to get caught, that is.”

Kid turned his head towards the other, hiding any surprise he may have felt behind a smirk of his own. He didn’t respond right away, taking a few more seconds to open the lock he’d started on. Once that was done, he stood to face the other completely, casually making the equipment he was using vanish as he moved a hand up to tip his hat to the speaker in greeting, other hand sliding into his pocket.

This person had certainly been quiet, and the dark outfit they sported didn’t really give off the impression of them just being a normal bystander… however, they also didn’t seem to be antagonistic. So, other than a light caution, the magician thief wasn’t too concerned with the unexpected company.

“Hmm… if by caught, you mean seen, then perhaps… but I’m a lot harder to actually catch than I look. I appreciate the concern, though.” And now the other hand fell into a pocket as well. “Are you here for any particular reason, or just wanting to give out thieving advice?”

Hush~

meitantei-cowlick:

moonlightmajutsushi:

x (29)

The thief didn’t look up. Though he had been the one to come over to the other’s house, he didn’t want the detective to see him like this…

As he recalled the events from earlier that night, the tears wouldn’t stop. He could still feel the hand of the man he had tried to save, just before his grip had…

A choke escaped him and he lowered his head even more.

“There was nothing I could do…”

Maybe it had seemed a bit extreme, being relieved to possibly die. There had just been so much going on before that time, so much he kept hidden and bottled up with no one really to talk to. He supposed he could have trusted Ran with his problems but at the same time he hadn’t wanted to bother her. She had enough going on with her own parents and trying to make her own life. He’d done enough bothering of her growing up it just hadn’t seemed right.

To be honest he wasn’t even sure why he’d confessed that to KID, suicide wasn’t something he often thought of. But that night it would have been so much easier to die then to have to continue on being some one he wasn’t.

KID had made being Conan so much more bearable, even if it was also a painful reminder that he had screwed up and only made things worse for himself. Wrapping his arms around the thief again, returning the hug, he found this seemed an appropriate response. At least until he started speaking again.

Ghost of the first KID… ? Frowning some, he didn’t pull away.

“You aren’t a ghost.” His voice was firm but caring. “Even if you aren’t the first KID that doesn’t make you a ghost.” Certainly his thief had to know that, right?

Silence before he dared to ask. “What… happened to the first?”

Ok, the way he paced that could have been better. Probably the pause had made it seem even more serious than it had meant to be. Not that it wasn’t serious, it just felt like the other was taking it to mean he was having an identity or existential crisis, or something, which had not been his intention.

And he couldn’t help but laugh. A soft, rather sad laugh, though there was a hint of actual amusement in it.

“Ah, no… I didn’t… I mean…” A sigh and what little smile he may have had from the laugh fell. He really should have just shut up, because he already wanted to back out.

“…Kidis a ghost, tantei-kun. If it weren’t for a few coincidences occurring, there still wouldn’t be a thief in a white suit jumping off buildings, causing trouble, or bugging a detective from time to time with night visits. Because the original…”

Another pause. A choke, really. This had been the reason he hesitated before. Telling someone about what’s behind Kid, even if it isn’t really much in comparison to everything that could be said, well… it was actually a lot harder than he realised. Even with his emotional state somewhat askew, even with the looming drowsiness, and even with wanting to tell Shinichi, who had said so much about his own thoughts and feelings and was here, comforting a thief who was showing a side that he probably wasn’t used to seeing…. he was having a lot of trouble getting the words out. The warning sirens were going off, telling him not to say anything more, not to answer.

But he ignored them and pressed on, starting to tremble again, though whether from anger, fear, or sadness… even he wasn’t entirely sure anymore.

“…The first was murdered… at the time before the eight year ‘hiatus’ from stealing….” He finally managed to get out, voice soft and wavering, the words just barely loud enough to hear. It really did hurt to say it to someone who didn’t already know. Who didn’t know anything, really, and still didn’t. Every time he thought about it, he got angry, really. When Jii had told him, when he confronted the very people who took his father’s life… he’d been sad, yes, but also could feel a hate rise up. And though he did feel they deserved it so, so much… he really didn’t like the feeling.

However… saying it to Shinichi felt different. The hate was still there, but much less so, and more of the grief came through. He wasn’t sure if it was because of who he was telling, that the other didn’t know the exact meaning behind it all, about Toichi, about Pandora, about….everything. Or if it was the circumstance, with his Poker Face pretty much gone soon after he got here anyway… but it was a nice change, even if he didn’t like having to feel any of it in the first place.

Hush~

meitantei-cowlick:

moonlightmajutsushi:

x (29)

The thief didn’t look up. Though he had been the one to come over to the other’s house, he didn’t want the detective to see him like this…

As he recalled the events from earlier that night, the tears wouldn’t stop. He could still feel the hand of the man he had tried to save, just before his grip had…

A choke escaped him and he lowered his head even more.

“There was nothing I could do…”

If he were honest with himself, and he wasn’t usually, he actually cared a great deal more for KID then just simply as a friend. There was a lot of internal debate with himself over this and why it wasn’t a good idea, yadda yadda… There was just this feeling he got when it came to the thief, something he hadn’t felt with anyone else before.

“I know you don’t but you also have to remember that I don’t want something to happen to you either.” He was still playing with Kaito’s hair, eyes still off staring at the wall across from them, frustrated with himself because damn it he needed to just let KID know exactly what he was feeling and couldn’t. At least not on his own.

Suddenly the magician’s hold on him loosened, and he blinked. Pulling his head away where it had been resting on his counter part’s, curious (and maybe a little confused) blue eyes watched the magician as he asked his question. Ah, well… That was a bit of a loaded question now wasn’t it?

“Mm, that is a question for the ages now isn’t it?” he asked, trying to keep his tone light and not at all nervous. For Shinichi was never a nervous sort right? Right. Maybe. Shame he wasn’t the smooth sort of personality KID could often be.

“… I suppose it does seem weird, huh? A detective, especially one who seems so righteous, caring for a thief instead of putting him away behind bars. Wanting to get to know the person who pretends to be a phantom… That’s not things normal detectives do, right? So maybe there’s something wrong with me. Or at least I ask myself that a lot sometimes.”

A heavy sort of sigh left him, moving his gaze from the still hidden face to once more look at the wall. This time though he kept himself from leaning against the master thief.

“But then, I guess that’s the difference. I’m not a normal detective. I’m not normal no matter how much I want to be, no matter how much I once tried to be. And it’s funny, you know? All I wanted was to fit in, to be normal, to stop being this person no one seemed to like because I wasn’t like them. And sure, pretending to be this arrogant, self serving sort of prick seemed to help a bit but it wasn’t me and it wasn’t all that fun.

"Then one night Megure asks me to do something, go up in a helicopter with him. There’s this thief who’s trying to steal a clock tower, wants me to help try and catch him because this clock tower is important. And it’s not my usual sort of thing but why not. Anything to help make myself fit in, feel better. And it’s fun. Figuring out this guy’s every move is a challenge and it’s fun and knowing that I had him there at the end, revealing his trick with a simple bullet. And for the first time in my life I feel like I know myself."

Oh god he word vomiting at him, couldn’t bring himself to shut up but… It was like that question had just opened up this dam he couldn’t fix, didn’t want to fix. There was so much as to why he cared for this thief and he wanted him to know all of it.

"That was it, afterwards. I didn’t try and chase him again after that because I’m a homicide detective, stopping the killers and saving lives is my thing no matter how much I enjoyed that night. Then I got myself in trouble, left my best friend behind at an amusement park and I could have died that night. I wanted to die that night. Instead I managed to hit that lucky minuscule percentage that would instead age me back ten years and I became Conan Edogawa.

And don’t know you know, I met that same thief again one night on the top of a hotel. I didn’t know it was him at first, of course not how could I. But this thief he did something no one had at this point. He treated me not like a child but as an intelligent human being. And it kept happening. Every meeting it was like he knew there was more then met the eye and he treated me like everyone else. Respected my intelligence, treated me like very few had in my life a-and…”

And his voice was breaking, had started to around the time he confessed he had hoped to die that night. When he’d been told that pill was going to kill him there had been so much relief in him that night he could have cried, probably would have had the concussion not made him lose consciousness. He was trying hard to keep himself together for this thief who needed him, he was supposed to be the strong one right now!

It was just so hard to when he was confessing so much to said magician. And some of the things he said not even Ran had known, at least not consciously.

Kid remained silent while the other spoke, not wanting to interrupt the sort of rambling Shinichi had started. He had asked and he wanted to listen. Couldn’t say he was happy about all the talk of the other thinking he wasn’t normal, even if a part of him knew that being intelligent and having an interest in something most didn’t, a passion, didn’t exactly help in connecting with people. Gained fans and earned attention, maybe, but also formed a gap, a distance between oneself and others that couldn’t quite be crossed without being able to put aside what was causing the gap long enough to at least form a bridge, a separate connection that didn’t have to do with the direct cause of the distance, that one could use to get closer.

Both as Kaito and Kid, he knew that feeling very well. However, he was much better at putting on masks than Shinichi. Made it easier for others to be around him, but harder for them to actually know him. A magician, a trickster who was as likely to pull a prank out of thin air as he was a rose. A thief, a gentleman, polite to almost everyone, but remaining a mystery to all but a very, very small number of people.

A smile started to rise when the detective described the clock tower experience, however.He’d held that ‘heist’ to preserve a memory he had with Aoko, and had inadvertently created another memory of meeting someone he now cared about attached to it. Well, sort of meeting, anyway. They hadn’t seen each other’s faces, nor had they even really learned each other’s names, though he had looked into it after the fact. That night was just the experience of going up against someone challenging, someone who had predicted almost all of his moves. It hadn’t been the first time someone had done it, but most at least had known about the thief to begin with. From what he could tell from what he’d heard later, Shinichi had just come and interfered on a whim, and still completely managed to throw him off, though he did still manage to complete his purpose.

But smile quickly fell and he could feel his blood turn cold at the mention of wanting to die.

No matter how much Kaito had been hurt, no matter how broken he’d gotten, how depressed he felt, death was never welcome in his thoughts. Escape, yes. To run away from it all, to forget, yes. But never to abandon life.

Though, he did have to wonder why that was. As lonely of an existence he led, and as much pain and guilt he often felt, why hadn’t he ever wished for death? Not suicidal, which might also be expected of someone like him, but not even the general ‘I’d be happy if I were to die right now’. Even before he actually had a purpose as Kid in living. When he’d drawn back from the world after his father had been taken by death, never once did he himself want to follow after him. It wasn’t as if he particularly valued his own life either. He threw himself into danger constantly, with his job in general and just in protecting others without ever once considering himself, beyond that fact that he would need to try and stay alive long enough to keep someone safe.

Kid’s musings almost distracted him from the rest of what Shinichi was saying, but the broken words kept his attention. By he end, he was holding the detective tight again.

…How broken we both are, that just having someone else treat us differently than what we’re used to can affect us so much….

Shinichi had given him plenty of bridges, and he was still being a coward and barely giving him the one of affection and comfort.

The tiredness was pushed back as much as he could force it. Sleep slurred words weren’t fit to respond to something like that.

”…I treat people how it seems they want to be treated. Even if you looked like a child, you figured out the riddle and came with every intention of getting me caught. Even if you tried to act like it was a coincidence, it was fairly easy to see you were too bright for that to be the case. I’m not exactly one to ignore when someone decides to take things seriously, even if I might not have known that ‘child’ wasn’t as young as he appeared to be at that time. I’m not exactly surprised by someone not being normal, tantei-kun.“

Though later, yes, he’d been doing it with more of a purpose…

The thief hesitated before speaking again, lowering his head and clutching at the other’s shirt. Shinichi had opened up so much, probably too much. And it made him want to give him something in return. Not his name just yet, though. He would do that when the timing was better, and he didn’t feel like that time was now. Nor could he give away his motives. And he’d already given away pain he hadn’t meant to. However…

”…You say I’m pretending to be a phantom. Really…. it is true, though. I’m a ghost.“

He swallowed thickly. He had to get this out, at least, before he changed his mind and let caution and sleep make him stop.

"The ghost of the first Kid.”

Just because I’m not posting doesn’t mean I’m not watching.

I’m always watching.

Hush~

meitantei-cowlick:

moonlightmajutsushi:

x (29)

The thief didn’t look up. Though he had been the one to come over to the other’s house, he didn’t want the detective to see him like this…

As he recalled the events from earlier that night, the tears wouldn’t stop. He could still feel the hand of the man he had tried to save, just before his grip had…

A choke escaped him and he lowered his head even more.

“There was nothing I could do…”

“I doubt you’re fine, KID,” he replied tersely, trying not to be upset that he was being shot down about this again. He couldn’t handle the idea of the thief breaking under the strain of having to keep doing this alone, he understood well what it could do to a person.

A snort left him as he turned to rest his cheek against the messy hair he was still toying with, eyes staring blankly at the wall across the room. But it was really all he did, especially with the hold on him tightening a bit. He didn’t understand why he couldn’t let him in even just a little bit. Let him help him before he drove himself to his early death.

“Nor are you insane.” Not yet. “But… we are friends. And friends don’t push each other way, so I see no reason to do as such to you.” At least he thought of them as friends.

Which was all the more reason why he wanted to help him, why he didn’t want to see the other ruin himself by taking everything on all alone. Especially not when it almost seemed like they were fighting the same enemy. Not that he had direct proof of that but…

“I just… want to be there, I want to help you fight what hurts you…”

Tiredness was starting to set in. The tears had stopped by now and Kid could feel the heavy weight in the back of his head trying to pull him down. Not surprising, with what had happened earlier that night, the spiraling thoughts, and the current warmth and comfort of having someone to hold and being held.

But, for once, he didn’t really want to answer the call for sleep. He still wanted to talk, to convince Shinichi that he really was doing enough already, that he didn’t need him doing more.

Though… talking while drowsy might not be the best idea… For him, being tired was almost equivalent to being drunk, in many ways…

“Hmm… People ’ll pro’bly argue with y’ on the insane p’rt, tantei-k’n…” he said, smiling slightly and opening his eyes some to try and help ward off the feeling. Not that it actually helped, “But thank y’. And I like y’ bein’ here. There’s too… I don’t want anything t’ happen t’ y’…..”

It did surprise him that Shinichi said they were friends. Not because the thief thought they weren’t, but he’d been thinking they may have been a bit more than just friends. On the other hand… the detective only knew him as Kid. A mask, a job, a persona. He should probably be happy that the other would consider a thief who shows up at random to be a friend in the first place.

And especially when that thief never really said anything about himself to someone he wanted to be close with. Not details about his job, not what he normally does outside of it. And not even his name.

Actually…. why should Shinichi consider him someone to care more about? Kid only ever seemed to come to play and cuddle and tease and generally just intrude, so he should be lucky to even be called the detective’s friend and not just an annoying acquaintance at best.

With that thought, he loosened his hold a bit. If Shinichi hadn’t been resting on top of his head, he likely would have moved it to look the other in the face, regardless of how little his own was covered, a simple piece of glass Kid’s only real protection from being exposed at the moment. But the slight confusion could still be heard in his voice.

“…Why do y’ care so much ‘bout a phant’m?”

Here, kitty, kitty!~

meitantei-cowlick:

meitantei-cowlick:

Napping at heists seemed to be becoming a reoccurring thing for Shinichi lately, or at least coming to heists not in the best of health. This time he’d actually napped while waiting for the thief and when he woke it was to the rustling of that well known cape. Hoping the master thief hadn’t realized he had been napping, he moved to try and stand, feeling off.

He wasn’t getting sick was he? He hoped not, KID wouldn’t be pleased at all.

“Took you long enough,” he teased, the long and fluffy tail behind him swishing playfully. He had no idea it was there. Nor that there were a matching pair of ears settled in his hair.

He’d frozen in place upon realizing his teeth where digging softly into KID’s arm. He hadn’t even noticed he’d done the action and when KID pulled his arm away to cross them over his chest, he flushed brightly and had the decency to look guilty for the action.

“Sorry,” he replied, eyes glancing down to the rooftop. “I wasn’t thinking, I guess. It won’t happen again."

He was going to make sure of it, going to do his damnedest to keep himself grounded a bit better. But who would have thought that with the ears and tail of a cat, he’d have a bit of the instincts as well?

Kid maintained his pose for a few more moments before sighing and moving forward again, soft smile appearing. He put a hand between the detective’s ears and moved it from side to side, slowly, more as an act of forgiving Shinichi than returning to scratching just yet.

"Good. Wouldn’t want you to make a habit of it…”

The hand paused for a moment before sliding over to scratch at an ear again, though much lighter and a bit more cautiously than before. Much as he liked cats, he didn’t want the other to lose himself.

“Though, I should probably apologise some myself for being to interested in playing to notice it was too much for you…”

Hush~

britishhsdetectivehakuba:

moonlightmajutsushi:

x (20)

The teen blinked wearily as the door opened, eyes going wide as he saw the detective. He turned so that his back was to the Hakuba, hoping the other hadn’t seen the wetness on his face…. Though he most likely had…

“…I had nightmare,” he said, wincing at the hoarseness in his voice.

At least while he had been babbling he’d given himself time to think of a real plan. Though he was torn between the outcomes; both bad for him. If it worked, he would be telling something about himself to the other, and he would have wanted to know more about him. If it didn’t work, he would be telling him something about himself and it would prove he didn’t and he had just made himself vulnerable in front of the enemy. Only KID was not really the enemy.

He never really was, his true prey was Spider, the other was just bait; but he didn’t think of him as bait anymore. He couldn’t, every time he tried to, he’d shudder, and flashes of KID winding up dead flashed through his mind. He wanted to protect him now, make sure Spider never got his next victim. He didn’t know when this changed, maybe after Nightmare; maybe even before that.

“I had my first case when I was in middle school.” Hakuba closed his eyes, head tilted towards the ceiling. “Ryan had gotten wind of a purse snatcher. Something not to dangerous for me, and like a couple of kids playing cops and robbers we spent the next week going up and down streets waiting, searching.” He chuckled a little and shook his head. “From dawn till dusk, before and after classes and the whole weekend we took to the streets.”

“We had become London’s protectors, but still we found nothing. There were only two of us after all, and London was a big place. I was about to quit, tell Ryan to waste his own time, when we heard it. Someone had screamed ‘purse snatcher!’.” He chuckled again, opening his eyes. “We both took off in separate directions, because we had no idea which way he had gone. That’s when I spotted him and took out my cellphone to call Ryan, following the other into an ally. I should have known it was a trap.”

“Unlike Ryan, I hadn’t spent all my time reading up on detective things. Sure I was a huge fan of Sherlock Holmes, but I was convinced I could never be a detective, because of my mysophobia. Ryan assured me otherwise.” He looked down at his hands. “If I hadn’t stopped in the mouth of the ally to catch my breath, I would have run chest first into a machete.” He clicked his tongue. “That was terrifying. Thankfully Ryan showed up and disarmed him, he’s pretty good at hand to hand, though he doesn’t look or act like it.”

“Ryan let me take all the credit, he actually shoved it all onto me, and after that we started to work together, just small cases, nothing big.”

Hakuba was talking again, though at least it was something more coherent.

Jeeze… Weren’t you the one saying I should sleep?

Kaito did listen though. Yes, a story made a much better distraction, even more so when it was about the detective himself. He remained where he was for a moment before shifting to face the other about halfway through the recounting, eyes open again. A hum left him when the tale was finished. He was having a hard time picturing the other not being a detective, and a brief thought was given to what Hakuba might have gone into instead. Though, with the rambling earlier, most likely something science related. And a sterile environment probably would have appealed to him quite a bit…

“… So much for it not being dangerous, then. Sounds like quite the adventure…”

Interest was letting him slowly push the traces of the nightmare away. More than the situtaion -not that it hadn’t been interesting in itself- was that Hakuba seemed to have a friend. The detective never really mentioned much outside of Spider and Kid, so hearing a bit more about him was a nice surprise.

“…Is Ryan a detective now, too?”

Hush~

britishhsdetectivehakuba:

moonlightmajutsushi:

x (20)

The teen blinked wearily as the door opened, eyes going wide as he saw the detective. He turned so that his back was to the Hakuba, hoping the other hadn’t seen the wetness on his face…. Though he most likely had…

“…I had nightmare,” he said, wincing at the hoarseness in his voice.

Hakuba frowned as he watched Kuroba curl up, and to be honest he wasn’t good with this stuff. The distraction stuff, and he knew that Kuroba needed one. Since he didn’t know what was fully going on, he couldn’t just do that, so instead he had to come up with something that would get his mind off of things. Unfortunately, he wasn’t that great with coming up with distractions on the fly. If only he had time to think it over, come up with something that would surely make him feel better.

Instead he opened up his mouth and let the words flow, which probably wasn’t a good idea.

“According to VSEPR sulfur hexaflouride is one of the few compounds that causes a octahedral shape due to its irregular configuration.” Hakuba swallowed and looked down at his lap. “Linalool is the aromatic compound that gives lavender it’s smell, uracil is the nucleotide used in RNA that replaces thymine.” He could already feel the blush rising on his cheeks as he continued, wanting to smack himself.

“The leading strand of DNA is 5’ – 3’, while the lagging is 3’ – 5’, so an additional primer is necessary on the lagging strand.” He cleared his throat as he came to and end. “A DNA ligase is used in replication.”

…Well, that was unexpected.

He opened his eyes, blinked quite a few times, then twisted around to look at the detective, face showing his incredulity.

…The heck, tantei?!

If this was Hakuba’s distraction, it only half worked. Yes, it had gotten his attention, but it didn’t really hold it well, aside from leaving him slightly confused. Random chemistry facts weren’t exactly the best way to go in helping with something emotional, even if it did manage to throw his mind off for a second.

But from what he could see, the other was embarrassed to even be saying them, and he couldn’t really fault him for trying. A very strange attempt, but… interesting, nonetheless. The magician still turned to keep his back to the other, though a small smile did appear as he settled again. The facts didn’t take his mind off the looming memory, but at least he’d seen Hakuba get a bit embarrassed for them. Which was a bit cute…

If nothing else, he succeeded in dulling the pain somewhat… But if he was expecting a response in return, he was going to be waiting a while. Partially because Kaito had already said all he’d wanted to earlier, and part because he really had no idea how to respond to the science outburst.

Hush~

meitantei-cowlick:

moonlightmajutsushi:

x (29)

The thief didn’t look up. Though he had been the one to come over to the other’s house, he didn’t want the detective to see him like this…

As he recalled the events from earlier that night, the tears wouldn’t stop. He could still feel the hand of the man he had tried to save, just before his grip had…

A choke escaped him and he lowered his head even more.

“There was nothing I could do…”

He’d known his words wouldn’t really have much of an effect, they didn’t even really work for himself either to be honest, but he felt they had to be said because it was true. They needed to not dwell on what they couldn’t change but the fact of the matter was they always would. He and his thief were very much alike in that respect.

Pulled close to the thief, he wrapped his arms around him as best he could and decided that he just needed to be there for him. Words weren’t cutting it but maybe, if nothing else, just being there for him would. It was after a moment’s hesitation that he moved to remove the hat and run his hand through the thief’s hair. It was only while his face was hidden from him, not wanting to risk revealing his identity now.

“You… you can’t keep doing this alone,” he finally spoke some time later, heart pounding in his chest. “You can’t keep this up. It’s going to break you.” Perhaps it already had. “I want to help you.”

Kid remained silent and closed his eyes, just listening to the other’s heartbeat and enjoying the calming feel of the other’s hand in his hair. He didn’t really care that his hat had been removed, so long as the monocle stayed on. Shinichi wasn’t likely to try anything, and if the detective had wanted to, there were plenty of opportunities.

He did tense at the other’s words, though, and his mind immediately put up a wall when the detective mentioned wanting to help as a conditioned reflex. His immediate response he wanted to give was ‘No!’, but he didn’t voice it. Instead, he nuzzled Shinichi a bit, forcing himself to relax again and think. He and the detective already acted friendly with each other at heists. At some point, the game had turned less from ‘catch the thief’ to ‘make it to the roof to see the thief’. Sure, that was probably because Kid usually just gave back the jewels for Shinichi making it to him…

But he was sure the people after him had begun noticing already. And though he’d been gone for some time, the detective was still quite the recognisable person.

And he did need someone. He was aware of himself enough to know that.

Just not to assist with his job. Maybe be made aware of the danger at some point, but definitely not be allowed to know everything, else Shinichi would likely try and do more.

All he needed was what was already being given. Someone there. Someone to keep him company when something like this happens. Had he broken? Most likely more than once. Not that he could allow himself to show it.

The thief shook his head, chuckling some.

“You’re already helping enough, just by not completely pushing an arguably insane criminal away, tantei-kun. Kid is known for being a lone wolf, anyway, so more help might not be the best…”

Ok, that was not the best word choice. Because a flash of Nightmare appeared in his already unstable state, and he tightened his hold on the other.

“…I’m fine with just this.”

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