1021 Words excluding (A/N)~
Written February 28 2022
Posted March 13 2022
Kaito sighed, eyeing the snow. It really couldn't actually be that deep right? Snow couldn't fall that fast. Indigos squinted, observing his surroundings. He and the cabin were at the bottom of a hill? Everything was so white, it hurt his eyes with how sunlight was bouncing off of it. His head already hurt, he didn't need his eyes to hurt too so he had to peek through his lashes now that the sun wasn't covered by a cloud.
Having limited sight would be a hindrance, but once he was out of the valley of pure whiteness, he'd be able to see better. Kaito just needed to last long enough to climb up the hill and out of the insanely deep snow, once he was out of the dip, it shouldn't be too deep. Good, he had a plan.
He slid down from his pile of packed snow, to the side that he'd already cleared. Going left seemed like it would be the shortest route, it was hard to tell when everything looked white. Since he wasn't literally digging himself out of a shed, Kaito began to properly clear everything that was waist high and above, stomping his feet through the snow once he was sure that he wouldn't be getting buried.
He was forced to rest often, dealing with both exhaustion and his throbbing head was hard.
*
Saguru knew that he and Kaito weren't really what one would consider to be close friends, he knew that. There was obvious tension between them due to the nature of his classmate's extracurricular activities, the ones that had him moonlighting as a thief. Despite their mutual dislike for one another, Saguru didn't hate Kaito, nor did he wish harm upon the other.
After the first night, he'd just been annoyed. The second had him wary, and after the third night of no contact, he'd grown concerned. Now it was day five, three of which a snowstorm had occurred. The snowfall had been unusually thick, but became moderately warm after the first day. Well, as warm as a snowstorm could be.
Aoko was freaking out, and Saguru couldn't blame her. Kaito had been missing for days, he hadn't been forced to take shelter with some random people like they'd hoped "Kuroba was dressed decently for the weather" Saguru offered, attempting to ease Aoko's worries.
"Bakaito hates the cold though" Aoko sniffed "He wouldn't willingly go outside in a snowstorm" Her best friend liked to stay toasty indoors whenever it was cold out.
Saguru's lips thinned into a line, silently agreeing with the thought "We'll find him soon, there's already a search party" Going missing without any contact during a snowstorm wasn't something that the magician would intentionally do. Kaito could be a jerk sometimes, but even he wasn't dense enough to not inform Aoko that he was okay. Something had undoubtedly happened to the magician.
"They've been searching for days..." Aoko pressed, tears threatening to fall "Aoko overheard one of them mentioning that they might have to call it off for now" She'd been too shocked to scream at the officer and by the time she'd collected herself, said officer had no longer been in sight.
"I know..." There wasn't much he could say against that "But Kuroba is resourceful, he's probably holed up in a cave or something" He paused "Snow is a very good insulator, if nothing else, I highly doubt that he's managed to freeze to death" If the magician had gone outside, then he'd obviously been dressed to be outside. The temperatures hadn't dropped too much.
"Aoko has seen Kaito eat snow before, what if he freezes himself that way?"
Saguru held in a chuckle at the odd information, mood lightening a bit "If you could think of that, then Kuroba could as well" Saguru offered "He's much more resourceful than the two of us combined" Usually that trait annoyed him, but this time he was banking on that resourcefulness.
Aoko was silent for a few moments, then a determined gleam alighted in her gaze "Aoko is going to search for him in the woods!" They'd searched the city once the snow had stopped, so the woods was the next place to search.
"No, that's too dangerous" Saguru shook his head "You're not used to searching for someone" He grimaced "If you promise to stay here, I could go out looking for him if you want. I'm familiar with traversing through forests while looking for someone" Criminals often ran to the woods to escape arrest.
"But then Aoko would worry about you too..." The girl sighed, thoroughly stressed. She could see where the other was coming from with his logic. That didn't mean that she liked it.
Saguru offered a reassuring smile "I'll be fine, it's no longer snowing and the sun is warm. My footprints won't get covered so I'll be able to make my way back" The snowstorm had brought a lot of snow with it. The search party was close to giving up, probably because they weren't familiar with how resourceful his classmate was. They probably thought that they were looking for a buried body with how much time has already passed. To their credit, that was a difficult task.
"Is someone missing?"
The eerily familiar voice jerked both of their attention towards the speaker. Aoko perked up before deflating a bit "My friend Kaito" This person looked like Kaito, he even sounded a lot like him "Nobody has seen him since before the snowstorm"
Saguru had perked up like Aoko had, but for different reasons "Kudo-kun, your help would be greatly appreciated. The search teams seem like they're close to giving up" What luck, meeting another detective out here, a skilled one at that. Having the help of Kudo Shinichi would be a great boon "He's that classmate I've spoken to you about, I doubt that he's dead"
Azure gleamed with recognition "I see, I'd be happy to help" He would be potentially meeting Kaitou Kid, he wouldn't miss it. He also owed the guy for saving him last time "My mom suddenly dragged me to Kyoto for shopping" He grimaced "Finding your friend sound like a much more appealing use of my time"
Me: Kaito is concussed with a head injury bad enough to have bled... He also has a phone, but electronics don't like the cold, they can become faulty... He's also lost some time so his narration can't be completely reliable. Exhaustion and hunger...
Oh and Shinichi has an unplanned trip to Kyoto~ If only the kidnappers had waited a few days before acting
Comment? ^-^
Walking 8 kilimeters (4.9 miles) is nice when it's 4am >~< so quiet, and lots of bunnies