sussex. The one where Holmes and Watson receive a coded message from one of Moriarty’s droogs and discover that he’s to be killed. But when they talk to Scotland Yard they find out that the deed has already been done and then they go to investigate and find that Mr. Douglas actually hasn’t been killed at all.
"It’s The Valley of Fear, of course,” he explained, watching him closely out of the corner of his eye. He already knew that Hakuba was a Holmes fan himself from their previous encounters but he wondered if he would realize the lie. Since he had done so much research and all.
Hakuba might have choked had he not had the presence of mind to delay his reactions to allow for thinking time. But he did swallow – hard – and felt a twitching compulsion that screamed ‘IT’S A TRAP!’ Because, effectually, that’s what it was.
Really, he should have known that Kudou-san would pull something like this. After all, his senpai was brilliant, wasn’t he? While Hakuba had been trying to break the ice and get a conversation going, the other detective had seen an opportunity to test him. This put Hakuba in a very awkward position because, quite handily, he’d been caught in a lie with another. There was no way that Kudou would not have been aware of this.
It was an agonizing decision, that. Either continue to feign ignorance and look like an idiot who clearly didn’t know anything about Kudou-senpai… or call Kudou-senpai out on the false information and admit that he had been trying to be coy and clever to get him to talk. Both options were rife with embarrassment. He should have known.
“Ah, yes… I’m know that story…” Hakuba finally said, voice quiet as he considered his words carefully.
Internally, this might have looked much like a task master cracking the whip at thousands of hamsters running uselessly in spinning wheels. A fretter by nature to begin with, Hakuba was doing some serious mental overtime.
“…Ah, I… remember now, though… Wasn’t it The Sign of Four? Unless you’ve changed your favorite, of course… Ah, I’m quite partial to The Boscombe Valley Mystery story from the original Adventures Of book myself…”
Even admitting that much had been painful. Particularly as he was suddenly confronted with the fact that his favorite Sherlock story was one of the short stories contained in a collection from the original case files, and not one of the ‘proper’ novels… What did that mean? Was that going to be a problem?
God what was he doing talking to Kudou in the first place? They’d both been spoken of in the newspapers as the Sherlock Holmes of the new century, which made them at odds to begin with. Colleagues, perhaps, but… clearly Kudou was, well, Hakuba’s senpai. How embarrassing. Perhaps it would have been better to avoid ever meeting him and instead continue the long trail of letter after ignored letter.
Elevator: “Ah, damn it… looks like it’s really stuck…” he muttered, kicking at the doors lightly. “Jeez, I guess we’re just going to have to wait it out for a bit, huh, Hakuba-kun?” Smile.
“Ha ha, yes… indeed it does look that way, Kudou-san… I wonder how long it will take them to get us out of here?"
Hakuba wasn’t sure if he should feel elated or absolutely terrified. The following could be the longest several hours of his miserable, frustrating, awful life.
The smile he gave him was strained at best. The reason he had to give up his high-profile career was still a touchy subject, especially considering that it still affected him. The ubiquitous group of criminals that had forced him into hiding in the first place were still out there. Even with his natural body back Shinichi was still in danger.
“I’ve asked the police to keep my name out of the news. Megure-keibu is doing me a favor similar to what I asked of you,” he added carefully, though that was sure to get Hakuba’s attention. How suspicious could he possibly be? “Sadly, I don’t get any of the credit anymore but that was never really the most important thing, but it still kind of sucks, you know?“
He fidgeted, trying to decide whether or not his hands fit better in his pockets or behind his head. Neither position seemed very comfortable in his nervous state.
"It’s for the best. At least for now, but I don’t really have to worry about it yet. I have another week or so of vacation left.” Ha. ‘Vacation’ was the nicest way to put it.
How awkward, for both alleged egotists to not feel comfortable talking about their own lives to the other. Hakuba spared the other detective a sympathetic glance, then nodded. Clearly, there was more going on here than Kudou-san could let on, and, well, that was never a fun position to be in.
Hakuba changed gears after a thoughtful shrug, walk continuing at an even clip toward the cafe. “I hope that you’re at least enjoying the vacation."
And then what? This chance to talk to Kudou-san, nothing interfering or interrupting, and he’d run out of intelligent things to ask about. He bit his lip and ran through lists in his head of what he could possibly bring up that might spark a good conversation. Something. Anything.
"Ah, I’ve been dying to ask, Kudou-se-” dammit “-san… As a fellow fan of Sherlock Holmes, just what is your favorite case? I know I’ve read the answer in an interview about you somewhere, but the title eludes me somehow…”
No. Hakuba hadn’t forgotten at all, but he wanted Shinichi to talk about it… to ramble about it like he’d done in said interview so that he could soak it all up and enjoy it. What better to spur conversation than to bring up something that they mutually shared a passion for without having to talk about themselves further than preferences and anecdotes?
CLEARLY THIS PLAN COULD NOT GO AMISS!
“You’re welcome,” he added quickly before tensing up at the mention of his own father. He hadn’t seen either of his parents in awhile actually. Not since that little stunt his mother pulled with the handcuffs.
“My dad is… well…” It was difficult to find the correct words. Ever since his parents had left he had been hounded by many fans and reporters into telling them about him. Where he was. What he was working on now. What was he drawing inspiration on. When he would be finished. He had gotten so used to giving vague responses but no one had asked him in such a long time. Perhaps he was just out of practice.
“He and my mother are in Europe right now, I think. She calls about once a week to check up on me and everything going on here. He’s just working on a new book. They take up a lot of his time and focus so I don’t really talk to him all that much.”
In fact, he hadn’t had a serious conversation with his father in years. The man was too busy writing his novels and Shinichi was too busy trying to be better than him. It was more of a rivalry than anything.
It seemed as though neither detective, despite being notoriously egotistical, really wanted to talk about himself. Odd.
Hakuba nodded as he listened, as he usually did. “Europe! Unfortunate that I’m not there to meet them.” He chuckled after that, the sound somewhere between a playful joke and a legitimate regret. He would have loved to meet them, but just because they were in Europe in no way meant that he would be in the same area, that they would have time/interest, or that he would even have the guts to approach them.
He moved on, continuing down the sidewalk with the other detective. “How’s your caseload, if you don’t mind my asking? I remember a little while ago that you were quite prolific.”
“It’s actually just around the corner,” he answered quickly, waving his hand noncommittally in the direction of the restaurant before continuing the conversation.
“I guess I don’t really have that same ambition but I still get it. You want to be better than other people, right?” he concluded. “But more importantly, you want to impress people. It’s about your reputation. You want to look good because that will make your father look good too.“
Hakuba didn’t act like a selfish person so his need to succeed didn’t really make sense if he was doing it for himself. His father, on the other hand, was a powerful man in the police force. Any action Hakuba took would reflect on his father, for better or worse.
"I think you’re doing a great job, so you should probably stop worrying about it so much.”
“Ah…” Such praise from his senpai. Hakuba rubbed the back of his head, combing his hair with his fingers in embarrassment – but at least it was the good kind of embarrassment. “Y-yes… I suppose that sums it up nicely, Kudou-san… Thank you very much for the high compliments."
It was true, to, at least as far as Hakuba was concerned. Doing well honored his father and helped to set himself apart… in a way that made it less about his mixed heritage and more about how much he was legitimately better.
Truly, Kudou-san was a most masterful detective to have figured that out, indeed.
"Ah, speaking of fathers… How are your parents? I must confess that I’m a great fan of your father’s novels…”
Gosho’s Boys let’s dance ~~
(Source: http://yaleiarthurconandoyle.tumblr.com/)
“Do you really have that little confidence in your own ability?” he asked, raising an eyebrow and laughing. He didn’t mean it to sound so condescending so he rephrased. “I mean… you’re a talented detective right? I’d like to think that would count for something.“
He himself didn’t really care what Hakuba looked like. All that mattered to him was that he was good at what he did but he quickly realized how insensitive that sounded. Japan was a rather homogenous society and Hakuba stuck out like a sore thumb so of course there would be a lot of hesitance in allowing him to climb the police force ladder. Even if his dad was the top-most rank, that meant nothing when Hakuba was so different.
"I guess that might just be my own thought process though… there are still a lot of people with a conservative mindset that might balk at the idea of having you so high in the police force.” Quickly trying to lighten the mood, he flipped the subject. “I think they might just be jealous of your good looks. Westerners are considered pretty attractive around here, you know.“
Just a compliment between colleagues, of course.
O-of… course…
The reluctant annoyance that Hakuba was beginning to feel toward Kudou was distracted by the other detective’s compliment. Indeed, it brought his one-track mind sputtering to a stop before falling over on the tracks. He blinked, cheeks coloring, and averted his gaze quickly after that,
"Ah… thank you, Kudou-san,” Hakuba said after a moment, voice uncertain. “However, I don’t think that’s really why, though I appreciate the thought."
At last, a smile returned to his face. As loathe as he was to admit it, the kind words about his looks came across like praise from a picky master to a needy golden retriever.
"Not to worry, Kudou-san. I’ve known from a very young age that the nepotistic focus of Japanese society would ultimately prevent my ability to flourish here. I’ve never held any delusions about that.” A pause, then “Ah- how far are we from the cafe? I don’t believe I quite recognize this part of the neighborhood…"
In truth, he’d only been here a few times, mostly to run errands for the police. And although it had been incredibly tempting, he’d only been by Kudou’s home three or four times in the past couple of years, but never went past the front gate. No one had been home.
So, ultimately, he was unfamiliar with the area.
“The police can always use the help on cold cases. Is there any specific reason you would choose the United Kingdom over Japan?” he asked as an after thought. It did seem rather strange to him, but then again, he realized that Saguru was raised in England.
They were a lot alike in some ways and then completely different in others. While Saguru wanted to work on cold cases, Shinichi was much more involved in the here and now. Organized crime had become his game, which wasn’t really all that surprising. Maybe he would go back to solving murders when they were finally put behind bars.
The question brought Hakuba to a near-stumble. “Ah, Kudou-san… Well, that is to say…”
He looked back at Shinichi, raising a brow, frowning somewhat. Either Shinichi was teasing him or he’d somehow managed to transcend mortality and was, as he might have guessed, an angel of equality.
Either way, he decided to err on the side of caution and answer the question seriously.
“Considering I look about as Japanese as a piñata, I’ll never make it past rank 6, and that’s only if I am incredibly fortunate. I’ll have a much better chance advancing in London."