Don't worry about it. Don't worry about what you ask? That's the spirit.
Anyway, for the small percentage of you that have made it this far, welcome to part 3, this will be the final part of this story so please enjoy this mess a little while longer.
As for this chapter, I almost didn't make it its own individual chapter, but I decided it was important enough to get it's own spotlight. Though just why it's important may not be clear.
It ended up taking a while to write this because even though I'd already decided on the dynamic it was difficult to make a conversation flow properly with the calculating Shinichi, cautious Toichi, and more playful Kaito. They're all meant to be very intelligent but it becomes difficult to make sure to characterize all three of them in different enough ways that they don't feel like a copy/paste character with just a sprinkle of different background info. I went to all the trouble making an alternate timeline with a different history but... I don't think we'll be seeing much more of the Kaitou Kid twins in this story, no promises, but maybe I'll write them their own story at some point.
Chapter 11: Unraveling
I stand on the roof, looking down at the chaos below of cops rushing about like headless chickens.
Was this really a good idea?
There are calm footsteps behind me. I turn to face the phantom thief approaching.
"Hello," I grin, "Which of you do I have the pleasure of speaking with today?"
I had already double and triple checked there were no cameras up here, and he never would have landed if he hadn't subtly performed a similar check. We can speak openly here, at least for now… the time will be somewhat limited.
"Meitantei-san, this isn't exactly what I would call a subtle correspondence…" His voice is a bit deeper than Kaito's natural voice, he could easily be faking it but there's no real reason to do, short of just being doubly cautious of any security even after we'd both checked. This one is likely Toichi.
With a bit of flashy palming a card appears in his hand. A heist calling card that I had sent.
Without failure Kaitou Kid has always shown up at the time and place that a calling card promised, even if the card was sent by someone else, and even if it was a trap. It's a surefire way to get in touch with him for anyone aware of his propensity for standing around on the roof, it's a wonder the task force haven't ever tried to use this to their advantage yet.
There weren't many alternative methods I could have used in this case. I could have approached Kaito directly, claimed we were friends and just trusted in his improvisational skills to come up with a backstory that wouldn't come across as strange to those close to him. I could have put a coded message with a time and place in a newspaper and hoped that only the intended recipients would notice.
"It's certainly preferable to me approaching Kaito publicly, correct? Or sending a message directly to a dead man. I took plenty of precautions but even if someone manages to trace that the card was sent from my home then it'll only be seen as a red herring, at this point no one has been given any reason to believe that Shinichi might be kid, and I have alibi's for most heists so suspicion shouldn't fall on me." I explain.
I suppose I could have just gone to the bar and sent a message through Jii-san, but what's the fun in that?
This was, without a doubt the best way.
"What if we hadn't showed up?"
There's noise below. Is that a cloud of glitter and aerosolized adhesive? Kaito must be having some fun down there. I can practically hear Nakamori-keibu yelling even at this distance.
"Well… then I'd be a bit disappointed you hadn't answered my call, but I was resolved to do the heist myself if you didn't show, after all Kaitou Kid can't fail to show himself after a calling card has already been sent."
Honestly it's kind of a waste he did show up, I had a whole plan prepared and everything.
He chuckles, "I think I'd have liked to see what kind of show you'd put on, Meitantei-san, but I can't exactly let you use the name Kid without permission."
"That's why I knew this would be a good way to make contact. You would show up even if it was a trap, because you don't want to risk your reputation."
"So, what did you want to talk about, or were you just feeling lonely?" He teases.
Less lonely now that Haibara is around at least, but he doesn't need to know that.
"I wanted to ask you a bit about Pandora-"
He cuts me off there, "I won't let you use it, you know that right."
"Of course, of course," I wouldn't want it anyway, I don't need to become younger. I have enough to deal with right now, "I just needed a bit more information about how it works. As many details as possible."
The noises below appear to have mostly calmed down.
"Then we'll talk elsewhere, the nights festivities appear to be over. I should be going, and you… you need an excuse for not helping the police when you were here this whole time... don't you?"
I don't like the way he's grinning.
"Right, right…" I start undressing, "it can't be helped, take my clothes, tie me up, and leave. The police will find me when they come check the roof, return the clothes to me later okay?"
He snickers a bit in response, "You're willing to pretend you were defeated, eh?"
"Yeah, cause it's just pretend. So hurry up already, it's cold up here." I pass him my clothes leaving me with nothing but my boxers.
He quickly gets dressed and makes his escape.
Even without a mask he certainly looks a lot like me, but he doesn't pull it off quite as well as Kaito… I guess they don't look the same after all, Toichi seems to have a slightly longer face and a broader chin, his eye colour is pretty different too- a bit darker. It's slight enough that most people wouldn't notice if they weren't already suspicious. If he were to add a mask and contact lenses he could easily make it so there would be no visual signs that could be used to tell he and I apart.
However, t's enough of a difference that I'd like to think Ran would notice at least.
His getaway is -of course- successful, I never doubted that he'd be fine, he's a professional after all.
Meanwhile I'm left to sit in the stairwell of the roof in my underwear until a halfway decent officer thinks to check. Even if the criminal is already gone it should be common practice to survey the entire scene to look for evidence just in case they've left something behind. It should be done right away to lower the odds of the criminal disposing of evidence or the evidence disappearing by other means.
The fact that it took as long as it did for someone to go to the room when Kid often arrives on the scene or leaves from it just means that I'll need to find a way to casually bring it up in front of an inspector. I don't want anyone getting in trouble over this incident, but the police really need to step up their game if I'm to have any hope of getting back to a normal daily life.
The police give me some spare clothes and ask me a few questions before turning me loose. They have no reason to suspect me of anything, and on the surface I don't appear to have any information that can be given to them, there's no reason to keep me around.
I double check to make sure I'm not being followed before I head to the meeting point. It goes without saying we'll be meeting at the pool bar run by Konosuke Jii, it's a convenient place where we can be sure there are no security cameras and we don't have to be concerned about being overheard.
Even so I'm a highschooler so I can't just go into a bar casually this late at night, well, I can but for the sake of my reputation I can't let people see it, so I rough up my hair a little and go in crudely disguised as Kaito since he's probably a regular.
Inside there's no one but Jii-san who gestures me to the backroom. How does this place stay in business if it's randomly closed every heist night, it's gotta be annoying for any would-be patrons.
I enter the room.
Ah, both Kuroba's are here this time. What a treat, I'll get to see how they interact with each other.
"I was beginning to think you wouldn't make it, Meitantei-san" Toichi teases, he's changed out of my clothes and has them folded on the table in front of him.
I reply to him as I take a seat and smooth out my hair, "It took the police longer to find me than expected… I almost gave up and untied myself."
"And make a break for it on your own, in your underwear?" Kaito snickers, "Anyway… It's nice to finally meet you, I've heard a lot from Dad."
He has a warm air about him, the kind of cheerfulness that you get caught up in and before you know it you find yourself swept along with him setting the pace.
He reaches out a hand for a handshake and I stop myself at the last moment, narrowly avoiding a simple hand buzzer prank. I had thought he would be above that level of trickery but I suppose that's exactly what makes it unexpected.
"Ah, you avoided it." Kaito does a mock pout as I pull my hand away.
I clear my throat, "anyway, I'm not sure about you two, but it's suspicious for me to be out so late at night without a crime taking place in the area, so I'd like to handle business first."
"Business… you said you wanted to know about Pandora…?"
"Yes." He probably won't tell me anything he hasn't already without a reason, I should be honest. "I have some suspicions that someone that I'm up against may be older than they appear, but I know they're not using methods like mine, so I'm investigating different means of achieving that effect. I need to know how Pandora works so I can decide whether or not it can be ruled out."
When we talked previously Toichi had mentioned that the way Pandora had affected him wasn't completely in line with the legends. That makes sense, to begin with the legend claimed that the gem would only release the tears of immortality under the light of the volly comet- a comet that passes every 1000 years, it's scheduled to be passing in a few months so it can't have possibly happened to be passing on the night that Toichi was afflicted by it's power eight years ago. And while growing younger is certainly something that would be seen as desirable for those who wish to be immortal, it's not quite the same as immortality.
It is quite a difference, enough in fact that it's not unusual to suspect that perhaps the gem in his possession is not Pandora but instead some other magical gemstone. Though I'm sure that he's already done his own investigation into that matter.
He looks me over, perhaps calculating how much to tell me. Finally he speaks up, "... I think the effect it had on me is incomplete."
"Incomplete? How so…?"
"I cannot be sure what it does under the light of the volly comet like in the legends, but I simply held it up to a full moon, and instead of letting out tears it simply shone with a deep red light. As you can see it did make me younger, however, I am not always this way… I return to my natural age on nights with a new moon. And I have been aging in both forms."
Huh… that's a strange one.
Like some kind of weird werewolf that just turns into an older man once a month.
"I'm not sure if that's the result of it not being the night of the comet, or if it's because the gem was encased in another gem and thus unable to properly produce the 'tears of immortality'. That's my running theory anyway, I can't exactly test it."
Fair enough. Even if it allowed him to become a thief his sense of morality isn't so twisted as to let him start running human trials with a mysterious magical rock. I can respect that. But unfortunately it doesn't really give me much information to work with here.
Summarizing the results of this discussion. In it's current state Pandora makes the user younger on days when the moon would be visible in the sky, but they return to their usual age on the new moon, they'll also age, and it can't yet be determined whether or not they will die of age and if so which age would be the one counting towards that because not enough time has elapsed yet. Meanwhile we know nothing of the effects Pandora may have outside of the current state, we can't even confirm that it would have a different effect at all.
Agasa-hakase doesn't match up with the current known side effects of Pandora. He hasn't visibly aged in the time I've known him, and while I certainly wasn't paying attention to the phases of the moon I've known him for long enough that I'd have at least noticed something odd if there was a specific pattern of days that I would just never see him on after living in the house next to his for years.
But unfortunately that's not enough to rule out the possibility that he got ahold of Pandora long ago, possibly before it was encased in another stone. There's even potential that he could be the one to hide it- that would explain why the people searching for it know they're looking for a gem hidden in another gem, that knowledge isn't widespread in the myths.
So perhaps he used it, hid it, lost it, and now that the comet is set to pass soon he's hired mercenaries to seek it out again for some nefarious purpose.
What could the motive be? Is there someone he's hoping to give the tears of immortality to at the next passing of the volly comet? Does the effect of the tears need to be renewed with a second dosage?
It's all conjecture, simple theories with little evidence.
I was hoping for enough information to make a solid deduction as to whether he's a friend that's been doing something criminal on the side, or if he's an enemy that's been pretending to be an ally this whole time. If possible I want to figure that out before I try confronting him. It'll change what needs to be said.
"We could test it on me," Kaito says distracting me from my thoughts. It's difficult to tell if he's being serious or not. Is it a joke to lighten the atmosphere or does he just want to experience real magic first hand? I don't know him well enough to be sure.
"Out of the question," Toichi responded sternly. Ah, probably not a joke. They've probably talked about this before.
For a moment I consider asking to test it on myself, after all I'm no stranger to being used as a guinea pig by Haibara, but there's no telling how it would react to my body's more unique peculiarities. It would be interesting data but it wouldn't actually tell me what I need to know.
"More information would be nice, but Toichi-san is right, we shouldn't test it. Rather, we can't risk testing it."
I really want to know but testing something so strange on humans would make me no better than the company.