"Truth," Kaito breathed out, the word barely audible.

The masked figure turned their head toward him, managing to seem curious without doing anything once more. Damn them. Kaito had tried to figure it out in his spare time, but he never pulled it off as fluidly as Truth did. "Boy, what are you doing here?" They were using an elderly man's voice this time, once more with the mechanical note that set Kaito on edge.

Well, he couldn't say that he was looking around the area for escape routes for his heist. There really was no legitimate reason for his civilian persona to be skulking around the warehouses down at the dock. Instead of answering the question, Kaito decided to evade it.

"Is it any of your business?" he asked, bordering on rude.

Truth seemed amused. "My business is my own, as is yours." The mood shifted into something more serious as Truth said, "Whatever your business, it would be wise for you to vacate the area before the hour is out. I'd prefer no one to get injured while I work."

And everyone knew what sort of thing Truth considered work. "There's going to be a crime here?" Well then, this would be a useless escape route. He didn't want to disturb a crime scene if he could help it.

Truth shook their head. "Hopefully not. Please go."

Kaito obediently trotted off, but he scaled one of the buildings and watched as, half an hour later, Truth knocked against the building and then waited for someone to exit. They then ambushed the two men exiting one of the warehouses, disarming them in swift movements. One of the men almost managed to injure them, and Kaito found himself wishing he were down there, certain that he and Truth would work well together.

Kaito raised an eyebrow at his own thoughts even as Truth knocked the first offender unconscious and focused on the second, making him drop to the ground after a few moments. He didn't have the time to be Truth's sidekick or some other nonsense.

He watched as Truth went into the warehouse and came out with a girl clinging to them and stumbling every few steps. He recognized her. Her picture had been on the news, a large reward offered if she were to be returned safely to her family.

When he went home that evening, he saw Truth on the news once more, insisting that they didn't want the reward to the girl's insistent father before finally giving up and literally running away. Somehow, they still managed to seem suave even while being chased by an overenthusiastic father and daughter duo. It probably had something to do with how smoothly they managed to disappear into the crowd of reporters until no one was quite sure who had joined their ranks just moments before.

Truth was just as sneaky as their mysterious reputation would demand.

Kaito was elated. Even with the slight difficulty of finding a good escape route during the planning phase, the heist itself had gone off without a hitch. While the sense of contentedness he got from a perfect heist wasn't as good as the rush when he had to think on his feet and still got away, he allowed himself to bask in it.

A familiar head caught his attention, and he landed as fast as he dared on impulse. He hadn't seen Kudo Shinichi since the bank robbery after all, and while he wasn't entirely sure what to say while he was Kaitou Kid, he could probably narrow down the search criteria he currently had. He had been calling random Kudos and every variation of the name he could think of in Ekoda for two weeks, and he hadn't found the teen yet.

Shinichi turned at the soft sound of his landing and let out a disbelieving breath. "Kaitou Kid. Your heist shouldn't be over yet."

Kaito smiled at the teen, making a noise of agreement. "It usually isn't over so swiftly, but Truth-kun didn't put in an appearance tonight," he said, sounding a bit more annoyed than he had intended to. He had been rather irked about that, but it was understandable. Truth, no matter how often they seemed otherwise, was only human and they had been busy this past week. They probably had decided that it was better they skip the heist than attend and provide little challenge.

Shinichi said, "Oh," softly, as if something had just clicked in his mind. Perhaps something had. He shook his head slightly, a soft smile on his lips. "What are you doing talking to me then? You really should be running from the police, thief."

"Why aren't you trying to stop me?" Shinichi seemed confused, if the frown playing at the edges of his lips were anything to go by. "I heard about the robbery incident. I like to keep track of up and coming heroes."

Shinichi's mouth opened slightly but no noise came out for a very long moment, and Kaito thought he had stunned him until Shinichi said, "You were there at the bank that day. I was never identified as one of the hostages in the papers, and I lied about my involvement to the police."

Kaito fought the urge to straighten in surprise. Shinichi hadn't seemed the sort to lie to the police at all, let alone about something he didn't have to. Instead, he bowed to the teen. "You've caught me."

"Too easy, thief," Shinichi said, smirking. "I didn't lie to the police at all, but thank you for confirming that for me. I was wondering if you really kept track of all the people helping out in everyday crimes."

"Clever, clever boy," Kaito said, vaguely impressed. Maybe he should hack into police records the next time he was at the scene of a crime. It had seemed a bit of an extreme measure just to be able to contact Kudo this time around. "I would hardly call a bank robbery an everyday crime though."

Shinichi shrugged. "It might as well be for me. Robberies are the easiest sort of crimes to deal with."

Kaito laughed, and Shinichi seemed to realize how his words could be taken when talking to a thief as he grinned.

"As amusing as this has been, you do have a point when you said I should be running from the police. Bye, bye!" he said, winking at the teen as he walked right past him, ducking into an alley to quickly change and waiting a few minutes joining the slowly forming crowd of heist goers. By the time he walked out, Shinichi was gone from view and Kaito sighed. Lady Luck was so fickle sometimes.