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[redherringkid]

There is, in a hallway, a small child. He looks to be about seven years old. He looks to be a Kaito. He also looks rather confused and lost and startled.

He isn't going to introduce himself as Kuroba Kaito though, and he isn't going to be performing any magic tricks for you.

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[karates_doors]

Except Ran's pretty sure she knows who he is already. After all, she and Kuroba-kun were both affected by the community virus that turned people into children.

Still, with how the mansion works, this Kaito might very well be a child, so she approaches him as neutrally as she can, hands folded behind her back and a pleasant smile on her face.

"Kuroba-kun?"

[redherringkid]

There are a host of emotions on his face as he whirls around. Fear, bewilderment, relief. No recognition of the name, but he obviously knows her.

"Ran-neechan!" Running to her, grabbing her around one leg in a tight hug. "What's going on? Where's niisan? What is this place?"

Why was she calling him by that name? She shouldn't know that name. But worry and confusion are easy to hide behind Poker Face, as is the flight-or-fight reaction that comes from that worry.

[karates_doors]

"Niisan?"

Ran blinks. Kuroba-kun doesn't have a brother, does he? And he seems like a child... (Though she's not sure she can ever take that for granted again after finding out Shinichi's secret.)

"Ah... this isn't your home. A lot of people just call it the mansion, or the dressing room." She crouched down to meet his height and gave him a reassuring smile. "It's kind of strange, but it isn't too bad."

[redherringkid]

He pulls away from her quickly, obviously unnerved. "Edogawa Conan. My brother." A pause, childish wariness underlaid with something else, something older and more paranoid. "I know you keep telling me to wear my glasses more, but I know you can recognize me without them."

[karates_doors]

...Well, this is confusing.

"Conan-kun is your brother?"

[redherringkid]

Confusion, then well-practiced fumbling in the pocket of his cargo shorts for a pair of black-rimmed glasses, identical to Conan's, which he slides smoothly onto his face. His eyes never leave Ran, but he backs away, wary.

He doesn't say anything.

[karates_doors]

Ran stares back, caught in a disturbingly eerie sense of déjà vu.

Easy, Ran. Don't go jumping to conclusions yet.

She takes a deep breath, lets it out again.

"Has anyone told you about this place yet? Or did you just get here?"

[pandorabox]

It's difficult to fool an older version of yourself, though. Like this one, who just so happens to be standing behind mini!Kaito with an amused look on his face, hands stuffed in his pockets.

"I was such a cute kid."

[redherringkid]

A startled noise, and the boy whirls around, shock quickly replaced by an innocently questioning Poker Face.

"Do I know you, niisan?"

[pandorabox]

He kneels down in front of the kid and grins. "How old are you, eight?" And then tilts his head. "You will in about eleven years."

[redherringkid]

"I'm seven." A pause, "And you look kind of like Shinichi-niisan, are you his brother? I didn't think he had a brother."

Outwardly questioning little kid, inwardly freaking out.

[pandorabox]

"12 years, then!" Kaito corrected. He managed not to outwardly flinch at the comparison between him and Kudo, and with a shake of his head he snapped his fingers and produced a bright yellow rose in the air from nowhere.

"I'm not Kudo, 'm Kaito Kuroba! Nice to meetcha~"

[redherringkid]

"Nice to meet you, Kaito-niisan!" No outward reaction to the name, no trademark flower. Just a bright smile.

[eternal-mopgirl.livejournal.com]

"Awwww....you're so cute!" Aoko said upon seeing a little Kaito, walking over to him. "Are you a little kid Kaito?"

[redherringkid]

Aoko? And it was and she was looking at him and she called him by his name and she looked normal and even happy and he could just feel Poker Face slide off in shock.

He couldn't trust himself to say anything.

[eternal-mopgirl.livejournal.com]

Aoko kneeled down so she was more on his level, smiling at him. "Hi," she said and then noticed how...shocked he looked. "...do you already know who I am?" She asked. "Well, Kaito was a smart kid...I think," Aoko murmured. She was pretty sure he was.

[redherringkid]

It wasn't Aoko. It couldn't be Aoko. And if it was, there was something very wrong. Poker Face.

"I think you've got me confused with somebody else, neechan."

[eternal-mopgirl.livejournal.com]

"Oh? You sure?" Aoko asked, leaning closer to inspect him. "I mean, Edogawa-kun looks a lot like Kaito when he was this age. I remember thinking that. But you have Kaito's messy hair," she said, ruffling his hair. "The shade of blue that's Kaito's eyes and not Edogawa's. A few other subtle differences from Edogawa's appearance that might become Kaito's features."

[redherringkid]

He jerked away from her touch as if he'd been electrocuted. It was sound logic, good attention to detail, but... not from Aoko.

The heavy-framed glasses were pulled, fumbling, from a pocket of his cargo shorts, and slipped on quickly. The better to see you with...

"My name's Edogawa Maurice. I think you're thinking of my brother."

[tea-sipping.livejournal.com]

Saguru manages to keep his paces controlled as he approaches that head of familiar wild brown hair. Familiar but much smaller.

"Hello there," the detective says calmly, planning on the little boy to turn around so that Saguru could his face.

[redherringkid]

... great.

He turns around, innocent. Then surprised and pleased. "Hakuba-niisan!"

[tea-sipping.livejournal.com]

Just as Saguru was formulating a plausible explanation for this child looking so much like one Kaito Kuroba, involving common variables such as "blood relation" and "cousins", the boy spoke and shattered this train of thought.

"How ... do you know my name?"

[redherringkid]

He didn't have to fake confusion. "Niisan and the Shonen Tantei and I met you that one time when there was a murder connected to a case you were working with."

That had been the most harrowing thing that had happened to him since he became Edogawa Maurice.

[tea-sipping.livejournal.com]

He's starting to get an inkling about how things may just be a little off here. He knew for certain he had never met this little boy before. He'd remember a Kuroba lookalike. The detective smiles his best comforting smile.

"What's your name?"

[redherringkid]

Something is wrong (not counting the way Hakuba was very much treating him like a little kid, that was mostly funny, and he stored it away to laugh at later). Hakuba doesn't recognize him.

So, as he usually does, he pulls his thick-rimmed Conan-glasses out of the pocket of his cargo-shorts, and slips them on, blinking in an imitation of refocusing his vision. The resemblance to his "brother" is undeniable.

"I'm Edogawa Maurice, Hakuba-neesan."