Kid never – never, never, never, under both any possible and impossible circumstances – wanted it said that he didn't keep his word. At the exact time of his next heist, a parade balloon the size of an elephant in the shape of a grinning unicorn with a monocle covering one eye began to grow up from one of the exhibits, filling up the room and sweeping the Kid Task Force – and, to his delight, Hakuba – into one wall, where they were pinned helplessly by the white, rainbow, and sparkle-colored balloon horse. The horn of the smirking mystical creature snagged the chain of the Silver Sterling Sapphire, and deposited it neatly into his gloved, waiting hand.
"Sorry, that's all for today," he bowed to the cameras waiting outside, and then set off his smoke bombs, sending out a few dummies at once, all in different directions. The fans screamed, and became a frenzied mob.
The Kid Task Force – bless their hard-working hearts! – split into groups after shooting the balloon unicorn down and chased meticulously after each and every one of his flying dummies, forgetting to take into consideration the possibility of Kid, a master of disguise, being amongst them on a free getaway.
As it was, one of the groups chasing after the North-West bound dummy suddenly stopped communications, and the police came to find three unconscious policemen, a neatly parked car, a note from Kid – 'Sorry, not the right jewel again. Regards to the Task Force and Lady Sterling for the bother!' – and the second biggest sapphire in the world, twinkling even in the faint, dim light of faraway stars.
. . .
"I did say I'd be the one with the unicorn," Kid grinned down at Snake while in his hands he casually twirled the Ceremonial Mace of – where was it from again? Oh, yeah, this one country called the Kingdom of Nevash. Odd name, but the people were said to be nice.
Point was, the star sapphire on the top of the symbolic item didn't have Pandora in it. "Not this one, either. Well, I should return this before an entire country decides to be out for my blood. It's bad enough that there's an entire Organization out for my blood. I mean, it's terrible that you all suffer from continuously believing in little fairytales and such, but hey! It's okay! I mean, I still love Santa!"
A bullet bounced off the concrete wall, and he laughed. "Really, a deadly, massive Organization that believes in immortal stones and obviously fake myths. . . Can you blame me for laughing?"
And then he had to leave before things got too dangerous, or before Snake burst a blood vessel. As much as he wanted to see Snake unable to harm anyone – by death or by jail, he wasn't sure he cared too much – that just seemed more like Snake's temper than Kid's actual skill.
At home, he decided to wrap the Ceremonial Mace up nicely – to make sure it didn't get damaged – and then left a note of apology for both the Task Force and the small country the Mace belonged to, explaining that one of the staff on the exhibit room had been trying to steal the Mace of Nevash and sell it, piece by piece, off in the Black Market, and as a Gentleman Thief, the wrecking of such beauty, historical and national importance for a reason so filthy and cheap could not be done under his eyes.
After the apology note became public, the crook (the attempted Mace-stealer, not the guys who killed his father) arrested and the Mace was recovered, the entire country of Nevash not only became a Kid fan, but also announced that he would be given full immunity within their borders.
The man known as Snake ground his teeth but had to hold back from massacring a random crowd in his rage. The elusive boss of a rather trying-to-be elusive organization just rolled that pair of elusive eyes and typed in a few words into the elusive email account.
And not so far away, in one certain, seemingly normal high school, a boy named Kaito Kuroba watched with interest as his childhood friend's blood pressure at least doubled with anger.