Smoke and Mirrors

cobalt blue

I’ve explored a little, but I’ve only had two weeks here. So you pick, cheap please, if possible. I’m not loaded.

While his father was famous enough and smart enough to make a good amount of money and save the surplus... as well as contracting life insurance. The savings had been dwindling over time with Chikage jetting around the world more and more and Kaito going to school. He’d been taking care of the bills and finances for a few years now, which was probably a good thing. Especially lately, he had cut his mother’s credit card off every now and then when she started going overboard (she wouldn’t starve, she was a thief) to ensure the house maintenance could be paid as well as low budget food for himself until, well... about three months from now. He would need to find some work soon. His kind of thieving didn’t exactly pay off.

He glanced at the paper though once it was pushed towards him and lifted a brow. Hakuba hadn’t filled his week all that much? Then again, if he was still solving cases to the side that made a lot of sense. And he himself had always been weird with thriving on being overly busy, he was more productive if he had a high work load.

The professor was still at introductions, so he let a pen appear in his hands that must have come from somewhere on his body as he hadn’t reached into the bag, nor stole one from his old classmate.

“Ah, joy about being silent and attentive for hours first.” He demonstatrively leaned forward and stretched his upper body over the small table, letting his arms dangle off the other side. Five seconds later his head popped up again though and the rest followed.

“What a start...” A man walked in and headed for the front, so assumingly that was their professor. He opened up an empty document on his computer for any potential notes. And then another file with his whole schedule on it after which he tilted the screen slightly towards Hakuba to let him see properly.

If you do believe in the afterlife, what kind of afterlife do you think awaits you?

“To be honest… I entertain more of a thought that once you die… poof. The things that keep you together cease and all the energy returns to the universe freely. So you’re just gone. Sounds more peaceful to me than any form of heaven and hell most religions entertain.”

If you’ve ever had a near-death experience, describe what happened and what you saw/experienced.

“I also hope we get some material now, my first lab was disappointing. All just introductions and safety rules, like we haven’t touched a single chemical or lab equipment in the past.” He plucked a small white notebook from his bag and flipped it open, entering a password with fingers too fast to follow.

“Aoko’s been pretty pissed about me moving away. She threatened to come visit.” He snickered. “Her old man’s good too. Still yelling about KID and all, he’s pissed that KID had done some international stuff this summer that is out of his jurisdiction.” The smile on his face was almost fond now.

But then he looked left and right at the two students he had been chatting with before Hakuba came. “I think I finally found someone to stick to for all the dreadful partner and group projects.” And with a bright grin he slipped out of his seat and propped his bag on the table next to Hakuba before rounding the row and slipping into the seat next to the blonde.

The grin still never left his face, even as he was scrutinized. His face however changed for a second when magic was mentioned. Well... oops that was something he hadn’t told Mary and Rob about, so it was their turn to look surprised. “Magic?” Was her surprised question.

Kaito’s grin widened slightly. “Well, I sort of decided I want a bit of a change of scenes. I’ve been living in Tokyo for most of my life and foreign experience is worth a lot to Japanese employers.” He had swiched back to Japanese as well, at least for the sentence and with it his smile had mellowed back too, so that the intent of it did not come across as mocking.

This one seemed to be more promising, less interactive, but he hoped they would get to cover some sort of lecture material past introductions. Two people already sat with him and they started some smalltalk chit-chat that he was participating in to cause a laugh here and there with a silly comment.

One more thing that made this slightly strange was the fact that for the first time in his life he was at a learning institution without a uniform. And Kaito actually had done some research to make sure he did not stand out after dressing in the morning. So there he was, dressed in a pair of black slacks, canvas sneakers and a white button up with the top two buttons popped open and a dark grey jumper covering the rest. Watches weren’t uncommon, so he had put on a subtle silver one on his left wrist, since checking time on his phone might have brought some negative attention to him. (And he was not quite there yet.)

What he hadn’t lost however, was his posture, relaxed and open as he was leaned back in the chair, one ankle resting on his opposite knee, leaving enough space for his hands to gesture freely. Neither had he lost the mess he called hair that some called artfully styled while others leaned more towards the term bird’s nest. Not his fault entirely though, against some opinions he did comb it, regularly, but he didn’t bother to try taming it with hair products.

When a new person entered the room, his eyes discretely wandered over towards the door. For a fraction of a second and only someone who knew to keep attention this closely the surprise, near shock was visible on his face and he had to keep himself from a double take. But his expression smoothed over quickly enough for his conversation partners not to notice at all.

Jealous

Luckily enough he does not get jealous too easily, but if he does - he is a bit sulky and also petty, more than a little petty probably. Very petty in his eyes, but the pettiness still stays harmless, aside from being annoying.

Uncomfortable 

That one is very tricky to spot. It is another one of those emotions he tends to hide behind his pokerface. But there is option one for his reaction: extract himself from the situation. However, if he feels like he needs to stay for any reason, he will just smile through it and secretly bear it. A very good observer might notice that his whole body language and facial expression might be a hint more neutral or a bit dissmissive.

genuinely pleased