Part Three

If one walked into a particular classroom, one would be rather surprised to see one Kuroba Kaito leaning forward on his desk, staring out into space as if about to fall asleep. If one asked why, as Kaito's good friend Aoko did, one would be told that his mother had - after a spectacular trip to the attic that had ended in a twisted foot - uncovered an old scrapbook of his father with lots of pictures that hadn't been seen in years and that the two of them had been up well into the night reminiscing and sharing memories while looking through it. If one actually looked inside Kaito's head, however, one would find a very different picture.

For in Kaito's head, he was positively shaking with excess energy that needed to be expended, flying high on euphoria and excitement, and struggling to keep his perky, upbeat, bouncy feelings buried so deep inside that no one saw anything other than a tired student who'd been up looking at photos of his dearly departed dad. Aoko had smiled softly when he'd mentioned the unearthed photo album (which was true, he had been up until almost three in the morning with his mother, but he was too damn giddy to be really tired at the moment) and Hakuba, with his proper British reserve, had politely backed off.

As for the reason for his extremely high sprits, it was because Kaito had just finished laying everything out for his next heist. And it was the perfect heist for Osaka, one that he had been properly looking for and trying to plan since he'd promised to give the Osaka meitantei Hattori Heiji a proper heist after that bloody incident with the crazed psychologist and tantei-kun. A Mysterious Phantom Thief kept his promises, after all, and word had finally hit him that said tantei-han was properly healed enough to handle the brazen heist that Kaito had planned. (And what fun they were going to have...) He'd had Jii-chan deliver the invite to the tantei-han while Kaito himself had set up the invites for Nakamori and his task force, and for tantei-san - one Hakuba Saguru, classmate.

Kaito had already told his mother he'd be staying in Osaka with a friend for Golden Week and she had nodded and wished him luck. (Sometimes, he wondered just how much his mother knew about his night job that he'd inherited...) All the arrangements had been set up; everything was packed and ready to go. All he had to do was show up on time, and that certainly wouldn't be a problem.

So between now and getting started on his gift-heist, he was in a perpetual state of nervous anticipation. And, of course, he couldn't let anyone know that.

"Ne, Kaito?" Aoko leaned over and asked, just as the lunch break started. "I know you're tired, but Tou-chan wanted me to invite you over this afternoon. He knows what a Kaitou Kid fan you are and he figured a magician's head might help him pound out more of the riddle."

Kaito let some of his excess energy show as he perked up and smiled at Aoko, ignoring the blatant glare Hakuba was sending in their direction and resisting the urge to glance back and stick out his tongue. "You'll actually let me handle a riddle sent by Kaitou Kid! Of course I'll be there!" He leaned forward conspiratorially. "I even promise not to flip your skirt for the remainder of the day."

Aoko directed a scowl at him, no doubt remembering how he had flipped it up not once, not twice, but four times on the way in to school that morning. "I want that in writing."

"No problem!" Kaito proclaimed. He ripped out a piece of notebook paper, scribbled the date and wrote,

I solemnly swear to not flip the skirt of one Nakamori Aoko for the remainder of this day so that, in return, I can look at the latest riddle sent by the magnificent Kaitou Kid.

"Satisfactory?" he asked, showing her the paper. Aoko scowled before grabbing the pen right out of Kaito's hands and crossing out "magnificent" with extreme prejudice.

"Now sign it and give it to me so I can shove it in your face when you try to flip my skirt."

Kaito grinned widely, carefully added his proper signature, and offered it back to Aoko as if it were some sort of holy relic. For good measure, he let out a yawn as he did so.

Aoko offered a satisfied smile as she looked at the paper and Kaito just let the smile wash over him as he basked in its glow. He had always looked at her as his best friend. They'd grown up together and he had never really looked at her as a girl. She was far too tomboyish for that. But earlier that winter, right before that hellish chaos of murder at the Budokan, Kaito had finally looked at Aoko. And really seen her. She wasn't just a girl; she was a gorgeous, spirited young woman. Over the past month or so, after he'd finally shaken off the nightmares of that magic bullet murder, he'd started to dream of Aoko. Or rather, him, Aoko, a blanket under the moonlight, and a lot of soft touches and really pleasant things.

One such dream of her lovely form above him, silhouetted by moonlight that seemed to enhance certain aspects of her, invaded his brain and he squished it down almost on instinct. Once, when he was fifteen, his mother asked him something he couldn't quite remember. But his response had been that he could hardly imagine his life without Aoko in it. Of course, since he'd started noticing her, the role he imagined for her in his future had changed. No longer was she just another pal. He had visions of her, him, and children. Growing old together, building a life together, arguing together, teasing together. In short, Kaito had realized that somewhere over the course of growing up, he had fallen completely and utterly in love with Nakamori Aoko.

And the complications therein were excruciating. So he continued acting like he always had. He joked, flipped her skirt (with new appreciation), avoided her mop and treated her like his best friend. Because there was a massive secret between them, and he didn't think she could handle it. She was too much like her father. She was so straight and narrow that he doubted she'd understand the complications of his life or even try once she understood his betrayal.

They continued through lunch, laughing and jesting and gossiping like they normally did, though Kaito kept things toned down in tandem with his apparent fatigue. However, that didn't stop him from, once the opportunity presented itself, reaching over and flipping up not her skirt, but her shirt.

Hot damn, that was lacey! was his first thought as Aoko reacted, pulling her shirt back down. Dumb idea, was his second thought as Aoko looked at him red-faced and pulled out her mop.

"You. Said. No. Skirt. Flipping!" she annunciated with every swing.

"That wasn't your skirt!" he tossed back, a big grin on his face, as he swung into his usual dodging routine. "I'm always flipping your skirt. Why are you flipping out over me flipping your shirt instead?"

"PERVERT!" was her response.

...Well, that was true over the past couple months... But she didn't need to know that yet. Before his "discovering" that she was a female, it was just something that he did to annoy her. Now, after really noticing her, he understood why guys could be so perverted. Of course, he didn't really want other guys looking at her, but he couldn't deviate from being her best friend without raising questions he couldn't answer.

He was starting to wonder, however, if he might be able to talk to her about his large secret someday. Aoko, despite how much she had obviously matured over the years, was very much a reactionary person. She gave knee-jerk responses to anything thrown her way and never held onto anger that long without good reason. (And Kaito was pretty sure that his being Kaitou Kid would be a good reason to stay mad...). But lately, after she had befriended Mouri Ran (again, thanks to that messed up magic bullet murder at the Budokan), Kaito had started to see signs that Aoko might take things better in a few years, giving him hope he didn't think he deserved given his situation.

Mouri Ran had started to become a regular, if not frequent visitor at the Nakamori household. Kaito had noticed how Aoko always seemed a bit more mature when Ran was around, and it was something that Aoko wasn't just picking up on but starting to incorporate. But then, Ran had this quiet maturity about her; most likely due to the hardships she had gone through when it came to the love of her life.

Oddly enough, Ran's young charge, Edogawa Conan, chibi-version of meitantei Kudo Shinichi (said love of Ran's life), was rarely around when she came over. Kaito had worried about that initially, wondering if that meant that his favorite follower had figured out exactly who he was, but had pushed those thoughts aside when Ran had mentioned that he was usually with his friends, giving her a little bit of time off. Kaito knew from his observations that Kudo's little detective cluster could be very good at pulling him along, so he stopped worrying. Mostly.

Another of Aoko's swings missed him by a hair as he flipped easily over her and did a handspring further down the row of desks.

"Wow," he whistled. "Ran-chan's karate lessons are paying off."

"Argh!" Aoko growled, leaving her father's vocabulary behind and dipping into her own, private stock.

Oh yes, Ran's time with Aoko was definitely making her more dangerous with a mop. But if Ran's gentle, almost motherly way of guiding Aoko to a more mature method of handling his Big Secret, he wasn't going to interrupt.

Because Kaito had dreams for his future. And if he could somehow make them possible, he planned to do so.

Hakuba triple-checked the item under his microscope. He had just finished what he considered his own personal standard procedure on the heist note that Kaitou Kid had delivered. With every piece of equipment in his lab, Hakuba had dissected the note for any identifying features he could somehow discover. Unfortunately, nothing seemed pertinent. The paper was standard white 8.5 x 11 paper used for any printer or copier around the world. Similarly, the ink could only be singled down from a brand that could be found in any office supply store across the world to a type of printer that could also be anywhere in the globe including, Hakuba noted, his school's computer labs, the town's public library, and probably many, many private homes. The signature and caricature was easily compared and proven to be a true Kaitou Kid signature (Hakuba had absolutely no patience for imposters and copy-cats...), made from a plain black pen also as common as grass in a field. Similarly, there were no fingerprints, no fibers, no discernable chemical signatures or exposure to anything other than paper and air.

Not that any of this was a surprise. Kuroba could be an incredibly thorough person when he chose to be. Being Kaitou Kid rather necessitated that, but Hakuba would like to have proof of that someday. He switched his train of thought as he studied the riddle once more. Hakuba didn't really like to ponder his life after catching Kaitou Kid. So much of what he did was for that moment when he was finally victorious against the Moonlight Magician, that all else seemed trivial. Not that he wasn't aware that once he achieved the goal he'd been striving for for so long that he'd need something else to fill up his time, but that was something to worry about after he'd reached the finish line.

There was also, of course, the twinge of what would likely happen to Kuroba himself once Hakuba unmasked him. But he always dismissed that. Kuroba, by his very nature, was incredibly likeable, both in and out of monocle. He always tried to write off those twinges as a result of Kuroba's irritating way of radiating friendship. As long as Hakuba didn't cross that line and stayed professional, there wouldn't be any repercussions on his conscious.

Right?

Back to the note. Hakuba shook his head, trying to stay on task.

On the day that cries for help

During the week of gold

It will be rebealed at 57.5 degrees that

The Birth of Spring will touch the sky

At the plum tree's rice field.

The note was entirely in English, a surprise for Hakuba, but his eyes went to certain lines that made instant sense for him and his English heritage. "The day that cries for help" was a reference to the old means of calling for help, stemming from back in the 1920s for any vehicle or person in need of assistance. "Mayday, Mayday, Mayday." Of course May Day, itself, was the first of May, which fell during the Japanese Golden Week.

Hakuba couldn't help but smirk. He was positive that the reference to Golden Week was to help Nakamori along. Kaitou Kid, after all, couldn't leave his favorite Task Force behind and Nakamori often needed an extra push to understand the convoluted notes that Kid could send.

The other item that immediately caught his eye, many thanks to his biracial status, was the "plum tree's rice field". If one translated that directly to kanji, one would have Umeda. That and the references to sky made it fairly clear that the heist was to take place at the Umeda Sky Building in Osaka.

Such a shame; he'd been hoping to spend Golden Week back in England. He hadn't been there for a few months, and he wanted to sit with his mother at a proper British tea. But such was life; he wouldn't miss an opportunity to catch Kaitou Kid when it presented itself.

A memory twitched in his brain, making him wince. That magic bullet fiasco a few months earlier was one of those mysteries that just nagged and nagged and nagged at his brain. Aside from Kuroba consistently making jokes and barbs at his narcoleptic, trance-like solving of the mystery, he couldn't for the life of him, figure out how Kuroba had pulled that trick on him. The magician hadn't been in the room at the time, but that hadn't meant anything, for Kuroba was a good magician. But Hakuba couldn't figure out how Kuroba would have known that Ran would have pulled him into that conference room. The chances of her actually being an assistant to Kuroba's trick were minimal at best.

A line from almost a week ago made a vein above Hakuba's brow pulse in frustration. "Hey, Guru-kuchu, dream through any mysteries lately?" Hakuba had fumed and struggled to reign in his embarrassment and fury. Even now, he could feel his blood boiling at the fact that he didn't know how he had solved that case at the Budokan, if he even had. The only other one who could have put the clues together (and he'd had to subtly ask Aoko to reiterate to even have an idea of what had happened...) would have been Kuroba himself. But while the magician was undeniably keen-eyed and quick-witted, that didn't automatically incline one to being able to be a detective. True, there was a certain amount that could be absorbed through osmosis, since Kuroba did hang around under Nakamori's roof and with Hakuba himself. But that irritatingly illusive magic bullet case required skill, finesse, and experience in order to deduce things properly. Kuroba could finesse things, but he hadn't shown any skill and had absolutely zero experience in deductions.

But Hakuba didn't think anyone else in the room could have somehow put him to sleep and solve the case. Mouri Ran had no history in really participating in cases; it was entirely her father's show. The child Edogawa Conan had showed potential, but was far too young and inexperienced. Aoko wouldn't do anything so underhanded and the dumb "detective" who had been there had been utterly worthless, as Hakuba himself could attest to after some of Aoko's text messages to him. Besides, what purpose was there in using him as a proxy in order to solve the case?

The young detective shook his head once more. Whenever he thought of That Incident, his thoughts ran in circles. Time to focus back on the riddle.

"It will be rebealed at 57.5 degrees," was an interesting line. Hakuba strongly doubted that Kaitou Kid had misspelled "revealed" by accident. It was no doubt that in Japanese, the "v" and "b" sound were almost interchangeable. No doubt, this was to draw attention to the letter. But which letter, a "b" or a "v"? And 57.5 degrees of what? Longitude? Latitude? That seemed unlikely given the references to the Umeda Sky Building. Osaka itself was located approximately 34 degrees North latitude and almost on the 136 degree East longitude line. But that brought Hakuba around to his original question, degrees of what? And did it have to do with the v-or-b question?

Hakuba tabled that for later visitation.

"The Birth of Spring will touch the sky" was obviously a reference to the name of the jewel. Unfortunately, multiple searches throughout the internet and his own files on jewels showed no large gem with such a name. Not even a painting or statue or baseball with any sort of nickname related to "The Birth of Spring". He'd already called the Umeda Sky Building, explaining the situation and asking what events would be occurring there on the first of May. However, despite his public record of not only facing off with the famed thief, and his own list of cases that he'd solved, the person he spoke with was very hesitant on providing any information to a teenager, detective or otherwise.

Sometimes Hakuba wished that he could somehow hurry up and join the police force or get a private investigator's license, since it was very hard for other people to take him seriously without proper credentials.

The man at the Sky Building had promised to get back to him once he consulted his superiors.

Hakuba let out a long sigh. Wishing for the future didn't bring it about any faster, nor did it help him with his current dilemma. The young detective turned back to his computer and started to run searches to see what random and obscure things Kaitou Kid was referencing this time.

Beside Aoko, her best friend Kaito let out a short yawn.

"Are you sure about this?" she asked again. "If you're so tired, you really should just go home and get into bed."

Stretching, Kaito replied, "No, don't worry about it. In all honesty, part of me wants nothing more than to curl up in my bed and ignore the world till I catch up on my REM, but a much larger part of me is damn excited to actually look at an authentic Kaitou Kid note." And he gave her an absolutely winsome grin. "Wild horses couldn't keep me away. You'd have to chain me to a sinking freight ship and even then I wouldn't completely give up the chance to see a Kid note."

"Thief-otaku," Aoko muttered, feeling a fair bit reassured by that bright smile.

"Tisk, tisk, Aoko," Kaito admonished. "I like his magic. His style. His stage presence is what I want when I start performing."

To that, at least, she gave a hearty laugh. "Good luck with that. You'd need the ego the size of America, both North and South, to even come close to that."

Her best friend scowled at her, insulted on his idol's behalf.

"Ne, Kaito?" she asked tentatively, looking at her watch.

"If you're going to insult the Cool Kaitou Kid, you can hold your breath."

She swatted at him. "That wasn't what I was going to ask." The magician looked properly apologetic and glanced at her curiously. "Knowing my Tou-chan, he's probably going to be running home from work to talk with you and show you the note. But I was planning on grocery shopping today. Do you mind a small detour?"

Kaito raised an eyebrow, pausing to consider her request. Then he got an entirely too manic grin. "No problem," he said with a certain giddy tone. "You've been wanting to work on your English and this is the perfect time. We can quiz you on the way!"

Aoko's face turned scarlet. "How'd you know my English grade's been dropping? Have you been snooping again, you sneak?" The indignity of it all! She flung her bag at him, wishing for the longer reach of her mop.

Unsurprisingly, he dodged around her again as she tried to bash and mash some manners into him. (Ultimately her endeavor proved fruitless, but that didn't mean she didn't try...).

Taking a deep breath and pulling off her jacket because of the warm spring sun, she finally turned her head from him.

"Oh, oh, Aoko, translate that! It's hilarious!"

Aoko steadfastly ignored him. Maybe if he didn't get the attention he was always trying to filch, he'd learn some humility.

"Come on, Aoko, don't be like that! It says, and I quote, 'Sale! Barge In!'"

Aoko ignored him.

"Oh, there's another one; the English doesn't match the Japanese at all. It says, 'It asks the customer for whom it smokes. So that smoke should not go outside, it smokes in the obituary of the area. Please continue your favors toward cooperation.' Damn, I think we could translate the English for them better than whoever that loser was."

Aoko tried very hard not to let her mouth twitch.

"Ah, more poor translations. Geez, where do they get these guys? How about 'Let's beautifully use everyone's pedestriar bridge. Tosses of chewing gum and garbage, etc. are violations of the society of manners.' How about that billboard? 'It is Drug mart SEGAMI has had good goods in stock for the visitor. Please start at once by all means.' Seriously who writes this stuff?"

Aoko could stand it no longer and started laughing, clutching her sides. Glancing around, she saw another, if simpler sign. Pointing, she read, "'Staff Onry'. Last I checked, when our whole class was grilled on the difference between L and R, that should read 'Staff Only', don't you think?"

Kaito beamed at her. "Very good, Aoko! Front of the class."

She chuckled and as the two of them went about shopping, pointing out English signs that seemed a little off in translation. (Kaito choked when Aoko pointed out a sign that advertised some form of iced tea that said, "Honeydew Bubble Tea: The joys of sucking on balls".) It was times like this that she reveled in all the immaturity that surrounded her. Aoko wasn't blind. She knew that she was immature, as well as almost everyone she knew. Kaito didn't have a mature bone in his body unless it was a second blue moon; Hakuba, for all his British reserve, was still obsessed and childishly chasing after a Phantom Thief like some sort of shounen manga star; and Aoko's own father suffered from the same affliction. Even Keiko thrived on gossip and holding on to, if not childhood, then teenager habits.

Aoko knew that she was surrounded by it, and that she herself didn't entirely want to face adulthood yet. That was something far off that she would deal with when she finally grew up. But she was starting to see, thanks to her new friend Ran, that maturity didn't necessarily mean leaving behind the fun. There was something about the detective's daughter that was not only mature, but very maternal and Aoko had latched onto it. She wasn't always cognizant of it, but she knew that she'd been missing her mother for a very long time. And it was nice to be around someone who could be maternal.

Of course, Aoko understood that part of Ran's maternal streak stemmed quite heavily from the fact that she had to look after both her father and young charge Edogawa Conan, to say nothing of all the trouble that Conan and his friends could get into when playing detective. Aoko had listened to many a rant about how she wanted just one day without a dead body falling down. (Aoko, after realizing just how many cases Ran and her family ended up in, was extremely glad her father chased after a nice non-violent Kaitou Kid most of the time...)

It was almost... reassuring... in a way, to have Ran as a friend. Ran, in some ways more than Kaito, was someone she could confide her deepest feelings and fears in. Kaito was always the first one there for her, but it was nice to have another female friend to talk to. About things that Kaito didn't always understand. Aoko knew that she hadn't really started to notice boys yet. Oh, she knew that when she saw someone cute she would fantasize about what it would be like to have a boyfriend, but Aoko just didn't know of anyone she really cared to go out with, so she didn't bother. It seemed unnatural to her that she still hadn't had any boyfriends yet, and she'd be graduating high school soon.

It was Ran, with a knowing smile and a quiet chuckle, who had told Aoko that things happen with they're ready, and forcing things to happen before that only made things worse.

When Ran would say things like that, Aoko couldn't help but admire her new friend. Not only was she very mother-like, the detective's daughter seemed to carry the weight of hardship and fighting for every inch of what she had. Aoko didn't know what was behind that feeling. From what she knew, aside from bullying her father into work, Ran hadn't really had many true difficulties in her life.

But there was one thing that Ran would sometimes talk about. Almost lecture about, really, and that was secrets. Aoko herself never understood why people kept secrets. No, that wasn't entirely true; she understood small secrets. The whole "Oh, yes, that dress looks lovely on you," or a secret surprise party, things like that. But big secrets, something that ended up hurting someone else, Aoko had never understood. She'd never had a secret that big to hold onto, and neither had Kaito or her father. They were always honest with each other on the important things, which was the way things were supposed to be.

Ran, however, spoke of large secrets to keep people safe. That sometimes, people could be pushed so far into a corner, there was no other choice but to lie and hide. It seemed important for Ran to talk about this, and Aoko had a sneaking suspicion that Kudo, Ran's oft-absent boyfriend, had held some sort of major secret from Ran that had hurt immensely. But Aoko knew better than to pry into something so obviously personal. So Aoko, trying to be a good friend, attempted to understand. But it was difficult.

So times like this, when she was pointing to a sign of a little cart that served, "Fried Chicken, Fried Needles, Soft Cream," she put aside maturity for pure fun.

It was on the way home when Kaito stopped her. "Hey, Aoko! Look at this!"

They were in front of an electronic store with wide flat-screen TVs all lined up playing whatever movie had just come out. But Aoko perked when she noted that the actors weren't Japanese. They were American, or she guessed American. The accent didn't sound right. In fact, the accent sounded a little familiar... "British?" she asked.

"I'm not sure," Kaito replied, "but I think so... Come on."

He dragged her inside, showing once again that he had the attention span of a hyperactive hummingbird on extra-caffeinated coffee.

They wandered to the back counter and found that the manager actually was a foreigner. "Hello," Aoko tried out her English, (not that she had a choice with that evil gleam in Kaito's eye...) "This film is British, yes?"

The manager looked up, surprised, and smiled. "Yes," he replied slowly and clearly. "You have good ears to hear that. Most students are lucky to even identify it as English."

Aoko struggled to remember the translation for "identify". "Ah," she replied, listening to the movie again. There was a pilot on screen, yelling into a radio of some kind, but she couldn't translate what he was saying. "Please," she asked in her slow English, "What is the pilot saying? I don't know... meidei?"

"Mayday. It's a cry for help when someone is in trouble."

Aoko blinked, "But May is a month?"

The manager chuckled. "There is also a holiday called 'May Day'. The first of May can be celebrated as an ushering in of spring."

"Er, 'ashaaringu'?" Aoko struggled.

"That would be 'ushering'," Kaito translated by her ear.

"Oh I see," she switched back to Japanese. Looking to the manager, she replied in English, "I have no heart of this holiday. Is it a large holiday?"

The manager smiled, continuing to speak in slow, clear English as he and Aoko tried to speak of different holidays in different parts of the world. Once in a while, Kaito would translate for her (and once even asked for a translation himself) and the manager would correct her speech (such as saying "not" instead of "no"). When they were done the manager was looking very pleased and Aoko was rather proud of herself. Leave it to Kaito to come up with a completely unorthodox way to practice a subject she was starting to struggle with and have it do better than what the teacher taught in class. (Of course, Aoko had to admit that she was good in her studies... that probably helped as well, but it was easier to blame the teacher...)

Kaito, unsurprisingly, looked very smug when she finally turned to leave the store and she was ready to swing her grocery bags at him when he attempted to bite back a yawn.

"Come on," she growled, still stifling the urge to whack him. "Let's get going before it gets much later."

"You're the boss."

She swatted at him anyway.

Nakamori Ginzo jogged down his street, cursing a blue streak to high heaven that he'd been held up at the station again, when he'd meant to leave early. He'd promised his daughter that he'd be home for dinner so that he could go over the note with their neighbor and her classmate, Kaito. It wouldn't be the fist time Ginzo had brought Toichi's talented son in on an investigation. Ginzo would be the first to state that he understood thievery. (Given whom he chased, that wasn't really a surprise.) He understood larceny and what was needed to commit it. When Kaitou Kid had disappeared for eight years, he'd refined his knowledge of what thieves looked for in order to get what they were after. But magic had never ceased to elude him. Even Toichi, Ginzo's best friend, had tried to help him understand some of the slight of hand and prestidigitation necessary for some of Kaitou Kid's more brazen tricks. But Ginzo could never really get it.

So having a magician on hand who was so willing to help and for free… well, it was no wonder that the inspector was running home to see what Kaito had to say. Plus, the damn note had been entirely in English. Ginzo had learned English in school (who hadn't, after all), but that was decades ago; aside from the random loan word in Japanese, he'd forgotten most of what had been pounded into his head of the language. Both Kaito and his dear Aoko would be a hell of a lot better than he was. Even though the note had been translated for him by one of his men, he trusted the kids who were actually learning the language a bit more.

Finally reaching his home, Ginzo took a deep breath, pulling at his tie. Inside, he found some very delicious smells coming from the kitchen and the very easily identified sounds of Aoko chasing their neighbor around the house.

"Come back here, you perverted dumbass!"

"Awwww, can't you take a joke?"

"#&^$! I can't believe you did that again! And put frosting there!"

Ginzo couldn't help but laugh. He wondered when those two would realize that they loved each other. He was rather looking forward to having grandchildren from them one day. No doubt Toichi would be a happy spirit when that day came.

CRASH!

"Aw, shit, Aoko. I'm sorry... Dammit, that was your mother's, right? Dammit, dammit, dammit!"

Ginzo followed the voices into the kitchen and found both kids kneeling on the kitchen floor. Discarded with a clatter was Aoko's favorite mop for chasing Kaito and between the two was the remains of a glass serving tray and what looked like a cake that the two had been frosting before the chase had begun. Indeed, it was Aoko's mother's... Her favorite dish for serving cakes, pies, and pastries. That stung.

"Kaito-kun," he said, making the young magician jump, "would you mind getting the broom and dustbin?"

A firm nod of the head, and the boy made himself scarce. Ginzo crouched by his daughter, who was just looking at the pieces of glass and chunks of cake. There was no denying that it was beyond repair. Reaching out, Ginzo put his arm around her, much like he'd done in that horrible time just after they'd lost her, and Aoko would once again remember that she wasn't with them any more.

"Aoko-"

"It's okay, Tou-san."

"Oh?"

She let out a long sigh that hitched at the end. "I know that it's just a thing. We have pictures of her everywhere and we won't ever forget her. I know that. This is just... a little sad... and very surprising..."

Ginzo nodded beside her, running his hand through her hair.

"You've grown up somewhere when I wasn't looking," he offered quietly. "I remember when you were about eleven and you broke one of her vases. You were almost inconsolable over it for about a week. You're being very mature about this and I'm proud of you."

"I most certainly am not mature," Aoko mumbled.

"I think you are and I'm your father, so what I say goes."

She gave a quiet chuckle. "Well, then, oh-mighty-Otou-sama, you won't have your desert tonight."

He laughed. "You're cruel, Aoko."

"Ha, ha."

With a small sniff, Aoko stood, heading off to get slippers and being careful with the glass.

Once she left, Kaito came in and silently went to sweeping up the mess.

Well, it looks like I'm still playing the dad tonight. I'm sorry, Toichi, but you're not here right now... "Kaito-kun, if you start blaming yourself for this, I will be forced to lock you up and throw away the key."

The boy didn't even respond; Ginzo sighed. Too much pain... He and Aoko had lost an important member of their family, and Kaito and his mother had lost an important member of their family. Both children suffered for it and were acutely attuned to what the other was feeling when such brutal reminders of loss appeared.

"Kaito-kun. If Aoko broke, say, a set of your father's glass juggling stones, due to the shenanigans you two play at, would you hold it against her?"

"Of course not."

"Would your mother?"

"...No."

"Would Aoko?"

Kaito let out a grunt. "Doesn't stop me from feeling guilty."

"No, it doesn't. But knowing and feeling are two different things. You can feel guilty, as long as you know and understand that you aren't guilty."

The young magician didn't respond, but Ginzo didn't expect him to. He'd watched the boy go through grief over Toichi's loss and knew that there were times when Kaito just had to work through it on his own. But with the right words, he would be fine. Still stung and hurting, but fine.

Time, after all, didn't heal wounds so much as made them sting less.

Aoko came in with another broom and a trash bag and the two went about cleaning up the mess, huddling near each other, but never quite touching. Nodding to himself, Ginzo left them to change out of his work clothes into something more comfortable. And a smoke. He could really use his pipe at the moment, because losing that dish stung for him as well.

Dinner did a lot to get things back on track to their usual rowdy level of insults and joking. It was still a touch subdued, especially when it was time for dessert and nobody got up to bring anything in. But it was better than before. So Ginzo guided them into the living room.

"Alright, you two English students, here's the note."

Aoko's eyes went right for the last line. "Umeda? As in, the Sky Building in Osaka?" Ginzo nodded with pride. He'd picked that up as well when he'd seen the note translated to standard hiragana. (He'd ordered his team to use hiragana because Kid was known for so many kanji puns it was better to just look up all the possible kanji than to just assume...) That and the reference to touching the sky made him pretty sure he was heading to Osaka the following day. But the What and When were still eluding him.

"Week of gold," Kaito read. "Oh, it'll be during Golden Week! Awesome! Maybe I can head down there and watch!"

Aoko thwacked him and Ginzo smiled.

"A day that calls for help," Kaito continued, his eyes jumping all over the note. "That sounds familiar, doesn't it, Aoko?"

"You doofus," she growled. "Weren't you paying attention to that British shop keeper this afternoon? An English call for help is 'Mayday' which is also a holiday to welcome spring. It's how we got into that whole conversation about holidays to begin with!"

"Wait, what's this?" Ginzo interrupted. Granted, he'd called the Umeda Sky Building that day and knew there was going to be a jewel exhibit on the first of May, but his own daughter had picked up on that without doing legwork? There were days when Ginzo swore he needed her on the force.

"We were talking to a manager," she started, explaining their afternoon of quizzing each other on English.

"Excellent," Ginzo took a puff from his pipe. "Very good. So did your English lessons today tell you what this Birth of Spring jewel is?"

Both shook their heads.

"Dammit... None of the jewels have that as their name. I'm going to have to look after all of them..." That meant more men spread out and not in a good position. "Shit this is going to suck worse than a brand new vacuum."

"There is one odd thing," Kaito mumbled. "This word. 'Rebealed'. Aoko, I know we got hit over the heads with R and L, but what about B and V?"

"Oh yeah," she mumbled, leaning over the note. "I think Kid actually misspelled something..."

Ginzo blinked. "Really? Which word?"

Kaito pointed. "That should be r-e-v-e-a-l-e-d. A V, not a B. Wonder why..."

"Maybe he needs you to tutor him on his English," Aoko stated flatly.

"Hey! Kid is too fantastic to..." Then Kaito blushed at Aoko's compliment of him, redder than Ginzo had seen in a long time.

Oh ho! Well, Toichi, look at your son now! I think he knows that he's in love with Aoko. Either that or he's getting there... Now if only my daughter would take off her blinders... But I don't think I'm going to get much more out of him... He's looking at her a little too much for my comfort and I will admit that I do have a daughter complex. When Kaito-kun starts dating her, much as I approve of him, I'm going to give him hell. And Toichi, I think you'd approve.

Ginzo tried not to laugh too much as he started shooing Kaito out the door. The kids had helped him get a fresh perspective, and he'd be able to use that the following day when he went into the station.

Author's Note: All those Engrish phrases are REAL. Looked them up and everything. Kinda sad, isn't it? ^_^ The English lessons made for a good set up for explaining "May Day" a bit more thoroughly than Hakuba's brief explanation. But here we have the heist. Wonder if anyone can figure out the rest of the note. Oh, just so you know, the note is in English for Hattori, not Hakuba. Kid would probably know that Hattori is extremely fluent in English and set the note up accordingly. The heist is ALL about a gift to Hattori, so it made sense for the note to be aimed to him as well.

Aoko has always been something of a lonely soul, who fills her life to ignore the empty house. But she still remains perky and is rather good at bullying Kaito, isn't she? And speaking of Kaito, doesn't he have a dirty little mind? He's going to get frustrated rather quickly, won't he?

Hakuba has always been a bit of a pain to write. In the manga, he doesn't have enough screen time to really have much character other than rival of Kaito and Kaitou Kid, and something of a polite by-the-book type. So trying to, essentially, CREATE a character for him has left many different interpretations online. So we've tried to work from scratch and give him character, but it still leaves him as rather elusive and difficult. Hopefully he comes off as close to in-character, as opposed to horribly out-of-character...

Nakamori took a minute to figure out, but once he told us about looking over Kaito like a son and occasionally talking to his good friend Toichi, he actually became rather easy to write. Go figure.

Next time: A meeting of sorts. And a conversation that doesn't happen.