Hey everyone!
I'm back with chapter five. To write this chapter, I had to go and rewatch the 20th episode of Magic Kaito 1412 all over again. Yes, it's the 'nightmare' episode (pun intended). That episode just makes me so sad that I tend to skip it, but I had to put it in my story to add the feels (Also because I'm a sadist lol).
Let me summarize the 20th episode for all of you people who like me, watched it a long time ago. You may skip if you remember it ;)
On a heist gone sour, salvation comes to Kid in the form of the infamous criminal mastermind called Nightmare. But Nightmare's help always comes with a price, and no other thief has ever escaped paying it with their freedom... or their lives. After managing to steal the jewel, Kaito escapes the police to confront Nightmare, who's identity is actually Officer Jack Connery, a man who came from America to help the Japanese police catch nightmare. He stole jewels to save money for his son Kenta's surgery, since he has a strange cranial disease. After Kaito deduces everything, Kenta, who had something to tell his father comes running into the building, with Aoko, who was assigned to take care of the child. Officer Jack, shocked at his son's presence, panicks and misses a step, falling through the broken floor to the floor below and dies. His body is discovered by his devastated, and now orphaned son with detective Hakuba, who reveals that judging by the glove in Jack's hand, Kaitou Kid had tried to save him. Kaito flies off into the night, a solemn look on his face.
Now then, let's begin!
Chapter 5: Consideration
"A-O-K-O!" Nakamori Ginzou called for the tenth time in that minute.
The girl seemed totally lost in her thoughts, for reasons he didn't know.
Was it just because of puberty? Or was something bothering her? He didn't understand. Being a single parent was difficult after all.
His wife had died when Aoko was just 5 years old, a mere child who had to witness losing her mother. But what hurt him the most is, that he never even got to see her before she passed away.
Ginzou had loved Kamiyama Midori since he had first seen her as the shrine maiden during the festival in his hometown. He had really hated going back every summer to that godforsaken place and till today he never understood how just seeing her made him want to go there every year.
It wasn't until two years after first seeing her, that at the age of 19, he finally worked up the courage to talk to her. She was bright and full of life, just like he had imagined. Those days, he began to stay in the town for a while longer.
When he finally got chosen and placed in the police task force, he couldn't wait to go back and brag about it to her. All the time, finding excuses to meet her, to see her, to hear her voice, he didn't know how much longer he'd be able to stay away from her. So 4 years from that day, he proposed to her.
She accepted it, but with a condition.
A very difficult condition for the young Ginzou. She would marry him, but she could never leave this town. Why, he had asked her and she remained silent. After a lot of asking, she said that she had a weak body and the city would be detrimental to her health.
With no choice left, he accepted her condition and they got married a month later in that shrine. Ginzou resigned from his job and stayed with her in the town.
They were very happy,at first.
Soon after, he received the news of her pregnancy and couldn't have been happier. They were to be parents!
9 months later, she gave birth to a beautiful baby girl.
'Aoko', Ginzou had said. Her blue eyes became her identity.
But after that, everything began to go downhill. Ginzou wasn't used to living in a small town and after a year and a half of staying there, things began to turn sour. It was after that, that Nakamori Midori confronted her husband and told him the words he didn't want to hear..
'Return to the city', she had said, caressing his face with her gentle touch. He wanted to ask her to come with him, but he knew she couldn't. With tears in his eyes, he parted with his beloved wife and then 6 month old daughter to go back home and rejoin the task force.
He had never regretted anything more than that.
Even back home, Ginzou could barely concentrate on his work. That was, until a certain thief came along. Ginzou began to working extra hours to catch him, Kaitou Kid, thief no. 1412. Every month, Ginzou got to see his daughter for a few days when he went back. And how happy he would be to see her! He would tell her stories about the thief he was trying to catch. She didn't understand it all, but he knew she thought of him as her hero. Her words meant the world to him, everytime she said 'I'm proud of my daddy.', tears welled up in his eyes.
4 years passed by like that, and their meeting got lesser and lesser, him getting busy with catching the thief. Until one summer morning, he received a call from the town chief. The worst news he'd ever heard in his whole life.
His wife had passed away.
Ginzou passed out after hearing the news, ending up in hospital for two days before he could go back to see his lonely daughter. When he finally did return to the town, it didn't look the same to him anymore. It wasn't lively or colourful , it was just in monochrome.
Stepping into the place he had called their home, he saw his 5 year old daughter sitting with the shrine elder.
She had a sudden attack, he was told. Her body couldn't handle it anymore.
Nakamori Ginzou had never felt worse in his entire life. He shouldn't have left. He should have stayed back. He should have loved her with every fibre of his being. He kept apologizing in front of her grave for days after her funeral. And throughout everything, Aoko didn't cry a single tear. She looked emotionless, just a vessel without a soul. Had he not spent all his time running after Kid, he would have had more time to spend with her. Ginzou swore to take responsibility for his daughter and took her to Tokyo with him.
She still loved him and treated him the same way she used to, as if nothing had happened. That hurt him more than anything. She began to act like a mother to him, making him eat, helping him put on his tie, waking him up in the morning. He often didn't go home early for fear of looking at her face that was so strikingly similar to his wife's and when he returned, he'd find her sleeping by the dinner table, probably having waited for him. He'd cry for hours after that.
So maybe to others, his obsession over Kid was unsettling and dumb, but to him, it was a way of apologizing to his wife, proving to her that all the time he missed with her was not in vain, it was for justice. Maybe he was just convincing himself that she would forgive him. But a part of him knew that he was making the same mistake again.
The mistake he made when he hardly met his wife, now he had done it with his daughter.
"Dad?" Ginzou heard Aoko's voice. She was standing in front of him, full of worry. "What's wrong? Why are you crying?" Ginzou touched his wet cheeks and looked at his daughter.
"Aoko?" He called out to her again.
"Yes?" she answered, looking him in the eyes.
"You don't hate this old man, do you?" He asked her. Aoko stayed silent for a few minutes. She bent down and put her arms around him. He welcomed the warm feeling that came along with it.
"There's no way that I could, dad. You're my hero! You're always busy and always working hard for justice." She said, patting his head.
"I'm proud of my daddy!" She said, kissing his cheek and wiping away his tears. He smiled at his almost adult daughter who stood there returning his smile with one of her own, in which he could she his wife.
Midori, he said in his mind. Thank you for leaving this gem with me.
Thank you.
It was a pretty cold day and Aoko was absolutely freezing. She was almost wearing five layers of clothes, and thanks to her thin frame, it didn't look too wierd.
To everyone, today was a completely normal day, nothing in particular, but to the girl sitting alone in a bus, it was an important day. Aoko had thought a hundred times before leaving her home that day. Should she go? Should she not? Will her appearance bring bad memories? She sighed, looking at the map in her hands with a star marked area.
'Kuranagi children home', which was just a more appropriate way of calling an orphanage. She was heading to visit a child today, a child, who one year ago, lost his parent right before his eyes. Aoko squeezed her eyes shut and inhaled slowly. She couldn't let herself go weak in the knees after coming this far.
She walked the rest of the way to the location and stood outside the gate for a good five minutes before ringing the bell. After a few seconds, the door opened and a fairly old woman came out, holding a child in her hand.
"Yes? How may I help you? " asked the woman, looking at Aoko. "Umm, I'm Nakamori Aoko.." The lady urged her to continue. "I had requested a meeting with Connery Kenta a few days ago?"
"Ah yes! Please come in!" She put the child down and welcomed Aoko inside.
"Please wait here. I'll call him for you." she said, before disappearing up the stairs. Aoko sat and looked around. There were toys scattered everywhere, dolls,cars, houses,clay. There were a few children sitting reading books and an infant was asleep. Aoko couldn't fathom what these children had gone through.
"Aoko nee-chan?" A familiar voice came from behind her. Aoko turned her head to face the source of the voice. Connery Kenta stood in front of her, with his father's blonde hair and sharp features.
"Kenta-kun.." Aoko said, standing up. His eyes began to well up. He ran to Aoko and hugged her legs. She bent down and held him in her arms, patting his back softly.
"You came to see me?" He said, wiping his tears and looking at the older girl. She nodded and smiled at him. "I've come to take you to visit daddy." She said. "Really? I'm allowed to go?" He asked the lady behind him.
"Nakamori-san has taken permission to take you out for four hours. Nakamori-san, please bring him back before it gets dark." The lady nodded.
"Yayy! I get to go out with Aoko nee-chan!"
Thank God, Aoko thought to herself. She thought he would be angry or worse, wouldn't agree to go with her.
Kenta wore his jacket, put on his shoes and followed Aoko out of the orphanage. Aoko offered her hand and Kenta gladly held it.
"Kenta-kun?" Aoko suddenly said, after walking silently for a while. The little boy looked up at her.
"Do you ever get lonely?"
"Sometimes I do," He said and Aoko felt bad for not visiting him for all this time. Just as Aoko was about to apologize, he continued talking.
"But he's always there for me."
Aoko stopped walking. "He? Who's 'he'?" she asked him, bending down to look him in the eyes.
"My angel." He answered. Aoko raised an eyebrow. Angel? An imaginary friend? She thought to herself.
Aoko remained silent for a few moments before continuing to walk.
"When did you meet your angel?" she asked the boy,very curious.
"Since I came here." The boy answered. "I've never met him , but he comes to me all the time."
"How do you know he comes if you've never seen him?" she asked. None of it made any sense.
"Because he leaves things for me whenever he comes." The boy answered matter-of-factly.
Aoko was amazed.
"But how can you say it's an angel? It could be the nice lady that takes care of you too, can't it?" Aoko said.
"No.I know it's him because he always leaves letters for me."
"Letters? What do they say?" Aoko couldn't get her head round this situation.
"That daddy is in a good place and that he's having a lot of fun. He tells me how daddy misses me and is watching over me and how much he loves me. So I have to be a good boy who doesn't cry. " Kenta said smiling.
Aoko was shocked. Who was this good Samaritan?
"Oh, you know there is another way I always know it's him!" Kenta exclaimed.
"Really? How?"
"He always leaves a white rose! He says that the feathers of his wings turn into white roses if I've been a good boy."
Aoko stopped walking.
White rose?
If she wasn't wrong,the white rose was the sign of a person she knew.
Kaitou Kid.
"Ah look! We've reached!" Kenta shouted, running ahead of Aoko, breaking her out of her train of thoughts. Aoko slowly walked, following Kenta to the grave.
"Here lies Jack Connery, beloved father, husband and son. 19XX-19XX."
Kenta sat down and spoke to his daddy.
"Hi daddy! I'm so happy to see you! It's all thanks to Aoko nee-chan! You know daddy, I promised my angel I'd be a good boy and grow up to be like you! I love you daddy. I hope you're really happy!" He got up and turned to Aoko. "What's the matter, Aoko nee-chan? " He asked, worried at the girl who just stood near him, staring at the pointed to the grave.
On top of it lay a single white rose.
"My angel had been here too!"
Aoko remained tight lipped.
The rest of the day went by in Kenta introducing Aoko to all his friends. But Aoko, who smiled through all of it, had only one thought in mind all the while.
Just who the hell are you , Kaitou Kid?
Here you go! The roller coaster halts here for now! I had to write this chapter to express Aoko's changing thoughts about the thief, also, I didn't want Kaito to be in a negative role. It'll be more fun now, since Aoko can't be mean to him anymore! Yipee! Anyway, thanks for reading! I love y'all ❤. Don't forget to review ❤