Amongst all the injuries he would expect getting during Kaitou Kid's heists, Nakamori would never think of being poisoned. Bruises to his body and ego from the thief's pranks and the subsequent chase? Sure. But being put in danger because of an assassin was low on his ranking of possibilities.
One moment he was sitting on a bench with his wife watching Aoko play at the park, the next moment he was rudely awakened out of his pleasant memories by a sharp pain to his temple. Nakamori nearly fell on his behind from the lurching difference between the scene at the peaceful park playground and the top floor hotel lobby. His brain had barely enough time to shake off the stupor when Kid made his leave after standing so close in front of him. God, he should have slapped handcuffs on the thief when he had the chance…
But the shocking news he received afterwards made him momentarily forget about the assassin dubbed 'Spider'. Upon hearing that the men he had positioned up on the rooftop were found gravely injured, Nakamori stopped his search for Kid and focused on calling for medical help.
After summoning a medical crew to the heist location, Nakamori couldn't recall exactly what happened. The way everything around him swayed and distorted made him believe that he was in a dream. When he finally found himself truly awake, he was no longer inside the hotel's top floor.
"Ooh… Where the hell am I?" Those were the first words the inspector groaned as blinked to unblur his vision.
A voice appeared. "Inspector Nakamori? How are you feeling?"
"Huh?" Nakamori turned his head and saw a uniformed paramedic standing in front of him with a clipboard in hand. He looked around and realized that he was sitting at the back of an ambulance. "Oh! I feel fine now, I just want to go back home."
Nodding, the paramedic scribbled down some notes on his papers. "Alright. You said that you were poisoned when you called, but it seems like the effects have cleared away now. I would still recommend getting yourself checked at the hospital."
"Poisoned? How long have I been out for?" Nakamori honestly could not remember what he said over the phone or how he made his way out of the hotel.
"About fifteen minutes. We already have the seriously injured officers sent away to the police hospital. The rest are being treated on-site right now."
He took a sharp intake when he recalled that two of his task force members were found critically injured on the rooftop. Nakamori got up to his feet with no problem. "I have to go. Thank you, sir."
The medic blinked at the inspector's sudden burst of energy. "Where are you going, Inspector?"
"To check on Yamawari and Hatsumoto. What kind of inspector would I be if I didn't?" Nakamori walked away to head towards his car, which was parked alongside the handful of ambulances and police cruisers lining the street.
As their leader, he had the responsibility to be there to talk if any family or friends were to visit the injured officers. Those men were following his orders and were hurt because they listened to his commands.
It was only when Nakamori entered his car and caught sight of the rear view mirror, that he saw the bandaging on the side of his head. A thick gauze pad was taped to where the scratch was and there was some dried blood still clinging to his face. A bit of red was still seeping out from his wound.
The man winced as he saw his reflection but not out of pain. Even now, he could barely feel any hint that there was a scratch on his face. The initial pain he felt when he got the wound only indicated that it was shallow and nothing to worry about. It must have been numbed afterwards to some extent. And the following dizziness and the gap in his memories…it wasn't hard to believe that he had been poisoned by something nasty.
When Nakamori arrived at the hospital, the two injured officers were wheeled to a recovery room. Thankfully, they were given a good prognosis and expected a full recovery due to the protective gear they wore at the time. As for what caused it, the inspector was going to launch an investigation on it.
Words from the paramedic echoed in his head, reminding him to get himself examined just in case. Nakamori would usually tough it out and ignore the advice, but after seeing the effects from just a small scratch, he decided to heed for once.
One blood test later, Nakamori found himself waiting outside in the corridors for a doctor to come by for a basic checkup. The toxicology lab would have the blood test results by tomorrow.
Heist nights were hectic but this one in particular was a disaster. Injured task force members, poisoning, an assassin. The blond detective that followed him regularly in heists knew about the weirdo that dropped in uninvited. He was going to question Hakuba about it as soon as he- Speak of the devil…
Passing by hurriedly across the hallway was the teen detective himself. Not missing the opportunity, Nakamori strutted towards him and called out. "Hakuba-kun, we need to talk." Another thought then struck him. "Why are you here anyways? Were you hurt too?"
Hakuba seemed oddly relieved at seeing him. "Ah, Inspector. I was looking for you actually. And no, I am unhurt."
"You were looking for me?"
"Yes. As you are the head inspector of the Kaitou Kid Task Force, I believe that you have the right to know about this."
A crease formed between the man's eyebrows. What could this be about? Hakuba then led him away to a quiet corner where nobody was nearby to eavesdrop. It was unusual for the detective to be so wary of outside listeners when they were not at a heist.
"Inspector Nakamori, what I'm about to tell you must stay between us and your most trusted police officers."
"Okay? Just tell me already." The suspense and roundabout way of speaking from the detective really annoyed him. He was an impatient man by nature.
"Kaitou Kid is being treated at this hospital right now."
Time froze when he heard that. Kid? Right here at this very moment? How? Why? So many questions bounced around his mind. He wanted to scream incoherently but out of respect for the setting and Hakuba's request for secrecy, Nakamori simply held his breath until he was red in the face and calmed down.
"H-how is he?" That was the question he thought would be best to ask first.
Hakuba replied with a grim expression. "I asked the doctors and they said that they are still trying to control the bleeding. The deep puncture wounds are making it difficult."
"B-bleeding? You mean, like what happened to me?" Nakamori pointed at the bandaging on his head.
The blond nodded. "That is correct. Although, I must say that you were very fortunate unlike Kid. I found him somewhere nearby behind the hotel just in the nick of time."
Nakamori gulped, fearing the worst. "But how?! Is it that red eyed assassin?"
"I'm afraid it is. This is why I must ask you to hold off on arresting Kid while he's in custody. There is no telling if the assassin and his group will come back in full force to finish the job. We must keep his condition and whereabouts secret. Additionally, he might be an important witness for my case."
Listening to Hakuba handing him serious information with such conviction gave the man whiplash. "Wh-what?! A group? There are more of them trying to kill Kid and I didn't know about it?! And what do you mean by 'case'?!"
Hakuba looked taken aback by the inspector's outburst but regained his composure in a matter of milliseconds. "I suggest that you do not yell these facts out loud, Inspector. You will know everything in due time, but for now, I must leave. I have some things that I would like to analyze at my uncle's lab."
The teen turned around. Just then, Nakamori noticed the sports bag Hakuba had been carrying with him. It didn't look like it would fit his usual formal style. Nakamori pointed at the bag as he asked. "Hakuba-kun, what's in there?"
"Oh, it contains vital evidence from tonight's heist and incriminating proof that who I found was truly Kaitou Kid."
Outrage shot through the inspector again. "Then why didn't you hand it over?!"
This time, Hakuba barely batted an eye at the man's temper. "I will at a later time, but for now I'll keep it with me in case things don't go as planned. Good night, Inspector."
Nakamori's lower eyelids twitched as he silently watched the blond make his leave. Frankly, he was getting tired of teenage detectives acting like he couldn't be trusted to do his job as an inspector. Hakuba wanted the fact that Kaitou Kid had been captured to be kept secret? Fine, he'll do it. Later, however, Nakamori was going to interrogate the brat for every ounce of information, and if that detective thinks he could get away with interfering with the law then he is going to be so wrong.
Only the voice of a nurse calling the inspector's name snapped him out of his fuming thoughts. After a quick checkup with a physician, Nakamori was deemed healthy enough to go home. Although he was glad, he felt the urge to stay a while longer. There was something he had to check before he could sleep soundly tonight.
Recalling what Hakuba had said to him, Kid should be in a private ward on the upper floors. Surely enough, he spotted a section guarded by a few familiar faces. The Kid task force officers saluted upon seeing the inspector approaching them.
"Sir, we were put here at the superintendent general's request."
Nakamori blinked, baffled by the news. He then quickly remembered that the superintendent general was the blond detective 's father. "I see. Is K- I mean, the patient in that room?"
"They just wheeled him in to recover from surgery. Um…if I may ask, Inspector Nakamori?"
"Yes, Yoshimura-kun?"
"Sir, who is it that we're guarding? The superintendent general has not told us at all."
For a moment, the inspector wondered if he should inform the officers present at the moment. Nakamori trusted his men to be able to carry the burden of knowing something that can't be repeated anywhere else. "This stays between you guys, me, and Hakuba-kun. Do not let anyone outside in on this unless me or that detective allows it."
Hearing that, the small handful of task force members stared at each other before forming a huddle to listen in on the supposed top secret information their leader was about to lay out. This was common during heists when they were formulating strategies.
Nakamori cleared his throat. "Anyways, the patient inside there should be Kaitou Kid. Hakuba-kun has told me he was a patient here."
The man named Yoshimura, who had been in the team since the formation of the task force, looked shocked. "W-what? This has to be some kind of mistake!"
"Huh?" The inspector had expected the men to be baffled by the news, but not to the point of doubting their higher ups.
"H-he looked young, almost like Hakuba-kun's age."
Another officer chimed in. "Yoshimura-san is right! We all saw a glimpse when the doctors were moving him back to the recovery room."
"That's impossible…" Nakamori got up and pushed the officers aside to open the sliding door. He had to see for himself to believe it. Maybe there was a mixup between patients. There had to be.
Inside the room, a nurse and a doctor pair were setting up the necessary array of monitoring equipment and IV drips. They turned their heads to look at the intrusion. The doctor walked up to Nakamori. "Are you perhaps the inspector?"
"Yes, and that's…?" He pointed at the bed behind the elderly man with a limp finger.
Stepping aside to speak to Nakamori, the doctor shook his head. "We weren't informed about the identity of the patient and were told not to disclose about his location or presence at the hospital. If it's about the identity of the patient, you can do that later, Inspector. I don't want you to disturb him while he is resting."
But the doctor's words barely reached Nakamori's ears. Lying still on the bed was a teenager that looked to be the same age as his own daughter. Seeing the even pallor and the cold sweat forming on his skin, there was no way a mask was present.
He tried to keep his voice calm and professional. "Doctor, a-are you absolutely certain that there was no mistake? Was there a detective with him when he arrived here?"
"A detective…?"
The younger nurse understood what Nakamori meant. "You mean the blond boy? That would be Hakuba Saguru, right? Then, yes. He was present at the time of the patient's arrival."
Her senior next to her nodded to confirm her statement. "Indeed."
The inspector felt a headache rising. He had believed Kaitou Kid to be around his own age at the very least. Who has he been chasing for the past twenty years? Unless… There was more than one Kid?
He knew about the time gap of eight years, and yet Kid's style and skills were almost identical to the one from long ago. It couldn't be just a rabid fanboy doing cosplay. The new Kaitou Kid had to be apprenticed by the original. Apart from years of waiting, the transition between the old and new was nearly seamless. Without any stark differences between the first Kid and the second one, it fooled everyone including Nakamori.
Even if Kid was apprehended at last, the inspector didn't feel like celebrating. There was a strange mix of disappointment and confusion. Nakamori threw one last glance at the boy resting in the bed. He wanted answers but he knew he would receive none by standing there. After a day of heist preparations, a near death experience with an assassin, and dealing with his newfound knowledge about Kid, Nakamori just wanted to go back home. It had been a long night for everyone involved.