White Lines
For the sake of his 'real' job, Kaito spent most of his time pretending to do 'other' jobs as an undercover. And in all these cases, he had the best of luck to constantly run into this same, feisty woman who just got to make everything much more complicated. AU
Even if Kuroba Kaito hadn't got a clear picture of what he wanted in life five years ago, he knew it would certainly not be this.
Kaito sighed and pressed the doorbell.
He was half praying there wouldn't be an answer when a woman flung open the door two seconds later, her blue eyes were the first thing that caught his attention before he scrutinized her messy brown locks and simple T-shirt that was matched with a pair comfortable jeans. Her jeans were almost the same colour as his overalls, not like it mattered, though this irrelevant and insignificant thought still randomly struck his head. His brain was slowly shutting down from the boring and dirty job he had been doing since morning, and this was only the fifth apartment. Unless this was it, there would be another twelve more to go.
"Great! You're finally here!" The lady exclaimed and stepped away for Kaito to enter. He picked up his heavy tool box he'd previously left on the ground and trudged inside the apartment, kicking his shoes aside before going any further to ruin the nice looking peach carpet she had.
He took his chance, surveying the entire living room and the kitchen that was further inside the house with a glimpse, until she suddenly faced him with a smile. "Anyway, I'm Nakamori Aoko," she introduced herself.
Kaito groaned in his head. Was it really necessary? He hated name-picking the most. "Jinpei Satoshi." Now he got to make sure any documents related to this plumbing experience was under that name.
She nodded her head and gestured him over to her room that was just a turn and past the small dining table. His habit kicked in again as he scanned around the bright bedroom. Smooth bed sheets, bunch of photographs stuck all over the wall, frilly drawn up curtains, organized and simple desk... Kaito instantly deciphered three things from this woman. Meticulous. Cheerful. Single. He guilty glanced across Nakamori Aoko's chest, slightly wondering if this factor had caused him to think of the last point.
"I've spoken in the phone but yeah, there's something wrong with the flushing system," Nakamori Aoko stepped past her large cabinet and opened another door at the corner of the room, revealing the purpose of his visit; the bathroom. He followed behind her as she shook her head disappointingly at the toilet before pointing at the bathtub. "The drainage system is all choked up too."
"No problem," Kaito mustered a professional smile. "It'll be done."
"Thank you so much!" She clasped her hands together and watched him settle his tool box on the ceramic floor in mix elation and curiousness. Kaito tapped a finger patiently on his box and turned over to Nakamori Aoko when she still showed no sign of leaving.
"Anyway, can you make me a drink? I'm a little thirsty."
Nakamori Aoko blinked and a smile lit up her face. "Of course. What would you like?"
"Hot coffee."
"It'll take a while. I need to boil some water."
I've noticed that. And that's exactly my plan. "It's fine. Thank you."
She finally made her way out of the room and Kaito frowned at the carpet, which had irritatingly cancelled any sound of her footsteps. But once he heard the water tap running, he knew it was his safe cue to do what he needed to do. He flipped open his tool box and pulled out the binoculars from the bottom secret compartment before bolting out of the bathroom and towards the window beside her bed, which was large and convenient and exactly the thing he needed the most.
Kaito pulled out the Bluetooth from his pocket and stuck it on his ear before tapping it to activate its use. "I'm in position."
"You're so fast." The words were tainted with plain sarcasm, including a heavy drip of Kansai-dialect. "What da' hell took ya so long?"
"Just hurry up and start the signal." Kaito snapped and set the binoculars on the bridge of his nose
"Gettin' on it."
Kaito squinted his eyes and focused through the binoculars, his line of sight cut straight pass all the tall and similar apartment buildings to a specific distant mountain, where it hid a secretive warehouse that was filled with captive human test subjects, readied to be ship out to unknown countries. But it wasn't the case anymore, after Kudo Shinichi managed to raid it with his trustworthy and reliable squad of policemen. While the famous Detective of the East was busy entertaining the reporters and media, Hattori Heiji took the pleasure with assisting Kudo behind the scenes by helping to locate where the mastermind, who had mysteriously disappeared from the surface of the earth, had seen the warning signal from the warehouse to let him flee in time before he was caught.
As for Kaito? He wasn't involved and didn't give a shit about anything. All he cared was the cheque he would receive later for this stupid logistic job Hattori called him to help. Apparently, it wouldn't be a good idea to let the nearby residences to know that a dangerous criminal might be living within them. Apparently, it wouldn't be a good idea to let the bad guys who were hiding in wait to know the police were still on the move. Apparently, Hattori assumed that getting Kaito to dress up as a plumber, lie to people, invade their privacy and making use of their facilities was the best idea ever.
"I'm flashing da' red light now." There was a slight pause and a couple of shuffling here and there. "Can ya see it?" Hattori's snarky voice was back.
"No," Kaito paused to confirm. "Not a single shit."
"Ya sure?"
"I'm on the highest floor and looking through the cleanest and most transparent glass window I've ever seen," Kaito muttered. "I can't see any bloody signal and I doubt any other floors below could either."
"That means this building is out."
"Yeah."
"Then I guess ya can-"
"Erm, Jinpei-kun?"
Holy shit- Kaito stuffed the binoculars deep inside his shirt, hoping his blue overalls could help to cover his protruding belly. As relaxed as he pretended to be, he turned towards the soft and mildly confused voice and flashed an unreasonably happy-looking smile across his face. "Yes?" Darn the carpets or he might at least get some warning that she was coming back to her room.
Nakamori Aoko took her time to speak. "What are you doing?"
"Oh, I just thought the sun outside is very distracting for me," Kaito causally tugged onto the ribbon and the curtain fell from above, covering the window and instantly changing the room to a few shades darker. "If you don't mind."
Her eyes moved dubiously from the currently shadowy bathroom and then back to him. "How do you even see to do your job?"
"I prefer artificial lighting," he pointed at the switch behind her shoulder. "Can you help me with that?"
Nakamori Aoko raised a skeptical eyebrow and her lips slightly parted, but she forced herself to make no comment. It must be hard for her since she looked almost in pain with whatever puzzling thoughts that were running across her mind, though he really couldn't blame her. This was the dumbest shit he'd ever said in his life. She finally obeyed the command and flicked on the lights as the room became bright again.
"I just want to let you know your coffee is ready," she tentatively jabbed her thumb at the back. "Do you want me to bring it in for you?"
"No, it's fine. I'll have it later."
"Okay," she slowly stepped back and headed out of the room. "Let me know if you need anything else."
"Sure."
When Kaito knew she was not longer near enough to hear him, he rubbed a hand down his face wearily and sighed.
"So... Are ya busted?" Hattori's tone was far from worried and Kaito could perfectly picture his annoying grin in his head now.
"No."
"Enjoy da' plumbing then. Helps ta' build up ya resume-"
Kaito pulled the Bluetooth out from his ear harder than expected and squeezed the button tight to end the call.
.o.
"Samada-kun? Can you help me to return these books? The IT department asked for me. You can also familiarize with the library too."
"Sure." Kaito showed his signature smile as his colleague skipped to the other end of the library, leaving the trolley that was filled with a mountain of books at the side of a shelf. He rolled his sleeves up and pushed the handle as gently as he could, but the wheels betrayed him and gave a very loud squeak, earning himself a few scandalized expressions from many people who were standing a few yards from him. He sighed inwardly and continued his way.
The first book on the pile was a novel that had something to do with high school romance, and luckily, most of the other books were all conveniently at the fiction shelves too, so it saved Kaito a lot of time rather than running all around the library to search for the respective sections.
Thanks to his new mission, he'd joined the library team yesterday and was still adjusting to the huge ass layout. It wasn't anything life-threatening or morally unethical like his previous tasks. It was something much better, job scope and pay wise. A billionaire named Suzuki Jirochi hired his assistance to find a legendary, ancient book that was rumored to be donated to this national library recently, but the content and title was a mystery. Though it was absurd, the idea of owning this mystical book seemed very appealing to the rich, old man and he wanted to find the book in a discreet way before doing the secret negotiations later on. So here Kaito was, infiltrating a goddamn library to find a book that could be close to non-existent. Well, a job was a job and he'd already accepted the deposits. And most importantly, the word impossible still wasn't part of his dictionary, yet.
As Kaito was filling up the gaps of some fanatic who recently returned the entire series of a vampire romance novels, he suddenly felt a looming presence loitering behind his back for quite a while. He chose to ignore it at first, guessing maybe the person was eyeing on the novels he was shelving and was waiting for him to go away, but when he moved to the next column, the person still didn't move. He considered turning around and demanding what the hell do you want in a polite librarian way, which translated to may I help you?
The words were stuck in his throat when he only finished the first step, which was to face the person behind him.
"Jinpei-kun?" Nakamori Aoko's face lit up with surprise. "You're that plumber-"
Shit. Kaito raised his hand to his name badge, trying to cover his new identity.
He was too slow. "Samada Kenji?" Nakamori Aoko muttered out loud and stared up at him, head tilting to her side. They stood there for about five seconds of silence until Kaito gave up and let his hand fall back to his side. If he solely focused on pretending the awkward moment didn't exist, maybe it would go away. Maybe.
"Good afternoon," he chimed the same way as how all librarians were doing so. "May I help you?"
Somehow, his dumbest-plan-on-earth worked. Without any more questions, Nakamori Aoko simply smiled and unfolded a paper she had been clutching on. "Your computer system has crashed and I couldn't use them, so I was wondering if you can help me to find this book title," she caressed the slightly creased paper in attempts to smooth the lines before handing it to him. "The author is listed there too." She added merrily.
Kaito blinked.
The Relationship Cure. How to get your first date to last!
—By
Wait. The what?
He tried to suppress a laugh, and given his mastery of poker face, he did it exceptionally well. "No problem. I'll find it for you."
"Thank you!" She exclaimed and her hands flew to her mouth in embarrassment when the similar scandalized expressions that were once given to him were now directed at her. She afforded a sheepish smile to everyone and glimpsed back at him with the same look, though he'd thought her lips tugged a little bit higher than before. Kaito realized his brain must be fried when the brief thought of wondering if anyone ever called her cute struck his mind.
Like he guessed, she followed him when he trudged away to begin his hunt. The library was mostly quiet, saved for the shuffling of feet and flipping of pages, but Nakamori Aoko's footsteps were particularly loud in his ears. He cast a side long glance before looking down at the paper again.
"Is the book for yourself?" He whispered, the temptation of wanting to know the answer earned him a couple death glares from people who couldn't stand their precious silence to be broken. He specially slowed down just so their steps could fall in sync together.
The flush that bloomed her cheeks was enough for him to know. "Y-Yeah." She clarified and rubbed the back of her neck.
"Google is free, you know."
"Library is free too."
Kaito couldn't argue with that.
"Here it is." He pointed at the said book on the shelf once they entered the aisle of all the self-help section.
"Yes!" She squealed before her eyes darted everywhere else to see if she'd disturbed anyone again. When she knew she was cleared, she pulled the spine of the book and let it fall onto her hands, catching it with grace. "Thanks for your help, again."
He chose to be oblivious and ignore her extra emphasis on the last word. "Anyway, are you sure these sort of books can really help with relationships?" He couldn't resist but speak his thoughts aloud, though not loud for the other people who were also looking through these self-help books to hear, luckily.
Nakamori Aoko shrugged nonchalantly and clutched the book protectively to her chest. "I'll take whatever I can get."
"Sure. Enjoy reading then."
It was often rare when someone sensed his sarcasm since he always kept his tone monotonous, and this was one of the rare moments. She rolled her eyes in a joking manner before skipping towards the checkout counter. Kaito watched her go until she was out of his sight and his eyes fell upon the crumpled paper that was still in his hand, almost forgotten. He brushed his thumb across the cursive words, feeling the words and ink slightly sticking out. From this, he'd deciphered three things about Nakamori Aoko again.
Neat. Smart. Not-so-single-anymore.
Oh well. None of his business.
Two days later, Kaito was in charge of sorting the returned book from the famous squeaky trolley back to its original position again. The Relationship Cure. How to get your first date to last! was among the books. He would've thought Nakamori Aoko had found this book boring and stupid, if he didn't notice the bunch of dogs ears that started from the beginning of the page till the end.
.o.
Time was passing way too slow when Kaito wasn't paid to do his job.
No, no. The bakery owner was nice and ran a respectable business who didn't cheat any employee's money. It was the main job Kaito was referring to. It wasn't even a job if there wasn't money to gain. It was a chore.
But he owed that Hakuba Saguru a favor, one that involved him successfully getting Kaito out of custody for something as ridiculous as tax evasion, or some sort. How on earth was Kaito even supposed to list down his jobs and earnings if they weren't even- Forget it. All of it didn't matter anymore. What mattered was right now, Kaito was doing a not-so-grateful charity job for that blonde detective and was currently stuck behind the cashier, staring at nothing but the bloody door and wistfully praying for someone to come in. Best if it's that stalker, so Kaito could just tackle him down and let Hakuba gain the credit, thus attaining higher chance of getting laid soon. That poor lonely lad.
The bakery owner was Hakuba's female best friend from England, kind and pretty and happened to be target of an awful stalker since a while ago. Kaito's mission was to work as a normal cookie-cashier boy, while protecting the owner and hunting down the stalker when Hakuba wasn't free and around to be the hero. To put in simpler terms, Kaito was an undercover bodyguard. It sounded impressive, but it wasn't as cool when he was working as one.
Kaito stifled another yawn and rubbed his eyes. At the rate he was going, maybe he could die from boredom and finally clear this annoying debt he owed Hakuba once and for all.
After he finished ranting the complains in his head, the glass door opened on the cue and he glanced up. Finally, there was a customer. At least now, he could keep himself busy by acting as the cookie-cashier boy he (totally never) signed up for.
Forget cookie-cashier boy. He had to consider acting like a plumber and a librarian all the same.
Aoko (Despite the short meetings, he remembered her name like a tattoo in his head) was specially dressed up today, at least that was what he could tell from a glance. Her floral and sleeveless sundress looked brand new, and her amateur and mild make up was enough to complement her looks. Her hair was as usual; messy at the top, but because she'd just bathed, the end of her hair was a little wet and sleek. She was totally not used to her pale blue high-heels, from the way she wobbled around the entrance before daring herself to let go of the door handle to walk on her own. Her entire outfit was simply shouting I'm dressing to impress, but her face was also screaming and I'm not really loving it.
Just how small is this world?
She was halfway adjusting the strap of her dress (which caused Kaito's usual greetings to be stuck in his throat) when she looked up and saw him. Her surprised face was another sight to behold.
"You-Why are you here?" She gasped as she sauntered towards the counter, her finger pointing accusingly at him.
He could have done the same if he wasn't trying to maintain the calm manner he was aiming for. "Working." He said. It was the truth.
"You've got a lot of jobs." She muttered slowly.
"One has to do it for a living."
She scrutinized him up and down until her eyes laid on his plain apron and chest. There wasn't a need for a name badge for a small bakery like this, so it saved him the effort to remember his fake name, at the same time also depriving Aoko the chance to question him again. Even though she didn't have the evidence, he'd thought she wouldn't back down without a fight, but she proved him wrong when she impassively took out a piece of paper from her bag and passed it to him. It was the invoice for a cake order.
Of course. Who the hell was he to her anyway? Why would she care? It wasn't her business, and she was obviously following this rule. He shouldn't let her nonchalance bother him. But it did. Slightly did.
More importantly, it bothered him that her indifference was bothering him at all.
Shaking off the unnecessary thoughts, Kaito placed the paper on the counter after memorizing the numbers and details. "Hold on a second." He told her as he headed to the private kitchen at the back of the store, where the refrigerators that kept all the pre-ordered cakes were. He silently exchanged greetings with the bakery owner, who was busy making more cookies to fill the diminishing supplies before taking out Aoko's cake and trudged towards the counter again. It slightly piqued his interest to know the content of the box when he saw how she was waiting so eagerly at her position, her face spiced with enthusiasm.
Kaito slowly uncovered the lid, revealing an extremely delicious chocolate moist cake that got his own taste bud tingling. There were a couple of fruits littered over as decoration, but the main focus was the white icing that wrote over the middle part of the cake.
Happy Birthday Sakamoto!
(Hearts Hearts Hearts)
"It's so cute!" Aoko chortled and goggled all over the cake.
"I hope Sakamoto-kun will like it!" Kaito cried out in a whiny girly voice only a man like him was talented to make. She looked up at him with a brief horrified look as he continued with a drawl. "I guess that's what you're thinking?" Kaito smirked.
Her face was almost as red as the strawberry decorations surrounding the top tier of the cake. "N-No! That's no-not it."
Well, the last thing he needed was to get fired for teasing and insulting a customer. He shifted the conversation into another direction. "That self-help book worked out?"
She embarrassingly scratched the side of her cheek. "Sort of."
For some reason, he liked her nervous, fidgeting demeanor that brought colours to her face, one that he thought fitted her better than any blushers that existed in the world. He then squashed the stupid thought like a bug. "A birthday date later?"
"Yeah," she nodded, biting her lips shyly. "Anyway, about the payment..."
Kaito had no idea how bloody distracted he was till he suddenly noticed a man, who had slipped into the bakery store without his prior knowledge with the hood from his jacket suspiciously over his head. What made him weird and eerie was the way he creeped near the shelves, his neck strained and angled, like he was trying to see what was behind the counter, which was the private kitchen. And what was in the kitchen was the owner of the bakery store...
His eyes flew down to the small camera in the man's hand.
"Samada-kun?" Aoko waved a hand over his face. "Are you alright?"
Sensing something was off, the eccentric man turned and caught Kaito's eyes. By the time Kaito jumped over the counter, the man was already by the door and out, though it wasn't like the slow start was going to put Kaito at a disadvantage. He swung open the glass door the hoodie man had purposely closed on him and dashed towards the direction where the man went. It was late afternoon, in a good and bad way that the streets weren't crowded, but it meant less obstacles and better chance to escape. Kaito clicked his tongue, his eyes glued onto the back of the hoodie as he continued to scurry past a few passersby, who were giving him dirty looks when he accidentally knocked into them.
At the moment when Kaito almost wanted to blink, he saw something flying across the sky before landing on the head of the hoodie man and all of the sudden, both of the main objects were gone from his sight. He panicked for a split second, but after running for a bit more, he saw the man and his camera lying on the floor, along with the broken blue heel that was the culprit of the man's unconsciousness.
Seconds later, Aoko came to his side, panting and also barefoot on the ground.
"Yes!" she breathed. "Finally got him."
Kaito picked the camera from the ground and switched it on to look through the photos. Thank God they'd got the correct guy or how on earth was he going to explain this mess? A crowd was gathering in the middle of the streets and everyone was pointing at the stalker on the ground like he was some part of the exhibit.
He turned towards Aoko. At least he had the guy, but... "Do you even know who you'd hit?"
"No," she straightened her posture and tensely adjusted the strap of her dress again. Though her breathing was back to normal, her face was white; not from the running, but more on realizing what the hell she'd exactly done. "Y-You looked so dazed and just started chasing him so I thought he'd stolen a bread or something," Aoko cringed and hesitantly stared at the floor. "I hope I'm right...?"
"Close enough. He's a stalker." But damn, you're one reckless and feisty woman I've ever met. Kaito then showed her a few suspicious pictures of the bakery store owner from the camera as reassurance and she heaved a sigh of relief once realization dawned upon her. The stalker began to stir in his position, showing signs of waking up and Aoko did the pleasure of sitting on his flat back, pining her weight down on him as she sorely rubbed her ankle like a queen.
This woman wasn't one to mess with.
After Kaito finished his call with Hakuba and the latter promised to rush down within ten minutes, Aoko had to pass the privileged of her golden seat to him.
"I've got to go," she hurriedly kept her phone after she'd seen the time. "I'll be late for the date. I'll need to go back and take the cake now."
"Wait," Kaito picked up her broken blue heel that was still left on the ground. He was considering asking her if she needed a repayment when she cut him off.
"It's a goner." Aoko stated the obvious and shrugged at the disaster of her shoe that was hanging from Kaito's fingertips. "I'll buy something else down the streets." With that, she took off with her barefoot and rushed towards the direction of the bakery store.
At the end of the day, the stalker was officially prosecuted and Kaito was also freed from his job. He'd got the hourly pay for the time he worked at the bakery and an extra whole cake from the bakery owner to further thank him for his help. Whether Hakuba got laid in the end, Kaito had already went home before he could find out. He would ask the question another time (Though he knew the answer would eventually be a death glare from the blonde detective).
He brought the broken high-heel back with him and mended it to make it look almost brand new. This was almost like a complete rip-off from one of the scenes in the Cinderella story, but instead of a happy ending where the handsome and rich prince used the heel to find his true love again, Kaito put the heel in a glass box and kept it in his basement, where he could see it every time he entered to do his business.
Of course it would be a different ending. From the start, the princess wasn't even interested in the hermit anyway.
.o.
After all those previous encounters, Kaito realized the world wasn't as big as he really thought and he'd decided to stick with a name, just in case he ever met her again (It would be pathetic to admit he was hoping to see her, but who was he trying to fool? Himself, obviously).
Though with what he was working as, the chances of seeing her was as low as seeing penguins and polar bears at the same place. He was Samada Kenji tonight, a bartender at a small pub located in the middle of town. There were over a dozens of competitors along the streets, and for anyone to be choosing this run down pub was probably desperate for a drink since there wasn't much customers compared to other places.
Freaking damn it. Kaito had forgotten the existence of a zoo.
She appeared in a grey T-shirt dress today, one that looked quite comfortable and fancy enough for her. She looked all prepared to enjoy the night, but the way her eyes were ruined with her faded inked mascara clearly told him she was not. She was holding onto her black heels, her bare feet skipping across the floor before she jumped up onto the high chair, in front of the counter where it belonged to the area Kaito was managing.
"One gin and tonic!" Aoko chirped.
It was hard to smell if she had any trace of alcohol, but he guessed this wasn't the first pub she'd visited, with the way she slurred her words and the dazed look she was giving to him. Only after a few seconds passed than some sense managed to reach her head.
"Samada Kenji?" she exclaimed and broke into a satisfied grin when she checked her answer with his name tag. "I guessed it right! You're Samada Kenji!"
"Yes, I'm Samada Kenji." He said, not like she was really listening with how seemingly blur she was now. She simply remained in her seat, eerily quiet and patient while waiting for him to finish her order. After he was done, he pushed the drink towards her.
Aoko gulped down the content in one go and he cringed when she dumped her glass forcefully on the table and randomly burst out in a fit of cackles.
"Everything can change!" she spoke, breathless after giving out all the laughing air. "People change. Feelings change. Even names can also be changed! So amazing!"
Forget about the name changing part. People. Feelings? There was something wrong with her today.
"Uh," Kaito tentatively started. "Did you and your boyfriend fight? That Sakamoto-kun?"
"That Sakamoto-kun!" She began with a shout that was only loud enough to give a shock to Kaito. The blasting background music was able to keep her volume down and make her less obscene than she already was.
Maybe he shouldn't have asked. Because the next thing he knew, her face had turned from fake bright elation to crumpled and torn, to the point it literally and weirdly hurt him to even look at her.
"It's over." A tear slid down her cheek. "It's all over."
This is bad. Kaito winced in his head.
"He said he likes it when women wear heels," she slammed her shoes repetitively onto the glass counter and sobbed, a hiccup instantly followed behind. "I threw out my flats and sport shoes because he said he likes heels. I wore heels everyday because he said he likes heels. I don't even like heels, but because he likes heels, I liked heels too."
Not knowing what to do, Kaito pulled a wine glass from the shelves and began wiping it clean with his rug.
"Why must he do this to me?" she rubbed her eyes and sniffed through her snorts and tears. "Why must he lie to me?"
This was truly the most awkward situation Kaito had even been. He remained at his position, unsure of what to say but to continuously pretend there was a stubborn stain on the wine glass he was cleaning when it was almost as clear and transparent as air. Of all the jobs he could take, of all moneys he could earn, anything that had to do with solving or advising relationships was a complete no-go for him. He had no experience of his own and feelings were just too complicated for him to understand.
He only dared himself to look at Aoko when her wails had died down to nothing. Her upper body was slumped over the counter top, though luckily, there wasn't much for anyone (and him) to gawk at since the collar of her dress was close to her neck. One side of her face was lying on her arm, eyes closed and the only sound she was giving out were the soft hisses whenever she breathed out.
"Thank God." He sighed heavily in relief and placed the wine glass he was wiping for the past ten minutes back to its shelves. Never had he thought that someone's crying could ever be regarded as a distraction for him.
It didn't take him long for his face to turn guarded again when he noted a man strolling towards the two of them from the corner of his eyes.
"You know this woman?" It was Kaito's colleague who approached to the counter, an empty food tray he used to serve the customers seconds ago was suavely clung under his arm, his hazel eyes lingered past Aoko's hair and to her sleeping face.
"Yes." Kaito said after a pause. They only had this chance-meeting sort of relationship, simply an acquaintance and nothing more. But he wasn't going to say that, not when this man, Hajime Daisuke, was the target he was spying on for the past week. He was suspected to have turned unfaithful to his beloved wife by prying on innocent drunk women and taking advantage of them while they were only mildly conscious. Sera Masumi, a private detective he met through Kudo's contacts, commissioned Kaito to take on this case since she got too much cheating husbands to handle, and disguising as a bartender fitted Kaito's style more than Sera.
"Really?" Hajime quirked an eyebrow. "Then is she alright? I can carry her to the lounge to rest."
Finally, after a week long wait, here was the perfect moment for Kaito to catch him in the act and get his over-due commission. Though sacrifices had to be made, he could step in after he got the pictures and before any heavy damage was done. A great plan. Too convenient to be true. Yes. Yes.
"No," Kaito affirmed with a spat before he cleared his throat. "No. There is no need." He repeated again, more calmly this time.
"Alright," Hajime stepped back with a smile that spelled more than what it looked. "I'll leave this to you then." He then left the counter and headed to where his job needed him.
Great. Not only was his chance ruined, Kaito had no idea what impression he had left on Hajime. The last thing he needed was the pervert to assume he was a pervert too. That was worse than any insult he could ever ask for. Kaito sighed and stared down at Aoko. Easily disregarding her messed up mascara, his eyes scanned across her perfect-shaped nose and parted red lips.
Why the hell did that scumbag Sakamoto-kun even care about his stupid obsessions with heels when he'd got so much more to appreciate?
Kaito took the high-heels Aoko left on the table and walked around the counter to put it next to her chair. Despite the dim lights, it wasn't hard to miss out the red, painful scars on the back of her ankles. His brows almost merged together when he found there were more faint wounds that were still in the midst of healing and a surge of unease began rumbling in the pit of his stomach. Decidedly, he made his way to the staff room to retrieve some supplies of band aids for her. The problem was the person who had used the first aid box didn't put it back to its original place, so he took quite some time to find and get the band aids before heading back to where Aoko was.
But she was gone.
His heart almost stopped beating for a second as he spun around the pub, trying to find the supposedly eye-catching woman, but there wasn't anyone that caught his eyes like how only Aoko could do. He then headed to the lounge, half expecting Hajime and her to be there, though with much relief, they weren't. His frustrations slowly turned into puzzlement as he spent a minute staring at the empty chair and pondered if he was actually dreaming all along.
"Hey, Tamako-chan." Kaito tapped on the shoulder of his colleague, another bartender that was managing the customers next to his assigned coverage. "Did you see Ao- I mean did you see the woman who was sleeping on this counter just now? Brown hair and-"
"Oh, that girl?" Tamako pointed at the door. "She woke up a moment ago and left on her own."
"Left?" He echoed, eyes widened in disbelief.
Tamako confirmed with a nod.
"Tell the manager I'm out for five minutes." Kaito said and charged out of the pub and onto the streets, the band aids still in his hands. He glanced around, the distracting and flashing lights were obscuring his focus and vision, but he managed to spot Aoko among the rowdy crowds like he knew he could.
She was standing by the road with her stupid high-heels, a hand clutching onto her purse while the other was flagging desperately at an approaching cab. Before he could produce a shout to stop her, he watched her hop inside the car as it drove off in a skip of a heartbeat.
He kept the band aids and went on to continue his night shift.
When Kaito reached home a bit before dawn, he'd spent almost half an hour staring at the glass case that consisted of the blue high-heel he'd fixed from the previous incident. Thinking back about everything, he was considering throwing the shoe away, just because the reason for its existence wasn't as nice as he thought. But when he remembered the way Aoko hobbled cutely into the bakery store, the way her eyes were set with a form of determination as she moved towards him, and the way his chest felt something different for the first time, he couldn't do it. He couldn't throw the memory away.
Morning had approached and he'd still hadn't got his sleep. But once he saw the bright blue sky from his window, he couldn't think of sleep when the special shade of blue reminded him of the eyes he wanted to see, yet wasn't sure if he would ever see again. He only had the sense to go to bed after realizing he was pretty much a pathetic loser if he was going to continue to be this way.
.o.
Kaito was pretty much stuck, literally, under a desk that didn't fit his legs properly. Similarly, he was pretty much stuck, literally, in a situation that he might end up dead if he got caught.
He was already in the awkward lying-and-half-sitting position for nearly an hour, yet to be discovered by the gang of criminals clothed in tuxedo and suits, who may or may not have guns on them. It was a hassle to do background checks, though he did regret it at some point when his legs went numb for around five minutes. But all was well, after hearing all the illegal conversations that would end these bunch of dumb shits in jail pretty much soon. That was only going to happen after he got out of this mess first.
Wearing the disguise he copied safely somewhere from a western magazine, he scampered from under the table like a hyperactive puppy and made a break towards the door. Everyone were rooted to the ground, numbly shocked by Kaito's abrupt appearance, but he got to give them some credit since they reacted fast enough when he was only halfway through his run. He'd thought those muscles had occupied most of the space rather than brain cells.
"Get him! Get that scumbag!" The leader yelled.
As Samada Kenji again, Kaito had disguised himself as a waiter attending the ball event, which was organized to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the insurance company he was planning to put down. Things were supposed to be easy, and he pretty much guessed a bit of alcohol and ton of prides would get boastful people to talk about their accomplishment. But the plan went a little out of control when he was being indecisive in choosing the perfect spot to put the video camera in the secret VIP room, so he ended up hiding under a desk before he could get out to safety.
While Kaito continued running to escape, he took off his disguise and lumped the wax mask and the black waiter's coat together and tossed it inside a convenient cleaning cart. Ironically, he was much safer in his true identity, but that wasn't going to stop him from getting out of this dangerous place. The end of the hall was split into two directions, and remembering the blueprints, he knew the one on the left was the correct route to choose if he wanted to get to the ballroom and mix with the crowd, fully shaking his pursuers off his tail. He formed the simple plan in his head and was about to execute it when someone suddenly appeared at the turn of the corridor, knocking right into him as both of them stepped back due to the impact.
Screwed. Beyond screwed.
Why the hell?!
"You-!" Aoko blinked, her mouth hanging open and too shock to continue what she wanted to say.
He couldn't get any words out of his system either when the sound of hasty footsteps was coming towards them. Changing his plans, Kaito quickly grabbed her hand and dragged her to the other corridor that was supposed to lead to a dead end. Before she could say anything, he pulled her arm towards him and she fell perfectly into the shape of his body, her face rubbing the crook of his neck and her chest pressing onto his.
It wasn't supposed to be like this. It wasn't meant to be like this. But for some reason or another, all of his troubles had suddenly faded away into the background. The mess of his mission and dealing with his mistake's aftermath was troublesome, yet the scent of flowers and soap that filled his nose, to him, was the only important thing in the universe-
"Hey-" Aoko stirred in his embrace and he felt a hand on his chest, about to push him away.
"Don't let go," he whispered into her ear and emphasized his meaning by tightening the hug. "Stay like this for ten seconds."
Her fingers curled on his shirt and she shifted in her position again, but she obeyed without a word and stood there for him to hold her in his arms.
After two seconds, the men had caught up and were debating which direction to go when all their eyes laid awkwardly upon Kaito and Aoko. They muttered among themselves, and decisively dashed towards the corridor that Kaito planned to go at the beginning, proclaiming loudly that the bastard must have gone to the ballroom instead.
They were gone.
When Kaito couldn't hear anything else, except for his fast heart rate beating thunderously in his ears, he slowly peeled himself off Aoko, but she did the faster way by stepping back, her fingers brushed across his arms and left a tingling sensation he couldn't understand.
She focused on herself and smoothed the hem of her white dress that reached only to her knees before adjusting the dark blue belt around her waist. He would've continued to watch her move a fringe behind the back of her ear if she didn't catch his stare. Kaito quickly cleared his throat and pretended to fix his collar. His brain only started to work after a few seconds and a frown emerged when he realized the oddity of this situation.
Was she working for the company or was she a guest of this hotel? This level was reserved only for the ball event and the restroom was at the other side of the building, so there wasn't anything for her to be here for. Unless she was attempting to meet the leader of the fraud company, who had scammed many seniors and their retirement savings. The kindhearted old lady who always baked nice cookies and lived next to Kaito was one of those poor and innocent victims, and since justice had some trouble, he decided to take matters into his own hands.
The main question.
"Why are you here?"
"I can say the same to you," Aoko crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes. "Samada Kenji. What are you doing here? And what was that all about?"
Marvelous. He had stupidly stepped into the hole he dug himself. As nonchalant as he could, he avoided her gaze and moved his attention to the ground. She followed the same.
This new observation caught his breath. "You're not wearing heels."
She blinked, slightly taken back by what he said but she regained her composure in no time and squared her shoulders. "Yes, I'm not. Is there a problem?"
"No, there's nothing wrong with it," he quickly tried to amend the situation. "I'm just saying."
Her solemn expression changed to a relaxed look that fitted her better. "Flats are better than heels."
"Yeah." He concurred senselessly, though a second later, he wanted to knock his head against the well. What the hell was he even agreeing to?
Aoko simply looked away.
Knowing better than to pry, the conversation ended and he glanced down at his watch. Fifteen more minutes before the fireworks timer set off and he still got a lot of work to do, like weaving through the possibly heavy security, cracking some codes to the power room, cutting the electricity circuit off and- He wished he could stay a bit longer, though it was a tad too unrealistic to wish for.
"I need to go," he pursed his lips before adding. "I suggest you might want to leave the building first."
She raised an eyebrow. "Why is that?"
He shrugged. "To get a better view of the fireworks show."
"What?" her head tilted to one side. "Since when is there a fireworks show?"
"Wait and see." With that, Kaito sped off to the direction of the ballroom, resisting against millions of his nerve cells from turning back.
Twelve minutes later, the blackout happened and the promised firework show began. Despite his previous slip up, the distraction gave him ample opportunities to get his final work done. He went back to the empty VIP room to retrieve the video camera and sealed the tape inside an envelope, all prepared to deliver it to the police headquarters once he was free.
On the same week, the incident hit the headlines. Kaito was reading it on his dining table, grinning from ear to ear at his deed. Most of the story was just repeating and reciting the conversation Kaito had recorded, so there wasn't anything mind blowing about the matter. What got him to choke and spill his coffee all over the newspaper was when he spotted a picture of Aoko, her face firm and serious as she handcuffed the leader of the fraud company.
She's an inspector?!
He bought a brand new copy of the same newspaper again to confirm it (Honestly, he just wanted to cut out the article and the picture to save it for himself).
.o.
Today, he wasn't Samada Kenji.
He was an unlucky man, sitting under a bus stop and trying to wait till the heavy rain passed. Kaito scrutinized the sky, his lips tugged down when he realized the dark clouds were stretched beyond and endless and the chance of seeing the sun soon wasn't high. Just his luck. When he finally got an off day to himself, Heaven treated him well with a gloomy weather.
A lightning split the sky open menacingly on the cue and a loud thunder blasted a second later.
Fine, fine. It was his own blame. Served himself right for not bringing an umbrella. Heaven was right for the rain. Geez.
Another bus slowly came to the stop, splashing the puddle of water onto the pavement as the wheels rolled over. He didn't bother watching the passengers alighting, since it only worsened his mood to realize he was the only pitiful and dumb one without the umbrella. Like he thought, the few passengers that came down the bus instantly whipped open their umbrella before ambling down the streets.
Except for one.
"I can't believe it." A voice mumbled faintly, barely audible among the pitter-patter of the raindrops.
Kaito lifted his head.
I can't believe it. He would say the same too if his widened eyes hadn't done the job perfectly for him.
Aoko shook her head, opening her blue umbrella in a victorious way that Kaito didn't miss. She modeled with her umbrella, changing its position from shoulder to shoulder before giving up on her tease when she thought she had failed to gain any negative reaction from him. Would it be bad to admit she'd provoked positive reactions instead? Like thinking she was dumbly cute? Perhaps not.
"Stuck?" She smirked.
"Obviously." He rolled his eyes and glanced at the sky.
"Are you late for your work?"
"It's my off day."
"So you have an off day too?
He scowled. "Yes I do."
She showed a wry smile. "Are you heading home?"
"Yeah." There really wasn't a need to lie this time.
"Let me send you back."
What the hell? Did he hear that right? He looked up at Aoko and was half expecting her to tell him it was a joke, but she didn't. She was waiting for his answer.
"It's out of the way." That was the only thing he could say.
"How do you know where I want to go?"
It was just a natural thing to guess. "Home?"
"Nope," she pushed the handle, shaking it all over his face. "Come on. Don't you want to go home?"
Nothing was making sense. This kind of situation just didn't seem to fit the Nakamori Aoko he knew so far. And he knew a lot about her, somehow. Ever since that newspaper article he'd first kept about her, he had started following up with all the fraud cases that were solved under her. Who cared about the Detective of the East solving 89 murders in a week? (Cute) Inspector Nakamori Aoko should be the real hit.
Anyway-
"You're being awfully kind," Kaito moved back and away from the umbrella. "What's your deal?"
"You're sharp," her plastered innocent smile faded as she poised herself with the umbrella, her stare intensified. "I've got a few questions for you." She stated before pulling him up to his feet by his arm. He would've yelled out in surprise if he wasn't too busy being distracted by her uncharacteristically cool vibe.
The blue umbrella wasn't really big enough to hide two adults from the rain, though one couldn't complain when it was still nonetheless better than walking under the rain itself. Their feet splattered over the puddles as they stepped out from the bus stop, but Aoko couldn't care less, and it was that moment when Kaito remembered to take note of her shoes. It was sports shoes this time, not high heels. It fitted her nicely, with her skinny jeans and tucked in black T-shirt.
"What's the questions?" Kaito started.
"Where's your address?"
He pointed straight. "Walk down all the way and turn left."
"Good," Aoko slowed down her steps and he followed the same. She was the one controlling the pace since she was holding the umbrella. "There's some time."
"Some time for what?"
She didn't answer. "About that day, our last meeting. How do you know there will be fireworks?"
Oh, so that was what she wanted to ask. He shook his head inwardly. What on earth was he even expecting? For her to ask if he liked sweet or salty popcorn? He really needed to get his brain checked soon, with how faulty and stupid it became whenever he was around her.
"Did you like the fireworks? Weren't they beautiful?" He grinned.
"Yes, they were-" she then turned and glared at him. "You haven't answered my question."
"Someone told me."
Aoko scoffed. "By someone, do you mean yourself?"
"I bet you're the nerd who always asks and answers questions in class, right?"
He earned himself a punch on his arm, and it hurt. The police sure trained her well. He should've guessed it long ago when she managed to throw and aim her heel so perfectly at the stalker's head too.
"Who are you?" she hardened the gaze. "Are you working for the CIA? FBI? An international spy?"
There were many credit he was willing to take but saving the world wasn't one. "I work for people. Any people," he then shook his head. "Correction. I work for money. Any form of money."
"Money," Aoko looked at him sideways. "You're the one that sent in the video recording to the police, weren't you? Who signed you up for it?"
His lips twitched upwards. "For that, it was just one of my rare, voluntary work."
There was a slight pause in her steps, though it easily synchronized back with his. "So it's really you."
"I guess I owed you the truth since you cooperated and helped to bail me out." He admitted.
She was about to say something when she suddenly stopped on her track and he halted just in time as well. He obediently took the umbrella from her grasp when she passed it to him without a word and pulled out a vibrating phone from her pocket.
"It's one o' clock." Aoko whispered to herself, cancelling the alarm.
On the cue, three chimes echoed powerfully in the air despite the occasional rolling of thunder and persistent rain hitting the concrete ground.
Bong.
Bong.
Bong.
Once in a while, Kaito would pass by the clock tower whenever he was free. There were nice cafes nearby and it always gave him an ease of serene, though if he was trying to connect it to the feeling of home, he would've lost against Aoko, with the way her face showed more tranquility than one could ever give right now. Her eyes were closed, brows were relaxed and her expression mirrored those people who meditated under the waterfalls.
There they stood, in the middle of the empty street with only a pale blue umbrella over their head. It was close to romantic, something extracted out from a movie, but between them, it couldn't be. He knew it was stupid to keep his hopes high (Which he was guilty of), but this time, Kaito was sane and sure enough to know what to not expect in this situation. No. They weren't going to kiss under the rain. No, they weren't going to proclaim their non-existent love. What he did, out of his one-sided foolish feelings, was simply tilting the umbrella a little more towards Aoko, further sheltering her shoulder from any splash of rain even though his side was all wet and stained.
It was alright, like that.
Aoko finally opened her eyes.
"Sorry." She murmured, keeping her phone before attempting to take the handle back when he pushed her hand away.
"I'll hold it." He declared.
"It's my umbrella."
"Give the man the honor to do it."
She was persistent only for a while and gave up in the end.
"I heard it's going to be demolished soon," Kaito initiated the conversation as they started to walk again. "The clock tower."
"Yeah," she said, her lips slightly quivered. "I know."
He blinked. It ended up being a bad move because when he did, the sight was gone and Aoko had pursed her lips perfectly into a straight line, showing no signs of weakness. So was everything just a hallucination?
"Turn left?" Aoko prompted, breaking his muse.
"Oh," he paused just in time or they would've went past the zebra crossing. "Yeah, turn left."
He really needed to get his brain checked soon.
"Are you always available?" she casually asked. Only when she realized her wrong usage of words, she hastily continued before Kaito could find the chance to tease her about the meaning. "For your job, or whatever you're doing for money."
"Usually a first-come-first-serve basis, though it depends on the circumstances too," he quirked an amused eyebrow. "Why?"
"Just curious." She shrugged inscrutably.
Prying further would be the same as trying to pass through a metal wall. "Anyway, I'll be fine now," Kaito pointed at the entrance of the underground passage that was coming to their view. "It's leads all the way to my house." There were some people standing and loitering around, waiting for the rain to pass like he once did at the bus stop. They temporarily stepped under the shelter, the pressure of the thundering raindrops on the umbrella was gone for the moment.
She took the handle from him, their fingers brushed for a brief second. It sucked to know the only one who was suffering the weird effect in the chest was him, while it showed no impact for Aoko. The only thing she did was stand there fixedly in her position, and also tormenting him a bit more than she would ever know.
He smothered his feelings to death before cocking an amused eyebrow towards her. "Can't go because you'll miss me?"
Aoko rolled her eyes, but looking appeased while doing so. "It must be nice to always dream big, like you."
Yeah, like how I dream about you and me. He remained silent, afraid he couldn't take back the words that would slip out of his mouth if he spoke.
She fiddled with her umbrella for a few more seconds, finally giving in to whatever turmoil she was going through and directed a smile at him, one that sent cannibal butterflies trying to eat his inside out.
"Though my team's effort were the best, you did help a lot. Thank you." Aoko announced.
"I wasn't doing it out of righteousness," he explained again, at the same time trying to put out the feelings in him like diminishing a fire. He took the first step by minimizing any form of emotions in his tone. It helped sometimes. "I'm doing it for my neighbor."
"Whatever you say, you'll still have my thanks." Her smile didn't falter.
His originally firm resolution was gone like the wind that just blew by.
"Then you're welcome." He grinned in return.
Aoko stepped out from the sheltered area, the rain hitting her umbrella once again. "Bye." She turned her back towards him and made her way to the place she didn't tell him.
"Bye." He muttered, feeling sure his word of farewell didn't reach her.
When she disappeared in the messy downpour, Kaito only noted a little too late that he hadn't told her his name was Kuroba Kaito.
.o.
They met again when Kaito was inside of his rented ice cream truck, situated next to Teitan Elementary school and setting a blob of vanilla ice cream for a third grader. His work of the day was to find the bully who was harassing Jii's grandson and he was more than determined to find the culprit, until she came, probably after a jog. Her hair was tied up and the back of her nape was glistering with cool sweat. Who wouldn't be distracted when she was like that, and also wearing a tank top and shorts?
Alright. Surrounded by a bunch of kids who just wanted ice cream, it was probably only him.
She cleared her throat. "I want-"
"Hey! Don't cut the queue!" A girl at the end of the line bawled. A few children joined the jeer too.
"You heard them," Kaito smirked. "You must queue up for the ice cream."
Her cheeks were puffed up in embarrassment as she went to the back to queue up. Kaito tried not to laugh but his poker face failed him for this time.
The first thing she did when she finally reached him in the line was to glare at him before she spoke.
"I want to hire you."
His muffled chortles at her previous silly anger evaporated and he paused, staring wide eye at her. "You want to what?"
"I want to hire you," Aoko repeated, pointing at the menu afterwards. "And I want chocolate ice cream too."
He scooped the flavor she wanted for her cone, his eyebrows still skeptically raised. It was sort of hard to believe everything that was happening now, like the way her fringe fell so perfectly across her face too. "For what sort of service?"
"I'll tell you again. Call me when, uh- your schedule is free. As soon as possible." She passed him a note that scribbled her number, along with the money for the chocolate ice cream. Kaito thought her face was flushed when she left after taking her ice cream, though he wrote it off as the heat problem.
He called her that evening.
On the next week, they met up at a ski resort as he was told and for the next four hours there, Kaito was laughing as much as he did for all of his life. She hired him to be her personal instructor for the day, and it was taking him almost a miracle to get her to simply stand on her skis for a minute without falling. For the sake of my best friend! Aoko would wail when she fell head first into the snow after her failed attempts. Keiko, if he remembered the name correctly, was having a wedding photo shoot soon. And since her husband was a professional skier, Aoko's terrible skills for skiing was obviously overlooked. The word impossible almost made it to Kaito's dictionary, until finally, she did get the hang of it in the end.
Aoko called him a few days later.
"It went much smoothly than I thought." She chimed into the phone.
"I told you you could do it."
He almost heard her smile. "Well, just want to say thanks again, Samada-"
"Kaito," he interrupted. "Kuroba Kaito."
She chuckled. "Kuroba Kaito?"
"That's my real name." Kaito growled.
"Kuroba Kaito." Aoko said again. "Hm, it fits you better. Much better than Samada Kenji."
"Does it?" He drawled sarcastically.
"Yeah."
In a business perspective, at least for him, everything that happened after he received his final payment was none of his business. His phone's contacts list only kept his regular clients and people who he was closed to, while the rest were deleted after his job was done. But not for her. Her. He'd broken his own unspoken rule and kept her number till this day. Heck, he couldn't even put the phone down now.
Their talk escalated and Kaito came to realize several things about her. She was a morning person, a dog person, her favourite color was blue and she liked to eat hamburger steak. Their conversation only ended when his phone signal was a little out of range and they had to cut the call because of the annoying buzz. On the bright side, Lady Luck had already done a good job for him since they could talk for half an hour without any disruptions in the first place, even when he was tracking in the middle of a jungle.
There was a rumored curse written in troublesome riddles for Hattori, the detective that accepted all kinds of cases, to solve for a village situated in the forest. And again, Kaito was involved with Hattori's business since no one else wanted to follow the latter's crazy idea. Of course, provided that all expenses were included in the fee.
"What da hell took ya so long?!" The Osaka-proud man snarled when Kaito finally reached a clearing, the agreed meetup place. At that point, Kaito thought Hattori had found a slogan of his own.
"Got a little lost." He answered casually.
"It's been nearly an hour. What are ya? Little red riding hood?" Hattori pointed at a large boulder with many weird inscriptions on it. "I'll throw this rock at ya head if it isn't da' evidence."
Kaito was too smug about the phone conversation to be unhappy over the little insult. "Point taken." He chirped.
He was a night person, a cat person and he liked the colour white. But his favorite food was hamburger steak, the same as her too. And if this wasn't destiny, he didn't know what else it could be-
Oh God, he really was crazily (in love) pathetic, wasn't he?
.o.
The next time they met, he was Kuroba Kaito.
It was hard not to be reminded that yes, my name is Kuroba Kaito and my identification number is... when he'd spent all of his morning in the police headquarters, repeating the same introduction whenever a cop asked him. For the whole time, he'd been sitting on a cheap plastic stool in the busy department, dying for his turn to be interviewed as a witness to the tragic car accident that had sent more than half a dozen of people to the hospital. Why was it so much difficult for him to be an upright citizen?
Kaito could last a day without eating when he was busy with his work, but waiting inside the cold room with only a cup of water to quench his thirst drained his energy much quicker than anything else. By the time he walked out of the department, heading towards the lift, his stomach grumbled. Damn, his stomach hadn't made any sound since ages.
"Hey."
Damn, again. The back of his throat hadn't made any horrible squeak since ages ago too.
He turned his head in a robotic fashion, eyes meeting the other blue ones that he didn't think he'd see again. Another taunt from fate, it seemed.
All the hours of waiting were suddenly worth it when he saw how her brows furrowed in concern for him. "Why are you here?"
Kaito jabbed a thumb behind his back and at the traffic department. "I'd just finished giving my statement for an accident."
"The one at Nakano district?" Aoko pressed the lift button when he'd forgotten to do so.
"Yeah."
"The interrogation must have taken you hours."
She was always amazing to him, but this was over the top. "How did you know that?"
"They are lacking manpower at the moment," Aoko shook her head inconspicuously. "I guess you haven't had lunch, then?"
W-W-W-What?
"No." He forced himself to speak, and it took him another ounce of energy to make sure the simple word that came out wouldn't be a stutter.
"I'm going to the cafeteria to buy some food. If you're keen, I can bring you there."
OK. OK. OK. OK. OK. "Sure."
She questioned him and he briefly repeated what he witnessed at the accident since it wasn't anything confidential, unlike her fraud cases, which he deemed it would be inappropriate for him to ask. They comfortably moved on from the police matters and talked about one latest and famous horror film till the lift opened and they descended to the cafeteria level, where she then took charge with the directions.
The cafeteria was bustling with people but it wasn't long till they luckily found a round table with more than two seats for them to spare.
"Take a seat first. I'll order," she sent him a stern look when he showed signs of wanting to argue. "I have staff discount."
"Fine." He lost the battle that he hadn't got the chance to start and pulled out a chair.
"What do you want?" She asked.
Kaito squinted at the menu from afar. He remembered overhearing two female traffic cop debating very aggressively whether the cheese or the chicken sandwich was a better worth of the calories...
"I heard they sell nice sandwiches?"
"Chicken is the way to go." Aoko nodded, agreeing. "Anything else?"
It's now or never.
"If you're staying with me, I'll have two of the sandwiches and one very hot coffee that will take more than ten minutes to cool."
She scoffed, but a smile settled on her expression just as quick too. "Okay."
.o.
The foot traffic was light at this time of the night and most shops had closed and people should be at home and preparing for bed. Except for the two of them. Kaito placed his hands behind his neck satisfyingly and beamed when he saw Aoko, leaning against a lamp post and looking at the passing cars. He tiptoed towards her back, prepared to lunge for an attack when she turned towards him and pinched his cheek.
"Ouch- Hey!" He rubbed his sore face
She swiped her hands in satisfaction for her deed. "Please don't tell me you called me out this late to give me a stupid scare like that."
"Of course not." Kaito rebuked.
"Then what was so important you couldn't say on the phone?" She asked, genuinely curious.
He already knew what he had in mind, but the excitement still got the better of him. "I need to show it to you."
"Then it better be worth it," she grumbled. "I was planning to have a bubble bath tonight."
That last line was like a poison, at least to his brain and wild imagination. He cleared his throat and masked his face with a smile. "You'll see."
Aoko eyed him suspiciously, trailing behind him as he took the lead. They had agreed to meet at a train station in the middle of town and just across the avenue was the place where Kaito wanted to bring her; the biggest shopping mall in this district, proudly built and owned by the Suzuki corporation. Around the corner of the currently empty building, he found the fire exit he'd planned to use. The brick he had placed in between the door and the door frame was still there, luckily.
"What are you doing?" Aoko questioned uncertainly, watching Kaito kicking the brick away and pulling the door wide open to enter. "This is trespassing."
"I know the owner of the shopping mall. We are on a pretty friendly terms."
"Are you sure it's a mutual connection?"
He smirked and only gestured her in. "Come on, ladies first. We don't have all night."
"Why?"
"Trust me, your career won't be jeopardized."
There was some hesitancy in her steps, but she finally obliged in the end with a sigh. It got his grin to grow bigger.
"Can you tell me what you are planning?" Aoko bugged him for the fifth time as they continuously climbed up the stairs. "If it's something stupid, you better tell me now. Or else."
"Patience is virtue." He repeated the same answer over again, much to her displeasure.
They finally reached the roof after a trip up the almost endless flight of stairs. The fresh air was compelling and the city lights sparkled brightly across the land, like a sea of stars swimming and flickering its beauty and light. He cast a sidelong glance at Aoko, his lips tugged at the sight of her awed expression. This was just the appetizer.
"It's pretty." She breathed out, her hair began rippling in the breeze.
"Yeah." He continued staring at her, knowing her answer and his were directed at different things, but she was happy, and that was what that mattered.
"Well, it's worth it." She answered to nothing. "I'll choose this over my bubble bath if I have the choice."
Stop. Thinking. About. The. Bubble. Bath. "The actual surprise has yet to start."
"What?" Aoko was alarmed, her back straightened. "What else are you scheming?"
"Scheming isn't a nice word."
"The last time you surprised me, you turned my hair into a giant candy floss," she snarled, adding a sound like a wolf's bite. "I'm not going to forget that, ever."
"I know," Kaito cringed at the memory. "My fractured wrist beautifully reminded me for the entire month too."
"So?" She began warningly. "What is it that you-"
Five... Four...
"Shh," his finger nearly pressed onto her lips. He would do it if he wasn't so sure she would break that very finger. "Listen."
Aoko blinked, nonplussed to whatever that was going on but she followed what he said and stood there, listening-
Bong.
Bong.
Bong.
Even though nearly ten seconds had passed, the echoes of the bell still lingered in Kaito's head, like an essence of a drug he couldn't get rid of from his system (He looked at Aoko and thought of her as the same). Her eyes were wide, blue and glinting in the pale darkness. The moon had kindly featured her gentle, warm looks and Kaito thought if both the sun and moon couldn't dull her beauty, nothing else really could, actually.
"I thought-" her red lips parted and closed, parted and close. She turned and faced the city lights, the slight wind changing the motion of her hair. "I thought the clock tower was scheduled to be t-taken down today."
That's where my dad proposed to my mom. Aoko told him one day when he asked her the importance of the clock tower again since she didn't tell him the first time. My mom passed away when I was six. The clock tower meant a lot to my dad, and me too. Despite everything, it reminds me that true love still exists.
The memory of the conversation was as clear as day to Kaito. He puffed out his chest, his clean set of teeth showing. "There is always a way."
"Are... you serious?" Aoko spun towards him, her eyes watery and incredulous. "Why... How?"
"Detective of the East? You must've heard of that dumb name before," Kaito stretched, his hands sticking in the air. "Because of the discussion of building a new theme park, the planners were thinking of demolishing Tropical Land and focus their revenue on the new one. He got emotional over that fact and tried to do something about it."
If he wasn't wrong, the direction of the Tropical Land should be... there. Kaito squinted his eyes and stared into the distance, trying to spot the Ferris wheel if his vision was amazing enough. "I knew there was some problems with the deal for the clock tower, something to do with carving fake jewels on the face of the clock just to increase the price, but I don't have the authority to do anything about it. So I got Kudo's attention and we began working on this direction to stop the demolishment and plans on building the theme park."
Kaito shrugged to himself and faintly laughed. "If the transaction was unethical in the first place, I doubt it'll be safe to go on the new rides since the screws might come off the next second."
He wasn't confident enough, yet, to say there was anything between Aoko and him now. But the barriers she had built around her since her last heartbreak was slowly tearing down and she was starting to wear her heart on her sleeves around him, compared to the earlier days they hung out together. Even though he'd promised himself not to get his hopes up high or expect anything in return, he really wanted to see the look on her face now. Stumped? Surprise? Touched? He turned around, his voice prepared for the tease.
"I guess doing voluntary work once in a while wouldn't hu-"
His words were caught in his throat when he felt himself suddenly seized in a tight grip, the curls of her hair tickling his cheek. It took him a few seconds to know how to breathe, and by the time the familiar scent of flowers and soap enveloped him like an embrace, he finally registered that he was being hugged.
Now came the desserts. Two seconds later, fireworks began littering all over the dark sky, fizzling and popping high above their head. Despite that, they didn't move from their position. At least he could see the firework when he simply lifted his chin, but with how Aoko buried her face into his chest, she couldn't possibly see anything, though it didn't seem to matter to her.
"Thank you," Aoko muffled into his shirt. "Thank you, Kaito."
He smiled, mildly shaking his head. "No need for that. You know I'll do anything for you, right?"
There was a pause and Kaito felt her strong grip tightened around his body. "I know."
.o.
"So uh, I've heard," Hattori swallowed and placed his clasped hand solemnly on the cafe table. "That ya engaged."
"So you've heard."
"Can ya stop smiling like that?" Hattori looked pained.
"Like what?" Kaito's grin spread even greater from ear to ear as he stirred his ice mocha.
"Like that," he spat. "It's creepy."
"Because I'm engaged." Yes. That was the reason. Simple like that.
"I know," Hattori gritted, his white teeth showing its contrast against his dark skin.
"So... What is the reason for asking me out today?" If Hattori didn't call him so early in the morning, he could be wisely spending his time right now, snuggling into Aoko's soft cheeks or something.
"I need ya help."
"Help." Kaito nodded understandingly. Like since when was their meet up not about him helping Hattori with whatever thing the latter was up to?
"My luck has been very shitty since forever." Hattori slumped back on his seat and rubbed a hand down his face.
"And then?"
"This is about Kazuha."
"Kazuha." Kaito repeated slowly. "Toyama Kazuha?"
Hattori nodded. "I've confessed twice. Tried to," he grumbled under his breath. "One time was on an ugly dumb ass bridge and the other was when the air self-defense force came and cock-blocked me."
Kaito was pressing the back of his hand against his mouth, visibly trying to stop himself from laughing. "I'm sorry," he muttered not-so-sincerely as his shoulders shook up and down. "I'm very sorry for you."
"Screw ya." Hattori scowled.
"Then what do you want me to do?" Kaito finally managed to calm himself down after doing his deep breathing exercise. "You want me to share my relationship skills with you?"
"No," Hattori turned stoned-face. "Kudo's got the Big Ben and you've got the clock tower. I'm aiming for da' Osaka castle."
"W-What?"
"We're going to raid it this Saturday night."
"...The hell, bro."
.end.
A/n: "Hello everyone! From now on, I'll do my best to write a new fic with an amazing plot and-" (Shoves all the nonsensical Job AUs down your throat)
Honestly, my muse had been lacking and I got lazy at the end. It's hard to find inspiration as of late. Anyway, hope you guys like this nonetheless. Reviews are always nice.