SAGURU
When Saguru walked into the Kid Task Force's main office that afternoon he heard the typical commotion including Inspector Nakamori Ginzo's excessive swearing that usually accompanied a Kid heist – or in this case, the delivery of a heist notice. The Inspector's language was exceptionally foul today.
"He's been at it for three hours now."
Saguru looked up and noticed Officer Saiki Fume who was looking rather amused about the chaotic state of the office. Officer Saiki looked like an older version of his son, Haru, only with brown eyes instead of the unusual green that Haru had (a feature inherited from his mother perhaps?).
"Has he now?" Saguru mused, following his classmate's father. "What has Kid done this time?"
"He's written his heist notice in English," the officer informed him. "That's why you were called in."
"You mean I was actually brought in on purpose?" Saguru asked with a smile that widened when Officer Saiki winked at him. "I have to admit, this is nicer than finding out from a newspaper or an officer working under my father."
"Well we could really use your help this time because we can't make heads or tails of some of it. One word in particular is stumping our translators," Officer Saiki admitted.
I bet I know which one, Saguru thought wryly, trying to keep his collected smile from morphing into an amused smirk as they drew closer to the meeting room. He found himself fiddling with the tape recorder he'd been keeping in his pocket for the past week. He had yet to fulfill his challenge in slipping a quote from the Arsene Lupin books into a conversation and now that Kid had delivered a heist notice he was running out of time.
"Hakuba-kun is here, Keibu," Officer Saiki announced as they entered the meeting room.
"ABOUT DAMN TIME!" the Inspector roared. "Get in here, boy, and tell me what the hell this says."
Saguru took a copy of the heist notice that was being passed around and read it aloud in English before repeating it in Japanese.
"Easy as ABC, 123, Darling, you and me~
Abecedarian traps befall the unwise
The mathematician counts two stars in the skies
And on the luckiest day I take the prize."
"Well?" Nakamori demanded. "What the bloody hell does it mean?"
"Give me a moment," Saguru frowned as he began to pace, staring at the note.
"Easy as ABC…" Bastard. Kid was telling Saguru that he'd found the challenge easy, but it had nothing to do with the heist notice itself other than cleverly hinting at a line from the Jackson Five's "ABC" song… but the line was wrong. The line from the song was supposed to be "ABC, 123, baby, you and me." So the word "darling" had to be significant.
Saguru had to admit that Kid's incorporation of the word "abecedarian" was rather good and when paired with the word "traps", it gave Saguru an idea as to possible locations for the heist. The third line was obviously a hint as to what the target of Kid's heist would be and the time while the fourth gave the date…
Saguru pulled out his laptop computer and began checking out possible locations and targets based off the clues in Kid's heist note. He vaguely noted that Nakamori was getting rather impatient, but the whole room was watching him with rapt attention even though groups had gathered together to try figuring out the notice on their own. Saguru went over the information in the various windows he'd pulled up, closing some of them as he dismissed and narrowed things down. Then everything seemed to click into place.
Clever bastard.
"I think I know what he's targeting, where, and when," Saguru finally announced, walking over to plug his laptop into the projector to show the room his findings.
"Please, do enlighten us," Nakamori grumbled.
"The first line we'll skip over for now and focus on line two," Saguru announced, "'Abecedarian traps befall the unwise.' This gives us clues as to the heist's location. We're looking for a building with twenty-six floors, one for each of the letters in the English alphabet, hence why the notice is in English and not Japanese. This line also suggests that each floor will be booby-trapped in some way come the night of the heist. Line three: 'The mathematician counts two stars in the skies.' This means two things: one is the time of the heist, dusk. Of course there are different degrees of dusk, but due to the notice I believe that Kid is referring to Civil Dusk which happens when only the moon and a few stars are visible in the sky."
Saguru pulled up an astronomy website that showed and listed the times the sun and moon rose and set around the world and the differing degrees and times of dusk. The page he currently had up displayed the solar and lunar cycles for Tokyo, Japan.
"Around this time of year, the sun starts to set around 5:20-5:25. But in order to determine the exact time, we'll have to figure out the exact day that the heist will occur on. That day is given to us in line four, which reads, 'And on the luckiest day I take the prize'. In western culture, the number seven is considered the luckiest number. Kid is going to hold his heist in a building that has twenty-six floors on October 7th, at 5:42 PM, which marks the end of the civil twilight and marks the time of civil dusk on that particular day."
The room burst into applause, praising his ingenuity in translating the heist notice.
"And what about the heist target and location?" Nakamori asked, almost grudgingly. "You said you knew the what and where as well as the when."
"I was getting to that," Saguru smirked. "The first line in Kid's notice is from the Jackson Five's song ABC, but one of the words is wrong. The key is the word, "darling" that Kid uses instead of "baby", like it is in the song. Note that the word is capitalized. Why might that be?"
"Because it's important?" suggested one of the newer and younger officers – Kenta Mike.
"Because it's a name," Saguru grinned, relishing in the feel of excitement that was welling up in the members of the Task Force. Every one of them was hanging on to every word he said. "Back home in London there is a popular children's story about a boy that never wants to grow up that lives in a magical world called Neverland. In this story he brings three children with him to this world: Wendy, John, and Michael Darling. And to get to Neverland, Wendy, John and Michael are sprinkled with pixie dust so that they can fly to the second star on the right and straight on until morning."
"The two stars in the third line," Officer Kenta piped up.
"Exactly," Saguru nodded, pulling up a couple windows to display his findings. "Starting a few nights from now on the sixth, the Tokyo Disney Hotel, with its twenty-six floors is displaying a number of jewels and gems that relate to some of Disney's most popular films, including the Second Star Diamond named after the star in Peter Pan. In summary, Kid is targeting the Second Star Diamond at the Tokyo Disney Hotel on October 7th at 5:42 PM."
The room burst into applause again. Even Nakamori looked pleased, ready to take a crack at Kid again now that they knew what, where, and when Kid was going to strike.
"That was amazing," Officer Kenta said to him as the meeting came to a close. "How on earth do you do it?"
"Kid is an enigma," Saguru smiled ruefully. "One must suspect anything and everything with him. Sometimes is comes to the point that he has the ability to make one paranoid at all times."
"Surely you don't suspect his hand in everything, though, right?" the officer laughed.
"That's where most of his pursuers go wrong." Saguru smirked. Finally. "I see him everywhere, because he is everywhere. It doesn't do to underestimate him. He'll get you when you least expect it."
"I suppose that's true," the officer laughed. "He did deliver his heist notice to Nakamori-keibu in a can of alphabet soup, after all."
Saguru nodded, clicking his recorder off as he exited the offices.
xxxxxxXXXxxxxxx
KAITO
There was no truth in that saying that idle hands did the devils' work. None whatsoever. It was all really a gross exaggeration. The fact that Kaito was bored out of his mind had absolutely nothing to do with the sheer volume of mischievous activities he carried out the Tuesday of the heist.
He was just itching for the school day to be over already so he could work out the kinks still left in the pranks for the letters S and Q. Quite honestly, he should have finished all prep work over the weekend, but there had been a travelling magic show on the other side of Tokyo and Kaito had caved, even knowing that the museum trip with Aoko and company would eat up a chunk of his weekend too. On Monday night he'd slogged through two nights worth of homework because he knew he'd be getting nothing scholastic done on Tuesday.
The spring-release on the newly produced invention he liked to call the Final Denominator was still on the fritz. The Denominator was like a straightjacket in that it went around the torso and trapped the arms too. It had the same effect as wrapping lots of rope around the victim from hip to shoulder. There was a keypad with numbers and symbols on the front to open the device, which would force – encourage taskforce members to work in pairs in order to press the buttons. The fun part, though, was that Kaito had left the key codes for the individual Denominator devices right on the front… in the form of an algebraic equation. Specifically a quadratic equation with fractions, which was why it was on the 17th floor for the Q level. Hey, if they weren't going to learn anything about catching tricky kaitou, they might as well have another kind of educational experience, right?
Speaking of education, he was in class, not at home. Kaito stepped away from the mental space where he was recalibrating a Final Denominator and looked around. Oh. Everyone was putting away books and leaving in groups for the school grounds. It was lunch break, then. His eyes were drawn to the four people who weren't moving: Takumi-chan, Keiko, Koizumi, and Hakuba. The first two girls were clustered around Hakuba's desk, while Koizumi sat behind him, doodling what looked suspiciously like a pentacle in her notebook.
"C'mon, Hakuba-kun, the papers only said that a heist note had been delivered, not when or where it was going to be. You know, don't you? Can't you tell us?"
The blonde rubbed his chin, trying to conceal a sly smile. "I don't think I should divulge confidential police information, Keiko-kun," he teased.
"Hakuba-kun!" Keiko exclaimed dramatically. She must've been practicing the scandalized, aghast look. "It's not like we're going to post the information on the internet. We're just curious. If you don't feel comfortable revealing the specifics, you could give us the riddle to figure out for ourselves."
"It's written in English and rather difficult to translate in some areas."
"But you can try, can't you?" Keiko smiled cutely and blinked more often than strictly necessary.
Hakuba just looked bemused at the obvious attempt. "I suppose it wouldn't do too much harm to say that the jewel is the Second Star Diamond."
"Awesome! You're the best!" Both girls pulled out their phones to look up info for the diamond.
Hakuba chuckled. "The police are going to release the information in a few hours anyway. You needn't try to extract it from me."
"Why didn't you say so?"
"I was joking. If the police fail to publicize a heist, then Kid does it himself, so there's no harm in me revealing the date and location. It's tonight at the Tokyo Disney Hotel."
"Saguru-kun," Koizumi spoke up, her low voice sending a shiver through Kaito, "would you care to go to lunch now?"
The detective turned around in his seat to smile. "Of course, Akako-kun. There's an oak tree outside with a picnic table underneath it that is a favorite place of mine. I was thinking we could eat there."
First name terms? First name terms?! This was a problem. Kaito all but ran from the classroom, trying hard not to think about the two people, two formidable people, who wanted him captured in some way. He wasn't distracted long, though; as he ate lunch with Aoko, Hayashi, and Saiki-kun, Kaito returned to his mind space to fix the Denominator.
"BaKaito, have you been listening?"
"Mmm?" The other three at the table were staring at him, presumably looking for a response.
"I said, Saiki has a soccer match tonight and Hayashi-kun and I were going to attend. Are you going too?"
Kaito mentally shivered at the thought of soccer balls, reminded of a certain diminutive detective, but didn't let the flash of fear show. "Thanks, Aoko, but I promised some other Kid fans that I'm friends with that I'd be there tonight. Saiki-kun, when's your next game after that?"
"Friday. Can you come?" Kaito nodded, mentally qualifying that if Hakuba's note interfered he would make every effort to see some of the star player's other matches.
Finally the school day was over and Kaito shot out like rocket, bounding home in almost record time and flicking the lock on his bedroom door before pushing the painting aside. He worked up until his watch alarm went off, signaling that he should start packing up for the heist. He wrapped up the Denominators and the traps for the S floor – the rest of the lettered pranks were already in place at the hotel – and changed into his Kid attire.
Showtime.
Kaito started his mischief forty minutes earlier than the time implied by his heist note because he planned to watch the chaos for a while before actually taking the Second Star. He had outdone himself this time, knowing that the owner had secretly moved the jewel from the first floor, where it was supposed to be displayed, to the top floor after the heist note had been decoded in an attempt to keep it safe. He'd cleared the hotel's guests and staff earlier in the afternoon with a well-timed fire alarm, which ended with everyone locked out until the police showed up.
In order to make the evening more entertaining, Kid had placed unsurpassable obstacles on every stair level, alternating between the two sets of stairs at either end of the hotel. This forced the police officers – who were informed of the owner's plan too late – to cross every floor in its entirety before they could climb to the next level and get to the gem on the top floor. The thief arranged it so that the elevators were conveniently inoperative. By the end of the heist Kaito had come up with three favorite floors:
L was for lions, and while Kid wasn't dumb enough to let loose real African cats on Nakamori and company, the liberal use of Simba costumes in the dark hallway combined with hidden speakers playing a variety of lion growls on repeat made the officers scramble to the next floor in a hurry.
Q was for quadratic equations, and it was an absolute joy to watch the Denominators wreak havoc among the taskforce members.
W was for Wonderland, and the props that Kaito had liberated from the grand Alice and Wonderland storeroom transformed this floor – not dedicated to guest rooms, but to the hotel's ballroom – into a labyrinth of strange illusions.
After the heist (and the cleanup, which Kid had done during the proceedings as the officers cleared each level), Kaito settled onto a rooftop close by. Popping open the box in his pocket, Kaito removed the slip of paper he'd seen tucked discreetly inside the display case as he palmed the Second Star. Like the previous note, it was in code in English letters. Whether Hakuba was uncomfortable with creating a code in Japanese, or whether he was simply following Kaito's lead with the English heist note, was yet to be seen. The decoded message read:
Peter leads the way and Big Ben chimes the time
Tick Tock, the white rabbit might be a little late
so the Mad Hatter sits to have tea with
the Marvelous Man of Iron's terrorist foe.
Hakuba had written the riddle after receiving the heist note, it seemed. In the Disney movie, Peter had stopped with the children on Big Ben at… 8:15pm. Kaito checked his watch. That bastard. His watch display read 7:43. I didn't think it was going to be tonight. Kaito wouldn't have considered himself the rabbit either, but the emphasis on a white rabbit made it obvious that Kid was the one who would be late.
Kaito slipped the glider back on, but where to go? He had thirty minutes to solve the riddle and get to wherever the meeting was taking place. The last line was clearly the location, but Kaito didn't know any men made of iron. Unless it was referring to a statue? That didn't seem right, though, because people didn't put statues in closed-off places where they wouldn't be seen, so it probably wasn't the meeting place Hakuba was suggesting. He looked closer at the riddle. Hmm. Hakuba would know not to capitalize "marvelous" if it wasn't supposed to be and – ah! He really was mirroring the heist note, wasn't he? Where Kaito had capitalized Darling as a reference to a name, Hakuba was emphasizing that Marvelous was a proper noun also. The Marvel comic company? That felt right, though Kaito honestly couldn't imagine the detective reading superhero comics. He'd pick everything apart. The film rights for Marvel's Avengers characters had been bought by Disney recently, though, so it fit with the theme for the evening.
The combination of "Marvel" and "Man of Iron" brought on the obvious conclusion of Iron Man. Kaito didn't recognize the "terrorist foe" description, but he'd only seen the first two movies. Time for a field trip, then. After returning to ground level, Kaito hurried to the public library in disguise and did a quick Internet search on one of the computers. The third villain in the Iron Man films was a terrorist called the Mandarin. What place in Tokyo could that be referring to? Another Google search… there was a Mandarin Oriental about twenty minutes from the heist site. Hakuba was probably waiting on the hotel's roof. Kaito checked his watch: 8:06. That gave him nine minutes to make a trip that took about twenty minutes by car.
Well, it's a good thing kaitou were in the habit of performing miracles.
xxxxxxXXXxxxxxx
SAGURU
Saguru was tempted to pace. It was 8:15:00 and Kid hadn't arrived yet, but that was expected. Kid was good, but Saguru knew that the thief wasn't that good. Even a phantom thief had human limitations. Instead, Saguru reclined in his seat and looked around the rooftop. He'd set things up on the sheltered side of the hotel roof tonight to keep the high winds at bay. The Mandarin Oriental was one of the tallest hotels in the area, so it should suit Kid's needs perfectly for that damned glider of his. The hotel was also owned by a good friend of his grandfather's who prided himself on the hotel's five-star rating and reputation for being one of the most luxurious hotels in Japan.
Under the pretense of meeting with a high profile figure who wished their involvement with a detective to be anonymous – which was technically true – the owner had been quite amiable when Saguru had approached him about using some of the hotel's amenities such their kitchen. He'd even been loaned a room of his own to use on the top floor for free, but Saguru knew that Kid wouldn't agree to meeting in an enclosed space, and the hotel rooms here didn't have a balcony, so meeting in an actual room was out of the question.
Saguru had had to set things up ahead of time on the roof before Kid's heist, and hid his riddle inside the Second Star's display case well before hand. It was a good thing he had too, because the owner had moved the diamond just before the heist without informing the Inspector or any of the other Task Force members. And then there was the mess that Saguru had gotten ensnared in on the T floor during the heist itself. The floor had somehow been replaced with trampolines, and trip wires had been spread about like spider webs. He'd gotten so hopelessly tangled that by the time some officers had managed to get him down he'd heard that Kid had already stolen the jewel and left. Saguru had to hurry back downstairs, get in a cab, and hurry back to the hotel as soon as he had been able. With only fifteen minutes to spare, Saguru had somehow managed to bring the food and drinks up to the roof and set everything up before the appointed time in his coded riddle note. Saguru had felt a huge surge of pride and satisfaction at his accomplishment and briefly wondered if this was how Kid felt after finishing preparations for his heists.
He checked his pocket watch again, 8:18:43. Three minutes late. Saguru hoped that his riddle hadn't been too difficult. Was his Marvel and Iron Man clue too vague? Now Saguru wasn't a comic fan by any means, but he did enjoy the movies. The Mandarin had been the main villain in the newest film and therefore was the freshest villain in Saguru's head at the time he'd written the riddle, but now that he thought about it, the first film had featured a terrorist group the Ten Rings, and Ivan Vanko from the second film could be considered a terrorist too… but technically Iron Man 1 and 2 had been made before Disney bought Marvel, so the Mandarin was the first Disney Iron Man villain, so hopefully Kid would be able to figure out which terrorist foe Saguru was referring to.
He glanced at his watch again. 8:20:34.
"And that's why I found your riddle a little ironic."
Saguru snapped his pocket watch shut and looked up to see Kid reclined in the chair opposite him with a smug, lazy smile on his face, much like he had during their first meeting.
"Oh?"
"You're the one who's rather obsessed with time, Tantei-san," Kid said, pointing at the watch as Saguru put it away. "Assigning me the role of the white rabbit and yourself the Mad Hatter in your riddle was quite amusing. Shouldn't it be the opposite?"
Saguru blinked, surprised, and thought about it for a moment before chuckling.
"I suppose you're right, but to be fair, you are a full five minutes late, and I am and have been the host for our two meetings thus far. And some would argue, should they ever learn that I am inviting a thief to tea, that I have gone mad."
"You're right," Kid quipped. "You are mad. Absolutely bonkers."
"Ah, but all the best people are, would you not agree?" Saguru returned, a smirk tugging at the corners of his lips as he rose his cup in a mocking salute to Kid and took a sip of his tea.
Kid laughed delightedly, with a hint of surprise.
"True, true. Now, to the business at hand," Kid continued in a mock-serious tone. "I have completed my challenge incorporating the word 'abecedarian' into my heist note, as you've no doubt seen. How have you faired?"
Saguru pulled out the old tape recorder with the cassette tape. Before he could turn it on, however, Kid swiped the recorder out of his hand, rewound it, and hit play.
"Hakuba-kun is here, Keibu," Officer Saiki's voice announced.
"ABOUT DAMN TIME! Get in here, boy, and tell me what the hell this says," roared Nakamori's unmistakable voice.
"Thought so," Kid snickered. "You slipped in your quote during the heist note debriefing."
"You might want to fast-forward. I don't say the quote until the end," Saguru glared at Kid. There had been no need to snatch the device from him.
"But I rarely get to listen in on these things," Kid pouted, fast-forwarding a bit past the low mutterings going on while Saguru was mentally figuring out the heist note. "Let me have my fun."
Saguru huffed, but made no move to take the recorder back from Kid. While they listened to the tape, they enjoyed the snacks and tea that Saguru had set out. It pleased him immensely that even though Kid always waited until Saguru tried something, Kid was at least touching the dishware and eating the food that he'd prepared this time around.
"The first line in Kid's notice is from the Jackson Five's song ABC, but one of the words is wrong. The key is the word, 'darling' that Kid uses instead of 'baby', like it is in the song. Note that the word is capitalized. Why might that be?" Saguru's voice asked, crackling on the tape.
"Because it's important?"
"Because it's a name."
"Really?" Kid snickered. "National Treasure? I didn't take you for a movie buff, Tantei-san, but all the movie quotes and references you've made recently make so much more sense if that's the case."
"My mum's fault." Saguru shrugged with a sigh. "She likes a good movie marathon now and then, and I suppose I just developed an interest in film along the way. They're a good way to unwind from cases and escape from reality for a short time."
Kid paused, tea up halfway to his lips, and looked at him curiously.
Saguru ignored the look as the recording of the meeting came to an end. When his quote finally came up, Kid chuckled, shaking his head.
"Of course you'd quote Ganimard. I'd be disappointed if I didn't know you as well as I do. I was rather hoping you'd quote Lupin. That was the challenge after all."
"You never specified which character. Just that I had to quote something out of a Lupin book," Saguru pointed out with a narrowed gaze. "You'll have to be specific next time."
"Speaking of our next challenge, what did you have in mind?"
"Considering what month it is," Saguru mused, "and its celebrated holiday, Halloween, I figure our next challenge should revolve around that. We both know what a master of disguise you are, but what happens if disguise is not an option? My next challenge to you, Kaitou Kid, is to hold a heist without disguising yourself in anything other than your white uniform. No impersonating officials or citizens. You are to hold your heist as the Kid and no one else. It needn't be your next heist, and it can even be on Halloween if you so choose. What do you think?"
xxxxxxXXXxxxxxx
KAITO
"I think we need to be a bit more specific for the parameters," Kaito replied, thinking about all the mayhem he could get up to on a Halloween heist. It was on a Friday this year, after all, so of course it would be held late at night. "How far away from the building do I have to change into the costume? I've no plans to walk out my front door dressed for work. Does twenty meters from the building sound fair?"
Hakuba considered. "Going in, that sounds fair. Coming out, however, you have to stay in character until you lose all of your pursuers."
Kaito briefly thought of the snipers in black and decided that the hunters threatening his life didn't count. After all, Hakuba wasn't trying to get him killed… probably. "On my word, I will stay in my traditional costume from the time I'm within a twenty meter perimeter outside the building before the heist until I've lost all officers and teenage detectives." There, that excluded Snake and his underlings. "Pre-heist preparations do not count. Attending the heist should be enough proof for you, though I can rig up some cameras for when I'm in places that you're not."
"That takes care of your challenge, then." There was an unspoken "And for mine?" tacked on the end.
Kaito's smile stretched to include most of his teeth, which had the desired reaction of making Hakuba look a little nervous. "I agree that disguises should be the theme for our next challenge. Before our next meeting, you will need to create a convincing cross-gender ensemble and take a picture of yourself in it somewhere public."
"You want me to dress up as a woman?"
"That's what I said, isn't it? A convincing woman, not just you with a skirt and clip on earrings."
"Why do you want me to do that?"
"It's a yes or no answer to my challenge, Tantei-san. You're not afraid are you?"
Hakuba shifted in his seat. "If I were discovered while cross-dressing, my reputation would be shattered to pieces."
"And if I were discovered in my Kid paraphernalia, my civilian identity would encounter similar difficulties."
"I wouldn't be able to find work. You, on the other hand, would be praised by the criminal community for outwitting the police at sev– whatever age you are." Kaito didn't miss the slip, but let it pass because Hakuba continued, "Your observed powers of disguise would allow your civilian identity to disappear off the map. You could get hired under a new persona. I only have my own identity to work with."
"I guess that means you'll have to do a really good job with it then," Kaito concluded smugly. "I would suggest that you get voice-changing equipment if you don't want Fem-Hakuba to be recognized. I hear they have chokers and bowties that do that." A certain mini detective with his arsenal of gadgets came to mind.
"Another thing you don't have to bother with," Hakuba grumbled.
"That's just a benefit of being me."
"Oh, and you're modest too." Hakuba was going to pull a muscle if he kept rolling his eyes like that.
"To a fault. So are you accepting this challenge, Tantei-chan, or do I have to come up with a punishment challenge?"
"Fine, I accept."
"Excellent! I'm looking forward to the photos. Now that our next contest is set up, we're due for the rewards from this past one. If you recall, the prize for completing challenges is a question answered honestly. We both passed the first set of tasks, so we're both due answers. You may go first," he added magnanimously.
"Any question?" Hakuba asked, suspicious and looking for a loophole.
"Anything at all, though I will remind you of your promise not to use anything from these meetings against me."
"I remember." Hakuba set down his teacup to steeple his fingers. "I'm afraid most of my questions have to do directly with your identity or purpose, but I have the feeling you would cease attending these meetings if I asked you outright." Kaito nodded. "So, a compromise is in order. The one I've just come up with is related to the Kid persona, but not your civilian identity." He picked up another biscuit. "How many people have worn the Kid costume?"
That was safer than most of the other questions he could have asked, but Kaito still thought before responding. He'd promised himself not to give away anything that could lead back to Kuroba Kaito. Giving the number of Kids wouldn't pin him, except that it left open the possibility that he, the current Kid, had been very young at the start of the first Kid's career. "Officially? Five," Kaito finally answered, and you know two of them: Koizumi and me. Koizumi and Jii-chan were short-term kaitous, and hadn't worn exactly the same costume as Kaito and his father, but they still counted. Kaito was also fairly certain, based on strong hints from his mother, that she'd donned the monocle at some point too. "There have been copycats trying to use my name for their own purposes, but only five genuine Kids."
"Five?" Hakuba answered, clearly surprised. "I expected two, given the eight year period before your revival, but the style among the heists is very similar, so I didn't anticipate five different magicians. I suppose I'll have to win the next challenge if I want to know what happened to your four predecessors."
Kaito kept his smile on, but it was forced. "Careful with your questions, Tantei-san. I am enjoying this, but my safety is also of importance to me." He didn't correct the assumption that the Kids existed linearly, one after the other with no overlap.
"Of course. My apologies. I suppose it's your turn to ask now."
Kaito leaned forward, both elbows on the table and chin in his hands. "What made little Sa-chan decide to be a detective, hmm? When the other boys wanted to be firemen or astronauts, what interested you in stolen items and dead bodies?"
Hakuba rolled his eyes at the admittedly ridiculous nickname, but gamely answered. "When I was a kid, Mum enrolled me in many things like fencing, boxing, and ballroom dancing. One day when I was twelve, I stumbled across a theft in progress: a man had just snatched an elderly woman's purse. Being of an athletic bent from those activities, I gave chase, down back alleys and up and down fire escapes." He laughed. "It was foolish, in retrospect, because I had no idea if the man had any cohorts waiting for him. I wasn't prepared for anything other than a one-on-one confrontation. Anyway, I lost him a couple times and had to deduce which way he went at intersections and around corners. This particular thief had a pattern for evading pursuit, and when I figured it out, I managed to anticipate him." Hakuba was looking off to the side, smiling. He probably didn't even realize he was doing it, which Kaito found intriguing given the blonde's self-control.
"You were twelve, and you confronted him?"
"I thought I was invincible. And if you think I was bad, I can hardly imagine what you got up to when you were twelve, Kid. Back to the story, though, I did confront him. He was taller and a good deal heavier, but I had better footwork from ballroom dance and fencing. Several well-placed punches later, he wasn't going anywhere. I alerted the authorities and he was arrested. The elderly woman got her purse back, and someone did an article about it for the paper. My mum sent the newspaper clipping to Father and the next time he called, he congratulated me and said that I had a talent. I liked the idea of having a deductive talent and using it regularly, and I'd already read all of Conan Doyle's Holmes stories, so I continued with it, eventually working with the police on cases as my success rate increased. It very quickly became my passion."
Kaito hummed. "And here I thought you came out of the womb with a magnifying glass. A city chase with no backup… that's an interesting start to a career."
"Normally, I'd reciprocate and ask for your story, but…"
Kaito nodded once, chuckling. "I appreciate your restraint." Then he checked Hakuba's pocket watch. "Oh dear, it appears I'm late for a very important date."
There was a surprised "Hey! When did you take that?"
"I thought I was the white rabbit, Hatter. Here." He handed the pocket watch back. "I don't keep the things I take."
"I know." There was an odd pause in there as they both became overly aware that Kid was a thief and Hakuba a detective devoted to the study and capture of thieves. "Good night, Kid."
"Good evening to you as well, Tantei-san."
xxxxxxXXXxxxxxx
SR: And that's chapter 3! Our boys didn't do too bad for their first challenge.
MG: Agreed. We're super-duper thrilled for the next challenge. Isn't everyone excited to see how Kid pulls off the next heist? And Saguru in drag will be interesting to work on too.
SR: And I can't WAIT to write that. Though this chapter was a lot of fun to write too. It's my fault that this chapter got as kooky Disney as it did. Though MG did start it with the Peter Pan heist note, so I blame her for inspiring my plot bunnies to run away with the theme! And Saguru somehow ended up a film fan. Did any of you catch the National Treasure quote before Kaito pointed it out? MG did.
MG: I love movies like National Treasure and Ocean's Eleven, which is probably one of the reasons why I enjoy writing Kaito so much. I had loads of fun coming up with the lettered pranks for his alphabetical heist and I got to reread Arsene Lupin for quotes. We had a couple of literary gems at our disposal, so it was great fun to work Ganimard in
SR: I agree. I also read a Lupin book for the first time for this chapter too, so now I'm addicted to another book series. Lupin is hilarious and I was reminded of Kid a lot as I read. I highly recommend the books. The heist was very fun, MG, and I loved your heist riddle. It was fun for me to write Hakuba's riddle too. It's the first one I've ever done for a DC/MK fic and I'm rather happy with it. I couldn't resist an Iron Man reference and he's technically a Disney character now so it counts! It was also a lot of fun to write Hakuba reasoning out the heist note. I even looked up the lyrics for the ABC song and found an astronomy website that predicted the times for October 7th's (today!) phases of dusk times, so what Saguru looked up and presented to the Task Force was legit, and so was the hotel he picked to have a meeting at (I really like to do my research if you guys haven't noticed). The Disney Hotel is sadly a creation of my own, though I'm sure Tokyo Disney Sea and Disneyland have their own resort hotel somewhere close to the parks.
MG: Thanks, SR, the riddle was fun to write, and I liked yours too. I enjoyed the moment where Saguru played the entire heist debriefing for Kid. Kaito's line "But I rarely get to listen in on these things" made me laugh because OF COURSE he occasionally listens in through his bugs (or disguises as an officer to help plan and give Nakamori outrageous suggestions, haha).
SR: Haha, yeah. There was a lot of irony in this chapter. Developing Hakuba's back story was a lot of fun too just because of the kind of mother figure that I've come up with in my head and she'll be making her debut soon too, so look forward to that! But now this chapter and challenge is over, and the start of the next one will begin soon.
MG: Please leave a review - every bit of feedback is helpful!