Disclaimer: I don't own DCMK
A Curse Marked Fate
47: Behind Closed Doors
"I think the first thing we need to do is determine how much in the way of rations we have in here," Kaito said as he opened the snack cabinet and started pulling items out of it. He lined the items up on the reading table in neat rows, revealing a variety of snacks, cookies, bars, mixed nuts and dried fruit, and something like thirty different types of chocolate and chocolaty treats. With this sugary arsenal was a variety of sodas, teas and water. Fortunately, the water made up most of the beverage portion of their rations because Shinichi wasn't going to live off soda (or rather cultivate diabetes off it) unless he absolutely had to. There was also an array of instant ramen of different flavors, which Shinichi would never have put in a library himself but which he now had to admit might come in handy on off chances like this one when you were forced to consider actually living in the library space for a few days.
"Were you stocking for a siege?" he wondered aloud, eyeing the vast array of snacks. "Not that I'm complaining, but still…"
"I wish," Kaito replied with a rueful grin. "If I had been, I'd have picked a more balanced selection. But I was really just using the space to stash extra snacks so they'd be easy to carry around. I made myself a similar space after I made this one, but I sort of kept using this one before now because I'd already stocked it, and I haven't finished the bathroom in mine yet."
"I'd say that's the real blessing," Shinichi observed. "I don't even want to imagine staying in here without a bathroom."
Kaito chuckled. "Well, I did try to consider all the usual necessities. Anyway, I'd say we should be able to last a few days with all this."
Shinichi grimaced. "I really hope it doesn't come to that. I was sort of thinking we should get our chance to leave tonight. I don't suppose we could call anyone?"
Kaito was shaking his head before Shinichi had even finished his question. "No cell reception. No internet access either. We may be able to view and listen to the outside world, but this is still a different dimension."
Shinichi nodded. He'd expected as much since he was fairly certain that Kaito would have mentioned it right away if they could call for help. Still, expecting the answer didn't make it less of a disappointment.
"Well, he has to put the book down somewhere when he goes to bed," he said, thinking out loud. "Even if it's in his bedroom, if we're quiet, we should be able to sneak away."
"That would be the best case scenario," Kaito agreed, expression settling into something more serious once again as his gaze flitted over the many tall, dark windows. They were still tucked neatly inside the Foundation man's coat pocket. "If he does take the book into a lab for an examination, we might be in trouble. Our Vision Books aren't well known yet, but they're not brand new either. The last thing we need is for them to guess that the intruders they were looking for didn't drop the book but hid inside it."
"At least we'd know if they come to that conclusion because of the sparrow," Shinichi pointed out. "And they still wouldn't be able to get in at us. Right?"
Kaito hesitated then nodded. "Right."
The firm conviction in his voice was perhaps more for his friend than a true reflection of his thoughts. He hadn't created this book to be a fortress after all. It hadn't even been meant to serve as a vault. It had simply been a portable space where his book-loving friend could stash his collection and also get away from the outside world and enjoy those books he loved in peace wherever and whenever he wanted.
Putting those thoughts out of his mind for now, Kaito turned away from the windows and back to Shinichi, who was neatly rearranging the snacks as he put them back into the cabinet, this time organizing with a mind for rationing.
"So it sounds like they're going to be searching for us for a while," the Sky Mage said. "We'll need to keep our ears out just in case they find anything and to see if they mention where they might take us next, but you know, it just occurred to me that his is a golden opportunity."
"Yeah?" Shinichi asked, only half listening as he calculated how many hours it had been since he'd parted ways with Kogoro.
"Yeah," Kaito said, indigo eyes narrowing in sudden concentration. "We're in the perfect position to eavesdrop on all their conversations as long as this guy keeps our library in his pocket. He's got a Mark and seems to be someone in charge, so we may be in the perfect position to gather all the intel we know we'd need if we want the police to pay attention to what we have to say."
Shinichi had to admit that Kaito had a point, and he reflected that it seemed there really could be a silver lining to every situation if you looked in the right places.
Since the snatches they could hear from the outside world made it clear that the search for the two of them was still going strong and unlikely to abate anytime soon, they decided they should take turns getting some rest. Shinichi volunteered to take first watch. Knowing that he would need all his wits about him when they eventually made their escape, Kaito didn't argue. The couch hadn't been intended to serve as a bed, but it was comfortable enough.
Left to his own devices, Shinichi wandered restlessly around the little library, keeping one ear on the sparrow all the while.
Every now and then he would move to stare through each window, hoping for some sign of where they were. But all he ever saw was the darkness inside their unwitting host's coat pocket.
"…the security feed," an unfamiliar voice said at one point. "I saw a few teenage boys, but never two together."
"Remember," the voice he knew to be their host's said. "They may also have been wearing illusions to get into the building. Check the infrared scans from the door sensors and see if they all match up to the visuals."
"Yes, Sir."
There was en electric humming and the clicking of keys.
"So far, they all match," the first voice reported. "And all the visitors were logged as having left."
Their host cursed, clearly dissatisfied by these results, but Shinichi breathed out a sigh of relief.
It seemed Kaito's ploy with the thermal illusions had worked. The Edogawa boys had been successfully logged as having left.
Outside, their host began ordering a thorough examination of all the security footage of the various internal halls of the building for signs that might show the presence of invisible teens—doors opening and closing without help, office plants rustling where there was no wind, and impressions on the carpets, so on and so forth.
The man had a thorough mind, Shinichi mused.
He wondered if they would find anything and hoped that they wouldn't.
Growing increasingly restless, Shinichi paced along the lengths of the mostly empty shelves, circling the library twice before he eventually ended up in front of the shelf that Kaito had been in the process of stocking.
There were quite a lot of novels here for various grade levels—clearly books he had wanted to share with Shinichi at different times in his life over the years since they had met. And he had kept them all and put them here… Knowing that made Shinichi feel a little strange—all warm and fuzzy inside but also a little bit sad.
Kaito had been thinking about him all these years. Not only that, the Sky Mage had taken his words to heart and acted on them. He had studied hard and built all this! Kaito wasn't just an exceptional mage—though he certainly was that. He was so much more as well. He was thoughtful and dedicated and kind despite the streak of mischief a mile wide and the corkscrew sense of humor.
Standing there gazing at those books, Shinichi vowed that he would do everything he could to make sure that they got home because he knew without a doubt that Kaito was meant to do great things one day. Shinichi didn't know if he would be there to see that day himself (though he silently hoped that he would), but he wanted—needed—Kaito to see it.
X
Being a light sleeper (you quickly developed the ability to be alert to all changes in your surroundings when you lived with a father who loved pranks just as much as you did), Kaito woke instantly the moment Shinichi called his name. He was up off the couch so fast that he startled Shinichi into leaping back. The little detective collided with one of the armchairs, bounced away from it and stumbled a step or two before he managed to catch his balance again. By then, Kaito had ascertained that they were not in any immediate danger and the windows were still pocket dark.
He moved quickly to the door to check that the locking spells were still in place just to be safe before turning his attention back to Shinichi. "Did something happen?"
The detective nodded tensely, gesturing towards the sparrow.
"I thought you might want to hear this," he said in a whisper. "Our host is having some kind of meeting."
Together, the two moved to the sparrow statuette's side. Shinichi, Kaito noted with some amusement, had produced a small notebook and a pen and was taking notes.
"If we still haven't found them then they've obviously escaped somehow," an unfamiliar, nasal voice was saying. "Or they were never here. It's not like you don't see things sometimes."
"They were here," their host insisted hotly. "Kana heard their footsteps."
"Or maybe she just thought she did because you two were running after your invisible intruders. Maybe what she really heard was the echo of your own steps. Have you thought about that?"
"They were real," their host insisted again, though there may have been a hint of uncertainty underneath his conviction this time.
The nasal voice leapt on it. "You see? And really, even if there were two teenage boys wandering around the office, what does it matter? It's not like they were police. They weren't, were they?"
"I…do not believe so," their host said slowly. "But they shouldn't have been in that hall."
"Kids like nosing around where they don't belong. It's nothing new. It's nothing to freak out about either. It's not like they got down here into the lab."
Kaito stiffened and glanced down to meet Shinichi's wide-eyed gaze. "We're in the lab?"
Shinichi swallowed with a throat that had gone abruptly dry and nodded. "That's…what I heard too."
"I say you of all people have the least right to accuse Daisuke of being overly paranoid," a new voice cut in. This voice, however, was one that Kaito and Shinichi recognized.
"Sharon," they mouthed in unison.
This Sharon, however, was not the cool but empathetic woman they had met. She was still cool, but she was also clearly angry. "You're the idiot who decided it would be a grand idea to blow up an iconic research institution just because you heard a rumor that they were studying magic nullification. Now the police are going to be on that case, and the whole world's going to have its attention on that research!"
"What, I was supposed to sit around and wait until they perfect the damned amulets? Just a handful of those wretched things could ruin everything we've worked for!"
"Most people don't believe magic nullification can be done without a Curse Mark—sometimes not even then. They like to talk about it, but it's just talk. But now that you've tried to destroy it, a lot of people are going to start wondering if maybe it really is potent because hey, otherwise why try to get rid of it? Stupid, stupid move. And don't forget the police. We don't need them sniffing around here when we're so close!"
"Yeah, yeah," the nasal voice sneered. "You're just upset about that old flame of yours. That's what this is really about, isn't it Sharon? You're just upset because we put your dear teacher in the hospital. And with his guard up, you have even less chance to get your claws into him than you had before."
There was a beat of silence during which Kaito and Shinichi gaped at one another like astonished goldfish.
When the silence was broken, it was by Sharon, and her voice was winter personified. "Speak of this to me again, and I will kill you."
It didn't sound like an idle threat.
The declaration was followed by the clicking of retreating heels.
Then the silence returned.
"Did I really just hear that?!" Kaito whisper-shouted. HE had dropped his Poker Face completely, and his features contorted into a series of bizarre expressions before setting on something between Incredulous and deeply disturbed. "That… I mean, seriously, that's just…" He waved his arms about wildly, apparently unable to find the words to properly express his dismay.
"At least now we know," Shinichi reasoned. This discovery would also explain the way the woman had been staring at Kaito during their meeting. She must have noticed the similarity between Kaito and his father and perhaps been trying to place it. Shinichi just hoped that his own resemblance to Kaito would have helped bolster their disguises since the Kurobas only had the one son.
Kaito pulled a face and shook his head, but it seemed he had finally calmed down. "Man, I did not need to hear that," he muttered then sighed. "But yeah, at least now we know Dad's got to be extra careful since it seems he's on their list."
"Although it sounds like they're not all on the same page," Shinichi said. He stared down at the notes he'd taken then grimaced. "We just heard them admit that they were behind the fire at the institute, but we still don't have any actual proof we could show anyone."
"I'll know that guy's voice if I ever hear it again though," Kaito said darkly. "In fact, I can reproduce it," he added in the same nasal tones they had just heard. "So now we know we're looking in the right place, and we have a clue as to who to focus our investigation on. That's a huge leap forward."
Shinichi conceded the point. "I just hope we get out of here in time to actually make use of the information. It sounds like they're about to do something big…"
"Everyone's gotta sleep eventually," the Sky Mage replied with a crooked smile. "In the meantime, I'd say we're being quite productive. At this rate, we may even have their whole plan and the names of everyone involved by the time we leave."
Shinichi had to laugh at that. "That would certainly be something."
TBC
