True Love [ShinKai]

Chapter 7

Kaito and Shinichi used their combined intelligence, trying to find any secret doors that could lead them to a new discovery.

"We have 3 months to stay here," he said, running his hands on the wall, searching thoroughly. "We don't even have a basic map of this building, Shin-chan. We can't just blindly walk in a road we never explored, can we?"

Both of them stared at each other with gears turning rapidly inside their brains, mind running with thoughts. "We might never know what we will find. Think you're up to the challenge, Meitantei?" Kaito let out a KID smirk.

"Never been ready, KID. I wonder what secrets they have in this mansion. What more would I want than to explore this mysterious ground with the love of my life?" Shinichi said with a lovesick smile.

Kaito groaned in fake exaggeration, cheeks tinted red. "Your sappiness is back."

"But you love it still."

They returned to the hall, looking around at anything they could find that was out of ordinary for them. It caught the attention of the servants of course and they asked what those two were doing.

"We're looking for anything that could lead us to a secret passageway," Kaito said. "We wanted to unveil the mystery of this mansion that the first Kudo left for everyone."

"We suggest you not to do it, Young Master," a middle-age male servant, Gerald, said worriedly. "Many relatives has tried but it was all vain. Some got stuck in there and probably died. We do not wish for anything to happen to you."

Shinichi smiled kindly at them and said, "It's okay, Gerald. If there is anyone who can do it, it'll be us."

"U-Uh.. I found an old piece of parchment the other day while cleaning the library," said a young looking girl nervously. "It says that, "To whom inherited this sacred palace I built must be worthy of Love. Those unworthy shall never find the real beauty of my home.""

Both of them stared at her before looking at each other with bright eyes. "The library," they said, perfectly synchronised, running towards the direction hurriedly, startling the servants. "Thank you for telling us, Julia!"

The library was huge in size, much bigger than what Kaito saw in Kudo's Manor back in Japan. It was almost like the library in the Beauty and the Beast story.

He was completely astounded by the view before remembering what he was supposed to do and checked every corner of the room in great detail, mapping out inside his mind. Luckily both he and Shinichi shared a great ability to memorise things.

Spending a few hours searching, both of them found nothing in the library much to their disappointment. As they sat down on the comfy bean bag, he sighed a little tiredly, looking up on the ceiling.

That's when he found the first clue that they were looking for.

"Shin-chan.. I think you might want to look up."

The said person did as told and sat up instantly when he saw it.

On the ceiling was a huge continuous painting of a story between two men, (Lovers, their mind supplied.) separated quite cruelly by the people around them. "I have a crazy theory, Shinichi.. Do you wanna hear it?" Kaito whispered out.

"I think I know what you're thinking but go ahead."

"I think your first ancestor built this mansion not for his wife he married, but for a male lover that was ripped away from him quite mercilessly," Kaito said.

"Your theory is exactly the same as mine. This was a memory for him then," Shinichi added absentmindedly, dialing on his father's number in his phone.

"Moshi moshi. Shinichi?"

"Hey, tou-san.. Kaito and I are at the mansion you passed down to me on my 16th birthday. I was wondering if you know anything about the first ancestor's love story. Both of us were curious."

"So, you're trying to search for the secrets behind the mansion right now, aren't you?" the elder said over the phone with a soft chuckle. "I assumed you must have found the painting in the library too?" he asked and Shinichi made a noise of confirmation.

"Your mother and I tried to search for it too, the secrets of the mansion but then, when I saw the paintings, I stopped. I couldn't continue because it didn't seem right to me. It felt like I was sticking my nose to a place where I shouldn't. Even my own father said the same thing before he passed away."

"Now where to start with this.. Well, there wasn't that many stories been told about the first Kudo generation but from what both your mother and I learn, he was a very secretive person. The secret passages were built by him to escape from his wife sometimes to who knows where. Now as for the paintings, it was an interpretation of him and his male lover before he had gotten married with a woman. I'm not sure why he was using Greek style since he lived in France and build the mansion there but I just assumed it was because he lived near the Greeks and Roman era. After his death, no one actually knows how he looked like. Only his servants, his wife and son knows. No one even knew his name. I heard he changed his name to a fake name as well."

"There wasn't a picture of his painted in the dining hall either," Kaito realised. "It started with the second generation until your father's painting."

"That's right. Many of the Kudo relatives tried to find the way in because it was theorised that his body and his lover's body was in the secret room. I'm sure the servants tried to warn you that as well," Yuusaku said with a distant hum.

Shinichi sighed softly. "Thanks, tou-san. I'll let you know more if we ever found anything else."

"Alright, Shinichi. Take care, Kaito-kun."

The phone call ended and Shinichi stood up, eyeing everything there with a sense of suspision. "There must be something he left. Anything at all. A diary or whatever writing he did other than that parchment, Julia found."

They both resumed searching, wanting to find them desperately. They felt like they could do the investigation without resulting with death for the both of them.

Shinichi concentrated on his feelings just as much as his mind. There must be something.. Anything at all..

Then he found what he was looking for a very old looking notebook that were handmade, hidden from view. He dusted it off and walked to the table, calling for Kaito excitedly.

"I found something too." Kaito then came towards him with another book, sitting in front of him with anticipation.

Shinichi flipped the book open with care, not wanting to ruin the precious evidence he had just found. "It's a diary and it's written in French."

May 29th

Fate had met me with a very beautiful man that I had ever seen in my whole life. A man being with a man was frowned upon but I do not care about it. The man had a very beautiful smile. His brown hair was messy on top of his head. His eyes was what attracts me to him. Such vibrant colour. He had draw me in, in a way I had never felt before. I wish to meet this man again. I had yet to ask for his name. How much of a fool I am to be attracted to someone I met only once in my life, a male nonetheless.

K.S.

Shinichi couldn't help but smile at the first entry. It sounded so much like him when he first met Kaito as himself and not as KID.

Kaito smiled as well. "In the diary, he sounded so in love. Such love was rare to find nowadays. It's cute."

"That's true," Shinichi agreed. "I kind of wished they had a better ending, a happy one at least."