“Yeah, of course I do! You and Naoto-san solving so many cases and
catching bad guys on the tv - I really admired that, and that’s
what made me brave enough to ask for a job at the defense force in
the first place - so maybe I can do my part to help catch bad guys
too one day.”
No, Shinichi has not entered an alternate universe - such is the
general adoration of ‘members of justice’ that Ken has that
he even looks up to him, as irresponsible as he can be. He still
doesn’t know why Naoto-san doesn’t seem to get along with him now
though, nor does he know a thing about a potential death of a
white-haired person in another universe. That would be a really
sombre mystery though.
As for everything vanishing in some kind of reset, Ken would probably see that as a very confusing and curious case indeed, but that is neither here nor there. Perhaps there is also a sense of the old ‘Detective Boys’ group that makes Ken happy to look up to Shinichi as well. Fourth wall breaking aside, Ken folded his arms at the apology. “Just make sure to try and be more careful, Shinichi-san. If you get in trouble like that again, I’ll just…I’ll just…I’ll have to sass you a lot so it sticks in your head next time.” He’ll do it, too.
Suddenly, pat on head. As much as Ken doesn’t usually like being treated like a kid, to have his hair ruffled reminds him of how his mom used to do that, so it’s nice…
“R-reliable? Gosh… that’s an honour you think that, but my name’s Ken, not ‘assistant kun’. Please try to remember my name…and keep that promise, too.” A small nod from the boy, there.
“I see.” As much as the sass threat was intimidating, Shinichi wasn’t actually that worried about it. Maybe his heart had gone cold after years of being scolded and sassed down by a certain Ai Haibara. She had a sharp tongue and was scary too. Brr.
Shinichi put his hand to his chin as he looked down at the younger boy, contemplating something before he started smirking.
“Then I’ll call you Ken-kun.” He announced, for once being fine with calling someone else by their first name. Shinichi didn’t need to go Ashita no Joe with his speech around children, really. “And you can continue calling me Shinichi if you like.” Though he briefly wondered why the boy glued ‘-san’ to the end and not ‘-niichan’. Kids these days.
“I’ll be relying on your support from here onwards as well.”
