Ladies and gentlemen! I humbly welcome you to the twenty-fifth chapter of this story!
For this chapter I had received help from not one, but two beta-readers - one being my partner (working with me from the start) and the other being NobodyInParticular123456 (back again with me, for which I'm eternally grateful ❤)
But, without further ado...
Please enjoy and review!
The regular hustle and bustle of late afternoon traffic in Tokyo was unexpectedly disturbed by a roar of a motorbike engine. The machine flitted in between the cars, only slowing down around the areas frequented by police patrols. The sun reflected off the driver's black helmet and the wind tugged on the hems of their black gakuran 1), betraying them as a student of Ekoda High School.
Suddenly, the driver recklessly pressed on both the brakes simultaneously, causing the bike to buckle with the back wheel and nearly throwing them off in front of a red light.
Kaito huffed heavily underneath his helmet, angry that he had miscalculated the timing of this traffic light. He should have taken that last turn after all. He was incredibly tempted to just ignore the lights and continue driving, but it wasn't worth the risk of getting the police involved over him wanting to blow off some steam.
In the end, he had stayed at school for the rest of the day's lessons, figuring that it would be too much of a hassle to deal with if he left early. It only helped that both Aoko and Saguru were keeping their distance from him throughout the day, so he could focus on entertaining his other classmates with minor tricks and performances.
The only annoyance of the day came during lunch time. As he took a convenience store bought bento out of his backpack, he noticed out of the corner of his eye Saguru observing him from his seat. That was highly unappreciated. Kaito countered the guy's judging stare with a glare of his own. Thankfully that was enough to make the other get back to his seat and prevent any possible exchange. Kaito did remember about Saguru recommending changing his diet to contain more seafood, thank you very much. That was why he made sure that the bento he picked contained at least some shrimp and seaweed. It's not like he had the time or personal staff to have his food custom prepared, but he was trying, alright?
Kaito noticed the cars coming from the sides of the intersection coming to a stop, giving him a sign that his lights would soon change. A grin split his lips in anticipation of the incoming adrenaline surge that would instantly clear his mind. He stepped on the rear brake and pressed the clutch lever, preparing to revve the engine and jump start as soon as the lights turned. The motorcycle went from the soft purr of the standby to a menacing growl when he rolled the throttle. Held back by the brake, the machine squatted in place underneath Kaito, as if it was a cougar eager to jump its prey at a moment's notice. In the moment that the lights changed, Kaito released the brake and clutch, kicking off the ground with his left foot as the bike sprung forward, leaving other vehicles far behind him.
By the time he parked by the Blue Parrot, he was able to regain his composure. With a satisfied huff, he took his helmet off and stuffed the riding gloves inside. He turned to look at the blue and yellow neon above the parlor's entrance and smiled genuinely. He then kicked the side stand on his bike and strapped the helmet to his school bag before making his way inside.
Technically, he did promise himself to call his mother after school, and he was still intending on doing it. It's not like he was stalling or anything. For one, he promised Jii some explanation for what had happened at the heist, and two, his mother was on the other side of the globe right now anyway. She was most likely sleeping at this time and wouldn't have been willing to pick up his call before later in the evening.
A bell chimed as he pushed the entrance door, making some of the gathered customers glance his way. A few of the regulars greeted him with a short wave or a smile as Kaito made his way to the bar. He responded with a bright smile of his own and sat at the counter. Behind it, there was a familiar face.
"Hey there Yuzuki-san 2), busy night again, I see?"
The female bartender beamed at him. "As always Kaito-kun~ You didn't bring your friends this time around?" she added, casting a curious glance at the entrance doors.
Kaito liked Yuzuki Fukui. She was not only in her late twenties, making her relatively close to Kaito's age but also very loyal to Jii. From their previous conversations, he had no doubt that she was smart. At first he was worried that she might discover anything KID related, but at least for now it didn't seem like she had. Or at the very least, she was willing to look the other way if she had noticed anything was amis.
"Nah, exams are coming up, so they preferred to stay cooped up and study instead of having a little fun," he replied with a shrug and an impish smile.
"Oh? And shouldn't you be studying as well?"
"A genius like me? Pshh~ Nah!" He waved his hand with a laugh.
Giggling, she shook her head, trying to look disapprovingly. "You're going to regret it if you neglect your studies, you know."
He leaned over the counter, propping his chin up with one hand and winked at her. "Well, I guess I can't let a dazzling jewel like yourself worry for me, can I? I promise I will get to it the moment I return home~"
She laughed and half-heartedly smacked him with a rag which she was holding in her hand. "Continue flattering me like this each time you see me, charmer, and I'll end up falling for you~ Heavens! I have no idea how that girl of yours is putting up with you!"
Kaito twitched after hearing her mention Aoko, as it reminded him once again what he did to her. Thankfully Yuzuki failed to notice it. Her comment was all the more painful because not only was Aoko not 'his girl', she would probably never be considering that he wasn't even human… Then again, it's not like it was likely before because of him being the KID anyway…
Covering for his internal turmoil, he kept to his role and wiggled his eyebrows at the woman before him. "Maybe I'm just that irresistible~?"
Still laughing, she smacked him again. "Dream on, kid~!"
He chuckled in earnest along with her and winked at her. "Well, you're laughing, so I'm counting this as a win for my joy-spreading mission~"
"Oh~? So now you're calling it a 'joy spreading mission'?" she mocked with a snort, but her eyes jumped to the side for a moment before she continued in a more somber tone. "Say, would you be willing to take another one of those missions of yours? Even if it's not for a young and dazzling beauty like me?" she added with a smirk, which Kaito could tell was strained.
"Just point me to the target~" he replied with confidence and a reassuring smile, wondering who it could be about. Was it something personal, or..?
She huffed a laugh and motioned her head towards the back door, while she reached to grab some bottles from under the counter and busied herself with preparing some non-alcoholic drink. "The old man. He tried to hide it, but I know him too well to not see that something has been bothering him this past weekend," she looked back at him finally. "A laugh or two won't fix whatever has been bothering him, but it wouldn't hurt. Also, if it's Kaito-kun, I'm sure that you could help him by at least talking about it."
While Jii never had the best poker face out there, it wasn't bad by any means. If even Yuzuki managed to see through him, it must mean that the old man was taking Kaito's recent mishap worse than he anticipated.
Despite his heart throbbing with guilt, he beamed at the bartender and pushed himself off the counter. "Worry no further, and leave it to me."
"I knew that I could count on you~" she replied with a smile and nudged the filled glass towards him. "Here, that's on me. Jii-san is in the break room. You know the way, right?"
There was no hesitation on his part before he took the drink and wrapped his lips around the straw. After all, it would be rude to decline such a nice offer, no? He confirmed her question with a humm and made his way towards the back door, savoring the nice mocktail on his way.
With how many times he had been here, Kaito knew the whole parlor, front and back, like the back of his hand, so it took him no time at all to find the door leading to the break room. There was no sound coming from inside, but considering that the room was amateurly soundproofed to, officially, provide better rest to the employees, it was no surprise. This feature was more than useful when the two of them wanted to discuss less… legal matters.
Before entering, Kaito quickly finished his mojito mocktail and set the glass aside on a box containing supplies. He strapped on a soft smile and hoped that it looked genuine enough as he pressed on the handle, opening the door. He peeked into the room with his head leaning playfully to the side and caught a glimpse of Jii staring blankly at the wall, with a seemingly forgotten onigiri in his hand, before the man turned his head to see who it was.
"Hey Jii-chan~ Missed me?" Kaito inquired cheerfully and slipped inside, gingerly closing the door behind him.
The rice ball slipped from between Jii's fingers and bumped off the table, dropping to the floor. His eyes welled with tears as the old man carefully stood up from his chair and gingerly started walking towards Kaito.
"Botchama, you're back. And you're-" he hesitated and stopped to look Kaito over more closely. "Are you alright?" he corrected himself with doubt evident in his tone.
Kaito smiled back, tempted for a moment to ease his worries with a lie but decided against it. There would be enough lying ahead of him anyway… "I'm fine enough. It's nothing that I can't walk off. How are things on your end?" he inquired, as he closed the gap between them and touched Jii's arm to guide him back towards the chairs so that they could sit down.
Jii squeezed Kaito's arm back and moved his chair closer to his before sitting down. "I was never in any danger, you made sure of it, botchama," he reminded, shaking his head. "Please tell me now what happened?"
Kaito took a deep breath and ruffled his hair with his free hand. "I messed up a little, sorry Jii-chan…" he admitted shamefully and lowered his hand to pull on his right pant leg to reveal a sliver of the bandage underneath. "It's nothing serious, but they managed to nick me with a bullet." Hearing Jii take in a sharp breath made Kaito quickly look up to him and squeeze his arm reassuringly. "It's fine really, don't worry. I managed to give them the slip too, so it's nothing to worry about."
Jii pursed his lips for a moment and nodded, accepting the explanation so far. "Thank goodness. So what happened that you couldn't meet me sooner?"
Kaito really wanted to tell Jii the truth right here and now. But he still didn't have any way to prove that he was a dragon. Instead, he decided to stick as close to the truth as he could. Not that he expected Jii to take it well either. "You see, after I got to safety I sort of… blacked out?" He shrugged, trying to downplay it, but judging by how Jii's expression took a horrified look, he failed miserably. "I was just exhausted, is all. When I came to, I discovered that Hakuba found me and brought me to his house."
Kaito would have preferred to omit that fact as well, but he doubted that Jii would have been happier to hear that he had been unconscious for a few days alone in the woods, leaving him completely exposed to any types of hungry wildlife and elements. Crediting an unknown person or saying that he was kidnapped would have been even worse.
"Hakuba? That detective classmate of yours?" Jii asked slowly, visibly confused.
Kaito didn't have to fake his sour expression. "Yeah, the same… He'd been trying to convince me before this that he wasn't interested in catching me anymore. Turns out he might not have been lying," he shrugged. "I'm still not sure what to make of it, but he didn't rat me out or anything, and… I guess I'm in his debt now…" He hadn't really considered it before, especially with what really happened, but at the end of the day, Saguru did save Kaito's life, didn't he?
"Did he say anything about his motives?"
"He said that he wanted to be my friend." Hearing himself say it, Kaito had to admit just how childish and naive the words that came out of his mouth sounded without context. He should have probably come up with something else, but it was too late for that now.
Jii's eyebrows shot up, and he opened his mouth but closed it again without making any sound. Kaito rolled his eyes and huffed.
"Look, the guy's just weird, ok? I checked, and it doesn't seem like he told anyone, and I didn't have any evidence on me, so no harm done." He didn't really do anything to confirm that Saguru didn't betray him, but given what really happened, he believed that he could trust the guy at least in this regard. "I'll deal with him somehow if anything comes out of it. We've got a bigger problem anyway," he added quickly, hoping to close the awkward topic already.
And it's not only that he wanted to avoid it. This was really something crucial that they had to discuss and figure out what to do about.
Jii paused for a moment, as if considering what Kaito was talking about. "Do you mean what happened during the heist?"
Kaito clicked his tongue, restraining his annoyance with everything that happened and this conversation in general, and sighed. "Yeah. Up until now, I expected that things would go differently if those guys dared to show their faces in public." He shrugged helplessly. "And as it turns out, there is far less media coverage than I'd hope for. This might get swept under the rug this way…" he added bitterly.
That sombered Jii, and he moved his hands to entwine his fingers on his lap. "The police allegedly made some arrests after the heist," he offered weakly.
Kaito shook his head. "Yeah, well… We both know how few officers were present at the heist. They weren't really armed either. I want to believe that the arrests were real, but I doubt it."
From what Kaito managed to find out in online news, the police had been able to arrest three men 'responsible for the shooting at the latest KID heist'. He could believe that Ginzo and his men would have been able to get the guy knocked out by Conan, but they were too out of it to capture any one else. While it wasn't something that Kaito liked to think about, the unusually high rate of cases solved by the Japanese authorities was simply impossibly high 3). Sure, there were detectives like Meitantei, but there sure as heck weren't enough of them to explain it. Kaito was a living proof that it wasn't that impossible to escape the justice system in Japan. Combined with a nearly perfect conviction rate, that led Kaito to only one conclusion - the authorities were used to using scapegoats to appease the public opinion…
They both went quiet for a moment, as this was the biggest hurdle in their plan of catching Toichi's murderers. They needed the police's (unwilling) help in apprehending and bringing to justice those who were responsible.
Kaito huffed. "I'll infiltrate the Police Department once my leg fully heals. Probably next week. I'll see what I can find out."
If he didn't find any real leads in the reports, they should consider the possibility that the police were compromised and were being manipulated by the syndicate. As frightening as that possibility was, it would explain why so few officers were dispatched to the last heist…
Jii licked his lips and spoke up carefully. "Can't you try to ask your new friend to look into it for you?"
Kaito's response was immediate and had the air of finality. "No." He cleared his throat to make his voice sound softer. "I don't want to involve him or go further in debt with him. Besides," he added with a small smile. "Getting in and out of the Department is easy for me. Especially once things settle down, so you don't need to worry." He leaned back in his seat, feeling unsettled about the next topic. "But whatever I find out, we have to rethink how we manage the heists altogether…" The words felt bitter as they rolled off his tongue, reminding him of Conan's accusatory tone and the articles Kaito read last night.
Jii's shoulders sagged, dropping along with his gaze, as if he couldn't bear to look the teen before him in his eyes. "It wasn't your fault what happened, botchama…" he whispered carefully.
"No… It wasn't either of our faults. But I was the reason why all those people gathered at the site and why any shots were fired. I can't claim that I don't bear any responsibility…" he admitted with a heavy heart.
From what he read, nobody died, but five people were hospitalized. Four with gunshot wounds and one trampled by the panicking crowd. Two still hadn't been released home. Kaito was tempted to try and visit them under disguise but couldn't really bring himself to do it.
"Until we figure out something better, we'll target only the best Pandora candidates and demand the venue to be closed to the public. If they won't listen, I'll just stop sending my notices, like we said in the note."
Hearing that, Jii's hands shot up and he grabbed both of Kaito's arms, shaking him. "You can't do that, botchama! It will be too hard for you to complete the heists like that! Please, reconsider!"
Kaito smiled softly at him and gently peeled his hands off himself. "We'll figure it out when the time comes, Jii-chan. Don't worry." Seeing the old man sag again with worry, Kaito chuckled with confidence and flicked his wrist, seemingly conjuring the Ace of Hearts out of thin air right before Jii's eyes. "Believe in me, Jii-chan. Achieving the impossible is what I do, after all~"
Jii's eyes sparkled for a moment, a small smile brightening his features, as he reached for the card. Kaito smirked and flipped the card, offering it to him. When the old man turned it back to look at its face, there was the KID's caricature grinning back at him. Jii chuckled and shook his head, pressing the card to his chest.
"You're so much like your father…" He looked back up at Kaito with laughing eyes. "Sorry for ever doubting you, botchama. Let me continue helping you bring dreams to reality."
The smile on Kaito's lips turned genuine. "I wouldn't have it any other way, Jii-chan~"
1) gakuran - it's the specific uniform worn by middle- and highschool male students which you might be most familiar with from manga/anime. They range in color usually from navy blue to black and can have other minor differences, most schools have the buttons decorated with the school emblem, making it easily recognizable where a student wearing it attends.
2) Fukui Yuzuki - DC manga chapters: 853-855, DC anime episodes: 738-739 (why create a character if canon has one ready, right? ;) )
3) That tibit is actually true - as unsettling as it is…
If you liked the chapter or have anything to say about it please do consider leaving a comment - reading them makes my day, so I would greatly appreciate it! :D
Hope to see you next chapter *bows*