Amano Achika, his birth mother.
Well, having just her name wasn't much to help begin his research into the possibility of the existence of a twin brother with, but it was something to start out with and certainly far better than nothing at all. Kuroba Kaito (born as Amano Akugi, he'd learned upon examining the old certificate before carefully tucking it back into his breast pocket) was currently busying himself by digging around the newspaper archives of his small local library, trying to see if he could find any scrap or trace of Amano Achika beyond her name typed onto his birth certificate in the 'Mother' slot by a slightly crooked typewriter that also seemed to have held the paper in at an angle (gah, focus - those stupid details weren't important right now.) He had already tried calling the hospital and asking for them to search of their records to see if a second birth certificate with Achika's name as the mother possibly existed from that day, June 21st, but very quickly learned that they were highly unwilling to part with any of that sort of information over the telephone.
The 'Father' field of the birth certificate was strangely, noticeably blank and it had made Kaito wonder about what exactly happened between his birth mother and his biological father when he first realized that the name was absent. Kaito hazarded a wild guess that there was some sad sob story of some sort that lay behind that blank name and the fact that he- and his twin brother, if he existed- was (or were, again if he truly had a twin) given up for adoption while their birth mother vanished. He was hoping that he could find at least most of the parts of that story without having to enlist the aid of a detective. Or, just maybe it was as absurdly, tragically simple an explanation as Achika not having had any idea of who the father was and deciding after enduring the pregnancy that she simply couldn't either emotionally or physically handle raising him (or possibly them) on her own.
He'd spent the last couple hours of his day off in deep frustration. Kaito was really supposed to be spending this non-school day looking into the specifics of his next heist's Saturday night/Sunday morning security detail while he 'worked' as a janitor on the mansion's premises, but he had felt that this current search was more important so Kaito had sent Jii to scope it out instead, and Kaito was still having no luck in the more current newspapers. Kaito then decided that it was time to try and search the vast seas of microfilmed papers the library possessed- perhaps there'd be a birth announcement or something- and got up to go to the computer that let you search for microfilms to be pulled for closer inspection.
He started simply enough- a search for Amano Achika's name using the same kanji she used when she had signed her name below that crooked printed name, hopeful that the name wouldn't be too terribly common and that he would find something. The computer responded by eventually pulling up a rather long list of articles that gave him a most excellent reason why he'd been put up for adoption, at least if this was the Amano Achika who had given birth to him seventeen years ago. His eyes slowly widened as he skimmed the headlines from sixteen years ago, Kaito's near-perfect eidetic memory burning them indelibly into his mind as they crawled by on the screen.
POLICEWOMAN, 26, BRUTALLY SLAIN IN HER OWN HOME
MURDER OF POLICEWOMAN PROMPTS SECURITY FEARS
POLICE FORCE VOWS TO FIND AMANO ACHIKA'S KILLER
SLAIN POLICEWOMAN'S FAMILY CREATES REWARD FUND
A WEEK LATER, POLICE STILL LEADLESS IN FEMALE COP MURDER
Wanting to absolutely confirm beyond a shadow of a doubt that this was the Amano Achika he was searching for- Could it possibly be that easy? Have I really found her this quickly? - Kaito began to scroll through to see if there were any pictures of the slain policewoman on any of the microfilmed papers; he hoped there would be a strong enough family resemblance to be able to tell for sure. Since the listings in the engine were all text and consisted of the headline and summary only, it was a very difficult thing to tell without actually getting all of the microfilms and painstakingly going through them one by one. That would take time that Kaito really didn't have because he had a huge school project due in two days that he'd been expertly procrastinating on since his class had received it, and he would need at least four or five hours this evening to put something together that he'd actually get a passing grade on.
Just then, his phone rang, and it was the tone he'd assigned to Jii. Probably calling in the report on their setup at the mansion. We've got the internal security figured out, but it's the stupid external patrols that we need to nail down. There's no evident rhyme or reason to their shift changes and they seem to change way too frequently... He answered the cell with a simple "Hello, this is Kaito", his code for letting Jii know that he could deliver the report and they could discuss Kaitou Kid matters openly. If Kaito hadn't been alone in the room, he'd been afraid of being listened in on or in some other position where such a chat was inadvisable, he would have instead answered with "Hello, Kuroba speaking."
"Hey, I think I finally have those damn security patrol changes they do outside almost figured out at last," replied Jii without preamble in a single excited breath before inhaling deeply. "It seems like they rotate who goes on what assignment based on their last name, and their routes are based on kanji symbols for various animals like monkeys and tigers- I've written down the kanjis, now we just need to figure out the correlation between the last name and kanji assignment so we can slip in through a gap while they're rotating their men." After not getting a reply from the thief for several seconds due to Kaito's intent study of the monitor in front of him, Jii asked "Are you alright? Did you hear what I said?" If Kaito remained silent for more than four or five seconds after that inquiry, Jii would immediately terminate the call.
"Yeah, sorry. I heard you, and we can still talk. Just busy researching an old murder while we're talking and got caught up in it," Kaito replied in what was a vast understatement. "Sixteen years ago, Amano Achika, a policewoman was killed. I've been researching the case."
"Oh? Why are you looking into that when we're right in the middle of planning a heist?" There was a brief pause on the other end. "You know, I remember that case very, very well now that I think about it. It was so brutal, and so strange. They never even arrested a suspect for it either if I recall correctly," he sighed sadly. "That was a tough one, all over everyplace. The media gobbled it up and wouldn't leave the police alone."
"Do you remember if they mentioned any children of hers on the news? Or whether she had any children that were staying with relatives or something?"
"Nope, not that I ever saw, no kids were mentioned if memory serves. And that might be for the best; that murder was tragic enough without some child or children going through life without a mother though I know that I don't have to say what it's like going through life missing a parent to you." Another pause; this was about the extent that they were comfortable getting into Kaito's life on an unsecured phone while they were also discussing heist details in the same conversation. "Why are you asking? Did you hear something or see something about her murder that made you wonder about it?"
"Umm, you could say that, yeah." Kaito didn't feel like going into the fact that there was a chance she was his biological mother before he had something more substantial to back him up than merely a name that matched the one on the birth certificate. Well, that and the fact that he was basically doing this search because some random lady had mentioned something about a boy who looked a great deal like him that she'd encountered in Germany. "Just something that piqued my interest, that's all." He shifted slightly in the seat, the noise reverberating throughout the empty research room. "We'll meet at your place tomorrow and go over those plans, OK?" he continued, modulating his voice a bit after he realized just how loud he was. "I'd like to schedule the heist in the next week or two, full moon is in two and a half weeks and I prefer the full moon for my inspections as you know."
"Alright. Be careful, we'll meet tomorrow." A strange pause was then followed by "Don't bite off more than you can chew, alright?" With that, Jii ended the call while Kaito knitted his eyebrows together momentarily. Don't bite off more than you can chew? He's never used that phrase with me before in his life...what the heck is he even talking about?
"K-K-Kudo-kun?" came a whispered voice that was packed with shock, awe and fear from somewhere to his left, a small female child's voice if his ear was any decent judge (and it was, thank you very much.) He tore himself away from the microfilm summaries that he was perusing in an attempt to find ones that would likely have Achika's picture in them and turned towards where the voice had come from. He quickly found that the voice did indeed belong to a girl, a small blonde-haired one of roughly six to eight years of age with light blue eyes who was staring at him with a completely pale, shell-shocked face like she'd just seen a ghost or something. She had one hand curled around a small backpack strap, that small hand currently shaking slightly. "I-is that really you?" she finally got out in a hushed, slightly more firm tone after the two started at each other for a few more moments.
"Huh? Who's Kudo?" he asked as he got up from the seat and approached the girl. "My name's Kuroba. Kuroba Kaito."
The girl suddenly went from shell-shocked to withdrawn as she continued to study his face, like she had suddenly realized that he wasn't this Kudo person. Wait a minute...could she be referring to Kudo Shinichi? That meitantei who somehow wound up getting shrunk back to a kid who looks very, very much like me? I better play dumb about knowing him though. Kaitou Kid knows him, but Kuroba Kaito has no clue...
"No one you need to be concerned with. I'm sorry for wasting your time," replied the girl in a strange monotone as she looked up at him with a hard glint in her eyes as she pulled out a folded up small, old-looking Post-It from her jeans pocket and headed over to the seat he'd just vacated. After the girl sat down at the seat and blinked twice while taking the contents of the screen in, she turned back to him with that same shocked expression she'd worn earlier. That shock, however, quickly turned to a look of furious concentration as she continued to study him; he got the distinct feeling that he was being sized up or evaluated- but for what he had no idea. "I didn't mean to take your seat. You can have it back until you're finished." She looked up at him with a strange look that lay somewhere between fear and puzzlement as she brushed by him and exited the research room.
Now that was one of the weirdest little girls I've ever come across. Wonder what the deal was. Oh well, none of my business...she didn't seem very talkative once she realized I wasn't who she thought I was anyhow. Kaito sat back down at the computer and picked a couple of the articles that he thought held the most chance of having a picture of the slain officer in them and headed to the research desk to check them out.
Ten minutes later, something in his gut told him that Kaito had, indeed, found his brutally murdered biological mother. Her face...Her face and hair colors both, it was like looking into a mirror that gave the looker slightly more feminine features and long flowing, luxurious deep brown hair. But the shape and contours of her face, the very subtle sloping shape of those deep blue eyes...the tiniest of bumps in her nose at the bridge...I've found her. He continued to study that face, somehow absolutely knowing that this was indeed her.
"Excuse me." Kaito blinked as that strange girl's voice entered his ear. He glanced up at the clock and realized that nearly another hour and a half had passed; it hadn't felt like more than five since his heart had temporarily stopped upon first pulling up the photo of Amane Achika in her police uniform.
"Hmm? What?" he asked as he looked down at the strange girl, half-distracted. Who killed her? And why?
"I would like you to meet someone out in the main library who's waiting for you." This was said in that same strange, flat tone this girl always seemed to use.
"And why would I do that? Do I even know-"
"I think you may find that we have some common goals." Why does this girl seem so much older than she looks when she talks...?
"What are you talking about?"
She didn't reply, but held up the Post-It note he'd seen her pull out of her pocket when she'd first entered the room. She then slowly unfolded it and let Kaito see the writing on it- his mother's name, in the correct kanji even.