Chapter Text
Kaitou KID knows something is wrong the second he wakes up. Past the silence and darkness, something is off. Right away, he can feel the distinct texture of the Kaitou KID costume. Not something he's ever willingly worn to bed.
Still keeping his eyes closed, other sensations give KID more information about his surroundings. His exhausted legs tell him he's been standing most of the time he's been sleeping. He can feel cold stone at his back, and his arms held above his head. Hard to tell what exact mechanism they're held by without opening his eyes, but it feels like cuffs.
Shouldn't be any trouble. He keeps a mechanism to pick locks right in his sleeve for this very reason. Probably shouldn't use it just yet, but may as well get it into position.
However, when KID flicks his wrist, he can't feel the familiar jostle nor the sound of metal bumping against metal. Lost or broken. Maybe just being uncooperative. Hopefully.
Shit… what happened?
His memories are fuzzy. He was preparing for some heist. The Midnight Moon Ruby. Right. It was in some hotel, a fancy place. There were some other conventions going on in the building the day he planned to appear, which made for a good excuse to be there.
Well, a good enough excuse. Would've gone better if he'd been able to grab someone else to go with him. Especially if he could make it seem like their idea.
Too busy for the Culinary Showcase, huh? What else are you doing on a Sunday?
How did the heist even go…? It's all so fuzzy. He can remember scouting it out the day before his actual heist, being in the vents and looking down at the ruby, but it's all so vague.
Nakamori and the rest must've used sleeping gas again. Probably a pretty potent dose, given how sluggish KID still feels. Maybe it was even enough to knock out some of the police. KID can't help grinning at the idea.
But that doesn't help with his current situation. It doesn't sound like anyone else is in the room with him, and he can tell even with his eyes closed that the room is pretty dark. To top it off, he still has his hat on. Should be safe for a quick peek.
Somewhat expectedly, the room's too dark to make out much about it. KID can faintly make out the outline of what must be the door from the cracks of light shining through. Up to the left of the door he can see a red dot. Probably a camera of some sort. Neither provide enough light for him to make out much else.
Shame, since this would be a good time to figure out what's going on with his lock picker. He can't even get a better look at his restraints like this.
At least he has an idea of the restraints on his hands. It's hard to tell what's going on with his legs. Instinctively, he wants to shake them and let them wake up, but even in this dark room, the camera's bound to pick up his white suit moving that much.
Nothing to do but wait. It's almost boring enough to make KID forget to worry about his situation.
The thunderous footsteps outside warn KID to close his eyes seconds before the door slams open. "Time to wake up, Kaitou KID," Namamori's voice booms out.
Even with KID's eyes closed, the sudden brightness as he turns on the lights is enough to make him wince. He shifts the expression to a bemused smirk as best he can, opening his eyes once more and yawning. Poker face. Nakamori's weakest at times like this. He'll escape just fine.
"Ah, Inspector Nakamori. Thank goodness you're here. My arms were starting to get a bit sore. Hey, you wouldn't happen to have the key for these cuffs, would you?" KID pulls his right foot up, letting his weight rest fully on the left. He'll need to start waking his limbs up if he's gonna have any chance of a graceful escape.
Nakamori crosses the room, an ugly grin on his face as he approaches. "Joke around all you want, KID. I'll almost miss hearing that annoying voice of yours. After all, we've got you this time. There's no chance of you escaping us again!"
Yeah, right. It's not like they can keep me bound up like this forever. Sure, this is pretty bad, but it's nothing I can't handle. The inspector will mess up, just like always.
"Awww, really?" KID grins, keeping his face low. "I'll miss that funny face of yours, all huffy and fuming as I get away."
As Nakamori comes to a stop a few feet from KID, he briefly glances up and visually sweeps his body for anything he could use to slip out of the cuffs. There's the slightest hint of a pen in his breast pocket. KID's grin grows.
Perfect. Just need to wait for him to get a little bit closer. Knocking him down with a kick should get that pen right into my hands.
Not that it'll be a cakewalk from there. There's certainly more officers waiting just outside the door, and almost certainly people watching on the camera. But he'll manage. By now, Jii's probably got something prepared for him once he gets out of this room.
"Heh. Still trying to scheme your way out? Do your worst, KID. I'd like to see you try. And once you realize there's no way out, it'll be I, Nakamori Ginzo, who will unmask you once and for all! BWAHAHA!"
Jeez, you really love the sound of your voice, old man. Just take another step and we'll see who's laughing.
KID adjusts his pose, giving his left foot a break instead. It feels seriously numb, more than he expected. Must've been asleep for a while. It's a bit unpleasant to think about.
"Scheme? Ohh, right. I'm supposed to be caught." KID grins. "I'll get these cuffs back on, in that case."
"Haaaaah??" Nakamori rushes forward, reaching for KID's handcuffs before even looking to see if he's bluffing.
There.
KID moves instantly. No time to think about waiting for a better chance. His right foot is already up, so it's easy to swing it out and kick at the inspector.
But it doesn't move right.
The weight of his leg is off. KID swings awkwardly, losing his footing for a moment and causing the metal cuffs to dig into his wrists.
His kick doesn't even graze Nakamori, and KID can hear the man laughing as he looks down at his leg to identify the problem. Some sort of metal band encloses his ankle. He must not've noticed it because of his legs being asleep.
This could be bad.
"How do you like THAT, KID?" KID glances back up at the inspector. Despite his confidence, the man did flinch back from KID's kick. "Like I've been saying, there's no chance of you getting away this time."
"Impressive work, Inspector Nakamori. I'll really treasure this new piece of jewelry," KID says, forcing himself to smile again. He can really feel the weight of the cuff the more his leg wakes up, and it's not promising. He can't see a seam on the front, nor feel any opening in the back.
"It could be its own brand of fun to chase you down as you realize just what that device on your leg does, but I've had enough of chasing. Now, KID," Nakamori steps forward again. "It's time to see the face that's really under that mask."
Dammit. I could probably try again to get that pen, but he's gotta be on guard for something like that. I doubt it'd work. Besides, I'm more worried about this cuff.
KID feels a cold bead of sweat roll down his face beneath his hat as the inspector moves even closer.
He called it a device. Something that'll impede me in a chase. It looks hard to get off. Welded shut, almost certainly. That'll take a while to remove. A while in one place.
His blood goes cold.
It couldn't be a tracker, could it?
In that moment, Nakamori rips KID's hat off his head.
"Ah, wait-"
The inspector's smile drops from his face.
"Kuroba… Kaiko-chan?"
Kaiko stares back, powerless to hide her face from her best friend's father. A few longer locks of hair have fallen into her face when her hat was ripped off, but it's not nearly enough to disguise her features.
…
"I-"
"Nice try, Kaitou KID, but you won't fool me with the same trick twice."
The inspector cuts her off before she can try to explain herself, placing Kaitou KID's hat on the ground and reaching for her face.
"These masks are such a pain. What gives you the right to impersonate people like this? Not that it makes a difference to you, but identity theft is a crime."
The inspector starts pulling at her cheeks. It's a feeling Kaiko is pretty familiar with at this point, but it doesn't get any less painful.
As if that's her biggest issue. As the inspector pulls her face, his frown only grows. Finally, he steps back once more. Kaiko looks down and to the side, unable to bring herself to face him.
…Well, this is it. Even if I could get the tracker off, what's the point?
Nakamori doesn't say anything. Is she supposed to start talking? What should she even say? The possibility of being caught like this never even crossed her mind. Such an impossibility. And yet, here she is.
Movement draws her eyes back towards Nakamori. He turns around and crosses the room, pausing briefly at the door before exiting. Kaiko can feel her heart jump when he slams the door. His departure saves her the trouble of wondering what to say, but doesn't do much to make her feel any better. Her mind races too fast to even form a cohesive thought.
Thankfully, Nakamori doesn't give her too much time for her anxiety to fester. This time, he closes the door less forcefully behind him, before returning to his previous spot. Just out of her range, if she was gonna try something.
Kaiko keeps her eyes on the floor. She can't see what sort of face he's making.
Nakamori clears his throat, before he finally begins speaking. "Our conversation is private. The cameras in here have been turned off, and no one will be listening in."
An interesting start. Not what she'd expected. If she could see his face, she could maybe get a better guess about how he's feeling. But her hat is still on the ground, out of reach. Any change in her expression will be immediately obvious to the inspector. She feels naked.
"...I don't want your future to be at risk if you got caught up in something bad." He must've expected her to start talking right away. But her silence is keeping him talking. Good. Gives her more time to figure out what to say. "We can keep things quiet. I just need you to cooperate."
What's this guy saying? Cooperation? Future? What future could she possibly have at this point.
"When did Kaitou KID first make contact with you?"
Ah. Kaiko holds back a smile.
Thank you, inspector, for your brilliant deduction.
The lie comes to her easily. The character to play. Sure, this still isn't a great situation, but it's an out.
"This morning. Around noon, I think." Kaiko tilts her head further down, allowing her expression to transition from shame to embarrassment. 'I got tricked. I'm such a fool.' It's not exactly her favorite role, but it'll save her some trouble. "I was outside that hotel all those conventions are happening at. Me and Aoto were gonna go there together, but he wasn't able to make it."
Nakamori nods, glancing down at his notebook. "The magic thing. He mentioned."
"Right. I was kinda thinking about going by myself, but when I got there I changed my mind. Something felt off. I thought maybe I just felt weird going alone, but maybe I felt that Kaitou KID was nearby and it was giving me a bad vibe."
She finally glances up at Nakamori, smiling pathetically to sell the act. His arms are crossed defensively, and his expression hard to read. Maybe concern, if she had to assign an emotion to it. She can't tell quite yet if he buys it.
"Go on. What happened with Kaitou KID?"
Kaiko looks down again. It'd be easier to sell the pathetic, put-upon look if she weren't still in handcuffs, but maybe if she makes herself small enough, Nakamori will start feeling bad and let her out.
But I'm still worried about the tracker. What am I supposed to do about that, even once I get away from this?
A problem for later. Hopefully the police have a way to get it off quickly.
"He pulled me back behind those fancy trees out front. You know, the ones that block your view from the entrance and it's easy to hide. He talked a lot about how if I helped him out he'd split the money with me. I just had to be a decoy or something. But I guess he must've known all of you would catch him tonight. Your method for catching him must've been too good."
Best to feed Nakamori's ego. The bigger he feels, the more likely he'll buy whatever she's saying.
"That's the first time you met Kaitou KID, then? This morning, the day of the..." He looks down at his notes. "Festival of Magic?"
Something in Nakamori's tone tugs at Kaiko. He's being too specific. Did she say something wrong? It's unsettling to watch him flip through his notes like that.
"Um, I think so. The Culinary Showcase also. Aoto wanted to go to that one, I remember. Sorry, my head's still all messed up from the gas. I can't recall what happened after I put on this suit and got in the vents." It's not totally a lie. Her memories are annoyingly foggy. Too much sleeping gas.
I remember being in the vents. Crawling around. There was no one there, really. Even once I got to the room they were keeping the gem in.
Something about it feels off.
"The gas you say?" He looks up from his notebook. "What makes you think you were gassed?"
Shit.
"Uh, well, I don't know how I got here, I just woke up when you came in. That has to be sleeping gas, right? Besides, you almost captured KID with it before. I just thought it made sense he'd be more cautious if he figured out you were using it again. So maybe that's why he involved me."
Nakamori's posture tightens. "Where did you hear about that?"
"I read about it in the papers. I know the articles aren't super nice about you, but I like reading about his heists. It's pretty interesting. And it's good to be up to date on the news, right?"
Kaiko can't help looking up at Nakamori. This is going bad. Need to read his facial expressions. His face is tight. He's not mad in the way she's used to. The way he usually is at Kaitou KID.
"We kept that out of the papers. There were a lot of strange events associated with that heist we wanted to sort through before making it public. By the time it was all sorted through, there was a new heist to report on."
Dammit Akako.
She can hear the inspector's foot tapping, but doesn't dare look down. It'll make her look guiltier.
"D-did you? Then I must've heard from Aoto. He's always telling me-"
"It was right around Valentine's day. I couldn't get a word in about work."
"Then, I probably-"
"Do you know what day it is, Kaiko-chan?"
Alarming question. It gives her pause.
"It's Sunday, right? February 8th." She swallows.
"That's right."
A sigh of relief. But then-
"But it's strange you're so sure of that. Considering that we found you passed out in the hotel at 10pm last night."
Her blood runs cold.
"A full 16 hours before you claim you first made contact with Kaitou KID."
"That's-"
"ENOUGH."
The inspector throws his notebook down on the floor, scattering papers all over. Kaiko clamps her mouth shut.
He hasn't yelled at me like that since I was a kid.
Nakamori breaks eye contact first, crouching down to begin picking up his notes. She can hear his bones creak as he moves.
"...Aoto told me you were the one who invited him to the Culinary Showcase. But I guess that was just an excuse to be in the building, wasn't it?" Even his voice quivers slightly.
Her mouth feels too dry to speak. The slight relief she'd felt earlier is completely gone. Caught. Doubly caught.
I didn't know he paid such close attention to what Aoto talked about.
"I tried to ask you to cooperate. Why do you always have to make things so difficult?"
Had he really known from the start? Was all of that just to catch her in a lie? Get definitive proof she really was KID, that it wasn't just some misunderstanding? Really, he was just giving her an excuse to get out of it, if she hadn't been so unlucky. Being caught in the KID costume like that should've been evidence enough.
It was evidence enough. He was looking for something else. He asked her to cooperate. To not be difficult.
Kaiko can feel her heart clench.
"I'm sorry."
It's the first truthful words out of her mouth in a long time.
Nakamori mumbles something she can't make out, and his shoulders slump.
"...Damn it. There's no winning with you, Kaitou KID. Even this victory, you had to ruin it."
He slowly turns to face her, shambling as he comes closer. Apparently, no longer concerned she'll try to escape.
"You'll be… held here for a bit. Considering you haven't escaped yet, I doubt you will any time soon. And… and even if you did, that tracker on your leg will let us know wherever you go."
The reality begins to dawn on Kaiko. What it really means to be caught.
"But still, we have to be careful. Once you get to juvie, your situation will probably be pretty rough. If you cooperate and don't try to escape, it'll be easier. We won't have to make things as oppressive."
Juvie. Jail, once she's old enough. Not too long now. Kaitou KID is a criminal- an international one, thanks to her father. Will she be charged for his crimes as well?
"But I'm getting ahead of myself. You're entitled to a trial, as all Japanese citizens are. I can't say how that'll turn out. Maybe you'll get lucky. Your mother should be able to afford a good enough lawyer, right?"
Kaitou KID being caught is nothing small. They'll have to seal off her trial from the press. Will she get more privacy because of being a minor? Will her face be on the news?
Everyone will know.
Aoto.
"Wait-!" Kaiko's interjection is cut off by a cough, ripping through her dry throat. It takes a moment to calm her breathing again, and the inspector watches her with slightly wide eyes.
"Has… has the public heard yet about my capture?" He said she'd been asleep for over 16 hours. Most of that was overnight, but that was still a lot of time. Considering how zealous Nakamori had been when she first woke up, she can't imagine news of Kaitou KID's defeat hadn't slipped to the press.
"Y…es, it has." He watches her with a frown. "We caught you last night. By this morning, it was in the papers."
Kaiko swallows. There's a pretty big chance this won't work. Why would Nakamori go along with her, anyways? She's caught. She's finished.
Aoto.
"If… If I go to school tomorrow, it'll be pretty certain to anyone who knows me that I can't be Kaitou KID, right?" Before Nakamori can answer, she continues. "And for a bit after that, as well. It would really sell it. A few weeks. Maybe until the school year ends. Just to make it really clear I couldn't be Kaitou KID."
As she speaks, the inspector's eyes widen. He steps back, rubbing at his chin.
"Then, I could disappear. Go to Juvie without any trouble. And no one would have to know it was me. No one-" Her voice catches in her throat, and she finds she can't continue the sentence.
"...You'd be giving up your right to a fair trial. Don't underestimate a good lawyer." Nakamori speaks with a surprisingly soft voice.
He didn't say no.
"I don't care." Kaiko grits her teeth. "I don't want to have a trial. If I'm caught, I'm caught. Put me away. Just don't, don't…"
Enough of being sly.
"Don't tell Aoto it was me."
Anything else, she can handle. But Aoto finding out… that would be the worst possibility.
I'd rather he think I was dead.
It probably won't come to something so dire. It'd be easy enough to pretend to move to America. They can even keep sending letters, at least until Aoto gives up on her.
She's getting ahead of herself. Nakamori still hasn't agreed. And she's asking a lot.
"...You just want a chance to escape again." Kaiko's heart starts to sink, before the inspector continues. "We'll have to ensure the tracker won't fail before you can leave."
Even closer to a yes.
"You'll have to keep a schedule. No funny business. This is just a ruse to keep up appearances, so don't expect the same freedom you've had before now. Just school. Anywhere else, you'll have to be accompanied."
"Will I be staying here?" Before the inspector can answer, Kaiko continues. "Aoto comes by my house unannounced all the time. He even wakes me up sometimes. If I'm not there, he'll realize something's wrong."
Nakamori scratches at his chin, considering it. "Have him start walking you to school. As a man, he really ought to do so already."
Kaiko nods along, not bothering to tell the inspector Aoto already does walk her to school most of the time.
"What about the other police? When you left earlier-"
"I'm the only one who knows your identity," Nakamori explains. "I told them you said you'd only confess to me, with no other witnesses."
Not wrong.
"So…" Kaiko trails off, hoping the inspector will say something helpful.
"...So I'll say you have an accomplice. Not just that, a boss. You're just the face. And if we want to catch the actual crime lord, we'll need your cooperation."
She smiles. "And I'll only cooperate if my identity is kept secret."
"It should be believable enough." Nakamori sighs, rubbing the back of his neck. "Considering the gap in your career, we always thought you were just the latest to take up the mantle for your organization." He stops suddenly, looking at Kaiko. "Speaking of which-"
"It doesn't matter." She interrupts him this time. "He won't be taking the mantle back, so you don't have to worry."
Nakamori deflates again. "Ah, I see." He goes quiet, stroking his chin once more.
"Then… Kuroba Kaiko-chan, after your last day of school, you will report here immediately. And I…" The inspector swallows. "Will arrest you, Kaitou KID."
Just around seven weeks. She'll have to figure out something to do about the tracker by then. Getting out of the country will be tricky with the police after her, but it'll be safer than staying in Japan.
It's more time than she expected. More time than she deserves, frankly. More than enough.
Time to begin her farewell tour.