Ladies and gentlemen! I humbly welcome you to the thirteenth chapter of this story!
Please enjoy and review!


"Oh, wow! Kaito, look! It's so beautiful here!" Aoko cheered as she broke off from her friend to run out of the tunnel they were passing into the open space.

"Mhm… Sure is~" he replied with a soft smile on his lips, as he saw her squinting at the morning sun illuminating her face and shining through her hair.

As he exited the tunnel he finally tore his gaze away from her and took a moment to look around as well. They were on a small paved plaza overlooking the nearby national park which was enclosed by surrounding mountains and a large lake, all of which could be seen in the distance. To his left on the square there were a few sculptures and to his right was one of the five indoor exhibition buildings. The Main Gallery which, as helpfully advertised by posters, was currently hosting a display of European art pieces, with the King's Sky sapphire as its centerpiece. His attention was, however, caught by a second poster, one he didn't expect. At least not so soon.

He felt her walk up to him and stop by his side. "Aoko will never understand why people hype so much over this stupid thief…" she grumbled with disgust.

Because the second poster featured a frontal shot of the one and only Kaitou KID. Then again, Kaito was fairly certain that it was just a model dressed in a white suit. He would have remembered having such a picture taken but it looked good, so he didn't mind in the least.

He snickered at Aoko. "That's because a brute like you cannot hope to understand art~ Which is why I graciously decided to bring you here and maybe get you to cherish it more~"

She glared at him and half heartedly tried to swat his head, but he easily managed to dodge it. "Bakaito! Aoko is obviously talking about admiring a criminal and making his heists a public event!"

He had to admit that she had a point. It sometimes surprised even Kaito just how open the general public was to his heists. Or just how fast his fans reacted to his notices. Along with Jii they had sent a notice yesterday - he had dropped it as a letter at the police station and posted a picture of it at a fan forum to make sure that it would be leaked to the public as well.

The riddle wasn't overly difficult this time and people were already expecting him to attempt stealing this particular treasure, but still he was surprised when a solution was found and posted in less than an hour. And as it seemed the museum owners were eagerly awaiting it as well, as proven by the poster before them.

In the center there was an image of his calling card with the riddle written on it. Kaito held back a snicker seeing that the font was wrong, meaning that the author of the poster got it from the internet, instead of the official channels.

Night so bright, howling wolves,
All is but a rouse,
For when I steal the heavens glamor.
Kaitou KID

Aoko walked closer and leaned over a little to read the additional print underneath the riddle outloud. "Due to the demand of our patrons we decided to keep the gates of Hakone Open-Air Museum open on the night of the heist this Thursday! At the same time we politely ask our dear visitors to comply with any requirements of the Police force, should they be made. We sincerely hope that everybody will enjoy our hospitality under the shine of the full moon!" She groaned in annoyance and threw a glare at Kaito, who didn't bother hiding his amusement. "Is it just Aoko, or did they just wish Kaitou KID to have a pleasant stay during his heist..?"

"It did sound that way~" he admitted with a grin.

Not that he could really blame the owners for their enthusiasm. His heists did usually boost the number of visitors by a large margin and not only on the day of his appearance but before and after as well. He looked around at other people lazily walking on the paths leading further into the museum grounds and couldn't help but wonder how many of them came because of this free advertisement.

He expected the place to be packed on Thursday.

It would have been probably better for the museum if he set the date for the weekend but for the sake of the riddle he decided to pick the night of a full moon. It was better for Kaito as well, as he would have more time to rest if anything would go wrong during the heist. If push came to shove, he could always just skip school on Friday and have a full three days to recover.

Aoko shook her head vigorously, obviously still angry about the poster. "This is just wrong!" she growled out and stomped her foot before storming away from the building and along the path leading to the open air exhibitions.

"Oi!" Kaito stumbled after her. "I wanted to see the display here!"

She turned around with a glare but it softened seeing his disappointment. "But the weather is so nice now. We could see the display on our way back?"

He smiled back at her. "If you put it that way, sure."

Aoko's face brightened and they walked along the path. It's not like he was in any hurry right now and he needed to scour the whole place anyway, the order didn't really matter to him. He knew that it would have been easier for him if he came alone and under a disguise but he simply wanted to spend time with her whenever he could. Not to say that it was easy or convenient. To make this possible he had to write and post the riddle prematurely to give his civilian identity an excuse to want to come. And because of his lack of preparation he couldn't specify an hour.

However, seeing her delighted face made it definitely worth it.

Not only that, he also felt kind of obliged to make it up to her. Especially with how much grief his nighttime activities had caused her. He not only kept stealing her father away from her (and he knew from first hand experience just how painful that could be) but also grew distant to her with numerous lies he told her. Sometimes it felt like most he could say at all were lies. Jii felt like the only person he could be honest with. But now it has changed as well…

To keep his hands occupied he kept rolling a small ball in between his fingers as they slowly strolled around the well kept gardens. He didn't pay much mind to the exhibitions they were passing. Rather than that he was cataloging in his mind any places where he could hide in, even if just for a moment, should he find himself running in this direction during the heist. He also tried to find any spots where a sniper might want to choose to lurk from.

Noticing Aoko looking at him, he smirked back and started juggling the ball with one hand, seemingly out of nowhere adding a second, then a third ball. While showing off, he saw a couple with a child slow down, trying to subtly observe him. Amused, he winked at Aoko and added a conffetti bomb to his juggle. When it was above his head, he threw another ball directly at it, causing it to erupt and cover him with colorful paper. The child gasped in awe, so he did a backflip in his direction and bowed gracefully. Startled, the pair started awkwardly clapping, while the kid cheered. He grinned at them and turned to Aoko, who ran over while laughing and grabbed his hand to drag him away from the confused couple.

Even though he was laughing on the surface, he couldn't shake off feeling on edge because of the next heist. After all, this time aside from worrying about the police, he had to take Snake and his lackeys into consideration.

The openness of this place posed an unexpected problem. From what he could see so far, it looked like the only place where he could be cornered was the Main Gallery. Once he left the building he would have a vast park full of people to vanish within. And after a few steps he could be either in the forest or out on the road. Though on second thought, he would prefer to avoid going through the tunnel right after the heist. The problem was that from what he could have already seen, the Main Gallery wasn't a very big building, so if both the police and Snake would want to corner him there they would clash. Which in a way was what he was aiming for all along but could easily end with casualties if Ginzo didn't know what they were up against.

That was the one outcome he could not have. But wasn't sure how he could avoid it.

He could of course try and simply warn Ginzo beforehand but if nothing would happen during the heist he would lose any creditidability which he painstakingly managed to build. Moreover, he would show his cards to the very people he was trying to get caught, which again, wasn't something he could afford. Meaning his best choice of action was to avoid the police and do his best to round up his would-be killers before they got to him and wrap them up somehow for Ginzo to arrest.

He sighed heavily, while Aoko left his side to walk over to the four large sculptures for a better look. He barely took a glance at the statues, more focused on his friend. He wasn't sure how he would do it but he would protect her father, even if that was the last thing he did. He had to.

As if he didn't have enough problems to deal with, he had to take one more thing into consideration - Saguru. If the guy decided to show up in his dragon form then everything could easily spiral out of control. And with such dense forest growing around the museum grounds it would have been simple for him to lay in wait and surprise Kaito at the worst time.

He could probably prevent Saguru from showing up at the heist or at least influence what he would do if he managed to meet up with him as KID beforehand. Sadly though that was out of the question. There was a very high chance that during the meeting he would decide to turn into a dragon, forcing Kaito to undergo the transformation as well. That would put a strain on his body again, as well as his focus, which wasn't something he could afford right now. With so much at stake, he wanted to be in top form - both physically and mentally for the heist, so he simply couldn't risk it. Meaning his best bet was to prevent Saguru from showing up on Thursday all together but he wasn't clear how he could do it without potentially antagonizing him in the future.

He swallowed thickly and nearly choked on his own saliva when he looked to the side and noticed Aoko leaning over a body of water in which a few sculptures were submerged. However it wasn't the only thing that was in the water. He swirled away panting heavily and desperately trying to purge the memory of slimy shapes crowding at the surface, as if reaching to Aoko's outstretched hand. He heard her laughing behind him but he paid it no mind, stuffing his hands in his pockets to hide them shaking and stormed off towards the next attraction.

"Oh, come on Kai~to," she sang out running after him, "Just give them a pat! They are kind of cute!"

"No! They are slimy and disgusting and…" he clicked his mouth shut before he could say 'terrifying'. Consciously, he knew that there was nothing to be scared of but it's not like he could help it.

"No they're not~ Their scales are kind of nice to the touch. You really should try it," she added with what sounded like concern, catching up with him.

He threw her an annoyed glare that quickly turned into glee, as he slowly turned to her. "Oh~? So you like scale-" he cut himself off, suddenly recalling the white scales that covered his body. He just meant to make a joke about lizards, not insinuate things!

She raised an eyebrow at him. "Is Kaito feeling ok? Or maybe a carp caught your tongue~?"

That at least helped him recover and he threw her yet another glare and flicked a few cards into her face to distract her. As she reflexly covered her eyes, he leaned backwards and flipped her skirt onto her back, laughing maniacally. Enraged, she swung at him but missed him as he was already making a backflip only to dash away, running in zig zags between the trees ready to dodge any projectalies she might throw his way.

In a way, it was sweet of her to try and help him recover from his panic attack.

As embarrassing as it was, all he could do was escape from the source of his phobia. But with those finny things he at least had the comfort of knowing that they wouldn't chase after him. When he faced the winged dragon, on top of his panic, he had to take into account the very likely possibility of forced transformation. And to add insult to injury, he had yet to tell Jii about this "little problem". He really didn't want to lie to the old man but he found himself unable to tell him. At least not yet.

The problem he found himself in was because he had no idea whether Jii had any previous knowledge of his predicament. If he didn't know anything then he would either think that Kaito is joking or that he finally lost his marbles, given that he had no way of proving that he could actually change into a dragon. He did have the strangely colored strands of hair, but they were more of an oddity than evidence. And if it turned out that Jii knew about him being a dragon and just kept quiet about it this whole time, Kaito wouldn't know how to deal with it…

He grinned widely when they reached an area called Woods of Net. There was a large structure, in the form of a hollow tower made of wooden blocks with a complicated looking netting inside. And it was interactive. Kaito rushed over to climb it but to his disappointment he was stopped by a staff member who told him that access was restricted to children up to age of 12. He found it annoying and was tempted to go in anyway. After all he was the best kaitou in the world - restricted access was more of a request to him than any sort of obstacle. However, it's not like it was any real challenge in it and he still had to watch out for his healing back, so he decided against it.

This time.

Instead to cheer himself up and distract a little, he did a few simple card tricks for a few children and soon enough, much to his delight, he gathered quite the crowd. As a bonus, Aoko seemed happy with his impromptu show as well, so he counted it as a win.

After some time they continued their stroll and eventually ended up in another tower-like structure that from the inside was filled with colorful glass creating a breathtaking view. As he watched delight spreading on Aoko's face, he somehow recalled his first meeting Jii at the building roof with them both dressed as KID. When Kaito first discovered the truth about his father. He didn't really hold it against Jii that he hadn't told him about it before, after all he hadn't really seen the man since Toichi had died. Since that time Kaito had learned to trust the old guy and rely on him. With everything that was going on he didn't want to live in a reality that there was virtually nobody he could trust…

He showed no signs of discomfort to Aoko as they continued their stroll around the museum grounds. In the privacy of his mind he tried to distract himself and find inspiration for a trick for his heist as well as figure out how his adversaries would try to capture and possibly kill him this time.

Despite his grim thoughts the day turned out really nice for Kaito, as he realized while putting on his helmet and getting on the motorbike. Having already put on her headgear, Aoko sat

behind him and wrapped her hands around his midsection. A little tighter than necessary.

"Thanks Kaito. Aoko had a lot of fun. We should do this more often."

He hummed in agreement, silently cherishing her closeness. "We definitely should~ Now hold on!" he warned her cheerfully and turned on the engine.

He was pretty sure that she noticed that he chose the longer route home. But since she didn't mention it, she probably didn't mind.


Ugh... Looks like I have to apologize to you guys for posting so late! Sadly, the recent heatwave pretty much melted my brain and I couldn't really focus on anything. The upside is that I have nearly finished the next chapter, so I should be posting it in just a few days, so look forwad to it.

Hope to see you next chapter *bows*