4: When Eidetic Memory Is Enough

KID is a master of tricks, traps, and drama. He didn't like it when those same things were set against him and actually succeeded. Perhaps he had underestimated Hakuba's deviousness, or the pranks of his civilian persona had rubbed of on the half-Brit detective. It didn't really matter, what did matter was that he hadn't anticipated the small capsule that had been thrown at him because previously it had always been him throwing such things. So here he stood blinded by whatever had been in that blasted pellet.

"I did not see this coming…" KID said, using the weak joke to bolster his poker face.

"Don't worry", Hakuba said smugly, "the chemicals in that capsule cause only temporarily paralysis in your ciliary muscles, causing your eyes to dilate. You'll be able to see again in approximately two hours, thirty-two minutes, and nine seconds." Kaitou KID grinned to hide his unease, "my dear tantei-san… you didn't truly believe simple lack of sight to faze me did you?"

Mouth running on autopilot, KID recalled what he knew of the room from his earlier investigations and what he had seen before Hakuba's trick. "I expected at least slow you down if not stop you, you will be unmasked this very night!" Hakuba said. KID chuckled, "eye's are easily deceived, as a magician I know this better than anyone." Hakuba smirked drawing closer to the blinded thief as quietly as possible, "it is impossible for a blind man to fake sight and even in your disguises your eyes won't respond to the light. You can't possibly fly in that condition, so you hang-glider isn't an option. Face it, I've got you."

Meanwhile…

The room is twenty-three by forty-five feet squared, KID noted, drawing up a mental map of the museum. The jewel case sits in the middle. All other displays were removed due to his heist notice; however, Hakuba had apparently seen fit to bring in a number of chairs as obstacles and had then somehow managed to convince Nakamori-keibu and his force to wait outside while he set his plan into motion… irrelevant, irrelevant. The wall on the right was mainly made up of glass windows; there are several vents in the ceiling and a utility closet to the left of the main doors.

To get his bearings, KID breathed deeply to dispel any panic and focused on the way Hakuba's voice bounced through the room. Thank goodness that as a very meticulous thief and showman he considered every aspect of a room before his 'performances'. As a ventriloquist, he was a master at echolocation. He knew how the air flowed and could hear it move through the vents, how else was he supposed to be able to predict how his smoke screens and sleeping gas would billow. He pictured the room in his mind, every detail crisp: where the chairs were all set, where the chair-rail on the walls were, all the proportions of the room, etc. He remembered that the floors were carpeted, that would help mask his footfalls. Speaking of… Hakuba was moving…. "Face it, I've got you." The detective gloated.

KID grinned, setting his course in his mind, "I'm afraid I have been blinded, I would love nothing more than to 'face' you, but without sight it would be less than satisfying. I must leave you now dear tantei-san, and I wish you better luck in your next attempt to catch me. Ja-ne!" To Hakuba's astonishment, the white-clad magician did a neat flip over his head and landed just as lightly as always on the floor.

But he's blind! The detective's reason protested, this is impossible!

With a theatrical bow, Kaitou KID dropped a smoke bomb and dashed off towards the doors. He opened the door and waited expectantly for the shouts of the task force for the instant before he ran into a wall. The door closed with a nearly inaudible click. Owe… KID groaned silently, picking himself up, what in the…? Closet… right… he'd mixed up the positions of the two doors. It was the main doors on the left and the broom closet on the right.

Great going KID, he scolded himself, now you're trapped in a broom closet, blind, and there's a large number of police as well as a detective mere feet away from discovering you. With a slight whisper of his cape, the magician knelt in front of the door and listened for danger while trying to discover a way out of this new and unforeseen predicament.

Hakuba coughed twice and waved a hand in an attempt to disperse the thick cloud of stage smoke faster. Impossible, he thought, how could someone blind do that! Then again this isn't just someone… it's him. Sighing and anticipating the scolding he was about to receive, Hakuba pulled out the radio he'd been given, "KID got away, being blind had no affect." Nakamori's curses could be heard through the doors. His task force jumped at his orders, setting a perimeter around the museum and on the look out for any sign of the thief leaving by foot.

Hakuba started glancing around the room for clues. The police hadn't seen anything leave, so KID was either still in the room or had managed to get out through one of the small vents in the ceiling despite not being to see. Or… Sagaru stopped in front of the door with a small sign saying "supplies: authorized personnel only" he could be hiding in here.

The door creaked open and an explosion of confetti hit Hakuba in the face, sending him jerking backwards. A small white card sat innocently in the middle of the floor. Cautiously, the British detective picked it up.

Voiceless it cries,

Wingless flutters,

Toothless bites

Mouthless mutters.

-Kaitou Kid

Written as neatly as ever. Hakuba cursed, "wind; he used an air vent." Sagaru froze thinking of another way that an answer like "wind" would apply. "That idiot! He's going to fly blind!" He raced to the window just in time to see KID fly past, his ever-present confident grin in place. "Look out!" Sagaru shouted, before realizing that KID couldn't hear him through the thick glass and also couldn't look out because he couldn't see.

Miraculously however, KID turned and didn't run into the flagpole Hakuba had been trying to warn him about. In fact as he flew away one couldn't even tell he was blind with the way he easily avoided every building and obstacle.

KID grinned to hide his terror and focused on the way his glider was moving. Thank goodness the air conditioners had turned on and alerted him to the vent in the floor of that closet; and that air currents change around objects in general, so they were easy to avoid in flight. He knew from the slight headwind that he was heading east, but he didn't know where to land. "Jii-chan I'm literally flying blind." An updraft caught his attention. "Actually, I know where I am… I'm landing in the ally behind the bakery, meet me please."

The pleasant smell of the bakery told him where it was and he landed on the roof with only a slight stumble. Retracting the hang-glider he climbed down the fire escape, right where he knew it would be, and stood in the ally to wait. Now he was most nervous about being seen in his flashy suit. "Bochama!" Jii said, entering the ally. KID smiled, "is the coast clear?"

"Yes."

With a flourish of his cape, Kaitou KID's paraphernalia vanished under Kaito Kuroba's civilian clothes. Jii took his arm and led him back to his car. "Honestly bochama, you are going to give me a heart attack one of these days… flying blind like that." Kaito just grinned and feigned looking out the window. He was so going to get Hakuba back for this in class on Monday.