Part II
Ace, Tie, Vengeance, Blanket.
SPOILERS: Magic Kaito 1412 Episode 1 (The Revived Phantom Thief Kid) or Magic Kaito TV Special: The Revived Phantom Thief
Ace.
He stared over the edge of his cards, straight into his opponent's eyes.
Keen eyes caught and categorised every twitch and tell.
A boy, older now, but still young, remembering his father's teachings.
"When you face the audience, you step onto a battlefield."
His opponent glaring angrily over his cards, meeting his even stare, then flickering down to the red backs of his cards, as if expecting to see through them, frustrated at the lack of emotion.
"You must never be overconfident or underestimate them, but see through their hearts and minds instead."
His opponent is dealt a card.
"Pay full attention to your hands to utilize all your skills, but maintain your smile and elegance all the while..."
A twitch of the lips: a tell.
"And no matter what happens…"
His opponents hand, spread on the table.
"Full house! Take that, Kuroba-kun!"
A Cheshire cat smirk.
"Never forget your poker face."
"Sorry, but…"
He lays down a four-of-a-kind.
"I win."
Eyes and mouth wide open in shock.
"Eeeeeeehh?!"
......
Tie.
Disbelief.
'No way…'
The sight of the pristine white-caped suit, the very same image that had been plastered on every newspaper and website since the Phantom Thief's return, had him freezing in his steps.
'Kaitou Kid…'
His body tense, muscles tight, stomach coiled in a mixture of confusionshockangersadness, mind immediately leaping to the only logical (impossible) and obvious (IMPOSSIBLE) answer.
'No way, no way, no way–'
His mind raced with questions, theories and whenwhyhownoitcan'tnononoNO–
'–Stop. Think.'
The secret room.
The cassette tape.
The eight year lock.
The–
The eight year lock.
Eight years.
Eight years.
Eight years ago was when–
boom
'No.'
screams
'NO.'
He was screaming.
"Stop it, stop it, stopitstopitstopitSTOPIT–!"
He was suffocating– the smoke, the smoke from the fire, the fire–!
(impossible)
'Breathe.'
A choked sob echoed through the vacant room.
"Oyaji…"
(impossible)
The room was quiet.
He heaved a heavy sigh.
Staring resolutely ahead, he reached for the attire in front of him.
He could do this.
He would do this.
He would find out.
He would go out as Kaitou Kid.
He would confront him.
And maybe–
(impossible)
Just maybe…
(impossible)
"Eight years, huh… Let's see what this Kaitou can do,"
(impossible)
And finally knotting the tie and slipping it under the blazer, he stared at his reflection.
"…Ne, Oyaji?"
He swore he could see his father in the mirror.
(impossible)
......
Vengeance.
The feeling ran thick and cold in is his veins at the words, the chill of the night air forgotten.
"What did you say?!"
He couldn't think straight.
"Oyaji was murdered?!"
No, he couldn't think at all.
"By who?! Who killed him?!"
All he knew was that his father was dead (dead dead DEAD) and it wasn't an accident.
He was dead and someone was at fault.
Someone who hadn't paid for it.
Someone was going to pay for it.
'I'm going to find them.'
"Kaito-bocchama…"
'And I'm going to make them pay.'
His clenched jaw ached, he grip on the old man tight as he fought to steady his breathing.
All he could hear was boom and screaming and choking and–
'Breathe.'
"I'll only ask you one more question."
'Breathe.'
"Please answer me honestly."
'Oyaji…'
"Was he… a thief?"
His eyes burned with tears.
"Was Oyaji really… Kaitou Kid?"
A new wave of anger and desperation rolled over him when he didn't answer immediately.
"Answer me, Jii-chan!"
Tightening his grip on his shoulders painfully (grounding) and urgently (pleasepleaseplease), afraid if he let go, he'd never know the truth.
"Answer me, dammit!"
He could hear his own uneven breaths, feel the tremble of the shoulders underneath his gloves.
A shadow fell over the moon, cutting off its brilliant light.
"…Yes."
He could almost feel himself choke.
(impossible)
'But why…?'
He stepped away and stood rigidly, his father's cape weighing heavily on his shoulders as it whipped frantically in the wind.
"I see."
(impossible)
The rest of the world faded into the background as his mind swirled with questions unanswered, body trembling at the ragegriefdesparation and whywhywhy churning in his heart.
He looked up and the world brightened as the cloud passed.
The moon shone down and illuminated it rooftop.
'I'll find them Oyaji.'
The storm of emotions steeling his heart.
'I'll become Kaitou Kid in your place.'
The world was coming back to him now. He could hear the heavy steps of the police force stampeding up the stairs.
He opened his eyes to the cityscape silhouetting the night sky.
'And I will avenge you.'
......
Blanket.
There would be no sleep for him tonight.
Not when he had so much to think about.
'Oyaji…'
And there, alone in the empty house, the young man felt more like a child, wrapped up in the blanket.
So he sat, hunched up on his bed, knees to his chest and arm wrapped securely around them, staring at the very same picture of his father he had stared at for the past eight years, on the wall directly opposite him.
Eyes heavy and vision blurred with unshed tears, he stared longingly at his father's smiling face.
Even under the blanket, he felt cold.
He missed his mother's warm touch, the blanket doing little to make him feel secure again.
It was a poor substitute, he realised, for the warmth of his parents.
He so desperately wanted it to be the arms of his mother, so he could feel safe again and ask her why and how and just finally be there with him like she'd promised.
But she wasn't there.
He tried to imagine himself wrapped in the arms of his father, to feel the joy and wonder of sitting with him as he told stories and made miracles with his magic.
But he was dead.
'No. He was murdered.'
He could still feel the remnant of the adrenaline in his veins, a sea of boiling rage haphazardly concealed under a veil of numbness, slowly shattering under the weight of his newly revived grief.
He was breaking.
And he knew it.
Burying himself further into the insufficient warmth, all he could do was hold onto the pretence of stability, and continue to hope his deathly grasp on the blanket was as strong as his grip on sanity.
NOTES:
Oyaji - an informal way of calling one's father (similar to 'old man' or 'pops', commonly translated to 'dad')
-bocchama - young master
ACE: Imagine the card game at the start was against a classmate, Nakamori-keibu (Inspector) or one of the officers that work with him (I like to think those two had a pseudo-parent relationship because Kaito's dad died at an early age, especially with Chikage gone most of the time, so he would take him to work sometimes and become friends with some of his co-workers)
The lines that Kaito is remembering about 'poker face' -ing are actually from a separate episode.
[see: Magic Kaito 1412 Episode 6 (Black Star) ]
TIE: I chose to use the TV Special portrayal of the secret room with the broken cassette tape instead of the recorded messages on the jukebox because it felt angsty-er that way (also that's how is was in the original manga).
VENGEANCE: The dialogue from the rooftop scene in a mishmash of the dialogue from both versions of the episode.
BLANKET: The blanket scene is set the same night after the Moon's Pupil (or Eye of the Moon) heist, before he talks with Jii-chan or his mother again. (the way that Chikage acts after Kaito says that he knows in both versions I felt was kinda mean)
[see: Magic Kaito 1412 Episode 1 (The Revived Phantom Thief Kid) and Magic Kaito TV Special: Kaitou Kid's Busy Date ]
TBC
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~Rei K.