Black Phantom:
Summary:Naru moonlights as a Phantom Thief, by day he is the head of the task force to capture the aforementioned thief and the balance has been maintained for a year. Then Mai Taniyama, a new officer, joins that task force, upsetting the balance.
He glanced at a photo of someone with the same face as him before turning it over and sighing deeply.
"It's all for you, Gene..." he murmured quietly before leaving, cloaked by the moonlight.
The officer known as Kazuya Shibuya turned a page of the book he was reading and fought back a yawn as he had only obtained an hour of sleep the night before. Having multiple identities was exhausting to say the least.
His subordinate entered the office carrying a newspaper which he placed on Kazuya's desk.
Kazuya picked up the newspaper and stared at the photo taking up a majority of the front page which was of a man dressed entirely in black with a black cape and a matching mask and hat. He frowned upon observing the angle that the photo was taken from.
"That is my unflattering side," he complained as he opened the newspaper to read the accompanying article.
The other man stayed silent, accustomed to his superiors narcissistic ways.
"The elusive Phantom Thief, Kuro Kaitou strikes again, leaving Inspector Shibuya in a tizzy. An hour after the thief escaped, the Inspector was found locked in a closet..." he read aloud.
"I'm surprised that you have not been reprimanded for letting Kuro Kaitou escape for the 12th time in a row."
"Lin, no one has noticed any correlation between myself and Kuro Kaitou and considering forensics cannot even tell deduce how I gain entry without leaving behind any evidence, no one is likely to," the Inspector said unconcernedly. "I sometimes wonder about the abilities of the Japanese Police force. I cannot believe that they took an hour to find me last night, considering I suggested innocuously that if anyone went missing to check the closets."
Lin wondered how to phrase what he was going to say next, but it would hopefully bring his superior, or rather his charge, back down to earth and make him actually worry about getting caught.
"The chief of our division has been concerned about our lack of progress and we have a new officer assigned to our task force," he informed the narcissist.
The reaction was instant. "What!?" Kazuya barked. "I was not informed of this."
He closed the newspaper and opened his work email account to find that he had an email from the chief of his division concerning his abysmal progress in capturing Kuro Kaitou and a new officer would be arriving to join the task force. He scrolled down to see the name and photo of the new officer.
The photo was of a young woman who looked close to his age with short brown hair, caramel eyes and a wide smile.
"Mai Taniyama," he read out her name. "I have heard that name before."
"I believe I overheard a group of females by the vending machine, talking about her. Apparently she is a kind but unbelievingly stupid person," Lin supplied to the conversation.
Kazuya shrugged. "I don't think we will have to worry about her being a liability then. I remember now, I think she is related to that idiot officer down the hallway. The one with a ponytail."
"Noll, we will have to be careful. The chief may be suspicious and she could be a spy. Please consider her as a potential threat and stop bringing all of your supernatural books to the office, it is an giveaway."
The narcissist's reply was to drop the book he had been reading into one of his desk drawer and to whisk a notebook into his briefcase.
"Don't call me Noll. That is even more of a giveaway considering that my name is supposed to be Kazuya Shibuya."
Lin's upright posture relaxed slightly. His charge was paying attention.
Whilst this was going on, Mai Taniyama walked down the hallway apprehensively. It was her first day at the detective section of the Police force, she had spent a year as a traffic warden, so it was an abrupt change of pace. She had been promoted as she had somehow managed to tail an escaping serial killer despite the fact that she hadn't known what he looked like.
Her self declared uncle and aunt, Houshou and Ayako had assured her that if the Chinese beanpole and the pale faced weakling ever gave her any trouble she could come to them as their office was a few doors down.
She had yet to know what her new boss looked like, but gossip had informed her that he was good looking. Even Bou-san was unable to deny it after Ayako brought the subject up.
This brought her back to her dilemma. The superintendant had told her very plainly to "kick that pasty pansy up the backside" and to report back anything suspicious. Other than that, she could do what she wanted and not worry about getting demoted.
As preparation she had been given information about Kazuya Shibuya which was minimal as the Chief of Police had handled his transfer into Tokyo Metropolitan Police and was remaining tight lipped. Apparently he had a good record where he had worked before, making his record of 12 failures to catch Kuro Kaitou a contrast.
A shining brass nameplate engraved "Kuro Kaitou Taskforce- Inspector Kazuya Shibuya" came into view and Mai knew that she had arrived. All she needed was a gulp of air to steel herself and she was ready to kick the "pasty pansy". She knocked on the door.
"Come in," a muffled voice could be heard.
Mai opened the door to find a dark haired man, about her age with piercing blue eyes, sitting at his desk. His skin was arctically pale so she understood the nickname instantly. Standing next to him was an older taller dark haired man with long hair. The Chinese beanpole, she deduced.
"The lights cut at 8:00pm exactly and the power did not return, therefore a wire was cut, or more likely an explosive was placed with the fuses so power could not be restored easily. Tell forensics and get them to run a GC-MS on the explosives used so we can track down the supplier, then the client," Inspector Shibuya said to the beanpole before looking up at her. "Mai Taniyama-san?"
"Yes. Nice to meet you, Inspector Shibuya," she bowed.
To her surprise he made no such motion in return and just turned to other man again. From that she deduced that he either had no knowledge of Japanese customs, or he was just a rude jerk.
Sensing that he was not going to say anything else to her, she sat down at an unoccupied desk and pulled the morning newspaper out of her handbag. Last night's heist had taken place at a mansion in a residential area of Tokyo frequented by the wealthy. The warning note had been sent three days before. Unlike the Phantom thieves of fiction and manga, the Kuro Kaitou was not after jewels or valuable items and nothing was ever stolen. The warning notes just stated his time of arrival and the address, nothing else.
A rustling sound punctured her reverie and she turned her head to see Kazuya Shibuya and Koujo Lin putting their coats on.
"Officer Taniyama, we are going down to the heist site to check forensics' progress and to check for correlation with other heist sites. You will have to come as you are not contributing anything by staying here," the Inspector informed her as he swept past her disdainfully.
Mai pulled on her coat and bounded after him. As they walked down the hallway Mai ran on ahead and stuck her head into her unofficial uncle's office.
"Bou-san, I'm going out now. Stop drooling at the sight of Oliver Davis' name and get some work done."
Mai's focus was on her uncle and she had her back to her new superiors so she didn't notice how they stiffened at the sound of Oliver Davis' name.
After a tart rejoinder she withdrew her head and turned back.
"Wasn't that Officer Takigawa? Why do you call him Bou-san?" Kazuya enquired as he had never seen anyone so unlike a monk before. That could be explained by the ponytail.
"He is a part time monk and does exorcisms for people," she answered casually as they walked along.
"I didn't know monks could have ponytails," he commented amusedly. "Are his exorcisms successful?"
Mai nodded. "I've seen him in action. His girlfriend is a priestess too and both have taught me a few tricks so I know how to deal with any spirits that I might encounter. He is also a total fanboy of this English scientist called Dr. Oliver Davis," she spun around to face them. "Have you heard of him?"
Kazuya and Lin exchanged worried glances. The girl had only arrived ten minutes ago and had already come closer to the truth than anyone had so far. To make matter worse she knew a monk and priestess and knew some supernatural phenomena. If she was at any heists, there was a chance that she might recognise them for what they really were and bust the pair of them before they made any progress with what they really came to Japan for.
"I cannot say that I have," Kazuya lied after a moment of tense glances between himself and Lin. "He must be one of these people that are only famous in certain circles."
"That's true," Mai acknowledged as they walked out of the building. "Ayako says that if she ever meets Oliver Davis in person she will castrate him for taking up so much of her boyfriend's time."
"Isn't that Officer Matsuzaki?" Kazuya recalled her as being a mouthy redhead with sharp manicured nails and he paled at the thought.
"That's right."
Lin pulled out the car keys and unlocked the car, allowing himself a small smile at his charge's expense. Providing that Mai Taniyama did not uncover the truth she could be a source of amusement considering the reactions she had gotten out of Noll in the short time that she had been there. However she was also a liability.
Mai garnered her first of many smirks from her superior officer by accidently stepping on an area that was being examined by forensics. The next smirk had been in reaction to her accidently elbowing an expensive Ming vase off its stand. Very fortunately for her Officer Lin had caught it for her. His smirk had widened a notch when she had been informed that the vase was worth eight million yen which was more that she would ever earn in her lifetime.
She stepped away from the Ming vase and onto the slipper clad foot of her superior officer. She glanced up to see him glaring down at her with amused eyes.
"Officer Taniyama, I will send you back to headquarters if you cannot contain yourself," the Inspector told her haughtily. "As a Police officer it is not expected that you obstruct others' work and break valuable antiques. Lin, take Taniyama-san to the next room where forensics have finished and explain what happened last night."
The Chinese beanpole nodded and headed out of the room into a bigger room with floor to ceiling windows, looking out onto Tokyo Bay. This target had been an opulent house owned by someone with expensive taste in furniture and ornaments which was a contrast to the previous target which had been an expensive, but sparsely furnished penthouse apartment.
A report was passed to her and Lin began to talk her through the heist.
"Kuro Kaitou somehow landed on the balcony," he pointed. "There is a partial footprint there."
Mai stared at the unbroken wall of windows. "Please don't tell me that the newspaper reports are right and he came in through here without smashing any windows."
"Much to any detective's displeasure, he came in this way. There was an officer posted outside this room and a camera inside. The window here opens," he gestured to the latch. "It was checked right before the heist began and the camera was functioning properly and was not connected the mains' power supply. What do you think happened?" Lin asked, interested to see how quick off the mark she was as this level of detail had not made it into any news reports.
"I assume that the power cut at 8pm- the time stated for the heist and he somehow opened the window latch from outside, but the camera stopped working before he did that."
Lin paused before answering. The girl may be clumsy, but she was quite sharp.
"Correct. How did he unlock it?"
This threw her. "I don't know. Maybe he gained entry beforehand and tied fishing wire around the latch and closed the window on it after guiding the other end outside. Then at the heist he just pulled on it."
A voice behind her disputed her theory. "That's wrong. The window latches were all checked for mechanisms like that and it would not work like it does in fiction. Latches are too solid to be moved like that. Try again."
She turned to see Inspector Shibuya standing in the doorway, looking amused at her expense which raised her hackles.
"How am I supposed to know? Maybe it was PK?" she griped sarcastically.
Kazuya's eyes widened and he flinched. This girl was going to be trouble.
Author's Note: Kuro Kaitou translates as Black Phantom thief. The influences for this story are Arsene Lupin and other stories also influenced by the French Phantom thief.