Black Phantom

Chapter 7:

Mai laid a caring hand onto the forehead of her superior officer's forehead, not expecting him to flinch and jerk away like she was the carrier of an infectious disease.

"What are you doing?" he barked annoyedly.

The female officer blinked in surprise.

"You're looking ill this morning so I thought that I would check your temperature. You were off sick the other day so you should be more careful with your health," she explained and stepped away from him as she seemed to be particularly sensitive.

"I'm fine, Mai. There is no need to concern yourself. In any case the heist is tonight so I have to be present," he replied. "Mai, tea and it had better taste like actual tea."

She rolled her eyes in exasperation but acquiesced to his request nevertheless. As soon as she had left the office Lin stopped typing.

"Noll, are you really planning on attending the heist tonight as Kazuya Shibuya? That woman, Yoshiyaki seems to be a high ranking member judging by the trees in her garden and is very likely to recognise your face," he reminded his charge who had been acting strangely all morning.

He had waited up all night for Noll to return as the hang glider was still an experiment and he was concerned that something would go wrong and injure him. The Inspector had finally landed back on the roof of their shared apartment at an ungodly hour in the morning, looking deep in thought and worried. Apparently nothing had gone wrong with the hang glider, it was just that he was worried about the Sakurazukamori and his brother which seemed to be understandable considering the situation he was in.

However judging by his charge's reaction to Taniyama's touch he was suspecting something else, along more romantic lines. Lin was all for Oliver Davis showing an interest in love as he had always been introverted and a little too emotionless and Mai Taniyama was a perfectly pleasant girl and reminiscent of Gene, but why did it have to happen now? The last thing they needed was for Noll to make a wrong move and end up in the clutches of the Sakurazukamori because he was distracted by his feelings for Mai Taniyama.

Or for Taniyama to deduce that the head of the task force was Kuro Kaitou.

There was a knock at the door and Lin opened it to see the ponytailed Police officer and his red headed partner who was clearly eyeing him up. Lin shuddered.

"Yoohoo! We're here to see Naru-chan," the monk said and made his way over to Inspector Shibuya's desk.

Naru gave him a cold look for the use of the nickname that Mai had given him. "Actually, I do have a request for you, Takigawa-san."

"I was going to exorcise the Inugami anyway..."

"It's not that, I need something else. Only you can do it."

10 hours later:

"So you are Inspector Shibuya...?" Yoshiyaki-san said doubtfully, scanning him up and down. "Are male Police officers allowed to have ponytails now?"

"Inspector Shibuya" fixed her a ferocious stare for the insult. He would now understand why his niece could not stand the woman.

Yoshiyaki switched her attention to Ayako. "Be careful with your hair roots and I would recommend giving up on the fake nails. With a ponytailed lout as the head of the task force it is no wonder that Kuro Kaitou has not been caught."

Bou-san shot Ayako, who was bristling with anger, a sharp look to signal that she definitely had to keep quiet, no matter the insult. He had no idea why he was impersonating Kazuya Shibuya, but the woman was certainly creepy and powerful enough to create an Inugami curse. In addition Mai had informed him that there were several blooming cherry blossom trees in the garden.

Could it be the Sakurazukamori...?

Once Yoshiyaki had retired to the garden and the rest of the task force were setting up cameras, Bou-san and Ayako entered the room that Mai had pointed out which seemed to be a file room as all the bookshelves were filled with folders and several filing cabinets were lined up against one wall.

"Can you sense it?" his girlfriend whispered.

He nodded and knelt down to get a closer look at the tatami mats on the floor.

"Inugami have to buried in earth so one of these tatami must lift up and have earth underneath," he muttered as he began prying them up one by one.

Ayako reluctantly followed his example. Preventing an Inugami curse took precedence over the condition of her fake nails.

"This Inugami shouldn't be too hard to exorcise as Inugami are normally buried in places where lots of people will walk over it, like a shrine whereas this isn't exactly public and the air in here is quite stale, indicating that this room is not regularly used," Ayako informed her partner.

"That is a good point," the monk conceded and lifted up another tatami to reveal soil instead of concrete. "I think I've found it. Did you bring the shovel?"

A trowel was dropped into his hand.

"Contrary to what you say, my handbag is not large enough to fit a shovel."

"I hope it will fit a dog's head..."

A few digs later an ear was visible and Bou-san pulled out the dog's head and waved it at his girlfriend who winced and held out a carrier bag for him to drop it into.

"This is disgusting, why do I have to carry it around in my handbag? I will have to throw this one away."

"In return for your veritable sacrifice I will exorcise this room," the monk grinned.

Whilst the exorcism was occurring Mai was setting up cameras with another Police officer who was normally her superior officer and had blue eyes and perfect vision.

"Naru, why are you wearing coloured contact lenses?" she questioned. "And the glasses? I quite like your blue eyes."

Naru blinked in surprise at the sudden compliment before his brain processed her earlier questions.

"Because I'm afraid that Yoshiyaki-san will fall in love with me due to my high rank in the Police force as well as my good looks and to be quite frank, I don't want to go anywhere near her."

Mai nodded vaguely. In reality she had no idea as to why Naru had ordered Bou-san to impersonate him and why he was masquerading as a normal officer with a change in eye colour and his hair hidden in his hat.

She certainly didn't believe his excuse. As narcissistic as he was, Kazuya Shibuya had never struck her as the type of person to let that get in the way of his Police work. There had to be something else... but she didn't know enough about him yet to guess.

"Well, now that you are just a plain Police officer and not an Inspector, you can't order me to make your tea," she smirked.

"Just wait until tomorrow," he answered easily and picked up a camera from the pile. "You can make up for the tea making time that you have lost today."

Mai face palmed, she might have gotten away with it if she hadn't been concerned with crowing over the narcissist. She vowed not to talk too much next time. From her experience she knew that criminals always gave themselves way by talking too much. Maybe she could get Kuro Kaitou talking next time she saw him...

Her memories of the two times that she had met him were vague. The first time she had forgotten to breathe and had ended up passing out and waking up in handcuffs and a blindfold. The second time, when she had given him a hug he had thrown something like a flash bomb and she had lost consciousness.

If he had felt obligated to cheer her up by taking her flying around Tokyo, then she might be able to get some hints about his true identity and vendetta.

"Mai, stop daydreaming and get moving. These cameras aren't going to set themselves up," a cold voice brought her back to reality.

"You can't order me around," Mai huffed as she stomped off with Naru following behind her.

"Naru, why do some of the cameras not work and fail to record the heist?"

As she always had little to do at the task force office she had reviewed the video footage from all the previous 13 heists and had found a common factor. All the cameras had been working perfectly until the stated time of Kuro Kaitou's heist and then some cameras fizzled out and made it impossible to work out how Kuro Kaitou entered or even see his face.

"Because they explode, but we only find this out when we clear up after a heist so there is not a lot that can be done," he answered shortly, fully aware that the camera he held in his hands contained an explosive and a timer.

"Shouldn't we start checking all the cameras before the heist then?" she suggested thoughtfully.

The narcissist flinched. "No...Lin has already checked. They may short out because Kuro Kaitou can hack into our system and overwork them so they explode," he said, retreating onto safer ground, hoping that Mai would accept it and not notice his explanation was completely false. She was getting increasingly harder to fool.

"Shouldn't we be investigating that?"

"No. Computer hacking is not our division. Place the camera that you are carrying here. Then pick up camera 030 and place it a few metres down the hallway at an angle of 130°. After that-"

"Don't overstress my brain!"


The Phantom Thief changed into his Kuro Kaitou costume which he had been wearing under his uniform and took out all of the smoke bombs that he had been hiding in his pockets. He was not going to take any chances with the Sakurazukamori who may have killed his brother.

He stole his way through the darkness provided by an explosive incurred blackout with some trepidation despite the expulsion on the Inugami curse which would have been his downfall. He stepped out into the garden and wove his way through the bushes using the meagre light provided by the stars in the night sky and the street lights outside the house.

A sharp voice stopped him in his tracks and he froze in fear at their words.

"Dr. Oliver Davis, I presume?"


Next chapter: an explanation of the fate of Eugene Davis