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Summary: In which Shinichi and Kaito put their plans into action. (The escape, part i.)
May the third.
If not for their plans, it would be an average day. And for the most part, it is.
Kaito wakes up, washes his face and rakes his fingers through his hair in an attempt to look presentable, like every other day. While they're waiting for the guards to open their cell doors, Kaito pulls the hair grips he's had for months now from his hair, placing them in his pillow case.
Then, they go down to the showers, wash, and ready themselves for the day.
"Don't stand out today," Shinichi says when they trudge down from the showers to the laundry room. Kaito can spot two out of place bundles at the back of the room, beneath other blankets - not as neatly folded, and feels relief spread through him.
Oto-san has delivered with the change of clothes. Kaito memorises where the bundle is, calculates how many steps it will take from the laundry shoot when they jump. With a deep breath, he focuses on the fresh laundry he needs to give out to other prisoners, making sure to avoid leading anyone's attention to the bundle.
"I know what I'm doing," Kaito says. He wants to remind the other prisoner that he's the one capable of blending in anywhere, has worn so many faces and acted out so many personalities that they come off as real, but he knows it's just Shinichi's way of sorting through his own nerves. "I'll be good."
Good isn't a word that Kaito tends to use. He thinks that a lot of people get it mixed up with doing the right thing and claim that the two are interchangeable. But for the sake of their plan, Kaito has to forgo what is right - his honesty, his own feelings - and just… act good.
It's not difficult to act as if today is like any other. Kaito goes through the motions of laundry service, and lets out a huff when there are ten minutes left because, why can't it just be lunch yet? Like every other day, Shinichi tells him to be patient, ten minutes isn't too long to wait, and they pretend that eating lunch will be the highlight of the day.
Shinichi is right though, ten minutes isn't too long to wait. An entire day however, is.
After lunch - where Kaito clears his plate and Shinichi leaves half - they carry out kitchen duty. Kaito has to resist the urge to grin as his fellow prisoners wash dishes with him, has to screw his poker face on tight to ensure it won't come off.
He almost wishes he could leave a note, similar to his heist notes. It makes him want to laugh, thinking of how the prison staff will react to an empty cell tomorrow. He hopes the other prisoners freak out about their escape.
"Calm down," Kaito whispers to himself, drying off a rice bowl, "you're not out yet. Don't get your hopes up."
Failure however, isn't an option. They can't let any obstacle halt them when they start trying to leave, not with Shinichi's life on the line, not when there are less than twenty four hours before they can start pushing for his death sentence. It makes him shudder, to think of how high the stakes are.
It also makes each nerve in his body spark from synapse to synapse, emotion electrifying him, bursts of emotion rushing through him as if he is constantly being struck by lightning. It's almost as if he is a battery just waiting to be used.
"Ah," Kaito says after a moment, "it's no use."
Shinichi turns to him, splashes him with soapy water, and says, "stop being weird."
His excitement bubbles, and Kaito finds himself scooping water into the rice bowl he's been drying, the cuffs of his overalls sodden with dishwater. Then, with a grin, he stares at Shinichi as he tips the bowl over, a surge of water splashing against his hair.
"I defend my right to be weird," Kaito says as Shinichi splutters, turning back to his drying.
"Yeah?" Shinichi says, "well I defend my right to stay dry."
Kaito finds himself laughing as water is splashed into his face. He finds that he's like a small child, snickering to himself, even after the guards tell them to wrap it up and get back to work. It's by far, the best part of the day leading up to their escape.
When the clock finally reaches ten P.M, Shinichi and Kaito are leaning against their bunks, pretending to be asleep. The lights flicker out, and Kaito wonders whether this will really be the last time he has to deal with the darkness and openness of living in a cage.
He rolls the hair grips in his hand - one has snapped, but fortunately Shinichi had thought to ask Oto-san for more, just incase anymore end up breaking - before some into his pocket, and the others into his hair.
"You ready?" Shinichi says, after a moment of hesitation. There is rustling from the bottom bunk, and Kaito knows that the ex-detective has taken the map from beneath his pillow case, and is folding it into as small a square as he can manage.
"Give it a while," Kaito says, although he jumps down from his bunk. His shoes plop against the floor, and he drops down to take them off - he's not taking any risks. He's capable of being light footed, but under this much pressure and with only one escape route, he can't risk a single footstep being heard.
Shoes are louder than going barefoot. He leaves his socks inside his shoes - with all the running around they're going to have to do, he doesn't want to risk slipping. Even if he doubts he'd fall… Actually, knowing him, he'd fall. Smooth floors and socks aren't unlike ice skating, not Kaito's never had the knack for that.
He glances at Shinichi, and finds that the detective has followed suit. Good.
"Okay… get your blanket." Kaito says, dragging his own off and wrapping himself in it. He'll only need it until they get to the laundry shoot, in which they can change out of their brightly coloured clothes, but right now it's the only thing that can keep them covered from the cameras.
Knowing camera's like those, it'll be difficult to fool administrators completely. But they're less likely to gain attention if the camera has moving black spots, rather than moving prisoners in white and green clothing.
"Yeah," Shinichi says, and wraps the blanket around himself. Kaito reaches forward and pulls part of the fabric down, so that the ex-detectives neck isn't on show, before turning to the cell door. It doesn't take long to undo the lock, not when he remembers how to work the lock from his last escape attempt. "Are you bringing the cards?"
Kaito turns back, smirks at the sound of the lock unclicking, and grins. He says, "most of them."
The other prisoner frowns, confusion lighting up his eyes, but he doesn't question it. Instead, he shrugs his shoulders, and follows Kaito out of the cell. When Kaito puts his finger to his lips and whispers, 'shut up', Shinichi rolls his eyes.
It makes him grin.
They close the cell door, although they hesitate, holding their breaths until the click tells them it's properly closed.
Now all they have to do is leave the prison's walls, Kaito thinks to himself.
They shuffle forwards, at a slow pace. Part of Kaito knows that this is the way it has to be - slow as not to alert anyone of any movement - but his heart is pulsing as quickly as a hummingbird's wings, and the rest of him wants to catch up.
He doesn't speed up though, no matter how tempting it is. He has to treat this like a job, something to be taken seriously, with no cut corners. It's not a game, and he certainly cannot cheat. Not now. No amount of magic tricks can help him leave this place, just sheer stubbornness and painstakingly brutal persistence.
Turning back to Shinichi, Kaito beckons him closer, before pointing to the right side of the hallway. They're going to have to stay as far away from the cell doors if they don't want any prisoners to notice them.
Shinichi shuffles to the right, and they continue down the hallway.
After what seems like an hour - but is more like three minutes - they reach the end of the corridor. They spend another minute waiting for the camera to move away from the staircase before they're moving down the stairs to the third floor towards the laundry shoot.
Kaito feels elated just knowing that he's going to be able to feel the sensation of falling, the weightlessness of flying through the shoot down three flights of steps. It'll be like he's reenacting the fall from a rooftop, only he won't have to rely on his hang-glider to keep him from his death. He gets to rely on a bed of clothes to keep him from breaking any bones.
Kaito pushes Shinichi down the hatch first - the other prisoner isn't as flexible and needs a boost to get into it. Smothering a laugh at the grumbling he receives, Kaito pushes Shinichi into inky blackness, leaning back against the wall.
They've decided that Kaito should give Shinichi at least ten seconds to pull himself out of the laundry basket, so the thief closes his eyes and counts. His fingers graze across the box of cards in his pocket, and he smiles.
10 - He thinks of Aoko and how she's going to hate him for this escape. How she's going to hate the newslines that will broadcast how Kaitou KID escaped from prison, not Kuroba Kaito.
7 - He thinks of Hakuba, how the detective will make everything more difficult for him. How Kaito will probably be hunted down for the rest of his life by both detectives and criminal organisations.
4 - And that, naturally, brings him onto the topic of Pandora. He's going to have to research all he can on it, has to get back home before his mother sells the house, to pick up all of his gadgets. He misses his card gun, and the sooner he picks that up and his suit, the sooner he can get back to running his heists.
2 - And Shinichi. He wants to help him too. Wants to help him beyond just an escape. The other detective doesn't deserve the life he's been thrown into, and if there's any way to make it easier for him… well. Kaito's going to try and figure out a way to help.
Kaito turns, and throws himself into the laundry shoot.
"Everything okay?" He asks after he's landed amongst sheets and bedding. His eyes have adjusted to the dark just enough to see Shinichi's outline near the bundles of clean bedding, to see that he's pulling out the clothes that Oto-san has left behind.
"Yeah," Shinichi whispers as Kaito pulls himself out of the hamper. Kaito shrugs the blanket off, leaves it with the laundry as he makes his way towards the ex-detective.
"Okay," Kaito says, taking the clothes that Shinichi passes him. They're black, and for a moment Kaito struggles to tell the different articles of clothing from the other. He takes off his overalls, throwing his shirt back into the hamper, before slipping the clothes on, "why are these clothes so heavy?"
Rule one of every heist, Kaito thinks, is making sure that all the clothing word is light. Despite looking smart and gentlemanly, he'd made sure that it was easy to move in first. That had meant no tight hems, trousers he could easily do the splits in.
These trousers are heavy denim, loose, but not something he could do acrobatics in.
(Not that he's planning on needing any of his gymnastic skills, but it doesn't hurt to have the option open.)
"Trust me," Shinichi says again, shrugging on his own jacket. "you're going to thank me for them later."
Kaito thinks it's probably best not to think about it. He transfers hair clips and his playing cards into his jacket pocket, and makes his way towards the exit of C-block. After a few seconds of jiggling the lock, clicking the pins inside, Kaito pushes the door open.
The moon beams down at them.
Kaito beams back.
"You ready for the hard part, Shinichi?"
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