A/N: Part eleven of the Pandora Arc! This chapter will be a little shorter than the others but not by much.
Warnings: Glitter, pitch, silly string, and many other little things…
Acknowledgments: Cai-chan! And DCMonkey4EVR!
Other (possibly irrelevant): It's very brown here in Eastern Oregon…Even the buildings are brown… And there are lots of rock formations…
Today's quote is: "You know what's funnier than shooting tapioca balls? Watching people do so."—Mari-chan
Double-M and KID vs. Conan: Day Three
Tokyo, Japan
Tokyo Station
November 19, 6:50 AM
"Where's Kasuma-neechan?" Conan asked as Hakuba entered the station.
"She's going on ahead of us," Hakuba answered. "She told me to relay this message to Nakamori-keibu: 'If an officer radios in about a blue Subaru Pleo speeding towards Sendai, then don't worry because that's me on the way.'"
"Your friend's not taking the train?" Nakamori asked as he passed the detective.
"No," Hakuba shook his head. "I take it you heard Kasuma's message, so I don't need to repeat myself. Kasuma refunded her Tokyo to Sendai ticket in order to drive up there so we'd have another car to use for the rest of the Japan heists. However, since she's not going to ship her car oversees just for one heist in America, she's asking her friend, whose father has a condo in Seattle, if she can use their car up there."
"Is Kasuma-neechan leaving the same time the train leaves?" Conan asked brightly.
"No, she left an hour and five point thirty-seven seconds ago," Hakuba answered after looking at his golden pocket watch.
Hattori sweat-dropped, "…Right… Fergot 'bout dis guy's t'ing w'th seconds."
"What are we gonna do about the heist location?" Conan asked as the train to Sendai pulled up. "And we're still not sure about what 'fluttering flower' means." The detectives and Task Force officers boarded the train.
"Kasuma and I were working on that for a large portion of the night… which probably wasn't a good idea," Hakuba shrugged. "The location is the Sendai City Museum. We believe—but aren't sure—that the target is Papilio, a large 2,475 carat Rubellite Tourmaline that has been cut into the shape of a flower."
"Naruhodo," Conan mumbled. "'Papilio' is Latin for 'butterfly' and since it's been cut into the shape of a flower, then it really is a 'fluttering flower.'"
"That was our reasoning when we came across it," Hakuba nodded. "Although it was a feat in itself just to find this gemstone. One would think that such a large jewel with its high price of eight million yen would be easy to find but the truth is… there's almost nothing about this jewel."
"E-e-eight million 'en? 'Oly shit!" Hattori exclaimed.
Hakuba pointedly ignored the Osakan detective and continued, "The size of the jewel coincides with KID and Mage's usual criteria and the lack of information simply exemplifies that."At that point, the train bound for Sendai took off down the tracks.
Sendai, Japan
Sendai Station
November 19, 10:08 AM
"Kasuma-neechan, you're here already?" Conan asked as he bounced off the train and ran over to Kasuma.
"Of course, I left earlier than you all," Kasuma shrugged, waving to the others getting off the train.
"Well, that and you were speeding. Nakamori-keibu heard from the traffic police that a blue Subaru Pleo with license plate Hachioji 579 Ta 4110 was speeding towards Sendai," Hakuba spoke up. "It turns out you didn't go back on your word. It took a while to convince the police that you were with us."
Kasuma grinned, "Fearless driver, right here."
"More like reckless," Hakuba muttered.
"Ya ain't gonna do t'at w'en yer drivin' us around 'r' ya?" Hattori asked.
"Probably not, but no guarantees," Kasuma answered. "On another note, we shouldn't dawdle here. I'm sure Nakamori-keibu needs to get to the Sendai police and let them know of the heist." Hakuba moved over to Nakamori and began talking with him, leaving the other detectives to themselves.
"You couldn't find a way to fit 'ka' into the license plate, could you?" Conan asked as he looked up at Kasuma.
Kasuma chuckled, "So you caught that, huh?"
"W'at 'r' ya talkin' 'bout?" Hattori asked.
"My license plate," Kasuma replied. "The lower line gives both my family names…or at least most of it."
"The hiragana 'ta' is the beginning of the name you used to go by and the first digit, '4,' is the last part of that name. Since private vehicles can't have the hiragana 'ka,' you couldn't finish 'Takashi,' so you had to leave out 'ka.' With the way you write your current name, Kazuki can be reread as 'Ichiju,' which is where the '110' comes from."
"Coincidently, '110' is the emergency number used to call the police," Kasuma smirked, "Although '119' might have suited me better, since I'm always getting hurt in one way or another. As Conan-kun knows very well, living under the Organization is dangerous."
"Speakin' o' da Org," Hattori spoke up then. "I'm still confus'd 'bout yer 'hole t'ing wit' dem. Hakuba got up soon'r den expect'd 'n' ya didn't get much out."
"Kasuma," Hakuba walked back over to the other detectives. "A patrol car will be coming soon to take us to Headquarters. Are you going to go ahead of us?"
"When you say 'us,' I assume you're sticking with Nakamori-keibu, right?" Hakuba nodded. "It's just the Headquarters? I can find my way. I have a GPS in my car. We'll manage and if we get lost, I can just text you for directions." Hakuba nodded once again and walked back over to Nakamori. Kasuma turned to Hattori and Conan, fishing through her pockets for her keys. "Well, that clears up that worry. Now we can talk freely during the car ride."
"Or 'ight now," Hattori muttered.
"Guess so," Kasuma replied, leading Conan and Hattori to where she parked her car. "Fire away. I'll answer… within reason, of course."
Hattori was quiet for a while as he pondered what to ask her. Finally, he began with, "How deep is yer conn'ction wit' the Org?"
"You mean as in 'rank,' so to speak?" Kasuma asked, unlocking the doors to her car and slipping into the driver's seat. As she drove away from the train station, Kasuma felt around the glove compartment for the GPS. "Well, I personally don't have a 'rank' in the Organization but my parents were two of Their most important scientists. Years before I was born, they were given some strange substance and were asked to perform tests on the substance. What kind of tests? I don't know; my parents never really gave me information about the project itself. I remember, when I was maybe about six or so, seeing papers covered in notes and test results as well as several kinds of formulas. When I was looking through Ai-chan's information regarding that poison that shrunk Shinichi-kun and herself, I recognized some of the formulas so whatever my parents worked on before their death has some sort of following with Ai-chan's poison."
"That strange substance… is it the same thing that Vermouth mentioned to Haibara?" Conan asked, leaning forward in his seat.
"What thing?" Kasuma glanced at Conan through the rear-view mirror.
"Something about Waykamatayan finding something of interest to the Boss," Conan elaborated. "It's part of the story They tell to new recruits of the Organization."
"Oh, the rat in the Organization mentioned something about that in one of their older e-mails," Kasuma mused, tapping the steering wheel with a finger. "I'm not sure."
"'Way-kama-ta-yan?' W'at is dat?" Hattori asked. "It don't soun' Japanese."
"It's not." Kasuma replied. "But as to what language it is, I'm not sure. It hasn't rung any bells… Any other questions?"
"'heir names?"
Kasuma quirked an eyebrow at the question but answered with, "Kouichi and—"
"No, no, I mean 'heir codenames," Hattori corrected, waving a hand back and forth.
"Oh… Technically, I shouldn't be giving you those."
"Sworn to secrecy?" Conan asked.
Kasuma shrugged, "To an extent."
"So… how do ya k'ow dat British prick?" Hattori asked, changing the subject.
Kasuma raised an eyebrow, "I… don't see how that connects to the Organization."
"If I rememb'r correctly, dat guy's old man is hi' up in da police force. I'm sure yer family woulda been on da lookout fer people like dat, yet ya some'ow manag'd ta becom' friends wit' 'im." Hattori elaborated, focusing his gaze on the teen.
"Completely by chance," Kasuma responded. "My parents took me to Beika Park one day and Hakuba and his mother just happened to be there as well… Ah, here we are." Kasuma drove up to the curb outside the Police Headquarters and killed the engine.
Sendai, Japan
Sendai City Museum
November 19, 5:45 PM
The museum was surrounded by police cars, their lights still flashing bright red. Within the expansive museum, officers sent from the Miyagi Prefectural Police were bustling about the museum, clearing out the artifacts of the room housing Papilio. "I wonder…" Kasuma murmured as she examined the jewel.
"Wonder what?" Conan asked.
"If this was originally found in Italy… maybe during Roman times. The jewel is cut to look like aquilegia vulgaris, which is native to western, central, and southern Europe and the name it was given could be explained if that was the case… Although, we probably won't ever find out due to Papilio's lack of information," Kasuma shrugged, looking around the exhibition room. Inside, the room was filled with officers, a large group of them crowded around Nakamori, seeking instruction, another mass of them surrounding the perimeter of the room.
"Looks like da artifac' migrati'n is almos' done," Hattori murmured as he watched the officers carry priceless artifacts, jewelry, and other items out of the room, leaving only Papilio behind.
Kasuma shut her eyes briefly, digging through her pockets. "I'm gonna sweep the museum…" Kasuma grinned and pulled out some fishing line, "And maybe even set some traps for our visiting phantom thieves."
Hakuba face-palmed as he approached the scheming teen, "You're not going to induce bodily harm, are you?"
"No!" Kasuma denied immediately. "I was simply thinking of smoke or something of the like to possibly confuse and maybe disorient them. I would never cause them bodily harm. That would be against their 'no one gets hurt' motto… which includes the thieves themselves… well, most of the time."
"As in those skanky knob heads who have the gall to attack KID or Mage with absolutely no concern about the well-being of innocents around them," Hakuba muttered. "And the worst of it is we can't do anything to prevent their attacks! We never know when they'll strike."
"The best we can do is hope they come prepared and be ready to chase down the culprits if we can," Kasuma shrugged. "We already know Mage uses Kevlar and maybe Mage has gotten KID to wear one too." Kasuma made to exit the room, "Anyway… I'll walk around the museum and see what I can do about traps."
"Bocchama, where is M—Aibou?" Jii asked the figure in black next to him, pulling his baseball cap down to further obscure his features.
"She should be somewhere in the vents, setting up a trick," Kaito answered, pulling out some more supplies for the trick he had in mind. "Aibou said she'd drop down from the closest possible vent opening when she's finished."
"Which would be about now," Mage answered, dropping down from the ceiling and looking around the hallway for any officers. Swiveling, Mage let out a whistle, the sharp tone summoning a hoard of doves.
"Good, you brought your doves," Kaito grinned. "Mine are already waiting on the beams of the next-door room."
"Bocchama, how will you tell the difference between your doves and Ma—I mean Aibou's doves?" Jii asked the teen.
Mage set a finger against her lips, "When in a more public situation like this, call me Maeka. And as to the difference between my doves and Kaitou's doves, that would be the small, nearly weightless, purple ribbon around my doves' ankles. There's no need to worry about that." Mage opened the door next to her and whistled again—this time quieter—and pointed up towards the ceiling. The doves flew up and found themselves perches upon the beams of the ceiling. "It's dark in that room, so as long as they're all quiet, anyone searching the room won't find anything." Mage pulled more items out of her many hidden pockets and set off to work. "Oh, I just remembered… Kaito," Kaito took note of the missing long vowel, "You've got a meeting with my magician relative when we reach Seattle. He managed to pull himself away from his shows and will be catching a flight to Seattle soon."
"Sweet. At least now I won't have to lie about meeting a magician," Kaito grinned. "Let's just hope he can make it… since my alibi for the entire week is resting in his hands. Now, are you gonna take care of the target's exhibit room?"
Mage nodded, "I need to sneak my way in there somehow and if, by chance, I can't, I'll set it up through the vents."
"Ne… I just thought of this but…" Kaito stopped briefly in his work. "Is 'Maeka' another alias?"
"Yup," Mage replied. "However, I have to be careful about how I use her. Holmes has seen Maeka several times at this point, many of them right outside heist locations, so I have to use her sparingly. Technically, she's a Eurasian with platinum blonde hair so it would be unusual to have her wandering Japan."
"And yet, you're wearing a dark purple wig," Kaito mumbled. "Whatever. Hey, I'm gonna get closer to the exhibit room and try to set up more traps. This heist will be so much fun!"
Mage smirked, "Yeah… for us."
"That's all that matters," Kaito grinned. "Although I'm disappointed that I won't be able to use any of my hair dye… I would love to see Hakuba in bright pink… or maybe purple?"
"Save that for another heist, Kaitou," Mage sighed. "As much as I'd love to see Holmes in brightly colored hair, that's a little too humiliating during a WLH."
"It wouldn't be just Hakuba!" Kaito whined. "I'd get the others too! Then he won't be singled out!"
"Like I said: Leave that for another heist." Mage smiled, "They may be more distracted in removing the dye than in getting to the next location."
"Oh yeah," Kaito tapped his chin. "I didn't think of that. Well, we don't want that to happen~!"
"Well," Mage murmured. "I should make my way towards Papilio's prison cell." Mage leapt up into the air and latched a hand onto the opening in the ventilation system, pulling herself in fully and replacing the grated cover. When the faint sounds of Mage's departure faded, Kaito collected some of his stuff and headed down the hallway, Jii finalizing their trap and moving towards a different section of the museum.
"Kasuma, I finally found you!"
"Ah, Hakuba," Kasuma tightened the nearly invisible trip line and stood. "Careful around here, Hakuba, you don't want to get a face full of smoke."
"Where else did you lay your traps?" Hakuba asked.
"Only on the stairs," Kasuma answered. "There's another one near the roof entrance and two others in almost the same positions on the other set of stairs. I figured this would be the best place to try and confuse them."
"We should head back… the designated time is approaching," Hakuba suggested. Kasuma shrugged and headed down the stairs slightly behind her childhood friend, withdrawing into herself. Noticing, Hakuba sent her a worried glance before mumbling, "December is approaching."
"Thank you, Captain Obvious," Kasuma murmured with a small smile.
"You know what I mean," Hakuba rolled his eyes. "And you really should stop it. You really shouldn't harm yourself like tha—"
"Kasuma-neechan, Hakuba-niichan, c'mon!" Conan exclaimed as he noticed them approaching. Kasuma waved at the boy and followed Conan into the exhibition room, Hakuba next to her. Inside, Nakamori was standing next to Papilio, giving orders by way of radio. Conan immediately ran towards Hattori, who was leaning against the wall, his favorite SAX hat shading his eyes.
"There's twenty-eight point thirty-five seconds until KID and Mage said they'd arrive," Hakuba murmured, glancing at his pocket watch.
"Then we'd better be on our toes," Kasuma responded. "Who knows what they'll pull in order to get that jewel." Suddenly, all the lights in the room shut off, plunging the room into darkness. "Including blackouts, apparently," Kasuma muttered.
"Check the breakers!" Nakamori announced. "And get the lights back on!"
"Why, we could do that for you," KID's voice floated in. Someone, presumably KID, snapped and the lights were restored, revealing the thief sitting leisurely atop the beams of the room, Mage perched next to him, leaning against a vertical beam. KID's monocle reflected the lights of the room, casting a glare on the silver eye piece. Instead of her usual full mask, Mage was sporting a half-mask version of the mask she usually wore.
"Glad to see you made it Keibu, Tanteis," Mage said, pushing herself away from the beam. "We've got some individuals we'd like you all to meet." Simultaneously, KID and Mage brought two gloved fingers to their mouths and whistled loudly. At first nothing happened; the room's occupants looked around for any change in the room. Then, all of a sudden, a plethora of doves, all with different feather patterns, flew in from everywhere.
"W'at is all t'is?" Hattori exclaimed, ducking as three doves flew in over his head.
"What are you planning?" Hakuba spoke next, stepping towards Kasuma to avoid colliding with a grey and white dove.
"Just as Aibou said," KID grinned. "We'd like to introduce you to our doves." Two doves landed on each of KID's shoulders, another dove doing the same with Mage. "However, I fear it'll take far too long to introduce you to all sixty doves flying around in this room."
"S-sixty?" Conan exclaimed, flinching slightly as a dove landed on his small shoulder.
"Yes," KID replied. "That one there with you, Tantei-kun, is Ren'ai. She's the one you took care of during the Memories Egg case. It seems she's taken a liking to you. She must have remembered you."
"Let's see…" Mage began as she scanned the room. Her eyes landed on Hakuba and the dove that had landed on the British detective's head. "That sweet young girl on Holmes is Ajisai. She's new… just a baby, but she learns fast." Ajisai flapped her wings briefly before taking off, flying up towards the ceiling. Mage looked at Hattori, "The dove on your shoulder, Tantei-han, is Majinai. He can be a little rowdy, so do try to avoid exciting him."
All at once, the sixty doves within the confines of the room scattered, wildly flying about, low to the ground. Grinning, KID snapped, the action cueing bucket loads of white feathers to flutter down, a blizzard of slowly descending feathers. Suddenly, the doves climbed up to the ceiling just as Mage snapped. At that moment, the air vents in the room switched on, exploding with cold air. Accompanying the cold breeze was a torrent of silver, red, and blue glitter. KID and Mage, seated comfortably on the beams high above the vents, were safe from the mass of falling glitter. Those below the vents, having trouble seeing through the thick wall of glitter, shielded their faces. "Iji," KID exclaimed from his position. "Look at you! You've got glitter all over you!" Mage laughed, flipping off the beam, cutting through the glitter, and landing effortlessly on the jewel display stand. Still blinded by the glitter, officers and detectives alike couldn't locate Mage's position as she swiftly opened the case housing Papilio and extracted the jewel.
"The glitter should be out of your faces in thirty seconds," Mage began. "Do tell us if anything goes wrong. With that, see ya!" Mage jumped off the stand and ran through the chaos until she reached the door, KID joining her soon after. The two thieves threw open the doors and turned down one of the hallways.
"Kusou," Conan cursed, opening one eye and attempting to see through all the glitter. 'Where did they go?' At that moment, the vents shut off and the last of the glitter settled on the museum floor.
Cooing from the many doves pulled the attention of many officers, Nakamori included, and they glanced upward at the birds. "Forget the doves!" Hakuba exclaimed, making a break for the door. "They won't be coming down any time soon. We need to find those thieves!" Hakuba ran through the doors, Kasuma, Conan, and Hattori following closely behind.
"Let's split up," Kasuma suggested. "There are two staircases that lead to the roof. Maybe we can corner them. Just watch out for the two tripwires." Kasuma turned to her left, calling over her shoulder, "Hakuba, come on!" Hakuba nodded, heading towards the staircase to their left, Conan and Hattori running in the opposite direction.
"Looks like the first few officers fell into your trap Kaitou," Mage grinned as she pressed the earpiece further into her ear.
"Aa, I heard it too," KID answered, tapping his own earpiece.
"What was it, anyway?" Mage asked, raising Papilio up into the moonlight.
"A net made out of silly string," KID answered, grinning. "Specially modified silly string."
"Gross," Mage replied tersely. She then sighed, lowering the gem, "Not the one, sadly."
"That's a shame," KID agreed. "Hmm… I wonder when the T—oops, there goes another one!"
"That would be mine," Mage murmured. "And a messy one too: pitch, confetti, and feathers."
A rooftop door swung open, revealing Kasuma and Hakuba as they came to a stop just past the open door. Not even a second later, another door was thrown open and Conan and Hattori skidded to a stop as their eyes met the scene before them. "Good. Everyone's here," KID said with a small laugh.
"That is… everyone who is able to get here," Mage rephrased, laughing herself. "It seems all the officers are preoccupied with our traps."
"Yes, that seems to be the case," KID agreed. "Our third and final trap has just been sprung… I'm surprised you four managed to avoid them… Or maybe I shouldn't be, seeing as you four are much more familiar with the two of us."
"'Trap,' you say?" Conan quoted, raising a small eyebrow.
"Why yes!" KID exclaimed. "When we finish chatting, do look around and find those poor officers. I'm afraid some of them have been trapped in a silly string net, others stuck in a goop made up of pitch, confetti, and feathers, and others… what was our third trap?" KID sent Mage a brief glance.
"Hmm…" Mage murmured, thinking back. "I'm… afraid I don't recall. Well," Mage shrugged. "I suppose you all will find out soon enough. Ja ne~!"
"Oh no ya don't!" Hattori exclaimed, running towards the two thieves. Both bearing identical grins, KID and Mage threw down some smoke bombs, engulfing the roof in pink, blue, and purple smoke. When the smoke cleared, four detectives, still coughing slightly from the smoke, caught sight of two hang gliders taking off towards the darkened horizon.
Elsewhere in Sendai
November 19, 7:21 PM
Two shadows passed overhead. The figure strolling down the nearly empty street paused and looked skyward. A cold, icy smirk graced the pedestrian's face. 'And there goes Kaitou number two with his new-found partner. Funny, I don't recall a notice ever being sent about Sendai.' Eyes shifting back downward, the figure continued on their way. 'No matter. I have been, in fact, in America until recently… visiting them. It's no wonder I never heard of a heist in Sendai.' A delicate hand pulled off a pair of black sunglasses, replacing them on the top of the figure's head. Wrapping the long black coat around her black, knee-length dress, the figure scanned her surroundings as she clenched the strap of her black duffel bag. Ahead of her, a group of teenagers ran out of a building to her left. She stopped, the soft clicks of her black high heel shoes dying down. The young group was talking amongst themselves, far too quietly for her to hear, the tallest running a frustrated hand through his light hair. The tannest male of the group was cussing—at least, it certainly seemed like he was cussing. And the female—the woman in black smiled, fondness and nostalgia breaking through her cold, indifferent mask. 'She's grown… into a beautiful young woman. In fact… she looks just like her mother.' The young woman in question jerked her head up and looked around. The woman pushed herself deeper into the shadows. The woman watched as the three teens entered a blue car, the last to enter being a small child. When the car pulled away from the curb and drove off, the woman stepped out of the shadows. "My, my, I finally recovered my lost experiment, it seems. She's returned to Japan… And it seems she's become acquaintances with my Silver Bullet-kun." Her cold smirk back in place, the woman continued on her way.
Final Notes: If you're thoroughly confused about the 'December is approaching' comment then that's just perfect. You will find out when December rolls around in our story. This chapter ended with a little something extra… and mysterious, I dare say? I wonder what this 'lost experiment' means?
Anyway…Coming up next in Double-M and KID vs. Conan: "We went to the same high-school when I was in Portland, Oregon."