Reluctant Hero

7. Aoko's win

The scrap value of her dead car was only enough to pay half of the new camera she bought. It was fine, anyway, since she had always been wanting to change her camera for a long time, and truthfully, it was the same for her car too.

And now, because of some strange yet good timing, Aoko got a free car, a new camera and four free favours from Kaitou Kid. She wasn't sure which was the best thing she got out of this deal, but it still wasn't a hundred percent good ending; the photo evidences she painstakingly taken for a case that night were gone, and she had to get them all over again before her client's meeting in three days' time.

With Kid's help, of course. It was his fault.

(Technically, what Aoko got were three free favours. Not four.)

It was late noon, the bustling period was over for a restaurant business; only a couple of seats were taken up by some office workers, a handful of high-school students and a few couples. Aoko stirred her glass of ice tea and looked out of her restaurant booth. The food seemed interesting, from the plates she managed to glimpse at from her table, and the location wasn't far off from her office too... She would try some dishes here one day, but today wouldn't be that day. The last thing Aoko wanted in her life was to have a meal with the presence of Kid, and she would rather die than get teased by him for trying something he suggested; this meeting place was sent by him after all.

Aoko glanced at the phone beside her drink, which she found in her mailbox just a day after she stumbled upon a car outside her house (Even if Kid had countless personality defects, Aoko got to admit he was good at keeping his words and fulfilling them without any drag). It was a brandless old flip phone—one she saw her dad used in the past when she was young. She did consider sewing a phone pouch for it (since it's impossible to find a case for a flip phone now), but it would be too much work for something she wasn't going to use for a long run.

Right at the brief thought, the phone buzzed, causing Aoko to jump. She glanced around the restaurant to make sure no one saw her embarrassing moment before picking up the phone with a scowl.

Pressing a couple of buttons (she was still trying to accustom to pressing the keypad instead of the screen itself), Aoko finally opened the new message.

'Coming.'

Aoko rolled her eyes. All this effort of pressing so many buttons to read one, pointless word message? She tried texting back: 'Hurry up', and pressed sent, but like what she expected, her phone buzzed in her hand, showing an error message of her failed text.

It was stupid, and something she was going to ask Kid about; why did he give her a phone that didn't allow her to text back? The only way to notify him that she needed to talk to him was pressing the number one keypad for exactly six seconds, as written on the little note he left with the phone. She did the instructed steps yesterday, and within two minutes, Kid texted her the date (which was today), time (which was now) and location (and here she was), and added that he was only available then. Yeah, what a big shot. As if he was the only person entitled to be busy.

Busy plotting to steal things, maybe.

The bell chimed by the restaurant door and Aoko turned, setting the flip phone down by her drink. A man walked in, his hands stuffed inside the pockets of a jacket as he did. A waiter approached him and they talked in murmurs as he glanced about, until when he spotted her in her booth.

Upon closer inspection as he began walking around the tables and making his way towards her, Aoko realized his black hair wasn't exactly messy like she thought at first; it was just a little spiky at the back and his fringe was long and had to be swiped aside. And there were his eyes-!

The same blue ones Aoko remembered that night.

Her breath hitched.

Could it be...?

"Yo." The man slipped into the booth with ease, his honey-ed, charming tone loudly claiming I'm Kid despite his calm voice.

Aoko had to take a couple of sips to keep her composure cool and stop the chanting of his eyes! his eyes! in her head. "Um, yo."

Kid frowned. "What?"

"What what?"

"Why are you staring at me with your creepy eyes?"

"I don't have creepy eyes." Aoko scowled and looked away. "I was just... looking at your disguise. Just to be sure it's you, or something."

Kid leaned forward, and a faint, mixed scent of cinnamon and lemon filled Aoko's nose. "Are you interested to know whose face this belongs to?"

"No." Aoko mentally applauded for her firm and assertive tone. "He's probably just some poor soul you saw on the street, isn't it?"

"Is he your type?" Kid asked with a grin.

"No." Aoko reaffirmed again, regretting the moment of mentioning anything about his disguise. This conversation was going nowhere (even if she was truly curious about this topic). She wondered if she should start on her case, but her eyes slipped to the flip phone and her new thoughts gathered into words. "By the way, why can't I text you?"

Kid stared at the phone and scoffed, like it was the stupidest question he ever heard. "And give you the chance to spam me unnecessary things? No." He spat (He also sounded like this had been an experience before).

"What if I'm not available and needed to change the date? Or time? Or location?"

"Then it means the favour you want from me isn't important for you to compromise, which is a clear suggestion that you are not putting my help to good use." He smirked. "You should think carefully, you know. This is a chance of a lifetime."

"You made me use one favour just to send me home."

"Ah, but going home was the one and only thing that you wanted back then, wasn't it?"

Aoko gritted her teeth, unable to think of anything to retort at the moment because Kid was annoyingly and stupidly correct. Now, it seemed like a very good time to start on the motive of their meeting. She pulled out a folder from her bag and Kid eyed her as she did.

"I've got an urgent case and I need to collect a week's worth of evidence in a span of three days."

Knowing it was business, Kid nodded, somehow enough to show bits of effort that he was listening. She chose not to bring up her damaged camera—because this blaming game was going to only be a waste of time—and went straight to the point of her story of a cheating husband and miserable wife and the two children she desperately wanted to get the custody of.

If Aoko knew better, she thought Kid was showing some empathy through the fixation of his gaze on her as she explained, until he yawned near the end of her story and broke the seriousness in his eyes. She was about to ask if he was even listening in the first place until he waved a hand. "This is easy. No need three days. All I need is one, which is tonight." He drawled.

"Are you going to do something illegal?" Aoko paused, hoping her words sunk into Kid's brain. "My client is using the evidence in court. It has to be legal."

"It's as legal as snooping around and taking pictures of people without their permission." Kid rolled his eyes, which tempted Aoko to pinch his nose and pull his mask off. "You said the guy's name is Yuui Saito?"

"Yes." Aoko answered tentatively.

"I also know one Yuui Saito that fitted the description of your story; He's also a lawyer and has one sad wife and two miserable kids. And if we're really talking about the same Yuui Saito, then I do know he's going to his favourite, underground club tonight to meet his usual flings."

"Huh?" Aoko blurted in surprise. "His secretary is not the only mistress?"

Kid laughed. "He has at least five."

It wasn't possible. Aoko dug deeper into her folder. Originally she didn't intend to show Yuui Saito's photo to Kid, yet, until when they agreed on a common plan. But she couldn't believe the Yuui Saito he knew was the same Yuui Saito she was targeting when the results she gotten were completely off. She pulled out a photo that her client gave her and passed it to Kid.

"Is this him?" Aoko urged.

"Ah." Kid nodded. "The one and only."

She scowled and kept the photograph.

He watched her with an amused glint in his eyes. "Feeling bitter because you realized you barely scratched the surface for this case?"

"I just… didn't manage to follow that far." It sounded like a petty excuse to use to defend herself, but it was really the truth. Yuui Saito was really on another level of a cheating husband; his level of stealth was quite hard for Aoko to keep up, which was one of the reasons why it took her a week to get the evidence when she could wrap up most of her other cases in three days.

(But all Kid needed was a night)

"K. So, as I was saying, this is going to be easy." Kid started again, breaking Aoko's line of thought. "I'll pass you the photos you need tomorrow."

"Wait- But I'm coming with you."

"No. You don't belong there; you're just going to make this even harder to collect the evidence."

"Right." Aoko rolled her eyes. "So you belong there, then?"

"Why… do you sound jealous?"

She gripped onto her side of the table and showed obvious attempts to flip it. "Like hell I am!"

Kid was smirking all the time; he was definitely riling up her temper on purpose. "I'm going to do all the work for you so you should just sit back and relax. I'll text you the location to meet again."

"Are you sure about the information you said yourself?" Aoko frowned, still dubious about the whole idea. "How do you know Yuui Saito anyway?"

"You think his only crime is being a cheating husband?" Kid tapped a finger on his temple and cast her a pointed look. "It shouldn't be hard for you to figure out why I know him."

Aoko blinked. "Then you're going to betray him?"

"I never say we're friends either." Kid leaned against his seat and stifled another yawn. "This will be a fun opportunity to screw him up a bit. And I supposed his soon-to-be ex wife and kids deserve better too."

She wasn't sure if Kid knew he had spoken the last sentence aloud, but for the first time, Aoko thought he sounded like a human (even if he acted like he wasn't).

"How much can I trust you that this will work out?" Aoko asked.

"A hundred and one percent." Kid said, flicking a piece of breadcrumb he found off the corner of the table, his expression bored. "And for assurance, even if I couldn't come up with the photos by tomorrow, we still have two days to think of another plan. No need to be paranoid for now."

Lo and behold, his words did give her some bit of an assurance, and Aoko leaned back on her seat too with the glass of ice tea in her hand since she had nothing else to say. Besides doing the favour he owed her, she was sure he was busy with his other matters, but for the next five minutes, he sat there silently the entire time while looking at his phone, seemingly as if he was waiting for her to finish her ice tea before leaving. And it was only after he walked out of the restaurant then Aoko realized how alone she was, even though she never felt this way when she was waiting for Kid.

Knowing that she'd use too much of her brain cells to think of an answer towards this strange feeling, she quickly paid for her drink and left no sooner after Kid did.

.o.

Aoko wasn't sure if Kid realised the weirdness of his location suggestions, or that he did, and he was doing it on purpose to mess with her.

Tapping her foot on the ground just beside the cinema's ticketing booth, Aoko checked the clock on her phone for the sixth time that ten minutes. Kid was late, but unlike yesterday, he didn't send any additional text to inform if he was on the way or not, though that shouldn't have matter.

Should it?

"Hello."

Shocked, Aoko turned.

Kid never disguised his voice, but his face was; his eyes were green and hair combed to the side like a typical, neat office worker. And maybe because he thought it was too plain, he added freckles to his make-up.

But despite all that effort, it still didn't quite fit. Of all the disguises Aoko ever saw of him, the one in the restaurant suited him the most, and she almost thought it could have been his real face... But why would he ever show it to her? There would be no benefits behind that action besides it being a stupid mistake. Still, she couldn't put a word to this weird intuition, so the best course of action would be to ignore her feelings and focus on the matter at hand.

"You're late. Again." Aoko narrowed her eyes.

Kid glanced away. "Sorry." He said, his voice toneless and not sounding as guilty as Aoko thought he should be.

She wanted to holler at him with tons of questions; why he was late, where had he been and who he was with, etcetera, but that was just going overboard with the curiosity or concern she should have for him. She decided to change the questions for a better and logical one, something she had the rights to ask, at least.

"Ok. One thing before we start, because you don't allow me to text you back," Aoko gestured around the box office for emphasis as every corner was nothing short of couples, be it married with kids or not. "Why are our meeting places so..."

Dating-like?

There was no way was she going to say that, but she trusted Kid to know what her words meant—

"So brilliant?" Kid finished her sentence. "No one's going to take notice of us when we blend in so well."

That was exactly Aoko's problem. She didn't want to blend in such environment with Kid, even if he'd got a good point; No one bothered to give them a second glance since they looked just like any couples here. But it still irked her though, when they could just meet at her office where privacy wouldn't be of a concern, and it was so much more convenient for her...

Whatever. Aoko sighed (She rather just get this over and done with instead). "You've got the pictures?" She prompted.

"Yes." Kid pulled out something from his pocket and slipped it into her hand, their fingers almost intertwined—

Aoko reacted with a gasp and pulled away like his hand was scalding hot, but Kid retracted his hand away too.

"Can you relax a little?" Kid cast her a sneer. "You're acting as if I'm going to kidnap you."

"You surprised me." She admitted.

"Keep up the acting and relax."

"What for? No one is looking."

He shrugged. "Who knows?"

"...Why are you being so wary?" Aoko frowned, her stomach started to stir uncomfortably. "Did Yuui Saito know and he's stalking you-?"

"As if he's capable of that." Kid gestured his head over to her hand, reminding Aoko about the thing he had passed to her. She unclasped her fist, just big enough for her to see what it was.

It was a thumb drive.

"I've taken a lot but only transferred the incriminating ones." Kid continued. "But I think the two video files are more than enough to win the case."

Aoko's neck almost flew up. "You have videos?"

"Yes." He tilted his head. "Why? Is that bad?"

"No-! It's great, actually." Aoko clutched onto the thumb drive close to her chest. "That would definitely help a lot." She didn't mean it, or intended to, but she couldn't stop herself from letting the genuine gratefulness slip into her tone—

"Yeah, so…" Kid lifted his hand and waved three fingers over her face. "One favour down. Three more to go."

Aoko snorted. Sure, Kid should get some credit for tripling the chance of winning this custody case for her client, but his words also reminded her that this was what he owed her, and he didn't do it out of good will; it was all just a repayment.

That was it.

She cleared her throat, immediately and thoroughly regretting to even sound thankful towards him in the first place. "Yes, yes. Three more to go." She drawled.

"Good." Kid took a step back and stuck his hand back into his pocket. "You can have the thumb drive. I don't need it anymore. Bye."

With that, he left.

That... was fast. Aoko thought (But shouldn't it be a good case?).

She had no intention to see him off, but his unique strides made her eyes glue to his back, and by the time she realized she was staring, he'd disappeared after he turned towards the corner of the street.