A/N: And this chapter is done too. Whew... I debated a lot of how I should take care of this case and I hope you are satisfied even if the end is a bit unconventional.
The fifth file: The middle year
Sub-file four: Blue Birthday
The rest of Shugo's Golden Week holiday went quite well. He got to see sights in New York and spend some time with Ran, Shinichi and Yukiko. Ran had forgotten he event of the previous night but thankfully recovered from her fever too. Shugo's behavior hadn't been questioned and he even refrained from hacking places… much.
Then it was time to return to Japan and school and back to his regular duties which included fixing stuff, aiding Kaito and lazing around.
"No, I'm not going to help you with that heist. I can get you the layout of the estate but I'm not going to help you there." Shugo glared at the thief. "If you truly want the legendary sword, be my quest."
"But, Shuu-chan…" Kaito pouted.
"I'm not going to go anywhere near that place. I've heard enough from Mine Sayaka-san from class 2-C."
"Aah… Mine-san lives there, right?"
"Well, it's her home so yeah."
It was hard to say whether or not Kaito succeeded in his heist. He go the sword and got away and then he and Kurogane Yaiba (a kid living at that estate) got nearly blasted by a cannon. Good thing it was close to the beginning of summer break so Kaito could take his time to recuperate from his fall. Not before kendo at P.E. though.
"Don't worry, I'll go easy on you." Shugo smiled. Kaito groaned.
"Where have you even learnt kendo?" The messy haired boy muttered.
"It's not like I'm good at it. But when your friend is nearing the champion level already in middle school and wants to use you to practice outside lessons…" The hacker shrugged, lifting a shinai on his shoulder. "Well, I've gotten quite good at blocking and dodging." The phantom pains from those sessions were still in his mind though. Heiji hit hard and fast. Well, at least it improved Shugo's reflexes.
September. Shugo and Kaito were working hard with Jii to find more targets and make plans to acquire them.
"Blue Birthday? You targeting it soon?" Shugo pointed at one of the names listed on the tablet. Kaito leant over the counter.
"Yeah, it's sort of big name though so we need more planning first. And some little stuff to be stolen before that too." The magician explained.
"I see. You planning back-to-back heists again?"
"For this week yes. The targets seem to be fairly simple and have similar security systems. A spree like this should get attention from oyaji's killers too." Kaito mused. Shugo remained quiet. Blue Birthday would indeed be when Kaito met with Snake face to face. The hacker only hoped that the gem would save the phantom thief's life again.
Shugo kept his eyes on the cameras surrounding Kaito's escape route. The police went after the dummy once more. And a payphone rang. It was Snake, warning off Kaitou Kid from the targets. Shugo tried to track the call but the time was too short.
The game had begun at its earnest.
"He told you to stop targeting precious jewels?" Jii asked when the trio was sitting the night in the aftermath of the heist and phone call. Kaito had just finished his tale with Shugo's additions of failed tracking.
"Yeah… 'The jewel you just stole doesn't interest us, so I'll overlook this incident. But if you go after even one more, you're a dead man', to be exact." Kaito quoted. "Maybe he's in cahoots with whoever killed oyaji?"
"I cannot say, but I feel that you had better be very careful from now on, bocchama." Jii said and continued cleaning the glasses behind the counter.
"Look, I told you to stop calling me that, jiichan. Just call me Kaito." The magician sighed dramatically.
"But that wouldn't do at all!" The old man protested, placing the glass he'd been cleaning on the counter. "You are the son of Touichi-sama, my mentor in magic."
"Well, if you relly wanna call me that, I guess I can't stop you."
"Nevertheless, it's too late to for us to be stopping now." Shugo brought the conversation back to the point. "But you need to be more careful from now on. Considering their method of contacting you, they must have good resources."
"Yeah…" Kaito sighed. "But all the same, I can trust you to have my back, Shugo."
The two boys smiled at each other, understanding once again passing between them.
"Bocchama, Shugo-kun, I've prepared the props you wanted for your next magic show." Jii made his way to the pool table with the hidden compartment. Kaito followed him and ooh'ed and aah'ed at the items his… assistant introduced him to. Apparently, the props for the next heist were the handiwork of a 'professor'. Shugo smirked. Agasa was unknowingly aiding a criminal while his neighbor was off playing a high school detective.
Speaking of which, he probably should call Ran soon. It had been a while since they talked…
Considering that Kaito was reading the news about the up-coming heist in class and giggling for it all, it was extremelly lucky that Hakuba had gone back to England temporally. And since the magician would also miss Aoko's birthday party it was good that the detective wasn't in town to tally up suspicious points towards Kaito's guilt.
Aoko snatched Kaito's tablet and exploded at him. For a reason really. With the Blue Birthday heist coming up, it'd be the sixth heist in this month. And it was barely past the half-way point of September. It was all for a reason though. With sleep-deprived policemen, they wouldn't get even as close as they usually did to Kid and thus they'd stay away from the gunmen.
"Birthday?! You can't be turning 17, can you?!" Kaito asked in astonishment, jumping from his seat.
"Why wouldn't I be? We're second-years, after all." Aoko frowned back. And then Kaito groped her. And asked if she was actually a boy.
Getting hit by a desk was entirely deserved.
"Considering that my sister has even less curves than Aoko-chan does… She is definitely a girl." Shugo deadpanned but no one heard.
"You're such an ass. Have it your way. It's not like you were invited to my birthday party anyway!" The inspector's daughter huffed.
"Oh, you're having a party?" The young magician jumped up, completely recovered from the hit. With a little magic trick and a promise to entertain the guests with more sleight of hand tricks, the invitation was secured. And a request for Kaito to bring Kaitou Kid for her as a birthday present. Ooh, kinky…
Shugo banished the bad thoughts when the birthday girl seemed to be turning to address him.
"What about you, Shugo-kun? Can you make it?" Aoko asked then the hacker, holding the blue flower that Kaito had given to her. Shugo didn't recognize the flower but dismissed it then. It didn't matter which flower it was, as long as it was given to Aoko, it would be blue.
"I'm not sure. I have some stuff to do today so I might miss the party itself but…" The boy smirked then. "I can promise to get your father home in time to wish you happy birthday and ensure that whether or not he catches Kid today, he won't go off to drink at some bar. Is that okay?"
Aoko looked like she was about to cry for a moment but she nodded rapidly then.
"Yes, Aoko would like that." The girl smiled. Geez, just how many her milestones Nakamori had missed because of work?
Shugo caught up with Kaito at the den just when yet another recording was about to play from the jukebox.
"Listen well, Kaito. This is important. You must never spoil your tricks ahead of time. This is one of the three principles set out by the famous Thurston."
"It sounds obvious but… So do many other things yet their true meaning in only revealed afterwards." Shugo spoke up as the closet rose from the floor. Kaito got up from the arm chair and began changing into the white costume of the phantom thief.
"Well, then. Guess it's time for another round!"
"Kai-chan…"
"Huh?" The magician turned to look at the hacker at his sudden somber tone of voice. "Shuu-chan?"
"I've got a bad feeling about this all. This is the first heist since the phone call. The callers must be prepared and…"
"Shugo." Kaito was suddenly right in front of the taller boy, hands on his shoulders. "I know. And I'll be fine. I got you and I got Jii. But like you said yesterday, it's too late for us to turn back and stop. Moreover…"
"This is about Aoko-chan too, right?"
"Yes. And we both have promises to keep for her tonight." Kaito gave a crooked grin. "So we better not be making liars out of ourselves, ne?"
"True." Shugo chuckled. "But I'll take my suit with me just in case we need to switch. Those guys from the phone call are an unknown variable after all."
"But so are you to them."
The heist began. Kaito was hiding in the ceiling. Shugo was in a car a couple of blocks away. Jii was nearby. All three of them were wearing earpieces and Shugo was once again linked to the network in order to coordinate their movements.
Stealing the gem itself was not difficult for Kaito. The plan pretty much relied on the hotheadedness of the entire taskforce.
"This is just a rubber dummy!"
"Keibu!"
"I'll be taking this Blue Birthday. Until next time, Nakamori-keibu."
"Stop! Kid!"
…
"Allright. Part One was success!"
Shugo watched the Kaitou Kid Taskforce grin as the thief in question made his way upstairs. Then…
"Kaito, are you at the roof already?" Shugo asked.
"Yeah, why?"
"The cameras just went dark. Be careful. They're here."
"… I can see them." A click-sound, like the one from opening the hang-glider was heard, followed immediately by a gunshot. Shugo bit his lip and listened. He was tempted to mute Jii's comm so the old man wouldn't unintentionally distract Kaito but didn't. They all needed to hear this and be ready to move and relay information and affirmation of orders to each other.
"I warned you to keep away from precious gems." A deep voice said. "It's been quite a long time, Kaitou Kid. Or… Should I call you Kuroba Touichi? It thought the fool who came between us and the jewels we seek had met his end eight years ago."
There was a pause during which they could only hear each other's breathing.
"Now, hand over that jewel. If you don't cause any trouble, you can leave with your life."
As if…
"Just tell me one thing." Kaito spoke up then. "Why are you after these jewels?"
"It would seem that these jewels are the keys."
"To what?"
"To eternity."
"Eternity?"
"Let me give you a present… Your own eternity in Hell."
Bang
"Jii-san, we're moving." Shugo started the car and pushed his laptop on the backseat. The tracker installed on the Blue Birthday blinked on the screen of his phone and he followed it behind a Chinese restaurant where the phantom thief was hiding. Jii arrived soon after just when Shugo was pulling the jacket off the dazed magician and then pulling it on. The sleeves were a bit too short but would do since the breast pocket had a bullet hole in it.
"Kaito, I'm taking over now. You go to Aoko-chan's party." The hacker told him.
"What? No, I need to see this through." The boy protested immediately but held his head with a groan then.
"You are in no condition to. And you have a promise to keep. Jii will see your possible concussion and take you back to Ekoda. I'll try to be back before midnight. With Nakamori-keibu naturally." Shugo put on the top and the monocle and attached the spare hang-glider frame to his back. He needed to hurry in order to catch with Snake and co. while Nakamori was still amassing his troops.
"…Alright. I'll trust you to inform me about everything that transpired."
"Yes. I'll definitely relay everything. And my phone will be recording it all in the case adrenaline blurs my memory."
Shugo was crouched in a tree near the pond of the olden style Japanese estate. He carefully listened to Snake and his immediate superior talk about the gem and… Pandora. And then they found the message in the fake gem that Kaito had given to them. The substitute phantom thief took it as his cue to step onto the stage.
"I see…" Shugo spoke aloud, lifting the Blue Birthday against the light of the full moon which illuminated the entire yard. "So you hold it to the moon?"
"K-Kaitou Kid?!" Why were people so surprised when the thief pulled the impossible? Oh yeah, anime rules. Saying aloud the name of your nemesis was part of the basic dialogue.
"H-How did you survive?!" Snake demanded. Shugo resisted the urge to deadpan at the thug. He didn't know how Kaito had survived the fall and frankly, he didn't dare to guess. Just like Shugo didn't dare to guess whether or not the bullet hitting the sapphire in Kaito's pocket was luck or not… either time around.
But he needed to keep up the act so he just chuckled and gave a nonchalant shrug.
"Saa… I was worried for a moment there too."
"But that bullet should've gone straight through your heart!"
Shugo forced a laugh. It might've been a bit hysterical but considering the circumstances, he could be forgiven. "Your aim wasn't off. It hit the Blue Birthday in my chest pocket." He twirled the gem from its chain.
"What is this then?" The bald, short and stupid superior asked.
"A fake." Seriously? They needed to ask? "Fixing up a replica just in case you need it, is a basic rule for a thief."
"Damn you!" Now, now, don't take your anger out on the poor fake. It never did anything to you now, did it? But Shugo didn't have time to think about it more when the portly little man had ordered his thugs in suits to shoot at him. While they all had quite a lousy aim, it was still possible that one of them might hit something by accident. And why weren't the neighbors being alerted by the gunshots? Shugo ducked under the bullets and then leaped in the air, following the script he still had in his head from watching and then re-watching Magic Kaito episodes.
"If you really want it so badly, then take it!" The years of playing Finnish baseball came in handy when Shugo threw the necklace and it flew true, hitting right between the 'boss's eyes.
"The Blue Birthday…"
"Sorry, but the Pandora gem you seek isn't in there!"
"Wh-What?!"
"But it does come with a tricky little curse." Shugo glanced outside the wall surrounding the estate and noted with a smile that Nakamori had arrived with his men. "Sorry, but I don't have any more time to entertain you today…"
"Boss, the police have a blockade at the front gate!"
"What?!"
"Kaitou Kid! We've got your hideout surrounded!" Good old Nakamori. While predictable, it also meant that he was reliable. But Shugo needed to disappear and then drag the wayward father to congratulate his daughter on her birthday.
"To hell with eternal youth! Don't make me laugh! Tell this to the guy who pulls your strings: Kaitou Kid is going to find this jewel with Pandora before you… and smash it to smithereens!"
And with the assistance of a smoke bomb, Shugo was gone.
The police searched the entire estate but in the end only found the stolen gemstone that had been the protagonist of the night (plus the fragments of the fake but no one paid any attention to them.
"It's the Blue Birthday!" Nakamori lifted up the gem from the lawn.
"Oh, you did it! You got it back!"
Shugo let the men talk and merely sat down on the hood of one of the patrol cars after changing into some other clothes. He texted Kaito and Jii so they'd know that everything was alright and waited for the inspector. Clock was ticking and Shugo really wanted to meet with Aoko before midnight.
"Shugo-kun?" Nakamori blinked when he and his men stepped out of the estate. Shugo looked up and waved. While they hadn't talked much, they were still passing acquaintances.
"Konbanwa, Nakamori-san. You are a hard man to track down while on duty."
"What are you doing here Shugo-kun?" The inspector asked. Shugo allowed himself to frown.
"Today is Aoko-chan's birthday. I'm here to keep my promise to her and get you home before midnight." He answered bluntly. The man blinked before gasping.
"Ah! That's what Blue Birthday was reminding me of!"
What followed then was Nakamori's men urging the man to go home and postpone their celebratory drinks for the next eve. The man offered Shugo a ride in a patrol car that one of the officers took to the station afterwards…
The doorbell rang. Aoko hurried to the door. Kaito had already left after the small party had been over.
"Otou-san! Shugo-kun!" Aoko greeted the two males behind the door with a smile. Nakamori had a sheepish smile on his face and a box of Aoko's favourite cookies at hand. Shugo greeted the girl back cheerfully.
"Happy Birthday, Aoko." Ginzou said gently.
"Thank you!"
"Aoko-chan… Kaito and I organized you one more birthday present." Shugo spoke up then. It had been a pain and half but eventually all the necessary permits had been wrangled for the fireworks and the animation on the glass wall of one of few the tower block houses in Ekoda. "Let's go to the balcony now, shall we?"
"What is going on? If Kaito is in this, why isn't he here?" Aoko frowned but allowed the boy to lead her and her father to the balcony.
"Kai-chan is setting up the present. Can't tell you anything else though. A magician never reveals his tricks ahead of time, ne?"
The trio stood on the balcony when a pair of spot lights illuminated the 'target'. And then the animation started. It was quite well done in Shugo's humble opinion. And the following rhythm of fireworks was quite beautiful too. Jii had good sense of taste.
"Happy Birthday, Aoko-chan!" Shugo smiled.
"Happy Birthday, Aoko!" Kaito chimed in English from Shugo's phone.
"Thank you… Thank you both!" Aoko smiled, teary-eyed once again as the fireworks continued in the night. Ginzou drew the girl into a hug and Shugo left the two Nakamori's to watch the lightshow. He slipped out of the front door and went home.
"My networks yielded some new information." Yamato said before Shugo even managed to remove his shoes.
"Oh? Is that so?" The boy arched an inquisitive eyebrow.
"A codename Marshal. Works in Berlin. He has an apprentice who recently gained a codename too."
"Berlin? So they're probably not of direct consequence to us then…" The hacker mused and powered his 'work computer'. "Out of curiosity though, what's the codename of the apprentice?"
"Riesling." The blonde answered promptly.
"Riesling?"
"A familiar name?"
"Yeah… She is a spy from the German BND agency. Her real name is Leona Buchholz. She was killed… Would be killed in future by your brother." Shugo mused aloud. "Any information on how long she's been Marshal's apprentice?"
"…A couple of years." Yamato said after a moment of hesitation. Shugo didn't notice it though, engrossed in his files as he was.
"Do you think it's possible that Marshal was Buchholz's way into the organization?"
"A slim one." Yamato looked down at the email on his phone. It was from Tsubasa.
Luukas Ahola, Marshal.
He is no longer reporting to ICPO.
Be careful, Yamato. Watch after Shugo.
-Kagemiya Tsubasa
"…Do you have any idea why one of the organization's codenames would be Marshal though?" Yamato decided to ask. Shugo paused.
"I can come up with one reason in relation to alcohol. There's a drink called Marshal's shot. Finnish origin and names after our late Marshal of Finland, Carl Gustav Emil Mannerheim. The composition of the drink is up for debate nowadays but one version of it is mixed from aquavit, vermouth and gin. The glass is poured full to see if the drinker's hand shakes when drinking it." The boy shook his head in amusement at that one.
"Okay…" Since Luukas was originally from Finland, the codename made sense. Not that Yamato would divulge this bit of information to Shugo. Besides, it was still up for debate whether or not Luukas had been brainwashed like Jin had been or if he had shifted alliances voluntarily…
A/N: I seriously don't remember anymore how much Luukas/Lucas Ahola has appeared in LitRU and DoN so I wasn't sure how much to say here. If anyone can help me, help would be welcome.
I try get to the rhythm of writing again. It's a bit weird after having had so long of a hiatus. My head is bustling with ideas for my fics, I just seriously need to get them down too...
Replies to Reviews:
-Zeladious:
It's alright. It's alwasy nice to see what ideas my readers have and how they'll predict the fic go on.
-Tsuki:
You're welcome.
And thank you even if this chapter is seriously late.
-Hellfire000:
Yamato... is currently more worried about Marshal than about the FBI. He will eventually have a talk with Shugo about his actions but not yet. Despite everything, he is not Shugo's parent or brother and thus doesn't feel like he has the right to interfere. Especially considering that Yamato himself isn't much less reckless either.
Akai did recognize Shugo. But he is wary about him. What Shugo thought about the situation in the previous chapter was pretty much spot on.