Chapter 1
"Let's Take It From The Top"
It was nearly midnight when Detective Sato Miwako arrived at the crime scene in response to a harried call from Detective Takagi Wataru. She stopped for a moment in front of the police line to catch her breath and straighten her collar. She had been looking forward to sleeping in an actual bed for once while Det. Takagi took watch. Couldn't murderers be a little more considerate?
"Another one? What kind?" she asked as she approached the man standing stiffly next to a covered lump on the dusty warehouse floor. She noted three sets of foot prints leading to it: the forensic officer's, Det. Takagi's, and her own. "Detective?" she prompted. When he didn't answer, she gave him a quick hand squeeze. He jumped, but calmed down a little upon recognizing her.
"Miwako, oh, I am so, so sorry," he fretted. "There are—there are so many warehouses along this dock and I thought I had all the bases covered but then—this was so far from where I was, but I should have been here—"
"Wataru, this is not your fault," she said firmly.
"Oh, I know, but. . . " He looked at her helplessly.
He didn't need to say anything. She didn't want to have to wait for someone else to die for them to be able to catch the bastard responsible. "Can you walk me through it? I didn't catch much over the phone." The detective crouched over the cadaver and pulled the cover back, then instantly wished she hadn't. She was more familiar with the stench of death than she cared to admit, but putrid warm-rotting-garbage coupled with sickly sweet burnt meat was a combination that repulsed her the most. The body itself reflected this, and as she examined it, she tried not to linger too long on certain areas.
Det. Takagi looked like he might throw up. "We won't know for sure until we check, but she looks to be another ghost."
"She? The ghosts have been male so far." She studied the body closer and saw he was right. She wasn't surprised she didn't notice immediately as the face was bashed in and the features burnt badly. She guessed there wouldn't be any teeth to salvage—nor dental records to pull up. Where there should have been ears, hands, and feet, were instead charred stumps. An abnormal amount of physical trauma, yet not enough blood in the area, suggesting the victim was beat and killed by her assailant elsewhere before being transferred here.
It was only when Det. Takagi nodded that she realized she had been thinking out loud. "And just like the other two ghosts, we found no identification on her," he said. "This is just horrible. It took us so long to figure out who the other ghosts were, but at least then, we could tell from their clothes they were a private security guard, and a sushi chef. But with her?"
"Smart casual could mean anything," Det. Sato agreed. She replaced the cover on the body and straightened up. "Seven victims at this dock in the past two months, three of them ghost cases. I don't know, but it feels like the ghost killer is mocking us."
"They're likely gloating," Det. Takagi said quietly. "After all, we don't even have a suspect."
They stood in silence as forensics loaded the cadaver on a gurney and carted it away.
"I don't get it," Det. Sato murmured finally, her eyebrows drawn together. "We've been calling ones like her 'ghost cases' because of the significant lack of leads on their identities—not to mention the lack of evidence to support they exist at all—so why would our ghost killer bother erasing their prints and faces, but not the others'? Shouldn't it be the other way around?"
Det. Takagi scratched his head but was only able to shrug. Oh, if it were that easy. . .
"I suppose that high schooler can't help us this time either." She pressed a knuckle against the deepening furrow in the middle of her forehead that didn't seem to be going away anytime soon. She thought of their warm bed at home and had a sinking feeling tonight had been her last chance at sleeping in it. She exhaled deeply. "Looks like we'll be pulling all-nighters again, Wataru."
o~o~o~o~o
Elsewhere, the countdown to midnight was reserved for a much less sinister reason.
KID the Phantom Thief—in disguise, of course—milled around with the waiting crowd, surveying the scene and ensuring everything was in place. Tonight, he had chosen a museum with an obvious exit point: a glass dome for a roof. The central room with high ceilings held up by sturdy and intricately designed posts provided the ideal location for a large-scale magic show. And in anticipation of his more rambunctious fans, the room was even cleared of all display cases—all except one.
The Lady's Rogue, an absolute mammoth of a garnet cut into a perfect circle, was the object of his affection tonight. It should've been a crime in itself for such a delicate Lady to be imprisoned by the less-than-delicate task force of Inspector Nakamori Ginzo, but they had to add insult to injury by cordoning off a five-meter area around her. It sent an obvious message: KID couldn't sneak up on the Lady in disguise if there was no one nearby to disguise as. As if that would stop him! Now he'd have no complaints if the Lady's warden were approximately half his size and had a ponytail—His eyes lit up.
Edogawa Christi was here.
KID began wading through the crowd, intent on speaking with her before the heist. It didn't bother him that she was right next to the Inspector, nor that she was fully equipped with those cursed gadgets. The detective had been absent for his last two heists—even though he ensured they were interesting enough to catch her attention—and he wanted an explanation. The few times he sent his doves over to follow her had only revealed she was getting addicted to a video game her professor friend invented.
"2 minutes and 45.32 seconds to midnight."
Now that KID was within earshot, he realized belatedly that Hakuba Saguru had invited himself over. Well, it did make sense, seeing as he ran his last two heists practically unopposed. But now that Christi was here, he didn't need Saguru. No matter. He always had a special present for the London detective anyway.
"Wow, Hakuba-niisan, you're really fond of that watch, huh?"
KID heard the underlying tone (How many times had he pronounced the time that the normally unbothered Christi actually got annoyed?), but Saguru must have missed it. The London detective squatted to be level with Christi and patted her head. "It was my grandmother's pocket watch, little detective. I learned from her that it is essential to be punctual. Now, what do you say we focus on the heist now, hm?"
"Sure!" Christi chirped, smiling so sweetly that KID could feel his own teeth ache. "In fact"—she turned, and startled blue met frozen violet—"KID's right there!"
By the time she said "there", three things had happened. KID stumbled over someone's foot in an attempt to distance himself. In doing so, he accidentally pressed the trigger for the start of the heist. The museum plunged into darkness, with only the light of the crescent moon filtering faintly through the domed roof.
"Welcome, everyone~!" KID's pre-recorded voice boomed throughout the room. "I bring you: Kaitou KID!"
The crowd exploded into cheers. Inspector Nakamori exploded at his task force to get the lights on. Way ahead of them, the timers switched the lights on to a flattering pink mood-lighting. And the room exploded in a mess of pink glue, glitter, and confetti.
Good times.
From beside Christi came muffled yelling. Saguru had been stuffed into a pink cupcake mascot costume, which of course had a transparent head piece for all to witness his futile struggles. His now stumpy limbs flailed about. The extra coating of the pink mess made him look over-frosted.
Everyone else in the room was also coated with the stuff (not that the fans minded), except for Christi, who somehow came out unscathed. A closer look revealed a cheap rain poncho discarded on the ground. She was snickering at Saguru, who just tripped and was wiggling about like a turtle that had been flipped on its shell. Not a single fan made a move to help him.
In a burst of pink smoke, KID appeared in front of the Lady's Rogue. Due to the premature heist start, he didn't have time to dramatically lower himself from the ceiling, but this would have to do.
"Good evening!" he said cheerily.
The task force tried to surge forward, only to find themselves stuck fast to the floor, five meters away, and much too far to reach him. Another pink smoke bomb later and KID was perched on top of the glass case, prize in hand.
"Hey, KID," Christi called over the racket, having finally torn her eyes away from Saguru, who was now struggling to remove the head piece of the cupcake.
KID grinned. "Hey, Tantei-kun. So nice of you to show up! How do you like tonight's color scheme?"
She shrugged. "I prefer red over pink."
"Aw, you should have said that earlier!" He held up the Lady's Rogue for everyone to see. The garnet glittered under the moonlight, but unfortunately, did nothing else. "This one is a beautiful shade of red."
His fans went wild at the sight of the precious stone and began chanting a rising KID! KID! KID! Some of the task force began to jerk free of their restraints.
KID clicked his tongue. "Oh, this won't do. I'm having a conversation here!"
With a dramatic flourish of his mantle, sleeping gas filled the room and people began dropping. Saguru, who had just managed to wrestle the head piece off, joined the crowd to dreamland.
"Good night," KID crooned behind his gas mask. He aimed his card gun to the domed roof, grappling hook mode ready, but a blur of black and white knocked it out of his hand and it skittered off somewhere. The smoke had yet to fully clear, but he knew exactly whodunnit.
"Unfortunately for you, KID," Christi said, sporting her own gas mask. "I don't like going to sleep early."
"Meitantei~!" KID cried gleefully from his perch. He took off his gas mask and she followed suit. "Excellent! You've come prepared."
"How else would I enjoy the show?" she asked, although her expression betrayed nothing.
Ironically, KID, the master of the poker face, found this annoying. "Not a fan of sharing homework answers?"
She glanced at the knocked-out Inspector. "Is it my fault they aren't thorough?"
KID laughed. "You see, this is why you should come to all my heists!"
"Aw, did you miss me, KID?" Christi gazed up at him with a hint of a smile, and intensity that didn't belong to an eight-year-old. He had to suppress a shiver. "Impressive how you turned their strategy around, by the way."
KID gave a little bow. "Would you expect anything less? I'm sure I've made you regret standing me up on our last two appointments."
Her hand started to inch towards the switch on her belt. "Oh, please. I've been busy. Besides, I'm sure you've had a ton of practice getting blown off."
He mock-gasped. "Rude!"
"Maybe you could give me something as an incentive for attending your next heist," Christi suggested, her hand dangerously close to the switch. "Like that Lady's Rogue you're holding right now."
"Sure, why not? I don't believe we were meant to be, anyway." He tossed the garnet at her and she stumbled trying to catch it. While she was distracted, he drew his back-up card gun and shattered the glass dome. Christi fumbled with the switch and managed to fire a soccer ball at him, but her aim was off. It punched through the empty air beside him.
"Ha! Looks like you missed me too, Meitantei!" Triumphant violet lorded over frustrated blue. KID threw down a smoke bomb and disappeared. Moments later, his signature hang glider took off from the glass dome of the museum.
"Tsk," Christi furrowed her brow and cradled the garnet. To the task force that had just begun to get up, the little detective seemed defeated. But the magician who had disguised himself as an officer saw the smile tugging at Christi's lips. He pulled his cap lower and melted into the shadows.
You had fun tonight too, didn't you?
Note:
Wow, the first chapter! Haha. It isn't too different from the original, see? Although I did decide to cut down on the chapter length oops.
This chapter's title comes from Misery Business by Paramore.
-Solanaceae Piperita