The summer heat was slowly transitioning into a cooler and calmer weather. September was a busy month for Aoko, and it helped her to keep many things off her mind when she couldn't find the time to worry about anything else.

But September was also the month of her birthday, and the date coincidentally fall on a Saturday as well. It would give her plenty of time to prepare for her birthday party, one that would definitely fill her empty and lonely house while her father would be busy chasing a certain thief in white.

Before her father left for the museum that morning, he gave her an envelope filled with money.

"Buy something you like. A dress would be nice."

"I'll consider something more practical. The oven needs to be changed."

She wasn't sure which part of her words sounded like a joke, but her father definitely didn't take her seriously. He wished her again before heading off.

One by one, her friends began knocking on her door as evening came. She welcomed them with the greatest hug and pulled them in excitedly to the living room, where the food were neatly arranged all by herself.

In the middle of fun chatters and laughter, Keiko nudged Aoko's and took her attention away from the games.

"Kuroba-kun isn't coming?" Her best friend quirked an eyebrow.

Aoko shrugged nonchalantly. She was hoping no one would ask, but how was that possible? Her eyes drooped down a little, though she effectively kept the smile in place. "He said he'll try to make it."

Keiko pursed her lips. "I sure hope he does."

It was close to midnight when people started to leave. Her friends volunteered to help packing up, but Aoko insisted she wanted to do it on her own. Sometimes, cleaning up restrained her from thinking things she shouldn't think about and tonight, she needed a ton of cleaning. As they wished her their last birthday wishes and left for the door, Aoko stared down at the mess of empty plates, bits of foods and game pieces loitered all over the floor.

She slapped both side of her cheeks and pulled up both of her sleeves. It wouldn't be great to dawdle any longer if she planned to sleep early tonight.

In the midst of washing the plates, the doorbell suddenly rang. She quirked an eyebrow and quickly rinsed her hands, wiping it on a nearby towel. Did someone left something behind? Before she was about to jog to the door, her feet stopped on their own.

"You should learn to avoid and ignore what is dangerous. You're too reckless and careless, the worse combination to screw yourself in any situation."

Slowly, Aoko backtracked, heading to the tall cabinet by the fridge and whipping out a mop. Clenching it tightly to her chest, she skipped quickly out of the kitchen and towards the door.

The peephole was always useful in this sort of a situation, but it was pointless when she could barely see what was outside due to how late and dark it was now. She squinted her eyes to get a better look; there was nothing there, just her front yard in sight.

Is the doorbell spoilt? She pondered. Beside, there was no reason someone would ring her doorbell at such a-

Aoko froze when the chime of the bell rang in her living room again. Her eyes quickly went back to the peephole, and when she looked through again, there was no one out there. She twisted her grip around the mop, making a creaking sound as it threatened to break into two.

It couldn't be her friends. They should know how much she was afraid of ghosts. If they were planing to play a prank of all days but her birthday, it would be going a little too far. If then, who else-

Something in her mind clicked and she widened her eyes. Her hand flew to the door knob and she swung it open. Yet again, the only thing in view was her front yard.

She frowned and sighed, disappointment washing her like a huge wave. Finally deciding that her doorbell was just malfunctioning and was about to close the door, her eyes fell upon a child-size teddy bear sitting in front of her feet. Before she could react to the current situation, a figure stepped out from the dark shadows and his smile was enough to light up the whole night.

"11:48pm." Kaito looked up from his watch. "Happy Birthday Aoko."

This was the first time a mop was held in Aoko's hand, yet she never feel any urge to hit it over Kaito's head.

.o.

Aoko held up the glass of bittersweet and fizzy drink in her hand and shook it to the point where the content was about to spill. "This is great." She hiccuped and brought it to her lips. Jii told her the name of her alcohol a while ago, but she couldn't remember anymore. All she remembered was that Kaito was an asshole.

It took her lots of persuasion before Jii agreed to give her something to try and drink so that she could feel tipsy and wash down her anger at the same time. If Aoko wanted to drink a smoothie, she wouldn't even be here in the first place. Kaito and her had a fight nearly an hour ago. Now that she think back about it, she couldn't recall what heated up that argument. Still, the fact that Kaito pissed her off so much didn't change.

"I think that's enough for now, Aoko-chan." Jii took her glass and tried to replace it with a cup of warm water.

She shook her head, tightening her grip around her glass and gulped down the remaining of the alcohol.

This was her second glass, and by the time she finished it, her head was already on the counter, arms acting like cushion. Aoko could hear Jii sigh and part of her suddenly felt apologetic towards the old man. Her presence here at a bar and drinking at such an age would sure bring him trouble, even so, he did not push her away like how Kaito always did.

"Stupid Kaito." Aoko muttered. "He's so stupid."

"Sometimes he is."

Aoko struggled to lift her head up as she set her chin uncomfortably on the counter. "Jii-san, how much do you know about Bakaito?"

Jii raised an eyebrow. "Well, I've watched him grow up. That's got to be something."

"Me too." Aoko mumbled. "I grew up with him, in fact."

"Yeah."

"But why do I feel like I still don't know anything about him?" Aoko shut her eyes and snuggled her head into the crook of her arm. She could feel the tears whelming up in her eyes and it was something she didn't want the kind old man to see. He doesn't deserve to be affected by her silly feelings.

"What do you mean?" She could hear Jii's voice much closer than before. Was he inspecting her? She was too afraid to lift up her head to check. She swallowed hard, hoping to get rid of her possible raspy voice.

"I know that he hates fish. I know he wants to be a magician in the future. I know he loves his dad more than anything else." She balled her fist. "But at the same time, I don't know anything about him. He's Kaito, but who exactly is he?"

She couldn't hear any words other than the soft soothing music echoing within the bar. It was the perfect music to keep the headaches at bay.

"It may be just my weird intuition," Aoko tried to dry her wet eyes on the hem of her sleeve before glancing up. "but ever since the appearance of Kaitou Kid, I cannot see Kaito anymore. The Kaito I've known, or knew or assumed to know... He's disappearing."

There was a cringe in Jii's face and it was gone when Aoko blinked. She hiccuped and rubbed her swollen eyes, feeling the dizziness coming in. The heavy feeling, in the end, still didn't go like what she expected after drinking. Aoko watched her father drank multiple times when her mother died, and she thought it was alright at the moment since it may have eased his pain. But it didn't work for her at all. Or maybe it never work for her father too.

"Kaitou Kid, I hope he go bald." Aoko chuckled at the thought of it. "Let's see if Kaito will still worship him."

Just two rounds of drink and it was enough to knock Aoko out. Her head fell right back at the counter, luckily cushioned by her arms. A soft snore soon escaped from her lips and it was soon enveloped by the music in the bar.

Jii sighed. He carefully put the glass in her hand aside and was planning to walk out from the counter to carry Aoko to the staff lounge when a man appeared right beside the Aoko's side. The old man froze at his original position and stared carefully at the man who was eyeing her with a obviously sinister gaze.

"Are you ordering?" Jii mustered a smile.

"Oh, no." The other man smiled back as he placed a hand on Aoko's arm. "Just taking-"

"What are you trying to do to my girlfriend?"

Jii widened his eyes when his gaze set upon the young master who suddenly appeared out of nowhere. He was getting really as skilled as his father at appearing with such a quiet entrance.

It seemed Jii wasn't the only one surprised. The man snapped his gaze at Kaito, took a second to register the new intruder before giving a sneer.

"You shouldn't leave your things around if you don't want someone else to pick it up."

Kaito leaned against the counter.

"Because I never think that anyone would dare to pick up what's mine." Kaito smirked, carefully blinking his eyes. In that split second, his cocky smile was gone and his eyes was replaced with a hardened look. "You're the first."

"You want to pick a fight? Brat?"

Out of the blue, Kaito threw a thick and fat wallet across the counter. "Let me bet everything in this wallet that I'm winning the fight."

The man gasped out loud and began rummaging his pockets after realizing what just happened. Growling, he grabbed the wallet on the table and fished about the contents before sending an ominous glare over at the magician. Kaito simply smiled.

Not knowing what else to say, he cast one disdain look over at Aoko before departing into the small crowd of people who were oblivious to the small commotion. Kaito gritted his teeth and turned over to Jii, who was gaping at him the entire time.

"Since when did your bar attract such people?" Kaito scowled. It wasn't much of a question though, he knew Jii's bar was by far safest compared to the rest on the streets.

"Giving threats isn't your style, Kaito-boochama." Jii casually put a clean glass on the rack. "When did you arrive?"

"I've followed her here after she left my house in a huff." Kaito scoffed and sat on the tall stool beside Aoko. "Of all places, she choose to come here and try to act like she can drink. What a dumb girl."

"You can't blame Aoko-chan. Don't you know the reason why she's even like this?"

That kept Kaito's mouth shut and the conversation ended. He leaned his arms onto the counter and stared at the twinkles and shines of the wine glasses over his head. It suddenly brought him back to that night a few months ago and his lips twitched a little at the memory. Slowly, he gave a sidelong glance back at the unconscious girl beside him.

Not long after, Kaito jumped off from his seat and took Aoko's arm, hanging it over his shoulder. "I'll send her home now."

"You sure you can handle?"

Kaito glanced back at Jii over his shoulder and tried to suppress a chuckle. "I had it worse."

As he dragged Aoko's body out of the bar, her feet were taking steps on its own even though they were slow and wobbly. Once they were out on the streets and in the open space, he propped her on his back and carried her the way he brought her home on the night of that meteor showers.

Her head was resting on one side of his cheeks, mouth parting and hair messy from lying on the counter. She didn't drink much to smell like a drunk person, but the amount seemed enough to knock her out like a sleeping beauty. Kaito wondered what did Jii even let her drink. He wanted to try it one day just for the effect as sleep was getting harder for him these days.

He clutched tightly onto her thigh, making sure she wouldn't fall. She's heavier than that night. Kaito nodded his head inwardly. That's a good thing. She was too skinny back then.

The weather was getting a little chilly and the only way for Kaito to forget about the cold was the sound of Aoko's soft breathing. Creepy as it seemed, the image of her staying alive, to him, was a reassuring scene. Those nightmares of blood and death were coming back for some reason and he hated it to bits. That was mostly the reason why he was getting so cranky easily and their quarrels weren't helping. When she left his house after the argument, Kaito wanted to explain why he became so irritated and said those unintentional words, but how could he tell her about those dreams of her... dying in his arms?

After a quiet and slow walk, Kaito finally reached her door. The house was empty and dark and he remembered Aoko mentioning her father was out at some dinner event organized by the police force. Now that no one was there to open the door for him, Kaito fished out a tool from his back pocket and began picking the locks. Aoko would definitely kill him if he knew he broke into her house using such a method, but what could he do? Run through her pockets and searched the keys on her? That would only possibly wake her up and earning himself a tight slap.

Then again, she was dead drunk.

He quietly pushed the door open keeping the picks into his pocket before closing it back and muttered a soft apology for intruding. Despite how dark it was, Kaito was already used to the set up of the house since ages ago. He easily maneuvered his way to Aoko's room and entered without any hesitation.

Aoko was still sleeping with no signs of waking up at all. Kaito then carefully sat on the edge of her bed and slowly laid Aoko's body onto the soft mattress, making sure her head rest nicely on her fluffy pillow. He pulled out her shoes and placed it aside before throwing the covers over her small body.

Kaito sighed and stretched his back as his gaze reached to the large soft toy sitting at the corner of her bed, which was the one he gave her on her birthday.

It was all his fault. Kuroba Kaito or Kaitou Kid, whoever it was, it is still him. He turned to Aoko's desk and plucked out a pen and a small notepad. He didn't know what else he could say, except for those two words that he sincerely felt from the bottom of his heart.

I'm sorry.

He tore the paper from the notepad and placed it on her bedside. There were many things Kaito was sorry for, like Aoko's drunk talk that he overheard loud and clear at the bar. He couldn't let her into his world, not now even when he knew she wanted to. He had a lot of things undone, and he didn't intend to involve Aoko in any of it. All he could do was to keep that wall, building it higher and higher until one day, he could smash the bricks down with that bloody Pandora.

"I'm sorry." Kaito muttered. "I'm sorry, Aoko."

With a turn, he walked out into the chilly air of Aoko's balcony and jumped.

.o.

Aoko had many things to prepare for this Halloween. The sweets, the costumes, the decorations...

She could only make it out in the streets that late evening after completing her homework, which she promised to prioritize to her father. The list of items needed was already in her hand and she was on her way to the busiest mall in town to buy as much things she could carry by herself.

If only she gets off the bus one stop later. If only she looks to her left the entire time she was walking. If only if she she listens to her music and blocking out the sound of her surrounding. If only she done either one of it, she wouldn't have to see the crowd standing outside a well-known building and shouting Kaitou Kid's name constantly.

The helicopters were rotating around the tall building while police cars were littered around the entrance. Even when Aoko was forcing herself to turn away and walk back, the shouts and screams were levitating her towards the scene. Ended up, the list on her hand was long forgotten in her bag and she was now standing in the middle of the crowd, being squeezed like a pack of sardines.

Aoko shouldn't be here. She swore she didn't want to see that hideous and awful man in white anymore. Yet...

If it was so easy to forget someone you hates for so long, life would have been great.

Her father told her about the heists briefly, though she shut those information out and focused on getting breakfast done that day. She was so close in succession to not care about Kaitou Kid's heist for the first time for so long, but she ended up researching the information online right at the moment on her phone. She sighed to herself at how pathetic she was.

Goddess of the Moon was Kid's prize today. On the cue, she gazed up at the dark sky, where only the bright full moon was visible tonight.

It gave a weird and uneasy feeling in her gut.

All of the sudden, a loud explosion could be heard and everyone around Aoko began screaming. She gave a startled shout at first before regaining her composure well enough as her eyes began darting around to find the source of the sound.

The building, which was the location of the heist, was on fire. The flame was burning rather strongly and Aoko couldn't tell which floor was the fire from. She choked at the dust and felt herself being pushed back and front constantly as the crowd around her were running in all sorts of direction, but away from the building.

She thought it was the best case too, until she realized about her father's well being. Oh shit! She cried in her head and turned back to see the burning building again. Her lips began quivering on its own and she fumbled for her phone in her bag and fished it out. Her shivering fingers began searching for her father contacts and she dialed in the next second she found it.

It took two seconds till he picked up.

"Aoko?"

Relief washed all over her face. "Dad! Are you alright?!"

"You're looking at the news?"

She didn't have the courage to correct him. "Yeah. Are you alright?"

"We are at the rooftop, you don't have to worry. I'll talk to you later." The call went dead the next instance Aoko tried to speak. She heaved a sigh and glanced up at the rooftop that was blurry due to the amount of smoke. At least her father was safe and sound, that was all that she cared about.

Kaitou Kid...

"Please leave the scene in an orderly manner! No pushing!"

A couple of policemen were trying to control the movement of the people, although little or none were listening to them. Staying as calm as possible, Aoko decided to move along with the flow of the crowd and to get to safety too. She knew how disappointing and irritating it was when people do not behave accordingly to the police's kind efforts; well, she was part of the team before.

As her eyes stayed straight and focused on the other side of the safer buildings, something caught her attention and she tilted her head towards the direction. Aoko was about to look away when she widened her eyes and focused again.

It was the young, smart little boy Aoko came to adore; Edogawa Conan. He was skateboarding around the police cars and making his way... to Aoko's horror, the entrance of the burning building.

"Conan-kun!" She cried out, desperately pushing herself through the sea of people. Her shouts were drowned by the loud sirens and screaming of escaping Kid's fans and onlookers, but her eyes were able to follow the little detective very well. When his portable vehicle skidded to a stop, he put it under one of his arm and rushed straight into the building like what she thought.

"Conan-kun, stop!" Aoko gritted her teeth and finally made her way out of the suffocating crowd . She raised her head and scrutinized the tall and burning tower. The heat from the fire could be felt even when she was standing so far away, yet that kid ran in without any hesitation...

All along, I thought he's a really clever boy. Why is he being like this? Then her breath hitched. Or did something happen to make him do such a reckless thing?

She lowered her gaze and stared at the entrance.

Is someone... in there?

"Even there's no one in there, Conan-kun's in there!" Aoko shouted to herself. Without further hesitation, she ran past the barriers and into the entrance that was clouded in smoke. It seemed the ground level didn't look as bad as from outside the building. The explosion must have happened at the second or third floor, though the fire was slowly spreading both upwards and downwards. She deemed that the floor she was should be safe, at least for now.

"You should learn to avoid and ignore what is dangerous. You're too reckless and careless, the worse combination to screw yourself in any situation."

Screw that!

"Conan-kun!"

Aoko pulled up the collar of her shirt up to her nose, waving her arms around to fan the smoke away from her eyes. She continued yelling and shouting for Conan's name, and when there wasn't any response, she moved further in, where more smoke was constantly irritating her eyes.

"Conan-kun!"

She was still in the midst of contemplating her decision about going up to the second floor, until when she found a body of a man by the stairs lying flat down on the ground. Aoko gasped and rushed over.

"H-Hey!"

Not wasting any more time, she hastily flipped the body over and was instantly stunned of what she found.

White suit, red tie and a monocle. The cape and the hat was gone; those were always the things Aoko recognized Kaitou Kid when he was a distance away. With those things gone, it was hard for Aoko to expect the person could be the thief at all. But now, it was a fact. Kaitou Kid was lying on the ground before her, unconscious with black patches of dirt and dust all over his body. His suit wasn't even white anymore. It was more like grey to Aoko.

"K-Kaitou Kid?" Her throat tightened. "Hey, Kaitou Kid?!" Aoko began shaking him by his shoulder, but there was still no reaction given. Without thinking too much, she kneeled on the ground and quickly rest one side of her ear to his chest, closing her eyes.

Ba-thump... Ba-thump

The sound of his faint heartbeat brought her back to the time she was saved on the last night of her kidnapped days. She shook her head at the memory and heaved a sigh of relief that the thief was at least not dead, though she regretted the next moment when she was forced to inhale a large amount of smoke. She covered her nose with the collar of her shirt again and quickly fumbled for her phone.

"You're too reckless and careless, the worse combination to screw yourself in any situation."

The joke's on you. She quickly scrolled through her contact list till it reached her father's name, but before she could do what she should do and press the call button, her eyes wandered a few contacts just above her father's.

Bakaito

She bit her lips and tentatively moved her gaze over at Kaitou Kid who was still not moving on the floor. Since his hat was gone, the only thing that was stopping Aoko from knowing the identity of the man who stolen her father away for years was the monocle. The grip on her collar tightened. She needed to confirm it to let her sleep in peace without having anymore worries. She needed to confirm it because there would be no more tiring guessing games. She needed to confirm it so she could know how to love the man she wanted to love with all her heart. She needed to confirm it, and she just had to grab that monocle away from his face.

That was it.

The phone was forgotten as she let it fell to ground beside her. She slowly moved, inching closer and closer to the face of Kaitou Kid as her trembling fingers reached out for the monocle. The smoke didn't matter, the humid heat inside the building didn't matter. All that mattered was-

Aoko was just one step away from discovering Kid's true identity when her wrist was roughly grabbed onto and pulled away from Kaitou's Kid face. Aoko collapsed back onto her butt, shocked by the sudden abrupt touch as she glanced at the owner of the hand that caused the sudden disturbance.

She stared dazedly at the small detective. He was panting hard, his eyes were hard as steel.

The boy finally acted his age and softened his gaze, pulling back his hand away from Aoko's touch. "I'm sorry, Aoko-neechan."

"Conan-kun...?" His name sounded salty for some odd reason. Seeming to understand the cause, Aoko naturally touched the side of her cheek, realizing her face was stained with tears. She stared at her wet fingers, dumbfounded, before looking back at the kid again.

Everything felt so wrong.

"We need to put out the fire from the inside!"

Aoko blinked and glanced back over her shoulder. The smoke was getting thicker and thicker, but she could see figures coming towards their direction. They wanted to move up using the stairs, and this was the only way to do so. She went into her kneeling position again and stared down at the still unconscious thief on the ground. There were only two choices for her. To let him be caught, or help him get away.

What should I do?

She widened her eyes.

Why on earth did that second idea cross my mind?!

"Sorry again, Aoko-neechan. I need you as a distraction."

Not understanding what Conan meant, she turned and was about to ask but was too dumbstruck to move. What she expected was an innocent boy holding onto his skateboard, not a boy who flipped a crosshair from his watch and was aiming right at her neck.

Before she could comprehend anything else, the world turned black.