"Happy Valentines' Day!"
Hakuba gratefully accepted the chocolates from Aoko's hand. He gazed at the bright pink box, a little longer than all the other chocolates he received before smiling at Aoko. "Thank you. I presumed this is one of the leftover chocolates you made so you're giving them to me?"
Aoko pouted and crossed her arms. "Is that really what you think?" Of course those weren't leftovers. She specifically made a whole bunch just to distribute them in class today and well, Hakuba was one of the few guys she wanted to show her gratitude to and she thought he would be at least appreciative about it.
She glanced at the pile of cute looking chocolates and sweets on his table and shook her head. Maybe there wasn't a need for her to do so at all. "I guess my chocolates doesn't mean much anyway." Her head gestured over his table and he followed her glance.
He chuckled behind her chocolates and gave that calm looking smile again. "Maybe I should rephrase my sentence a little. Is this chocolate one of the extras you made after you finished making Kuroba-kun's?"
"W-What? No!" Aoko gritted her teeth, looking away quickly to hide the redness that was spreading across her cheeks. "He doesn't deserve my gratitude." She added.
"Of course he doesn't." Hakuba continued inspecting her chocolate as if it was some murder weapon. The detective then glanced back at Aoko with an expression that she thought looked dangerous, too dangerous for the kind and nice Hakuba she knew to be giving. "You shouldn't associate too much with that guy. He's not someone good to meddle with."
"What do you mean by that?" She remembered hearing those familiar words, or something that held the same meaning as what Hakuba was trying to imply to her. She never took those words seriously so she never bother to remember them well, not until when Hakuba mentioned it now. Her mind began racing on its own again, forcing herself to remember that memory.
Were those words from... Akako?
"I would tell you but I thought I shouldn't be the one saying that," He carefully placed his gift on the neatly stacked pile on his table, and Aoko wondered if he was intending to build a castle or something, "besides, I don't have the evidence so you're just going to take my words as a joke."
Aoko was about to ask more when a girl suddenly approached them, or to be more specific, approached Hakuba's table. She noted the shy and hesitant look on the girl's face, along with the small wrapped box in her hand and Aoko knew it was time for her to leave. Giving a smile and a wave, she dismissed herself and walked away without waiting for Hakuba to say anything.
It was still lunch period and her class was too packed to have her lunch although she wasn't exactly hungry either. Furthermore, it would look stupid for her to be eating while all the girls were rushing off to find the person they wanted to give their chocolates to. She sighed and walked towards her table, picking up her bag and opened it.
In the corner of her bag, a box was sitting lonesomely with her books and lunch box. Her fingers tentatively reached it before pulling them away and her eyes automatically moved towards the empty seat beside her.
Kaito didn't come to school today and she wasn't sure why. Yesterday he looked perfectly fine and he even flipped her skirt twice that day. Was it because she kicked his chin too hard and he needed to get it checked today? It wasn't possible. If that was the case, he would be calling her and forcing her to bring him to the doctor like a servant if she really was the cause of it.
"Na-Nakamori-san?"
Aoko blinked and turned, surprised to find a bunch of girls standing behind her. She stepped back, a little intimated all of the sudden.
She cleared her throat. "Yeah?"
"I know this may sound very rude but can you pass this to Kuroba-kun?" The girl handed a box to her, followed by more hands shoving right at her direction with fanciful colored boxes and neat ribbons. She blinked again and slightly leaned back against her table, feeling overwhelmed at the amount of chocolates being pushed to her face.
"We wanted to go to his house! But... we don't know where... and we're scared Kuroba-kun would hate us if we just turned up uninvited. So we thought that you can help us to pass our feelings to him. W-We wrote our names and classes so it would be fine!" Another girl quickly added.
"Eh..." Aoko straightened her posture. Now that these girls phrased it that way, how could she even reject them? "I can help. I need to pass him some homework too."
"Thank you Nakamori-san!" The girls squealed excitedly. They took out a bag that they prepared beforehand and started placing their chocolates carefully inside. Aoko stared at the little commotion before her, one complaining how she wanted her chocolate to be on the top while the other was arguing about how her ribbon was ruined because of how they placed the chocolates in the bag.
It wasn't surprising, really, to have so many girls wanting to give Kaito chocolates for Valentines' Day. She recognized a few of the girls from other classes in the same year and some a grade smaller than her... She wanted to find the image of a Kaito's fanclub amusing to her but somehow she couldn't. Aoko slightly glanced at her chocolate in her bag.
Her attention was zapped away when the girl handed the bag to her. "Thank you! Really, thank you!" The girls chimed in union.
She took the heavy bag from her hand. "No problem." Aoko smiled.
.o.
Aoko sighed.
She rang the doorbell once and then once more before giving up. Why would she waste her time to wait like a fool outside when she got the key to his house? Apparently, Kaito gave it to her a few year ago when he went overseas to visit his mother and he left his house under her care. Actually, it was more like she asked him for it since she volunteered to help and he just gave it to her without hesitation.
The key was always kept in her purse and she didn't use them much ever since. Kaito came to her house more than she went to his and he was usually with her to open his door so she never need the key in any sense. As Aoko fumbled with the key and slotted it in carefully, she wondered if he even know she still had his key.
The door unlocked like how it should be and she entered, mumbling an apology for intruding, closed the door and placed her shoes aside. There, was Kaito's shoes and Aoko contemplated that he was at home. But despite that, the house seemed so empty, so quiet for him to be around at all and it suddenly gave her a sense of Deja Vu. It was as if she was entering her own home instead of Kaito's.
Aoko lowered her gaze and slowly made her way to the living room. Kaito's father was no longer around and his mother was always overseas... he was no different from her at all.
If Kaito ever felt lonely, he definitely didn't show it because that was just him. No matter how sad, how dejected he was, he would never show it and kept on doing stupid pranks to make people think he was fine.
And she, was one of the people.
"Kaito?" She called out and placed the bag of chocolates onto the table. There was no answer.
"Strange." Her brows furrowed, worried. She placed her schoolbag down hastily and walked up the stairs after checking that there was no one in the kitchen.
The second floor had three rooms. One was his parents that was left empty and unused for many years, one was where he kept his books and other things that Aoko couldn't remember since she rarely went in there and one left was his room. She headed straight to his bedroom like it wasn't anyone's business and opened the door without bothering to knock.
She was about to shout out his name, reprimanding him for sleeping or playing his computer and skipping school, but his room was empty. His bed was tidied, his computer wasn't on. There was no trace of him at all.
"Where could he be?" Aoko bit her lips.
When she was about to close the door and proceed to find him in the other two rooms, she noted something different in his bedroom. She frowned and stepped inside and immediately realized the huge change in his room.
Aoko knew how Kaito respected his father for many things and he always wanted to be like him. She remembered how he showed her his father's full portrait and doing a magic trick. Afterwards, he claimed to her happily that he would be like his father one day and of course, she cheered for him too because she wanted him to be happy.
But what was this?
His father's full portrait was gone. It was replaced by a picture of Kaitou Kid instead.
Her chest suddenly cringed in an indescribable pain. She knew how Kaito often defended that thief with reasons that she couldn't be bothered to hear or care and she knew that he was supportive of Kaitou Kid, but to the extent that he actually... replaced his own father's portrait with a stupid thief? That wasn't right at all.
Aoko couldn't really describe this as betrayal or anything along that line. Kaito didn't exactly betray her in anyway. Keiko was a fan of Kaitou Kid and she was fine with it, but it was just she thought that Kaito would understand her better and understand her circumstances even though he supported that thief that uses magic like him.
Maybe it was just her wishful thinking.
Back then when he was sick and she dragged him out of his bed to eat his porridge, she clearly remembered that it was still his father's portrait. So when did he exactly change it?
She slowly moved towards the portrait, her arms slowly lifting up, her fingers stretching out to touch the framed picture, to feel her nails digging into the picture and slicing it into shreds as the anger within her began to rise.
Just how many people must Kaitou Kid steal from her life then he would be satisfied?
"Aoko-chan?"
Her hand froze in mid-air and she glanced up to the direction of the voice that called her name, her anger dispersed completely to be replaced with guilt.
"Jii-san!"
"What are you doing?"
"I-" She quickly retreated her hand to herself and stepped back, her eyes darting around to calm herself down to reply his question. "I was just looking at this." She pointed at the Kaitou Kid's portrait, not even bothering to say what exactly was this.
"Ahhh..." Jii hesitantly stared at the picture before looking back at Aoko, a sweet smile plastered on his face. "Are you looking for Kaito-bocchama?"
"Yeah." She nodded. "Do you know where is he?"
"I called him a while ago, he said he was outside doing some things."
He's outside? But his shoes...
"I see." Aoko nodded again before looking up at the old man again. "I'm not trying to be rude but... why is Jii-san here?"
"There's something I want to pass to him personally so I told him I'll wait till he comes back home."
"I have some things I need to pass and tell Kaito too, so can you make sure he sees it?" Aoko headed out of his room and proceeded to the stairs and only began walking down to the first floor when she noted that Jii was following closely behind her. "Today my dad will be coming home for dinner so I need to go back home to prepare and I can't stay to wait for him."
"Sure."
Aoko took out the few pieces of homework that her teachers given her and laid it down on the table while Jii looked over the table carefully. "These are due next week and we will have a test on them soon." When she rummaged inside her bag to see if she still left anything out, her chocolate was staring back at her and she stared back at it.
"Aoko-chan?"
"Uh, yeah!" Aoko smiled sheepishly and placed her bag on the sofa and pointed at the plastic bag that she left on the table when she came in to Kaito's house. "Today's Valentines' Day and the girls in our school were flustered about giving him chocolates but they ended up disappointed since he didn't even show up. But well, they asked me to hand this to him instead. Their names and classes were written on the boxes so he should at least do something about it on White Day."
"That's plenty." Jii commented amusingly.
Aoko glanced at the plastic bag. "Yeah." Plenty to make mine insignificant.
"Is yours inside?"
Her head snapped back to Jii as she blinked before waving her hand exasperatedly. "Nope!
His eyes twinkled in a way that made Aoko embarrassed for some reason. "Why not?"
"It doesn't matter anyway. He probably don't even know what Valentines's Day truly means, that ignorant jerk."
Jii chuckled and Aoko knew he knew she was right.
Knowing that the conversation had clearly ended, she picked up her bag and smiled. "I'll leave first Jii-san, goodbye."
"Goodbye Aoko-chan."
She closed the door behind her and looked at it for a few seconds before deciding to finally leave.
.o.
Aoko almost flipped the house when she realized it was 11 in the morning but managed to calm herself down after she remembered it was a Saturday. It wasn't her fault for sleeping in when she had been tossing and turning in bed for the whole night and only managed to sleep just a little past four. She rubbed her eyes tiredly and stretched, pushing her covers aside and went to the bathroom to get cleaned up for the day.
Apparently her father didn't wake her up to make breakfast for him and all he left was a note on the table that he wouldn't be coming back for dinner tonight. She pinned the note to the fridge as a reminder to herself in case she started to think of her father's favorite food and what she should prepare for him in the middle of the day.
As she was waiting for her toast to be ready, the doorbell rang and Aoko raised her eyebrow. The toast sprang up in the next second and she quickly placed them on the plate, washed her hands and jogged towards her door and opened it.
"Yo."
"Kaito?"
He stepped in and kicked his shoes aside like how he always did and entered her house. Aoko eyed him curiously and closed the door, her eyes never leaving him for a second.
"You're eating breakfast at this timing? How rare is that."
Aoko rolled her eyes and brought her plate of toast and egg to the dining table. She sat down on the chair while Kaito sat across her with a grin plastered on his stupid face. "What are you doing here?" She scoffed as she started spreading her toast with butter. "Trying to make me angry even on a Saturday?"
Kaito raised his hand and waved the familiar looking papers in his hand. "Jii-chan said these are my homework but I don't know what the hell does all these equations and words mean. So as a responsible table partner of mine, you should teach me today."
"It's your fault for skipping school." Aoko bit the corner of her toast.
"Come on, try helping me won't you?" He spread the worksheets across the table.
Aoko eyed him even more suspiciously. Kaito may be stupid and ignorant sometimes but academically wise, he was far more superior than her. She teaching him? It was more like she learning from him in the end. It always happened like that during their past study sessions together. To put her entire thoughts into one final verdict, she didn't believe his reason for coming to her house at all.
"Why didn't you go to school yesterday?" She decided to ask.
He was still glancing over the math questions. "Mom told me to run an errand for her that day. I can't refuse it and you know it."
"Oh."
He gazed up at her and her eyes met his. His blue eyes were staring at her, filled with simplicity, filled with the tiny spark that Aoko always loved to see. But at that moment, she was searching for something else but she didn't know why and what she was searching for. There was something in the back of her brain, far from her foolish heart that was telling her to do so. But she couldn't find whatever she was searching for.
"You got anything to drink?" He broke her thoughts in an instant.
She blinked and continued nibbling onto her toast as she gazed at the kitchen instead. "There should be something in the fridge."
Kaito stood up and headed there on his own. When he opened the fridge then Aoko realized she just did the most stupidest thing in her life.
"What's this?"
Ah. Too late.
She dropped her toast and rushed to the kitchen as she managed to snatch the box from his hand just in time. "Don't touch that!"
"What's with you? Is that chocolates by the way?"
"Y-Yes but no! They're not for you!"
"I didn't even ask that."
She blushed and tried to stomp on his foot but he dodged easily. While she was being distracted at trying to get his foot, Kaito managed to grab the chocolate out of her hand and that only enraged her.
"Give it back!"
"Can I eat it? I finished the bunch that you gave me yesterday and I'm still craving for some."
Aoko stared at him in horror. "Y-You finished them in a day?!"
Kaito was already unwrapping the box as she gave him a disbelief look. "Yeah. What about it?"
"Don't tell me you threw away those wrappers."
"Why not? You want to recycle them?"
"Didn't Jii-san tell you there are names written on them? You're suppose to take down the names for White Day!"
"White Day?" Kaito threw the wrapper into the kitchen trashcan and walked back to the table while Aoko followed exasperatedly behind him.
"Yes! White Day!"
"Am I suppose to receive white chocolates or something?" He casually opened the box.
Aoko was searching for a mop but gave up as she continued to talk some sense into him. "White Day is a day when you're suppose to return the gifts back to the girls that gave you chocolates on Valentine's Day!"
He popped a piece of chocolate into his mouth and closed his eyes, trying to savor the taste. "Not bad. You made it? I'm impressed."
"Kuroba Kaito!"
"I already knew that, alright. Jii-chan made me research on Valentines' Day because he told me that someone told him I'm incompetent of knowing such things and I should start learning it."
Pink tinted her already flustered face and smoke was coming out of her ears if Kaito looked carefully enough. "You're a jerk. Made me worried for nothing." She gritted through clenched teeth.
Kaito sat down on his seat and continued popping chocolates into his mouth. "Still don't understand why people come up with these kind of dates. If we can just minus Valentines' Day and White Day, wouldn't it make life simpler?"
"This is what unromantic and ignorant people would think." Aoko crossed her arms and slumped back on her seat.
Unfazed by her insults, he threw in another piece of chocolate into his mouth. "Well, sorry for being unromantic and ignorant." He didn't sound apologetic at all.
Aoko sent him a glare and continued on her brunch. "I don't think you come here just to talk about chocolates and math equations, are you?" She said indifferently.
"You once told me you were interested in magic," He licked his fingers that had melted chocolate on it, "but even so, I still don't think you have the capability to break into my house."
"So it's about that." She quietly said as she began to cut her fried egg.
She could sense him carefully watching her from the corner of her eyes and she let him. When he still didn't reply, she decided to break the silence.
"I still have your key. You gave me a few years back when you went overseas if you don't remember."
"No wonder."
"Do you want it back?"
He gave a pause but didn't answer her question. "You should have called me to check if I'm at home or not. Jii-chan thought someone broke in."
"How so? I didn't break the door or ransack your house."
"It doesn't matter how he comes up with that thought."
"You're hiding something."
He stared at her and she stared back, while screaming in her mind to not look away no matter what.
"What am I hiding?"
"I don't know." Aoko placed her utensils down. Suddenly, a terrifying feeling overwhelmed her and it made her sick all of the sudden. "I don't know if I want to know it too."
"You shouldn't associate too much with that guy. He's not someone good to meddle with."
In the end, she couldn't help but to just let it go and forget about finding whatever truth or thing she wanted to know. "Look Kaito, I don't feel too good today. Ask Hakuba-kun or Akako-chan if you really need any help with the homework." Aoko stood up from her seat, picked up her plate and headed to the kitchen without looking back once.
Aoko would have waited for a while before she washed her dishes because even she was human and she could be lazy sometimes. But at that moment, she picked up her dirtied plate and began scrubbing it for so long that her fingers were starting to wrinkle.
When she decided she was finally done, she turned around and found that her dining table was empty and her door was closed, saved for the fact that the box of chocolate was left behind on the table.
She didn't expect him to leave her alone so easily, but when she thought about how much she could possibly mean to him, she wondered why she was expecting anything at all.
.o.
If her glare could kill, she would be glad to personally escort Kaitou Kid to Hell.
The gentle pitter patter of raindrops hit against her face, disturbed her eyes, seeped into her mouth but none of those mattered to her. She had been glaring at the thief the entire time when she was at the roof but he never acknowledge her at all.
"Kaitou Kid!" She heard his father yelled at the thief. If she was him, she would yell at him too. All his effort spending to track and plan this entire capture were going to go down the drain once Kaitou Kid steps off the building and takes flight into the night.
"See you next time, Inspector Nakamori." He gave a small wave and leaned back to fall. Kid swirled around before that happened and he was already flying towards the other direction.
"Catch him!"
"Yes!"
The police squad rushed to the staircase and her father was soon lost in the sea of uniformed men. She rushed to the side of the roof to allow them to run down the stairs in a more smooth manner, though she wasn't sure if what she done even helped them get any faster at chasing Kid. By the time they even got on their police car, he probably just finished showering and enjoying some fancy wine while admiring his treasure under the moonlight.
She looked up at the dark and starless sky. Maybe he couldn't enjoy it under the moonlight, not today. That's too bad for him. She sneered in her mind.
Aoko was all alone on the roof, her clothes drenched and hair wet but those were none of her concern for now. She slowly walked towards the end of the roof where Kaitou Kid last jumped and looked down at the parade square. The crowds were dispersing like what she thought.
Was this ever enough? Was this thrill ever enough? Was this fame ever enough? Was anything ever enough for Kaitou Kid to stop?
She clenched her fist and turned away as she stalked towards the staircase.
.o.
It was already midnight and her hair still hadn't dry. Apparently her hair dryer choose to break down at this moment and all she could do was to wait for it to dry before she could sleep. Lying on the bed wasn't a good choice and sitting down would just made her more impatient so she choose to stand outside of her bedroom balcony instead.
The rain stopped an hour ago and the air was extremely cool now. Aoko took in a deep breath and exhaled heavily as she lifted her head high up to the sky. Slowly, she leaned towards the side of her balcony, enjoying the gentle and soothing breeze under the empty and pitch-black sky.
"It's a pity there's no stars to accompany such a lovely lady tonight."
Aoko's eyes hardened and she turned to her left side. Her eyes widened even further when she found the white clad thief leaning at the other end of her balcony with a smile on his face.
"When did you-!" Aoko stood in a defensive stance. After counting to three in her head and making sure this wasn't hallucination, she calmly straightened her posture and glared hard at the intruder. "Why the hell are you here? Have you got tired of your night job and decided to send yourself to jail?"
"That's certainly not going to happen."
"I'm going to scream now."
"If you want to, you would already have."
"You want to try me?"
He raised his gloved hands, a sign of defeat. "I have no plans of provoking you right now. I just thought I'll drop by since you disregard my warnings even when it concerns your safety."
"I already said that it's my choice if I want to go your heist or not."
"Apparently, your choice was to attend every single heist I held and I feel the need to put an end to that."
Aoko hoped that the few meters distance between them would helped to reduce the chance of him hearing how fast her heart was thumping right now. It wasn't like this was the first or the last time they would see each other but it had been quite a while since she managed to in such a close proximity with him.
She hadn't been able to concentrate much during the heist and she wasn't even putting her entire heart on her self-appointed tasks to corner him, that was why she couldn't manage to get to him as quick enough as last time.
It was all because her mind was all on someone named Kuroba Kaito. That jerk.
When school started on Monday again, they hadn't been talking as much as before. She didn't ignore him, neither did he but there was this distance that was starting to form between them, a barrier that was starting to build around her and him, a wall made of steel that Aoko didn't know how to break down. And now that she thought about it, she didn't even know how it happened and why they couldn't just be like the way it was.
This wasn't their first fight but it pretty much seemed like it would be their last.
Was it her fault? Because she said he was hiding something? How could he be angry at her when she already said she didn't even know! Nothing made sense. She didn't even know what was going on at all. Why was Kaito acting like this? Why was Kaito changing into someone else and acting like her presence was worth as much as dirt to him? Why was this happening to her?
"Nakamori-san?"
Her throat tightened and she closed her eyes. Whenever she even thought about him, even just having his name flashing across her mind, her mind became wild on its own and everything was in a mess and she didn't know what to do at all. But despite that, she wasn't going to cry in front of the thief, not in this life.
"I got your message," Aoko calmly stated "but I'm not obliged to listen to it."
He stared at her beneath the shadow of his hat. "Is there something bothering you?"
She glanced up sharply, wanting to tell him straight in the face that nothing was wrong, but her voice just wouldn't come out no matter how hard she tried. She wrapped a hand on the handrails of the balcony firmly, a little way to find comfort and shook her head instead.
"Really? I would love to lend a listening ear if you need one."
"Do you know what are you doing now?" Aoko really, really wanted to scream at him and the only thing holding her back was-
Wait... there wasn't any reason at all.
"Care to enlighten me?"
"I'm the daughter of the inspector that is trying to put you behind bars but why are you doing this? Warning me about whatever danger you're in, flying into my balcony as if it's some resting place for your wings... I don't see you doing that to the other hundreds of fans or the entire police squad that is involved in your heist." She took in a deep breath. "Why me?"
The shadow of his hat and the fact that there wasn't much light didn't help her to see his face at all but she could tell from that small glint in his eyes that he wasn't particularly in a joking mood today. Well, neither was she and she was glad they were on the same page.
"Because if anything happens to you, there will be somebody who will not be able to live it down. I'm not just talking about your father."
"Why don't you enlighten me too?" Aoko drawled sarcastically.
"Me."
Aoko widened her eyes.
That voice. That voice that just spoke that single word. That voice that she would recognize no matter what.
"K-Kaito?"
"And me too."
The voice changed instantly to another before she could even register what was happening in her mind.
"Keiko?"
"Exactly." Kaitou Kid went back to his deep and calm voice that he used to seduce the hundreds or thousands of people in Japan. Except her, of course.
"H-How did you know about them?!" Aoko glowered. "And how dare you impersonate their voices!"
"That is my expertise, Nakamori-san. I know everything about you and the people around you. I know a lot of things that you probably didn't know too."
"No, you do not. Even if something happens to me, it's would just be Keiko and my father who would be sad." Aoko snarled. "Furthermore, you're not one of them; You're not one of the people who cared about me, so why are you acting like one?"
"I may have overstep my boundaries and made you uncomfortable with my words and ways of trying to keep you out of danger. I do apologize." He slightly bowed. "But that does not leave out Kuroba Kaito's from this list of people who cared about you."
"You're not him, so what do you even know about anything?"
"An intuition of mine."
"Your intuition means nothing to me."
A pause. "He must have hurt you a lot to make you say that you don't matter to him at all."
"Like I said, you don't know anything!" Her heart was beating faster and faster and she could feel the heat climbing from the back of her neck and spreading to her face. Tears were threatening to fall and she was trying her very best to not let it happen, going as far to lifting her head and straining her neck just to do so.
What had she done to deserve this? She sucked in a deep breath of air and silence ensued. For the entire time, she was just staring at the sky, hoping that her tears wouldn't flow while he watched her the entire time. Only after an eternity had passed, he finally made a move and spoke.
"I supposed it's late." Kaitou Kid put both of his hands on his railing and effortlessly lifting himself up to stand on it. She watched him the entire time, making sure he wasn't going to play any stupid tricks on her, although it wasn't like by staring at him could make her know if he was up to something or not.
When she didn't respond, he tilted his head back and gave a small smile. "It was a pleasant night with you. Sweet dreams Nakamori-san." She heard him say before he flew away into the dark sky.
She quickly wiped the tears in her eyes and waved her fist in the air "Go to Hell!"
.o.
"I'm going off to school now." Aoko opened the front door and her father gave a grunted voice of acknowledgment while he flipped the newspaper in his hand.
She closed the door behind her and strolled out of her gates as she yawned tiredly. The only reason why she even dared to show such an ugly part of her in public was because she thought she wouldn't see anyone she knew on the streets, not until when she turned at the gates to find Kaito standing in front of her and staring at her. She halted on her tracks, her yawning face stuck like someone just hit the pause button in her life.
Aoko instantly covered her mouth and flushed as Kaito snickered behind his hand. It was always him that saw the ugly side of her and she hated him for that. But at the same time, she liked how it was only him that saw the ugly side of her. Basically, only Kuroba Kaito was capable of making her feelings so conflicted and messed up every single time
And lined up closely behind him was that Phantom Thief.
"What are you doing here?" She growled in embarrassment.
He only replied after he managed to control his chuckles. "I thought we could walk to school together since I woke up early today. It's been long since that happened anyway."
All she could do was to nod her head and followed quietly behind him when he began to walk. Occasionally, he would stop so their steps would be in sync and they would walk side by side but for some reason, her legs would act on its own and the distance between him and her would grow bigger and bigger.
Finally, he stopped in his tracks and she stopped behind him too.
She bit her lips and stared at his back quietly. Was he giving up? Was he tired of her now? She didn't dare to think any further but as the seconds ticked by, all she could feel was helpless and miserable.
"I'm sorry."
Aoko lifted her head sharply and stared at Kaito. He turned around so their eyes would meet.
"I've been owing you an apology for a long time and I've finally said it and I'll say it again. I'm sorry." He said solemnly.
"B-But why?"
He sighed and looked away. "Maybe for hurting you or something along that line. I don't exactly know why either to be honest, but if saying sorry could make everything go back to how it is, I'm willing to say it another thousand of time."
"Kaito..."
"Yeah so I'll continue to call you flat-chested Ahoko and you'll continue calling me smart and handsome Kaito-kun. Just like the old times, alright?"
Aoko swung her bag at his head and he ducked and gave a laugh as he continued. "Yeah, exactly like how it should be."
Her anger immediately vanished from her face when she realized she was back to her old self again. The old her who would just get angry at whatever he said and tried to hit him to vent out her anger.
She could see it, the walls around them were crumbling down, the barrier were all knocked over and everything but them were disappearing with the wind that carried the words of their apology. Immediately, Aoko knew that she was finally back to her usual self. It all happened too fast, but it was because she had been desperately wanting it to happen that with just a simple trigger, everything was back to normal again like what she truly wanted
And just by thinking about how her old self towards Kaito was back and how he was going to be like the jerk and best friend/asshole she knew, tears began forming in her eyes and she didn't even have the time to stop it from flowing.
Aoko was really, really happy right now, even though her face and tears seemed contradicting.
"Eh? Why the hell are you crying?"
"I'm sorry too." She wiped the tears away with her sleeve. "I'm really sorry, even if I don't know what exactly am I sorry about. I just want everything to go back to how it was too." Those words finally left her and she felt like her chest was free from a boulder that was weighing on her the entire time.
Aoko removed her arm from her face to find a piece of tissue waving in front of her. She glanced up at Kaito before accepting it sheepishly.
"You're still as naive and stupid as ever."
"I don't see how smart you are!" Aoko exclaimed before sneezing into the tissue.
Kaito chuckled. "You look really ugly right now. Stop crying."
Aoko scowled as she threatened to throw her dirty tissue at him. "You aren't helping at all!"
I still can't get over how perfect the MK anime's new op and ed is.
Anyway, here's an update! Not sure when the next update will come but let's just hope it would be soon woohoo
Reviews are really, truly and very appreciated!