Kaito Kid: "…"
He'd been watching from the banquet hall earlier and had noticed that Jiang Xia hadn't looked at Ran Mouri or Sonoko Suzuki in that way. But now, right after the switch—did this detective really figure it out that fast?
Kid couldn't help but feel it was a little unscientific. Still, since Jiang Xia hadn't called the cops, he held on to a shred of hope.
Maybe Jiang Xia just sensed something off but hadn't actually spotted the flaw in his disguise. There was still hope! He could work with this. This girl role still had potential!
Clinging to that optimism, Kid put on his most convincing "gentle high school girl" act. He gave Conan a sweet smile and lowered his head to fix the collar he'd just messed up.
But as soon as he did that, he saw Jiang Xia turn away disinterestedly. The detective poured himself a glass of grape juice, took a sip, and calmly floated off toward a more crowded area.
Kid let out a silent sigh of relief.
Detectives were seriously annoying. One second of carelessness and they'd see through your whole act. Even if there's no "incident," they still sniff you out on "intuition" alone.
Better not to mess with Jiang Xia for now. He could say hi after pulling off the heist. No point in walking into a trap and failing to steal anything after all this effort.
Still thinking things over, Kid looked down and realized he'd accidentally tied Conan's bowtie into an actual bow.
Startled, he gave a sheepish laugh and quickly fixed it again. Then he patted the kid's head—only for his heart to freeze mid-action.
The child was giving him the same weird X-ray gaze that Jiang Xia had.
For a moment, Kid felt like he was trapped in a horror movie—like everyone on this boat was secretly Jiang Xia in disguise. Otherwise, how the hell could a first-year kid pull that kind of look?
But soon Conan went back to being cute and chatty again.
Too chatty.
"So, Sister Ran, who do you think Kid looks like now?" he asked innocently.
Kid: "…"
Okay. It wasn't just paranoia. There was something seriously wrong with today's situation.
Kid tilted his head, and whizz!—an anesthesia needle flew past his face.
He stared in shock at the boy below him, who was now casually closing his wristwatch and crouching down to fiddle with the sole of his sneaker.
Kid's danger senses screamed at him. He flung a bag of black pearl-shaped smoke bombs into the air—puff! They burst, fogging up the banquet hall in a chaos of smoke and confusion.
He'd seen Conan once before—on the rooftop of the Cupido Hotel during an April Fool's Day heist. The police had blocked the roof, and Conan had looked like he wanted to charge in but was held back. At the time, Kid thought he was just some policeman's relative.
Clearly, he'd underestimated him.
He'd focused too much on Jiang Xia and completely ignored the bold little gremlin in front of him…
Kid spotted Mrs. Suzuki's location and made a break for it. He'd planned an elaborate performance to steal the pearl, but now? No time for flair. Just grab it and go.
He snatched the pearl mid-chaos and dashed for an exit, all the while mentally grumbling about how maybe next time he should disguise himself as Jiang Xia—and make sure his tranquilizer is stuck somewhere inconvenient.
Otherwise, the moment he showed up, he'd be instantly flagged and the game would be over before it even began.
As he ran through the smoke, he didn't notice a pair of curious eyes following him.
The moment Kid touched the Black Star pearl through a handkerchief, Jiang Xia's ghosts let out a chorus of excited squeals in his mind.
At the same time, Jiang Xia himself could feel a surge of energy radiating from the pearl.
...An energy core.
A fresh one.
So his theory had been right all along. Suddenly, Kaito Kid didn't seem quite so boring anymore.
Jiang Xia slipped into a quiet corner, leaned against the wall, and sent several of his shikigami fluttering out behind him. They passed silently through walls and corridors and reformed into a towering figure on the side of the ship.
…
After barely pulling off his escape, Kid ditched the cops and clambered up to a higher spot. He scanned the area.
There—his tool man, Terai, was waiting out on the sea in a small boat.
(TL NOTE: Terai = Konosuke Jii, Kaito Kid's assistant. His name is Terai in this fanfic)
Kid flicked his cape. The white fabric stiffened into a glider, carrying him up and out toward Terai's boat.
In the air, he looked down at the still sea, hand brushing the performance props in his pocket—props he'd never gotten to use. He sighed.
Technically, the theft had been a success. He did get the pearl. But the process? A total disaster. No drama, no style—just grab-and-go.
Tch. And what made it worse was that Jiang Xia had probably already figured out that "Ran Mouri" had been him. If Jiang Xia started trusting that spooky intuition of his more, he'd start calling the cops the second anything felt remotely like Kid.
Bleak. The future was bleak.
Just then, Terai screamed from below. "Master! Behind you!"
Kid jolted. Normally, hang gliding was safe unless the police pulled out a helicopter. And there was definitely no helicopter here—too quiet.
But Terai wasn't the type to panic for no reason…
Kid turned around, scanning the skies—and saw nothing.
He was just about to wonder if Terai was seeing things when the light dimmed ominously.
His heart dropped.
He looked up sharply—and saw a winged man soaring above him.
The figure glanced down, then folded his wings and landed right on Kid's glider, sending both it and Kid plunging downward.
Kid's heart sank with them.
He reached for his sedative gun—but before he could aim, his wrist was grabbed in a vice grip.
Then, on that crumbling glider, the humanoid creature reached toward him and said in a calm, commanding voice:
"Give me the Black Star."
*Goal #1: Top 200 fanfics published within the last 30 days by POWER STONES.
Progress: 9/50(approx) for 10 BONUS CHAPTERS
Goal #2: One BONUS CHAPTER per review for the first 10 REVIEWS.
Progress:1/10*