Freefall
.
Five times Kaito jumped, and one time he didn't.
"Kaito-botchama, are you ready?"
"Yeah." Kaito—Kaitou Kid nodded and clipped his cape on his shoulder. If the wind was this strong during his first flight, he would have long succumbed to its merciless strength and fell off the building. But after being used to it for a year, his steady legs stood confidently over the edge of the roof, eyes only focused on the sea of shimmering lights below.
The beautiful sight never ceased to amaze him.
"Be careful." Jii said, while trying to not let the worry slip into his tone, but Kaito knew better.
"Don't worry." He gave a reassuring pat on Jii's shoulder. "I'll finish the heist faster than you think."
With that, he tilted the brim of his hat down and jumped, down and down till he commanded his cape to turn into wings as he took flight into the night.
xxx
xxx
"You're an idiot."
"You're the idiot."
Aoko bit her lower lip and was preparing to shoot back, but some part of her probably knew it was pointless to argue with Kaito any further. So she gave up and looked over the railings of the bridge they always crossed to and fro their school.
Kaito inwardly sighed and followed suit.
Down below the bridge was Aoko's diary bobbing up and down over the still river water.
Well, it was quite a complicated mess, if Kaito had to admit. It all started with some rumours floating around that Aoko liked some guy in school, and of course after knowing that, Kaito decided to check with Aoko because he... couldn't believe it.
And of course, again, Aoko refused to say who that person was, but Kaito wasn't going to let the matter go so easily. So he snatched her diary from her bag, hoping to find some clues in it.
Aoko gave chase.
While trying to flip the pages of the diary, Kaito was distracted and slower than usual.
She caught him.
The book flew out from his grasp and fell off the bridge.
And here they were, pouting and sulking in silence at each other.
Kaito sighed again, this time aloud.
"Fine." He said and sneaked a glance over to Aoko who was uncharacteristically quiet. "I'm sorry."
He really was.
Aoko refused to look at him and sniffed.
Oh boy…
Kaito slapped his hands over the railings and checked the river again. There wasn't any current, and the depth of the river is just above his knee level…
Aoko finally turned towards him, eyes wide and slightly red. "W-What are you doing?"
His legs were already over the railings. "Taking your diary back."
She scowled and pulled his sleeve. "How desperate are you in wanting to invade my privacy? The book is already soaked—"
"Of course not." Kaito grumbled and shrugged her hand off. "It's fine if you don't want to tell me, and I won't force you to. I just want to get your diary back. That's all."
Aoko blinked, suddenly speechless.
Kaito couldn't blame her. This was probably the nicest thing he'd told her for the past month. He hadn't been feeling great thanks to Snake's recent visits to his heists, plus all the workload from school… and now there were these stupid rumours... it was hard to not let his mood be affected.
And a way to vent, he had been unfairly mean to Aoko.
It was his fault.
Without waiting for her to stop him once more, he jumped.
xxx
xxx
"Kaitou Kid!"
Kaito froze. He slowly stepped off from the window sill and turned, while taking extra care that his hat was tipped down enough to cast a shadow over his face.
"Hello, Nakamori-san." Kaitou Kid spoke, making sure his voice lower and much more charismatic. He hoped there were enough contrast from Kuroba Kaito's voice.
Aoko took one step forward, and another tentative step next. "Give it up, Kaitou Kid."
"You've got quite a unique greeting, Nakamori-san. I love it."
"Y-You stupid jerk." She snapped.
Despite how Aoko always topped in language classes, her limited vocabularies for insults always made Kaito laugh whenever they had an argument. This time he nearly did too. Nearly, but didn't (Because he wasn't Kuroba Kaito but Kaitou Kid).
He cleared his throat and produced a small smile. "I'm sorry, Nakamori-san. I have to apologise that I couldn't spend any more time conversing with you. Perhaps next time?"
"That next time will happen when you're in jail!" Aoko exclaimed.
"I'll look forward to that day if it ever comes."
Aoko looked like she was about to burst, and before she could stop him, he climbed onto the window sill and jumped.
He forced every nerves in his body to not look back.
xxx
xxx
Aoko had been visiting his heists much more frequently now. Not as an audience, but a participant.
Though she was feisty in many ways when he chased after him, he tried not to care; both Kaitou Kid and Kuroba Kaito. Her presence, in someway or another, had made him look forward to conducting heists when he once used to find it as a chore. His methods and the way he executed his heists were the same as before, but every now and then, he was starting to stay longer and longer after stealing his loots…
He just hoped no one noticed that difference.
But who was he kidding?
Not Snake, definitely.
Ten minutes after Kaito stolen the latest gem, Snake set off the bomb he planted in one of the museum's hall.
Luckily, the museum was closed from the public. The police and the museum staff managed to get out of safety.
Except for Aoko and Kaito—Kaitou Kid. At that point of time, they were on the roof.
And it was madness and chaos.
Kaito didn't have the chance to check if the jewel was Pandora, but he couldn't care. He dropped it and grabbed onto the only precious thing in his life and ran to the edge of the roof before the ground collapsed under him.
Aoko screamed, her fingers clenching onto his suit tightly.
"Trust me." He whispered into her ear.
She only nodded in reply.
And he jumped.
Down and down they went, until his cape did its magic and he geared the direction of his wings towards the closest building he could find.
By the time he landed on the safe roof, Aoko was already unconscious.
Just from fright. Thankfully.
Just from fright.
xxx
xxx
Ever since that bomb incident, Inspector Nakamori refrained Aoko from participating again.
Surprisingly, she didn't try to argue and agreed, saving Kaito the effort to find excuses to convince Aoko to stop attending too.
And something changed.
There had been a recent, lacking need for Kaito to feel jumpy or guilty whenever Kaitou Kid was mentioned; Aoko had become quieter when discussion about Kid happened in class, and she wasn't as feisty or hateful as she usually was when news about Kid played on the TV during dinner.
Something… or rather her feelings for Kid had changed. Drastically.
Kaito wasn't sure if it was a good thing or not.
And not just that. Another thing had changed for Aoko. She was once athletic and unafraid of something as unnerving as heights; which was the best combination for a participant of Kaitou Kid's heists. But now… she was more afraid of heights than those tiny bugs she usually got so frantic over when it happened to land on her shoulder.
It got so serious that she had to close off her balcony for a period of time.
Kaito took extra precaution too. He made sure he stood closer to the side of the bridge they always had to pass by to and fro from school, just so she wouldn't have to see over the railings. And when it was Aoko's turn on the duty roster to water the class's garden on the roof above the science lab, he either volunteered himself, or sneakily change her name to another person's, to prevent Aoko's suspicions about his concerns.
Concern and Kaito wasn't much of a great complement.
As time passed, things started becoming better. Aoko could now look up at roofs without glancing away as fearfully as she once used to, and the time she spent on her balcony grew as well (though Kaito was there with her).
Things were better, but not all scars were healed.
There were still fear in her.
It all happened on their supposedly relaxing and fuss-free summer school excursion. The activities that their class representative prepared on their itinerary were normal like every other classes: Shrine-hopping, food-expedition and shopping-spree (for girls. It's arcade for guys). Kaito had checked the list and the designated locations several times over to know Aoko would do okay even if he wasn't with her, which was why he finally dared to take an eye off her and relaxed for the first time in a while.
A mistake.
Right at the time when Kaito was playing at the arcade with his friends, one of the girls from the shopping-spree group suggested trekking up a famous hill before dinner.
Kaito only knew it during dinner.
Aoko was already missing.
While the worried group of girls frantically explained to the teachers and everyone about how they tried looking for Aoko for over an hour, Kaito found her almost immediately after he rushed out to aid the search; because there was only one place on the map of the trekking site that had a height he knew Aoko couldn't conquer.
He texted a friend and a teacher where his location was before climbing up to the said spot.
The sound of Aoko's sobbing intensified.
"Hey."
Aoko straightened from her curled-up self under a tree, her eyes red and swollen.
"K-Kaito?" She whispered unbelievingly.
He slowly squatted next to Aoko and touched her arm. "Are you okay?"
"…No."
Kaito felt like he just got stabbed.
And he didn't know how to reply.
He squeezed her arm, trying to nudge her up. "Let's get out of here before it get's too dark."
She refused to budge. "I can't. Kaito." Her entire body began to shake as she glanced over at the steep rocks and the bottom that she didn't dare to see. "I-I can't."
"It's okay—"
"No!" She pushed his hand away. "It's not okay! Just go! Ju-Just leave me alone. I-I can't go down."
"For god's sake Aoko, I'm not going to leave you alone!" Kaito bellowed, causing Aoko to flinch. He didn't mean to shout at her, but this was the only way for him to knock some sense into her. What did she mean when she asked him to leave her alone? What bullshit.
He would never.
"Then you're going to be stuck here with me." Aoko rebuked.
"No. We're going to get down together."
She shook her head, but said nothing. Or more like she couldn't anymore.
"I'm here." Kaito squeezed her arm again, emphasising his words with his touch. "You don't have to worry."
Aoko looked up, as though for an extra confirmation. But rather than hope, what Kaito saw was fear wavering in her eyes, and the awful sight was squeezing the life out of his chest.
"Trust me." He said, while hoping his voice didn't change and sounded as broken as his heart.
After a long while, Aoko finally stood up.
"I trust you." She whispered.
Clenching onto his shirt, they slowly ambled towards the edge of the rock. They needed a jump to make it down.
He counted to three.
He heard her sharp intake of breath.
And they jumped.
xxx
xxx
Even though there was no warning or signs, Kaito still couldn't believe he would make such a horrible slip up.
He counted the number of guards wrongly. There was an extra, unaccountable one.
It was Aoko.
Pulling off her helmet, her hair swept across her face and fell back over her shoulder.
"Kaitou Kid." Aoko muttered.
On the roof, on the bloody roof indeed, Kaito slowly lowered the jewel and let his arm swing loosely to his side.
Her fear…?
"An interesting costume today, Nakamori-san." He said.
Aoko replied nothing.
He wanted to question why she was here, but he couldn't afford to stay long, especially not after that bomb incident and knowing how Snake could possibly strike and screw everything up again. He couldn't take the risk. He had to go.
He cleared his throat. "It's a pleasure seeing you after so long, but I'll have to bid my goodby—"
"Don't jump." Aoko spoke, cutting him off.
Kaito blinked.
"If you jump, I'm afraid I can't reach you." She continued, her lips were starting to tremble. "This is the furthest I can go."
Now that he noticed, her legs were trembling too.
Then… why?
"I don't understand." Kaitou Kid said.
"Don't go to a place where I can't reach you, Kaito." Aoko clutched onto the helmet against her chest, as though preventing her heart from falling out. Her tears already did, though.
Kaito's breath hitched.
How?
What?
Why?
"Please." Aoko continued. "This time, why don't you trust me?"
What a mess.
When did she figure him out? Was it during that school excursion? Trust me. Was is these two words that caused the slip up?
Or the way he hold onto her when they jumped?
The familiarity?
Either way, it was all busted.
Should he run away?
Kaito swallowed, his feet shifting towards the edge of the roof as he hid the jewel inside his pocket, preparing for flight.
"Don't jump." Aoko pleaded again.
Another wind blew, and it was getting stronger. Based on his experiences, if he were to jump, his glider might not be able to hold it; and this all felt like the nature was trying to tell him something:
He shouldn't jump.
So instead, he tilted his feet back towards Aoko and took off his hat and monocle.
"Okay." Kaito said.
He didn't jump.
It's an open-ending. You can decide whether Aoko forgives Kaito after this.
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