A/N: I finally managed to finish this and decide which sources to use for canon. The order of Magic Kaito will be the same than in the manga but the dialogue and some details on the side I'm taking from the Magic Kaito 1412 anime. Because honestly at this day and age the original manga is cringe worthy.
The fourth file: Year of Magic
Sub-file one: Reappearance of Kaitou Kid
Shugo and Yamato moved to Tokyo not long after helping out the FBI. Well, helping was a bit wrong word for the situation. They helped the agents to get out of the warehouse alive(it went up in flames the next morning) and back to States. But also hindered them from any contact with the Organization. It was subtle, but Shugo also struck the FBI database about the case and made sure there was no intelligence mention of Yamato and gleaned some more information from them and their operational methods in general. Thankfully it seemed that Akai had kept his mouth shut about Shugo and Yamato both.
Moreover, Shugo used purposefully the cues of 'Green-5' behind instead of Hibiki. Hibiki was a ghost. Midori-go was a public annoyance who taunted anyone who managed to glimpse him and his doings. Be it a privately owned corporation, the FBI or even the Ministry of Defense. Both names were infamous in the circles that had heard of them but for different reasons.
Nevertheless, the pair left Osaka behind about as soon as Shugo had his junior high diploma in his hands. Most of their stuff had been moved to their new apartment in Ekoda already so they could just back the rest into Yamato's new dark grey second generation Toyota Previa (called Estima in Japan) and drive to Tokyo. The new address was left to Eisuke, the Hattori family and the Toyama's. It was also sent to Tatsuo Akira and of course to Kudou Yukiko too.
And Shugo ended up surprising Kaito when they met at the school yard on the first school day.
"Shugo!" The shout echoed on the yard and the boy froze in mid-motion of running his hand through his recently cut hair. Apparently keeping it on a short ponytail was no appropriate for boys. Side locks had been also cut a year ago by the courtesy Haruoka Kaori.
"Ah, Kai-chan!" Shugo turned around, greeting his long-time friend with a smile on his face.
"What are you doing here?! Last I heard, you were in Osaka!" The aspiring magician asked with voice that was gaining quite the high pitch. It definitely gained a bit stares.
"What does it look like?" Shugo deadpanned. "Let's see. I'm standing in front of a high school. It's that first day of school. I'm wearing the school uniform of the school in question. Gee, I wonder what I might be doing here." The boy gestured the gakuran identical to the one Kaito wore.
"You are going to be your high school years here?" That was definitely a high pitched one exclamation.
"Yes. I'm back to Tokyo and staying here."
"That's so great! I can't wait to tell okaa-san and introduce you to Aoko."
"Aoko? Is she your girlfriend?"
"What? No! She is just a neighbor."
"Okay, okay…" Shugo laughed. "Shall we go and see if we are on the same class?"
Nine years. It was amazing to think that it had been around nine years since Shugo had come to this world. Time seemed to have flown and now he'd almost caught up. Just one more year before the never-ending year during which Tsukiko would arrive.
High school was nice. Definitely different than what Shugo was used to as Lari back in his world and in his home country, Finland, but the years in the Japanese school system had made him to adjust. And it was great that he still remembered a lot of the curriculum he learned back then so he could still keep ahead of other students and concentrate on… some extra-curricular activities.
"Oi, Kuroba… Which club have you thought of joining?" Shugo asked, leaning back in his chair. He was seated on the row before Kaito and Aoko, one spot away from the window. It meant he was diagonally in front of the young magician and thus making it easier to chat when possible.
"Ah… I haven't really thought about joining… Sports don't interest me and culture clubs are sort of meh…" Kaito replied, scratching the back of his head. "What about you?"
"Hmm… In my previous school I was in Kyudo club. I'm thinking of joining the one here too." Shugo shrugged. It wasn't a big deal really. And he'd definitely would stay away from the IT club.
"Kyudo? You any good then?"
"I've been in competitions. And done quite well in them." Well, as in being in the top ten of entire Kansai area right from his first competitions. And Shugo had only improved during the past years.
"That's cool. You have to show me some day."
"Sure." Shugo smiled but turned then to face the blackboard as the next lesson was about to begin.
It was only two weeks into the school year when the first news came. Kaitou Kid had reappeared. Shugo found it really amusing how the entire school was buzzing with the news.
"Aoko! Did you see the news?" Girls of their class had gathered around the desk of one Nakamori Aoko. The girl was nice, if a pity naïve and childish which was only accentuated by the way she spoke. But she was really strong also and damnably smart.
"About Kaitou Kid, you mean? Yeah, I saw." Aoko replied because how could she not know about him with the obsession her father had with the thief.
"Yeah. Isn't he the coolest?" Keiko smiled while other girl gushed and squealed something incomprehensible. Shugo had to suppress a snort. It wouldn't do him any favors to scorn the girls sitting directly behind him.
"But you know I'm cooler, right? Good morning, Aoko." Kaito's voice spoke up from behind the girl's. Aoko turned around in her seat, finding the magician boy leaning over her shoulder and thus quite close to her face..
"Kaito… Good morning."
Crick, crick, crick… The dummy's neck started to turn.
"K-Kaito?" Aoko asked in confusion.
"What… color… is it today?" The head had now done one-eighty turn befor settling back to normal position. And then confetti burst from the neck and the dummy shot the head in the air. It landed on Aoko's desk while the real Kaito was standing on his hands and peeking underneath the desk.
"White. How appropriate…" Kaito sniggered and duly encountered the wrath of Inspector's daughter.
"Kaito, you…"
"Hey, hey… Don't 'anata' me so casually. I don't want anyone thinking we're a married couple." Kaito interjected, making Aoko's face flush.
"'Married'? Like I'd want that either!" And a chair went flying at the boy. Shugo sighed as the lesson began along with the chase around the room. While the teacher did try to get them back to form with impromptu math problems, they both answered correctly to. Then a 'magic trick' that made the whole class laugh at Aoko and finally. The boy escaped to the ceiling, the girl threatened him with a mop.
"Even you can't outdo Kaitou Kid!" Aoko declared.
"Kaitou Kid?" Kaito repeated.
"The thief who uses magic tricks. Don't you know?"
"He was at the top of his fame around eight years ago before disappearing. As of yesterday, he has reappeared. Of course it's possible that this one is a fake but…" Shugo explained. Kaito just smirked and then laughed mockingly.
"Some nobody calling himself Kaitou Kid wouldn't stand a chance against me!" He pointed at himself, fell from the ceiling and pulled a mask over his classmate's(Yamada's) face thus giving Aoko a new target while he slipped to the other side of the class, next to their teacher Kanno.
"If all you've got are cheap tricks, you won't stand a chance against Kaitou Kid!"
"Well, excuse me for using such cheap tricks!" Kaito shouted at the girl. Shugo narrowed his eyes.
"Low blow, Nakamori." He tensed, ready to defend his friend even if he had a feeling Kaito could fare well himself.
"What? How?" Aoko gaped while Kaito's unfortunate victim Yamada pulled the mask off.
"Sounds interesting. Looks like I'll have to have a showdown with this so-called Kaitou Kid." The young magician smiled and tossed a pack of cards in the air. (Which revealed a message about their math teacher's panties that were blue today.)
"Kuroba-kun, that is not-…" Kanno began.
"Sensei, due to the dawning of an important mission, I, Kuroba Kaito, must take an early leave." KAito kissed the back of their teacher's hand before turning to address the rest of the class. "Catching some two-bit wacko con-man will be a walk in the park."
And he made his escape through the window. Shugo watched him go, before sighing and grabbing Kaito's school bag and drawing it closer to his seat. It seemed that he'd had a job in getting it back to the other boy after school.
"Well, good that I know where he lives."
"Today at 23:54. Eye of the Moon. Ono bank." Shugo spoke aloud when climbing in Kaito's room through the window. The owner of the room jumped slightly from his place on the floor where he watched the news from his computer.
"Shugo! What are you doing here?" The messy haired boy demanded. Shugo simply lifted their school bags on the floor and slipped inside.
"What does it look like I'm doing? Helping you of course!" Shugo half-snapped. "Someone has to watch your back and since I'm here now, I thought… why not?"
"…Thanks, Shugo."
"You're welcome."
"Nee, Shugo… You said that Kaitou Kid disappeared eight years ago."
"Yes." Shugo nodded, observing his friend carefully for any cues of where this conversation would go. He positioned the two schoolbags by the table in the room and approached the young magician sitting at the desk.
"That's when oyaji died." Kaito muttered, his thoughts drifting to Aoko's words.
"Nakamori-san was way out of line today."
"I don't care. She can say and think whatever she wants to." Kaito turned around in his chair and made his way then to the portrait hanging on the wall. Shugo remembered it being there when they were kids. Though he bet it didn't have the trap door mechanism in it just yet. "There is only one magician in the world who's got me beat."
"Yeah, your father, Kuroba Toichi, was a great magician." Shugo nodded, stuffing his hands to the pockets of his school uniform. "You learnt everything from him and then perfected it all during these years."
"Poker face…" Kaito whispered. "You got an impressive one too, Shugo."
Shugo gave a crooked smile. It was true. During the past year he'd come used to lying and concealing his emotions from certain people and in certain situations. It was hard for people to know what he was actually thinking.
Clack
The portrait turned just slightly, startling the two teens and catching their attention.
"Huh?" Kaito reached out.
"Oi, Kai-chan, be-…"
"Yiaaah!" Kaito fell to the other side of the picture, making it rotate rapidly in the aftermath.
"… careful." Shugo sighed and followed his friend with a lot more grace, finding ladders to use for his descend.
"What is this place?!" Kaito gasped from his seat in an armchair. Shugo looked around too. There was a beautiful white car, magic props, costumes and different sort of knick-knacks… And a jukebox full of recordings from Kuroba Toichi to his son Kaito. And the mechanics of how everything worked and could actually work after almost a decade… Shugo really itched to see how everything was set up.
The jukebox lit up and the first disc was lifted to play.
"It's been a long time, Kaito…" Toichi's voice greeted the boys. "Kaito, I'm going to teach you what it takes to be a magician. First off, do you know the most important part of being a magician?"
It was strange that the recording stopped to that but while Kaito pondered the answer to the question, a wardrobe rose from the floor. Its doors opened to reveal…
"Th-This is…" Kaito got on his feet and picked up the cane that rolled out of the wardrobe. After testing it a bit, the cane morphed into a hang glider. "This looks like…"
"Whoa! Your father had a proper bat cave here!" Shugo interrupted then, approaching astonished Kaito with steady steps. "I wonder how everything fits since this is sort of where your garage is but much more spacious…"
"Shugo… Do you… Did you know anything about…" Kaito began but shut up then, not sure what to actually ask.
"Whatever questions you have… I'm sure you'll find answers when meeting with Kaitou Kid." Shugo stated. "And whatever you decide afterwards, I'll be there with you all the way."
Kaito glanced at the floor and then at the costume stored in the box in front of him.
"Oyaji… What an earth where you…" He muttered but spoke out then. "You're right, Shugo. I'll bet I'll unravel it all if I find this Kaitou Kid." The brunet pulled on the white suit jacket and the cape. Shugo picked up the top hat and offered it to his friend.
"Do you want me to drive you? Yamato-san has been giving me lessons." And how lucky was that? Lari hadn't started learning when the shift to other dimension had happened and even if he had, Finland had right side traffic while Japan had left side.
"Sure." Kaito smiled fully for the first time after hearing about Kaitou Kid. "Let's see how Kuroba Toichi's last magic trick went… and figure out this mystery!" The card gun was lock and loaded. Shugo changed into a men's suit found in the bat cave (Kid cave?) and pulled a mailboy cap to shadow his face. The keys to the car were found from the glove box and it seemed that the tank was filled too.
"Let's go then, Kaito the Kid." Shugo smirked at his best friend who smiled back.
Juu.
Kyuu.
Hachi.
Nana.
Roku.
Go.
Yon.
San.
Ni.
Ichi.
"Zero." Kaito whispered from his perch on the roof while the fake-Kid (Jii Kounosuke) cut the lights from the exhibition room. Mere minutes later the old man had climbed to the roof while the dummy fell down on top of one of the police cars. Shugo watched it all from the car parked just beyond the cordoned off area while listening to what Kaito was doing through the radio.
"Dropping the dummy while climbing up to the roof. That's an old trick. If that's all you got, then you're not worthy of the name Phantom Thief!"
There seemed to be a bit of distance since Shugo couldn't hear the whatever response.
"I've been waiting for you, Kaitou Kid-chan."
At that statement, Shugo had to suppress snort as to not distract Kaito. Then…
"Ghak."
"What is it Kaito?" Shugo pressed his hand against the ear piece. "Listen whatever it is, stay calm. Poker face like your father used to say, alright?"
"I know…" Kaito whispered back. There was a pause, a deep breath and then Kaito burst out in laughing. "You must be joking. A trick like that is mere child's play!"
Wind blew. Steps closed in. Card gun fired once. And…
"Covering yourself in mirrors and blending in with your surroundings, making it seem as if your body has completely vanished. An elementary trick."
"Oi… don't sound like Kudou now…" Shugo muttered.
"Y-You couldn't be…" There was another man's voice drifting through the radio now. "Toichi-sama! You're alive?"
"Huh?"
"It is good to see you well after all this time!"
Okay, this time Shugo laughed. "He thinks you're your father, Kai-chan! Oh what a plot twist! You know what this means though, do you?"
"It's me, your old assistant, Jii! Don't tell me you've forgotten me after just eight years?"
"Jiichan?"
"I had lost all hope of ever seeing you again after that stunt eight years ago." That made it sound like there wasn't even a body to be found… "I figured that if I took on your alter ego as Kaitou Kid, then I could lure your killers out in the open!"
"Well, that settles it then…" Shugo glanced at the police officers still milling about.
"What did you say? Oyaji was murdered?! By who? Who killed him?!"
"Wait, but you couldn't be… Kaito-bochama?"
"One more thing. Be honest with me, jiichan… Was oyaji… a thief? Was he Kaitou Kid?"
There were choppers approaching. Shugo frowned and pressed his ear piece. "Kaito, you better hurry. It seems like Nakamori-keibu figured out your location."
"Answer me, jiichan. Answer me!"
"Hai…"
"So be it…"
"Kaito?" Because who the hell cared what canon said. At this point Kaito could still decide to live quiet life. Of course he wouldn't now that he knew part of the truth but…
"Found you, Kaitou Kid!" Nakamori yelled across the roof even if it came a bit muffled to the radio due the distance.
"I'll distract them. Get out of here, jiichan. Oyaji's car is at the street across park. My friend is waiting there." At that, Shugo turned the keys in the ignition. Time to change place to the one Kaito had mentioned.
"But bochama…"
"I'm not 'bochama' anymore! I'm Kaitou Kid!"
And Shugo let out the breath he didn't even realize he'd been holding in. Ten minutes later, Jii Kounosuke appeared by the car, white cape folded in his hands. He'd lost his top hat, mask and the original cape.
"Where shall it be, Jii-san?" Shugo asked and opened the passenger side door.
"Ah… Blue Parrot. Do you know the place?" Jii asked, buckling in the seatbelt and placing the folded cape on the back seat.
"I sure do." Shugo pressed gas and turned left at the next corner, driving away from the police blockade.
"You look familiar…" Jii stated after a while. "Have we…?"
Shugo offered a hand without looking away from the road.
"Midorikawa Shugo. Nice to meetcha. I knew both Kai-chan and Toichi-ojisan years ago. Now, I'm Kaito's classmate."
"Ah, yes… I remember. You used to hang around backstage with Kaito-bochama." Jii smiled, shaking his hand. "I guess you will be watching after him then."
"Sure. Someone needs to. And I sort of promised Toichi-ojisan to watch after Kaito."
Yes, Shugo stuck to Kaito. Helping him to bypass security systems, keeping an eye on cameras and police radio. And of course being the driver of escape car. Shugo had now a fake ID for Hibiki Boshi in whose name the car was 'registered' to.
And Shugo had to admit… some of the heists were quite ridiculous… And some even weren't heists.
Okay, the one with Princess Ann from Europe and her bodyguard policeman Dolon was an actual heist but…
Then there was the time Kaito was kidnapped by the crazy scientist who'd made a robot to mimic him. And then there was the time when Kaito's identity was almost revealed for the first time.
"Date?" Aoko seriously asked Kaito on a date. "How did I miss that? I could've gotten great laughs."
"You were in the library for the lunch break." Kaito grumbled back as the two of them walked home from school. "And it isn't funny! I got the supplementary heist on that Sunday!"
"…Then let me handle it." The decision was quick but Shugo was sure of it. "You go on your date and enjoy it while I handle the heist. It might not be as grand as when made by you but I can be sneaky. And the point is to prove that you are not Kaitou Kid because you can't be in two places at once."
Kaito remained quiet for a while. Breathe in. Breath out.
"Alright. But only if you pass my tests."
"I wouldn't expect any less."
Lock picking. Silently walking. Acrobatics. Pulling on and changing disguises. Mimicing voices. Acting in general…
It wasn't stellar performance but enough for Kaito to let Shugo take care of the make-up heist on Sunday.
"Angel crown, here I come." The hacker slash substitute thief stretched and pulled on the costume. This time Jii was acting as the driver.
"Ready, Shugo-kun?" The older man asked.
"As ready as I'll ever be." Shugo sighed, picking up the cane and the top hat. "Let's go."
In his mind the words from the record of the day were ringing.
"Listen Kaito, and listen well. As the famous magician Al Baker always used to say. Don't run when nobody is chasing you. A magician's audience will react with suspicion at every chance they get. But if you fear their gaze, you'll end up making mistakes. A good magician never wavers at the prospect of mistrust. Trust in your skills, and nothing else. Do you understand, Kaito?"
"And that's why I'm helping." Shugo had told Kaito. "It may seem contradictory but we are now facing the music bravely. You meet with Nakamori-chan. I face Nakamori-keibu. Only one of us can use disguise in this case and it isn't you this time."
It was almost eight o'clock. Shugo was hiding in the wents. It had been surprisingly easy to slip in along with the security detail and then change in the bathroom and get to the position from there. It was strange but who was he to argue with anime rules?
"Ten minutes left!" Nakamori announced to his men. "Stay sharp!"
.
.
.
"One minute left!" One of the officers reminded.
"Hey, do you know here the inspector went?" A detective asked then. Shugo blinked. He remembered this case from the manga and anime. And now that he'd been reminded of it…
"Nakamori-keibu is hiding inside the pedestal… Is it possible for me to avoid him?" Shugo frowned, sweating slightly beneath his Kaito-mask. "No, it isn't. Not on such short notice. I can slip through his grasp quickly, quicker than Kaito but I still need to do my performance."
Shugo rolled a sleep gas capsule to the room.
Pshhhhh…
Shugo dropped into the exhibition room soundlessly. Some practical use for Yamato's teachings finally. With inaudible steps he approached the glass case on the pedestal and took the lock pick wires to the use. While he wasn't as experienced as Kaito was with those things, at least he wasn't on timelimit.
Click
The case was open. Shugo lifted it up and aside carefully, and snatched the crown then. Nakamori burst out of the seams of the pillow and… he'd seriously stuck his hands out of it? But Shugo had jumped away with the crown by then, narrowly avoiding the inspector.
"Nakamori-keibu… what a surprise…" The taskforce surrounded them. There was no direct route away. Aside up, but even that was a bit iffy.
"I'll expose your true identity!" The inspector grabbed for Shugo's face and… when had he become so quick and spring?
The first mask was gone.
"A-Aoko?"
The Angel Crown in one hand and the other one catching the top hat from being airborne, Shugo straightened from the aftermath of attack and gave a mocking bow.
"Ha. Ha. Haa." He said with high pitched voice. "As a master of disguise, I can be anyone! I know everyone that you know, Nakamori-keibu."
"Then Kaito-kun's face was just a disguise!"
"The evidence is in your hand." Shugo gestured with the crown, which was quite heavy and who an earth would want to wear something that gaudy? And his thoughts were wandering again. "And who knows? I may impersonate you next, Nakamori-keibu."
With a swirl of the cape and press of the crown against the inspector's head, Shugo was gone. He nimbly escaped and dodged the guards not down by the sleeping gas, changed his disguise to something normal and then simply walked out through the staff entrance of the museum. Slipping into the shadows, Shugo ran a couple of blocks, his costume in the travelling back pack safely(it was one of those back packs that could be rolled into small space and where light to pack along), and made his way to the car Jii was driving. This time it was the man's own car, not the fancy one from Toichi.
"Everything good, Shugo-kun?"
"Just fine. Nakamori-keibu's suspicions should be dissuaded for now." Shugo sighed, digging for his cellphone. He sent one simple message for Kaito.
'OK'
"This was one hell of a night. I hope I don't need to repeat this any time soon. I'm a hacker, not a miracle maker."
A/N: Yosh, I hope you liked this chapter. It covered MK chapters 1-4 and MK1412 episodes one and... seven? I'm not sure about the latter number.
Replies to reviews:
-Hellfire000:
Thank you. The message will be revealed... sometime. In DoN though, not Leap.
Good that you liked their interractions. I don't know if I'd go as far as to say that Akai loves Tsukiko but definitely cares about her.
-Zeladious:
:D
Hai, sou desu... ga(?)
-Tsuki:
Yes, I'm making a solid background for them. Eventually it will be revealed who their uncle was, where all Tsukiko has appeared in DC canon prior her 'memory-implant', where their father is now and what happened to their mother... Stay tuned. :)