Chapter 7
". . . I Messed Up"
Kaito stopped having fun hours ago. It was terrible enough that someone had almost died. It got even worse when his own mother inserted herself into the drama and started acting strange—like she was someone Meitantei knew. And just when Kaito figured his uncharacteristically horrible luck was over, he had a face-to-face encounter with the Great Detective herself.
From what he could tell about her, Christi wasn't interested in poking around KID outside of heists. Plus, at the time, she seemed more focused on listening in on the deduction and kicking him out of his own hiding spot than on somehow figuring out who he was. Needless to say, the experience was as nerve-wracking as staring down the barrel of a gun. And now. . .
"Mum! Stop pulling my ear! I can walk!"
Chikage finally released her death grip on Kaito, but continued speed-walking, leaving him completely bewildered and playing catch-up. The only other time he had seen her this agitated was when she almost missed the deadline for pre-ordering a limited edition of a cosmetics set. He was pretty sure they weren't rushing back home to shop online.
They reached the car where Jii Konosuke was waiting. "Madam! Young Master! Is everything alright?"
"Save the questions for later, Konosuke! Get in, Kaito, and let's go!"
"Wait!" Konosuke waved a pink flip phone at them.
Chikage muttered some choice words under her breath and moved to grab it, but Kaito was faster.
"Kaito, what do you think you're doing!"
Planning ahead, he thought. Holding his mother at bay, he opened the contacts book and memorized the number he wanted. He tossed the phone to his mother who all but sprinted back into the building. As soon as she came back, they peeled out of the driveway and Kaito watched as The Rose disappeared from the rearview mirror. Several minutes passed, and they reached the highway without a single word uttered.
Kaito broke the silence. "Okay, what in the actual hell was that, Mum?"
Chikage glanced nervously at him from the passenger seat. "Nothing, really."
"Oh, nothing? Cut the crap, Mum. How do you know Meitantei? How does she know you? Why haven't you told me before? Does she know about me and you didn't—"
"No, Kaito, of course she doesn't know." She paused, probably pondering how much she could get away with.
"Technically," she said finally, "Kuroba Chikage and Edogawa Christi have nothing to do with each other. But the situation back there was dire, and I thought I could pretend to be. . . someone she knew to hurry things along. Save a life. I know you understand. That's why you were sneaking around, even though I recall telling you to stay out of sight. We all know that none of us can stand people dying on our watch."
"That part, I get," Kaito agreed. "And I'm glad Masaki Nozomi seemed to turn out okay. But back up a bit—I'm assuming you led her to believe you were wearing a mask. Which begs the question: what kind of person does she know who wears disguises for kicks?"
"Well, you, for one. But I was playing someone else," she rushed. "Come on. The Bell Tree Express? You know first-hand that your Great Detective is a very special case."
Kaito found it hard to argue. He pulled out a deck of cards and began shuffling. "Special enough to see through you."
Chikage frowned. "It was both her own perceptiveness, and a slip-up on my part. I underestimated how much I knew this mutual friend. I don't think I made more than two mistakes, but that was enough to get her suspicious. When she"— Chikage hesitated —"At some point, I realized she figured me out, so we had to get out of there."
"Yeah, and explain to me how that was smart? 'Cause now I'm pretty sure that'd just make her think you're the next person on her suspect list: KID. Why not, I don't know, explain the situation to her?"
"It's not that simple, Kai-chan. Christi-chan—I promised our mutual friend that I wouldn't breathe a word of my existence to her. I'm going abroad to explain to them in person what happened and with luck, they'll understand. Then they can tell her themself, however they see fit to explain."
"Abroad? You just came back!"
She turned to look at him, a mix of frustration and reassurance in her eyes. "I'm sorry, Kai-chan," she said gently. "I'm leaving first thing tomorrow. I'll try to hurry home, but I can't promise anything. It once took me two weeks to track them down, ha!"
There was no doubt about it. She was hiding something from him. Shock and betrayal were bubbling up inside him, but he tucked it away for later. It would be hypocritical of him to confront her when he had been keeping his own plan from her for some time. Besides, she would likely miss his deadline, so it was pointless to let her in on it now.
Kaito waited, but Chikage didn't seem inclined to continue. "There's more, isn't there?"
Chikage averted her gaze. "Honestly, I don't know how you do it, as KID. Most detectives have a formula to them, but not her. If I were anyone else, I wouldn't have been able to keep character. She's so. . ." she waved her hands around, looking for the right word.
"Intense," Kaito supplied, a little smug. He expected nothing less. "But that's the fun of it!"
Chikage shook her head. "I never understood the appeal of a rival. You really take after your father. Even as the Phantom Lady, I never took risks like that."
"Mmm. You took a risk this time."
"What, my name? Only because I felt like she would be able to tell if I lied! And it was only my first name. Besides, that P.I. was there, and the police were coming. With you being who you are, it would be bad if any of us look suspicious."
Kaito waved that off. Something his mother said about her name bothered him. "I'm not worried about that. She's not like Hakuba."
"Oh? Well won't it be inconvenient if you couldn't use yourself as a disguise during a heist?"
He froze and dropped his cards. Name. His mother said she gave only her first name. "Oh no."
Chikage frowned at him. "'Oh no'? What do you mean, 'oh no'?"
He closed his eyes, hoping he had remembered wrong. No such luck. "You know how I haven't told you yet how Meitantei and I ended up hiding under the same table earlier? I may have. . . kind of. . . told her our last name?"
Note:
Things may be sad rn but I'm trying my best c: Hope you all are okay 3
Thank you to user EAS-MysteryThief for reviewing Chapter 6 on October 1 :)) Your feedback, as always, is uplifting and very much appreciated.
Thank you also to the guest who reviewed Ch 6 on Oct 1. Your suggestion for a fic is interesting, and I'll definitely save it for future reference. I don't guarantee anything anytime soon though since I want to finish this one first, but maybe one day. . .
Thank you to the other guest who reviewed Ch 6 on Oct 13. I'm glad you think that :)
This chapter's title comes from A Little Less Sixteen Candles, A Little More Touch Me by Fall Out Boy.
"I confess, I messed up
Dropping 'I'm sorry' like you're still around"
-Solanaceae Piperita