1. Earth and sky
Kaito hurried through the tunnels towards his burrow, his breath coming out in short, excited pants, the light from the interspersed lanterns to his right passing by in an orange-yellow blur.
When he finally reached the end of the winding dirt tunnel, he burst through the door at the end, startling the occupant inside who almost dropped the delicate white china cup filled with tea in his hands.
Without preamble, he rushed to the other and hugged him, lifting him up from his armchair and twirling him around.
"Shinichi! It's wonderful! I've found it! I've found it!" he shouted joyfully.
"K-Kaito! Slow down and put me down!" Shinichi squawked, trying his best to at least preserve the life of his cup having given up on the liquid it no longer held.
Kaito stopped twirling him around but he continued to hold onto him tightly. "I've found it, Shinichi. After all these years, I've found it," he said, calmer but his voice was tense with barely-contained exhilaration.
Shinichi took a moment to gather his breath before he looked Kaito in the eye. The violets were covered in a thin sheen of tears twinkling with pure happiness.
He quickly put down the china onto the small round table and cupped Kaito's face in his hands, staring into his eyes wonderingly. "Did you really?" he whispered.
Kaito released his torso to hold his hands against his face. "Yes, yes I did. I've finally found my father's dream. After so many years of research and searching, I've finally found the way up to the legendary Sky," he said softly, his voice choking up from so much emotion.
Shinichi broke into a smile and hugged his lover tightly. "That's… That's wonderful Kaito. I knew… I knew you could do it," he said, his own throat clogging up.
"Father would have been so happy. All his life, he always knew there was something above the city, something bigger than these tunnels, bigger than all of us. The city never was large enough to contain him and now, now I can finally show him and…" he stopped, a few tears trickling down from his eyes.
"I know, Kaito. I know."
2. Day and night
Kaito yawned as Shinichi entered.
"Oh my shift already?" he said around his yawn, already getting up and stretching.
Shinichi nodded tiredly and collapsed onto the chair Kaito had just vacated.
"I think we need to find some helpers and soon," Shinichi muttered, rubbing his forehead. "After a few eons of this, it gets rather tiring."
Kaito uttered a short laugh and kissed the dazed Night on the forehead before popping on his top hat from the hat rack beside the door.
"We will. It's only a matter of time," the Day assured him.
"Define matter of time. Is it as short as a second or is it going to be another millennia? Well I suppose time is no issue for us. Even a millennia is short by our standards and helpers or not, we'll continue working in the Clock anyway. It's not as though we have a choice," Shinichi grumbled as he wandered into their tiny kitchen and pressed the switch for coffee, taking off his own top hat.
"Now, now don't be so pessimistic," Kaito tutted, straightening his tailcoat and grabbing his cane.
"I'm not being a pessimist," Shinichi mumbled, blowing at his coffee. "I'm being a realist and by thinking myself as a realist, I'm an optimist. Besides, being an optimist is more your forte."
"That it may be but it doesn't mean you should be a downer all the time realist or no," Kaito said, opening the door. "Well, I'm going out now. Make sure that coffee doesn't keep you from your sleep. Cheers!" And with that the sound of the door closing met his ears.
"It'll take more than one cup of coffee to keep me up," Shinichi said to no one in particular before making his way out of the kitchen, through the small wooden living room where Kaito had just exited, cluttered with miscellaneous things, and up the narrow creaky staircase to his cramped study.
He'll read a quick book and then retire for the day.
3. Dawn and twilight
6:00: Sleep in another hour.
7:00: Wake up and get ready. Also wake up Shin-chan. If he's curled up, give him five more minutes of sleep; it means he's really tired.
Start preparing breakfast. Make sure coffee is immediately handy. Coffee should always be black but he'll also settle for caffeinated tea if stressed. It seems to soothe him better. Never give him decaf even as a prank. He'll taste it immediately. He'll finish it anyway but he'll remain irritable for the rest of the morning.
7:30: Eat breakfast together. If he taps his right finger against the cup, it means he's thinking about skipping lunch for the day and to make a note to drop by later to force something in him.
7:45: Greet Ran-chan. Walk together to school.
8:00: Arrive at school and part for class. Make sure to give Shin-chan a kiss before parting~
Maybe spice things up during the day…
12:00: Survived class to lunchtime! Seek out Shin-chan for lunch. If he has a lot of work he wants to finish, he'll try to hide out in remote, quiet places where no one is likely to find him. Locations are random each time but it's not hard to find him. If not, he'll usually be in his classroom waiting.
12:45: Lunchtime finished. Time to go back to the torture chamber. Give Shin-chan another kiss~
Classes are still boring. What ever would they do without me to brighten things up?
15:00: School is done! Seek out Shin-chan again to either hang out or run into some sort of case that needs solving. It seems the rate of murders happening around him decreases when I'm around though. Interesting.
If he has his hands in his pockets and a dazed look, make double effort to drag him out. It's no good letting him think about things too much. If he looks distant and occasionally bites his lip however, it means he's upset about something but never immediately confront him. Make lighthearted conversation with him but always allow him to prepare himself adequately to talk and he'll come out by himself by the end of the day.
He might have soccer practice some days after school though. Always be there afterwards ~
18:00: Dinnertime! Either eat out or cook in. Shin-chan isn't too picky with food so he's okay with either. He usually just goes along with whatever I want. We might still be out with everyone so we might dine all together.
Evening wildcard! He could book it to the library, relax with me, or go along with whatever I have in mind for the night. I usually drag him with me because reading books and going through case files is boring and the police should do their jobs for once without depending on a genius high schooler to leave his social life in the dust.
22:00: Preparing for bed. Antics may or may not ensue~
23:00: Good night Shin-chan~
4. Midnight and noon
It was midnight. Witching Hour was upon them and Kaito had a job to do.
Standing up from where he had been laying on the back of a statue of a snarling lion mounted on the ledge of the building a good few hundred feet up, he did a last check of his inventory before nimbly flipping himself up and over to a balcony a few feet above him.
"KID do you read me?" came the voice from his earpiece.
"Loud and clear, Cyan."
"Good. I'm picking up a huge, and I mean huge, magical residue out in the north. Readings are literally off the charts. This job may be too big even for you, KID."
Kaito frowned as he made his way up to the roof. "Nothing's too big for me."
"Maybe but I'm not taking any chances. I'm just worried KID. This feels… different. It's a lot more powerful and you and I both know you can get way over your head sometimes with your stupid ego."
"Hey I have good reason for that," he retorted playfully.
"Yeah, yeah. I've requested help from Main and they accepted."
"Cyan!" yelped the Pursuer indignantly. "I'm an Independent! I never need help!"
"Oh take your pride and shove it KID. I'm... not about to lose you."
Kaito sighed softly in a defeated way. Aoko had lost her father years ago doing the same job she was doing now and it made her awfully insecure even when she tried to cover it up. He was one of the last close people she had and he just couldn't argue with her.
Still, he never had to partner up with anyone before mainly because he was one of the best Pursuers there was and because hardly anyone could even keep up with him.
"Where am I supposed to meet my partner?" he asked grudgingly.
"She should be waiting on the roof of the building you're currently climbing in around five minutes."
"You know my new friend here might hinder me right?" he asked dryly, expertly parkouring his way up.
There was silence on the other end for a few seconds during which Kaito had successfully reached the top and was now leaning against the railing.
"I've thought of it but she's one of the best Main has. I've checked her records extensively and it's pretty impressive. She also has a very good Tracker guiding her, the best Tracker in the world they say and I'm not inclined to disagree. His records are even more impressive than even hers is so you don't have to worry about any mess-ups because they're pretty much perfect."
"They may make the prefect team but it doesn't mean we'll make the perfect team," Kaito muttered, feeling disgruntled and maybe a tad petulant.
"Lighten up, KID. You just have to go through tonight okay? It's not even that long."
Kaito just gave a noncommittal grunt and continued waiting.
Three minutes later, the silhouette of a young woman quietly entered through the door to the roof. She looked around the area for a moment before spotting him and making her way over.
Kaito eyed her as she approached, evaluating her with critical eyes.
The girl was very pretty with her soft periwinkle eyes, pleasant facial features, and long light brown hair but underneath that he could see she was slightly tense, seeming ready to spring into action at the slightest provocation that something was wrong which said that she had the good senses to always be prepared. She was wearing clothing that allowed freer movement and black gloves made of what Kaito recognized as material that was tear-resistant yet flexible and concluded she was a hand-to-hand combat specialist. She didn't seem to be wearing anything excessive or unnecessary, something that was required if she were to be fast and malleable to maneuver through her stances: Shin and arm guards, a large pouch attached to a belt with various small compartments, and a knife at her hip.
He supposed he could work with her. The way she carried and presented herself said that she was experienced with a good head on her shoulders if her reasonable assortment of items she carried on her was anything to go by. They could also cover each other's backs more easily because although he was good with close quarter combat, he mainly attacked at a distance.
"Hello, you must be KID. I'm Coch, your partner for tonight," Coch introduced in a light, friendly tone, extending a hand for him to shake.
Kaito put on a charming smile and took the hand. "The pleasure is all mine," he said smoothly, kissing the back of her hand.
Coch blushed lightly as she retracted her hand. "Oh uh, thank you…"
"If we're done flirting," a dry, male voice said from his earpiece. So it seems Aoko exchanged communication frequency with her fellow Tracker.
"Ah, so this must be the lovely Coch's Tracker. A pleasure."
There was a snort. "I'm sure."
"My, have I hit a nerve? I apologize if this lovely lady is your girlfriend."
"No but she's my best friend so if you would kindly not subject us all to your cloyingly superficial and cliché charm, I would appreciate it thanks.
"Noon!" Coch reprimanded, her blush becoming more apparent.
Aoko cleared her throat to interrupt any further bickering and said, "Well it seems the communication system is working smoothly. I'm Cyan, KID's Tracker. It's nice to meet you all. I hope we can all work together in this to make this mission a success."
There was a general sound of consensus and then they were off towards what Kaito hoped was an entertaining night with the dour yet interesting Tracker of his new partner.
5. Sun and moon
It was said that long ago, there was a young god of trickery. The patron of thieves, the prince of the night, the son of the moon, the granter of good fortune, he often took the form of a silver-white fox as he performed his mischief, forever eluding the grasp of those who wished to capture him.
One day, the cunning god decided to stir some trouble in the emperor's court for it was a place rife with the potential for chaos and he slipped himself discreetly among the courtiers while sowing the seeds of havoc.
During his stay however, a young man caught his eye. The child of the sun goddess and one of the lords, he was accompanying his father to observe the various court proceedings that took place within the palace.
Ever watchful and sharp, he managed to foil many of the god's mischief and it did not take long before the god grew interested in the young lord.
Eventually, it came to be that they no longer saw each other as mere rivals and the two grew close.
From that time on, the god visited the young lord every night, sometimes to talk and sometimes to observe in silence. But as the full cycle of moons waxed and waned, he grew more and more attached to the young lord until it came to be that the god cannot bear the thought of parting from him for the Heavens.
And so it was with that that the god of mischief fell in love…
1. This one actually came to me while I was listening to World's End Umbrella where (from what I can get from it) the people lived never knowing what the sky looked like since it was always rainy until a boy and a girl traveled up and saw the sunset so I decided to do something similar. As I was writing it, I realized that it reminded me of the book, The City of Amber where a whole city lived underground yet never knowing. It's an interesting book and it's been made into a movie too. Well, I tried to put as much emotion into it as possible and I liked the way it came out.
2. This one was inspired by Clock Lock Works sung by ASK and Faneru. Think Steampunk when you read it ;)
3. Tried to add an original twist. I tried to make it so that it shows Kaito's astute observation of Shinichi's innate habits to show how close they were but it was a bit difficult with this kind of schedule format. Thus a very rough outline of what an "average" day might be like in the lives of a magician and a detective.
4. This story was the whole reason why my update was so late in coming because I realized that I. Was. Missing. A. Fifth. Story. So I frantically tried to think of one. Although this one was a bit short notice, I actually like how this one came out. Coch is short for Cochleanthes, the scientific name of a type of orchid.
5. Tried to write in an "old storytelling" format. This one will have a continuation or two.