008. Weeks.
When time is split in two halves
And the dragon rises from its slumber
I will come to save her
From its wrath
- Kaitou Kid
That was the heist note that had been delivered straight to Conan Edogawa. He had, of course, taken it to the police and managed to worm his way into the meeting room where they attempted to decipher his note. As easy as the note was, he had still had to lead the taskforce by their hands and feet to discover the exact time and target that the thief had been alluding to.
"The dragon rises from its slumber," Conan could remember Nakamori saying. "Refers to the day Kid will strike. The Chinese New Year is approaching, and it will be the year of the Dragon. So, he plans to strike sometime on January 23rd. When time is split in two halves obviously refers to the exact time, but we have yet to determine what that means. The last two lines, therefore, must identify Kid's target. If anyone has any ideas, speak up."
Staring on as the adult around him came up with the most ludicrous ideas, Conan decided on the officer who would become his temporary marionette and walked up to him with a wide smile and said, "Ne, oji-chan, why is Kaitou Kid going to save the princess? Isn't he a bad guy?"
"Princess?" the officer was staring at Conan like he'd grown a second head.
"Mmmm," the shrunken detective chirped. "I was watching this show yesterday, and it said that western dragons are evil creatures that always kidnap princesses and hide them away in towers. But Kid's a bad guy too, so shouldn't he be helping the dragon?"
"Princess…princess…that's it!" the officer had exclaimed. "He's going after the Princess Diamond on display at the Beika Museum. Nakamori-keibu!"
As he moved to get up, Conan grabbed his wrist and said, "A-re-re! You have a watch with numbers in a circle, I've never seen that. Haha, the lines are funny. They could almost reach out and cut it in half. That's so funny, ne, oji-chan!"
"That's it!" Ginzo Nakamori shouted, having overheard Conan's last comment. "When time is split in two halves means 6:00. At 6:00, the hour and minute hand split the clock's face in half, and the hands are pointing at twelve and six, which is half of twelve. Kid is coming for the Princess Diamond on January 23 at 6:00."
After the note had been deciphered, things had gone normally enough. The day of the heist arrived, Kid got the gem, Conan chased after him, and the taskforce got caught in various traps attempting to do the same thing. Kid got to the roof and did his ritual of holding the gem up to the moonlight before Conan burst onto the scene. Their usual battle of wits commenced, and Conan retrieved the jewel while Kid escaped to steal again another day. Now, there had been nothing wrong or dissatisfying with that heist, but it had been two weeks ago and brought something rather annoying to his attention.
Crushing on Kaitou Kid, an internationally wanted thief, came with a great deal of problems. For one, they were rivals on opposite sides of the law. For two, falling for the thief had the rather unpleasant side effect of hurting Ran, one of the most important people in his life. Then there was the fact that he was trapped in a child's body, so even if he ever became crazy enough to actually confess, his condition would have prevented it. It's not like Kid knew his true identity. For that matter, he didn't know Kid's true identity either, didn't know what he was like behind the monocle and beneath the mask. Of course, there was a whole host of other problems as well, but he could handle all of that. The one thing that irked him more than anything else was the fact that several long weeks passed by each time before even the chance to just see the thief again came up.
And Conan knew it would probably be longer than two weeks before the next heist notice came along. Kid rarely ever held two heists close enough for him to attend on his own so close together. He was going to go crazy waiting that long, but what other choice did he have? He couldn't completely let loose with people like Ran or Kogorou nearby, and Hattori couldn't come out from Osaka to take Conan to every heist. Agasa had Ai to take care of and had to be home so as to serve as Conan's alibi. So, he was stuck with the pattern of waiting longingly for weeks until the next time he could see his magician bathed in white.