(It's the wind that carries my message to you,
far away from here.)
"What are we going to do?"
Kōnosuke said, standing near Chikage's bedside. The sun had long set and the curtains were drawn, casting long shadows across the room and the snoring officers, sunken into their chairs with lowered heads.
In his hand, Kōnosuke held the envelope he received through his letter box. He didn't need to tear the envelope and read its content to understand the purpose of this message. The fact that the envelope had neither postmark nor the address of its sender was telling enough.
Kōnosuke had feared this would happen ever since he had spotted a black sedan parked at the end of the street a few days ago.
.
.
.
"We need to leave," Kōnosuke had said as soon as he returned home, dropping the shopping bag at the entrance and rushing to find Kaito who appeared from the living room and walked past him. "They're outside –"
"What did you buy?"
Startled, Kōnosuke watched Kaito pick up the groceries from the floor, rummaging through the plastic bags and perking up at the sight of his favourite drink.
"Thanks, Jii-chan."
"Did you hear what I said—"
"I heard," Kaito affirmed, unscrewing the cup and taking a large swing from the carton of chocolate milk. "Don't worry about them. They're only observing us from a distance."
Kōnosuke brows furrowed. "Their surveillance was the reason, you left home, didn't you?" If he remembered correctly, Kaito had said, it had felt too uncomfortable living at home, knowing he was watched around the clock. "It was the reason you had trouble falling asleep lately—"
Kōnosuke halted when Kaito wiped away the milky moustache that formed on his cupid bow, barely hiding the tiny smile that appeared on his lips.
Don't tell me –
"Was it part of your plan?" Kōnosuke asked, watching Kaito with a hardened stare. He didn't think the strategizing part of Kaito's mind that concocted plans and accounted for drawbacks would have debilitated from the pressure and the events that spiralled out of control since the last heist.
For Kaito to draw out Snake's men away from his home and led them here to Blue Parrot, where not only Kōnosuke's livelihood was put into jeopardy but their own existence.
"You're insane," Kōnosuke said when Kaito wouldn't respond, keeping his gaze averted toward the living room window, even as he stood at the doorway, too far away to discern anything.
Or so Kōnosuke had thought until he realised that Kaito's gaze wasn't directed at the window but on the tablet idly laying on the couch. He picked it up straightway once he realised the screen was depicting a live recording of their homes.
"What's the meaning of this?"
Kōnosuke asked, but the young man had disappeared from the door. Kōnosuke found him in the kitchen, casually putting away the groceries and wondering what to cook for dinner as though there wasn't a syndicate right outside who could burst into their home any moment.
Kōnosuke had an inkling that Kaito had been acting strange lately, and whilst Kōnosuke had been reluctant to think the adverse effects of the last heist had been getting to Kaito, at the moment, he couldn't be more certain that the young boy of seventeen years had buckled under the pressure and self-destructed.
"I'll take care of things from now on," Kōnosuke decided, turning on his heels and thinking of ways to get this out of the mess without noticing the change in Kaito's expression.
.
.
.
"At this point we have no other choice, Oku-sama," Kōnosuke tightened his grip on the envelope. "Please take Kaito and bring him somewhere far away from here."
("And what will you do?")
Kōnosuke was startled when he suddenly heard her voice, and even more when he realised she was looking at him, but she paid it no heed.
("You're not thinking of proceeding with the heist on your own, are you?")
"Anything if it means, I get to keep my promise to your late husband."
("Then I'll do it," Chikage volunteered. "No-one would believe that an incapacitated person would show up disguised in a heist, right?")
"No-one would suspect an old grandpa to be Kid, right?" Kōnosuke countered. "I'll leave Kaito to you. Take care of him and leave the rest to me."
("No. Wait, stop—")
Her pleas fell on deaf ears when Kōnosuke turned on his heels, heading toward the door and closing it shut behind him.
It was time for him to repay his debt.
(Even if I'll make an enemy of the entire world –
I'll continue on to the future I painted.)
Sorry for uploading anything for so long. I've been drowned in work that I'm still waddling through. I've been writing though and got the next chapter written up for April.
As always, I hope you enjoyed reading this.