With the exception of the plot and the original characters that are depicted in the story, the author makes absolutely no profit off of this work of fan fiction, and no copyright infringement is intended on the franchise of Detective Conan that rightfully belong to its owner Aoyama Gosho.

This chapter has been edited by OnyxKatana with some of her ideas added to the context. Thanks again for your help, my dear! :) I hope the third segment of Paper Faces will bring the magic and mystery that everyone has been waiting for!

Playing the part as a compulsive trickster with a penchant for spying on the ladies served a purpose for Kuroba Kaito. The first reason is that the size of the classroom made an ideal environment to evaluate the effects of a new trick that may or may not be used by his alter-ego at a heist, and no one would be none the wiser (the exception being a certain British bastard). Next, was to practice his Poker Face. Regardless of his surroundings and the cards that his opponent or KID himself had in his hands, any facial reaction must not be visible to the audience whatsoever.

Yet a week prior to a new semester at his school, the elusive phantom thief found himself staring at a dry erase white board, decorated with photographs and lined paper that were intricately connected by red yarn. But should I still wear a Poker Face when I have no idea where my critic is? The young man's little grey cells buzzed actively, pulsing with thoughts and the leftover adrenaline from a heist that took concluded only an hour ago.

Kaito prided himself on the fact that there were very few things that could ruffle him. However, a magician without his critic? Unacceptable. It was an outrage. How could Meitantei-chan do this to me? This is the third performance I've put on this month and she still hasn't shown up! He grimaced slightly. And I would have done at least five or six of them, if that woman hadn't suddenly decided come home and say that I need to study before classes start up again!

'That woman' was none other than Kuroba Chikage, the wayward matriarch of the household.

Like any other mother, she worried over her son. Due to the fact that Kaito decided had become the most wanted criminal in Japan to lure out his father's killers, her worries were at a whole different level. She knew how much her son loved magic, and projecting them through the facade as KID. Being married to Toichi, the previous Kaito KID, had given Chikage a first-hand experience on how the men on her husband's side of the family had a tendency of getting carried away with their magic, simultaneously ignoring the most obvious (and important) things. What Chikage did not know was that Toichi pulled all of those stunts just to annoy her. His wife's reactions were far too amusing to pass up. But that is a story for another time.

Since Kaito would now be enrolled at Ekoda High as a senior, Chikage had taken a excursion from her world tour to came back to Japan without as much a text to her son. She wanted to make sure that he would put enough efforts into his senior year and get into a good college. And so, Kaito's house arrest had begun.

Day in and day out, Chikage would almost be breathing down his neck as she badgered him to study. For the first week, Kaito went along with it, and actually did nothing but study. However, with his high intellect and eidetic memory, it took him far less time than an average high-school senior. In one week, he had made a major dent in the syllabus for the whole year. A week turned into two, then three. But when Chikage's insisting didn't lessen in the slightest, Kaito started to get annoyed. He convinced his mother to let him plan the occasional heist, because he needed to keep the Police Department on their toes.

As soon as he was granted permission to cause mischief, the teenage magician spent three days planning to steal this evening's spoils: The Tell-Tale Heart. True to its title, this abstract painting depicted a scene from one of Edgar Allan Poe's famous short stories. But what made its market value skyrocket to almost 600 million yen was the large heart-shaped ruby stitched to the canvas. With its size and value, it could possibly be the gem KID had been searching for the last two years.

The theft had been executed with flawless precision and pleasant results. The Police Department was stumped by his riddle, Nakamori swore beautifully at the top of his lungs, and Hakuba's hair turned green for a change. But alas, the Tell-Tale Heart revealed nothing under the moonlight. And Edogawa Agatha was still nowhere to be seen.

It had been over a month since he last met his little critic, and by now, the Phantom Thief 1412 was worried. The grim possibility of no witty banter or flying soccer balls at his heists was suddenly looking rather real. Which is what brings us to the current scenario of Kaito looking at his board, which is filled with information about Edogawa Agatha.

When KID's civilian identity decided to take action by going through his memories and pull out every reference he could find about the KID Killer. The information that Kaito had gathered filled up almost five lined pages, so the teenage magician had narrow and highlight the following clues that would possibly aid KID's search:

1. Edogawa Agatha is estimated to be 7-8 years old, enrolled as a student at Teitan Elementary. Seen with group of children who call themselves The Detective Boys. KID met them during Kirin's Horn and Artemis' Teardrop heists.

2. Ward of Mouri Kogoro. Main guardian is Mouri Ran, age 17. Very fond of the latter. Referred as 'Ran-neechan'.

3. Sometimes seen with an engineer named Agasa Hiroshi in Beika. Address is District 2, Block 22. KID disguised as him during Luna Memoria heist. Possible inventor of KID Killer's evil, dispensable soccer belt?

KID looked over the clipped notes with a crinkled brow and glanced at the board again before he clenched them tightly in his fist. He had gone over them twice now, but to no avail. There was nothing that could led him to Meitantei-chan's whereabouts.

He had sent a few doves to Mouri Detective Agency, but they had come back with nothing useful. The recordings they brought back contained only Kogoro's ranting about having no clients and his daughter scolding him about drinking alcohol after he has his first cup of coffee. Neither of them had mentioned the pint-sized brat whatsoever. Even so, KID kept sending his beloved birds at regular intervals with the hope that he will receive some speck of information from them in the near future.

Kaito even pulled on the KID suit and went to the inventor's house. However, his reconnaissance had been fruitless. He had bugged the place, but he got no results. The man was either talking to some neighbor about someone named "Shin-chan" or was caught in the explosion of another botched experiment.

Not exactly the ideal person for the search of a miniature detective. Still, the teenage magician could not afford to be picky; he needed to find Meintantei-chan. If not to ease his boredom, then at least assure himself that she is all right.

Indigo orbs scanned the board again, hoping that there was a clue he had overlooked in his desperation to find Meitantei-chan. But alas, his efforts were in vain; any and everything that there was to know about the KID Killer stared at his face, and there was nothing to explain why she had disappeared without a trace.

Kaito smirked sadly. You've always done the impossible, Meitantei-chan. Making a Phantom Thief turn to an rival's line of work as means to find you? Heh. You should be proud of yourself. Just as his melancholy train of thought could go any further, the teen magician was jerked from his musings by a familiar voice that was laced with sweetness and downright irritation.

"Bakaito! Come on out, you idiot!"

Ah, there was no doubt about it. The culprit calling out to him was none other than his childhood friend and next door neighbor Nakamori Aoko. A minute passed before she called out to him again.

"Oi, where are you?!"

Deciding to conclude this evening's search for the Edogawa brat, Kaito decided to humor himself and answer to Aoko's summoning. It was not like the board was going to grow legs and leave the secret room, much less his notes. Furthermore, Aoko's presence eases his worried mind; granted she shared more traits with her father than she would ever admit in public, especially if KID escaped from the task force at a heist, but Kaito did miss his best friend through his "house arrest".

Activating the entry and exit mechanism of the secret room, Kaito made sure that the portrait of his father was secure before he was comfortable enough to go out on the balcony and speak to Aoko.

"Sheesh, Ahouko. Yelling like this so late at night. What would the neighbors think?"

Almost immediately the young man was blessed with the sight of the girl glaring at him, her cheeks flushed before crossing her arms. "Shut up! I wouldn't have had to yell like that a second time if a certain magician answered me out sooner!"

Kaito just raised a brow at his friend. "I wasn't in my room, genius. I could hear you yelling from downstairs." His response was a flat-out lie, but it wasn't like Aoko was actually going to confirm his alibi. He had been downstairs, technically. Just not the "downstairs" area she would have thought first.

"Oh. Well, in that case, sorry."

Kaito caught the dejected look on her face before it quickly disappeared. She was really upset over something. And he had a very good idea of what it could be.

"Oi Aoko, why don't you come over for a little while and save my sanity from this cruel imprisonment? Plus I've got a new trick that I'm itching to try out when school starts up again, but I want to show it you first."

Aoko's sky-blue eyes lit up with enthusiasm as she nodded with a small smile, quickly going back inside her home. The magician chuckled. Silly girl! She was predictable. Nine times out of ten, the subject Aoko would be discussing with him tonight is about KID, how the phantom thief's presence drove her father bonkers, and why the hell did he have to reappear after a nine-year absence.

True to Kaito's word, that was exactly how the rest of the night transpired. After Aoko sweet-talked Chikage into letting Kaito have a visitor for a while, she proceeded to rant about KID and exactly what she thought of his antics. Kaito patiently listened to her, occasionally dropping in his own two cents. Then suddenly, Aoko said something that arrested all of his attention.

"It's not fair! If Edogawa-chan was there, maybe she could have helped Dad catch KID this time. But she hasn't come to the last few heists."

Kaito perked up. Here was a conversation he looked forward to. He felt bad about using his best friend for information, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

"Do you know where she's gone? Your father might know something." The magician asked nonchalantly, subtracting any obvious interest in both his voice and body language from Aoko's perspective.

The brunette shook her head mournfully. "No, Tou-san doesn't know either. He was wondering about the same thing awhile ago, before he left with his colleagues." Aoko then sighed heavily. "If she was still around, then at least Tou-san would not putting in overtime at the office!"

Well, so much for that idea. His latest hope to locating his little critic had been crushed. If even Inspector Nakamori or his daughter had no idea about the KID Killer's disappearance, then it was solely up to Kaito himself to figure it out.

Where are you, Meitantei-chan?

xPFx

On the morning of April 1st, Kaito found a piping hot breakfast on the kitchen island with a small note attached to his hot chocolate. Satisfied that her dear son was more than academically prepared to start his senior year, Chikage decided to resume traveling around the world but warned Kaito if she hears from Aoko that his grades are slipping, the Kuroba matriarch will be back in Japan faster than he can say 'magic'. It was a warning that the Phantom Thief wisely took into serious consideration as he munched on his meal and gulped down the hot chocolate before heading out the door to Ekoda High.

But when Kaito was about to go grab some bread from the school store after Trigonometry class, Aoko stopped him with the butt of a dripping wet mop pressed against his back. She cheerfully asked him to apologize to "Shinichi-chan" unless he wanted to have her father's 'special' seafood dinner when he got off work tonight.

Kaito resisted the urge to shudder at the mortifying threat to his dignity. Damn...finny things.

"Shinichi-chan" was actually Kudo Shinichi, the new student who transferred this morning in his Homeroom and the very same person whose skirt Kaito accidentally flipped during a scuffle with Aoko. As soon as he turned his attention to the young woman, the teen magician noticed that she was actually very pretty (and thankfully not astonishingly gorgeous like a certain red-eyed witch, or else she might place a curse on poor Shinichi-chan for stealing the attention of their male classmates).

In a sense, Shinichi bore a physical resemblance to his childhood friend though upon closer observation there were some differences. Even though Shinichi's hair was the same length, Aoko possessed a lighter shade of brown that the dark coffee color that their new classmate had. Not to mention the latter's tresses were much tamer than Aoko's. Next were their eyes; Shinichi-chan's orbs were dyed a dark shade of indigo, while Aoko had sky-blue ones.

Shinichi stared at him with an odd expression, a mixture of wariness and curiosity. Given to the incident that happened in Akiba-sensei's class, Kaito automatically assumed that was why she seemed a little skittish. Speaking of which, he really should apologize. The class clown didn't want to get off to a bad start. He then held out his hand and smiled at the new student.

"Kuroba Kaito. Pleased to make your acquaintance."

Less than a second passed until she accepted the gesture with a firm handshake of her own. "Kudo Shinichi. And likewise." Kaito chuckled and presented a white tulip to the young woman with a flick of his wrist. "For you. I sincerely apologize for the incident this morning. It was an honest mistake. Also, I really hope that you enjoy your year with us."

Shinichi delicately plucked the peace offering from the magician and twirled it between her fingers before she gave him a dry smile. "Thank you, Kuroba-san. A white tulip, eh? I suppose this would be a literal token of your apology then?"

Kaito was impressed. It was not often he got to meet someone who knew what it meant to give someone a white tulip. He felt the corners of his mouth twist to a cryptic smile. "That's for me and for you to figure out, my dear detective." With a smile and polite bow to both of the girls, he left the classroom to get some lunch.

It looks like this was going to be an interesting semester this year.

Kaito and Shinichi have made their introductions! I wonder how the students will handle the presence of two famous teen sleuths and a world class magician-in-the-making? We will just have to find out, won't we? :) Since Halloween is right around the corner, I thought it would be fitting to feature a jewel that has ties to one of the most well-known authors in Gothic fiction. Please feel free to review or PM me with any questions, comments, or constructive criticism. Thanks to everyone who has favorited, reviewed, and added Paper Faces to their alert lists. The amount of support is astonishing and I truly cannot thank my readers enough.