Black Phantom:

Chapter 10:

The phone rang as Naru was brushing his teeth and he rushed out of the bathroom to see Lin squinting at the number which was unfamiliar to the narcissist. Having a phone call on the landline was an unusual occurrence as his parents always called him on his mobile phone and the landlord was the only person that normally called, but he called at a decent time to discuss the rent, not at 11 o'clock at night.

He made a quick decision and picked up the phone. The person on the phone spoke before he even had a chance to ask who it was.

"Naru? It's important, have you seen or heard from Mai?" a shrill female voice demanded.

The voice was familiar to Naru. "Matsuzaki-san?"

"Yes. Do you know where Mai is?"

Naru blinked in surprise. "Is she missing? I thought she was seeing Yasuhara-san tonight."

"She never made it home, Yasuhara called us and her mobile phone isn't available."

Lin shot him a questioning glance to ask what was going on.

"Mai is missing," Naru hissed and returned to his conversation with the redhead.

"Matsuzaki-san, judging by the lateness of your call, I assume that I am your last resort and you have already exhausted every other possibility. Am I right?"

"Yes, we have called all of her friends and they haven't seen her in a while. Yasuhara says that Mai told him not to bring any alcohol or food when he came over as she would be going shopping on her way home and we checked at the supermarket- no one fitting her description has been seen."

"So you know approximately where she went missing. Can you tell me her route home?"

Once he had written it down on a post it note, he put the phone down.

"Mai mentioned that she had a dream about cherry blossoms, she is a latent psychic and now she had mysteriously disappeared," he informed Lin. "Sakurazukamori..."

The omnouji nodded. "It has to be. That woman, Yoshiyaki, questioned Mai about her relationship with Kuro Kaitou and she reacted strangely, prompting me to question you, but it is likely to have spurred her disappearance.

Naru nodded and put on his coat and gloves.

"Noll, where are you going?" Lin enquired. "If you start looking for her now they will know that you are someone close to her. After all, Kuro Kaitou has not yet received any notification."

Naru paused. "That is right, I was not thinking clearly. What should we do?"

Lin sighed. "Noll, once Taniyama-san has been rescued, you and I are going to have a long talk about your indiscretion.

"Indiscretion sounds like I did something against the law," the Inspector muttered under his breath. "Lin, go out and meet Matsuzaki-san at this location," he passed over the post it note. "Ask her if she has anything of Mai's that I can borrow."

The omnouji glanced at the location before placing the post it note in his pocket and pulling on his coat.

"Psychometry?"

His charge nodded. "It's a long shot as it does not work for Gene, but I have to try."

After giving the narcissist an order to stay where he was and not to do anything stupid, Lin left the apartment, leaving Naru alone to berate himself.

Just this very morning the idea that the Sakurazukamori may be interested in Mai had passed his mind, but he had rejected it because he hadn't wanted to consider that she may be in danger because of him. Lin had been right when he had instructed him to be careful with Mai, but Naru always found himself drawn to her and he hadn't appreciated the risks for her of associating with him.

What would Gene have done if the situation was reversed? His twin had always been very outgoing with girls so he would have had enough experience in that area not to get attached to someone whilst he was on the tail of a dangerous clan of assassins.

But this was a moot point. The kidnapping had occurred and wondering what someone else would have done in his shoes was obviously not going to help Mai, wherever she was. Despite his intelligence and abilities he could not turn back time. It was the present that mattered now and he needed to track down Mai.

This left him feeling even more confused instead of having a clearer mind. Why did he care so much? Naturally he would care as it was likely that she was going to be used as bait to lure him into the Sakurazukamori, but he didn't think that the knowledge that she was in danger would feel like this. He found that he was more concerned about her than Gene which was worrying as his twin was the only reason he had come to Japan and created his criminal alter ego.

It was clearly because she made good red tea which was a rarity in Japan, he decided in satisfaction. There was nothing romantic in it at all.

Half an hour later Lin returned with a grim expression on his face and held out a small key which looked like house key.

"It's definitely kidnapping. This key was identified as belonging to Taniyama-san by Matsuzaki-san. Apparently she always carried it around as a lucky charm and was careful not to lose it. I found it on the pavement."

"So she dropped it whilst she was being kidnapped to give us a trail to follow..."

"Her psychic senses probably suggested that, possibly recalled about the practise of Psychometry, I did see her reading a book about it," Lin noted thoughtfully. "Despite initial impressions, she is actually quite astute."

Naru took the key from the Omnouji's hand and clenched it tight in his fist before closing his eyes and concentrating. This had to work; he had to find Mau. He sensed something and he grabbed hold of it in his mind.

He was walking down a bustling street and based on a clock tower in the distance, this was Mai's walk home straight after leaving work. As Mai, he crossed a road and then he stilled and began to look around carefully, as it trying to sense something. As he spun around he saw all the people and cars around him fade into nothingness which was obviously a warning sign.

Suddenly he sprinted down the street with his hair whipping him in the face and his hand snaking into his coat pocket to grab a key and drop it on the ground. Mai had clearly sensed danger and had decided on flight which was a wise decision in the case, but evidently it hadn't saved her.

The answer came a few seconds later when he felt a sharp jab in the back on his neck and he vaguely heard a male voice say:

"I'm behind you, Mai-chan."

Then the vision faded to black and he was returned to the present where Lin was staring at him in concern.

"Noll?"

"Something is blocking me and I can't see anything further than her kidnapping. It's like how it is with Gene," the scientist answered exhaustedly. "It was definitely the Sakurazukamori."

"Did the vision turn green?"

Naru shook his head and Lin sighed in relief.

"But I cannot trace her at all. We are in the same position as we are with Gene. Have I spent a whole year here for nothing?"

He sat down in an armchair heavily, feeling the need for some tea, but it wasn't right unless it was made by his bubbly assistant which was a very sobering thought. He really did need to find Mai before it was too late.


"Mai...Mai...Mai..." a voice called.

Blearily and with great effort Mai opened her eyes and blinked several times before glancing around. She wasn't in a location that she recognised; she had never been anywhere that was completely black and only illuminated by soft glowing lights that resembled fireflies.

"Mai."

Mai stood up and turned to see a man clad in black standing behind her. The man had sparkling blue eyes and pale skin and an uncanny resemblance, or rather, looked exactly like her boss. In face of the facts Mai took it to be that he was Kazuya Shibuya.

"Naru, what are you doing here? And where are we?" she asked, glancing around.

"On the astral plane. Listen Mai, you cannot leave your abilities as they are, it's too dangerous," he replied, ignoring her questions.

"If you say so... More importantly, where are we? Is this a dream?"

He smiled and Mai blinked in surprise. She had never seen him smile like that before, only plastic fake smiles. She blushed, Naru really did have a nice smile.

"You could say that this is a dream, but equally it is not."

Mai rolled her eyes at the explanation which didn't explain anything at all so she reached out to pinch herself in the arm, but a pale hand shot out to stop her.

"You can't leave yet, it's too dangerous for you to be in the real world. You have to stay here with me," he said and smiled again, eliciting another blush from Mai.

"Why on earth are you all using my office as a meeting place? It is not a café," Naru griped at the people who had assembled around one of the tables in the task force office.

"Jou-chan is part of your task force, therefore she is your concern," Bou-san retorted. "I could have sworn that you have an obsession over her tea- it's too your advantage to find her."

Naru twitched. Naturally he had been having some cravings for her tea since the night before, but he was not going to admit it.

"Don't you have some traffic to patrol, Yasuhara-san?" he switched his attention to the spectacled traffic warden.

Yasuhara grinned. "I called in sick today."

"Misuse of the system," Naru muttered, conveniently forgetting that he had done the same to avoid meeting Yoshiyaki.

"Oh, you offend me," Yasuhara pouted dramatically. "Finding Mai-chan is more important that my job at the moment. Plus, I get to spend some quality time with you, Naru-chan," he pointed at Naru and winked.

The narcissist shuddered. Was he really going to have a male version of Masako Hara chasing after him? At least Yasuhara couldn't blackmail him like she had.

"I knew you were after Naru!" Ayako enthused. "If I wasn't dating Houshou, I might have a go too..."

Lin, who was typing on his laptop in the corner, let a small smile slip at the sight of his charge's discomfort.

"Sorry, I prefer looking at my own face," Naru answered and turned away. "In any case, I am not "Naru-chan", I am Inspector Shibuya."

"So only Jou-chan is allowed to call you "Naru?" the monk questioned shrewdly.

Naru realised that he usually disliked people calling him the Japanese pronunciation of his nickname, but he didn't mind Mai using it. His brain filed it away for later.

"Putting that aside, now that over 12 hours has passed and she still has not contacted anyone, we can infer that she has definitely been kidnapped. It's that, or she is dead and we will have to wait for the body to turn up."

For a moment no one said a word in lieu of the truth. Then Bou-san cleared his throat awkwardly.

"We should try to work out why she was targeted."

"It wasn't for money," Ayako began. "Although she has a good wage, no one is going to kidnap her and expect the people close to her to get hold of a large amount of money."

"The only significant thing that she has done in the past 3 months is join the Kuro Kaitou task force so it may be connected to that," Yasuhara commented pensively."Wasn't there a problem with a curse at the most recent heist?"

Naru had a feeling that they were going to hit on the truth if they continued with that reasoning. For the sake of efficiency he should probably tell them that she had been kidnapped by the Sakurazukamori because of her relationship with Kuro Kaitou, but he couldn't as it would mean that he would be revealing too much about himself.

"Yes, there was," the monk answered. "And there were some cherry blossom trees in the garden that were blooming..."

He received a jab in the arm from his girlfriend. "Don't bring all of your conspiracy theories into this. Just because there are cherry blossom trees, it does not mean that the Sakurazukamori, or whatever they are called, are involved."

"Hey! They do exist. How do you explain Masako Hara's death?" the ponytailed monk countered triumphantly.

Naru cleared his throat. "This petty argument is not getting us anywhere. Lin and I have a suggestion of why she was targeted and it is connected to the task force."

"Come to think of it, Mai-chan did say that she wanted to talk to me about something important," Yasuhara recalled suddenly. "I took it to mean that it was a romantic problem as that's what all girls talk to their gay best friend about. I thought she might be warning me off Inspector Shibuya, but maybe it was something else."

The scientist shuddered.

"Yasuhara, stop freaking out Inspector Shibuya with your flirting. He didn't even know that you were aiming for him until now," Ayako reprimanded. "We need to find Mai now, you can flirt afterwards."

Naru gave her a nod in return for her getting Yasuhara off his case.

"The owner of the house where the most recent heist took place asked Mai about her relationship with me and she did not react at all, but when asked about Kuro Kaitou, there was a reaction. The woman may have taken it to mean that she was romantically involved with the phantom thief and she may have been kidnapped to lure Kuro Kaitou out."

"That sounds very plausible," Bou-san agreed.

"So Mai-chan has been having moonlight trysts with a wanted thief..." Yasuhara whistled. "I bet she was going to rub it in my face that I haven't had any moonlight trysts with handsome criminals."

This caused Naru to avert his eyes. Moonlight trysts? He had kissed her and she had fainted, no tryst there, but it had been under the light of the moon...

"It's the best theory we have so far," Ayako said. "But we need to know more about Kuro Kaitou."

Naru just knew what she was going to say next.

"You've been chasing him for a year, what have you found out?"

He walked over to his desk to pick up a file.

"There is not much to say. Kuro Kaitou is male and fairly young. He seems to only pick on wealthy people and is very careful not to leave behind evidence," Naru informed them adroitly.

The group in front of him were silent momentarily as they considered his words.

"Is it true that nothing is stolen?" Yasuhara enquired. "Or is it that the owners claimed that nothing was stolen?"

As an answer Naru placed a stack of photos on the table. The photos depicted every single room of every heist location before and after the heist and most were unchanged.

Bou-san picked up half the pile and flipped through them.

"The only rooms that have disturbed are studies or file rooms. That means that he isn't interested in valuables, he wants information."

"All the owners reported that absolutely was taken, but if this information was sensitive, they would not have told the Police," Ayako theorised. "Maybe Kuro Kaitou isn't a criminal, the people he is stealing from are..."

Upon hearing this Naru and Lin knew that they had underestimated the intelligence of the monk and priestess. It was a good thing that they weren't actual members of the task force, otherwise Kuro Kaitou would have been arrested a long time ago.

"He may also be a Police officer, or at least close to someone who works for the Police," the monk suggested suddenly. "He knows how not to leave behind decisive evidence and he seems to know how to avoid the task force and cameras. Naru-bou, Mai said that you make a plan of where each officer and camera will be placed."

Again, Naru knew what he was going to say next.

"He must be a member of the task force or close to one of them, or he belongs in a Kaitou manga and kidnaps someone in the task force to disguise as them."

From this Naru guessed that the monk was also a fan of the manga series that had inspired the whole affair.

"But how does he get in? He may be in the task force, like Houshou says and simply waits for the lights to go out," Ayako commented.

That was a theory that Naru could definitely vanquish. He withdrew a page from the file and handed it to her.

"Forensic evidence places him clearly outside the house at 2 heists, your theory cannot be right, Matsuzaki-san."

"Hey! It's better than anything that you have come up with and you've been chasing him for over a year!" the irate redhead protested.

"Jou-chan told me that you shot down her PK theory," Bou-san intervened before his girlfriend got too annoyed with the narcissist.

The only PK user in the room stiffened and prayed that this time the monk would not connect the dots, otherwise his cover would certainly be blown. Fortunately he was saved from answering by Ayako.

"Please don't bring your obsession with Oliver Davis into this, she groaned. "At this rate you will be claiming that he is a Police officer and Kuro Kaitou."

Naru retracted his mental statement. The priestess had just dragged him in even further, he could just see the monk's brain adding up all the clues.

As he was watching, the monk turned to Yasuhara and whispered something in his ear and the traffic warden hissed a reply back. Then Bou-san's mouth stretched into a smile and a victorious glint appeared in his eyes.

"You're Dr. Oliver Davis, aren't you?"


The missing member of the task force nodded patiently as dream Naru explained everything from astral projection to going into a trance. She was rewarded by frequent smiles which made her feel content and safe.

Although she had no method to gauge how much time she had spent in this strange place, she knew that it has been a long time. As her guide finished his lecture on how to sink into a dream, she felt her hand fading.

"Naru, I'm fading!" she gasped.

"You're being woken up in the real world," he frowned. "Keep safe and don't mouth off. I'll be waiting here for you."

The latent psychic snapped her eyes open to find a familiar elderly woman leaning over her.

"Hello, Mai-chan."


For who said/hinted that they would like longer chapter can have this chapter which was two joined together.