The nineteenth approached a lot more quickly than Kaito was ready to believe, and soon he found himself on a bus to the edge of the prefecture with a few changes of clothes in his arms and Jii, his mother and the aliens in a car not too far behind. He was wearing yet another of his disguises – a young American woman with the messiest bleach-blonde hair, an upturned nose and a garish pink shirt stretched over her generous cleavage. Kaito – no, 'Katie' – personally revelled in this character: a bubbly, rather attractive-looking foreigner with terrible control of her Japanese and only the slightest recognition of native customs; in other words, the kind of person that any salaryman would certainly not show the slightest affection to. It stopped anybody getting to close to him in his costumes, at any rate.

Hakuba would probably be the first to notice him missing, he mused as he turned up his MP3 player. Yes, of course the guy would, but there would be an explanation for this… that he would probably come up with later, when he had a little more time to think about that and to stop concentrating on the actual heist itself. He wasn't so big on winging it, but he wasn't sure of there being a decent explanation for a student and his mother leaving town on a Wednesday when his final exams were coming up so soon. So he'd probably come up with one later.

Sighing, he clutched his bag and made a note of the current time. Seven-thirty-eight in the morning. He'd woken up at the usual time for school, realised it might actually be a good time to start moving and immediately alerted his mother and the three Mobians as to his idea.

"You wanna move now?" Sonic had said when he had heard.

"Isn't it a bit dangerous?" Knuckles had asked, speaking up for once. "That kid Sonic and Tails told me about will probably figure you out before you so much as take a step."

Kaito had shrugged, unable to discern which 'kid' Knuckles had been talking about. "I know it's risky, which is exactly why 'that kid' will not consider it," he replied. "Think of it as a form of reverse psychology."

Reverse psychology was all well and good, but it made things a bit too obvious. So he'd had to dress up in order to move, although he hadn't done that at home. He and his mother had had a great time trying to explain to the neighbours just what they were doing moving a trio of large, realistic dolls from some obscure video game into their car (his mother had quite handily noted that they were talking them to a children's hospital for the kids to play with) and when they had gotten to the Blue Parrot, Kaito had transformed himself into a young woman, snuck out the back and ran to a bus stop about a block away while the others took Jii's own vehicle.

Right now, despite enjoying the disguise, he wished he didn't have to be in such a public place as a bus when wearing it. This stuffed bra itched like no-one was going to believe. Mumbling slightly, he glanced out of the window and watched the 'scenery' passing by.

MKMKMKMKMK

It was that morning that Hakuba had walked in to see the chair that Kaito normally occupied. The heist was tomorrow, and already he'd decided to leave for the target. He sighed, wondering how stupid Kaito really thought he was, and sat in his own seat glaring at that desk. Once again, Kuroba Kaito had, in a move of incredible and inspirational recklessness, excused himself from school so close to a Kaitou KID heist that he was starting to wonder whether or not he was just trying to screw with the blond's mind.

Of course, he knew this would obviously be what Kaito wanted him to do. He'd never said that Kaito wasn't a sly one.

"Hey, Hakuba-kun?" It was Aoko. She was twisting her cuffs nervously and glancing every now and then at the troublemaker's chair. "Have you seen Kaito?"

He tipped his head. "Unfortunately, not," he replied, "but I'd bet he's headed to Kaitou KID's heist."

Aoko furrowed her brow. "Why would he go today? The heist is tomorrow."

"A head-start, possibly. Kuroba-kun does not operate on logic, although he usually has almost impeccable time-keeping." Hakuba pulled out his pocket-watch. "I assume he's going to try and get to the KID before I do."

"You're going!?" Aoko exclaimed, the outburst making quite a few members of the class look over at them. Even the teacher's entrance did very little to shift their attentions. "But I thought you were taken off the Task Force and weren't going to be working with them, Hakuba-kun! If you go without authorisation from otou-san, you'll be arrested!"

"Nakamori-chan. Do you remember the identity of my own father?" He fiddled with the collar of his gakuran, looking around the room. "He was recently promoted, wasn't he? He came back from a business trip this morning and I doubt he'll be too happy to hear how his son has just been pushed away from the investigation." Initially, his father had not been too happy about his running around and solving crimes. However, that had been over two years ago, before his first Kaitou KID heist. That was when it had happened – Hakuba had nearly caught the phantom thief in question, outstripping most of the police's top men in his wake. He'd never been more impressed by how easily he'd handled it. Right now the man was more than happy to allow him to do so. In fact, he encouraged it.

"I don't think he's going to be able to convince him," Aoko replied. "Otou-san's been rather angry about you lately. Apparently you know something?"

He closed his eyes in exasperation. "If he thinks he can get it out of me via his own flesh and blood, he can forget it," he said.

Aoko blinked. "Get you?"

"Nakamori-san knows that if he rants around you long enough, you begin to talk about the same things as he does," Hakuba replied. "He probably realised that he could use you to help drain the information out of me. He certainly forgot who he was dealing with."

"Otou-san wouldn't do that!" she retorted. "That information could be really vital to catching Kaitou KID-san! If you don't give it over to him it could get everybody into serious trouble."

Hakuba applauded her. "And you just demonstrated exactly what I just mentioned." He began curling his fringe around his fingers, unable to meet her eyes. "He's obviously desperate."

Aoko shook her head in denial, and continued to mess around with her sleeve. She clearly didn't want to think her father would go to such lows just to squeeze it out of him, and he didn't want to think of it either. Nakamori was a good friend and rival to him and they had been partners since they'd met. It just didn't seem right for him to try anything so really… underhanded.

"He should be desperate."

He looked up, as did everybody else. Koizumi Akako was watching the empty desk.

"If Kaitou KID does not move correctly, we should all be worried." She turned to Hakuba. "The black wind howls for all of us if our visitors do not leave as soon as possible."

"Visitors?" The class broke into a fervent mumble, and Akako stared at the board. And Hakuba's mind was reeling. Hadn't there only been one visitor so far?

MKMKMKMKMK

"He's going to be making his move tomorrow," Rose said, handing him the gun. "Do you think you're ready enough?"

So far, he had been wasting twenty-six hours (thankfully not all at once) of the past forty-eight on the firing range testing his new sniper rifle, his old Ruger still on his belt with one bullet in its chambers. He had only eaten health bars since he'd first arrived, although a sizeable number of the organisation had been both studious and condescending enough to ask if he wanted a vole or two. He slept sparsely for three hours each time he had a break from his shooting and right now was only just waking up. And she knew all of that. So it was no small wonder that her question made absolutely no sense to him.

He glanced down at the rifle. "'Course," he replied. "If I weren't, I'd've gotten outta 'ere an' ran for the nearest airport."

"You think an airport would help you?" she joked.

"I thought a plane'd at least put some distance 'tween us, but now yuh're talkin' like that, maybe not." He aimed the barrel and shot a hole directly in the shoulder of one of the most distant figures. Huh, nice. "Anyway, what's yer problem? I'm fine. I'm prepared."

"The boss said a few things to me," she replied. "About you, mentioning to him that 'your head's killing you' when you went to him two days ago."

He looked away.

"That day, in the car, you suddenly jumped forward screaming when you touched the back of there. Now show me the back of your head."

Scowling, he wheeled around for her to inspect it, and suddenly the rush of memories came back again, nearly knocking him down in the process. He swore he felt bullets shooting past him as he ran, though he couldn't remember whether the bullets were fired by robots or law enforcement, or whether he was running to the edge of a building or a huge steel door, and at both he knew there was the risk of him dying. He clutched his head as he collapsed face-first onto the floor, cutting his bottom lip from biting it, screwing his eyes shut, and all as the hat on his head – was it really his hat? For some reason it was beginning to kill him, he couldn't remember whether it was or not – fell to the floor and Rose could see finally the full problem.

She gasped, and he turned around in his panic. Rose looked like she was about to be sick. Trying to fight the pain, he stood up on his own two feet and stumbled over to her, grabbing her hand. Then it happened again – a shooting pain in the back of the head, threatening to paralyse him. He gulped. The feeling of being captured washed around him.

What he hadn't noticed since his appearance last month was the three huge scars in a triangular pattern near the peak of his skull, and the giant scab in the centre of it. The huge scars from the machine that had been plugged into his brain that night.

"I'm fine," he repeated, calming down as the memories began letting up again and he found himself standing in the firing range again.

MKMKMKMKMK

"It's tomorrow," Conan announced. "Kaitou KID…"

Shin'ichi nodded softly, gathering up enough strength to clutch onto his sleeve as he rested his head on the boy's shoulders. Their real body was back in the classroom, once again asleep – it startled Ai less now that she knew what went on when he slept, and she had been able to convince Ms Kobayashi that she no longer thought catching up on his sleep in class was a problem – while they found themselves back in the library of the Kudou mansion, or at least its illusory form in a more tattered state. They were curled up together on the rotting armchair, Conan devoting himself to keep holding onto Shin'ichi for as long as possible and Shin'ichi devoting himself to smiling and trying to put one on Conan's face.

And, the truth be told, Shin'ichi was starting to find it a problem to do either one of them, let alone both.

It had been easy to convince himself in the beginning that it wasn't the end; that end being the one he thought the most obvious – the death of Kudou Shin'ichi. After all, Kaitou KID knew of the shrinking problem at the least (how, he had no idea, but Kaitou KID was no threat) and had told them outright that he was going to save him. KID never did anything unless he was sure of himself. If he'd sent that note, he knew how to fix the problem. Shin'ichi had been waiting for a cure for so long, a real cure, and Ai's temporary pills just weren't cutting it anymore. So he had told himself – yes, this would rescue him. Everything would go back to normal.

But then time had passed, and everything had just gotten worse. A confident Shin'ichi who had been trying to hide away this new, soft side of himself had deteriorated into a grinning idiot who couldn't even move properly and depended on what was, in its most basic description, an active and growing personality tumour. Things had been fine before Kaitou KID, when he was just adjusting to the fact that his alter ego now really was an alter ego. After that heist, though, the body and all its senses had exchanged hands. He could no longer even see Ran without Conan's help, and since the boy had made the conscious decision to trouble her less and less, that also meant Shin'ichi had to look through the photograph albums that now piled up beside his feet. And whenever he did, Conan usually joined him, and Shin'ichi found himself acting like a father.

Acting like a father to what was actually himself. The world was going mad.

A photograph album was open on what remained of his lap right now. He had been teaching Conan about the time he had lost his friends in hunting grounds and ended up saving the life of a young bear cub when the interjection had come.

"Yes." Shin'ichi put on his smile again. He hoped Conan didn't notice the cracks at the sides of his eyes. "Tomorrow we'll be saved." He'd be saved. If everything went well...

…then Conan wouldn't be there anymore. Shin'ichi would be alone in his own psyche again, the way it should be for every human being. Huh, that actually felt a little depressing to think about. He hadn't expected himself to feel so depressed at the thought of setting everything back to the way it had been nearly three years ago.

Conan, oblivious to his thoughts, frowned up at him. "What'll happen if… if Kaitou KID doesn't get to us in time?" he asked, staring up with huge eyes.

"…That's not going to happen." The boy jumped a little. "Listen, Kaitou KID will set things right for us, okay?" His grip on the child's sleeve loosened. "And then… we won't have to worry about a 'what if'."

"So you really are worried." Conan flopped over onto his chest, grabbing his collar and messing with it lazily.

"I'm worried that you're worried." Shin'ichi pressed his forehead against Conan's, nudging him into an upright sitting position. "Come on, now. You have to have faith in these kinds of things. Less pessimism, more optimism, and the problems will disappear before your eyes."

Conan looked around the room, scratching the back of his head. "Huh. Optimism…" He nodded. "Y-yeah. It'll happen. You'll be you again!"

It was strange, certainly. When Conan was the most oblivious, he sounded like he knew everything.

MKMKMKMKMK

That afternoon, 'Katie' stretched out on the hotel bed. 'She' had needed to transfer over a few more buses when trying to get here and all right after a plane ride to Tokyo International Airport, and right now 'she' was absolutely exhausted. At least, that was the story Kaito had fed to the hotel staff (in English, no less) when asking to check in as a foreign female guest. A few (forged) identity checks later and he found himself in a room of his own, free to rid himself of that itchy stuffed bra and that silly wig… which he didn't. If another member of staff walked in on him when he was removing it, he'd have to explain himself.

He felt the duvet beneath him, taking a moment to think. By now, his mother should have been able to sign into another room, and the Mobians should be in her bags. She was checking in as a nature photographer; the bags were going to be lifted up into his room by Jii, and then he would be leaving.

And speak of the devils, a rather large-looking golf bag suddenly slid through the window. Kaito ran over to pick it up and unzipped it; Tails poked his head up and narrowed his eyes at Kaito before recognising him.

"Are there any cameras in this room?" he asked, catching his breath. Kaito had to feel sorry for him; he didn't think that golf bags had very good ventilation. Yes, a form of ventilation would make the bags weaker, but it was the concept of the thing that mattered here, really.

Kaito shook his head. "There shouldn't be," he replied. "I doubt they'd put up cameras in a guest room. They could be accused of being perverts."

At once, Tails' eyes were drawn to Kaito's fake breasts. "T-that's… really, really goo-"

Just then, the second and third bags arrived, cutting the fox off. He looked away from Kaito ridiculously slowly (what could Kaito say? 'Katie' was an… impressive young woman) and then ran over to open one of them up, revealing Knuckles. The echidna looked ridiculously overheated, sweat pouring off his muzzle, and Kaito began fearing for the cleanliness of his Kaitou KID costume. Poor ventilation indeed. Meanwhile, Sonic managed to undo his bag from the inside, and poked his head out.

"…Sweet! I like this place!" he exclaimed. "Look, they've even got a big cushy bed!" His eyes drifted along over to Kaito. "Hello, lady! Now that's a welcoming party!"

Kaito laughed, waving his 'hair' around. "Oh, thank you. I try my hardest to look sexy, you know," he said, reverting back to his normal voice. Sonic's jaw dropped in shock, and he was sat there mumbling to himself for a few minutes.

Knuckles decided to speak up. "Hey, kid. Whatever your name is."

"It's Kaito." Surely he should have remembered that by now…

"Yeah. Kaito. You do know how completely reckless this is?" the Mobian barked, scratching at his dreadlock-like spines. "That Hakuba guy has probably worked everything out and is chasing after us as we speak! And what's going to happen if somebody sees us!?"

"You guys are going to head into that wardrobe, flop over and pretend you're all 'Katie's' dolls," Kaito replied playfully. "And to be honest, if Hakuba's worked it out, I'm not really surprised. He's a clever guy. And I'm not all that worried either."

"Except for the fact that if your identity as a thief is revealed then either you'll be arrested by the police or you'll be killed by the big bad monsters that are out to get you," Sonic commented, returning back to the world. He pulled himself out of the sports bag and began sniffing the contents of the room, before coming up to the dresser. In a strange and conversational manner that Kaito hadn't seen since the video, the hedgehog immediately started chewing on its edge, before washing his arms. Huh, must have been a new smell.

Tails frowned, and he swished his tails around slightly as he made his way over to the bed and hopped up to sit on it. "They're right, Kaito. This is a really risky move. I hope you know what you're doing."

Kaito removed one of his brown contacts. "I should do. Go in, grab the jewel, encounter my friend, save his life and then hop out of there. The phrase, I think, is 'piece of cake'."

Of course, the following night would never go so easy.

A/N: It's almost here, the day of reckoning. And finally we've dived into Shin'ichi's head - is that really what he thinks?

I'll be frank (no, my name isn't really Frank) - I need to take a break from this for my exams. Chapters will likely come in late, though I intend to make sure that they still get finished.