In the banquet hall, with their masks and delicate dresses and suits, they danced, at Sir Zirconia's grand masquerade. It was almost twelve in the middle of the night. The moon quietly shone beneath the clouds, as I stood on the balcony lone with just myself, and this hand without no one to hold.
Sir Zirconia's garden cannot be really rivaled by anyone. With the pond in the middle of it reflecting the moon, it was giving some sort of relaxing ambience.
"Lazy!"
At the entrance to the balcony, Sino came drapping. His child-like attitude was really not befitting of his age, but there was always a spitting image of a great police officer in him. Sino, is my childhood friend. I knew which is him, and which is not, just like friends who had been together in the same boat for many years.
"Oh, Sino," I called back, as he walked towards me, "not fancy with dancing? Did you say you want to dance with the beautiful ladies?"
"If there's a beautiful lady, then it's your sister, Lazy," Sino innocently giggled. Sino really liked my sister. "And Lazy, you don't want to—"
"No, I don't. I just don't fancy it right now," I chuckled. The ladies with their masks are really beautiful and so elegant, but I just don't fancy taking any of their hands. I don't even know why would I come here again, after the Phantom Thief case ended.
"Really?" Sino asked my certainty. I laughed.
"Yes. I really don't."
Sino, somehow, looked at me deeply as if he did not want me to be lost from his sight. And by the time he offered his hand to me, I knew.
"Then, would you like to dance with me?"
"No, no, Sino, I don't even fancy dancing with you."
"I don't mean a dance like that...!" Sino pouted, "friends dance too, right? And we're childhood friends..."
Funny, so this is your way of offering your hand to me?
I walked towards him, my hand reaching to his hand as if I'm accepting his offer.
"So stubborn, aren't you? But I would like it better if you show up as yourself..."
I quickly held tight on his hand, pulling that offering hand up. I looked at those eyes and once again I was truly sure that he might fool anyone, but he could never fool me.
"...Phantom Thief Einsatz."
He chuckled, and by that time I was grateful. He pulled off that blonde wig, erasing the finely painted maquillage. His smile, overly-prideful but gentle.
"You know that Sino is eighteen centimetres taller than you."
"And he is twenty three centimetres taller than you, is he not?"
"Ouch, you don't have to tell me I'm that short because I know that very well. I still have a room to grow up."
"I do not think you have, Lazy," the way you called my name, was like ringing through my ears, and soon I heard more than just silence in this balcony. I am indeed used to be called short, but for you to call me so, that would be another thing. But I still wonder, why would you offer to dance with me? For I am the one, who used to chase you around, and now, you are right in front of me, offering your hand to dance with me.
"The dance offer... would you still like to propose it?"
"Huh?"
I laughed at your confused face. I placed my hand above yours, pulling myself closer just to see your out-of-the world pair of blue orbs, as they were never been so mesmerizing unless they were under the moonlight. After all, phantom thieves walk away at moonlight with their precious stolen jewels.
"I accept your offer, Einsatz. If tonight, you are to steal an emerald from a treasured chest, let me be that emerald."
You knelt, with one your knee touching the ground. That moment when your hand parted away from mine made my heart drop for a second, but knowing you did so to invite me once again relieved me.
We met under the moonlight, that night—the day you stole my sister's necklace and ran away with the moon aiding you. And since then, I have been chasing you around. Trying to find you from your letters and cases after cases, and without realizing it, I've become attached to you. That my reason to find you was to take my sister's necklace back became blurry. I no longer want my sister's necklace back by the last case. I only wanted to meet you, and be fascinated on how you pulled the act of phantom thieving. I can finally say, that the pieces of my heart were one by one stolen by you, and now, the last piece left, is finally yours.
"Will you honor me with your hand for a dance tonight, Lazy?"
One leg crossed, and my hands slightly lifting the end of my coat, I replied with my hand.
"For I am honored to do so, Einsatz."
How to explain that how overly joyed I am, that when he pulled me closer to him that our sight went in a line, your other hand gently curving on my waist. It was like a fairy tale when a princess fell in love with the handsome thief who stole not just her precious necklace gifted by her parents, but also her heart. But I am no princess—I am a detective, in search of the phantom thief. I closed my eyes, so to let this be just the secret of the two of us. After all, when the night ends, we will go back to a detective, and a criminal on the run. Did you know how much I wished that we are just two peasants on the streets? Did you know that your choice to steal my sister's necklace was truly a blessing to me? When our footsteps marched in the same rhythm, listening to the faint music coming from the ballroom, and the wind gushing at our faces, our hairs and suits flattering.
"Lazy! So there you are—"
Sino's voice—this time, it's really Sino, broke the dance apart. The moment he let go of my hand was like a time stopping and slowing down on its own.
"...and Phantom Thief-kun?" Sino walked towards me. It was really awkward for the two of us.
"O-Oh! Sino! Not dancing with the ladies?"
"Jasper's been fondling them all... and Phantom Thief-kun, why are you here? If I recall, Sir Zirconia has no treasures left..." Sino made a thinking gesture before he clicked his fingers. "Oh, perhaps you are dropping your next letter and Lazy catches you...?"
"N-N-No, uhh, he's just... taking a stroll here, and I'm, yes, chatting with him!" I tried to bluff away. A good thing that Sino is sometimes, really oblivious. To be honest, I'm a bit upset that Sino has to come at a moment like this.
"Really? Then can I join for a chat, too? After all, it's a nice night!"
"T-That's... well—!"
"Lazy."
His voice calling me made me turn right away, and petrified when he lifted my hand, bringing them to his lips. His soft chuckle, and that smile of finding his next treasure to steal.
The lilac color fluttered against the wind, contrasting to the blue, but not as the nightsky, the moonlight fading away on his colors as he turned his back away. With our hands parting, the Phantom Thief announced his next target, right in front of the detectives.
"Next time, I will be sure to succeed, Lazy."
"Oh? So I failed your attempt to thieve?"
"No," and that smile, mesmerizing, "I succeeded halfway—for I am to thieve you, my emerald in the treasured chest."
I chuckled. As gone just like the wind, his figure disappeared, a classic phantom thief. They are gone like a phantom, and they leave a letter behind for the police to follow and trick them afterwards.
Just like usual, the infamous Phantom Thief Einsatz leaves a letter of clue to the detectives.
And this time, it's a kiss to my hand.