Reluctant Hero
5. Aoko's surprise of a lifetime
There was a time, long long ago, when someone who Aoko couldn't remember told her this: once is chance, twice is coincidence and three times is a pattern. Back then when she first heard it, she wasn't sure what to do with that information besides storing it somewhere in her brain and waiting for the right moment to use it, like what those cool detectives in the movies would as they blurt out random information in the middle of their cases and eventually solving them.
The last thing she expected, though, was to use this saying upon herself.
Yes, sure. The first time she met Kid, rather than the other seven billion people in the world, Aoko might call it chance; A chance of a meeting, a chance encounter, even if back then it was Shinichi who pulled the strings, and that she did need the help that could only specifically come from Kid. There might be a loophole somewhere in this argument, but that was fine. Chance sounded more neutral than fate.
The second time, yeah, sure. Coincidence. Even Kid hinted on that. He came up to her because he was... bored. Not because he was stalking her, or that he purposely disguised himself as a kind, old security guard and baited her to talk to him. He had his own business there, and she was there for her own business too. Pure coincidence. Yes. Coincidence still sounded more neutral than fate.
But this third meeting. Pattern? Of what sort? Aoko wasn't sure. But at least she was sure about one thing, and that is that pattern still sounded much neutral than fate.
Besides that, Aoko wasn't sure about anything else, like everything else that happened whenever Kid was involved.
It was close to midnight as Aoko was driving her way back home, the usual timing after she collected plenty of scandalous evidence of her usual cheating husband case. The night was quiet, saved for when she passed by a few drunkards shouting by the streets. She was super looking forward to getting home, have a nice bath, slump onto her bed and snuggle against her comfortable pillow till she sleeps to her death, but by the rules, she wasn't going to go over the speed limit or beat any traffic light, even when the road was dead empty, as if she owned it.
That was why when a figure suddenly materialized in front of her car and a loud bang followed, Aoko was sure, damn sure, it wasn't her fault.
Aoko shrieked, closely matching the loud screeching sound her tyres made when she hit the brake. Her head slammed back onto the headrest and she growled in pain. After making sure she hadn't suffered any broken bones or whatsnot, she suddenly remembered the figure that caused everything that happened, and hastily began unbuckling her seatbelt to get out of the car.
Though it might not be her fault, she should at least make sure the person is still alive and well.
Her head popped out. "Are you-"
Before she could finish her sentence, the man was already on his feet, briefly brushing off his dark jeans and black jacket. His hat was flung far away from him, but the sound of her voice seemed to stop his intention to pick it up as he spun towards her, eyes wide like he was about to shoot out laser beams.
He gasped. "It's you?"
Aoko blinked. Why is his voice...?
Then a blast of horns could be heard coming from the junction she previously passed, breaking the night silence that Aoko forgotten happened a while ago.
"Shit." The man gritted his teeth and limped to the passenger seat of her car. "Get in!"
Aoko blinked again. "Wait, what-?"
"Get in!" He gestured frantically to her car door.
The horns grew louder, followed by loud engine roaring and gas exhausting-
Four cars swerved from the junction behind Aoko and were heading towards them at fast speed.
Very fast, indeed.
"Oh my god!" In an instant, Aoko shoved herself in the car and slammed the door shut. She frantically tugged onto her seatbelt, trying to pull it over her chest, but halfway through, it got stuck, somehow.
"What the hell are you doing?" The man snapped.
"Buckling my seatbelt." Aoko snarled back. "You should too."
The man looked at her in disbelief. "For hell's sake just drive already!"
Looking back at the rear-mirror and seeing how the lights coming from the four cars were closing in, Aoko didn't really have the choice. She released her seatbelt, jabbed her feet into accelerator, and sped off, nearly giving herself and the man a whiplash. The street was empty, giving her good space to go fast in a straight line, but bad thing was, it was the same for their pursuers.
Wait. Their pursuers?
What mess did she ended herself in now?
Aoko's grip tightened around her wheel as she glanced at the man. What had she done? Who had she picked up? Could he be a criminal on the run? Were the people behind them the police? The law?
Oh crap.
Oh crap.
Aoko took in a deep breath. "Who are you?" She said, hoping her voice sounded steady and confident (It was a dumb question, but really, what else could she ask?).
"Huh." He drawled, sounding utterly unimpressed as he looked her way with a bored gaze. "You haven't figured out?"
Back when the night air was crisp and dry and he was standing at a distance, Aoko couldn't register it that well. But now that they were in an enclosed space, with him sitting right next to her in less than an arm's length and speaking in that snarky tone, realization hit Aoko as hard as life could get.
"Kaitou Kid?!" Aoko's shouted, her reflex nearly made her change her foot from the accelerator to the brake. Nearly, but thankfully, she didn't.
"Uh huh. Surprise." He deadpanned before turning to stare at the wing-mirror. His brows turned into a crease.
"Surprise my ass!" Aoko continued yelling. "What the hell! What is going on!"
"Geez." Kid rubbed his ear. "Well, first, you knocked me down and—"
"No." Aoko growled. "You dashed in front of my car recklessly and caused this accident."
"K. Whatever it is, it's still a fact that I have to hitch a ride because my bike broke down and so are my legs. Let's just pray your car wouldn't too."
Speaking of his legs, Aoko straightened, remembering seeing him limping towards her car. There was so much one needed to do to make her turn heartless towards someone, and for now, Kid hadn't made her reach that level, yet.
"Um, are you alright then?" She said, hoping that her voice was neutral despite the weird, uncomfortable feeling in her chest.
"I'm fine." He muttered. He was still staring at the wing-mirror, all while refusing to look at her. "Anyway, can you drive faster?
Aoko inwardly sighed. Any more faster would be over the speed limit, then again, she was sure the people driving behind her wouldn't care about that. Taking in a deep breath, she pressed the accelerator further down, and for a temporary moment, the distance between them and the pursuers grew a bit bigger.
Kid sunk into his seat and finally looked away from the mirror. Strangely, seeing him relax made Aoko release a tension she didn't know she had.
"Who are they?" She managed to ask without either screaming or shouting (Those seemed to be the only options whenever she spoke with Kid).
He paused. "…People who aren't friendly."
Aoko sent Kid a glare. "Don't you think you owe me a better explanation? Technically, I'm involved now because of you."
"To give you some comfort, they are much of a scumbag compared to me. So technically, you are doing a better deed for helping me."
"Thanks for the comfort."
He smirked. "You're welcome. So continue driving and that's all you need to do."
"Drive. Drive to where?"
"Wherever. Maybe your home, if you want." Kid began rummaging through the inside of his jacket. "By then, I should be able to get rid of them."
"And how?" Aoko narrowed her eyes. "Please enlighten me."
"You don't have to mind me." Kid said, and ever so casually, he pulled out a silver gun from inside his jacket. "Just focus on the road."
Aoko choked. "You have a gun? You can't be serious. Guns are illegal."
"Don't you find yourself funny to be saying that to me?"
"Still, we don't need the gun." Aoko said, while inwardly wincing when Kid began rolling down the window. "Let's just shake them off."
Kid scoffed. "Sounds really easy when you said it."
"But-"
Right on the cue, a few shots fired behind them. All missed, except one, as it hit the wing-mirror on Aoko's side and blasted into pieces.
Kid glanced at Aoko, checking for her response.
Her response was a loud shriek. "Okay! Fine! We need the gun!"
"Always been waiting for your validation." He grinned, and pulled out a small metal box from his jacket, which Aoko presumed was his ammo.
She began casting shifty glances to his side, anxious about Kid's nimble fingers and the oddly, large silver gun that Aoko had never seen before. She was about to look away, to focus on the road like what he suggested, until when she saw him reloading his magazine with the metal box, which she realized was a deck of cards.
Her eyes were on the verge of rolling out.
"…Is that a card gun?" Aoko whispered.
"Yes." Kid cocked the said gun.
"Are you serious?"
"Oh, so now you wish this is an actual gun?"
"I wish I'd left you on the road!"
Kid, having the audacity, grinned. "You wouldn't."
He was annoyingly right, though, because based on her principle, she wouldn't allow herself to do it either. But even if they were currently driving to hell, there was still no way Aoko would admit that she would still save him, ever. "Don't act like you know me. Just make them go away already!"
Kid propped up from his seat. "My pleasure."
In a flash, he climbed half his body out and fired a couple times, but she couldn't tell how many they were since the slices of card-shots were softer than her heartbeat thumping against her ear. Simultaneously, though, right after Kid slumped back onto his seat, Aoko witnessed two cars spinning in circles on the road like a dizzy beetle from her rear mirror—Their car tyres were punctured by Kid's cards, but he wasn't able to stop the other two cars.
Knowing full well that Aoko was about to ask him to continue, Kid explained: "I'm out."
"Great." Aoko gritted her teeth. "Then what now-?"
More shots were fired from behind again. And among the loud bangs, something hit the car on Kid's side, causing a loud, scratchy sound that made Aoko's blood froze. Kid heard it too.
After the enemies' shots ended, he gave a quick peek out of the window, stared at the car door for a second, before silently sitting back on his seat with a poker-face that Aoko seemed to understand for the first time.
She groaned.
"Don't worry." Kid said. "I have plan E."
His tone and words had no reassurance value to Aoko. "Plan E?"
"E for excellent." Kid began rummaging through his inner jacket again before pulling out a round ball. Or something that seemed like a ball.
"What the hell is that." Aoko frowned when she cast a quick glance at the thing in his hand. "Don't tell me it's another of your stupid toy that's going to burst out bubbles or something."
He ignored her. "Move further away from the pavement."
"Why-"
"Just do it."
Much to her reluctance, she followed his instruction and did as told. She was about to ask what he was up to when he leaned out of the car again and threw the ball at the fire hydrant that her car just zoomed passed. He rolled up one side of his jacket's sleeve, revealing a watch underneath.
Once the two cars passed by their old spots, Kid pinched the side of his watch, and within that split second the fire hydrant exploded.
Aoko stared in horror as her eyes were glued to the rear-mirror. Everything happened like magic; the large explosive fire was engulfed in a blink, fully extinguished. By the next blink, everything on the road was consumed by thick fumes of white smoke and water.
Lots and lots of water.
Like an inverted waterfall from the ground.
It took Aoko a while to process everything, and she wasn't even sure where to start. Perhaps from the origin. Yeah. The origin of the damn explosion.
"That b-ball is a bomb?!"
Kid didn't look as guilty as what Aoko thought he should be. Instead, he seemed extremely pleased with his work as he unrolled his sleeve. "Go big or go home."
"Go to jail, you mean?" Aoko yelled. "Oh my god, if the surveillance cameras caught all these… my life is ruined. I'm not wearing seatbelt. I'm speeding. And I'm an accomplice of a bomber. Charged for property damage."
"I'll clear the cameras, don't worry." He sounded as if those efforts were worth the same as cutting his nails.
She passed a glare at him. "Should I be grateful?"
As the smoke and fog and whatever the mess behind were slowly clearing, Aoko dared herself to look at the rear-mirror again, teeth biting into her lower lip.
Kid's face was wiped blank, but she knew he was thinking the same as he stared hard at the wing-mirror on his side.
Please. Just stop following us already…
Despite her agonising chants, her wish was only half-granted. One car out of the two made it out of the smoke, continuing the chase of their tail. And perhaps because of the water explosion, the pursuer seemed even more determined to catch up now. Aoko stepped harder into the accelerator too, hoping they could maintain the distance.
Kid clicked his tongue. "Of all damned ones, Gozu got to be in that car."
Gozu? Aoko frowned. The name seemed to ring a bell...
But before she could question Kid, he straightened and abruptly grabbed her steering wheel. Aoko yelped as she lost control, swerving the car to a sharp right. It bounced up from a curb and smashed a couple of yellow barricades away. She screamed once again when she realized Kid hadn't turned mad and the car wasn't out of control; Kid's hand was steady on the wheel, and he knew where he was going.
And where the car was heading.
It was the dock of the bay.
Outwards to the beautiful sea.
"No-" Aoko couldn't breathe. "No!"
"Yes." Kid pushed her thigh with her other hand, forcing her foot to remain jammed into the accelerator. "Just trust me!"
"My car-!"
"Our lives!"
With that, Aoko screamed for the third time when the car flew up from the dock. In midair, with fast hands, Kid pushed open the car door, grabbed Aoko to his side and pulled her out before the car sunk to the bottom of the sea.
.o.
"I think they are dead, boss."
"With his skills? Are you an imbecile?" A loud slap echoed in the night. "He's got to be somewhere. Find him and get him. Alive. I'm not finished dealing with him."
"Yes boss."
Footsteps. Fast and nimble.
Silence.
A gruff.
Another sound of footsteps. But heavier. And slower.
And then there was silence. Except for the waves as it continued splashing onto the dock, and onto their bodies too.
A minute later, Kid emerged from their hideout—the small space under the dock that fitted them—and bobbed his head out from the water to check what was on the dock. Noticing his grin under the dark sky, Aoko didn't have to wait for his signal before she swam out too and quickly climbed out of the bloody freezing water. Up on land, they dashed past the dock and towards the direction where most yacht were parked. Under the tall shadows of the boats, it was temporarily a good place to take cover.
"You okay?" Kid asked, his eyes watching her from under his damp hair.
"I want to kill you." Aoko panted. Her clothes were wet and heavy, weighing her down tremendously as she tried to catch her breaths (And the night breeze was not helping either). Besides wanting to kill Kid, she wanted to get out of this place too, before that boss came back.
But Kid didn't seem all to worry about that boss at all, or the fact that Aoko wanted to kill him as well. He nodded at her response with a grin and patted the corner of his jaw. "Seeing you like this, I'll take that you are okay." He said.
Aoko would love to correct him and tell him that no she is not okay, but she blinked, her anger temporarily shelved aside when she noted some skin peeling from below his ear and down his chin.
It was a mask.
Right. With all that car chasing, James Bond parody that taken up her mind space, she hadn't had the time to care about any other things. But now that the actions were over and she had brain space to spare, she should have known everything about him was a disguise, not that anything of his current appearance fitted him anyway; his dark blonde hair and honey-brown eyes—
All of the sudden, Kid scrunched his face and pinched his nose, surprising Aoko as she sucked in a breath and held it there.
Is he going to take off his mask?
That thought didn't linger in her head for long as Kid proved her guess wrong; Instead, all he did was taking off his contact lenses and flicked them onto the ground before patting the side of his jaw again. She would have chided him for littering, but her focus was all on the true colour of his eyes.
Not honey-brown like what he disguised. Not black when it didn't fit the demeanour of Kaitou Kid. Not anything but—
Blue. Deep, aqua blue.
And that fitted him.
"Stop staring." Kid said, his eyebrows raised amusingly. "This isn't my real face."
"I know." Aoko cleared her throat, dispelling those weird and irrelevant thoughts. "But at least now I know your real eyes are blue."
Kid smirked and teasingly touched his mask. "Are you curious about my real face?"
Aoko growled. "What I'm curious instead is how you're going to repay me."
That managed to ease the stupid grin on his face. "Right." He muttered, avoiding her gaze as he looked out at the sea. At least he seemed genuinely guilty, and that rare expression was probably the only thing that made the anger whirling within Aoko to finally die down.
"I owe you a car." Kid said finally. "And one favour."
Aoko scoffed. "One favour?"
"…Two?"
"Five."
Kid made a dying whale noise. "Fine."
"Good." Aoko grinned, the only time she ever felt happy with the presence of Kid for once. "It's a deal."
"K."
Another night breeze blew by and Aoko visibly shivered. "Now what? How are we going to get out of this place? And that boss-?"
"No need to worry about that boss. You should just focus on thinking how you are going to go home."
"Since you are The Kaitou Kid, why don't you think of a solution?" Aoko glowered.
"I already did."
"So? What is it?"
Kid smirked. "Why should I tell you?"
"What?"
"Going home is your problem, not mine. Unless you decide to use that one favour then I can help you with it."
"No. This would be too easy for you."
"Sure then." Kid shrugged, but Aoko spotted the slight curve on the side of his lips as he walked away. "You can stay here and wait for a taxi or something."
"Wait-" Aoko stomped after him. "I have nothing on me except for my house keys."
"Are you telling me or are you hinting me to lend you money? 'Cause my answer is a no, if it's the latter."
"You ended my car in the water!"
"And hence the five favours repayment." Kid stopped and gave her a pointed look. "I asked if you want to use it and you said no. So, bye."
"Fine! I'll use up one of that favour." Aoko muttered, wrapping her arms across her chest. She was cold and tired, the worse kind of combination one could have, and all she wanted right now was to go home. If she had to waste one favour to fulfil that wish, so be it.
Kid kept his smile intact all the time and nodded. "Good. Four to go."
"So," Aoko narrowed her eyes. "How are we going back?"
He silently answered with his head gesture. Aoko followed his line of sight, the direction he was previously heading.
Leaning under the lone lamppost just a few feet away from them was an electric scooter bike. It looked a little rundown, but still ridable. Maybe.
Aoko's eyes squinted even further. Kid and scooter... didn't quite match. "Um, is that yours?"
"Nope." He said as he pulled out a long pin from his pocket.
"Then what are you doing?" Aoko gasped, eyes wide as she watched Kid pushing the long pin into the key slot and tweaking around with it.
"Borrowing the scooter." He answered like it couldn't have been more obvious in the world.
"Borrowing? You're stealing."
"I'm not stealing. I'm borrowing. This is our only transport available." He emphasised again. "I'll return it to its place tomorrow."
"Really?"
"Really." Kid said, and right at that moment, the scooter jolted and came to life.
His key worked.
Aoko didn't have the energy to continue this conversation. She pretty much couldn't believe everything that happened too, actually. But using whatever strength she had left in her, she pinched her damp cheeks a couple of times. And, sadly, when she found herself wincing from the pain and knowing that it wasn't a dream, she slumped behind him on the scooter and sulked all the way as he drove her back home.
It was a terribly long ride, but time could have been manipulated in her mind when she wasn't enjoying the cold and bumpy moments. Once the neighbourhood turned familiar and the view of her house appeared, Aoko got off the scooter even before Kid fully stopped and dashed into her home without sparing him a glance because of how nauseous and cold and sick she was feeling, but when she climbed up the stairs to her bathroom and looked through the window that showed the front of her house, he was already gone.
She bathed for as long her skin allowed and checked the internet after she was done. But her eyelids weren't able to cooperate much as the most she could do was to refresh the latest news for about three times before she slumped onto her bed and slept in grateful silence (because there wasn't any police knocking on her door too).
Only half an hour later, Aoko suddenly jolted up from her dreamless sleep in horror, very much realizing Kid had indeed sent her home, yet she never once tell him where she lived.
.o.
The next morning, still tired and restless than Aoko could ever be, she dragged herself and her throbbing headache to the bathroom to prepare herself for the day, but in an instant when her side-long glance passed by her windows, she changed her mind.
In a split second, Aoko stumbled out of her house, her jaw almost reaching the floor.
A beautiful, dark blue car—that Aoko wasn't sure if she deserved—was parked right by her mailbox. She could stand there and stare at it forever, but something compelled her towards the mailbox as she flipped the lid open.
Inside, Aoko found a bundle of newspapers, which was strange because she never subscribed to any before. But knowing it got to be related to her gift, she hastily took the newspaper out and flipped the papers open.
A note fell out in between the pages and she picked it up from the floor, but the headlines caught more of her attention than the note, for now.
Black Market Leader Gozu arrested over multiple charges.
Aoko blinked.
Below the headlines showed a couple of men, including Gozu, handcuffed and arrested in the wee morning, probably just two hours after Kid sent her home, and by the same dock that her car fell into.
The newspaper in her hand began to shake.
No wonder she found the name Gozu so familiar when she heard Kid mentioned it for a brief second. Then again, why was Kid running away from him? What exactly happened? Was this major arrest his doing? Why would Kid...?
Just remembering the note, Aoko opened the slip of paper and began to read:
Thanks for the assistance last night. Rather than doing your boring finding-cheating-wives-or-husbands business, would you like to consider being my assistant part-time? You can continue justice while I drag my competitors down one by one till I monopolise the industry. We can make such a great team.
Here's the car as a repayment last night. Her name is called blue baby. Please take good care of her. And since I know you need the car more urgently first, I haven't prepared the phone for communication. I'll send it to you another day.
-Kaitou Kid
Aoko had to reread the note another seven times, caressed the newspaper three times and touched the car four times before she realized this, again, wasn't another dream.
Kaitou Kid might be everything that Aoko despised, but he had given her things that nobody could give her; In just the short span of twelve hours, Aoko had received enough surprises for a lifetime.