Heiji clicked the stop watch as Hakuba set down the pen with a contented sigh and a look of immense satisfaction, having finally completed solving the riddle that Kid had put in front of him.
“Good one.” The blond detective commented to the preening thief. “And yes.”
Kuroba’s face lit up as he grinned broadly back.
“Took you long enough, Hakuba.” Kudo grumbled from where he was draped across the sofa. “Think you took the longest to solve the riddles out of all of us.”
“He did. Twice as long as your time.” Heiji confirmed with a smirk. Other than one moment early on where the Brit had paused and looked up at Kuroba with a questioning glance and was met with a nod, Hakuba seemed to struggle with it. Which just went to show who the superior detective was.
“Actually.” Kuroba said, standing up with a stretch. “He solved it the fastest. Under half of either of your times.”
Heiji shared a confused look with Kudo. “What?”
“They missed the second code?” Hakuba inquired, also rising and tucking the chair back in under the table.
“Yup.” Kuroba grinned, piranha-like, all teeth. “They got the first one, calling them idiots, and stopped there.”
Heiji stared at Kudo. A second code.
“In that case, I believe victory is mine.” Hakuba drawled, turning to the theif. “Shall we adjourn to the address on the second code? My treat, as thanks for such a delicious brain teaser.”
“I’d be delighted.” Kuroba agreed, actually looking so. They left, Hakuba asking a quiet question about the process of developing the codes as the door closed behind them, and getting a proud grin in return.
Heiji did not quite whine as he realised that he’d just missed a chance to pick Kuroba’s brain on how Kaitou Kid’s twisted mind worked.
“You still have your riddle, right?” Kudo demanded, rising from his seat, pulling a folded paper out of his wallet.
An original Kaitou Kid riddle, personalised for him? Of course Heiji still had it. He pulled it out, setting it on the table as Kudo sat down across from him, frantically rereading his own riddle.
A freaking second riddle.
He should have known better when it came to taunting Kuroba.
