Chapter 2: Magic at the Haido City Hotel

"It's time for breakfast, Conan-kun! Get up, you sleepy-head! Did you forget what today is?"

Edogawa Conan awoke with a yawn at Ran's voice, kicking the sheets off the bed before he groggily made his way to the kitchen. He stood on tiptoes to climb onto the tall stool.

"Do I remember what today is? How I wish I could forget."

Conan did indeed remember what event was happening today and had already predicted that he was going to need a lot of coffee for it. Grunting with effort due to his tiny body, he poured himself some nice hot coffee from the coffee pot. The amount of coffee that he intended to consume was one that would reach dangerous levels for young children.

When rumors of a live Kamen Yaiba concert had hit Teitan Elementary last month, the resulting reaction from his classmates could only be called chaos. Every single student screamed and howled like wild animals at the hype, to the point where Kobayashi-sensei had to act stern for once to keep order.

Later that day, the rest of the Detective Boys tried to ask for his opinion. Before they could even get one word out, Conan pre-empted them and coldly gave his response, "Sorry, I'm not attending the concert. You guys can go yourself," he said bluntly, not even bothering to try and justify his reason.

Yoshida Ayumi was the first to react. "Conan-kun!" the young girl shouted, "Why don't you want to go?! Don't you like Kamen Yaiba?"

Well, he used to… but he couldn't really say that he was a lapsed fan now, could he? Not when 'Conan-kun' was supposed to be seven, and Kamen Yaiba was all the rage amongst that age demographic.

"Well, I dunno," Conan shrugged back. "I mean, I like the show, but don't you think it's going to be a little expensive for us?" He chuckled to himself at the brilliant excuse he came up with. Concert tickets weren't cheap, after all. That'll throw a wrench in their plans.

Unfortunately, his ticket out was smashed when Tsuburaya Mitsuhiko's eyes lit up. "If you're worried about money, Conan-kun, then we can pool our lunch money together!" The freckled boy clapped his heads at his own suggestion, "That way, all five of us will be able to go!"

Dammit, sometimes Mitsuhiko was too darn smart for a seven-year-old. Conan sighed, realizing that he had severely underestimated these children's love for a kids show. "Fine," he relented, "How much are the tickets?"

"Four thousand yen!" Kojima Genta answered, although his answer's volume was closer to that of a bellow because of his big size. "Normally, the price is eight thousand yen, but we're lucky! It's half price for children!"

Conan whirled around at the words. He had been caught off guard and couldn't keep a fiery rage from flashing in his eyes.

It's half price for… children? Hahaha… half price for children, for freaking children! Damn it!

He almost wanted to lash out at something, but managed to restrain himself at the last second. However, it was still a second too late. Ayumi noticed the change in his expression and looked at him, concerned. "Is something the matter, Conan-kun?"

Conan's eyes widened at being caught out. "Nope! Nothing! I was just thinking about all the pocket money I would need to save for this, heh heh!" he said, hurriedly bringing his rage-filled expression back to normal and forcing a smile.

It wasn't their fault, Conan told himself. They didn't realize that they were making such a callous remark by referring to him as a kid. They didn't know that he wasn't actually a child… that he was really a teenager that had shrunk into one because of a drug.

"You shouldn't complain, Edogawa-kun. You might as well enjoy and take advantage of the discounted prices while you are able to."

Oh, great. Here came the opinion of the one "child" of the Detective Boys who did understand his plight, perhaps a little too well in Conan's opinion.

"Oi, Haibara! I get it, you all outnumber my opinion by four to one, but that doesn't mean that you have to rub it in my face," he muttered with displeasure.

"Yay, we managed to convince Conan-kun! Thank you for choosing to come with us to the musical concert!" Ayumi cheered in delight.

You guys didn't give me a choice, the present-day Conan thought to himself. But back then, he simply replied with, "No problem, Ayumi-chan."

Conan groaned, finishing his cup of coffee. Eventually the Detective Boys managed to hit a compromise with their most stubborn member. They would all go to the concert under parental supervision, which allowed him to bring Ran and Kogoro-ojisan along so he wouldn't die of boredom. As long as Ran was with him, Conan felt that he might be able to survive the concert unscathed by the cheesy live action effects.

And now the day of that stupid concert had finally arrived. What a waste of time. He could have been doing much better things instead of attending a cheesy kids musical. Like, solve a murder case for instance.

He jumped off the chair, awaiting the inevitable. Maybe if he was lucky a power outage would happen throughout Beika City and the whole concert would be cancelled. Although, Conan suspected that he would probably be the only smiling one in a sea of crestfallen children if that really happened.

"The meetup of the decade has arrived!"

His ears perked up at the words coming from the television set. It appeared as though Kogoro had left the TV on. Unable to contain his curiosity, he walked towards it to get a closer look at the advertisement.

"For the first time ever, two children's shows superheroes will meet in their crossover debut! Japan's Kamen Yaiba and America's Steel Samurai will face off against each other in today's 'Neo Olde Tokyo' live musical act!" As the narrator announced his words in a stereotypical sports announcer tone, Conan saw two masked warriors stare each other down on the TV screen.

He recognized Kamen Yaiba from his childhood, so by process of elimination, the other one had to be the American superhero, the Steel Samurai.

"Who is the better enforcer of justice?" the announcer shouted, inflecting his voice with enthusiasm as both of the superheroes sprinted towards each other, moving in for an attack. "The answer will be soon be known!" As the two struck with a flash, the advert cut away from the clash to a different scene so as to keep the viewer in suspense.

Pah, looks like the special effects are still godawful. Figured that even the advert for this thing would be cheesy… just what kind of lousy budget did they give the marketing department for this?

"One shall rise, and one shall fall! Who will be the winner of this fated duel? For fans of Kamen Yaiba and the Steel Samurai, this is one live concert you cannot possibly afford to miss! This joint venture is brought to you by both Tohto Studios and Global Studios! Hurry and get your tickets now! Remaining tickets are selling fast, as this event will be held for one week only starting from today! We hope to see you here at Beika City's very own Haido City Hotel!"

H-Haido City Hotel?!

A cold memory resurfaced in Conan's head, a dark and merciless voice ringing in his ears as if it was yesterday…

"Our target will be at the Haido City Hotel at exactly 6pm. Too bad he doesn't know that it will be his farewell party. A traitor like him must be eliminated before he can rat out our existence. You can use the drug, but do not mess this up, Pisco."

Conan grabbed the remote and turned the television off, running off to Ran's room. Breathing heavily, he knocked once at the door before barging in.

"Conan-kun?" Ran called out, surprised.

"Ran-neechan!" Conan shouted, eyes wide in fear. "Y-You didn't say that it was being held at the Haido City Hotel!"

"Eh?" Ran gave a confused look at Conan's query. "The ticket stubs I bought online clearly states that the location was Haido City Hotel. Did you not look at them?"

Conan gaped at her, "Really?" Absolutely brilliant. That meant that this whole situation was entirely his fault for leaving Ran to do the ticket booking for the Mouri Detective Agency.

Still, he couldn't help but feel a feeling of dread at the location of the concert. Every protective instinct within Conan absolutely refused to let Ran visit the Haido City Hotel.

Not when They had been there before.

They went by many names — the Men in Black, the Syndicate, and perhaps the name they were most commonly known by across the various law agencies… The Black Organization.

The Black Organization was a secret group of ruthless criminals with far reaching influence across not only Japan, but the entire world. Their power was far beyond that of any regular small-fry, to the point where even the yakuza or international terrorist groups paled in comparison to them.

Yet in spite of their vast power, they were the most secret criminals in the world. They always hid in the shadows, to the point that their very existence was not known to anyone who wasn't in the loop.

More importantly, those bastards had been the one who ruined his life ever since that fateful day at Tropical Land. The day that he had been fed the drug APTX 4869 by a member of the Organization, a man dressed in black with long silver hair by the name of Gin.

It was an attempted killing, and in a way it had succeeded even though it failed. The apotoxin hadn't killed him, but a rare side effect had happened instead, shrinking him down to his seven-year-old self.

Ever since that day, Kudo Shinichi was dead to the world, and Edogawa Conan stood in his place.

He'd tried to bring down the Black Organization before, but to no avail. They were simply too smart and powerful, and many times he'd found himself back to square one after an encounter, fortunate to simply get away from their ruthless agents alive.

Although at times it appeared as though he would never break the status quo, it hadn't entirely been a wild goose chase in the end. He certainly knew more about the Organization now compared to before, he had managed to locate the creator of the apotoxin, he had allies in the FBI, and he even managed to acquire the phone number of Anokata, the mysterious boss of the Black Organization.

He had to play his cards right. It had taken him almost a year, but he had slowly gained ground against the Organization. They fell for a faked death that he helped plan, had a CIA and a Japanese Secret Police mole within their ranks, and one of their own high-ranking agents appeared to be supporting him. Or at least it appeared that way, because Vermouth was a wild card and her intentions were still a complete mystery to him to this day.

He couldn't risk losing everything by being hasty. That lesson he had been forced to learn the hard way. Maybe one day, if he was patient, he would see the fall of the Organization and finally get an antidote to his "little" problem. When that day finally came, he could be Kudo Shinichi again and things can finally go back to normal.

Shinichi could dream, but until that day was a reality, he was Conan.

And until it was all over, he refused to let Ran get involved in this deadly game of chess, which was why he was now so hesitant on going to the Haido City Hotel. Not when it meant that Ran would be following him to a place that They had been before.

Knowing my luck, someone like Gin would be there and… no, don't even go there!

Unaware of what the boy in front of her was thinking about, Ran began to walk out of the room, "Conan-kun, I think you weren't paying attention. Come, let's go."

"Why must I go to a concert?" he begged, hoping to change her mind. When that didn't work, he tried the next best thing he could think of. "Ugh, I think my stomach hurts! Hellllppp me, Ran-neechan! I think I need… a doctor…" he trailed off, facing turning pale when he realized that Ran didn't buy his act in the slightest, if the stern look on her face was any indicator.

True enough, Ran's eyes narrowed. "Very funny, Conan-kun, but I already paid twenty thousand yen for this family outing. You're not squirming out of it. We're leaving right this minute."

Crap, caught out by Ran immediately. Well, it was worth a shot…


"Did you see the advertisement they released as a teaser for the concert today on TV, Conan-kun? It was so awesome!" Mitsuhiko said, his eyes still sparkling with admiration at the awesomeness that he had watched an hour ago.

You mean that lousy excuse of CGI and special effects that the marketing team spat out onto a primetime slot in order to sucker in kids? To be honest, I can't blame Mitsuhiko and the others from getting suckered in by a cliffhanger like that. Rule of Cool, I guess…

Before Conan could answer, Mouri Kogoro lashed out and gave his opinion of the situation. "This is so boring!"

Wow. He couldn't believe that he was in complete agreement with Kogoro for once.

"That's because you're old, ojisan!" Genta piped up.

"What did you say, you little brat?"

He sighed, gazing around the lobby of the hotel as Kogoro proceeded to make a fool out of himself as he usually did. It was just too bad that Ran was at the restroom so she couldn't kick her father into submission for being stupid.

As Conan lazily scanned the lobby in boredom, he found that his eyes were suddenly drawn to an unusual object.

Wait, is that what I think it is? No way… it can't be!

He had to squint against the morning sunlight to make sure that he wasn't wrong. Now that he focused his attention to the mysterious object, he realized that his initial hunch was probably right.

He glanced back at the rest of the Detective Boys. Great, he needed to get away from them…

"So, who do you think will win?" Conan suddenly asked out of the blue. If he knew his fellow friends well enough…

"I bet Kamen Yaiba will beat that other guy!" Genta said while pumping his fist.

"Wait, Genta-kun. It could be a ratings trap. They might make Kamen Yaiba lose to the new guy!" the logical Mitsuhiko reasoned.

"No! Kamen Yaiba can't lose!" Ayumi cried out, tears in her eyes.

Yep, they did end up in an argument. Conan used that opportunity to slip away from the group and dash over to the other end of the lobby, unnoticed by the three children or Kogoro. Haibara did notice him but said nothing, merely sighing.

Conan ran in the direction where he had last seen the object in question. It was hard to see because of the sun's glare, but it was shaped like a top hat.

A very familiar looking silk top hat.

Could it be?

No wait, it couldn't possibly be him… there was no heist notice. There was no way it could be who he was thinking of.

Gah! Conan shook his head to clear his conflicting thoughts. You're letting presumptions get to you again. Drop all prior assumptions and reassess the situation.

He took a deep breath, still running across the hotel lobby. Now that he had cleared his head, Conan realized that the silk hat he'd seen really could belong to the person that he was thinking of.

Conan felt a smile creeping onto his face at the realization. This was going to be fun. After all, the roof of this very hotel was when he had first come face-to-face with him.


The rays of the full moon shone brightly onto the Haido City Hotel.

Illuminated under the moonlight were two males standing on the roof of the hotel. Now one might think that there was nothing unusual about that, but those who thought that would be very wrong. By right, the hotel roof should have been empty. By all normal accounts, the both of them should have been barred from access.

Too bad both of them were far from normal.

The first of the two was a man dressed entirely in white. The color of his suit and cape stood out in contrast with the dark night, just like the white moon in the black sky. A silk hat and a monocle both sat firmly on his face, obscuring most of it from vision. His outfit alone gave him a bold, confident appearance that screamed 'Look at me!' to an onlooker.

Befitting his attention grabbing nature, he had gotten to the roof by flying there from Tohto Tower using a hang glider. This method of transport had the added advantage of bypassing all of Nakamori's tight security in Haido City Hotel itself.

The second of the two couldn't be more different from the first. Instead of dazzling white, he was dressed in cool navy blue. His eyes gave one the initial impression of an innocent kid, when in reality nothing could possibly be further from the truth. Upon a closer look, those blue eyes showed cunning and intelligence far beyond those of his peers.

Contrary to the ridiculous flight stunt the first guy had pulled off, this young lad had gotten to the hotel roof via a much simpler method — using his appearance to his advantage. His small nature meant that Nakamori's Task Force didn't suspect him of being one of the Phantom Thief's many disguises, and hence he managed to slip past security relatively easily. After all, who would suspect a kid?

The seven-year-old child was here, certain that he had solved the puzzle and that his target would appear here on this very rooftop sometime around 12:30am. His target? The infamous Phantom Thief that had garnered enough attention for Interpol itself to hand out a Red Notice demanding his arrest.

The ICPO knew him as International Criminal No. 1412. However, the jewel thief was far better known throughout the public and his adoring fans by a different moniker — Kaitou Kid.

It seemed the boy's gamble had paid off, because the one that he had been waiting for had just appeared right in front of him, his white cape flowing gently along the wind like the waves of the sea.

There was silence for a moment, until Kaitou Kid eventually became curious as to why an actual kid was on what he had expected to be an empty rooftop. "Yo, kid," he greeted, nonchalantly strolling towards the boy. "It's half past midnight, probably way past your bedtime. Shouldn't you be at home? What is a child like you doing in a place like this?"

He pretended not to hear Kid, instead lighting the fuse of a makeshift firework that he had bought from a convenience store earlier. The firework then blasted off into the air, creating a bang that brightened the pitch black sky around the hotel for just an instant.

Alright, now it's show time!

He had to resist showing a cocky grin at Kid by managing to alert the entire ground force to their exact location from right under the Phantom Thief's nose. Instead, he maintained his innocent facade, mustering the most childlike face and vocal tone that he could feasibly pull off as he answered Kid.

"Fireworks," he exclaimed, opening his arms wide open like an excited child. His lips then curled slightly, his vocal pitch dropping an octave as he sinisterly added, "I'm here for the grand finale."

Heh, I haven't had to deal with a mental workout like that solving that heist note for quite a while. Kaitou Kid… you seem to be the playful type, messing with the police and your opponents with those cryptic advance warnings. It's just too bad that this time I happen to be on the case, and I made sure that I would be one step ahead of your little game the whole time.

I guess I should thank you for allowing me to be the one to deliver the coup de grâce to your career. After all, the whole reason I'm interested in a mere theft case for once was because you had the gall to announce your moves beforehand. But too bad for you, I know your every move! I've completely seen through your entire plan to steal the Black Star, you so-called professional thief!

Now then, will you be able to see through my own facade before you are arrested and sent to prison for grand larceny, Kaitou Kid?

The noise of rotors suddenly becoming audible jolted the boy from his thoughts. Deciding that he was having too much fun with this, he decided to further insult the cornered thief. "Oh, there's a helicopter! Looks like it noticed us after it saw the fireworks!" he exclaimed with mock surprise while pointing his arm at the rapidly approaching police helicopter to bring it to Kid's attention.

Of course, it was just him trying to mess with the perceptive thief. Kid had most likely started to fret about the police appearing the second he had let the fireworks soar into the sky. This would have made calling Kid's attention to the helicopter pointless, if it wasn't the fact that he did it solely because he wanted to see the thief squirm at being outwitted.

Kid, however, did no such thing. Instead, he remained extraordinarily calm, appearing to be deep in thought. Eventually, he turned away from the police helicopter and back to the child, a weird smile on his face. "If I were to wager, I'll say you fired those fireworks deliberately to signal the cops. Boy… you're not just an ordinary brat, are you?"

Seeing Kid's posture straighten up, the young boy couldn't keep the smirk he'd been suppressing from forming on his face any longer. It looked like Kaitou Kid had come to the only possible—and correct—conclusion. The Phantom Thief finally saw past the childish facade that he'd shown earlier and realized that he wasn't on the roof by mere accident.

He had been here to capture him.

The game had finally begun.

The boy gazed up, locking his eyes with those of Kaitou Kid's before he finally introduced himself to his opponent.

"I'm Edogawa Conan, a detective."


The Black Star heist was when Conan had had the misfortune—or perhaps fortune—of meeting the elusive Magician under the Moonlight for the first time. Ever since that first fateful encounter atop Haido City Hotel, the meitantei and kaitou had found themselves engaging in a battle of wits multiple times.

Those deductive battles of theirs ended up becoming quite infamous. Whenever he had the chance to, Conan would try to apprehend the Phantom Thief, which earned him quite the reputation since Kid's fanbase was huge.

At first, it was a passing mention. When the papers found out that the one who had recovered the Black Star was a first grader, they hadn't thought much of it at first.

Just a simple headline and his bored face on the front page. "Defending the Black Star by himself, an Extraordinary Elementary School Student!" it read. He'd scanned through the article, and most of it was the journalist's shock that a child had somehow managed to corner the great thief. It was a minor internet sensation for a while, and then everyone forgot about Edogawa Conan.

Until the next heist.

That heist earned him the nickname "KID Killer" after he had blown the bike the thief had used to escape into smithereens. This time, having seen him in action, Nakamori-keibu had vouched for his intelligence. Once the press realized that a mere child had almost outsmarted the thief not once, but twice, it was all over.

After all, once could have been a coincidence, but twice implied a pattern. The very idea that Kaitou Kid had someone that kept him on his toes? The journalists couldn't resist the scoop. The name "KID Killer" was thus bestowed onto Conan, and they twisted the words to make him sound like Kid's greatest nemesis.

Somehow, Conan had a nagging suspicion that Kid felt the same way about him.

The constant press had always annoyed him though. Normally, a regular person would celebrate if they managed to become famous as the one who could actually nab Kaitou Kid.

But him? He was trying to be undercover, and yet somehow the press made him famous under his Conan alias anyway. Haibara would have thrown a fit, except the Kaitou Kid fiasco had started before they even met, so there wasn't really much she could do about the situation anyway.

The bigger problem to Conan was that he was annoyed by the way the press over-glorified him. Frankly, it was ridiculous. If he was at a Kid heist, the day after, a full page article with the headlines "KID KILLER Strikes Again!" would run in the papers without fail, almost always making front page too.

Coupled with the fact that he had to give interviews to reporters from multiple news agencies about his KID Killer exploits and he concluded that he was arguably just as famous for chasing after Kid under his Edogawa Conan alias as he was at solving mysteries and murder cases as Kudo Shinichi.

But the part that irked Conan more was that the press was acting this way when he'd failed. It boggled his mind. Why was he getting all of this media coverage for attempting to catch Kid, and not actually succeeding at catching Kid?

Maybe all of Kid's fangirls just wanted Kid to win this perpetual cat-and-mouse game between them and were in it for the thrill. After all, Conan knew which side they were on. He could imagine that some of them would have a dartboard with his face on it in their rooms.

Whatever the case, the media always milked their encounters for all it was worth.

Conan always made sure to show the most bored face he could whenever the press came. He had resolved that no picture taken of him after a heist would show a triumphant face unless he managed to capture Kaitou Kid and put him behind bars once and for all.

Alas, just like bringing down the Organization, catching Kid wasn't quite a reality just yet. To this day, he'd still been unable to apprehend Kid. Conan considered it one of his most irritating failures.

Heist after heist after heist and Kid still got away from his grasp every last time. It'd bugged Conan more than once that despite him consistently putting away murderers, a mere thief always managed to evade him.

But no criminal can escape forever…

Now it looked like he finally had his chance to catch the Phantom Thief. As he burst through the crowd, he was surprised by what he found.

The silk hat wasn't white at all. Now that the sunlight wasn't in his eye, the white hat turned out to be light blue.

And said light blue hat was on top of a girl in a matching blue magician suit.

Conan squinted his eyes. If it wasn't for the fact that Kaitou Kid was always in white, he could almost swear that it was him.

"Don't do it, Trucy! I know you're going to activate Mr. Hat! I get the point!"

Wait, the man next to her is speaking English! Could they be tourists? No wait, that's too conspicuous. After all, Kaitou Kid has assistants. Could they be trying to throw people off into thinking that? Oh well, since I'm here, I might as well pull an old Kudo trick and use the power of observation to astound them.

Conan decided to test the waters, walking silently behind the group before suddenly making his presence known. "You're a magician, aren't you?" he said in English.

All four of them turned at his voice. "Nick, Nick, look!" the woman dressed in purple pointed at him. "He's dressed just like you!"

Conan couldn't help but nod his head imperceptibly in agreement when he saw the attire of the man named Nick in person. The blue suit that Nick was wearing looked exactly like the one he used to wear as Kudo Shinichi.

But before Conan could complement his fashion, the woman spoke again. "You poor child! Oh my god, that fashion sense is awful! His parents need to be charged for felony! Dressing a young extrovert child up in a formal blue suit with a bowtie? That's almost criminal!"

You have no right to question my sense of fashion, lady. I wear what I want.

However, she did the opposite. Conan suddenly felt very invaded as she pulled him into a bone-crushing hug. "Did your parents force this suit on you? Yes, they did, yes they did! Bad parents!" She then proceeded to squish his soft cheeks, somehow not noticing that he was trying to wrestle himself from her grip.

Ugh, get off me before I decide to call the cops on modesty charges!

"Maya… you and Pearl are dressed in traditional spirit garb," Nick stared at his direction with an expression that screamed 'why are you humiliating me', a face that Conan could honestly relate to since he'd shown it to others many times throughout the past year of his life. Nick then continued ranting to Maya, "You of all people have no right to comment on fashion, not when you're wearing that old-fashioned purple one-piece… ouch!"

Conan winced when he saw another smaller girl in purple slap Nick on the cheek. "Don't say that to a lady, Mr. Nick! Apologize to Mystic Maya!" She reminded him a lot of Ayumi… which probably wasn't a good thing.

Nick rubbed his face in visible agony, "Okay, I admit that I was asking for that one."

The girl dressed in blue that he'd been eyeing all this time suddenly turned towards Nick, "Daddy! Don't interrupt me! I want to know how the kid guessed correctly!"

Huh? This guy is her father?

Kneeling down towards Conan, she suddenly switched her language to one he was familiar with. "How did you know?"

She knows Japanese! I knew it!

She knew Japanese and English… just like Kaitou Kid. If her outfit was switched to that of a dazzling white, the girl in front of her could very well be the Phantom Thief.

It definitely wouldn't be the first damn time Kid had himself disguised as a woman.

But would Kaitou Kid really disguise himself as a magician? Wouldn't that be a dead giveaway, considering that the thief was famous for his magic tricks?

Perhaps it was reverse psychology. Conan could already see that bastard smirking and taunting him. "I was right in front of your face, and you didn't even notice, tantei-kun. I'm so disappointed in you." Yep, he could even hear the thief in his mind. It was totally his style to disguise himself as the most obvious person in the area as a form of misdirection.

Well, two can play at that game. He'd act like he didn't suspect a thing on his end and misdirect him as well.

"I did not guess. It was basic deduction. Your right palm was constantly curled inwards, which gives the impression that you practice sleight-of-hand. The sleight-of-hand is a technique used by magicians to palm coins and cards. That, coupled with the fact that you're dressed in a cape, allowed me to come to that conclusion," he revealed his reasoning, looking closely at her reaction.

The magician in blue certainly looked genuinely surprised. "Eh? That's stuff about sleight-of-hand is… absolutely correct! Wow, you're better at magic than my assistants! Polly doesn't know how I keep making coins appear behind his ear to this very day!"

Is this for real? Was this Kid's off day or something? Granted, it very well could be considering there was no heist notice, but surely Kid wouldn't talk about his assistants when he had mentioned them before in previous heists, much less name them!

Maybe he was mistaken. If this was Kid, he had to be either luring him into a false sense of security or really, really unusually careless.

This was probably a tourist just who happened to be a youthful magician and shared various similarities with Kid. Just to check, he had hinted that he knew about Kid by saying, "I… know someone who loves to perform magic tricks", but she hadn't thought anything of those words.

Conan sighed. Oh, how he hated coincidences that were actually legitimate coincidences. Whup, looked like it was time to play the "I'm just a dumb child" card again.

After a few minutes of small talk, he found out more about the magician. Apparently, her name was Trucy Wright and she was from America. By now, Conan was convinced that he had barked up the wrong tree earlier and prepared to walk back to the Detective Boys.

"Wait! Where are you going?" Trucy asked when she saw he turning to leave.

"I need to get back to my family." He raised a hand up to say goodbye. "Perhaps we'll meet again, Trucy-san."

"Don't go!" Her eyes suddenly became pleading. "I have a proposition to make!"

Conan raised his eyebrows. "What proposition?"

"You see, I'm in need of magic assistants for dangerous tricks. And I was thinking that you'll make a great one, you little detective!"

Little detective…

That was the English translation of Kid's regular nickname for him, Tantei-kun.

You bastard! You made a fool out of me again!

Conan glared straight back at the magician. Of course it was him. Only this scumbag would dare to recruit him in broad daylight!

"How coincidental…" he started, trying to keep his voice from wavering in anger. "I just happen to want to be a detective when I grow up. So I'm sorry, but I must decline your offer, Trucy-san."

Or should I say, Kaitou Kid-san! This time I'm going to beat you!

Trucy pouted at his response and walked back to her father. Peh, Conan wouldn't be surprised if all of the remaining three were real tourists for him to use as cover.

Unfortunately, this time he had nothing to go on except his hunch. No heist note meant that he couldn't predict any moves and had to react in real-time. He couldn't even prove that Trucy was Kaitou Kid in disguise except for that phrase that she had mentioned earlier.

"It was nice to meet you, kid. You made my daughter really happy. What's your name?"

Conan turned around to see that Nick had posed the question. Deciding to humor him, he answered. "My name's Conan! Edogawa Conan!"

In response, Nick's jaw suddenly dropped. Conan's brow furrowed in worry as he observed Nick's face. One glance told Conan that Nick didn't believe his words. But how? He'd put on his best child imitation voice as he'd introduced himself. Nobody had doubted him when he mentioned his name was Conan.

Except for those who knew from the start that he wasn't Conan to begin with. His eyes narrowed as he felt a cold sweat breaking out. Who the hell was this guy? He stared right at Nick, trying to see if he could remember him from somewhere.

"There you are, Conan-kun! Ayumi-chan and the others were looking for you!"

Conan whirled around, breaking eye contact. That was Ran's voice. Perfect timing, he needed to get out of here! "Ran-neechan!" he shouted, running towards her.

"Oh, hello! Is this your child?" Trucy asked Ran as she gestured at him. Conan couldn't help but flinch and turn bright red at the question. I swear, I'm going to kill you, Kaitou Kid!

"No, no, no! Conan-kun is just staying with me." It looked like the flustered Ran didn't fare much better.

"Awwwww! He's a really cute child, isn't he?" Trucy winked. "I like him! Can I keep in contact with him?"

Oh, don't worry. I'll make sure to keep in contact with you after the cuffs are slapped onto your wrists.

Just as Conan was about to give a smarmy remark back, Phoenix suddenly posed a question that almost made him gape out loud. "You know, I come from America, so I find Conan an unusual name. Out of curiosity, how was he named Conan?"

T-That guy's still on me! Before Ran could say anything, Conan hurriedly intercepted her and answered the question himself. "Ah-le-le? You want to know how I was named? I can answer that! My parents are both huge fans of Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes series, so they decided to name me Conan when I was born."

He heaved a sigh of relief after he concluded. That cover story had served him well over the past year. After all, the best lies are those that held some truth within.

"I see. So that explains why your name is so unusual. Well, it's nice to meet you, Conan," Nick responded before walking away.

Nick's eyes were what betrayed him. Conan was looking carefully at them as the man said his goodbyes, and he had seen them filled with suspicion.

Conan saw that as his cue for Ran and him to leave. He tugged on Ran's sleeve, silently beckoning her away to another area of the lobby. He had a feeling that Trucy was Kaitou Kid in disguise, that much he was almost certain. But then, who was Nick?

The paranoid part of him rose up again. Was this Nick part of Them? Were they on to him? After all, members of the Organization had appeared at Haido City Hotel before.

I knew there was a reason why I had such a bad feeling about this damn concert! First Kaitou Kid, and now possibly the Black Organization! And to make matters even worse, Ran's here with me this time.

Conan glanced up at the girl in question, his heartbeat thumping as he realized the stakes. Hell no, she is so not getting involved in this, he decided, face turning firm as he reflexively pushed his glasses up to the bridge of his nose.

I need to figure out who this Nick guy really is and why he's so suspicious of me… and put an end to that suspicion before it becomes a problem.


Author's Note:

And now we get the meeting from Conan's point of view! No, Trucy isn't Kid (you wish), Conan just thinks she is.

I'll be switching POVs between Phoenix and Conan constantly from now on, though I haven't decided on whether I should switch their POVs during the middle of a chapter yet.

This chapter is pretty lengthy compared to the last one since it serves a secondary function of being a plot dump for those fandom-blind to DCMK. Unlike Ace Attorney, which can basically be summed up as "courtroom shenanigans", this franchise's main plot is a little harder to summarize.

The Black Star was my first Kaitou Kid heist, and it's still an epic one to rewatch. To clarify, Conan's first encounter with Kid and Reunion with the Black Organization are both coincidentally set in the same location as the setting of this story, the Haido City Hotel. I may or may not exploit this.

Better jot this down before I forget since I wrote a Conan and Kid flashback in this chapter, but for this story I'll be following manga continuity where Kid doesn't know Conan's true identity.

Thank you all for your support! It seems like a lot of you like this idea! :D

All 6 Guest FFN Reviewers & ArchanyAngel: Most of these are similar so I'll sum up my replies: Don't worry, I will write more. My update schedule will be a bit more sporadic as I will have limited internet access from October on, but I will still try to update.