Disclaimer: I don't own the DCMK characters.

Smile for Me

10: Skyline

"I've arranged for you to sit with Lord Norbis. He's a nice enough guy but not very popular. He likes to talk—a lot, and he doesn't know how to listen. He just goes on and on and on about whatever is on his mind. So he usually ends up annoying people. All you have to do to keep him and everyone else happy is listen to him ramble and keep him from rambling to all the other guests."

"So I'm being sacrificed to his rambling for the greater good of the banquet."

"Yep. Sorry about that, but it is the perfect way to keep you from having to talk to lots of different people. The man's also a goldmine for gossip. So, if you keep a sharp ear out, you could learn a lot about the kinds of things people are whispering right now. If you hear anything you think is particularly noteworthy, you can tell me about it later."

"I'll try. But what I find noteworthy may not be the same things you would find noteworthy."

The magician shrugged. "Perhaps, but hey, maybe that's a good thing."

"So is there anything else?" Shinichi glanced in the mirror. Reaching up, he adjusted his tie again though there was nothing wrong with it. Today was the day of the banquet. Now that it was here, he had to admit that he was nervous. Sure, they had practiced every day for the last few weeks, and Kaito had given his performance the okay. But what if something went wrong? What if someone noticed?

"I think that's everything." Indigo eyes narrowed as the magician thought. "Yeah, I'm sure we covered everything. The banquet isn't until later, so I've asked Hattori and Hakuba to keep you company until it's time. They'll show you the way, though they won't be able to attend the banquet with you as they're not on the guest list. Anyway, you won't have to worry too much about the acting while you're with them. Just don't do anything to draw attention to yourself."

Shinichi nodded again. Taking the contact lens case with the color contacts in it, he went to the bathroom to put them in. It was the last piece of his disguise.

When he emerged once more into the sitting room, it was to see that two new people had arrived. One of them he recognized as Hakuba. He was relieved to see that the blonde's bruise had faded away completely by now. His companion was also a young man. This one had a dark complexion and a much more open face than his friend. He started when he noticed Shinichi, jaw dropping and eyes going round.

"It really is like there's two of ya!" he said, though whether he was talking to Shinichi or Kaito was unclear.

It was the magician who answered. "Well duh, that's the whole point."

"Er, right." The youth scratched the back of his head then turned to Shinichi. Hesitantly, he held out a hand. "Uh, yeah, I'm Hattori Heiji. You can just call me Heiji if you want. I'm, yeah… I'm sorry ya got dragged into this and can't spend the festival the way you woulda liked. But Hakuba and I will see if we can get you ta any of the places you might've wanted to go during the festival before we have to get to the banquet."

"Thank you, that's really thoughtful of you," Shinichi said, touched by the gesture. "My name is Kudo Shinichi. And please don't concern yourself over my plans. The truth is, I didn't have any plans for this festival before Kaito asked me for my help. But if there are any festivities that you'd recommend, we could always go there."

"You're sure? Great!" Hattori's dark face split into a wide, white grin. "You've come to the right man if you're looking for interesting places during the festival!"

"Just make sure Shinichi has fun," Kaito cut in, flashing a bright smile at the dark-skinned young man that somehow managed to be both friendly and threatening at the same time. "And don't draw too much attention to him."

"Ah, yes Sir!"

"So can we be going then?" Hakuba asked from his position beside the front door. He hadn't taken a single step farther into the room than he'd absolutely had to. "Kuroba, if you're going to register for the Performance, you had better hurry. Only the first forty entries will be accepted because the event's turning out to be huge this year."

"I know, I know. Jeez, you're turning into a real mother hen. I'll be taking my leave then. Shinichi, wait five minutes before you leave this room. The moment you do, you're going to be me. Got it?"

Shinichi inhaled deeply then let the breath out in a slow, drawn out sigh. "Yes."

"Good. I will see you all after the banquet then."

And with that, the magician trotted over to the suite's balcony, opened the doors, hopped up onto the balcony rails, and leapt off. Shinichi gasped and ran to see what had happened only to see Kaito already running across the lawns far below, a white speck against the emerald green.

Hattori shook his head. "He just likes ta do things the dramatic way, I guess. Anyway, so, Shinichi—mind if I call you Shinichi?"

"No. Go ahead."

"Wait, no, I guess I should call you Kaito… Argh, but that just feels weird. I'll stick to Shinichi, but if you see anyone who needs to think you're Kaito, just poke me and tell me to call you Kaito."

"…Okay, I'll do that."

Over by the door, Hakuba just sighed. "Can we go now?"

"Go where?" asked Shinichi. Both he and Hakuba turned to Heiji.

"You have breakfast yet?" the dark-skinned youth asked.

Shinichi nodded. They'd had French toast stuffed with cream cheese and topped with whipped cream, strawberries, and peaches.

"Oh. Still, if you're feeling up to it, I know a place that does a special lunch deal on festival days."

"Is it any good? Or is it just cheap?" Hakuba asked dryly.

"Of course it's good! I wouldn't have recommended it if it wasn't good, now would I?" Hattori snapped back. "Anyway, it's pretty close to here. We can walk there and see what else is on the way or if anyone comes up with anything else they'd like to do. How about it?"

"I'm okay with it," Shinichi replied, shrugging. He wasn't a picky eater, but he could appreciate good food just as much as the next person. That, and he could see that Hattori really wanted to go.

Well, he mused, this was it. He squared his shoulders then thought better of it and forced himself to relax. One of the biggest differences between himself and Kaito that they had both observed was the way they carried themselves. He had to remember what they'd practiced. So he took a deep breath and followed Hattori and Hakuba out the door, pulling Kaito's easy grin across his face as he did so.

X

"So your name is Kurota Kaito?" the girl behind the registration desk asked, looking over the forms that Kaito had just handed her.

"That's me," he agreed cheerily. He could feel the excitement buzzing in the air. All around him, other applicants were running through last minute preparations or trying to calm themselves by talking to their fellows.

"Okay. You're entry number fourteen. You can use any of the empty dressing rooms in the back of the building if you need to make preparations. You say here that you'll need to set a few things up around the performance hall before your show, right? As long as it won't interfere with the performer before you, you can do your setting up during entry thirteen's show. If not, you should go see if you can do it now."

"No, I'm sure I can manage to do my setting up without interrupting anyone," he told her. "Will someone come tell me when it's my turn or do I have to keep track of that myself?"

"I'm afraid you'll have to keep track yourself. Since we allow performers to move about as they like when it's not their turn, it makes things too hard if we have to find people. And a lot of performers like to go watch from the wings, so announcing who's up next in the back doesn't help either. Just remember that each performer gets ten minutes. Show your entry card to the staff member backstage when your turn is coming up and he or she will help you with your setup."

"Will do." Pocketing his entry card, Kaito headed off into the maze of hallways that honeycombed the back of the performance hall. He chose an empty room at random and shut the door. He gave the room a quick look over to make sure that it really was empty before he stepped in front of the full length mirror in the corner. The man who looked back at him from within the silvered glass looked both like and unlike himself. He had used a little magic to give himself straight, ginger hair for the day, and he had swapped the natural indigo shade of his eyes for a more normal sort of hazel. Someone who knew him well could probably see the resemblance this Kurota had to Kuroba Kaito, but the differences would be far more eye-catching. That, and he didn't plan on giving them a good view of his face. He snapped his fingers, pulling a white top hat out of thin air and placing it on his head. There. He grinned.

Now for his setup. He might have lied a little to the girl handling registrations. He didn't actually have to go around the stage to prepare anything for his show. He could do it all from here. But it was better not to let on that he was a real magician.

He waved his right hand over the mirror. The entire face of the mirror shimmered then went dark. Then, slowly, the darkness parted to reveal an empty stage. Well, not empty. There were several staff members doing last minute sound and light checks. He couldn't hear their voices through the image, but he could see them gesticulating at each other and looking very busy all around. Grinning at that, he tapped the mirror with a finger, causing it to zoom in on the stage thrust. Directing the scrying, he checked over the number and placement of steps, examined all the entrances to the stage and all things that might be made into entrances that hadn't been built that way. He looked over the lights next before pulling the image out and going over the structure of the performance hall itself.

He planned to use every inch of the space available—not just on stage but in the hall itself. The huge, arching ceiling overhead and the tiers upon tiers of seats, not to mention the boxes with their private balconies, all of it would be a part of this show.

He had it all planned out, as he'd told Shinichi. He was a magician, yes, but his show was not going to be about wowing his audience with impossible feats. After all, magic was just a talent like any other. Some people had it, others did not. Its mere existence could entertain, but it wasn't a show. Not really. To make a show, you had to give people something to experience. Something that they would build their memories out of and keep in their hearts so that they could pull them out again in the future, hold them up to the light, and exclaim over the beauty and the mystery of it all. The wonder and the dream. That was what he wanted to give his audience in this one and only show that he was being given the chance to give.

He would be telling a story, but he intended for everyone in the hall to live that story with him tonight. When it was over, he wanted them to remember it as a vivid and exhilarating dream, not just a sense of amazement at what someone could do. The experience would be theirs, entirely individual to each man, woman, and child because they would be bringing their own parts into the show as well.

And that meant Kaito had to know every inch of the performance hall like the back of his hand.

He rubbed his hands together. It was time to get to work.

X

"Ya know, he's pretty different," Hattori remarked.

Hakuba looked up from where he was carefully cutting his meal into bite-sized portions to give his companion an odd look. "What are you talking about?"

"Shin—I mean, uh, him." Hattori gestured at the empty seat where Shinichi had been sitting. The boy had gone to the restroom, leaving his rather minimalistic meal to wait for him. I mean, he's not at all like, uh, ya know, the other one." Damn, it was going to be harder to not blow their cover than he'd realized.

Hakuba scoffed. "And since when has a physical resemblance ever meant that two people had to be similar?"

Hattori twitched. And this was why he found it hard to ever hold a conversation with the blonde. He was just so snobby sometimes! Know-it-all jerk. "I was just surprised because he agreed ta all this so easily. I was kinda expecting him ta be crazier, going along with a plan like this."

"I suppose I can see your point," the blonde agreed after a moment's thought—much to Hattori's surprise. "However, considering whose plan it was, we really shouldn't be surprised. Kuroba, unfortunately, is very skilled when it comes to talking people around to his side."

"Guess we're the living testament to that," the darker youth laughed. "Sometimes I wonder if we're the ones who're crazy."

Now Hakuba looked glum. "That is not a pleasant thought. Even less so for it seems like it just may be possible."

"Uh," Shinichi said from where he had just arrived beside their table again. He looked from one young man to the other and back again. "Did I miss something?"

"Nothing of importance," Hakuba replied with a sigh.

"We're just amazed that any of us are here right now," Hattori explained with a lopsided grin. "Why're you helping him anyway? If ya don't mind me asking."

"Huh?"

"Why did you agree to this crazy plan of his? Weren't you scared or anything?"

"Of Kaito?" Shinichi asked, surprised.

"Yeah. He's a total maniac! Didn't it bother you at all? Getting shut up with him fer three weeks just 'cause he had a hankering for the stage?"

"It wasn't as bad as you're making it out to be," Shinichi told him. And it was true, he mused. After the initial weirdness, he'd quite enjoyed his stay. Although he would admit that that was probably pretty strange in and of itself. "Besides, I didn't have any plans of my own. It seemed as good a use of my time as any to help someone out."

Hattori looked a bit dubious. "I guess that's a…practical way of looking at it. But still… I'm not saying he ain't a good person," he added hastily. "He is. And ya won't find anyone anywhere better at finding ways ta have fun. But, you know, he's…kind of one of those friends that can make you wish you were hanging out with your enemies sometimes." He laughed then, rubbing a bit sheepishly at the back of his neck. "I mean, some of the things he had us do…"

"Have you known him long then?" Shinichi asked, curious. It struck him rather abruptly that, though he had learned a lot about Kaito over the last three weeks, most of that knowledge was centered around how to imitate his mannerisms and what Kaito thought about the various dignitaries that would be attending the Skyline Banquet. In contrast to the wealth of knowledge he now had on those subjects, he knew almost nothing about Kaito's everyday life or his past. It was strange to think that you could know both so much and so little about a person at the same time.

"Since elementary school," Hattori said at the same time that Hakuba muttered "too long" into his mug. "It's 'cause our parents work with his a lot. Man, you wouldn't believe some of the trouble we got into 'cause of him!"

Intrigued, Shinichi leaned forward. "Like what?"

"Well…" Hattori glanced around the restaurant. He didn't continue until he was satisfied that there weren't any even remotely familiar faces anywhere. "I remember this one time when we were in third grade. My friend Kazuha overheard some of our classmates talking about going to explore this old abandoned house just outside the city. It was supposed ta be haunted, I think. So Kuroba tells us that we'd be going too—said a haunting could be a magic user doing something they shouldn't be or something like that. Can't quite remember the excuse. I just know we—Hakuba here, Kazuha, Aoko, and I—all agreed that we had ta go and make sure nothing bad happened to our classmates. Aoko wanted to tell her father, but Kuroba said we needn't bother the grownups with something that could very well be nothing. So there we were at that old house, and boy was it a creepy one! I wasn't at all surprised there were ghost stories about it. Hell, I might not even have been all that surprised ta see a few ghosts myself at the time! But we get inside, and it turns out our classmates weren't there yet. Kuroba acted all surprised, but he must've planned it that way, 'cause the next thing we know, we're all being done up to look like ghouls and ghosts. And there he is, setting up all sorts of little tricks and traps and stuff. We ended up scaring the living daylights out of our classmates. They literally ran out screamin'! Then the next day my dad gets a petition asking that someone be sent over ta that house to exorcise the place."

"Did you guys get in trouble?"

"Nope. Funny that. I'd bet my right hand that Kuroba's dad guessed it was us, but no one ever said a word about it. I'm guessing it was 'cause no one got hurt. Or it might've helped that we didn't do any of the spooking with magic."

"I doubt it would have been any different had that not been the case," Hakuba said dryly. "If there's one thing that lunatic is good at, it's slithering out of trouble while causing it for everyone else."

"He only does that when ya really tick him off," Hattori laughed. "Though I admit he can be pretty nasty if he feels like you deserve it. There was this other time when these thugs at our high school thought it'd be fun to push the freshmen around in the locker rooms. We heard the commotion and went to see. Kuroba took one look at the lot of them, and suddenly the room was full of little white mice. The freshmen were really confused. Anyway, he rounded up the mice and put them in a huge cage like the kind you get for hamsters from a pet store. Then he hung the cage from the ceiling in the middle of the classroom those guys were from. Every mouse had a little collar with the creep's name on it so you could tell who was who. Those guys had to stay like that until their parents came to collect them. But they didn't turn back ta being human until they felt sorry about what they'd been doing. It wasn't enough if they were just saying sorry to get it over with. The spell only came off if they really, truly felt sorry. I thought that one was pretty ingenious, to be honest. But the school was a bit annoyed at the bad press over the whole thing."

"The principal wanted to expel Kuroba for that one," Hakuba agreed. "But Kuroba went and made this rousing speech to the student body at lunch time. And by the end of it, just about everyone in school was swearing to give him their full support. That was how he ended up being elected for the student council that year. But the fool went and turned down the offer, saying that that wasn't the kind of work for him when so many others were so much better qualified and so on and so forth when, really, he didn't want the job because he thought it'd be dull. He's the kind of man who can make you believe that his ideas were your ideas so you'll go happily along with his plans and, heaven forbid, even feel proud of them."

Hattori snickered. "You mean like that time he gave you some tips for your art class project and you ended up making fifteen birdbaths for his doves?"

"I did not know that that was what they were," the blonde ground out, clearly still irritated by the memory. "Besides, my art teacher gave me a passing grade for them."

"Yeah. And Kuroba got fifteen free birdbaths for those precious doves of his."

The two seemed to be getting more into the storytelling now, pulling up older and older memories and dangling them out to shine. Listening with rapt attention, Shinichi decided that, if naught else, life with Kuroba Kaito was never, ever dull.

He was going to miss this when it all ended.

"We still got a few hours before we have to get you to the banquet hall," Hakuba said, looking at his pocket watch. "What would you like to do?"

"I saw carnival games outside," Shinichi said. "We could try those."

X

The theater was packed and black as pitch. Ran had to feel her way along the rows of seats to try and find an open one. She could feel Sonoko's fingers clutching at the back of her shirt in a desperate attempt to keep from getting separated. All around them, people of all ages were bustling this way and that, trying to grab seats before they were all taken. Finally, when Ran was about to turn around and just suggest that they stand against the wall, she spotted a pair of empty chairs. She dove for the opening.

The chair let out a wump and a squeak as she landed in it. It was a soft seat, just a little worn, and it was only four rows away from the stage. A few seconds passed before Sonoko reappeared beside her and clambered into the second spare seat with a sigh of mixed relief and exasperation.

"They should assign us all a number or something!" she huffed. "Then we'd know exactly where to go, and there wouldn't be any of this pushing people out of the way and trying to snatch the best seats thing!"

"But this is a casual event," Ran pointed out with a light laugh. "Doing that would take a lot of extra, unnecessary work and make the atmosphere more stiff."

"It wouldn't be stiff. That's how they always do it at the opera houses and concert halls I've been to."

Ran refrained from pointing out that opera and concert halls were both places that many considered to be formal. But instead, she turned on her phone for some light and looked at the ballot in her hand. It was a very simple thing, just a list printed off on standard white paper (because, due to the nature of the event, all entrants had been determined only that morning), and it listed all the performers who would be putting on shows today in order of time. Each name had a little box next to it for you to rate them in. Ratings ranged from one, being utterly boring, to ten, unforgettably amazing.

She skimmed down the list. There was no Kuroba Kaito, but there was a Kurota Kaito. She pondered the name for a moment. Could such a similar name be mere coincidence? Possible, but, as Shinichi would probably have told her if he were there, extremely improbable. She smiled a little to herself. Turning her phone off (it would be terribly embarrassing for it to ring during the show), she sat back and waited.

"I'm surprised though," Sonoko said as the hubbub all around them began to die down. "I had no idea you were interested in the Performances. I thought you'd want to go to the artisan and food stalls. And I know they're having a miniature mixed martial arts tournament on the university campus that a whole lot of people thought you'd be winning. You realize that these shows last for several hours, right? You won't be making it to that tournament."

"I know," Ran assured her. "But I've heard people go on about how spectacular these shows are, and I was really curious. Besides, there's an official tournament later this summer. Accidentally getting injured or something in an unofficial tournament would be pointless. As for the stalls, we can still visit those after the Performances this evening. And of course there'll be the fireworks too. That's the real finale."

"Yeah, I guess you have a point." Sonoko turned to look towards the stage—or the blackness where the stage should be at any rate. "Did you know, they say some of the people who come to perform are real celebrities! Wouldn't that be cool?"

Ran only laughed.

Soon, a spotlight lanced through the shadows to illuminate an elegantly dressed young woman on stage. She bowed to them all with a brilliant smile. As she rose, soft music began to play, growing louder and louder as more lights came on. Until, suddenly, the music ceased so abruptly it felt like it had been cut with a sharp blade of silence. And into this new and dazzling silence, a clear, sweet voice rose in a song so heartrendingly sweet that it took the audience's breath away.

The Performances had begun.

X

"This is the banquet hall," Hakuba murmured under his breath as he and Hattori walked with Shinichi up the wide, sweeping steps to a pair of towering, double doors. "We can't go in with you."

"I know."

"Will you be okay?" Hattori asked, worried.

Shinichi smiled. "I'll be fine. And if not, I'll send you a text and you can find a way to call me out." It was the plan they had come up with just minutes ago. Then, allowing his grin to grow into something more Kaito appropriate, Shinichi walked into the Skyline Banquet Hall.

X

The sky had turned black with night, but the city was still ablaze with lights of all colors of the rainbow. The streets hummed with laughter, and people bustled about, barely aware that the time had grown so late.

Standing on the outskirts of the artisan stalls portion of the festival, Kuroba Kaito grinned as he nursed a cup of hot chocolate and watched the first of the fireworks blossoming in the sky overhead. It certainly was a beautiful end to the most incredible day of his life. There was only one thing missing that would make this moment the perfect moment.

"Kaito!"

And there, as though summoned by his thoughts, came the one person he wanted to share all this with: all his joy and success and this bursting elation.

"How did it go?" Shinichi wasn't dressed up as Kaito anymore. He was back in his own clothes, though he'd slipped on a pair of fake glasses Hattori got him for sneaking away from the post banquet chitchatting. His hair was back to its smooth, silky blackness with that cute little rebellious tuft sticking up at the back as well, though there were hints of harder patches where he hadn't quite gotten all the gel out yet.

Kaito couldn't help but smile at the sight of him—a genuine smile. He reached out and ruffled that black hair (because, seriously, no hair should be that orderly) and got a smack for his troubles.

"It was spectacular, of course," he said, answering Shinichi's earlier question. "I totally blew them away. I even won first place as an audience favorite, though the judges gave me second. Their favorite was this lady singer. I think they were right though. She had an unparalleled voice, and she sang with her heart. You could feel it in her song. I'd have voted for her too if it were me. And you? How was the banquet?"

Shinichi shrugged. "The food was good, though there was way too much of it. And, thanks to you, I had to listen to that lord ramble for the entire banquet. I barely managed to say hello to everyone you said I had to greet. But at least no one seemed to suspect anything was off."

Kaito laughed. "Well, that was the whole point. Here." He held out a hand which suddenly had a fresh cup of coffee in it.

Shinichi took the cup with a delighted smile that made his blue eyes sparkle like the best of sapphires. "Thank you."

"No," the magician murmured so softly that Shinichi could barely hear—didn't hear, in fact, as he was too engrossed in his coffee. "Thank you."

And above their heads, a fresh wave of fireworks bloomed, sending yellow, orange, blue, and green sparks spiraling out across the night sky.

Much later, as the last of the festival lights began to dim, Kaito turned to Shinichi, motions heavy with a strange reluctance.

"I assume you'll want to go home now then?"

Shinichi nodded slowly, feeling just as loathed to do so but unwilling to dwell on it. "I really should be getting back."

"Would you like me to walk you home?"

"No, that's okay. I wanted to stop by the convenience store on the way. Besides, your mom's expecting you back after the festival to help clean up."

"Ah, right." There was an awkward silence. "I guess I should let you get going then. Thanks again, by the way. For putting up with me and everything."

Shinichi laughed. "Don't worry about it. I… It was actually kind of fun."

It was another five minutes before they finally managed to say goodbye.

TBC