Ch.15: Lukewarm Meeting

Kaito's first day at Ekoda High had been a tumultuous affair, but his day won't officially end until he gets over the mandatory daily check-in with the inspector.

It was difficult to ignore the scene caused by Akako. Seeing the other girl mumble something to the new transfer student with such a hungry look, Aoko pulled her attention away from Keiko.

"Akako-chan! Stop doing that, jeez!" Like every student that frequented the same class as her, Aoko was familiar with Akako occasionally spouting some cryptic message about their supposedly close-guarded secrets and their futures. But for Kurokawa, he unsurprisingly looked frightened by her strange words.

Akako's red-tinted eyes trailed after Kurokawa as he hurriedly left the room with visible discomfort. A curious smile graced her features when she turned to face Aoko. "What is it, Nakamori-san?"

Puffing a cheek to show her displeasure, Aoko met her gaze. "Why would you scare him off on his first day here? He clearly doesn't know you!"

"But he does. You can say that we're acquaintances from outside of school." She brought a hand up to laugh darkly to herself.

"If you say so." Aoko was not in the position to ask Akako what she meant. It was none of her business what the class beauty was up to outside of school hours. "Even so, you should stop grabbing people and saying weird things out of nowhere. What if Kurokawa-kun takes it the wrong way?"

Despite the warning, Akako seemed indifferent to it. "Don't worry your pretty little head about him. I was simply being helpful by revealing the truth to him."

"Right… See you again after the break then." Having said what she needed to say to her, Aoko strode away to retrieve her lunch. Telling her off felt like a pointless endeavor as Akako was an incorrigible person as far as Aoko knew.

That morning, she had enough time to make both her father and herself some fried pork cutlet sandwiches. With his portion of food made early, this meant that she didn't have to drop it off at his workplace afterschool. A pleasant surprise had then presented itself in the form of her father saying that he would be home early. That small bit of good news kickstarted her day quite nicely.

Speaking of sandwiches, it was the perfect food to eat outside. She wondered if Keiko would want to join her, but her friend was nowhere in sight. With her cloth-wrapped container in hand, she headed out to the halls in search of Keiko. As Aoko passed by a series of windows, her eyes were pulled by a familiar figure walking right outside to the sports field.

It was unusual to see Hakuba going outside to eat, let alone approach someone else. Squinting into the distance, Aoko also recognized that it was the new guy who had taken a seat on the grass. Drawn by the detective's interest in the transfer student, she decided to join in as well. Keiko wouldn't mind her being gone for a bit.

By the time she got within speaking distance, Hakuba had already begun to eat. Noticing her coming over, he pulled the ends of his chopsticks out of his mouth. "Aoko-san, have you come to join us?"

"Yep!" She was suddenly reminded of what she said not long ago. "Aoko just had a talk with Akako-chan and made her promise not to touch Kurokawa-kun without warning and say creepy stuff." It wasn't entirely true given what kind of a person Akako was, but her warning would at least put it in the other girl's mind that she didn't appreciate her harassing the newcomer.

Kurokawa gave her an odd stare before mumbling a word of thanks.

Soon afterwards, Hakuba pointed something out to her wryly. "I believe that Kurokawa-kun here hasn't gotten your name yet, Aoko-san."

"Oh, that's right!" He seemed to be a bit shy, which was expected since he was just introduced to the class that morning. With a bit of time, she felt sure he would warm up to the people around him. And she would be glad to begin that process. "Nakamori Aoko. It's a pleasure to meet you, Kurokawa-kun."

For a moment, the transfer student froze but he eventually replied stiffly. A corner of his lips twitched as he forced a smile. "P-pleased to meet you too, Nakamori-san."

"Calling Aoko by her name is fine." No need for formalities now that they were properly introduced to each other.

Tucking her skirt behind her, she settled down into a more comfortable sitting position. While she undid the knot and unwrapped her lunch box, she looked over at Kurokawa and saw that he had no food in hand. She highly doubted that he had time to eat anything before she sat down with him and Hakuba. "You didn't bring lunch with you, Kurokawa-kun?"

He shook his head as if flustered by her concern. "D-don't worry about me. I can eat later."

From his demeanor, she sensed that he was trying to distance himself from her out of courtesy. Aoko tilted her head down, looking at the three sandwich halves she had neatly packed in the box on her lap. She certainly won't hate losing one of them. With two for herself, there will be no leftovers this time.

Almost as soon as Kurokawa finished muttering his response, she presented one of the sandwiches to him. "Here, have one. Think of it as Aoko's welcome gift!"

Although he thanked her with a timid voice, Aoko still felt happy that he took it off her hand. She let him be on his own when she began to eat. It was always good to let someone breathe and be away from attention, as Aoko didn't want him to feel overwhelmed by her on his very first day. Hopefully, Kurokawa would approach her on his own later and perhaps they could be friends.

Halfway through, Kurokawa decided to head back in. This left Aoko and Hakuba behind, both in the midst of finishing their meal.

Knowing that Kurokawa was out of earshot, Aoko took her chance by asking the detective a question that had been on her mind since the break had started. She wiped off some bits of crumbs left on her bottom lip with a knuckle when she spoke. "Hakuba-kun, are you friends with him? Aoko could see from afar that you were talking a lot before she came by."

"Hm?" Hakuba blinked out of his thoughts. "Not exactly, but I'd like to think we're on decent terms."

His answer left her a little perplexed. Hakuba was rarely talkative with her classmates, so Aoko was curious why he was so friendly with Kurokawa. She could only guess that maybe it was because they were both transfer students.

"Aoko-san."

She was in the middle of closing her food container when Hakuba suddenly called her name in a strangely serious manner. "Did something come to mind?"

"Yes. I'm about to tell you something very important." He had a stern expression, holding his eyes on Aoko with a business-like calm. "Can you promise me not to tell anyone, including Momoi-san?"

"H-huh?" She had seen him like this when on a case or at a heist, but never when he was addressing her. "Um, okay? Aoko promises not to talk about it." Her father was a police officer, and she was planning on joining the force after high school. She knew how to keep secrets and confidential information.

...

To say that she was livid and confused was almost an understatement. Numbly, Aoko dragged her feet as she walked back inside the school building. Hakuba had left her as soon as he was done informing her about… him.

Why? How?

Despite the fact that Hakuba had made her swear to not share it with anyone, she wanted to scream and tear her hair out. Part of her wanted to believe that the detective had told her a joke to yank her chain, but that would be extremely unusual for Hakuba. Plus, the way his eyes had drilled into hers as he spoke conveyed the seriousness of his words.

After dropping the revelation, Hakuba had then explained that her father knew of this fact too—that Kaitou Kid had infiltrated the school under the name of Kurokawa Haneji. When she had asked why, he said that it was to keep Kid under watch and away from stealing. Which begged the question of why the police hadn't just locked him up in a cell. Hakuba was hesitant about answering that particular question, leaving that for the inspector to tell her. All the detective had been willing to say about it was that she had to know since her father was working on something potentially dangerous. By proximity, it could involve her too.

Over and over, pieces of the conversation with Hakuba repeated themselves inside her mind including what she initially had thought about the transfer student.

Right during the last minute before class time resumed, Aoko saw the person in question walk back into the classroom. He made his way towards his desk, which sat directly in front of hers, appearing unaware that she was observing him closely.

Impossible… Him?

She could hardly pay attention to the teacher's lectures while her eyes were focused on the back of Kurokawa's head. Nothing about his demeanor gave her the impression of it belonging to that thief—everything from his posture to the way he calmly focused on the lessons. Absolutely nothing could be attributed to Kid.

Unless…

It was well-known that Kaitou Kid could disguise himself as anyone, even women. Aoko had never seen it herself, but the amount of times she heard her father complain about being unaware of Kid hiding among the police had convinced her of his ability to do so. Kid must be a splendid actor, and putting on the face of a regular student would be well within his capabilities.

For the rest of the day, every minute movement Kurokawa did caught her attention. She tried her best to detect any indication of him being Kid. Yet she grew frustrated when she could find none. If only she could see his face and not just his back, she might be able to read him better.

The sound of the school bell rang, and the school day was over before she could gather any substantial evidence from observing him.

While deliberately taking her sweet time putting her pens and notes away into her school bag, Aoko had one eye trained on Kurokawa. Same as before, he showed no signs of being Kaitou Kid. He neatly packed up everything, pushed his chair in and then left without talking to anyone.

"Aoko!"

"Wh-what?" Aoko straightened up, looking around. "Oh, sorry! Aoko wasn't listening." She had completely forgotten that her friend had been talking to her in the meantime.

Keiko seemed concerned by her distracted state. "Are you okay? You've been spacing out a lot today."

"Aoko is fine!" She internally shot curses at Kid and Hakuba for disrupting her thoughts for the entire day. Her notes were an incomplete mess and her friend had now taken notice of her lapse in focus.

"Hm…" Tilting her head to one side, Keiko then got in closer and whispered into her ear. "Were you looking at the new boy?"

There was no use denying that from her close friend since junior high. "Y-yeah. So?"

"Hee hee!" She pushed up her glasses, a teasing smile appearing on her face. "Is he your type?"

"Ugh…!" Aoko choked on her own saliva as shivers ran up and down her spine. "No." If there weren't other people hanging around, she would have retched too.

Holding her bag with two hands, Keiko pouted. "Why else would you be so entranced by him then?"

"Um, well…" She couldn't explain what Hakuba had told her. After closing her own school bag, she came up with a proper excuse. "W-well, Aoko just thinks that Kurokawa-kun seems…uh, strange? But she can't pinpoint exactly why."

Keiko waited for her to catch up so that they could walk side by side out into the hallways, joining the rest of the students heading to the shoe lockers. "Really? Can you ask him about it? Unless it's something very embarrassing."

"Oh." Her friend had a point. Aoko could have asked Kurokawa if he was Kid or not. But what if he lied or ran away? Maybe he would also think that she was being weird like Akako. Or…"Hakuba-kun! Aoko needs to speak to him again."

"Huh? What does he have to do with—Aoko, slow down!"

Brushing off her friend's plea, Aoko sped up ahead. Her hopes were quickly shot down when she couldn't see Hakuka anywhere near the lockers or the entrance gates. "He must have left already… Crap."

With a backup plan in mind already, Aoko pulled out her phone to scroll around her contact list until she found his name. For a moment, she thought about how she should go about this. She didn't want to accuse him of lying nor did she want to sound stupid for not understanding his words.

I guess I'll just take his words as true until disproved...

Her shoulders drooped as she sighed, leaning back against a locker. Why was she getting so upset over this? By the time she willed herself to move and change her shoes, Keiko caught up with her.

"Aoko, should I be worried? Do you need me to speak on your behalf if I see Hakuba-kun or Kurokawa-kun?"

"No, it's okay. Aoko was just overthinking, that's all. Ha ha…" She tried laughing it off, praying that Keiko would move on to another subject.

Once they split at a crossway, Aoko allowed her mind to return back to Kid. To let herself be so worked up by that thief again had put a serious damper on her mood.

"…Hmph." All this about her father getting into dangerous business... She had to put the blame on Kid. That criminal always brought nothing but trouble in her life, and now he apparently made it worse.

Well, at least her father would be home early for once—the one bright spot in her day. Which meant that she had to cook for two people that evening. This also meant that she could ask him about Kaitou Kid, and what Hakuba had said.

Her shoulders tensed as her thoughts made a full circle, going back to Kid once more. If the new transfer student was really Kid, then the smiles and meekness he displayed back during lunch break must have been all an act.

He had her completely fooled, but not anymore.

The girl should arrive home in less than half an hour according to his estimation.

After setting the kickstand down, Kaito left his motorbike parked several blocks away from his actual destination. He quickly ducked behind a tree, and proceeded to take off his glasses and the uniform blazer. Replacing those items with a plain cap and a varsity jacket he had stuffed inside his school bag, he felt more comfortable travelling on foot out in the open through the unfamiliar neighborhood.

Once he tossed his bag behind his bike, he walked back out with his hands inside his pockets. While he strolled down the sidewalk, Kaito drew up a rough map within his mind. The roads to Nakamori's place of residence happened to be on the way between the school and his own house. Hence, there would be no need for a long detour when he headed back home but he wouldn't call the journey short either.

Unlike the neighborhood his house was located in, this place sat closer to the main roads. From where he stood, he heard the echoing traffic and saw the shopping district buildings sticking out behind a row of houses and apartments. This was a stark contrast from the quiet streets he grew up in.

Just ahead, he recognized a parked car as belonging to the inspector. It didn't take long for him to arrive at the foot of the two story house, which stood by itself near a play area littered with forgotten toys and miscellaneous sports equipment.

Adding a more determined pace to his steps, he strolled up to the doorbell and pressed on it.

A good few minutes passed, and yet there was no response. Simply tapping his foot no longer pushed down his unease at standing there without purpose. His head drooped with a sigh. Currently, there was nothing that stopped him from letting himself in.

Rustling through his pockets, he pulled out his keys. While pretending to insert one of them into the lockset, he let the hidden lockpicks inside his sleeves slip out. A simple enough task, as he made quick work and the door's mechanism unlocked with a metallic click.

When he entered, he listened for some noise that could indicate if anyone was inside. "Inspector?" Still no response, which contradicted the fact that he saw the man's car parked nearby. Seeing no problem with having a look around, Kaito left his shoes next to several other pairs in the entry hall before stepping in.

What greeted him first was a decent-sized living room with the kitchen area and dining table laid out just beyond it. He passed through it, sweeping his eyes over the place. Upon getting closer to the kitchen, he saw colourful magnets clinging onto the fridge that held up clumsy crayon drawings sticking out from beneath old reminder notes. Most of them are made up of appointment dates, important events, and recipes. He even saw a few that were addressed directly to Inspector Nakamori, the ones that seemed angry or had small doodles on them being some of his favorites.

Eventually, his eyes traveled towards the dining table. What drew his gaze were the multitude of open folders and papers strewn randomly over the surface. Unable to resist, Kaito peered down at them with his hands held behind his back.

From the print layout, they looked pretty official. He reached out and moved some of the paper aside to read over more. The contents appeared to be complaints about product deliveries never arriving or addresses provided on information websites not existing. By the looks of it, the inspector had been ordered to return to work on fraud cases since Kaitou Kid was presumably dead. All of this was for outside appearances.

The further he read, the more the pieces began to fit together and formed the outline of the cases. Kaito pushed a chair out the way so he could stand at a more comfortable viewing angle. Amongst the reports laid out, there was even one that involved suspicions of donation fund misuse after a charity event. Engaging as they were compared to what he had read during class hours, Kaito had to pause when he heard the sound of the front door opening up. Heavy steps followed afterwards before the door closed up with a thump.

"Hm? Who's—" Nakamori mumbled before stopping upon realizing something, which Kaito assumed was the man noticing an extra pair of shoes. A soft curse was let out, and then the inspector hurriedly rushed out of the entryway. His eyes immediately pointed themselves at Kaito who remained standing by the table, smiling at the sight of the man's goggle-eyed face.

"You weren't answering the door so I let myself in, Inspector. Habits are hard to break." He gathered all of the papers he was reading into a pile in front of him.

Nakamori blinked a few times then recomposed himself. "I, uh, didn't think you would show up this early, Kid."

"Mm-hm." While the man approached, Kaito let his grin fade away as he continued arranging the report files. With all of them in hand, he tapped the pile against the flat surface to put them neatly together. "Sorry, I got bored waiting. These aren't anything super confidential, I assume?"

"N-no, just some small cases that my supervisor gave me to oversee."

Without replying, he thumbed through the papers to distribute them back on the dinner table. One by one, each sheet fell into their respective group, sorted by separate incidents. Once he got done rearranging the content of the files, Kaito pulled down the brim of his cap.

When he reached the dining area of the house, Nakamori saw that he had tidied his workspace up. "Oh. Thanks."

"Of course." Over his time spent as Kid, he had learnt that things tended to play out better during moments of uncertainty if he made use of his nighttime alter ego's famed confidence. "As an inspector of Division Two, these should be simple cases. You were done with them, yes?"

"Ha? I-I mean, yeah. I was just taking a break, y'know? Certainly tedious compared to what I normally do…" Nakamori huffed, rubbing his chin with his wrist as he looked elsewhere.

"Good, because I was about to offer some insight before I leave but it seems like you don't need my help." At the sight of Nakamori's face shifting from an air of dismissal to full attentiveness in a split second, Kaito smirked. "Or maybe you do?"

"...and for this one, you could have someone compare the web addresses when you check the links. Also pay attention to the delivery fee charges on the checkout section."

"I see, I see." Nakamori nodded along to Kid's suggestions, quickly noting them down inside his pocket notebook. Truth be told, he had grown rusty from lack of practice lately. It didn't help that technology had advanced so much since he last had to deal with a sales fraud.

Pausing to take a glimpse at Kid, Nakamori saw that the boy was intently looking through the papers. "I-is this even remotely interesting to you?"

Kid chuckled, putting down the sheets. "No. Anyone who enjoys reading through these, I would call them insane."

"You sure look invested though." Not needing to write anything down anymore, Nakamori slipped the pen and notebook back inside his jacket.

"Do I? Well…" He flipped the folders closed before staring at nowhere in particular. "They were neat little puzzles. It gave me something else to think about."

An image of Hakuba rose up inside Nakamori's mind upon hearing him labeling the cases as 'puzzles'. "Have you, uh, considered being a consultant for the police?"

"Me?" When he received the question, Kid's head turned to look at him with eyes wide beneath the brim of his cap. His gaze faltered after a moment of contemplation. "... I can't."

"A-all right, I guess I'll hold off on that idea." Nakamori wondered if he had stepped out of bounds and touched a sensitive topic. Demanding Kid to help them with their current problem was already a miracle in itself, and asking him to cooperate outside of that matter could've been a bit too much. From Nakamori's perspective, he had to find a way to keep Kid on the straight and narrow as both the inspector and the adult responsible for him. Such a shame, having someone with his talents in the police would be—

"But I'll keep that in mind." Kid walked away from the table, heading for the entranceway to make his leave. "...Thanks for inviting me over."

"Oh." The way Kid had suddenly said that and went off left him a bit stunned. "Um, you can come by again if you wish."

With a curt nod, the boy reached the corridor where his shoes were laid out with the rest. Just when Kid got done slipping them on, the jingling of keys from outside made both of them freeze. Nakamori heard a click of the tongue from Kid as he stood back up straight and looked back at him.

"What's wrong?" Nakamori walked over with raised brows from seeing him alerted by the sound. "It should just be my daughter. Well, you've met her today, right?"

Kid shot him a blank look, but the click of the front door unlocking drew his eyes away. The boy seemingly sighed in defeat before sucking a breath to recompose himself, just in time for Aoko to walk in with a sullen face.

"I'm home… Huh? Who—Waaagh!" She squealed in shock when she noticed Kid standing there from across the entryway.

She must be shocked to see a boy show up uninvited at her house after school. Nakamori craned his neck to speak to her from behind Kid. "Ah, Aoko. This is—"

What he did not expect was for her eyes to darken like a thunderstorm, drilling into Kid with cold rage. Her hands reached towards the umbrella stand tucked in the corner with surprising speed.

Improvised weapon in hand, she charged at Kid. "Get. Out. Now!" She swung overhead, aiming for the top of Kid's head.

He pressed his body to the side against the wall, making use of his agility. Her swing missed, but she recovered soon enough. The corridor wasn't wide enough for her to whip the folded umbrella around wildly. Taking his chance, Kid sidestepped one more time to slip behind her and almost escaped cleanly.

"Grr!" Aoko had her target locked on. As if her umbrella were a fencing sword, she swiftly spun around and thrusted the pointed end straight between his shoulder blades right as he was about to step outside. The force behind it was enough to cause Kid to stumble out of the house with a broken yelp.

"And stay out!" She yelled before slamming the door, her shoulders heaving.

During the entire few seconds long skirmish, Nakamori watched with his jaw open wide. Aoko had a temper much like his own, but this episode was especially frightening. "A-Aoko, what—Eep!"

Eyes like daggers, she pivoted around with the umbrella pointing at him now. "I want to know what the hell is going on here!"

"Look, just put it down, okay?" He raised his hands, backing up a step. "I-I can explain."

"You better!" After taking a few breaths, she went over to the stand and shoved the umbrella back into it.

Meanwhile, he pressed a hand to his chest in relief that she had somewhat calmed down. He hoped that Kid wasn't injured by Aoko on the way out. "Wh-why did you freak out like that anyways?" She normally really enjoyed it when classmates and friends came over to visit.

In the middle of arranging her shoes, she looked up at him as if he had just spoken in an alien language. "Why?! Dad, that was Kaitou Kid, god damn it! Inside Aoko's house too! He—" A thought crossed her mind. "Wait. You didn't know?"

"Huh? Of course I knew. I—" He was scratching his head when he too paused from a fact that had just occurred to him. "Hold on, how did you know?"

"Hakuba-kun told Aoko." A scowl remained on her expression as she stomped past him to set her school bag on the coffee table.

"He did?! But—" Groaning, Nakamori brought two hands to his face and dragged them downwards. And here he thought that Kid's presence at Ekoda was supposed to be top secret. "That damned detective brat…"

"Stop bad-mouthing him behind his back, Dad." She walked over to the kitchen and opened the fridge to grab a can of juice.

"Hmph. He deserves it, I'd say. Nobody outside of the task force and the Superintendent General are supposed to know about Kid." He followed after her to the dining area, wanting to collect his work material to give her the table space for her school assignments. "Don't share this with anyone else at school, Aoko. I mean it. It's important."

"Aoko has already promised Hakuba-kun to not speak. And what do you mean by that anyways? Don't tell me…" Still in a foul mood, she pulled the tab on the can. "...The police are allowing this?!"

"Yes, that's the gist of it."

Her fingers around the can twitched before she took one long, angry drink. "I—Ugh, why? He should be in jail, Dad! Why are you guys working with a damn criminal? Has the world gone mad without Aoko realizing it?"

Papers tucked beneath an arm, he pulled at his collar to loosen it a bit now that their guest was gone. "It's…complicated. We're dealing with a problem bigger than what Kid's causing, to put it shortly."

"Hakuba-kun mentioned something like that too. That you were getting involved with dangerous stuff." Her lips formed a thin line. "Did that stupid thief drag you into his troubles?"

"Wha—No, it's a broader problem. Some secret organization or something, that's all we know so far." Police intel on the group was limited to what Hakuba knew, along with trace evidence found at heists from an unknown party. As for what information Kid had, Nakamori had tried to force it out during the former's stay at the hospital with little success. "Look, the boy is not that bad, Aoko. You should—"

She almost spat out her drink. Her death glare returned in full force as her hand squeezed the empty aluminum can until its shape resembled an apple core. "He is fooling you! You're falling for his tricks again!"

"Uh, I am?"

"Have you forgotten who he is?!" After tossing the can into a bin with other empty bottles, she glowered at him with her arms crossed. "Kid could be putting on a friendly face to sucker you all in and use you guys to solve his problems for him! Have you ever considered that?"

"I-I mean…" Logically, that would fall within the realm of possibilities. However, Kaitou Kid was not that kind of person from his experience. "Sure, he was a pain to deal with before but now we're practically working against a common enemy."

Aoko sighed in clear disappointment. "Why are you siding with him? What happened to being the head inspector of the Kaitou Kid Task Force, Dad? All that time and effort spent chasing after him, only to let him run around free…"

He was taken aback by the sight of her appearing sad when she finished her sentence. "Is there something else that's bothering you?"

"Aoko can't forgive him."

"And you don't have to." He rested a hand on her shoulder. "I know how much you dislike Kid, but we can't send him anywhere else outside of our watch." And who would know where he went if he ran away and caused more trouble.

The pout on her face eased a little, but the frowning remained. "He wasted both of our time and the police's. They spent so much energy trying to catch him, and all they got was nothing but wasted breaths and a more dangerous job. It's not fair."

Although her words touched him, Nakamori tried to come up with an explanation other than saying that he wished things were that simple. Personally, he wanted to blame the original Kaitou Kid for hinting at nothing related to this mess happening in the background at all. If it was possible, then he'd go to the man's grave and pull him up by the collar to rattle some senses into him. "All I can say is that I'm still doing what I think is right. I'm not being forced by Kid or the Superintendent General, okay?"

"Fine, if you say so." But her expression was one of swallowing bitter medicine.

Damn, he was never good at dealing with teenagers when they got sulky and he couldn't heft the problem onto somebody else in this case. "C'mon, don't make that face. Let's talk about something else. Like, uh… "

"All right." A small grin showed up from his attempt to cheer her up. "How about you help Aoko with cooking this time?"