Full Summary: The Kuroba family supposedly died almost nine years ago in unfortunate accidents, yet Kaitou Kid still lives.
Somewhere nearby, a teenage boy has been living in hiding under a false name, all to prevent the crows from noticing that he had escaped death. But that lifestyle had left the part time magician and thief without much connections since he had to leave behind his life as 'Kuroba Kaito'.
Following the destruction of the Black Organization, Shinichi vows to take down any remnants of the crime syndicate's influence. But learning from his experience, he knew he couldn't do it alone. After befriending Hakuba, Shinichi finds out about the existence of another organization with mysterious goals. Following a chance meeting and an assassination attempt, the two detectives discover a key player to their cause. Now it's only a matter of getting him to cooperate and accept their help.
Chapter 1: Greetings, Magician of the Moonlight
"Here comes our other most anticipated celebrity news! Just yesterday, the famed illusionist Gunter Von Goldberg II has announced in a special interview of a tour happening in a few weeks. He will be arriving in Japan as part of his first stop. Many people are showing their excitement for his visit on–"
The voice of the anchor was interrupted when Kaito pressed on the remote to close the television. "Hmph, that nuisance will be coming back."
"Young Master, is that the man called Spider?" Jii looked up from polishing a wine glass before setting it down with the rest of the glassware.
"Yeah." He got off of the leather couch, stretching his arms and neck. "All right, gotta go now. It's time."
The old bartender glanced down at his watch. "Indeed. Are you sure that you'll be okay by yourself?"
Kaito grinned, walking to the exit of the Blue Parrot's backrooms after putting on his coat. "Don't worry, I can handle this one. Besides, you deserve to rest. I'll speak to you again later, Jii-chan!"
A man in brilliant white wagged a finger disapprovingly in a mocking fashion at the pileup of police officers near the bottom of a steep stairwell. The sneer that was plastered on the phantom thief's face grew wider as he watched Inspector Nakamori's men desperately clambering onto any kind of handhold while trying to reach him.
"Nice try, but no dice!" Kid let out a victorious cackle before dashing up the stairs and out of sight. As he ran, he felt pleased by this simple yet effective prank. Covering the bottom half of those stairs in detergent beforehand while under the guise of a janitor was truly worth his time indeed.
Looking at the number painted on the faded beige wall, he could see that he was about to reach the third floor. A few more stories, and he would make it to the rooftop and towards freedom.
The building itself was not particularly tall. As a trade-off, the exhibition hall was incredibly wide. By messing with the orientation of the security cameras, Kid managed to confuse the task force on which direction he had run off to. Thanks to that, the Inspector was forced to split his men up, thus thinning their ranks by a lot. Who knew mirroring the footage shown on screen would be so effective? The tampering was initially hard to detect since the cameras were looking at hallways that were rather plain and symmetrical in design. To make it more confusing, Kid left some of the cameras intact and some were showing delayed footage. Even as he ran, he giggled to himself inwardly.
A crackled voice spoke up from the radio transmitter the phantom thief 'borrowed' from an officer. "Sir, the south-east wing is empty!"
Another one chimed in. "Inspector, Kid is not in the western halls either!"
Inspector Nakamori's booming voice responded almost immediately. "Move on to the next floor!"
Out of habit, the runaway thief pressed himself against a wall before rounding a corner when he heard loud footsteps echo from the other side of the hall he had to cross before he could open the door that led to the rooftop. From experience, he had a feeling that they would block the exit before he could reach it. Upon realizing that, Kid pulled out the communication device with a gloved hand from inside his breast pocket. With a smirk, he pulled the walkie-talkie closer to his mouth and took a deep breath.
Suddenly, a loud yell exploded from every officer's radio transmitters and earpiece. "All men to the third floor! Kid is here! Hurry!"
Upon hearing their leader's urgent command, the sound of footsteps quickly retreated to where they came from. But what soon followed was an equally loud voice broadcasting its outrage through the radio. "That was not me! Damn you, Kaitou Kid! Ignore everything and head to the roof! That's where he'll escape!"
The sound from the group of officers soon returned as they backtracked up the stairs to where the thief actually was. Despite that, the trick created enough time for the thief to run towards his escape route. Inspector Nakamori and his men skidded around the corner, just in time to spot a white cape slip through the metal doors and to hear a distinctively sly voice. "Bye bye now! It's been fun, my dear inspector!"
As soon as Kid burst through the doors that barred his way to the rooftop, a sea of lights greeted his view. The perimeter was well lit even though it took place in a remote area. At the sight of the thief clad in white, loud cheer erupted from the crowds below. With his usual grin, he bowed as he stood near the edge of the building. Knowing he couldn't linger for long, the phantom thief dashed to the side in order to reach the part of the building where no windows were installed, just in time for Nakamori to step outside and curse at him.
Seeing Kid run towards their side, his fans cheered loudly and lifted up their support signs even higher. Although no audience members could step inside the exhibition hall that night, they surrounded the place on all four sides. Their cheers turned into shocked gasps when the thief suddenly jumped.
The moment he leapt off the roof, Kid grabbed hold of a short rope that was tucked parallel to the edge of the roof to hide it and pulled it along his fall. He felt satisfaction bubbling up in his chest when he heard the 'oohs' and 'ahs' grow louder from the public once the entire facade of the building began to peel off. Hanging onto the large sheet that had masqueraded as the side of the exhibition hall, the thief fell into the crowd and landed with a giant puff of smoke and doves.
Under the cover of chaos, Kid successfully escapes again. This time, the target was a sapphire called the Cobalt Shine.
While the police were fruitlessly ordering the coughing masses to stay put, the phantom thief slipped out wearing the face of a nondescript man. Capturing the inspector's intensity left his throat feeling a little rough and the fall wasn't exactly soft. Apart from that, that heist was a huge success for Kid. He pushed down the urge to grin as he walked away with the gem safely resting in his pockets.
Once he made sure he was truly alone, the phantom thief lifted up his prize as he did many times before. He could barely muster a disappointed sigh when the jewel didn't display any telltale signs of being Pandora. As its name suggested, the deepness of the colour and the gleam it emitted under the moonlight was certainly beautiful. Kid took a few moments to twist the sapphire around in his hand and let it catch the pale glow from the moon at different angles. A part of him considered this sight to be the compensation prize for his troubles, while the other part chastised himself for indulging in the results of his thievery.
It was nearly one in the morning when Kaito finally landed in bed. His house was located a fair distance away from the heist location, so he headed to his other hideout. For once he decided to go back to his mother's apartment to rest. Upon arrival, it was eerily still and quiet due to her being away, which he didn't mind. She had her business and he had his own. In fact, he hasn't seen her at all for nearly ten years outside of video calls.
A few years ago near the end of his last year of junior high, Kaito stumbled into his father's secret room behind a hidden panel. The elderly man named Konosuke Jii, his father's former assistant, arrived shortly after his father's death and acted as his guardian. Kaito could faintly remember the man showing up during his early childhood so he had no difficulty trusting him and building a near familial bond. For a year or two after the discovery, Jii acted as Kid while Kaito lurked around as his accomplice during heists, a plan they hatched together to find Pandora. When he grew tall enough, Jii finally passed on the mantle to him.
Wishing to find the accursed Pandora as soon as possible, Kaito decided against attending secondary school much to Jii's protest. If he was to end this dangerous quest fast, he had to dedicate a lot of time. During the day, he occupied himself with training and heist preparation. Infiltration and intel gathering was on his regular to-do list. Equipment maintenance and rehearsal consumed much of his schedule as well. Of course, he took some days off to rest.
On non-heist days, Kaito helped Jii run the Blue Parrot, often showing customers a parlor trick or two. Those tricks were never anything flashy, just enough to conjure a smile from the men and women who visited the establishment. Much to his displeasure, Kaito had to hold back his desire to truly show off his skills as a magician, but he knew better than to attract unwanted attention to himself, especially while he still had to play dead
Far from the lights and crowds, Hakuba watched the debacle from the Kid Task Force go down. The detective sighed inwardly. Although he could understand the logic of restricting public access to the exhibition hall, he could also see the huge freedom of movement that came with leaving such a large space empty. Because of a dispute over property rights, the building has barely enough time to prepare a specialized trap for the phantom thief. Displaying the Cobalt Shine in an ill prepared place was akin to asking the thief to help himself to the gem. All Hakuba could do was stand by and watch the ensuing victory of Kaitou Kid.
Hakuba caught wind of the inspector loudly swearing and giving a motivational speech to his men. Even with Nakamori being fired up, Hakuba shrugged. It was the thief's win once more, and he was not expecting anything else. The end of a heist meant returning back to serious matters. Everything revolving around Kaitou Kid felt like fun and games compared to his chase after Spider.
The blond detective turned away to take his leave. Just then, he caught sight of a figure running up to him. As they closed the distance, Hakuba recognized him as a fellow high school detective.
Kudo Shinichi came to a stop and bent down to catch his breath. "Crap, looks like I'm too late..."
Hakuba shook his head and shrugged. "You didn't miss much, Kudo-kun. The inspector has limited access to the place to task force members only. Plus, some arguments with the administrations made it near impossible to reinforce the building. It was an easy win for the thief."
The dark haired detective smirked wryly and sighed. "Honestly, I was looking forward to giving Kid a bit more of a challenge."
"The feeling is mutual, my friend. Hopefully, Inspector Nakamori learns his lesson this time."
Nearly a month had passed since Edogawa Conan disappeared and Kudo Shinichi resurfaced again. Ever since his return, the teenage detective was busy catching up with school and cleaning up what was left after his life as an elementary school child had finally ended. The Black Organization was routed and most of their assets were apprehended by authority. Amongst them were data regarding APTX4869, the drug that started the entire affair with the criminal syndicate in Shinichi's life. With vastly more resources and freedom of movement available, a cure to reverse the rejuvenation effect was soon made.
Even though Shinichi's life felt a lot more stable with his physical size restored, issues related to the Black Organization still lingered. Not only with his relationship with Ran, but also scattered connections within the criminal underworld remained after the Black Organization was taken down. It frustrated him that the roots of the syndicate reached so far and wide across Japan. Working along with the police behind the scenes, he has decided to nip the many evils in the bud before they sprout into another bloodsoaked organization.