KAITO
Kaito looked up from his book to see a figure lounging on the windowsill. "Holy hell," he responded, managing to keep his voice to a reasonable level but unable to mask his jump in surprise. He climbed off the bed. "Koizumi, what are you doing here? It's like, midnight." He wondered if this was what people felt like when Kid showed up unexpectedly.
"Midnight is traditionally the witching hour," Koizumi reminded him. She hopped off the sill and leaned an old broom against the wall, which explained how she got up to his second-story window. "I thought it was perfect timing. You wouldn't be asleep anyway, and this way, we can both speak freely without other parties interrupting."
"Okay. What do you want?"
"You know what I want." She folded her hands delicately, a small sigh escaping as she composed herself. "This enmity isn't just affecting us anymore; it's filtering into our interactions with our classmates. I'd rather avoid a full-out fight in front of them, Aoko-kun especially because she's a nice girl who wants her friends to get along. A friendship between us, or at least a solid truce, would keep people from asking about why, specifically, we've had arguments in the past. I know you have no desire to elaborate on our first encounter as magician and sorceress, Kid."
"I'm not –"
"I'm not stupid, Kuroba Kaito, and this condescension on your part by denying what I already know is neither gentlemanly nor effective. We're not going to get anywhere if you keep playing dumb."
Kaito exhaled heavily. "If I was Kid, I still wouldn't trust that you don't have some ulterior motive." But he backed down from his confrontational stance and opened his bedroom door, gesturing that they go downstairs. She followed him to the kitchen, where she took a seat at the table and he began making tea. Not to be polite, he told himself. It was just a habit.
He cleared his throat to break the silence. "Convince me that you're not gunning for my free will again, or something."
She laughed. "I'm curious as to why you think I still want it." Kaito's head snapped over to her, and she chuckled at the reaction. "You're much more entertaining with your own mind guiding your actions, and I know when to give up gracefully. I've been humbled some by the existence of a person I can't control."
"But you can still control everyone else," Kaito replied disdainfully as he poured the tea. "What's going on with you and Hakuba, anyway? Why are you trying to wrap him around your finger?"
"I didn't realize you were concerned about him."
"I'm not. I just think that manipulating someone to like you is wrong. All of a sudden, you two are really close. I figure that you doing your –" he wiggled his fingers "– witchy things to him makes the most sense."
Koizumi's pause stretched between them for a long moment. Then her voice took on a faux-innocence that gave Kaito goose bumps as she replied: "You're worried that I've become close to Saguru-kun?" He decided that he really didn't like that tone from her and hid a shiver. "I see."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"I'm just intrigued by the notion that you care where his heart lies."
"I do not care where – wait, so he's crushing on you?" His stomach twisted unpleasantly. "When did that start? Are you two…?" He wasn't quite sure what he was asking. Then he remembered what started their current argument, and got angry. "Koizumi, stop twisting him with your magic. Just because you can manipulate people doesn't mean you should." Kaito's hand clenched on the handle of his teacup, rattling it in its saucer.
"I haven't influenced Saguru-kun with my arts at all. We're simply good friends." Her eyes stayed on him, her voice clear and unwavering.
Kaito's training with body language informed him that she was telling the truth, and something like cool water surged through his veins, dampening the anger. It took a moment for Kaito to recognize the feeling as relief. But why would he be relieved that Hakuba and Koizumi weren't an item? He sure as all hell wasn't interested in Koizumi in the slightest. Hakuba being single had the benefit of allowing him to spend more time working on the challenges Kaito gave him. It also was a benefit because–
Because what?
Kaito thought he might have the slightest inkling of where that sentence had been going, and immediately slammed on the breaks. He wasn't willing to go down that road. No, he wouldn't even consider it. That was a stupid thought.
Some trickster god was laughing up there somewhere as Kaito tripped over his own brain trying to think around the answer to his question.
Kaito realized that it had been a long time since Koizumi spoke, and scrambled to remember that last thing she said. "I guess if you aren't putting a magical whammy on our classmates, then I suppose everything's fine."
"I don't need your permission," Koizumi smiled, "but I'll take your answer as recognition of a truce between us."
He put his razor sharp smile back into place. "Quite. However, if you nudge any of my friends' emotions with your spells, I swear by every bone in my body that you'll regret it."
"There's the Kid we know and love." Koizumi took the last sip of her tea and stood up. "I've always been fascinated with how you switch so easily from Kuroba to Kid. Perhaps during the course of our truce I shall see it more. Good night, Kaitou."
Kaito blinked and she was gone. He froze for three long seconds before tearing up the stairs to his room. Her broom had disappeared and the window she'd come through was closed. Just to be safe, though, Kaito checked every corner of the house, including the Kid room, before he was convinced that she was truly gone. The air felt lighter too now that there wasn't the subtle crackle of magic that Kaito occasionally got a hint of when they were alone.
Restless, Kaito punched in his computer password and opened his chat with Sonoko. \Goooood evening, Sono-chan!/
He then remembered that it was after midnight and Sonoko was probably asleep.
A minute later, though, a reply chimed: \What are you doing up at this hour, goof?/ Guess she wasn't asleep either.
\I could ask you the same thing. How fare your lovely sister and parents?/
\They're doing well./
\What about your incredibly strong boyfriend?/
\Oh you know you're the only one for me, Katsuki-kun! No need to be jealous! (He's good, though, thanks for asking!)/
\Jealousy isn't even in my vocabulary, dear :P I'm your knight with shining hang glider./
\Haha./ There was a pause, and then Sonoko started typing again. \Does the white knight have a princess? You don't have to tell me who, but I'm suddenly ve~ry curious./
\No royalty in my life currently. I'm rather busy with my daytime activities and planning for my special events./
\Gotcha. Katsuki is all work and no play, huh?/
\My special events count as playing!/
\Your "special events" are part of your job, silly. I meant like a game or a hobby that you can do with someone else./
He thought of the challenges and how they were technically initiated and carried out outside of heists, and how they weren't necessary to his thieving. \Well, now that you mention it, I do have a hobby that's not strictly related to my job./
\And does this hobby involve other people?/
\Yes, one other person. We manage to keep ourselves entertained./
\Oooh, what gender? Are they cute~?/ After a moment, she sent another message: \I'm assuming this crush is on someone in your real life rather than your other persona's….. though it would be a TOTAL scandal if it WAS someone from your night life and I'd LOVE to hear that scoop!/
\My darling Sonoko, you've misunderstood me. I wouldn't DREAM of crushing on this person, good looks aside./
\Why not?/
Kaito thought about several answers to that, including the words "obnoxious", "know-it-all", and "detective", before writing \Our opinions on the magnificent Kid-sama differ greatly./
\Oh my god, a Kid hater? THAT'S SO TRAGIC, KATSUKI!/
\Sono-chaaan! Like I just said, I'm NOT in love with the Kid hater./ Kaito laughed at the idea of being in love with Hakuba. No way.
\I WILL CRY FOR YOU/
\SONOKO, DON'T/
\Right, okay, no crying. We need a plan. You must win over your true love, their appalling lack of good taste aside!/
\While I appreciate your WONDERFULLY considerate offer, love, I think it's getting late and we should get some sleep before your dastardly machinations get out of control./
\Okay, good night, Katsuki-kun! I will drop the subject of your love life FOR NOW but we will be talking about this later./
xxxxxxXXXxxxxxx
SAGURU
Saguru yawned, opening the morning paper. It was the weekend, so he'd allowed himself to sleep in a little more than he usually did on weekdays. Things had been a little insufferable around the Task Force and his father for the past week thanks to Kid and the damned ring he'd stolen. His father still found the whole debacle humorous and even though he hadn't told Saguru's mother like he'd promised, it didn't stop the man from making the occasional joke. Saguru hadn't bought a box of Frosted Flakes to replace the one he'd finished off that morning. There was a box of some rice cereal sitting in it's place on the pantry shelf instead. The way Hakuba Sr. carried on, one would think that Saguru was actually dating the damned thief. What a joke. As if Saguru would sink so low and fall for someone of the likes of Kid.
He was getting a little antsy though because he had yet to find or hear word from Kid about his scavenger hunt challenge or an upcoming heist. Winter break was coming up soon in Japan and he'd be making the trip back home to England soon to spend the holidays with his mother's family. He was rather hoping that they'd get this next challenge in before he had to leave.
Finally, though, he found what he was looking for in the classified section of the paper that morning.
"Help Wanted: One adventurous person to find my twelve little friends to help reign in the new year. See Shen Jin Yang for more information in Asakusabashi, Taitou Ward.
Thanks,
Utokai Douki."
Saguru snorted.
Utokai Douki aka Kaitou Kid. Not the best anagram that Kid had ever come up with, but it served its purpose. The message was unassuming and if Saguru hadn't been looking for something from Kid related to a scavenger hunt, he would have missed it. The clues in the note were a little trickier to figure out. The first sentence told him his scavenger hunt's theme: the twelve animals of the Chinese Zodiac. He had to consult his computer to figure out the rest. The key was the name given. Shen Jin Yang. Shen was the earthly branch year for the Year of the Monkey, whose fixed element was metel - aka jin. Yang was just what half of the Yin-Yang symbol the monkey fell on. Some further research of Asakusabashi in Taitou Ward revealed the location, a Shinto shrine known for it's monkey statue.
Saguru finished his breakfast and cleared his schedule for the weekend before getting on a bus to Taitou Ward and took the Sobu Line to Asakusabashi, walking the rest of the way on foot as he made his way to the shrine. He got there around one in the afternoon. It was a nice bustling part of Tokyo where there were all sorts of stores that sold traditional Japanese dolls and numerous craft items: beads in particular. Asakusabashi was known for their traditional dolls and bead stores. Saguru took his time to explore the area a bit before reaching the shrine. He wasn't in much of a hurry. With how emphasized the monkey was in the note, Saguru figured he should wait until 3 o'clock. According to a Chinese Zodiac website, the ruling hours of the monkey were from 3:00-4:59 pm.
Until that time, Saguru explored some of the nearby stores, purchasing a few small items that he thought would make good Christmas gifts for his mother and even bought a nice traditional Japanese doll for Renee.
He was back and exploring the shrine right at 3 o'clock, eyes scanning the place, taking in the monkey statue that the shrine was known for. He looked around to see if he could find a note or something that would give him his next clue, but there was nothing around the statue. He spent the next half hour looking around the shrine, growing irritated with every passing minute he failed to find the next clue.
It wasn't until he was on his way back to the shrine's entrance that he noticed something nestled in at the monkey statue's base. He could have sworn that it hadn't been there earlier when he'd first arrived at the shrine. He glanced around, but saw no one in the immediate vicinity. He crouched down and removed what turned out to be a golden chrysanthemum flower tied to a small package wrapped in washi paper. He carefully unwrapped the package and found a tiny little wood carving that resembled a monkey. The detail and workmanship was incredible. Saguru's attention then moved to the paper it'd been wrapped in. There was more writing on it.
"Congradulations! You've found Shen Jin Yang! Can you find his cousin next? You Jin Yin is an early riser, but not much of a city person. You'll find him tending to his garden.
-K.K."
Saguru frowned, trying to puzzle out this next clue. There wasn't much that he could decipher as far as a location was concerned, but he knew that he was looking for the Rooster next. It was the next animal in the Chinese Zodiac after the monkey and the only animal associated with the early morning.
He left the shrine and regrouped at a table outside a cafe where he had a cup of afternoon tea. He was glad he'd brought his laptop along. Since there wasn't a large indicator that the general area for the next location had changed, Saguru figured that his next clue was still in Taitou Ward. The early riser comment made him narrow his search down to the eastern half of the ward. Some quick digging revealed that there was a local park and garden on the east end of Asakusabashi. Saguru made his way there immediately and found the next clue and a tiny carving of a rooster hidden in a patch of cockscomb flowers.
He spent the rest of the afternoon and most of the evening traveling around the various cities and wards in Tokyo searching and finding these little clues, until it was getting late and he decided that this next one would be the last one before calling it a night and would resume his search tomorrow. Saguru had found five of the Chinese Zodiac carvings so far: the monkey, rooster, dog, boar, and the rat.
The rat carving had been found in another shrine - Buddhist this time - in Minato Ward with a bouquet of violets and lilies at the base of a stone Buddha statue.
"Congradulations! You've found Zi Shui Yang! Now can you find Chou Tu Yin? He can be found burning the midnight oil in the city where our childhood never rests. Follow the river and you might find him writing Japan's next Gomera.
-K.K."
Saguru frowned. All of these clues were vague in nature - obviously in case someone else stumbled upon them before Saguru, but this one was just strange. "The city where our childhood never rests." What the hell did that mean? He looked up Gomera on his laptop, hoping that that would give him a clue. It didn't. There were too many Gomera movies to narrow down a precise location in Tokyo, but it got him thinking about what Japanese children would consider part of their childhood. Monster movies and cartoons. The Narima Ward was considered the birthplace of anime and was home to many TV and movie studios. He decided to get on a train to Nerima and spent the ride trying to narrow down a more specific location. The river had to be an important part of the clue, but where and along what river? It wasn't until he got off his train and saw a billboard from an overpass that he got his answer. Rainbow Bridge. It was Tokyo's equivalent of America's San Francisco Bridge, and was often destroyed in monster movies (Gomera included). It appeared in a number of animes as well.
Saguru made his way onto a connecting line to Minato Ward heading towards the bridge and Tokyo port where all of Tokyo's rivers ended and merged with the ocean. He disembarked and headed towards the local harbor park where there were a number of cherry and peach blossom trees lining the walking paths. When Saguru reached a point where he could clearly see the bridge, he started to look among the peach blossom trees. Peach blossoms were considered a lucky flower for those born in the year of the Ox, and flowers seemed to be a part of the theme thus far. He'd found the little zodiac tokens either in or with a kind of flower that was considered lucky for the corresponding animal's year.
Finally he found what he was looking for in the hollow of a large peach blossom tree next to a light pole and at the entrance of a park. He sighed with relief but felt slightly irritated with Kid. If he hadn't noticed that billboard with the Rainbow Bridge on it and made the connection, he'd have been searching all over the wrong city ward. He removed the small and by now familiar shaped package that had a small clipping of a peach blossom branch attached to it and unwrapped the carving of an ox. He admired the detail of craftsmanship on the piece before reading the next clue.
"Congradulations! You found Chou Tu Yin! Half of your quest is now finished and so is the day. Yin Mu Yang will not expect you on her hour, but on Shen Jin Yang's. She sees all from her perch keeping watch over the city at the place of many meetings. It's late and you look tired. Better get some sleep, mon ami.
-K.K."
Saguru stiffened a bit at the last comment before looking around. Had Kid been watching him all day as he gathered these little trinkets? Oh God, he hoped not. The flowers and little zodiac carvings now felt a little heavy in his bag and he felt a small blush rise to his cheeks. He'd openly admired the carvings and had even sniffed a few of the flowers.
He was abruptly reminded of something his father had joked about early in the week concerning other little gifts he might expect to get from "his thief." Flowers had been one of them, and right now he was carrying five different kinds of flowers and holding a sixth from Kid. Could Kid be…
Saguru banished the thought before it could fully form. No. The flowers were merely part of the clue for the scavenger hunt, like the wood carvings of the chinese zodiac. It made sense to mark the clues in some way so that Saguru knew that he was on the right track. Flowers were known to stand for different things in different cultures and putting the right kind of flower with the right zodiac carving let Saguru know that the package was meant for him as part of the challenge. Nothing more. ...Right?
Feeling a little unnerved Saguru decided to call it a night and followed the message's advice. He went home and to bed, but not before setting the six zodiac carvings he'd collected away in his desk drawer and placing their corresponding flowers in a small vase. They made for an odd looking bouquet, but Saguru was really trying not to think about any underlying and secondary meanings they might have.
xxxxxxXXXxxxxxx
KAITO
"TWO HEIST NOTES?!" Nakamori screeched through the bug that Kaito had placed under the inspector's computer screen. "Impossible! One of them must be a fake." Kaito adjusted the volume on his headphones to hear more clearly, shifted position in the ventilation shaft, and picked up his screwdriver again.
"Sir," one of his officers responded, "they arrived in the same envelope. I'm told that Hakuba Saguru took a good look at them and claimed that both were real."
"Hakuba Saguru is not an officer of the law. WE are. Bring in the notes immediately. This has to be some kind of trick! Kid's trying to get us to divide our forces so there will only be half as much security at the location of his real target."
"But which –?"
"I haven't seen the note yet, Matsushita, so I don't know which two objects he's claiming to steal or which one is the piece he actually wants! Note, now!"
"Yes sir!"
Kaito grinned impishly as he set aside the screw driver. Then he cracked open his new box of teeny tiny explosives that were useful for opening up exits at convenient moments. He placed one on the vent and wriggled until he could reach his back pocket, where the remote-controlled timers were. A few minutes and some jerry-rigging later, Kaito was finished. He crawled back to where he'd come in, listening all the while to Nakamori-keibu, who'd just received the heist notes.
"Why did Hakuba see these before I did, huh?"
"He came in to see Saiki-keiji about another case just as the mail was arriving. Hakuba-kun spotted the Kid doodle on the discarded packaging and expressed an interest in seeing what Kid wrote. The officers at the desk had just opened them and didn't see a problem with it since he helps out at heists."
"Showing a civilian. They should know better." There was silence for a while and then the sound of someone (probably Nakamori) pounding on something (probably his desk). "What the hell does this mean?" There was a shuffle of footsteps as someone else entered the room.
"Nakamori-keibu," another officer's voice chimed in, "I was, uh, at the front desk when the note came, and Hakuba-kun gave us a rundown about what he thought it meant." The silence was so long that Kaito worried Nakamori was strangling the second officer, but then there was a loud sigh crackling close to the bug.
"What did the boy wonder say about it?" Nakamori finally asked with reluctance.
"Here, I have the details written down. There are two objects in different buildings, a first for Kid, but the locations aren't that far apart. The East Tokyo Museum is only three blocks east and two south of the Fujimoto-Nakano Gallery. Hakuba said that, according to the notes, Kid is planning to steal both objects between 9 and 10pm on Friday. We'll be able to track him going from one location to the other." There was the sound of papers being shuffled and possibly being placed on Nakamori's desk. "Those are the targets."
"One of these must be a decoy," Nakamori asserted, his die-hard enthusiasm starting to gain momentum again. "It's not April Fool's, after all! We're going to research the hell out of these two jewels, and then we're going to split up security details accordingly! THIS TIME, we're gonna get him!"
"This time!" The task force members echoed.
Kaito, by this time was out of the building and dressed as a rigid businessman, pulled off the headphones and switched off the feed.
That had been the last of the preparations he needed before heist day. Kaito would swear that Hakuba was sadistic: this heist (or heists, rather) had taken weeks to put together. He'd been so busy that he'd barely spared time to place the rest of Hakuba's clues on day two of the scavenger hunt, and Kaito hadn't even checked that Hakuba had actually collected the clues. Was it a risk to leave the clues in public unattended, given the secrecy of their meetings? Yes, but it was a calculated risk taken because he had no time. The two jewels he wanted for this heist were leaving their current exhibits soon. However, the clues he'd created were hidden well and he had past experience with Hakuba's admittedly significant powers of observation.
Now that heist prep was over, though, he could go back through the data saved on his cameras and see whether the detective had completed his challenge. Kaito collapsed into his computer chair when he got home, exhausted. He scrolled through and queued up the start of the saved video from Tokyo Tower, the first checkpoint for day two.
The "mon ami" bit was the giveaway for the location, since it wouldn't be a stretch to think that Kid knew about Hakuba's attempt to complete the disguise challenge there in the persona of Benoit Renee. Yin Mu Yang ruled from 3-4:59am, and since Kid had promised to keep things legal (plus, he wouldn't really be able to blend in with a crowd at 3 in the morning since the tower would be closed), the hunt began again at 3pm that day instead, Shen Jin Yang's time. It would be interesting to see Hakuba's reactions at each of the stations–
Kaito was asleep on his keyboard before the video finished loading.
He had a few days to catch up on sleep before the heist night, but it arrived before he felt properly rested again. Kaito cursed Hakuba under his breath as the officers began filing into the room and industriously cordoning off the area around the Azure Dragon. He'd known they would show up a few hours early, but hiding out here was going to ache after a while, not to mention get boring. The East Tokyo Museum was actually one of the hardest places he'd had to infiltrate, so he'd been reduced to arriving ungodly early and hiding out until 9pm. Even Suzuki's Jirokichi's locations were easier to get into. The old man's shindigs drew a big enough crowd that slipping in was cake. Guests wouldn't be allowed in the museum tonight, just officers, and with their smaller numbers everyone was working in teams of three, so it would be hard for Kaito to lure someone away and replace them. Did this museum have something to hide, or were they just overly paranoid? It would bare investigation at a later date.
Much later, he groaned as he wiggled his toes to get circulation back from sitting in the same position so long. He was bored as hell and developing a headache. He would have carried out some payback, but Hakuba was stationed at the Fujimoto-Nakano Gallery tonight, so he'd have to wait. It was more than likely that Hakuba's meeting note was there too, so Kaito couldn't peek and get a head start on deciphering the message. The only upside was that Nakamori and half the Kid task force were also at the Fujimoto-Nakano Gallery, so Kaito's headache wouldn't worsen from the excessive noise that a full task force with their enthusiastic leader would generate.
A nap would be heavenly but so, so dangerous. Kaito knew better, but the temptation was still there. When Nakamori had examined the exhibition hall after receiving the heist note, he had (loudly) commented upon the fact that the vents were in the floor here rather than conveniently placed on the ceiling for Kid to drop out of and surprise them. Instead, Kaito had seen that there was a network of large criss-crossing pipes across the ceiling which had been put in place before the building was a museum. Some of them were rather large and many of them were clustered together for the sanity of the repairmen who needed extension ladders to reach them up near the three-story-high ceiling.
Kaito was, of course, hiding on top of these clustered pipes sans the ladder. There were no cameras this high up, as they would have to be very zoomed in to see anything relevant happening on the exhibition floor. Also, the lighting fixtures that were suspended from the ceiling were bowl-shaped and faced down, so there was almost no illumination up here. Anyone looking up would be staring directly into the lights and wouldn't be able to see into the shadows above the fixtures. The pipes were definitely strong enough to take his weight (he'd calculated it based on the material and diameter) so Kaito got to watch the task force set up and talk via radio to Unit 1 at Fujimoto-Nakano. If he hadn't previously read their notes on strategies for this heist, he would have learned a lot about what plans and traps they'd devised this time.
So despite Nakamori's optimism that Kid couldn't come in from above to steal the jewel from this museum, Kaito was going to drop in anyway.
The reason he'd gone to such lengths to target these two jewels in particular - the Vermillion Bird, a ruby, and the Azure Dragon, a sapphire - was that they were two of a four-piece set representing the Four Symbols from Chinese constellations. By coincidence or the hands of fate, these two were in Japan at the same time and being displayed only a few blocks from each other. It was unfortunate that the owners of the two gems got along so poorly, otherwise the ruby and sapphire might have been displayed together and Kaito would definitely have gone for the ten-minute heist that Hakuba had suggested.
The source of the disagreement between owners came from the fact that a European family unfamiliar with the Four Symbols had acquired the Vermillion Bird three centuries ago and renamed it, to the horror of the other three Chinese owners. The foreign family had vaguely heard that the Vermillion Bird was supposed to represent fire, so they called the ruby the "Fire-Breathing Dragon", thinking that "dragon" was more accurate than "bird" for something representing fire. They were unaware that, while European dragons were thought to breathe fire, Asian dragons generally did not. There had been public disputes, accusations of an insult to national heritage, and name-calling, so having the Vermillion Bird in the same country as one of the other jewels was a rarity.
On that note, no one familiar with Chinese mythology actually called it the "Fire-Breathing Dragon", and the owners didn't know enough Japanese to know what was printed on the display's label copy. The huge argument about the name of the "Fire-Breathing Dragon" was what had drawn Kaito's attention to it in the first place, and he'd looked into its history after noting the name. Which brought him here, ready to steal the Vermillion Bird and one of its sister gems, the Azure Dragon.
That sounded exciting and all, but just sitting here, waiting for the heist to start, was torture. Kaito tried every method to avoid boredom: counting backwards from 500 by 7s; planning for another, more magic-filled heist; mentally inventing a time machine that would just get him to 9pm already; and so on.
Finally, finally, it was 8:58 by his watch, and Kaito looked at the task force officers who were crazy-intense tonight. They were overly aware that their leader and half their number were in another building and that if one of the notes was a ruse, they might be the only ones seeing action tonight. Not having a shot at Kid would make Nakamori grouchy, and nobody wanted to be the one a grouchy Nakamori took his frustration out on for being less than perfectly professional.
His watch turned to 9:00. Thank goodness.
Kaito removed his black clothing and double checked that his supply of retractable line (nearly transparent and designed for magicians) was secure around the two particularly sturdy pipes and attached to his belt. The task force officers, having formed a large circle around the case where the Azure Dragon was being displayed, didn't notice the figure in white slowly sink down from above until his shadow was cast around by the dozens of lights.
Good thing kaitou were quick. Kaito tossed a handful of smoke bombs, released a couple of blow-up dummies into the mix of people, and went to town on the lock for the case. Like the museum's surveillance system, this was a few levels higher than the average high-security that Kaito encountered during his occupation. He really should see what they were up to eventually, but with the clock ticking and another heist to complete before 10, he was on a tight schedule.
Ooh, that reminded him. Kaito reached into his inside pocket and pressed a few buttons to start some trouble over in the other building. He'd set up a few tricks to make it look like Kid was there. A few strange sounds, an electrical failure, a couple vents falling open with a scrap of white cloth caught in the grate, typical stuff that could happen if he was over there. There was a fan that he'd timed to turn on for a few seconds every five minutes that would make a white sheet billow, and anyone thinking that it was Kaitou Kid's cape was in for a messy surprise when they got to what he liked to call the "glitter glue trap". Not an original name, but it got the point across pretty well.
There were no electrical problems here (pre-recorded feed to the security cameras aside), but the smoke was clearing up quickly, so Kaito cut the two lines to the pipes after snatching the jewel and made for the room's exit to the rest of the museum. He pulled out a spray can, a new method he'd developed for dispensing sleeping gas at close range, and held his breath. The two guarding the main door staggered before slumping to the floor. Kaito leapt over them and kept going. A few of the more alert task force officers had followed him from the main room and Kaito lost most of them in the maze of halls and twisty exhibits that connected in weird ways and had large artifacts that one could take shelter behind.
The strange setup of the museum was due to the fact that it had started life with a totally different purpose (though Kaito's sources hadn't agreed about what that was). When it was made a museum, the new owners added onto the building several times until it reached its current size. Though the main exhibition room where Kaito had spent the last few hours had a three-story tall ceiling, the later portions of the building had standardized height measurements like regular buildings.
On the fourth floor Kaito was faced with the museum's strangely tight security once again. None of the windows opened. None of them. Wasn't that some kind of fire safety hazard? He'd wanted his exit to draw as little attention as possible, because if they still thought he was bouncing around the building, they wouldn't think to look for him en route to the Fujimoto-Nakano Gallery.
A pair of footsteps sounded a few meters to his left. On instinct, Kaito sprayed pink gas in the direction of the sound and caught the task force officer as she began to fall. Kaito spotted her radio and took the opportunity to unhook it from her belt and clip it to his own. With a quick "I'll return it sometime," to the now unconscious woman, Kaito went back to escaping. Finally managing to pop the glass out from the closest window, he pushed the release for the glider and hopped out.
The next tall structure was only three buildings away, and Kaito didn't even stop for a breath before racing to the other side. It would royally suck if the task force from the East Tokyo Museum spotted him. Getting into Fujimoto-Nakano undetected would be ten times harder with a train of police officers trailing behind him. Kaito recalled the route he planned to the second location.
He jumped off the building, his hand on the glider's button but not pushing it yet.. Wait for it. Wait.
As he dropped, the radio crackled. "SECOND UNIT, THIS IS NAKAMORI. GET OVER TO FUJIMOTO-NAKANO RIGHT NOW! SECURE THE OUTSIDE! WE'VE GOT TWO KIDS RUNNING AROUND HERE, I REPEAT, TWO KAITOU KIDS. THAT DAMN THIEF! THIEVES! WHATEVER!"
"What the fuck?" Kaito said, stomach suddenly dropping for reasons other than his current state of free fall.
He only had one set of distractions set up in the Fujimoto-Nakano Gallery, and they were timed to seem like only one person was causing them.
Kaito snapped the glider open again when he was level with the second floor. That was close, he thought. He held it open… now, he retracted it and fell the last few feet to the empty alley. He hit the ground running, stripping down to a running tshirt and shorts, yanking on sweatpants, pasting on a mask, and positioning his long wig. The Kid clothes disappeared.
The disguise was for a female jogger, but what Kaito was doing couldn't really be considered "jogging". "Outright sprinting" was probably a closer description. If there was a copy-kaitou in the other building, things were undoubtedly about to go sideways.
And Hakuba was going to think that Kid had backed down from the claim that he wouldn't use an assistant to steal both gems. Kaito cursed as he slowed down and speed-walked into the hotel next to Fujimoto-Nakano. He waved at the concierge and took the first empty elevator. A previous trip to the hotel in preparation for tonight had yielded the key that allowed him passage to the roof. It was dark up there, but that suited Kaito nicely.
Fujimoto-Nakano was only a stone's throw from the hotel - or, more relevantly, only a smoke bomb's throw away from the hotel. There were fewer officers than he'd initially expected on the roof, but that made sense. With Kaito's series of distractions stringing together to make up the shadow of one "Kid" and a copy-kaitou running around, and with only half the task force currently present, Nakamori's priorities were no longer on guarding places that had been picked as potential entrance points.
Three smoke bombs was probably excessive, but once Kaito was on the correct roof, he removed the batteries from all of the police radios so Nakamori wouldn't be alerted to the presence of a third Kid (as amusing as his reaction would be). Then he held on his gas mask and threw pods filled with sleeping gas. He darted to the door in the confusion. The lock was child's play.
Halfway down the set of stairs from the roof, Kaito debated whether to target the fake Kid or the gem first. If he went for the copy-kaitou, there was a chance the task force would regroup and make it impossible for Kaito to get tonight's second jewel, thus ruining the heist and causing him to fail Hakuba's challenge. If he went for the jewel, the copy-kaitou could surprise Kaito during his escape and increase the chances of Kid being caught.
Another factor came to mind that made his hands shake: if the copy-kaitou were to get the jewel first, they would get Hakuba's note too. That was dangerous for both Kid's sake and Hakuba's sake. Kaito imagined possible scenarios that could follow if that happened, and he wanted to throw up. The thief could leave the note with the police. They could attempt to blackmail Kid or Hakuba, or both. They could publish it and bring the dark organization down on Hakuba if Snake thought the detective was meeting with Kid about Pandora. So many things could go wrong.
The jewel was the first priority, then. Kaito sent a brief apology up to his father for not making Kid's name the most important, but he thought his dad would understand.
Now on the correct floor but on the wrong end of the enormous building, Kaito abandoned the stairwell and glided down the dark hall. Ah, on this half of the building he'd set up a couple sleeping-gas traps. Gas mask back on, then. Peeking into one room, he saw a pair of officers resting peacefully on the carpeted floor, pink gas already dispersed. One of them had handcuffs attached to his belt, just begging to be nicked. Kaito unhooked the cuffs, intending to return them to Nakamori tonight (while they were still in use on the pesky copy-kaitou). "Sorry about that," Kaito murmured as he shut the door, tipped his hat–
And ran straight into a figure in white. Kaito jumped back, on the defensive, as the other person stumbled back too. Kaito hadn't even heard the stranger coming. "Oh." he said as he got a look at the fake Kid. The costume was higher-end for an amateur, better than most of the cosplays he saw, but not the best imitation. The body type - wide hips, slim legs, and, uh, the chest area - suggested that this was a woman.
The copy-kaitou tipped their top hat back. "Oh yourself. What are you doing here?" The voice was female, which confirmed his quick guess, though he wasn't completely ruling out the possibility of a man either. Kaito could change his voice and pass as a woman easily, and it wasn't impossible to think that someone else could do the same.
"This happens to be my heist," Kaito replied reasonably. "I even sent a note saying that I'd be coming."
"But I heard you were at the East Tokyo Museum before and it's not even 9:30 now."
Kaito smiled briefly. "I like to show off sometimes, make things quick. What are you doing here?" Before she could answer, he continued, "If you're a fan, get out of costume right now and I'm sure you can smooth over the confusion with Nakamori-keibu. He knows that fans attend heists whether the police want them there or not. If you're another thief," and here some irritation began to slip into his tone, "also get out of my uniform right now. I don't need or want a partner."
"What the hell, Kid?" She planted her hands on her hips, mildly annoyed but not angry yet. "We're both thieves. What's the problem here? I'm here to steal something, you're here to steal something. Do you not like other people wearing white?"
"That's right," Kaito replied, taking a few steps closer until they were practically nose to nose. "It's none of my business if you gallivant about and take things at night for money or thrills. When you don my costume and take on my name, though, then you make it my business."
"It's just a name. I could send in a heist note and wear a monocle and top hat to steal stuff if I wanted to."
Kid's crocodile grin appeared, but to her credit, she didn't flinch. "Not if you don't want to become the center of my attention, you wouldn't. You know my reputation. I steal art from the highest security facilities on a regular basis. Do you think that I couldn't figure out exactly who you are and make your life utterly miserable?" He paused for a long moment to let that sink in. "I don't want to do that because it's rude and it's more trouble than I'd like to go to, but I could. Alternatively, we can resolve this peacefully and I can point you in the direction of other trustworthy thieves who would love a young partner such as yourself. My condition is that you henceforth refrain from pretending to be me."
She looked genuinely surprised and dropped the affected attitude. "Thanks, but I'm not looking for a partner either," she replied.
"Will you cease posing as me?"
"No. Sorry, but no. I'm a huge fan of yours as well as being a thief, but I can't. The chaos that your heists generate is the perfect environment, though I'm discovering that the hectic police presence is as much a disadvantage as it is a benefit." She chuckled.
"I'm sorry it had to come to this, dear." Before Kaito could make a move, though, she did the smart thing and started to run back the way she'd come. Kaito was a breath behind her, following her into a circular space that split off into half a dozen hallways going in every direction. A dramatically posed marble figure stood in the center of the room. The woman was fast, but Kaito was motivated and caught up in a heartbeat. He clasped her wrists and twisted them behind her back.
"Hey!" Kaito clicked the cuffs around her wrists. "Let me go!" She struggled violently with the handcuffs, leaving marks that would bleed if she kept it up. Kaito's eyebrows lifted slightly: it was clear from her reaction that she'd never been cuffed before. Still cutting her teeth on a new profession, maybe? Kaito hadn't been like this when he started because of his extensive history with handcuffs and other stage magic props. The copy-kaitou may have been a thief, but she was no magician.
"Now, what to do with you? I can't very well drag you around like this, since I've got a heist to finish." She lifted a leg to kick him but he casually grabbed her ankle, which forced her to scramble for balance on one foot. He looked up at the statue. "Ah! That gives me an idea." With the hand not holding her ankle, Kaito dipped into his pockets and withdrew a roll of duct tape. He never left for a heist without duct tape. He tugged on her and upset her balance, lowering her to the floor face-down without injury. Kaito quickly bound her ankles with the tape. She was still struggling but she'd wisely stopped shouting, still looking to escape before anyone from the task force showed up here.
In a stroke of genius, Kaito took out the bottle of ink that he'd been planning to dump on an unsuspecting task force officer and poured some on her hands. He'd also been planning to leave a teasing note for Nakamori in the spot where the Vermillion Bird ruby usually sat, but instead he pressed the back of the paper to her right thumb, then the left one, and then each of her index fingers in turn. He blew on the paper until the ink dried, pleased with how the fingerprints had turned out despite her squirming, and slid the note back into his jacket.
Kaito carried her over to the statue and set her upright with her back to the marble. The duct tape screeched ominously as Kaito pulled more loose from the roll. Starting at her stomach, he ran the tape around both her and the statue a few dozen times, ignoring her cries of "I am a fan, Kid", "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right?", and "C'mon, I don't want to get caught!"
"My apologies," Kaito offered when he was done. "You can probably still get off the hook with the task force if you say you're a fan, not a thief, and that I tied you up before you could explain it to me. Say you're very sorry about the confusion before and that you didn't mean to make the task force mistake you for me. As a fan, you just wanted to see me. I wouldn't pretend to be me again if I were you, though. They're not going to buy that excuse a second time, and now I have your fingerprints."
"I won't forget this," she declared with a sullen pout.
"I should hope not," Kaito smiled. "It's not everyday one gets to meet their idol." He knew that wasn't what she meant, but he tipped his hat to her and swept away towards the center of the current fuss, the Vermillion Bird.
xxxxxxXXXxxxxxx
SAGURU
Saguru sighed exasperatedly as he left the heist scene. This was going to be the first and last time he ever challenged Kid to perform two heists on the same night and he prayed that Kid wouldn't ever attempt to do so again (at least while he was still in the country). The kaitou had just managed to snatch the Vermillion Bird a quarter of an hour before 10 o'clock and made his escape with five minutes to spare, completing his challenge successfully. During the initial clean up of the chaotic heist, however, the Task Force had to deal with a copycat Kid that the original appeared to have apprehend.
The young woman was embarrassed and looked very scared when Nakamori went into a full on rant, telling her off as he did with all of the Kid fans that had managed to sneak into a heist site. Suitably subdued, the girl was issued a stern warning and was allowed to leave. She practically flew out the gallery's doors to escape from the irate inspector. Normally Saguru felt just a tiny bit sorry for the young woman and the occasional young man who landed themselves in this kind of position, but Saguru's eyes had spotted the traces of ink on the girl's fingers as she left.
Kid had printed her. That fact alone put Saguru on edge even though the heists were well over and done with. Something about that girl wasn't right. She was obviously not an accomplice like Saguru had initially thought in spite of the fact that Kid had said he'd perform his heists without assistance. Another indicator was the fact that Kid wouldn't have restrained her the way he had if she was an accomplice. There was almost an... excessive feeling to it. The fake Kid had been handcuffed as well as duct-taped. She'd hardly been able to move when the Task Force had discovered her and there had definitely been fear in her gaze. Now that Saguru had time to think about it, it wasn't the embarrassed fear that most civilians expressed when they found themselves apprehended by the police. No, it was much more than that. There was more to the fan girl than met the casual observer's eye. Just what that was, exactly, Saguru wasn't sure. He would have to ask Kid about her at their meeting.
Speaking of the meeting, he was running a bit behind schedule. Dealing with that girl Kid imposter had delayed him in slipping away and out of clean up duty. Saguru was grateful that he'd picked a spot relatively nearby and could only hope that Kid was a smidge stumped at solving the clue in his note. He'd made it especially hard as revenge for making him race around the city on his second day of the scavenger hunt with the paranoid feeling that he was being watched the entire time. He'd managed to spot two cameras when trying to find the dragon and sheep zodiac animals, but hadn't been able to find any at the other four sites. It still bugged him that he didn't know if that was because there weren't any cameras to be found at those sites or if Kid had hid them especially well and had other means of observing him while on his hunt.
With fifteen minutes left until the appointed meeting time he'd set, Saguru reached the rooftop of the Tokyo Imperial Hotel five miles from the heist sites. His usual seating arrangements were already set up from his visit early in the afternoon and all he had left to do was set out the food he'd stowed away in a cooler waiting under the table on the roof. He quickly set the dishes up as well as the collection of zodiac carvings he'd found on his scavenger hunt.
When he was finished with the set up he sat down and relaxed a bit, checking his pocket watch for the time. 3.48 minutes to spare. Nodding to himself, Saguru clicked his watch shut and closed his eyes, counting down the time left. Kid always showed up right at the appointed time and never made a move until Saguru's attention was off wherever it was that he wished to appear. The moment his internal timer counted down to zero he opened his eyes and there the infuriating thief was, taking a sip of what was undoubtedly hot chocolate from the cup at his place setting.
"Sleeping on the job, Tantei-san?" Kid smirked.
"Not quite," Saguru shrugged. "I'm not on the clock so even if I was about to fall asleep, it wouldn't be on the job."
"If you say so," Kid snickered.
"You had fun, I trust?" Saguru huffed, pouring himself a cup of tea and taking a sip to hide a smile of his own. "Pity that your accomplice seems to have given you trouble. You nearly didn't complete your challenge and you got a little sloppy with your get away, even if the task force became preoccupied once they discovered her."
Kid bristled at that. "Accomplice? You think I went back on my word?"
Saguru shrugged. "The challenge I gave you certainly was a daunting one. I can't say I blame you for needing help to pull it off."
Kid narrowed his eyes and looked very much like one of his birds with their feathers ruffled in irritation. Saguru couldn't contain a chuckle, shaking his head. It was certainly something to see the usually unflappable Kid looking so disgruntled. At Kid's sudden quirk of an eyebrow, Saguru laughed.
"Relax. I said that in jest, Kid. I know very well that she was not your accomplice. The fact that you bound her the way you did and left her for the police to deal with was proof enough."
Kid leveled an unamused and unimpressed look at him, but Saguru merely smiled back and took a sip of his tea.
"Games aside, Kid, shall we move on to the business at hand? You've won your challenge, and as you can see," Saguru gestured to the collection of the chinese zodiac carvings, "I have completed mine. As an apology of sorts for my poor humor, you may ask your question first."
"I'm afraid I don't have a good question prepared. Between planning two heists, your scavenger hunt, and managing my civilian life, I've kept pretty busy since last we met." Kid folded his hands together and leaned back in his chair with a thoughtful air, thinking for three minutes and 24.5 seconds. "Alright. I have a hypothetical scenario for you. A mental exercise, if you will. I'm curious as to what you would do. If there was a crime ring who had influence within the police – don't get offended, this is just a hypothetical puzzle – how would you solve a murder committed by them? How would you bring them to justice, I mean? I want to know how you'd operate with limitations."
Well that was an odd thing to ask, but unfortunately the scenario Kid asked about was not unrealistic. Far from it. He knew that there were corrupted officials in the judicial system and that not every cop was good. He'd dealt with a few bad officers back in Europe as a matter of fact.
Saguru pondered the scenario Kid posed to him and stared into his tea, organizing his thoughts before answering.
"What you posed in your scenario is more common that anyone in law enforcement would like to admit," Saguru said, his mouth forming a grim slash. "Most organized crime rings such as drug cartels, mafias, and gangs tend to have an inside man or woman in law enforcement or at least someone who knows the right officer or someone who consults with the police and are able to get the necessary information their organization needs to continue conducting business under the radar.
"As for how I would solve a murder committed by such an organization… I would treat the initial case of the murder as I would any other, but one of the additional steps would be to find out who the dirty cop is, if I am aware that there is one. Unfortunately it's hard to answer your question further without more specifics. How I would proceed afterwards all depends on who the dirty cop is; what rank they hold and their reason for associating with the crime ring. Then there is the possibility that they are not the only dirty cop working for the organization and it becomes a question of how widespread the corruption is.
"In the worst case scenario – and by worst I mean that there are a great number of dirty or coerced cops within the police department of various ranks… I would have to reevaluate the case, maybe even the entire murder. Rerun and double check every forensics test, the autopsy, witness statements, the works. I would trust few to no officers in that department on the off chance those who are corrupt catch on to the fact that I am on to them. But no one can do anything alone. I can gather all the intelligence and all the evidence I need, but one person can't take down an army. I would need to outsource help from either other police departments or another organization on the whole such as MI6."
"...You sound as if you've had to do this before," Kid mused.
"Once," Saguru admitted, "It was my first big case and it happened about a year before I came to Japan. I was fifteen. It turned out that at least a third of the officers I worked with in the Yard were working one way or another for a local drug cartel. Most of the officers were of the lower to middle class, some fresh out of college with student loans to pay and others with families they were struggling to support and various bills to pay. Crime rings like that seek out and find officers like them. Those they can exploit. One officer in particular was a single father with a very sick daughter. She had leukemia and he was struggling to find the money to pay for her treatments. The drug cartel promised to cover her bills if he looked the other way and let some of their dealers run their business during his patrol shift."
"How'd you handle it?" Kid asked.
"I managed to get the officer I just told you about to flip on the cartel," Saguru frowned. "It was through him that I learned the extent of the corruption within the department. I happen to have some colleagues that work in or with other government organizations, so once I realized what I was dealing with, I called an acquaintance of mine that works for the British government and she made arrangements for me to meet with some agents from MI6. Together we managed to root out the corrupt officers from the innocent and bring the cartel down. By some miracle the press didn't manage to learn of the whole story and only reported on the take down of the cartel. That's MI6 for you though, I suppose."
"What happened to the officer with the sick daughter?" Kid asked.
"For his confession and cooperation he got a reduced sentence and is spending his second of five years in prison, but his case is up for review and he has a chance at parole coming up in March," Saguru smiled. "His daughter on the other hand is well and living in the country with her grandparents, waiting for her dad to come home. If that cartel did anything good, it was provide her with the money for the treatments she needed to become well again."
Kid nodded, smiling a bit as well.
Taking that as a sign that he'd sufficiently answered Kid's question, Saguru posed his own.
"Alright, my turn for a question. What is it about stealing that motivates you to keep doing it?" he asked.
Kid's razor smile appeared. "I haven't found what I want yet, and what I want is worth the trouble. Ask a different question."
Hakuba mentally shrugged. He hadn't really expected Kid to answer that rather straightforward question, but was happy that Kid had at least given him an answer – even if it was one that didn't provide him with any new information – instead of just telling him the usual line, "You're the detective here, figure it out." That and the fact that he was allowing Saguru to ask a different question was a sign that these meetings were going somewhere and that he was making some progress in his attempt to learn more about the thief.
"Alright then," he said, moving on to a backup question he'd prepared in advance, "what aspects of your heists do you enjoy the most ?"
"Ah," Kid grinned, looking delighted by the question. "The adrenaline of heist night is like nothing else in the world, but I'd say that puzzling out which magic tricks to use for a particular target and venue is always an adventure too. It's tied."
"Are you a professional magician outside of your heists, then?"
"That's not something I'm prepared to answer, but thanks for playing," Kid answered with a wink. Hakuba blinked as his mind caught up. The question had just slipped out, like he'd forgotten he was talking to a criminal who was going to be cagey about his real life. With good reason.
"Sorry."
Kid shook off the apology with a grin. "Can't take the curiosity out of a detective. Now, about this next challenge…"
xxxxxxXXXxxxxxx
MG: Apologies for the long wait between chapters again! But now we have someone new and interesting on the scene: a copy-kaitou (*cue dramatic music*). Perhaps she'll appear again to make trouble for Kaito...
SR: Ugh! This should have been out back in December (obviously, because this takes place before the winter holidays)! Sorry guys. :( Blame me for the hold up. Reality can be a real drag and was getting in the way. I love that that we're FINALLY moving into the romance portion of this fic though, and that both our boys are in denial! May the shenanigans (though there have already been many) begin! I also look forward to seeing what becomes of our lovely copy-kaitou. I know we have ideas, but it'll be fun to develop her character as she pops up again. :)
MG: Yeah, working on her will be interesting! Also, the long wait between chapters was partly my fault too.
SR: Yeah... Lets all hope the next chapter won't take as long! Thanks for reading, we hope the extra length of this one makes up for the slow update, and we'd be really happy and grateful if you'd leave us a review! :)