Disclaimer: I don't own DCMK
A Curse Marked Fate
62: Operation Mocha Cream
"I don't like this." Kaito gazed up at the sign over the coffee shop doors with narrowed eyes. The lettering on the sign was fancy to the point of illegibility, but he knew it said Simone's. He knew this because his father had told him.
"I imagine your mom likes it even less," Shinichi replied. In all honesty, he still couldn't believe that Kuroba Chikage had caved and given her husband's plan her reluctant approval.
Kaito blew out a resigned breath then squared his shoulders. "Well, there's no changing things now. We may as well get set up."
Shinichi nodded, checking his phone then pocketing it. "Ran texted. She says she and Uncle will be here in five."
"Right. Let's go." Kaito strode forward and pushed open the door to the coffee shop.
Shinichi's eyes were drawn automatically to his and Kaito's reflections in the glass of that door as they slid across it, ghostly and alien.
It was amazing, he thought, what Kaito and his father could do with a few props and some cosmetics.
Kaito now appeared to be in his early twenties. His wild mess of dark hair had become a mop of ginger curls, and his eyes were a dark, chocolate brown. He had donned a pair of wire-rimmed spectacles and was dressed in business casual attire. He had the Tokyo U logo on his jacket as well as the backpack he had slung over one shoulder, suggesting that he was a student.
It wasn't the change in appearance, however, that stood out to Shinichi. It was the shift in the way Kaito was holding himself and the way he was moving—talking. It was like Kaito was actually exuding the aura of a frazzled college student who'd had his little brother dumped on him for the afternoon.
Shinichi himself had been given a makeover as well so that he looked the part. But he was fairly sure he wasn't selling the image nearly so well.
Bells tinkled overhead, announcing their arrival.
Coffee-scented air rolled over the two boys as they entered the shop, and Shinichi inhaled deeply, relishing in the rich, aromatic atmosphere. He had to say, Toichi-san had good taste in venues. One glance around told him that the coffee shop was clean and well kept. The furnishings and décor managed to combine a kind of old-fashioned elegance with clean, modern lines in shades of golden oak and cream and the occasional dash of spring green.
Kuroba Toichi was already seated in the middle of the small shop's three booths. He had a laptop open on the table before him and a cup of coffee by his elbow, the picture of a man at work.
Shinichi knew that the man had noticed him and Kaito, but he pretended he hadn't, and they returned the favor.
"Come on, Squirt," Kaito said loudly as he headed for the counter. "I'll get you cake and a drink if you promise to be quiet while I work. Deal?"
"Deal!" Shinichi exclaimed in what he hoped sounded like childish enthusiasm as he followed Kaito to the counter. "What kind of cake?"
"The house special. It's supposed to be amazing. It's won an award and everything."
"Really?" Shinichi didn't have to feign the surprise as this was the first he'd heard of this.
"Yep."
"That's cool."
Kaito grinned. "Sure is. And what do you want to drink?"
Shinichi really, really wanted to say coffee, but it was still on Ai's banned foods list, and he just knew that she would know if he tried to get around that. So he tore his longing eyes from the list of coffees on the back wall and pointed at a carton of milk lined up below the cake display. "I'll have that."
"Got it. Now go find us a table while I order, all right."
"Okay." Still trying to channel chipper little brother, Shinichi trotted off towards the tables and nabbed one that would position him and Kaito just behind and off to one side of whoever joined Toichi in his booth.
Shinichi hopped onto the chair that would give him a view of said booth and briefly met the archmage's eyes.
Toichi's lips twitched into a fleeting smile before the man let his gaze drop back to his work.
Kaito strode over bearing a tray. Shinichi's eyes zeroed in on Kaito's cream-topped mug of coffee. That didn't look like ordinary cream. It had a faintly coffee-colored tint and looked mouthwateringly, well, creamy.
"Sorry," Kaito said, sounding more amused than apologetic. "Doctor's orders."
Shinichi sulked, and Kaito hid a smile.
"Come now, just focus on how nice it is to be able to get out of the house for a bit," he advised.
Shinichi wrinkled his nose for a moment then heaved a sigh and relented. It was indeed a relief to be let out of the house. It wouldn't have been so bad if he'd been able to spend that time reading, but looking too long at little lines of text right now made his head ache. Instead, he'd been subjected to day after day of enforced bed rest and way too many card games, and they had been slowly driving him insane. It had gotten to the point where he actually wasn't sure if the lucid moments were truly any better than the bouts of exhaustion and illness. And when you started thinking like that, you knew you needed help—or at least a change of pace.
He felt like he'd been in recovery forever already, and he still barely looked eight (or, at a stretch, a very young nine. It was giving Kaito déjà vu).
In lieu of that, Ai had grudgingly approved Shinichi's participation in Kuroba Toichi's plan for info gathering (under strict orders that Shinichi tell Kaito the moment he started feeling ill, and that Kaito bring him straight back to Agasa's if he showed any signs of said illness).
So here they were.
The bells over the door jingled again, admitting Mouri Kogoro and Ran, both also in disguise courtesy of the Kuroba men. Ran had been aged up and given a blond, wavy hairdo and a tan. She'd been equipped with a tennis bag borrowed from Sonoko, and was playing the role of a college athlete also stopping by for an afternoon break with her coach.
Said coach was being played by her father, who had been aged down and made over to project the image of a sporty professional.
The Mouris slid into a booth. Kogoro took the seat that would place him back to back with Toichi's guest when she arrived. It was another layer of protection in case the disguise didn't hold up. Although Shinichi hoped it wouldn't come to that.
Kogoro more than anyone else had to be here and be anonymous. They were relying on him to make sure that Kuroba Toichi didn't join the ranks of the magically enthralled. Kogoro's abilities were, in fact, the only reason any of them had even considered doing this. It didn't, however, assuage their concerns completely as Kogoro had never put much effort into exploring the active application of those abilities. He was more accustomed to relying on its passive protection.
They had conducted a few experiments over the past few days and determined that yes, Kogoro could, in fact, increase the probability that spells in his vicinity would malfunction if he willed it so. Targeting specific spells, on the other hand, had proven less viable. With that in mind, Toichi had chosen this coffee shop, which had a long tradition of using no magic in the preparation of its food and beverages. After all, they didn't want to interfere with anyone's business.
Successful experiments or not, Shinichi still had reservations. Mostly, he wished they'd had more time for Kogoro to practice.
"Relax," Kaito said. "You're going to attract attention if you don't. Here. Try this. It's the house special I told you about." He pushed one of the plates of cake in front of Shinichi. "It's their award winning mocha cream cake. The cream in particular got loads of judges raving about its divinity."
"Right. Sorry." With an effort, Shinichi tore his attention from the others and focused on the cake. He blinked, really seeing it for the first time.
The small, round cake boasted a delicate arrangement of chocolate blossoms nestled in a bed of delicate, creamy leaves. The cake itself was comprised of alternating layers of sponge cake and cream in similarly alternating shades.
"It's beautiful," he decided.
Kaito chuckled. "I agree and all, but I'd say the taste is more important than the appearance when it comes to cake—or any food for that matter."
"Didn't you say it won an award?"
"Indeed I did. Really though, just try it," Kaito urged, though he had yet to take a bite of his own dessert. "I didn't order it so you could admire its artistry."
"It looks too good to eat," Shinichi countered, but he picked up his fork as told anyway.
Cream, cake and chocolate all but melted on his tongue in a dance of textures and flavors—butter, coco and coffee; smooth, fluffy and creamy—all folding together into a delightful melody.
"Wow," Shinichi breathed once his thoughts had returned from their moment of stunned bliss. "I mean, just…wow. I can see why it got an award. I think I'd like to come back when I can have it with coffee though. I bet they'd go well together."
"They do," Kaito agreed, having sampled his own cake with coffee. Then he grinned. "The whipped cream's also been flavored to help blend the two. We'll come back for a proper date when this is all over."
"I'd like that," Shinichi blurted out before he could lose his nerve, blushing pink.
Kaito blinked. "Do you mean the coming back part or the date?" he checked.
Shinichi's blush darkened, but his voice was steady when he answered. "Both. That is, if you still want to I mean, now that you know everything…"
Kaito blinked again, processing. Then his face broke into a delighted grin, and he reached across the table to give Shinichi's small hand a squeeze. "Nothing would please me more."
The sincerity in his voice made Shinichi's insides turn to warm fluff in a way that he still found mildly disconcerting, but he mustered his courage and smiled back shyly.
Then, because they had a pretense to keep up, Kaito produced an advanced magic textbook from his backpack for himself and a novel for Shinichi.
They had just about settled in when the shop bells tinkled again, and in walked a familiar blonde.
X
Kuroba Toichi looked up at the approach of high-heeled footsteps. He knew what he would see when he looked (having looked up Sharon's picture on the Foundation's website), but somehow he was still taken by surprise by the sight of Sharon Vineyard, his former student.
He remembered the woman well.
She had been in the same year at Tokyo U as Yukiko. The two had been roommates who'd connected because they were both Sky Mages who shared an interest in the performance arts.
Toichi had been in the final stretch of his Ph.D. studies at the time and acting as the teaching assistant for several magic department classes. One of those classes had been a practical magic class focused on the spells used in theater (which were a lot more diverse than most would expect, touching on fields including special effects, sound manipulation, prop support, disguise and so on and so forth). Both Sharon and Yukiko had taken the class.
Toichi had recognized both their passion and their talent from the start. Both girls were regular visitors during his office hours, coming with questions on spells and techniques that had been mentioned only in passing during class or that they had heard of through other channels. They had asked for additional reference materials and advice on mastering more complex spells. Toichi had ended up tutoring them on both stage techniques and magic well beyond what had been taught in the class. He had also recommended them to the university's thespian club (of which he too had been a member during his undergraduate days), and they had both thrown themselves into the club's various productions and events with enthusiasm.
The young women he remembered had both been vibrant and dedicated. He could still remember the way they'd looked giggling like children over a particularly peculiar anecdote that had given birth to an equally peculiar spell.
Yukiko had maintained that joyful energy throughout her acting career, and, last time Toichi had seen her, the spark of it had still danced in her sky blue eyes.
But there was no sign of that light in the eyes of the woman now sitting before Toichi. Though her smile was warm and there was genuine pleasure in her face at seeing him again, there was a coolness behind her eyes that Toichi found disconcertingly alien. It sent a pang of regret through his chest. What had happened to change that bright young woman so drastically?
As someone who had considered himself her friend, he should know. But the last he had heard from her had been nearly two decades ago. She'd sent him a card congratulating him on the birth of his son shortly before she had announced to the world, abruptly and without explanation, that she was retiring as an actress and promptly vanished. There'd been rumors of a scandal, but there always were, and Toichi had never paid them any attention, assuming that they were just nosy gossips spinning tales as they so often did.
He should have reached out though, he thought now. He'd been busy learning to be a father, true, but dialing a phone wasn't difficult. If he'd made an effort, maybe he'd understand why they were sitting here like this now.
Alas, it was too late now for what ifs.
"Sharon, it's good to see you again," he said, offering her a warm smile. "It has been far too long."
"It has," she agreed readily, returning his smile. "And I'm glad to see you look well. When I saw what happened to the Institute on the news, I just had to make sure for myself that you were all right."
"It was rough there for a time," he admitted. "It's only because of my son that I'm here at all."
Apparently this was news to Sharon as her eyebrows shot up. "Your son? Kaito, right? The news didn't mention he was there as well."
"He wasn't there during the attack," Toichi clarified. "But he arrived shortly after the fires started. He assisted the firefighters and led the operation to extract me and one of my employees from the stasis keeping us alive."
Sharon nodded slowly. "You must be very proud."
Toichi couldn't help the broad smile that broke across his face at that. "I am."
The blonde didn't seem to know what to say to that, so she changed the subject. "Have the police caught the people who attacked you?"
"Unfortunately, no. We know there were several of them working together, and that at least one of them was a woman, but neither Aya nor I can actually identify them. So the police haven't had much to work with."
He watched her carefully as he said this. Would she be relieved? If she was, it didn't show.
"It must have been frightening. I wish you hadn't had to go through that," she said, and Toichi thought that the sentiment was sincere. "And all that work lost too must have been a huge blow."
He grimaced. "Indeed. Less than I'd feared but more than I'd like. The newer projects suffered the most."
"Were you able to recover any of it?"
He shrugged, choosing his words with care as he wondered if perhaps Sharon was here on an information gathering endeavor as well. "Not much luck so far, but we're still working on it. Only time will tell. But even if we can't recover anything, I'm sure we'll find a way to manage. No research bears fruit without running into a few setbacks along the way."
"True."
"So what about you?" he asked. "I understand you left the entertainment industry. Where did you go after that?"
Shutters seemed to close behind the woman's eyes, but her smile remained. "Here and there. I spent some time traveling. Seeing the world. Just enjoying life, I guess."
Toichi quirked an eyebrow at her, amused. "I have to say, I never pictured you as a footloose wanderer."
"I wouldn't have thought so either," she said with a half smile and a shrug. "And I wouldn't want to go do it again. But that journey was good for me."
Her gaze grew distant then, looking through Toichi at something—some time—only she could see.
"I learned a lot of things," she said, and Toichi couldn't tell if she was speaking to him or just thinking out loud at this point. "There are still miracles in this world for those who know where to look."
Toichi frowned slightly as Sharon fell into a pensive silence after her declaration. In truth, he hadn't known what to expect coming into this conversation, but this…hadn't been it.
In the hopes of resetting the mood into something less bizarre, he signaled the owner, who brought a tall glass of creamy, chilled coffee topped with whipped cream and a caramel drizzle over a few minutes later. He set it before Sharon, effectively drawing her attention back to the present.
"This place is famous for its mocha cream," Toichi told her. "They're best known for the cake, but their related coffee drinks are excellent as well. I think you'll like this one."
She hesitated, looking surprised, then picked up the glass and gave it a sip.
"It's good," she agreed, though there was no real interest in her voice. The observation made Toichi a little sad, but he shelved the feeling for now. He too was here to try and dig for information.
"I take it from your reference to the journey that you're no longer traveling the world?" he asked.
"No. I've moved back to Tokyo, actually. And I believe I'll be here to stay."
"I can see you're pleased about that," Toichi observed. "That's good. So what do you do now?"
"I've been working for a nonprofit organization that works with children," she replied. "It has been very rewarding."
Though her face and tone conveyed honesty, Toichi couldn't help but feel that the statement came across as rehearsed.
"Which nonprofit?" Toichi asked, pretending he didn't already know. "I might have heard of it."
"I wouldn't be surprised if you have. They've been doing excellent work, and people are noticing. We've expanded our operations and even built a new campus recently. We're called the Choice Foundation, and we've been teaching children with Curse Marks how to control their abilities and build normal lives."
Toichi nodded. "I've heard of them. In truth, I've reached out to them a few times to see if they would be interested in cooperating with the Institute, but I'm afraid no one I spoke to seemed interested. A few of them were…less than polite."
"I'm sorry about that. I'm afraid our researchers can be a little brusque," Sharon said smoothly. "But we do deal with a lot of very personal information on children. As such, discretion is a must."
He nodded. "I understand. Speaking of research though, I heard the Choice Foundation will be presenting at the World Expo this year.'
"We will. We've made some remarkable discoveries in the last year or two that we feel will change the world."
Toichi's eyebrows shot up. "That's quite the vote of confidence. Will you be part of the presentation?"
"The research department's handling that," Sharon demurred. "I'll mainly be working behind the scenes. Though I do have a small part to play in one of the demonstrations."
Toichi didn't have to feign his interest. "What sort of demonstration?"
For a moment, he thought the woman might actually answer him, but then she visibly caught herself. "Sorry. I'm afraid it's confidential."
Toichi waved away her apology. "No need to apologize. I will simply have to see for myself during the expo."
A faint frown flickered across the blonde's face. "Won't you be busy with your own presentation?"
"I suppose I may be," the archmage said after a moment's thought. "I don't believe the event schedule's been created yet."
Sharon nodded. "The Foundation is assisting with the venue arrangements, so we will likely be assisting with scheduling as well. Let me look into it and let you know."
Over at their table, Kaito turned a page of the textbook he wasn't actually reading and murmured out of the corner of his mouth, "Is it just me, or does it sound like she doesn't actually want him to go to that presentation?"
"It does seem that way," Shinichi whispered back, frowning. "I wonder why."
"I can think of at least one reason," Kaito said darkly but fell quiet again as the adults continued talking.
The longer they spoke, the more relaxed and open Sharon seemed to become. She began sharing just a little more about the work she'd been doing, though she still avoided discussing anything that touched on the Foundation's research. She did, however, allude to certain Curse Marks as ones she had personally worked with, and Kaito noticed Shinichi surreptitiously taking notes on a napkin.
At one point, the woman actually laughed. The sound was so warm and genuine that it made the two eavesdropping boys jump and exchange astonished looks. Neither of them could have imagined such a laugh coming from the mouth of the woman they'd met at the Foundation even while she was wearing her guise of the professional but friendly representative.
Kaito ordered both himself and Shinichi another slice of cake each just to bolster their excuse for staying so long. Noticing the faintly unfocused look in Shinichi's eyes, he worriedly began debating whether he should order a few sandwiches too (he'd rather accidentally draw some attention because of Shinichi's currently abnormal appetite than risk his friend passing out), but a soft chime announced that Sharon had an incoming call.
"Sorry Sensei, I' have to take this one," she said apologetically, sounding more like the student Toichi remembered than she had all afternoon. Phone in hand, she stood and walked quickly out of the coffee shop, oblivious to the numerous pairs of eyes that tracked her progress.
"Wish she'd turn around," Kaito muttered, craning his neck. "Then I'd be able to read her lips."
"And she'd be able to see you reading them," Shinichi shot back. "By now, I think we can safely say she's not going to give us their secrets. On the bright side, we've told her the Institute's having difficulty recovering their data, so, if we're lucky, her colleagues will decide we're no longer a threat they have to watch out for."
Kaito grunted, dissatisfied. "I was hoping we'd get more. Something, you know, useful."
"All information is useful," Shinichi insisted. "The real question is how. Hold up your book. She's coming back."
Both boys retreated hastily behind their respective shields of paper and milk carton, ears stretched as far as they could towards the archmage's table.
"I'm really sorry. They need me back at the office," she said, once again the cool, collected professional. "One of my clients had an accident, and he's very upset. I'm the best at communicating with him, so they've asked me to go. Again, I'm really sorry. I…really enjoyed getting to talk to you again like this…"
"I really enjoyed this too," Toichi told her with all sincerity, indigo eyes clear and warm. "If our schedules allow, I would very much appreciate it if you would join me for coffee again some time soon."
Sharon froze for a moment before she managed to gather herself again. "I…would like that."
She picked up her bag, one hand slipping into its confines. Shinichi shot a look at Ran, who responded by kicking her father under the table. He woke from where he had clearly been dozing off with a stifled yelp, started to complain, saw his daughter's expression, and shut up. Instead, his brows furrowed as he concentrated.
Shinichi shook out of his daze, shoulders hunching slightly with the sudden tension.
But then Sharon's hand emerged from her bag empty.
"I had a get well gift for you," she told Toichi with a passably convincing look of embarrassment. "But I'm afraid I misplaced it."
"Don't worry about it. Seeing you again was gift enough for me," Toichi replied. "I really am glad to see you're doing well."
The woman inclined her head, murmuring a soft, "Thank you."
And then she was gone.
Kaito's fork fell onto his empty cake plate with a clatter. "She…didn't give it to him."
"No," Shinichi said softly, gaze resting on the coffee shop's closed doors. "She didn't."
TBC