Ladies and gentlemen! After the long wait I humbly welcome you to the next chapter of this story.
This was actually to be a part of the previous chapter, so not much happening here - besides the heist riddle solution being shown~
Yeah… it's been a bit long hasn't it? I'm sorry – really I am. It's just that for some time I was neglecting my responsibilities to write and it's been piling up. So now, before I get it all finished I probably won't be able to update more often than once a month (I will try though!). I hope you can forgive me…
But I must say that I'm thrilled! 100 Followers :o I never suspected so many of you would be interested in this story :) Thank you!
Now for the reviews~:
Mists - Well unfortunatelly I don't feel very secure with writing her, but I'm glad you liked it ;) Oh~ I really like your guess~ Yeah - wouldn't be fun to mess with Ru-chan too much (maybe later xD I mean - who knows what Akako might try to get Kaito doing what she wants, nee? ;) )
DaLantis - Well - it sure could sound like Christmass - but it's a bit far away for that. I wonder if there are Christmass villages in Japan? It is midnight, but for another reason :) Thank you for your try :)
PickleWitch - Hm.. this is an interesting guess - I might use it next time ;) Thank you~
So without further delay…
Please enjoy and review! :)
Chapter 26: Back on the track
Saguru worked over a case till dawn and was rather happy with the few points he found in it, that should lead to closing it. He would prefer to see it to the end, but unfortunately he still had his school responsibilities, so he sent his notes back to the station.
At school he found himself staring at his red-eyed classmate and fighting the urge to join the crowd surrounding her. He managed to snap out of his daze after getting struck with a juggling ball on the back of his head. Hakuba wanted to complain to Kuroba for this, but he noticed that the magician wasn't looking at him. He was glaring with annoyance and slight anger at Akako, who simply smirked at him and looked away, causing the Brit to be able to shove away the need to be near her. This made Saguru wonder. He looked around the class and recalled that for as long as he knew, everybody in school seemed to have a crush on the beauty. He himself never felt so strongly drawn to her until yesterday and was able to simply admire her from the distance. But nearly every other male student (and a few female) followed her with adoration. Except for Kuroba. And it didn't seem to be just a play of emotions, displayed on his Poker Face, like he thought before.
Sighing heavily, he figured that it had something to do with what he overheard the day before, so unwillingly he left the thought alone, fearing that dwelling on it might displease Akako. A small part of him was somewhat grateful to the magician for his interference, but the need to keep his distance from the whole matter was still there.
There was a burst of confetti when the bell rang, announcing the end of their last lesson. It covered the magician and unsurprisingly allowed him to vanish during the little commotion.
Ignoring it, Saguru was calmly packing his belongings when Aoko approached him. He noted an uncommonly careful expression on her.
"Hakuba-kun, do you have time after school maybe? There's something Aoko would like to talk to you about." She explained quietly, like she was afraid that somebody might overhear her.
The detective raised an eyebrow, wondering what it was about and gave her a slight nod. "Yes, I promised to pick up Conan-kun from school, but I could excuse myself, if there is a need for it." He offered, speaking as quietly as she was.
She shook her head and smiled. "No need, Aoko can walk you there, if you don't mind? Where does Conan-kun attend to?"
"I don't mind." He answered with a smile, picking up his backpack. "He attends Teitan Elementary, so we will have to take a bus."
She hesitated just a brief moment, before giving a nod. Hakuba might have not given it any attention, if he wasn't used to spotting things like that on Kaito. "We'll talk when we get off, alright?"
So she didn't want to be overheard. And there was only one person she could be using such precautions against. He agreed to those terms easily and left the school with her. They chatted idly, while the detective secretly studied the girl, wondering what was on her mind. She did seem slightly nervous and a couple of times looked around warily, as if to try and see if they weren't observed or followed. But at the same time she appeared… giddy? That was probably the best description of it. So most likely not scared, or worried, but rather planning something that involved Kaito and was supposed to be a secret from him. So when they left the bus and started walking, he glanced around and sighed.
"So Aoko-kun, what is your plan? How much will Kuroba hate me for helping you?" He asked with a smirk.
She gasped and stopped briefly, but soon after started laughing. "Aoko should have known Hakuba-kun would figure it out, but don't worry. Hopefully Kaito won't hate either of us. You see…" She looked around suspiciously, lowering her voice. "Kaito is having his birthday next week. He never really celebrates them, since on that day he always goes to his father's grave, but this will be his 18th birthday! So Aoko thought of making a surprise party on the day before. His birthday is on the 21st, which is Sunday and Saturday would be better for it anyway. So the party won't mess with his habit and Aoko wants to show him how much we're happy for him. Aoko already told Jii-san about this and he promised to help organize everything in his parlor. Aoko wanted to invite you and… well, ask about Hattori-kun. Aoko noticed that last week you three hanged out together and Aoko was wondering if he was a friend of Kaito…" She averted her gaze and added sadly. "Kaito doesn't tell Aoko a lot of things lately…"
Saguru held back a wince. He should have figured that she would notice them hanging out with the magician and how she could feel about being kept in the dark. Anyway, he was surprised with himself that he earnestly forgot about Kaito's birthday. Which was surprising, considering how he usually was precise with the time. But, well… lately there was a lot on his mind. He smiled warmly at the girl.
"I'm honored you want to invite me. I would love to come." He sighed heavily and turned his gaze forward as they walked. "As for Hattori-kun, well… It's hard to say actually. He indeed enjoys Kuroba's presence and as far as I can tell, the feeling is mutual. They seem to be able to find a common language. But I can't say if Kuroba sees him as a friend. But I do know that Hattori-kun wants to achieve that."
She smiled in return and gave a nod. "Do you think he could come next weekend?"
"I'll ask him. So? Do you have a plan for this surprise party?" He asked, turning his gaze back to her, stopping before the school gates.
"Well-" She started, but was cut off by a surprised small girl's voice.
"Huh? Saguru-oniisan, why is Ran-oneechan with you?" Aoko turned to the source of the voice, noticing a girl, followed by three boys.
"Ah! Aoko-neechan, I didn't expect you here! Hi Saguru-niisan." The shrunken detective stepped in, greeting the two and clearing the misunderstanding.
"Huh? So she's not Ran-san?" Mitsuhiko asked stunned, while looking at the girl in question.
Nakamori giggled. "We do look alike, don't we? My name is Nakamori Aoko, I'm Hakuba-kun's classmate. It's nice to meet you~" She greeted the kids.
The children introduced themselves and Ayumi said with a smile. "Sorry for mistaking you! What were you talking about? I hope we didn't interrupt you two."
"No, of course not. I tagged along with Hakuba-kun because I wanted to talk with him about our friend's surprise birthday party."
Genta gasped as his eyes sparkled. "A birthday party? Have you already picked the cake? You have to have a huge one, you know, otherwise it won't be a good party!"
Shinichi laughed dryly. "Yeah… I'm sure Kaito-niisan would agree with you… He'd probably want a chocolate one."
"Mmm~ I'd like to eat a chocolate cake…" The fat boy mumbled, nearly drooling at the thought.
"You always want to eat, Genta…" Mitsuhiko said rolling his eyes and turned to his bespectacled friend. "Conan-kun, do you know who they are talking about? Is he also a detective?"
The two detectives held back a laugh, but Aoko didn't. "You couldn't be further away from the truth. He's a no-good prankster and a magician."
"Oh~!" Ayumi cheered, with her eyes sparkling. "I love magic~! Is he good at it? Neechan, do you think you could get him to show us some?" She pleaded the teen, then turned to Conan and mumbled with envy. "You always get to meet the coolest people…"
Nakamori laughed cheerfully. "Aoko is sure Kaito would love to show you his magic~ He really enjoys performing for children. Oh~!" She clapped her hands and turned to Saguru. "That's it~! We could get him to show off for the kids, while the rest of us finish the preparations! He'll have his fun, won't suspect a thing and we'll be sure to have him occupied~! It's perfect!" Grinning, she leaned to the children. "So? Would you like to help us out~?"
The grade schoolers cheered and Conan snorted, holding back his amusement. Given it would be them involved, KID would suspect something was going on, but it was doubtful he could figure out what it was really about. He'd be probably more occupied with explaining why he looks similar to Shinichi, to not have his cover blown, by mere children.
Hakuba smirked, coming to a similar conclusion. "Alright, now all we need is a valid reason for him to come and be willing to stay long enough. Any ideas?" He asked the children, knowing all too well how happy it would make them to be questioned about their opinion.
Mitsuhiko prompted his chin and hummed. "Well, it would be helpful if you described him to us a bit."
"We also need to discuss the cake." Genta pointed out with an all-knowing tone. "I know a great place where you can buy the best ones! We should go there and try out some!"
"Genta-kun!" Ayumi cried out. "Is food all you can think of?"
"But I'm hungry… And the cake is the most important part of the birthday party…"
Aoko laughed, having a sweet tooth herself. "I agree it's a good idea~ We could discuss the details over cake~ What do you say?"
The children cheered again, agreeing to the idea easily. Genta led them towards the café he was talking about and during the walk Aoko started describing Kaito to them. Saguru and Conan were following them a bit further away, so they could whisper to each other, unnoticed by the group.
"So did something happen yesterday? It's not usual for you to disappear like that." The boy asked with slight worry in his tone.
Hakuba grimaced slightly, unwilling to talk about the topic or lie about it. "It was… something personal. I'm sorry for having you worry."
Shinichi shook his head. "Sorry for prying. Anything new about the riddle?"
The Brit sighed heavily and shook his head. "Not really. They did find out about an exhibition of 'Winter Glory' set. It's a heavily diamond encrusted necklace with earrings. Beautiful and expensive, but doesn't have a big gem included, so I doubt he would be targeting it. And nothing about the 'Eye of the Tempest', so unless we're missing something in the riddle, it's not it either."
Conan pushed up his glasses. "Maybe we're looking at the riddle from the wrong angle? He sure did get it hard this time… Did you get maybe to try to get something out of him?"
"No, I'm afraid he was rather busy and I expect him to be, at least until we solve it ourselves. I don't know… maybe the tip is the reason why he decided to give the notice through the TV station? I still don't understand why he did it this way…"
"Oh, that one is easy. It was an invitation for me." Hakuba raised an eyebrow, showing his interest, so Shinichi continued. "You see, Kogoro-ojisan is an avid gambler. He is bound to watch everything about horse races and at the time I was at the agency, so it was very probable that I would hear when KID interrupted the show."
"I see… But I doubt it's a clue for the riddle itself then. Unless it was aimed only for you." Hakuba concluded, eyeing the group before them carefully, but they were still busy with their conversation, the children throwing in ideas of how to make Kaito stay with them.
"My thoughts exactly, but nothing came in mind, so it still didn't help solving it… Hattori called me yesterday. He heard about the notice and we talked a bit. We figured that another target name hint could be the 'dawn', but that would also mean that he already promises to return it. Seemingly on Sunday. But it doesn't make any sense, since he doesn't know if it's the thing he's looking for. He could be assuming that it won't be, but then why bother with the heist at all?" The boy mumbled his thoughts out loud, more to himself than his fellow detective, who gasped and stopped briefly.
"You're right!" He leaned to the child, shooting a glance at Aoko, to make sure she didn't hear him and spoke with rushed whisper. "Kuroba has apparently a habit of going to his father's grave on the 21st, which is Sunday this year. And if I remember correctly, the first grand jewel the previous KID stole was named 'The Morning Shine'. What if this year he wants to bring it to him as a tribute or something like that?"
"And since his father stole it already, it's very unlikely that it will be whatever he seeks. Then 'the wettest time' is the date he will strike. It was weird that the riddle didn't say 'when the sun comes up', so he's referring to the origin of the week days names, where the 'sun' means Sunday." Conan mumbled and grinned as his leans reflected light. "So it's going to be midnight on the next week's Wednesday. The names of the week, as we know them come from the five Chinese elements, plus the Moon and Sun. For Wednesday, its element is water. What's more, water also symbolizes midnight and in traditional Japanese June was called Minazuki – 'Month of Water'. So the middle of this month's Wednesday on midnight would be the wettest time, even if there is no actual water." He chuckled shaking his head. "We thought this out with Hattori, but ruled it out since we couldn't understand why he would say that he will return it. Now it makes perfect sense."
"I'm surprised I haven't thought of that myself." Hakuba sighed wearily. "And I never expected him to promise to return his prize either. So I guess the third line will be describing his trick of the day."
The boy hummed in confirmation while nodding. "It would be the best Nakamori if prepared for a black-out. The only thing I'm not sure what to think about is why he wanted my attention for it… And why hint us that this time it has a personal meaning to him…"
"Maybe to make sure that we didn't try and take it away from him on the heist." Saguru suggested with a low voice, eyeing the group before them. "Meaning we probably shouldn't attend to it this time."
As they were nearing the café, Conan didn't answer, only giving a thoughtful hum in return. Both kept wondering about it later, while making plans with Aoko and the children for the surprise before birthday party.
It was somewhat amusing for Saguru to notice surprise on Shinichi's face as he learned that actually Kaito wasn't such a sweet tooth as he might have appeared to be. The same mistake that Hakuba himself made at the beginning. But it didn't take long for him to discover that in reality the magician usually gave away his sweets and ate only a little himself, unless he needed to restore his energy fast.
Hakuba regretted a bit that there wasn't really a way to get the shrunken detective invited to the party, but then the other kids would have to be invited as well in that case. It would be very hard to explain to other attendants since it definitely didn't sound like and appealing idea for the 18th birthday. He only hoped that Conan didn't mind.
The meeting didn't last long afterwards, but unfortunately the kids were rather persistent in taking their small detective friend with them to discuss the diversion plan and search for a case. So, since Shinichi and Saguru already managed to briefly discuss the most pressing topic, they silently agreed to postpone their meeting and determine the details on the phone later on. When they parted, Hakuba walked Aoko to the bus, then he took one that would get him to the police station, where he could make sure the Kaitou KID Task Force wouldn't be going to Hokkaido or Ishioka this weekend.
Since the meeting with the children took longer than expected, it was already getting late when Hakuba reached the station. There he was warmly greeted by a few officers, who were calmly occupied with their tasks. Some other showed him knowing grins. This and the lack of a rush there indicated that Nakamori and his team somehow figured that there wouldn't be a heist during this weekend. Intrigued about what the officers understood from the riddle, the detective directed his steps towards the inspector's office.
He received a usual grumble of an invitation after knocking on the door, so he entered with a polite apology for disturbing the officer. Nakamori tried to hide his grin when he saw the detective and Saguru acted as if he didn't notice it.
"Ah Hakuba-kun! Thought we wouldn't be seeing you around anytime soon."
"I apologize for my absence yesterday I-" Saguru started but got cut off by the inspector, who just waved a hand at that.
"No need, you are not obliged to be here anyway. So? What brings you to my office? Still struggling with the riddle?" The keibu teased, clearly in good mood.
"Actually I've solved it and from what I see you did as well?"
"Of course. We're specialists when it comes to Kaitou KID after all." Nakamori gave a proud smirk. "Wednesday midnight, target is a large topaz called "The Morning Shine" displayed at Senso-ji temple, near Sumida river bank in Asakusa district. Seems it's a part of a goddess statue there. He'll use some light tricks this time. We only don't understand still why he announced that he would be returning it." The inspector grimaced but seemed to be ready to dismiss the matter.
"Who knows. He might have said that only to leave a hint about Wednesday." Hakuba offered with a shrug, unwilling to let Nakamori make a connection with the importance of Sunday for a certain magician he knew.
"Probably so... Will you be attending the heist?" The man asked with mild interest.
The teen shook his head. "Unfortunately not. I'd hate to stay up so long during school week as the exams are nearing."
"Mhm, good attitude. Well? You need anything else?" The inspector asked with slight impatience.
"No. I'll be in the archives if you need me."
Nakamori gave a hum of confirmation and returned to the papers he's been looking into before Hakuba came in, so the detective excused himself and left the man alone.
Having the riddle solved Saguru was able to focus again on his theories about the previous heist. He just needed to find something to confirm it.
Not the longest chapter ever, but took me a while to write. Next time you'll get a bit of Kai's and Co-chan's POV~ Aaand… a heist conclusion :D Hope you're looking forward to it~
See you next chapter *grins*
