"So you were shrunk by a drug from this organization?" Hattori repeated.

"Yeah." Conan, actually not so reluctantly, said. (He didn't feel guilty telling Hattori about the organization like he was with Ran, because the real Shinichi wasn't too close with Hattori yet. Plus, more bragging rights.)

"And now you're livin' with the girl you like and her dad to stay hidden." He continued.

Conan looked up at him with confusion. "Like?"

"You don't?" Hattori asked. "Man, I was sure ya did."

"Ew no." Conan spoke with disgust. (Although he couldn't exactly speak for the actual Shinichi.) "She's like a sister to me. And I'm seven, Heiji."

"Yeah. You do look seven. That would be pretty weird." Hattori said.

Oh, yeah. Conan forgot he wasn't supposed to actually be a child. Oops.

"But still, what made you think I was Shinichi in the first place?" He asked. "Wouldn't a normal person think I'm just a really smart child or something?"

"Hey!" Hattori laughed. "Are you implying I'm not normal?"

"Well.. you have to admit that thinking someone shrunk to the size of a child because of some drug is a bit far-fetched." Conan said.

"I mean..." Hattori began. "It's not like you do a good job at acting like a normal child." Conan quirked an eyebrow at that statement considering he actually was a child. Although, to be fair, he wasn't exactly a normal child. (Normal children don't tend to pretend to be ten years older than they actually are or sneak into a completely different country on an impulse.) "And I've only met you once that last time and I could already see the similarities. Besides, you look exactly like what I'd imagine a younger version of yourself would, and your only disguise is a pair of glasses. Honestly, I don't know how your nee-chan didn't figure it out already."

"Well, she did have her suspicions..."

"You two seem to be getting along!" Ran suddenly leaned over her seat and said.

"Ah, yeah..!" Conan squeaked out, surprised.

"Yeah." Hattori agreed.

Conan gave a sideward glance to Hattori. He was feeling a bit spiteful. "Yeah! Heiji-niichan is almost as cool as Shinichi-niichan!"

"Hey, you-!" Hattori glared at him.

Ran gave him a look.

"W-well..!" He nervously laughed and ruffled Conan's hair.

Ran just sat back down and the two sighed in relief. Ran got back to her conversation with Kogoro and Conan vaguely heard her ask him about going on some shopping trip with Sonoko in Shibuya.


"You saw Shinichi in Shibuya?" Conan asked, surprised.

"Yeah! And he didn't even say anything to me! Isn't that horrible?" Ran angrily complained.

Conan brought his hand to his chin.

That's odd. What could he be doing there, just out in the open like that?

"He probably got tired of you." Kogoro mumbled after taking a few large swigs of his beer. "Just forget about him."

"You may be right..." Ran hung her head and sighed. "He was with a girl."

Conan looked up at the girl quizzically.

A girl? That can't be right. Shinichi wouldn't do that, especially in hiding.

Ran's sadness quickly changed to anger. "But to think he went off with some girl after he said all that preachy stuff to me..!" She grumbled under her breath with a clenched fist. "Can't believe I was worrying so much over him."

"Well, maybe you just mistook him for another guy!" Conan piped up. There's no way it could actually be him.

Ran glared at him.

"Huh?" Conan asked, confused.

"Anyway." Kogoro said. "Who's this Kaitou whatever they want me to catch?"

"It's Kaitou 1412!" Ran corrected. "Apparently, he's some master thief who travels around the world and steals famous gems and jewels. I think Sonoko said the 1412 comes from the criminal number assigned to him by Interpol or the FBI or something."

Yeah, right. That must be a huge over exaggeration (especially considering it came from Sonoko). It's not like Phantom Thieves exist outside of fiction.

"I'm going to bed." Conan yawned and headed to the door. He wasn't interested in petty burglars.

"Oh, I almost forgot." Ran said as she dug around in her pockets. "He sent some sort of note to the police." She placed a small piece of paper on the desk. "Here's a copy."

"A note?" Kogoro repeated.

"Yeah. I don't know what it means though. It looks like a code or something."

Code?

Conan walked back inside.

Kogoro picked up the paper and started to read out. "April fool... When the moon splits the two, to the so-called Black Star, I will ride the waves and make my appearance..." Kogoro finished. "How cryptic. The only thing that's clear is that he's coming on April 1st."

Conan climbed up the desk and grabbed the edge of the paper to get a better look.

"Conan?" Ran asked.

"Hey. Weren't you going to bed?" Kogoro grumbled.

A smirk split across Conan's face.

Now this was interesting.


Conan let out a yawn and wiped his eyes.

This guy was the real deal. Even after staying up real late, Conan still didn't have a clue of what the notice meant. And it seemed no one else did either. The police were still arguing over where it would take place just a day before the heist.

And there was still something nagging in the back of his head. For some reason, that name Kaitou 1412 sounded familiar, but he couldn't place it.

But, as usual, Kogoro spouted some wack theory which even Conan could tell was complete bogus, but it seemed his reputation was too good as everyone blindly agreed with him.

Thankfully, Conan overheard a nearby conversation which gave him some inspiration. He ran up to the window and started looking.

Ran noticed and asked, "What are you doing, Conan?"

"I'm using my watch to figure out the direction." He answered, eyes darting between his watch and the sky. "If you align the short hand with the sun, south is exactly between it and the number twelve. So south is in the direction of 1:00."

Ran gave him an odd look.

"J-just trying out something Shinichi taught me..." He added on.

"Oh." Ran said and walked back to Sonoko.

And, hold on... Why did Shinichi remind him of..?

Oh! That's where he saw the name Kaitou 1412 before. In Shinichi's library.

Conan went back to finding the directions and, soon a smirk drew upon his face.

He walked over to Ran and whined, "I wanna go home. I'm bored." As an excuse to leave.

"Huh?" She said, confused.

"I'll just go on ahead, okay!" He said running off towards the exit and waving back at the girls.

He has some research to do.


After looking through Yusaku's files, Conan figured out a few things. The thief first appeared in Paris 18 years ago. He then abruptly disappeared 10 years later, which spurred rumors of his death. But, he reappeared recently, 8 years after his disappearance, and is most active in Japan, which meant that he must be getting quite old now. He also found that he goes by another name, Kaitou KID (which Conan preferred a lot more than saying the full 1412), because a novelist took interest in the thief's child-like nature and noticed that the numbers 1412 could be transformed into the letters KID.

And, while he was still at Shinichi's house, Conan grabbed some fireworks and a lighter in preparation for meeting the thief, and now he was waiting in anticipation atop the Haido Hotel.

The lightest of ruffling, which Conan almost didn't catch, alerted the boy to the thief's presence. He whipped around and watched as his cape fluttered downward. He gave the boy a smirk and gracefully jumped down onto the rooftop.

He quietly started walking towards the child. Conan stared at him, trying to discern some of his appearance. He had fluffy brown hair and looked quite young, a lot more than Conan had thought, as if he could even be in his twenties.

"Hey, kid." The thief spoke. "What are you doing here?"

Conan smirked with his back to KID and lit the fireworks. They watched as it smoked upward and exploded with a colorful bang.

"Fireworks!" Conan turned to the thief and said with a bright smile.

They hear the sound of the police helicopters coming nearer.

"Wow! Look at all the helicopters!" He cheerfully pointed out at the sky. "Oh no! They've seen us." He gasped with fake worry.

KID chuckled. "You're no ordinary boy, huh? Who are you?"

"Edogawa Conan," he replied with a smirk. "-a detective." He added.

"Hmm, a detective?"

"But will you be okay, KID-niichan?" Conan looked at him with wide, innocent eyes. "The helicopters are getting close."

KID just looked out across the night sky with a hand to his chin. Conan brought his hands behind his back and began to ready his watch.

Instead of trying to escape, like one would normally do, KID rustled around in his suit and brought out a radio. Conan stared at him curiously, awaiting his next move. KID turned a dial and, once he found the right channel, he cleared his throat.

"Chaki here!" He spoke into the device with a perfect imitation of the Inspector's voice. "We've sighted Kaitou KID on the rooftop of the Haido City Hotel!"

Conan stared at him in shock. There didn't seem to be anything he was using to change his voice (unless the radio itself was modified, but Conan highly doubted that; it sounded genuine). And moreso, what was he even doing, intentionally calling the police to him?

Conan's eyes widened even further as the thief cycled between many different voices, calling them to their location.

This guy was able to mimic any voice at all without any sort of device or gadget at all?

Amazing!

"Happy now..." KID spoke as the light from the helicopters lit him up against the night sky. "...Tantei-kun?"

Conan just stared, unable to reply.

The door to the roof slammed open and Nakamori and his officers rushed out, with their guns pointed at the thief.

"You arrived here rather quickly, Nakamori-keibu." KID greeted.

"You know I figured out your cryptic message and had this place covered." Nakamori said. "You'll have to give up on the pearl, though. You're completely surrounded." He boasted with confidence.

"Oh, but I never intended to take it tonight."

"Huh?" Nakamori looked at the thief in surprise.

"Didn't I tell you at the end of my notice?" KID taunted and pulled out some small device from his suit. He pressed the button on it and a hang-glider formed on his back. "April fool." He finished.

Conan saw a small cartridge fall out of KID's sleeve, and before he could figure out what it was, a bright light forced him to cover his eyes, a flash bomb.

"Hey kid, did you know?" He managed to hear KID say to him. "A thief is a creative artist, devising brilliant ways to steal his prize.. and a detective, following in their footsteps and searching for flaws, is just a mere critic."

A loud bang and a puff of smoke revealed that the thief had completely disappeared. Conan frantically looked around in surprise but he couldn't find a single trace. The only thing left of his presence was a small card, saying he would steal the real Black Star on the Queens Elizabeth.


A few days later, Ran, Kogoro and Conan were aboard the cruise, waiting for the chairman to begin his speech. Surprisingly, Conan was excitedly chatting with Sonoko of all people.

"He's so cool!" Conan said with a large, bright smile.

"I know right. KID-sama is simply amazing!" Sonoko agreed.

"He's an actual Phantom Thief! A real life Lupin!"

"I can't believe I might actually get to see him tonight! I bet he's real handsome." Sonoko gushed.

"I was really surprised. Did you know he can change his voice at will! And he's never even gotten close to being caught, not once. He's awesome!" Conan laughed with childish admiration.

"I'm glad we can agree for once." Sonoko said. "You know, you're actually right sometimes, brat."

Conan didn't even send her a glare for the insult, too excited for the coming night, and continued to enthusiastically speak about the thief.

From the sidelines, Ran and Kogoro watched the two with incredulous looks.

"What's up with him?" Kogoro grumbled. "Didn't he say he was bored a few days ago? And now he's a big fan of the guy."

"Well..." Ran replied. "At least he seems to be having fun."

A couple of taps from the stage microphone quieted all the guests (and Conan and Sonoko's large chain of compliments towards the thief). The chairman started speaking and soon Sonoko's mom gave each guest a replica Black Star, one of which was the real deal.

Sonoko called up her sister because she still hadn't arrived, and she said in surprise, "Huh, dad's with you!?"

A smile formed upon Conan's face and he nearly had to stop himself from squealing with excitement.

Tha meant KID was already here, on the ship!

Conan went up to one of the guests and asked, "Hey, do you know where the chairman is?"

"I think he went to the restroom."

"Thanks!" He quickly said and happily rushed out of the main room.

He soon found evidence of the disguise and he gave it over to the police. Conan headed back to the others and told them his discoveries, which Sonoko and Conan reacted happily to, but the other not so much.

Conan realized Ran wasn't around and looked around for the girl. "Huh, where's Ran?" Conan asked.

"She went looking for you since you were gone so long." Kogoro answered. "Thought Kaitou 1412 got you or something."

"Just say Kaitou KID." Conan grumbled at him. "It's easier and it gets confusing with you saying 1412."

"Whatever..." Kogoro glared. "But anyway, she is taking quite a while."

"She's probably just lost." Sonoko replied. "She's horrible with directions after all."

"Horrible am I?" Ran suddenly appeared behind them and said.

Conan stared at the girl.

Why did she feel.. different, somehow?

Well, Conan just decided to blow it off. He was probably overreacting anyway.

Then, Superintendent Chaki said to the guests that KID was already on board and asked for them to pair up with someone and create a password, as a protective measure, which Conan scoffed at. There's no way that would stop a master of disguise like Kaitou KID. And besides, he was probably already among them anyway.

Ran bent down to Conan and asked for their password, which Conan nonchalantly obliged. But suddenly, the lights went out and a boisterous laugh could be heard throughout the room. A spotlight shone onto the white-clad figure.

However, Conan's didn't widen in excitement, but instead narrowed in suspicion. He felt nothing from this guy, unlike the one from a few nights prior. And he didn't even sound the same (unless KID changed up his voice for each heist or something).

Although, Conan was still quite surprised when Sonoko's mom brought out a gun and shot the supposed thief multiple times, but not so surprised when it was revealed just to be part of a show.

The fake KID or paid magician, Kazumi Manada, then began his magic show. He brought out a deck of cards and asked some of the audience to shuffle it. Then he asked Ran and Sonoko to pick a card which he'd try to guess. Instead of the correct card, Ran picked out a card with a message from KID on it.

As the audience muttered, Conan narrowed his eyes at the "fake" KID. The only one who could pull off that trick would have to be someone who got close to the deck of cards before.

Could he really be..?

But wait. He already removed him from the list of suspects before. And, wait, couldn't Ran have also..? Now that he thought about it, she did feel different when she came back.

Conan's eyes now narrowed now at the girl and, his suspicions were confirmed when, during the clammer of the audience trying to escape from the exploding pearls, Sonoko's mom shouted out that the Black Star was stolen with Ran conveniently right next to her.

Amongst the panic, Conan grabbed Ran's hand and started leading her out of the room, saying he knew who Kaitou KID was. They quickly arrived at the destination, bringing a confused Ran.

"Um, Conan?" Ran looked around. "Isn't this the engine room? Is KID really here?"

Conan ignored her and picked up a stray soccer ball off the ground. (Honestly, Conan was quite glad he found one. Something to kick would be quite useful, although he did have to wonder where it came from.) Barely containing his excitement, Conan tried to start kicking and bouncing the ball around with his foot and knees, but it fell off and just rolled off elsewhere.

He still wasn't too good at soccer was he? Oh well.

Conan walked over to where it rolled and just kept it beneath his foot.

"Uh, Conan..?" Ran asked again.

"Did you know," Conan turned towards the girl and began. "–that most artists become famous only after their death?"

"Huh?" She looked at him with a slightly worried expression.

"Didn't you tell me," He continued. "–that a thief is a creative artist but a detective is just a mere critic?"

"What?"

"I just wanna help you out," He said with a smile. "–by putting you in the cemetery, called prison, Ran-neechan, or should I say Kaitou KID?"

"W-what are you talking about, Conan-kun?" Ran asked with sweat dripping down her face.

"You disguised as her when she came looking for me, didn't you?" He explained. "For the card trick, you already had the card in your hand when you picked from the deck, and you stole the Black Star when you pretended to help Suzuki-san during the panic, right?"

The girl just stared at the boy then grabbed the phone off the wall and said, "Fine, if you suspect me so much, why don't we call the police-" She was interrupted when a soccer ball crashed into the wall next to her and left a huge dent. She stared, shocked, and dropped the phone in surprise.

"I meant to hit the phone, but you get the idea." Conan said with a slight blush as he went to pick up the ball again. "I'm not just gonna let you pull the same trick twice, KID."

The girl sighed, then said with a completely different voice, "Fine, you got me." The thief pulled out a handkerchief from his pocket and revealed the Black Star to be inside. "I'll give up this pearl." He threw it over to Conan, who caught it and gingerly put it in his pocket. "But man, you seemed quite excited to see me, for wanting me arrested."

"What, can't I be a fan and want to catch you at the same time?"

"Well, I guess." KID laughed. "But, it sounded like you were threatening to kill me with that line of yours! And there's tons of artists who were famous during their lifetime."

"Come on, it took me a while to come up with that!" Conan whined.

"Well, it's been fun but I should probably leave." KID said.

"Eh.. leaving so soon?"

"You probably should too." KID said. Conan lifted an eyebrow in confusion. "I had to borrow this from that girl." He tugged at the dress. "Hope she doesn't get a cold. I'm a perfectionist after all." He winked and pulled out a bra from inside the dress.

"Eh!?" Conan's eyes widened. "You wouldn't..."

"Do you really want to find out, Tantei-kun?" KID smirked at him.

An expression of disgust followed by disappointment came across Conan's face, which was not the reaction the thief was expecting.

"And to think I was excited to see you..." Conan sighed.

"Huh?" The thief was utterly confused.

"I thought you were supposed to be a gentleman thief." Conan grumbled. "And that is not very gentlemanly of you."

Oh.

Oh.

Realization suddenly dawned on the thief.

KID, who was supposed to be a grown adult, did just insinuate that he stripped a girl, a minor no less, completely naked. That probably didn't look too good in the boy's eyes.

"W-wait!" KID yelled. "I was just kidding. I was trying to trick you."

Conan peeked up at the thief. "Really..?"

"Yes, yes. I'll admit that wasn't one of my best. Forgive me?" He pleaded.

"Alright..." Conan said. KID sighed in relief. "But why do you care? Shouldn't you be trying to escape?" He pointedly asked.

"Well, I didn't want to lose a precious fan." He answered, with a smile.

Conan's eyes slightly widened and a cheerful smile formed on his face. He placed the soccer ball back on the ground and turned the dial on his shoe. "Doesn't mean I'll let you go, though." He said as his shoe sparked over the ball.

KID pulled a pair of sunglasses out if seemingly nowhere and placed them over his eyes. "I wonder about that." He threw something on the ground which exploded into bright light.

Conan winced and, after the light faded, the only thing he saw was some smoke dissipating away.

He looked around the ship, but of course, there was no trace of the thief.

Conan headed back to the others with a soft smile.