Chapter Text
For some reason, he doesn't realize anything's wrong until it's much too late. It is nearly a week after arriving in Japan and suffering from near-constant headaches that Hakuba notices a pattern.
The headaches only happen once he leaves the house and meets other people.
He seems to be perfectly fine alone, and at home, but that sense of security fades to nothing the moment he is out in public and starts interacting with others.
Another thing he can't help but realize is how none of this started until after moving to Japan. He was perfectly fine– as well as a teenage detective with no supportive biological parents could be– back in England, with no constant headaches, no inability to sleep, no visions that made absolutely no sense, and often left him shaking like a lamb… it all started the night his plane touched down in Japan and steadily grew worse the longer he stayed there. He admits that he allowed a bit of his stubborn nature to keep him from seeing a local doctor, instead, he spoke with Baaya. She had plenty of first aid experience and knowledge under her belt, he trusts her should he ever fall ill or be injured.
Baaya believed that it was just stress and a lack of sleep getting to him.
She told him to take a step back from chasing KID and solving other cases so that he can relax for a bit. He didn't want to agree with her at all, but then he started getting dizzy spells and had almost fallen down the stairs when his vision blacked out for a couple of seconds.
After that, he agreed to some time off and even flew back to England to escape from the craziness of Japan. Not that he believes Japan to be crazy, but with the new transfer student Akako-san and Kuroba-kun constantly butting heads on top of Kuroba-kun's arguing with Aoko-san, it's enough to drive anyone mad. It didn't help that at the last heist he attended he may or may not have had one of those utterly confusing daydreams of a vision. He completely forgot about chasing KID in favor of trying to keep himself from having a panic attack in the middle of a heist. He had stumbled his way into the nearest empty room and sat in the corner behind the door. He truly tried his best to calm himself down, counting along with the ticking of his pocket watch, focusing on an object (he chose the ugliest painting in the room), taking deep breaths, even giving the 5-4-3-2-1 method a try… none of it was working. He wasn't alone for long and had flinched back as the door swung open, almost hitting into him.
He should count himself lucky, the shock of seeing KID rushing into the room proved to be enough of a distraction for him to start calming down subconsciously.
He wasn't able to figure out what it was that KID was searching for until the thief locked eyes with him and visibly relaxed. It was him. KID came into the room, searching for him. Hakuba didn't know how to respond to that and while the rest of that night passed by in a blur, all he could focus on afterward was how he told KID to leave him be, ignoring any questions aimed his way, before yelling for the Taskforce to come and took off running while KID dealt with them. It was the shame of his behavior that night that led to him going to Baaya about his symptoms in the first place.
He can't allow for whatever this is to get in his way of working.
So he left for England, barely remembering to let the school know ahead of time. He couldn't be gone for long, he didn't want to risk missing out on too much school despite being ahead of everyone else in the class. Besides Kuroba-kun, they were tied for first in quite a few subjects. Either way, Hakuba left and managed to convince Baaya to use the time he was gone as personal time off, of course, he made sure that she would still be paid, but perhaps now she would take her own advice and relax. Returning to his mother's household is… off-putting. His mother and he got along a bit better than how he did with his father, but that wasn't saying much. Since their separation (not a divorce, they were still legally married) everything's changed. The only good thing to come out of this was despite staying in the same house, it was rare for them to run into one another. As much as he loves her, Hakuba could live the rest of his life without seeing his mother and still feel at peace with that.
Every moment spent in her presence was a test of his patience.
At least she seemed to want to avoid him just as much as he wished to avoid her. The opposite of how his father would react anytime they were at the house at the same time. His father would constantly try to seek him out and nag at him until he finds a suitable excuse to get away. More often than not, Baaya would be the one to provide the excuses.
Hakuba uses his time back home to catch up on sleep, as useless as the endeavor turns out to be.
.
.
.
If he knew that taking time to himself before returning to Japan would result in him passing out while walking to the closest store, Hakuba wouldn't have left in the first place.
He'd been fine for the first hour— then once he was a few blocks from his house, the headaches returned with a vengeance. Hakuba had no warning and no means of bracing himself before falling unconscious. When he woke up, overwhelmed and unable to focus on his surroundings, he ignored the throbbing of his head and forced himself to sit up. He just barely realized that there was a small crowd surrounding him and from what he could hear there was someone on the phone calling an ambulance. He should probably say something to them, tell them to hang up, or something like that. However, he was far too preoccupied with the torrent of memories assaulting his mind.
Memories of a past that he knows has yet to happen.
An ambulance arrives and after he spends some time convincing them that he is alright, and allowing them to check him for a concussion, Hakuba is able to return home.
He ended up having to tell them that he merely passed out for a brief moment due to a lack of sleep, and he did let them clean up the scraped-up skin of his forehead. Though he refused offers of giving him a ride home. There was barely any blood and he'll put ice over it as soon as he's home to try and keep it from bruising too badly. If it does bruise, well, at least his hair is long enough to cover it up.
Hakuba doesn't throw up until after he enters his house, running to the kitchen sink since it's closer than the bathroom. His head still hurts, but so does his heart.
He can remember how loud everything had been in those final moments. People screaming, the sound of guns going off, the screeching of tires on asphalt. Yet none of that had been as loud as the silence that followed as KID fell from the rooftop, splotches of red growing on his suit. Hakuba can remember how he pushed past the Inspector, barely dodging the gunfire aimed at him from the damned snipers as he rushed toward KID.
Hakuba knew even as he started running that he wouldn't get there in time.
He thinks Kuro– KID, he can't think of him as Kuroba-kun, not right now. He thinks KID knew he wouldn't make it to him, that he knew he was going to die.
Hakuba remembers how KID had stared at him with a desperation he's never seen the thief display before, as he tosses that night's stolen jewel at him.
Hakuba remembers catching the gem, eyes growing wide as it began to glow under the moonlight, KID's words echoing in his ears.
"Destroy it! Don't let them take it!"
Hakuba watched as KID fell, not looking away even as people began screaming once more, he can vaguely recall hearing the Inspector yelling at him, and he thought someone was coming toward him. The last thing Hakuba remembers is blankly lifting the gem up toward the moon just as he's seen KID do countless times before, it glows brighter and Hakuba squeezed his hand around it not truly aware of anything anymore. There was another shot fired, sharp pain in his chest, and then... his vision was obscured by red.