Chapter 6 – Encounter
It was just reaching 1:30 on a Saturday afternoon when, just on time, all of the parents were lined up outside to pick up their children from Himawari Nursery. Kaiya, who is one of the part-time carers working there, was standing outside, making sure that all of the children had someone to go home with.
Seeing that all of the children were with their parents, Kaiya turned to walk back inside.
"Kaiya-neechan!" Turning to the call of her name, Kaiya watched as a little girl with light brown hair tied up in pigtails came running over to her.
Kaiya instantly knelt down to the three-year old's level. "What is it, Eiko-chan?"
The little infant's dark green eyes met hers as she looked up to her, "Kaiya-neechan, my tora-chan! I left it in there!" she exclaimed, upset, whilst pointing back inside the building of where she had spent most of her day.
Kaiya remained in her crouching position as she turned to face inside the nursery, "Okay, do you know where you left it?" she asked softly.
The girl nodded erratically, "It's by the blocks."
Kaiya nodded before standing, placing a gentle hand on Eiko's back, ushering her back to her mother. "Alright, go and wait with your mother, and I'll go back inside to get your tora-chan."
When the little girl ran back to her mother, who was talking with another parent, Kaiya went back inside to get Eiko's lost belonging. Stepping into the area Eiko called "the blocks", which was actually the place of where the building blocks were kept, which were put to the side of the room so that if the children wanted to play with them then they could go straight to them. And sure enough, next to one of the larger sets of multicolour building blocks was a small fluffy tiger teddy with large glass eyes.
Picking up the stuffed tiger, Kaiya quickly ran out of the nursery to go back to Eiko and her mother. Thankfully, they were still waiting there, the other parents had left with their children, leaving Eiko and her mother standing there alone.
When Kaiya stepped up to them, she smiled to the three-year-old, handing her the small teddy.
Eiko's mother smiled to Kaiya, "I'm so sorry about that, she keeps losing things."
Kaiya waved off her apology, "It's fine, that's what us day carers are for. I'm just glad that I found it, as it seems like one of Eiko-chan's favourite toys."
Eiko's mother's smile grew a little wider with adoration. She looked down to her daughter, "Yes, that little tiger is her favourite. She's had it ever since she was about 1, so she's definitely grown sentimental to it." Eiko's mother then gestured her daughter towards Kaiya, "What do you say, Eiko?"
Eiko looked away from the face of her tiger to look up to her mother before looking to Kaiya, "Thank you, Kaiya-neechan."
Kaiya smiled down to her, "You are very welcome, Eiko-chan."
Eiko's mother looked back to Kaiya, "Well, we should really be getting home. Thank you again for that," she thanked as she gestured to the fluffy little tiger in the toddler's tiny hands. When Kaiya nodded, Eiko's mother walked her out of the Himawari Day-care, Eiko waving to Kaiya as she walked beside her mother.
When the little girl was no longer in sight, Kaiya let her hand fall to her side and walked back inside the nursery to grab her things before going home.
Reaching the staff hooks, Kaiya went straight for her bag. Only to bump into one of her colleagues.
Not seeing Kaiya behind her as she pulled her sleeves through her jacket, she turned to squeak in surprise to seeing the girl. "I'm sorry, Kaiya-chan. I didn't see you there."
Kaiya just laughed, "It's fine, Mariko-chan. I was the one who didn't make my presence known." She said as she reached for her bag.
Mariko reached back to pull her jet black hair out of her jacket, making it fall over her shoulders as she readjusted her collar. "I really need to be more aware, instead of being such a scaredy-cat," she laughed as she turned away to reach for her own hook that had her handbag slung over it. As she did so, Mariko turned to the side to look around the day-care, her icy blue eyes scanning the area around them. "I know that Chou said she wouldn't be long, but where is she?"
Kaiya, her attention now being drawn to the absence of their colleague, turned around to also survey the nursery. "I'm not too sure." She turned to Mariko, "Where did she say she was going again?"
Mariko met her eyes, "She said that she was just going to the chemist up there," she pointed up towards the path that lead towards the closest train station. "It's not far from here… I don't think it is anyway," she muttered the last part more to herself.
It was at that moment that a young woman with long chestnut hair, bangs centred to frame nicely on either side of her face, came jogging in, out of breath from the rush of her actions. Kaiya and Mariko just stared at her with wide eyed confusion.
Though Kaiya was the first to recover and stepped over to her, "Chou-chan, are you okay?"
The woman opened her maroon coloured eyes to meet Kaiya's indigo, before nodding to her. "Yeah, I'm alright."
Mariko stepped closer, "Why were you running?"
Chou straightened herself up, making her way over to her bag with her purse in hand. "Well, I thought that you guys were gonna clean up without me, and I completely lost track of time. Were the children alright when I left?"
The black haired girl nodded, "They were fine. Though me and Kaiya-chan nearly had an incident with the blue paint over by the artistic corner."
Kaiya just smiled to the memory, "Oh, Rui-kun has a thing for paint… and for being messy."
Chou quickly turned to her, expression horrified and filled with worry. "He didn't, did he?"
The teenage magician shook her head, "I managed to get the pot of paint away from him before he was able to leave the table. So, it didn't get out of hand."
The sudden tension that filled Chou's body was instantly released as she sighed and sagged her shoulders in relief. "I swear that kid will actually be the death of me."
Mariko smiled, placing a hand on Chou's shoulder. "You'll get through it. When Yukiho-san gets back from her honeymoon, she'll be back and you won't have to keep rushing around to do everything."
Chou nodded, agreeing that she didn't actually need to worry at all. "Yeah, I suppose." She stepped up to the staff hooks and grabbed her bag and jacket. "Oh, the reason I lost track of time was because there was an accident up there. The police turned up and parked a little up the road, and I couldn't help but grow curious, so I went up there to check it out."
Mariko raised an eyebrow, "And?"
As Chou slipped on her jacket, she explained, "There wasn't much that I could see because so many other people were there to see what was going on. But, the only thing that I could gather was that there was an accident of some sort outside of the Indian restaurant there."
Mariko's expression turned into one of mercifulness, "I really hope no one got hurt. And if anyone did, then let's hope that they're not injured too badly."
"Changing the topic," Chou announced. She clapped her hands together and turned to Kaiya, who was waiting patiently with her arms crossed over her chest. "So, Kaiya-chan. Did you have a good birthday?" The black haired girl quickly turned to the magician with a bright, almost excited, smile.
Kaiya was a little taken back by the question, but smiled anyway. "It was okay, thanks."
"What did you do?" Chou asked, "Did your boyfriend take you out on a birthday meal?" she asked the second question more cunningly, a sly smirk already placed on her shiny lip balm coated lips.
The magician just rolled her eyes, already used to the usual teases and "sexual" advice that she was given by her colleagues. Mariko, not so much. But Chou, being two years older than Mariko and now being six years older than Kaiya, she thought that it was her duty to give her youngest colleague all the advice that she would need when in a relationship.
"No, Chou-chan. I do not have a boyfriend." Kaiya stated in a voice that sounded like: "That's it, end of discussion." "But to answer your first question, I just spent the day with Aoko and then stayed in."
Mariko smiled sweetly, "Aw, that sounds nice. Did you have a good time?"
Kaiya met her eyes, "Yeah I did, although it wasn't much, it was definitely something to do, and I did have fun."
"Oh, before I forget," Mariko exclaimed before she went scurrying off to the taller bookshelves, ones that were specifically braced onto the wall well out of the reach of the children that they looked after for their day jobs. She grabbed something thin from one of the shelves before walking back to Kaiya. When she got closer, Kaiya recognised the thin object to be a card. Mariko handed it to her, "It's from both of us. We would have given it to you on your birthday, but obviously, you don't work on Wednesdays, and you weren't working this Thursday or Friday, so we waited until the next time you were here."
Kaiya accepted the card gratefully, "Thank you Mariko-chan, thank you Chou-chan. You guys honestly didn't have to."
Chou, breaking out of her silent surprise, which the other two just ignored as they were used to her tactics by now, smiled to the magician. "Well, yes, we did. I know you've only been working here just under a year, but you've become part of this odd family of looking after kids who can't be looked after by their parents because they have to attend their busy jobs. And you're also our friend, so it was the least we could do."
"Well thank you, I really appreciate it," Kaiya answered as she opened the card. She smiled to the sight of the pretty (but messy) glitter that quickly coated her fingers when she opened it to read what was written inside. Just as she had predicted, Chou had written a comment about how she could now put herself to good use in the bedroom now that she was 18, and how she could have so much fun doing so. Mariko on the other hand, had said something about wishing her a good day and hoping that she got everything that she wanted… including her dream lover… which just made Kaiya facepalm herself… with the card in her hand, golden glitter spraying everywhere.
Kaiya tore her face away from the card to frown at the black haired girl. "Not you too, Mariko-chan."
Mariko smiled completely shamefaced, gesturing to the woman standing beside her who was wearing an expression the complete opposite to hers. "Chou's a bad influence," she defended herself, knowing that she wasn't really approaching herself as being innocent in this. And Kaiya's raised eyebrow just screamed disbelief.
Chou just crossed her arms and met Kaiya's eyes, "Oh, it was just for a laugh. I know that you can take a joke, Kaiya-chan. But it still does surprise me."
"What does?" Kaiya questioned, slightly suspicious of what was to come next.
Chou uncrossed her arms to spread them out wide, narrowly missing Mariko's face by a mere centimetre. "You're a beautiful girl, with a gorgeous body… and you've never had a boyfriend. It doesn't make any sense!" she exaggerated, bringing a hand to her forehead and closing her eyes.
The sight was amusing to Kaiya. She shrugged as she closed the card and placed it back in its envelope. "The reason I've never had a boyfriend is because I haven't been looking. And besides, if all a boy liked about me was my body and features then they'll be in for one hell of a surprise when I give them a piece of my mind. And then they won't like me for it. So, yeah… that's just life."
Mariko's icy blue eyes widened with amazement, "Wow, that was pretty deep, Kaiya-chan."
Kaiya just shrugged again, "I'm being serious. If someone wants to be with you, then they should want to be with you for you being you, not something that they can present to the world because their new partner is something to show off."
Chou raised a suspicious eyebrow, "Sometimes, I swear that you are wiser way beyond your years."
The teenage magician just smiled sheepishly, "Well, my mother is a really clever and inspirational woman to me, so I probably picked it up from her." Not wanting this conversation to extend or carry on, Kaiya quickly looked at the quartz designed clock handing on the wall to the left of her. "Right, shouldn't we be going now?"
Chou and Mariko looked to the time and nodded, making sure that they had everything before leaving. As Chou was the one who was put in charge before their boss went off to get married, she had the duty to carry the keys and lock up the day-care. Mariko and Kaiya were waiting for Chou to finish locking the outside gate, which was the gate that they were now standing by, before they said their goodbyes and went their separate ways.
Placing the keys in her bag, Chou turned to Kaiya. "You have to go that way, don't you?" she asked as she pointed in the direction of where the train station was, which was where Kaiya had to go.
Kaiya, remembering what the perverted minded girl told her and Mariko earlier, nodded her head in that direction. "I'm guessing that's where the accident was, right?"
Chou nodded, "Be careful, Kaiya-chan."
"I will, you don't have to worry about me, I'll be fine," she reassured, turning to walk in that direction. Giving a wave to the two of them over her head, Kaiya continued walking in the direction that lead to the train station.
…
Approaching a second corner, she realised that she would be coming up to the place of where the accident happened. "I just hope they haven't blocked the pathway off, otherwise I'll have to walk-"
Her track of thought came to an abrupt stop as she walked straight into someone, not even seeing them as she finally rounded the corner. Kaiya only barely registered the pounding of her head, realising that she must have collided it with something hard. Quickly asserting herself, poker face ready, Kaiya straightened to look at the person that she had the misfortune of walking into… only for her heart to stop when she came face to face with Kudo Shinichi.
Shinichi looked to her, surprised, but it was obvious that he was happy to see her, if his warm smile was anything to go by. "Kaiya, hi. What are you doing here?"
"Hi," she greeted in return. "And I could ask you the same question."
Shinichi shook his head, probably shaking off his near concussion, and smiled to her. "Sorry, it's just that I thought you lived in Ekoda."
Kaiya raised an eyebrow, "Yeah, I do. But you still haven't answered my question."
"Oh, well, uh," he suddenly turned to point up in the direction of where the accident had occurred, and then turned back to face Kaiya. "I'm here on a case, up there."
"Was it in front of an Indian Restaurant by any chance?" Kaiya asked.
Shinichi nodded, "Yeah, how did you know?"
The magician just hummed in response, "I just do. But what happened? Car accident?"
The eastern detective shook his head solemnly, "No, it was a murder case. One of the chefs in the restaurant were poisoned by one of the cleaning staff, and they tried to get away. But luckily, someone phoned the police, and we managed to catch the culprit."
Kaiya couldn't help but frown to the news of it not being an accident but a murder that Chou was telling her and Mariko about. But she didn't say anything, as there wasn't anything to say.
Changing the subject, Shinichi turned to fully face Kaiya. "Anyway, what are you doing in Beika?"
"I work here," she responded. "Well, I work at the day-care a little distance away from here."
"Himawari Day-care?" Shinichi asked, knowing that it was the closest one to where they were now, as he had also passed it many times before. When Kaiya nodded, Shinichi smirked. "Wow, who knew that the infamous Kaitou Kid had a job," he whispered in a teasing manner. Even though they had known each other for a couple of months now, the detective was still learning.
Kaiya just elbowed him in the side, "Oh, as if I'm incapable of having a job."
Shinichi held his hands up in surrender, "That wasn't what I was saying. I was just saying that it's surprising to know that you have a job."
"You'd be surprised at what I can do and what I am actually capable of," she retorted, smiling all the while.
Shinichi scratched the back of his neck, "Are you hungry?" Seeing the surprise spread across her face, something that was most likely rare as it was probably close to impossible to surprise her without her actually having to fake her surprise. "Would you like some lunch, or do you need to be somewhere?" he asked, hoping that he didn't come across as blunt as he sounded to his own ears.
Kaiya thought for a moment before shaking her head, "No, I can have lunch with you. I haven't got to be anywhere."
Shinichi smiled wide (also a little excitedly), "Great. What do you fancy?" he asked as he offered her his arm, which she only smirked to. A smirk that he didn't miss.
Wrapping her arm around his, they began to walk in step with one another. "Anywhere with great dessert."
…
Shinichi took Kaiya to a small restaurant that wasn't actually far from where they bumped into each other. Once they were shown to their table and they had ordered what they wanted, Kaiya regarded the detective opposite her with interest.
"So, go on." She stated, making the detective look to her. "Ask me, as I can tell that you want to know."
Shinichi let out a little laugh, clearly caught out. "I didn't want to sound like a busybody, so I didn't ask."
Kaiya just shrugged, leaning back in her seat. "I really don't mind, you know. Go on, ask away."
"Okay, how long have you been working at Himawari Day-care?" he questioned a little shyly, feeling like he really was intruding on her personal life.
"Just under a year," Kaiya replied as she stirred her milkshake with her straw. She smirked suddenly, "I'm guessing that you weren't expecting someone like me to actually be good at that sort of thing."
The detective shook his head. "No, not at all. I'm just surprised that you decided to work with infants. I thought you might have done something that was more involved with people who were closer to your age or older."
"Well, it wasn't my idea to go and work at Himawari Day-care," she commented, placing her elbows on the table. "My friend got me the job because, apparently to her, I needed to leave my house." When Shinichi's eyebrows shot up, Kaiya thought it best to explain. "Okay, I was kind of going through a hermit stage last year, according to my friend, and so she got me out of the house and dared me to get a job at the day-care. She made a bet with me that if I got the job, she would leave me to be a hermit all I wanted. But if I couldn't, then she would keep taking me out at weekends so that I didn't spend my time lolling around the house."
The story was a little amusing to the detective, which made the magician smile. "So, I'm guessing that when you got the job, she left you alone?"
Kaiya nodded, pleased with her winning the bet that happened nearly a year ago. "Yep, and she kept her word. But, as she's my best friend, she would call up at the weekends when I was at the day-care working, and ask me how it was."
"Do you enjoy it?" Shinichi inquired curiously.
Kaiya nodded, "Yeah, I like it. Believe it or not, it's actually quite fun to work and look after the children. Sometimes it's a little stressful, though you can't help but expect that with children, especially when they're that age. And anyway, I've always been good with kids, so that helps."
"It's a good thing when you enjoy it," Shinichi clarified, knowing that no one should be in a career if they didn't want to be. That was another reason why people were still so surprised that Shinichi had his heart set on being a detective. He looked back to her, but noticed something gold sprinkled across her shoulder when she flicked some hair over it. He narrowed his eyes, "What's that?" he asked, pointing to her shoulder.
Kaiya looked to the shoulder that he was pointing to and chuckled amusedly, "Oh yeah, that. It's glitter from a card that my colleagues gave me."
Shinichi's eyes widened, "It's your birthday today?" he asked, feeling guilty. Ruling out any other reasons for why she might have been given a card by her colleagues, but 'birthday' was the only one that made sense.
The magician laughed to seeing his face and shook her head, "No, it's not today. It was last week."
Shinichi drew back a little to hearing that, "Last week?!" he exclaimed, slightly peeved that he wasn't made aware of that information. "When? What day was it?"
"Wednesday. Honestly, it isn't a big deal. It was just another day." She assured him, not really bothered about her birthday.
Shinichi closed his eyes and sighed, running his fingers through his hair. "I feel so bad, I could have at least gotten you a card," he muttered, looking slightly defeated.
Seeing the great eastern detective beating himself up over this, Kaiya hesitantly reached over to place a hand on both of his, which were now at the crown of his head as he lowered it closer to the table. Her heart jumped when she felt how warm and soft his hands were beneath her own lonely palm. "It's okay, Meitantei. Don't beat yourself up over it, it wasn't your fault that I didn't tell you."
Shinichi's head shot up to that, Kaiya quickly extracting her hand from his in a flash. The detective narrowed his eyes to her, not enough to be considered a glare, but enough that his azure eyes showed that he was irritated with her. "Yeah, why didn't you tell me? I mean, we were texting each other on Wednesday, and you never thought to mention that that day was your birthday. I could have at least said 'Happy Birthday' to you over text. I've known you for a few months now and you never thought to tell me."
Kaiya was trying her absolute hardest to contain her amusement, but she was having difficulty holding it in. In order to hide her snickering, Kaiya had to cover her mouth as the detective rambled on. "I really don't see what the big issue is."
Shinichi met her sparkling indigo eyes, "Well, I did say that I wanted to get to know you for who you are. And not being able to wish you 'Happy Birthday' on your birthday because I didn't know when it was, is pretty annoying and pitiful as a friend, and also from a friend's point of view." He sighed again, relaxing a little in his seat. "I will make it up to you," he announced in a voice that didn't leave room for argument.
Kaiya just smirked – she just couldn't help it – "You really don't have to."
Ignoring her protests, Shinichi narrowed his eyes slightly at her. "I'm still going to make it up to you. What are you doing this week?"
Kaiya just seemed to wilt in her seat, "Nothing interesting unfortunately, just studying and revising, which is far from fun."
Shinichi was surprised to hear that answer, slightly disappointed that she wasn't free, but also for the reason as to why. "You're still at school?"
Kaiya shook her head, "No, though I start college in September. But I'm studying this week for my provisional, which I'm actually dreading."
That was definitely not the answer that Shinichi was expecting, "Oh, really? When's the official test?" he asked just out of curiosity.
Kaiya placed her chin in her hand, glancing over to the other customers in the restaurant. "My theory's this Tuesday, and my driving test is the day after."
Shinichi smiled to her, "Well, I don't think you have anything to worry about, you'll do fine. You're incredibly intelligent, so you won't have any problems with passing your theory. And I know that you'll pass because I've seen you drive first hand for myself, so you'll be fine."
Kaiya just laughed, knowing exactly what he was talking about. "Oh yeah, I bet that was another great surprise for you, finding out that Kaitou Kid had been with you the whole time during that case."
The eastern detective just slightly shrugged a shoulder, "I will admit that I didn't know at first, but then I realised that Mouri-ojisan is a heavy smoker and, all the way through the case, he hadn't smoked one cigarette, so I thought it was a bit strange but it made sense when you jumped out of the helicopter."
The magician shook her head, "I'm so disappointed in you, not realising sooner."
"Hey, I think there were more pressing matters happening at the time, such as finding out who the culprit was," Shinichi said in his own defence.
Kaiya finished the last of her chocolate milkshake before sliding the tall glass to the side, "Moving on, how did school turn out for you, 'cause I know that it must have been difficult due to how long you were gone for?"
Shinichi folded his forearms on the table's surface, "It was surprisingly alright, it wasn't as hectic as I assumed it would be. But I was a lot busier than most of the other students who were stuck in revision classes or exams. But a lot of agreements and promises were discussed and made for me to successfully get back into school a little later than where I left off. The Tokyo metropolitan police department helped me out a lot with that as well, them being a big help with those promises and agreements."
Kaiya blew out a breath to that, "Wow, that sounds like it was fun."
Shinichi snickered, hearing the irony in her statement. "Yeah, the most enjoyable amount of school time that I've ever had." There was a pause between them, the only noise being the soft and casual chatter of the other people in the restaurant. "But anyway, back to what we were discussing before," Shinichi spoke, bringing back the topic of their earlier conversation.
"Actually, what you were discussing," Kaiya interrupted, knowing exactly what he was talking about. "I was just listening."
"Anyway, how about next weekend? Are you free next Saturday maybe?"
Kaiya lifted a cunning eyebrow, "My, my, you're very persistent, aren't you?"
The detective just shrugged. "Well, I meant what I said."
Again, there was a moment of silence as Kaiya contemplated the thought, her bright enthusiastic indigo gaze moving away from him as she did so. With her final decision decided, Kaiya glanced back over to him, smiling cheerfully. "I think I'm free next Saturday, you'll just have to wait and see, won't you?"
All the detective could respond to that with was a wide, hopeful smile.
…
Author's Note: So, this chapter is based a few months after their first day out in Ekoda, but they didn't meet much as they were busy with school exams and college applications. It also seems that I have written Kaiya as a character who isn't the continuous cheery person that she usually is, but that's because she is developing more trust for Shinichi the longer they talk to each other and she's not on edge like she was before, as she's more relaxed around him. This was kind of how I wanted their relationship as Shinichi and Kaiya to start, contrasting how they are as detective and thief. So, they are courting each other in a way.
The next chapter is called "Sulking", so I hope you look forward to it. And if you liked this chapter, then feel free to tell me what you thought. Stay well, my lovelies! Until next chapter!
*MANY KISSES* AMCDeBurgh ^_~