In the Wake of Waves - Wingedchester_67 - 名探偵コナン | Detective Conan (2024)

Chapter 1

Chapter Text

Kanenori Wakita’s Estate was a mysterious place not many locals would dare approach. There were whisperings, murmurings of the mysterious individuals in black that would come and go from those walls, strange noises in the night, and mysterious contraptions with unknowable purposes being built within. As for the estate itself, if you asked the locals, it was much too extravagant of an estate for a simple sushi chef. It was a large, two-story neoclassical building ringed with genuine nineteenth-century Italian ironwork set on a private stretch of land swathed with towering spruce trees. The main entrance boasted a coffered relief ceiling, gold railings, velvet curtains, and a fountain grand enough to rival a king’s. Rumour had it that inside the shadows of those deceptively opulent walls operated a secret organisation; one that operated on rituals, dark magic, and the blackest arts. They said that Kanenori Wakita, like all respectable shady millionaires, had a secret underground lab used to conduct unethical experiments in his obsessive pursuit of the supernatural. Of course, no one ever found Wakita guilty of any foul play. At least, not directly. A few troublesome rivals going missing here and there, a few choice bankruptcies, and everybody eventually learnt to keep their noses down and their mouths shut. And so, the locals kept their distance.

Kaito Kuroba, or more commonly known to the public under his more infamous moniker, Kaito KID, world-renowned travelling show magician by day, dastardly jewel thief by night, had no such qualms about any supposedly cursed buildings. So when word got out that the good chef had recently purchased a legendary blue diamond, the Atlantic Envy, a pristine ring-set gem so blue it made the ocean blush, KID knew he just had to liberate it from its new owner. And, do a little good samaritan investigative snooping on the side while he was at it, of course.

Slipping in was too simple. He flew in on his customary glider, landing on the roof with silent footsteps, unable to suppress his boyish grin as his blood was already buzzing with the adrenaline rush of the heist. Of course, he had informed Wakita of his arrival in advance, quoting the second chime of midnight as the last the good chef would ever see of the prized diamond. As such, the building had gone into preemptive lockdown. Regularly rotating guards were stationed at every conceivable entry point. The doors had long since been shut tight at the behest of Nakamori, who was frantically shouting up a storm from his point of operations. The windows of the estate were, naturally, all bulletproof glass, wired to alarms and automatically locking bars, ready to imprison KID with the slightest pressure. But, KID had identified a week ago that there was one window no one would’ve ever thought to secure; the sealed window in the back of the study. No one ever even thought to put locks on a window that could not be opened. Also being made of bulletproof glass, a regular thief would have had to shatter it, instantly alerting the security of their presence.

Of course, KID was no ordinary thief. His father, the titular Phantom Thief before him, had left in KID’s possession some rather unique items to use as his tools of trade in order to embellish KID’s capabilities. One such trick was a Fairy’s Favour. In the human realm, magic, while exceedingly rare, was not entirely only the stuff of legend. It was increasingly uncommon in the modern age of steel and electricity of course, but when one goes gallivanting in the moonlight chasing mythical jewels, one manages to run into all sorts of legendary creatures most humans would be lucky to encounter in their lifetime. Toichi Kuroba was one such lucky individual. The Fairy's Favour took the shape of a silver coin stamped with the relief of a shell. Fairy magic was known for its aptitude for mischief. Once per night when it was polished, it could unlock any lock or seal in the human realm. An indispensable tool for a Phantom Thief to be sure. As such, for all the security money could buy, with the help of his Favour, KID managed to lift the entire window from its frame, put it back and slip in completely unnoticed.

He grinned under his perfect disguise as he wandered the halls unhindered. Mina f*ckawa, age fifty-nine, head maid. How did he get this disguise you might ask? Well, really, for all the security in the world used for the main building and entrances, and people for some reason just didn’t see the need to secure their laundry. Oh well, more perfect disguise opportunities for KID.

He nodded to the two passing security guards as he entered the passcode to the library. As a KID deterrent, the passcodes were randomly changed on a cycle of twenty minutes, and you had to request the code for the specific door through direct contact with Nakamori on a secure channel. Of course, this was all moot when you knew what the codes were going to be in advance. Before the heist, KID had secretly hooked up a device to Nakamori’s code generator, forcing it to spit out a predetermined set of codes every cycle, and memorised the codes for those times. KID had hidden a little joke in his predetermined codes which, if anyone cared to decipher them, were clever phrases or insulting Nakamori. This one, for instance, read;

C-A-N-T/C-A-T-C-H/M-E.

Closing the library door behind him, KID installed a signal jammer that would replay the last five minutes of uneventful security footage in a given radius and carefully examined the bookshelves. It might be a bit cliche, but hiding secret doors behind bookcases was popular in the nineteenth century, and who was he to argue with the architect? If there was anywhere a secret underground lab would be hiding, it would be the library. Well, that or the kitchen. Really, the floor plans weren’t very clear if that underground blip was just an extensively refurbished wine cellar or the secret lab in question.

KID beamed as pulling the appropriate volume of ‘The Secret Arts of Sushi’ revealed a secret passage behind the masonry fireplace.

Bing-go~

Mentally giving himself a standing ovation, KID stepped into the secret passage.

The temperature readily dropped as he made his way underground. The dim walkway lights guided his path until it opened up into a circular antechamber that smelled of pungent industrial bleach that burned his nostrils. KID crept his gloved fingers along the surface of the entrance and located the switch, opening the doors with a pneumatic hiss as the lights automatically turned on, revealing the lab.

The room was floor-to-ceiling white sterile walls and blinking machinery. Dubious liquids bubbled from glass flasks as they were purifying … something, in a vacuum chamber covered in foreign-looking glyphs and writing. KID might be no sorcerer like Akako, but he recognised spellwork when he saw it. Several other unstationed tables housed other substances being scanned and sampled by complex-looking machinery. However, as KID looked he realised that he recognised several ingredients being used. Fairy wings, dragon’s liver, qilin horn - those haven’t been seen walking the earth in centuries - unicorn blood, and some sort of iridescent scale. A collection of computer monitors, each displaying diagrams of the human body, simulated different reactions and the words ‘life expectancy’ kept cropping up. Each monitor had the word ‘Apoptoxin’ labelled in large, imposing letters. It seemed to be researching for some kind of tincture that would grant immortality using supernatural ingredients. What a typical hobby for a multi-millionaire.

KID was glad the lab was currently unoccupied. Part of the benefit of announcing his heist ahead of time is that it gave Wakita’s staff notice to evacuate the building giving him privacy during his investigation. It was a good thing too, as it appeared that the rumours were not unfounded; Wakita’s private lab was conducting experiments using ingredients from the magical world to research immortality. KID had a hunch that he knew just what part the Atlantic Envy might be going to play, and now he had more pressing reasons to liberate the jewel after all.

As he progressed, the lab experiments soon gave way to giant walls of aquatic displays. Multicoloured strange and colourful corals and fish lined the walls and KID had to make a conscious effort to not trip any of the motion sensors as he warily eyed their big, dead, expressionless eyes. Or look at their slimy, shiny scales. Or their gaping maws of freakish teeth. KID supposed it only made sense that a sushi chef might have a penchant for the scaly, wriggly things. Knowingly or not, Wakita had inadvertently given his precious jewel the best security in the form of the ultimate KID deterrent. However, KID was nothing if not determined, and so with a heavy grimace and thinking happy thoughts pertaining to doves, magic and chocolate ice-cream, KID managed to soldier his way on towards the display where the Atlantic Envy lay.

To say the Atlantic Envy was blue was an understatement. True to its name, the Atlantic Envy was so blue, that it appeared to absorb all other blues in the room, dulling water and colours of the coral and fish alike to mere greys in order to selfishly hoard the hue to itself. Light filtered through its crystal clear surface into dazzling displays of dancing light and colour like a sunlit waterbed while it merely sat there . KID could only imagine how breathtaking it would be when worn on a hand. Quite simply, it was stunning. It was also mounted on a pressure pad pedestal suspended above the grate of the largest aquarium tank in the room. Water lapped menacingly at the edges of the tank as a school of tropical green-red fish stared at him through the thick glass behind a label that read ‘ Spec. 4869’ .

KID gave an extensive sigh.

“Why did it have to be fish? ”

An unhelpful pink grouper blinked from its greyed-out aquarium to his left.

He pointed at the grouper menacingly. “Don’t look at me like that, you’re part of the problem.”

With another forlorn sigh, KID set to work. He efficiently shed his maid outfit back into his usual flashy white magician’s garb and put on a special pair of night vision goggles that could spot and highlight camera sensors. Six different hidden cameras in the room were currently trained on the Atlantic Envy. KID swapped out the ammo of his card gun to a steel-edged rectangular signal jammer. He shot an area of the roof directly above the jewel, rendering the entire area isolated from the main security camera system. He then shot a line of grappling wire right above the big aquarium tank and pulleyed his way above the motion-tripped lasers that guarded the gem. Once he was directly above his target, he slowly and carefully lowered himself until he could practically fog the plexiglass-covered pressure plate apparatus with his breath. There were small metal grooves in the sides of the plexiglass, that would be where the device was wired up to each of the carefully calibrated weight sensors. KID pulled out a roll of fine wire, jamming them into the grooves carefully so as to not set off the alarm. Now carefully, ever so carefully, KID lifted the cover from the plate and exposed the jewel.

Perfect.

KID held his breath as he carefully began to extract the jewel from the prongs of the ring, swapping it out with a fake one of the same weight and carat and placing the genuine article in his pocket. Without the Atlantic Envy soaking up all the colour, the blues of the room were restored to normal and the aquarium tanks and its occupants returned to their natural, colourful hues. However, with the restoration of normal colour vision, KID noticed a pair of bright blue eyes peering directly back up at him through the bars of the grate from the water.

“You’re not the usual guard.”

“GAHHH!”

Chapter 2

Chapter Text

He … dropped it. He couldn’t believe he had actually dropped the Atlantic Envy.

KID had flipped over in his wire suspension and watched with helpless eyes as the jewel plopped into the water and sunk to the bottom of the tank, sending the room back into its relatively greyscale appearance.

However mortifying dropping the gem into the tank was, it was not enough to distract Kaito from the fact that a pair of very bright, very blue eyes were looking at him from the water. Mostly, because the eyes belonged to a very handsome youthful face. A face not too dissimilar to his own actually, though there were a few key differences. A face that was attached to a lithe humanoid body floating in the water with a very large tail. A. Tail. Scaled and everything in a gradient of bright and deep blues that faded into pale, silvery scales as it neared the transition between tail and torso, framed in spectacular frilly fins that wafted in the gentle current in the tank. Dark scales speckled the mermaid’s shoulders like ill-constrained freckles and the sides of his face where a set of finely webbed spiny fins peaked out where ears should be. Subtle rows of gills fluttered at his neck as an impressive halo of dark brown hair extended out like beautiful water-washed ink stains. However, even as Kaito looked he saw more imperfections. While lithe, the mermaid was also visibly underweight. His tail fin was torn in places, and long, criss-crossing spider web-like silvery scars stretched out over his sides and arms. However, any concern Kaito might have had was quickly forgotten as he noticed that the mermaid was looking at him with a heavy set scowl in open disdain, breaking the reverie.

Kaito had to rub his eyes. Then he had to pinch himself. Then he had to rub his eyes and pinch himself at the same time because he had to be dreaming. He had to be dreaming because there was a mermaid in the tank. Mermaid? Merman? Kaito didn’t know the correct terminology. Kaito’s upper brain functions weren’t functioning today. Please give two to three business days for his coherent thought train to come back online. We’re so sorry for the inconvenience because the more pressing matter is that there was a f*cking mermaid in the tank. Yet, for how unbelievable the situation was, reality did not bless KID with another explanation for the giant fish-man in front of him and the visage of the mermaid failed to blink away in a particularly vivid hallucination.

He had only heard about mermaids in stories. There were unicorns, there were fairies, there were kappa, but one thing was always, always certain and that was that mermaids were an old sailor’s tale. There simply was no scientific basis or evidence of their existence. And yet, somehow, unbelievably, living proof was floating right there in front of Kaito KID’s eyes in a rich sushi chef’s secret underground lab of all places.

The blue eyes narrowed at him as the mermaid intensified his scowl. “Could you have your mental breakdown somewhere else? You’re drooling into the tank.”

Kaito had to pick his slack jaw from the ground as he gaped at the mermaid in front of him.

“You, uh. You’re real?!” He said intelligently. He mentally smacked himself in the head. Way to point out the obvious, Kuroba.

The mermaid (man?) sarcastically gave his arm a once over, flicking at the translucent webbing between his fingers (webbing!) above the surface. “Last I checked, yeah.” The mermaid frowned, looking up at Kaito. “Are you going to hang up there all day?”

KID jumped as he realised part of the reason behind his lacking in higher brain functions was possibly due to the fact he was still hanging face down from the grapple wire and had yet to right himself as all the blood was pooling to his head. Quickly, he flipped himself back right side up and swung himself to the wider end of the tank, squirrelling down its side to stand at the glass in front of the legendary creature in front of him.

With the change in orientation, the mermaid swam down from where it was floating by the grate and stopped just in front of the glass by Kaito’s face, bracing a hand against it.

“But that’s … this is impossible. My eyes must be deceiving me because everyone knows mermaids don’t exist,” insisted Kaito, absently tracing the webbing between the clawed fingers in disbelief, eyes following the expanse of scar-stricken skin to the pebbled scales before tearing his gaze away.

The mermaid’s tail gave an irritated flick as Kaito followed the movement with wary eyes.

Creepy.

Even if the appendage did belong to a legendary creature. A fish was still a fish. Fish creeped him out and this fish(?) was about a hundred times bigger than any other fish Kaito had ever seen. At least his top half and humanoid face was quite pleasant to look at. His bright blue eyes were very pretty and Kaito easily preferred them over the void-dark soulless stares of your common fish.

“Obviously, that’s not quite true.” he rolled his eyes and Kaito swore he saw blue shooting stars. “What was that saying from that famous human detective novel? ‘When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth? ’”

Kaito gaped. Was this mermaid seriously quoting Sherlock Holmes to him? Now, he knew he must be hallucinating.

The mermaid in question lounged back in the water, almost bored with Kaito’s entire mental breakdown at the revelation that mermaids were apparently real. “The fact of the matter is that there is a living, breathing mermaid in front of you. Ergo, mermaids being real must be the truth.” The mermaid gave a co*cky grin of sharp, inhuman teeth. “Are you following so far or do I need to dumb it down further?”

Kaito managed an indignant squawk as he held up an accusatory finger at the fish-man-creature. “Hey! I’m not dumb. I have a high IQ I’ll have you know.”

Gills rippled as the mermaid let out a snort in amusem*nt. Kaito wasn’t even sure how that was possible, didn’t you need air to snort? It would probably be pretty hard to do with water. Then again, the mermaid seemed to be talking to him through the water without much issue.

“You look pretty dumb from where I am. Didn’t you drop the jewel you were, oh, so carefully trying to steal?”

The mermaid pointed a clawed finger down to the sand at the bottom of the tank where the shimmering Atlantic Envy sat, its ethereal glow dulled the water around it. However, miraculously, the effect of the Atlantic Envy didn’t seem to be affecting the mermaid’s eyes, which still shone as blue as ever.

“Seems pretty dumb to me, Thief.”

Kaito’s mouth gawked at the informal address given by the mermaid. “‘Thief?!’”

The mermaid arched an unamused eyebrow at the magician and started ticking off his fingers. “Yes? You’ve broken into the restricted lab, you’re certainly not one of the regular scientists or guards, and you’ve just attempted to steal Kanenori Wakita’s latest acquisition, the Atlantic Envy. Where I’m from, we call such unscrupulous individuals common thieves. I can imagine it’s only the same for you humans.”

Unscrupulous? The nerve of this mermaid!

At this, Kaito puffed his chest out and straightened his shoulders to his full height, affronted. Which, admittedly, didn’t have the full desired effect given that the mermaid could simply float above Kaito’s eye level. “ Phantom Thief, thank you very much.” Kaito adjusted his top hat and gestured with his hand from his tie to his dress shoes. “I don’t dress this well just to impress handsome strangers. Didn’t you notice the outfit?”

The mermaid’s eyes did an unimpressed scan of Kaito’s outfit, noting with lazy eyes the flashy colour and over the top decor.

“And ‘unscrupulous?’” Kaito continued, clicking his tongue. “I, my dear, unfortunately finned-friend, am a gentleman. I’d rather like it if you refrained from calling me ‘common’. As I am most certainly anything but .”

Feigning a yawn, the mermaid wasn’t even phased, looking entirely bored with Kaito’s little protest. “So, if not ‘Thief,’ what should I call you then?” He asked, reclining on one of the tank rocks.

“Kaito KID, or just KID. Pleased to make your acquaintance.” KID gave the mermaid a low, sweeping gentleman’s bow. That would show him ‘ unscrupulous ’. The mermaid wasn’t exactly being the paramount of courtesy either in his opinion. In fact, he was being rather arrogant.

However, when KID looked up, the mermaid looked remarkably disinterested, even as he gave a cursory bow in return.

“Shinichi Kudou. And I’d return your sentiment, but given the circ*mstances,” he said, gesturing at the metal grate over the tank, “I’d hardly call your acquaintance a pleasurable experience.”

“Well if it’s pleasure you’re after…” KID reflexively purred suggestively. He didn’t even stop to think twice that he was saying this to a guy whose lower extremities happened to be finned . He just couldn’t help himself. Aoko always said his big mouth would land him into trouble one of these days.

Shinichi narrowed his eyes disapprovingly. “And you call yourself a gentleman.” His side fins fanned out in what Kaito assumed was a display of irritation. “Perhaps just ‘thief’ was an accurate moniker after all.” Shinichi turned like he was thinking about making himself scarce and avoid continuing conversation with KID.

“Wait, wait, wait, I didn’t mean it like that!” KID quickly fell out of his come-hither persona. He stumbled closer to the tank glass, placing himself in front of Shinichi’s view.

“Sorry! I just act like that because it’s easy to make people stupid when you rile them up, it’s a technique I use when I steal things.” After considering it for a while, KID co*cked his head to the side. “And well, it’s also fun.”

“Fun?”

KID gave Shinichi a meaningful look, eyes skimming over the scarred surface of skin. “Yeah, you just looked like you could use some fun.”

He produced a red rose from the depths of his sleeves with a soft poof of pink smoke, surprising Shinichi, whose mouth dropped in a little ‘oh’.

“Let me start again, Merman-kun,” said Kaito, presenting the flower.

Shinichi looked confused at the sudden use of a nickname, but didn’t protest as the thief reintroduced himself.

“I am Kaito KID. I’m but a humble gentleman. I steal not for my own selfish gain, but in pursuit of the truth of my father’s disappearance. The best clue I have is that the people who were after him had asked him to steal the legendary gem, Pandora, which is said to grant eternal life. Legend has it that the gem is supposed to glow red under the moonlight.”

Kaito gestured to the Envy at the bottom of the tank, gazing at it longingly.

“I’m not here to steal from your master. Rather, I am only here to check if his latest acquisition is the gemstone I am looking for.”

KID thought he presented his spiel quite well if you asked him. However, he must have said something incredibly wrong because the next thing he knew, Shinichi was snarling at the glass, eyes flashing dangerously and spines hackled into a threatening display.

“Wakita is NOT my master,” snarled Shinichi. “I do not belong to anyone, least of all some criminal overlord with an obsession with the supernatural.” His tail was swishing back and forth churning the water and sending the school of small green-red fish fleeing into rocky cover. While before Kaito would have said Shinichi’s face was delicate and handsome, like the son of an actor, now he would have said it was scary as it contorted into a cold mask of gnashing teeth and rampant fury.

“Okay! Got it! How right you are Merman-kun,” KID hurriedly agreed, stepping back as the water sloshed over the edge so as to not get it on his shoes or piss Shinichi off any further. The cleaning department must go through countless mops keeping this place slip-free for the scientists.

“Well, if you don’t like Wakita, and I don’t like Wakita, why don’t you do me a favour and hand over that gemstone that dropped into your tank?” KID suggested brightly, holding out his hand through the grate towards the water. “I just need to do a quick inspection in the moonlight. And if it’s Pandora, well then great! I’ll take it off your hands. And if not, well, I’ll be sure to chuck it to the bottom of the ocean.”

Shinichi glared at the extended fingers gesturing for Shinichi to hand over the jewel warily as Kaito tried to think of ways to sweeten the deal..

“And if that happens, I’m sure it’ll piss Wakita off very much if he found the jewel missing, and wouldn’t that just be fun?” Really, Kaito thought this offer was fantastic, as either way, everyone walked away happy.

Shinichi rubbed the back of his neck absentmindedly with his right hand as his side fans folded themselves from their previous agitated position as he appeared to give the possibility some serious thought, weighing his options. KID eyed the gemstone closely as Shinichi’s tail flicked, fluttering the fin back and forth. Finally, Shinichi dove down deeper in the tank and plucked the Atlantic Envy from the sand but instead of tossing it up to Kaito’s outstretched hand, he held it against his chest and cracked KID a wolfish grin. Kaito wasn’t sure he liked that grin.

“Actually, Thief, I have a better idea.”

Uh oh, Kaito tried to come off as aloof while his smile faltered. “Why do I get the feeling I’m not going to like this idea very much?”

Ignoring KID, Shinichi held out a claw and sucked it into his mouth, sharpening it to a point using his teeth. Then, he promptly shoved the claw under one of his scales by his hip bone and started digging at it.

“Shinichi!” Kaito called out, alarmed. The water clouded and a coppery scent tainted the air as Shinichi stubbornly clawed at his scales, drawing blood. Pacing back and forth, Kaito fretted himself into a frenzy. He wasn’t sure what to do. He felt like he should remove the aquarium grate, dive into the water and stop Shinichi. But the man was half fish and that was sooooo off-putting and why of all things did the pretty boy hurting himself have to be half fish?!

Luckily, Kaito didn’t have to resort to diving in. When the water finally cleared, Shinichi wasn’t holding the Atlantic Envy in his hands anymore. Instead, Kaito looked on, horrified, as there was a faint luminescent blue glow beneath the pale, now-pink-tinged scales of his right hip.

“What have you done?!” KID yelled, panicking. His hands were clenching at the air uselessly as he mourned his precious blue diamond. This was so many layers of bad Kaito didn’t even know where to begin-

“Making you a bargain,” Shinichi announced triumphantly.

“A bargain?” KID echoed, his voice still shaking as he eyed the patch of scales concealing the precious gem.

Shinichi pointed an accusatory finger at KID’s face, causing KID to go cross-eyed. “You’re a thief, and you’re here to steal the gem.” He pointed his thumb back at himself, smiling victoriously. “Steal me too.”

Kaito stood there, completely stunned and dumbfounded by this new proposition as his mouth gaped. “What?”

“You heard me,” said Shinichi, the corners of his mouth dropped in displeasure. “Or shall I add ‘deaf’ as well as ‘lecherous’ to your growing list of unfavourable characteristics?”

Shinichi straightened out his tail and presented it to the glass, framing the area of impenetrable, smooth, armoured scales between his webbed fingers. “This isn’t ancient spellcraft KID, I want you to take me with you. Steal me, or you’ll never get your hands on the gem. I’ve secured it under my scales, and believe me when I say you’re never going to get it out of there on your own.”

The fishy tail swished back and forth, the Envy was tantalisingly in his reach just before and yet now, further away than ever. Shinichi’s smug face was victorious, like he knew he had Kaito in checkmate and the thief just didn’t realise it yet. Well, Kaito wasn’t a bad chess player himself.

“And why should I risk that?” Countered Kaito, incredulous. “I only came here for the Atlantic Envy, and I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but you’re quite a bit bigger of a catch than the initial proverbial fish I signed up for.” Kaito gestured to, well. He gestured to all of Shinichi’s great mermaid glory; tail, fins and all.

“I’d get caught before I could take you two steps off-property.”

Nonchalant, Shinichi merely shrugged as he inspected the webbing between his fingers. “Then I guess you’ll have to think of something.”

His wicked, manipulative grin returned and it riled Kaito up to no end upon seeing how smug it looked. “If you don’t, you’ll never get your hands on the gem. It’s your call.”

Kaito scowled in frustration and pushed the hair out of his face. He couldn’t believe it. He was being blackmailed by a fish. A very handsome fish with pretty bright blue eyes, he had to admit, but a fish!

“Fine, then I don’t want the gem,” Kaito announced, making up his mind. “The chances of it actually being Pandora are astonishingly low. Keep it, I’ll just have to find another gem.”

He levelled a dark smile back at Shinichi and spoke in a low, threatening voice. “I don’t take kindly to strong-arming, Merman-san.”

Nonplussed, Shinichi dished back the same dangerous smile in turn, not backing down. “Oh, it’s -san now, is it? Hit a nerve did I?”

He gave a slow flick of his tail, skittering the frilly fin over the taunting stretch of scales. “Then, I guess you don’t want this fabled jewel that glows red in the moonlight?”

KID froze, his mask had slipped for only a fraction of a second but he saw the telltale flicker of Shinichi’s pupils that indicated he had noticed. He then affixed an analytical gaze at the mermaid. “You’re bluffing.”

He held up his empty, gloved hands on either side of his face in the air. “I didn’t even test the Atlantic Envy yet. It’s probably just another regular jewel. It’s not Pandora.”

Shinichi tutted his tongue as he wagged a clawed finger in front of KID behind the glass like he was explaining to a misbehaving child. “ Idiot. That’s where you’re wrong.”

“I did get a glimpse, just when I was looking up at your dumb face when you took the jewel from the ring,” Shinichi explained. He pointed upwards, and Kaito followed the direction to see a single, pale beam of light stretching out from a distant skylight. “It was only for a moment, but when you flipped out, that beam of moonlight hit the jewel from my vantage point and I saw it glow.”

KID squared his gaze evenly with Shinichi’s. He didn’t know if mermaid expressions were any different from human expressions, but it didn’t even matter as Shinichi’s face didn’t even slightly crack under proximity. Kaito prided himself on his unshakeable poker face, but here was a fish-man giving him a run for his money in this stare-off.

“I. Don’t. Believe. You.” KID sing-songed behind a shark-like grin, his canines gleaming.

Shinichi, to his credit, didn’t even flinch. “Then I suppose you should get going. The guards will be in here soon.”

His eyes flicked up to the device embedded in the centre of the ceiling. “That signal jammer can probably only support about fifteen more minutes before its power runs out. You’ll want to be out of here before that happens and the security cameras come back online and the guards notice the gem is missing,” he said matter-of-factly.

Shinichi leaned back from the glass, his hair sweeping across his face with the movement. “But I suppose you must not really be that eager to find out the secrets behind Pandora if you’re so easy to leave empty-handed.”

His tail glided past the glass, the big frilly tail fin trailing behind like a ghostly shadow as he turned to swim deeper into his tank. “It’s a shame,” Shinichi said in a forlorn voice, tail flicking disinterestedly behind him. “The end of your quest is so near, yet you won’t even entertain the thought of the Atlantic Envy really being Pandora. I guess the circ*mstances around your father’s death will forever remain shrouded in mystery.”

KID let him go for a second. Two seconds. Then he groaned and dragged a suffering hand across his face. “Alright, alright you win! Get your tail back here, I guess we’re doing a jailbreak.”

Three shakes of a tail and Shinichi was back in front of the glass in record time, his smug victorious and punchable grin back in place. “I thought as much. You’ll want to move fast. I know the timing of their rounds, the guards will be here in ten minutes.”

“I thought you said they’d be here in fifteen!” KID complained, already jimmying the aquarium grate cover with a crowbar he procured from his sleeve.

“I said your signal jammer would run out of power in fifteen minutes, don’t put words in my mouth,” Shinichi said. He helped Kaito KID lift the grate by pushing on it from the other side and together they threw it to the side where it crashed into a mighty heap.

The water sloshed over the sides of the tank in rivulets as Shinichi hauled himself up to his elbows. His hair was cascading water down his back and his fishier parts were pushed right up against the glass for more support.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” said KID. They might be running out of time but this was also moving way too fast for his taste. It hadn’t even been ten minutes that he even learnt mermaids even existed, and now one was determined to beach himself over the side of a tank in a jailbreak. Shinichi spat out a mouthful of water as the gill guards by his neck flattened until they were almost invisible as the lines in his throat tensed with the flow of surface air.

“Can you even um, survive, out of water?” KID asked hesitantly. He hated to ask the obvious, but these were very important questions!

Shinichi rolled his eyes, “I can survive up to eighteen hours out of water. Any longer, and I start to risk permanent damage to my more aquatic adaptations if I don’t keep myself relatively hydrated.”

KID wondered absentmindedly how Shinichi got such a specific number.

Squeezing the excess water from his hair, Shinichi continued, eyeing the door. “However, I suggest we keep the small talk to a minimum, as I believe you don’t have much time to spare, Thief. Now lend me your arms.”

Grumbling to himself about pushy mermaids, Kaito grabbed a small set of portable metal steps clearly intended to help workers clean the aquarium tanks and set it up by the side Shinichi was hanging from. Shinichi hauled himself the rest of the way up using his arms as Kaito stood as close as he could to the tank, wrapping his arms around the mermaid’s shoulders as Shinichi supported his upper body weight against Kaito, dripping water and absolutely ruining his suit in the process, thank you for asking. Surprisingly, Shinichi didn’t smell too much like a fish market or a wet dog, but rather more like a crisp ocean breeze. With his newfound support, Kaito hauled the rest of Shinichi out of the tank like precious cargo. There was water spilling out everywhere .

Shinichi wrapped his scaly appendage loosely around Kaito’s hips, supporting his weight as Kaito struggled not to shudder at the sensation. Shinichi, of course, noticed.

“What’s wrong?”

“It’s nothing. It’s just that your tail’s so … fishy,” KID said lamely.

Shinichi levelled him with another unamused glare. Kaito was beginning to think that was the merman’s default expression at this rate.

“Obviously, it’d be hard to live in the deep sea if it wasn’t,” he deadpanned. “Now get a move on, I’m not getting to the ocean if Wakita’s guards catch you.”

As KID hurried back the way he came through the lab, careful not to trip in his newly sopping wet shoes, he shot Shinichi a dirty look. “Wait, you said to steal you, you said nothing about taking you all the way to the ocean!”

“Oh, I didn’t?” Asked Shinichi, his needling, dulcet tone was all that KID needed to know that Shinichi was well aware that wasn’t the case. “Well consider this the new conditions of our agreement. I swear to give you back the Atlantic Envy if you get me back to the ocean. I swear on the songs of the Siren Mother.”

Jeez, KID grumbled. For a rescuee, Shinichi sure was making a lot of demands.

With his tail wrapped around KID’s hip, KID could see the faintly glowing spot on Shinichi’s hip where the Atlantic Envy lay. KID pretended to shift his grip under Shinichi’s tail, his gloved hand ‘coincidentally’ brushing over the site where the Atlantic Envy lay. No dice, the area was as smooth as a baby porpoise. You could hardly tell any scales had been removed to make an opening for the jewel at all.

Shinichi shot KID an annoyingly knowing smirk from his octopus-like grapple in KID’s arms. “Looking for something?” He asked innocently.

“No, shut up.” KID grumbled. He readjusted his hold on Shinichi’s tail and stopped by the door to the antechamber. He could hear low shouting and the familiar, if muted bellows of Nakamori from beyond the door, followed by the high-pitched wailing of alarms going off. The lights of the lab bled a new dangerous red and KID jumped back as iron bars shot up from the floor, blocking their escape. Great.

He lowered Shinichi to the now bloody-looking linoleum flooring where the softly glowing walkway LEDs lit up his face in a sinister glow.

“Okay, think, think, think. This place is only in lockdown, no biggie. How do I get a goddamn mermaid out of this place?” KID wondered aloud. He then scowled at the former’s tail. “This would be so much easier if you could just grow legs like a Selkie.”

“Alas, if only,” Shinichi deadpanned. “Can’t we go back the way you came in?”

“No,” answered KID, shaking his head. He held up his custom KID gun, still equipped with grapple wire. “Not unless you can climb up to the ceiling windows with that tail of yours. It doesn’t happen to be prehensile, does it?”

“Unfortunately not,” said Shinichi, scanning the lab for something useful. “Mermaids don’t make it a point to learn to climb. I believe there’s a human idiom regarding fish and trees about it or something to that effect.”

“Right, well we’ll need to think of some other way then,” said KID, wracking his brain. This was an underground lab, they had to have features that connected it to the surface. There were the air vents, but those were much too small for a full-sized person to squeeze through, let alone a mermaid. What else would an underground lab need? There were the water pipes, the gas lines, the- KID blinked.

“Yes of course!”

“What?” Shinichi asked. Their time was dwindling dangerously low as he heard the approaching footsteps of the guards and he was getting more and more anxious about their odds for a successful escape by the minute, to say the least.

“We’re in a lab!”

“Yes?” Shinichi asked, still not sure KID was going with this.

“All labs need to be sterile.”

“Yes, what’s your point?” asked Shinichi.

“Shinichi, where is the sterilisation chamber?”

Confused, Shinichi pointed to an area opposite the main lab. “In there, by the left office, it’s just by the portrait of Rum-”

“Rum?”

“Wakita.” Shinichi clarified. “It’s his alias under the secret organisation. The Black Organisation. They all refer to each other by the names of alcohol. Rum is Wakita’s.”

“Right, of course, they do. How nefarious~” KID said in a lilting voice. He hoisted Shinichi back into his arms and dashed towards the office Shinichi had indicated.

Locating the sterilisation chamber, KID saw a large pile of discarded lab coats stuffed haphazardly to one side inside of it. KID kicked the large, spinning wheel with an acrobatic strike with his right foot as his arms were currently occupied, opening the bulkhead door and stepped inside. The interior of the sterilisation chamber felt remarkably like the inside of some kind of spaceship, all glass, steel walls and lab-controlled cleanliness if it weren’t for the pile of coats that is. KID set Shinichi down on the floor again as he started digging through the coats, tracing his fingers over the walls.

“What are you doing?!” Shinichi hissed. “We need to get going, the guards will get in here any minute and it won’t take them long to find us here!”

“Hush!” KID shushed, continuing his inspection. “If I’m right, and let’s be honest, I am, there must be a system to efficiently transport used and sterilised lab coats to and from the laboratory.”

Shinichi’s eyes widened in realisation “So, in the sterilisation chamber-”

“... There should be a laundry chute somewhere- aha!” KID exclaimed, his gloved fingers finding purchase. He pulled out a boxy, hinged metal frame that slid out from the wall with a flourish. Barely big enough to fit a person, but it was their best chance.

Shinichi baulked. “I’m not getting in there.”

“Shinichi, get in the laundry chute.”

“I’m not getting in the laundry chute, do you even know how far down that goes?” Shinichi demanded, levelling a steely glare at the thief. “I’ll break my bones, then how are we going to escape?”

KID started throwing a bunch of lab coats at Shinichi. “So use these to break your fall. Come on, you wanted me to get you out of here, so I am.” He heaped a sizable pile into Shinichi’s arms.

“Now, unless you’re planning to hand over that pretty jewel right now, we’re getting out this way, or not at all!” KID bodily turned Shinichi around to face the chute, waiting expectantly.

Shinichi made his displeasure known with a scathing look as he inched his way to the metal chute and looked down the shaft. However, instead of endless darkness greeting him, there was a metal cover with a keyhole.

“KID, we have another problem. The chute’s locked.”

“What?” KID said, stepping directly behind Shinichi to look down at the metal cover. “Oh, no problem. I have something that can help us- Ooooooh shoot.” KID said, realising a rather unfortunate inconvenience.

“What is it now?” Shinichi asked exasperatedly. There were apparently a lot more complications with his grand escape than KID had anticipated. But that was par for the course, wasn’t it?

KID held up a hand and Shinichi’s eyes followed a silver coin as it walked over his gloved knuckles. “I already used this to get in, now it’s out of juice and we’ll have to jimmy the lock the old-fashioned way with my lockpicks, and I don’t know if we’ll have enough time.” KID said, keeping an edge of panic out of his voice.

The silver shell stamped on the coin winked at Shinichi as KID flicked it into the air once it reached his thumb and the mermaid’s expression changed as he seemed to recognise that symbol. It was magical in nature. He eyed KID with newfound apprehension.

“You have a Fairy’s Favour,” Shinichi grabbed Kaito’s wrist in a tight hold, shaking it as KID nearly dropped the coin. “ How did you get a Fairy’s Favour?”

“I didn’t steal it from a fairy’s cold dead hands if that’s what you’re thinking,” said KID, yanking his hand from Shinichi’s grasp. Despite being rather wiry in frame, Shinichi had been surprisingly strong. “How do you know what it is? I didn’t think they got fairies at the bottom of the ocean.”

Shinichi scowled, letting go of KID’s hand. “All creatures of legend knew of each other at one point or another. It’s not my fault fairies weren’t bothered to tell you humans of their mermaid cousins’ continued existence. Give that here.”

KID held his hand out of Shinichi’s reach cautiously.

“Why, what are you going to do with it?”

“Eat it,” Shinichi snarked back sarcastically. He was getting really tired of KID’s nonsense. “What do you think I’m going to do with a Fairy’s Favour, idiot?”

Reluctantly, KID handed over his father’s keepsake to the mermaid. He only gasped in abject horror when Shinichi actually stuck it in his mouth.

“I thought you were joking! Give it back you stupid fish, that Favour belonged to my father!”

He hit Shinichi in the back of his head and stuck his fingers into his throat like a misbehaving puppy that swallowed something he shouldn’t have. The action understandably completely caught Shinichi off-guard and caused him to choke, his throat convulsing around KID’s fingers as he tried very hard not to bite KID’s invading fingers off and spit the coin back out where it bounced on the floor with a metallic clang. Kid collected it in both hands reverently, whispering sweet apologies to it that he’d never let the nasty fish-man get his nasty fish saliva all over it again when he noticed it was shining with magical light as if it had just been charged by new moonlight.

KID held up the shining silver coin in wonderment. “What did you do?” He asked, turning to Shinichi.

“You’re welcome, idiot thief,” Shinichi said hoarsely, massaging his throat and coughing imperceptibly.

“Mermaids can do that?”

“Of course,” Shinichi replied, irritated. “Didn’t you notice? The shell stamped on your magic ‘coin’ is a sand dollar. A sand dollar is a glyph used in sea magic. Your coin can get its magic from the moon because the moon controls the tides, but it’s designed to respond to the sea. I just charged it using my own limited sea magic.”

Kaito, as a human, never really got magic but he was hardly going to look a gift horse in the mouth with his newly charged coin. He looked at the coin with a bit more awe, before twisting his face in disgust. “Okay, but did you have to stick it in your mouth?”

There was the sound of metal shrieking as the iron bars barring the antechamber were deactivated and heavy footsteps of guards running into the lab. There was more shouting as a new, shriller alarm was sounded as they noticed the mess KID left behind and the absence of a certain mermaid.

“Crap, no time! They’re about to catch up with us,” said Shinichi urgently.

KID gave the newly glowing Fairy’s Favour a quick polish on the back of his tie and held it to the lock on the laundry chute cover which opened with a click. He then hauled a still-protesting Shinichi along with a generous mountain of lab coats to its edge and unceremoniously shoved the mermaid in.

“Alleyoop!”

The mermaid tumbled down the chute cursing every foul word he knew at the thief as he fell.

Then, grinning like a madman, KID secured his hat to his head and jumped in to follow suit, gleeful at the adrenaline rush of another daring escape as his cape trailed behind him in a dramatic snow-white streak.

Lingering Fairy magic closed the chute behind them and locked itself with a snap, like they had never even touched it.

Chapter 3

Chapter Text

The laundry chute was a traumatising blind freefall through unexpected twists and turns as funnelled air whooshed past Shinichi’s lungs. There was a wild whooping coming from somewhere above him as Shinichi’s fall continued down the path of the chute before finally landing in a cushioned heap of dirty laundry, unscathed for the most part. Luckily, the laundry room wasn’t too far below the secret underground lab and so the laundry chute had levelled out in a curve soft enough to disperse the brunt of their fall.

Shinichi had landed roughly, rolling over his tail and collapsing in a heap, thankfully avoiding breaking any bones but not without rolling his fins uncomfortably.

“Haha!” KID cried triumphantly, rolling at the end of his fall and recentred himself unfairly to his feet like a practised gymnast. “I’ve always said people weren’t nearly as secure with their laundry!”

Shinichi sulked from where he lay. He didn’t even have the legs to try to stick the landing if he even tried. He’d much rather stick to nice, omnipresent buoyancy of water that spared him the full effects of gravity, rendering the need for legs moot.

“Celebrate later KID, we still haven’t managed to get off the property yet,” he said instead, cutting the thief’s premature celebration short.

KID pouted. “Buzzkill.”

Even still, he acquiesced and helped pick Shinichi up and helped the mermaid wrap his tail back comfortably around his waist. Comfortable for Shinichi, that is, KID still had reservations about a great, big, scaly fish tail constricting around his centre.

Shinichi looked exasperated as he wrapped his arms back over KID’s shoulders. “Forgive me, but I thought we were trying to escape?”

KID petted his hand against Shinichi’s tail soothingly. “All in good time, my unfortunately fishy appendaged friend.”

“You keep saying things like that,” Shinichi scowled. “What do you have against fish? Ninety-four per cent of Earth’s living species are found in the ocean, and of those over three trillion are fish. They’re perfectly fine animals and they play an integral part of the ecosystem. Without fish, the ocean would be a wasteland.”

“Spiders are an important part of the ecosystem, but that doesn’t stop arachnophobes” KID retorted, stepping out of the oversized laundry bin and into the room proper. He spotted a wheeled laundry basket that would hold Shinichi nicely while he navigated the room. The room was fully stocked with various lint rollers, soaps, detergents, washboards, and washing machines and just like the lab, all posts were abandoned. It was just as well, the blaring alarms of the estate were a lot quieter here than on the upper floors.

Shinichi co*cked an eyebrow at the fussing thief. “Oh, so that’s it. You’re an ichthyophobe.” He smirked and deliberately slapped his tail gently against Kaito’s neck, spreading and folding his tail fin teasingly when the thief jumped with a small scream. “You have my condolences. Fish is a fantastic tasting protein source”

“Something tells me you’ve an awfully biassed opinion when it comes to the flavour of fish, Shinichi!” KID shrieked. “And I’d be perfectly happy if I never had to eat a fish again in my life!” He pushed the muscled appendage away from himself and couldn’t get away fast enough as Shinichi snorted in amusem*nt.

“Moving on from your irrational fear, now we have to figure out how to get out of here. We’ve managed to fall into the laundry room, and I know you’re an escape artist but it’s not exactly like they’ll just let us walk on out of here to the exit.”

KID bit his lip, deep in thought as he eyed some of the large barrels of detergent stacked at the sides of the room. No one ever thinks to secure their laundry.

“Actually,” said KID. “Maybe we can.”

Azusa Enomoto didn’t expect too much when she went into work today.

She had taken up work at the Wakita Estate, regardless of all the rumours surrounding the place, because Wakita had bought out the Poirot Cafe to expand his sushi chain. It was only a matter of time, she supposed. The cafe wasn’t doing so well these days and at least she had the pleasure of working there with Amuro before it was closed.

The newly established Sushi Shop where her beloved cafe used to be had no need for her waitressing experiences. So, having nowhere else to go, she sought employment at the Wakita Estate itself. When she learnt Amuro already worked there as a freelance private eye, she was ecstatic. Strangely, he had strongly recommended she seek employment elsewhere at first. Azusa was confused and even hurt because she thought that Amuro was trying to avoid her and that he no longer wanted to keep working with her. However, that fear was proven unfounded when after week after week of not finding other opportunities for employment, Amuro had relented and given her a glowing recommendation landing her a position as a maid at the Wakita estate.

Her duties consisted of menial housekeeping tasks around the house. She too had heard all the nasty rumours surrounding Mr Wakita, but Azusa thought them all ridiculous. Never once did Wakita seem to be the shady sort of person the town of Beika thought he was. He always asked her how her day was going, asked after her well-being, and he even came to give her cooking advice as a fellow cook when she was assigned to minding the kitchens. The company he kept were a disconcerting, shady sort of people who never gave their names or greeted her at the entrance, but Mr Wakita himself was an upstanding individual and if they were the untrustworthy sort then Azusa was sure Mr Wakita wouldn’t have invited them in the house in the first place.

The KID notice that afternoon had been a surprise, most everyone else had gone home from work early, not wanting to get in the way. But Azusa had always been an avid KID fan at heart and stayed at work. The KID Task Force had come in as per usual and secured the grounds, ushering any lingering spectators and non-essential staff out while Azusa snuck around in staff corners so as to not get kicked off the premises. But when unfamiliar alarms that seemed to echo from somewhere deeper in the house were set off and hordes of unfamiliar, black-clad armoured men swarmed the estate and dismissed the KID Task Force, all semblance of order was lost.

Nakamori was shouting profanities at some sort of private security chief apparently employed by Wakita as he and his people were suddenly dismissed from the case. What was happening? Was it something more serious than a KID heist? Since when did Wakita have such a large private security force behind him, and why did they have authority over the KID Task Force? Azusa had no idea what to do or if she should even stay here.

Not knowing where else to go, Azusa made her way to the library to hopefully stay out of the way. However, at the door, she ran directly into Amuro, bowling over him in a clatter of heels and maid skirts.

“Azusa-san?” Amuro sounded so genuinely surprised as he looked down at her. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t see you!” Amuro had, of course, not been knocked over as they had collided. He had simply righted his footing after the impact. He extended a hand to her, his dark button-down sleeves riding up his arms as he did so. She gratefully accepted his hand in helping her back up.

“Amuro-san, what is happening?” Azusa asked, trying not to sound too panicked and clasping her hands in front of her imploringly.

“Where is the KID Task Force going? Did KID already leave? Who are all these strange new guards and-” she pointed a shaking finger somewhere behind Amuro where the source of alarm wails were coming from. “I’ve never heard that alarm before!”

Amuro settled his hands on either side of her cheeks, levelling her gaze with his as he tilted her head up.

“Amuro-san?”

“Azusa, listen to me, this is very important. Can you show me to the laundry room?” asked Amuro.

“T-the laundry room?” Azusa stammered. That room was only for staff access and while Amuro was indeed staff, his work was very different from hers.

“Of course, but why do you want to go there?” Asked Azusa. Other armed men from within the library marched out, shouldering past the two none too lightly and ripping open every door they came across and searching the rooms.

“Find him!” Barked a familiar voice in a wholly unfamiliar tone. Azusa squeaked in surprise as Amuro quickly spun her around the corner and shielded her from view with his own body. Azusa blinked nervously as under Amuro’s arm, she spotted an uncharacteristically angry Kanenori Wakita storm past. His remaining unpatched eye hard and his voice nigh unrecognisable laced with anger and outright cruelty. This Kanenori Wakita was entirely alien from the one she knew. While Mr Wakita had been patient and kind to her, this one was wholly filled with a dangerous, unbridled rage that had Azusa’s survival instincts screaming at her to duck and run.

Amuro distracted Azusa by redirecting her gaze at him once more. He smiled his familiar, warm smile which slightly calmed her racing heart. “We should hurry, I need to check on something. Something important,” Amuro pushed himself from the wall and gently pulled her with him, waiting in the hall expectantly.

“Lead the way.”

In light of the KID notice, the house was almost completely empty and so they made their way down to the underground levels of the house undeterred. These levels were almost exclusively used for staff who worked hard behind the scenes to keep the Estate running, and as such were much less extravagant than the upper levels. Amidst the chaos and panic, Azusa led Amuro back towards the laundry room, where turning the corner, someone ran into her for the second time today.

“Oh! I’m so sorry!” A reedy, mature female voice cried out.

Azusa rubbed the sore spot on her sore head where she had bumped into the wall and looked up to see the head maid, Mina f*ckawa, pushing a cart loaded with a giant sealed barrel. She looked rather comical as a tiny, shrivelled old lady in the head maid uniform wheeling about such a heavy cart by her lonesome.

“f*ckawa-san! What on earth are you still doing here? Didn’t you hear about the KID notice, haven’t you heard the alarms?” Azusa cried, instantly patting down her skirts and straightening her back to a rigid ninety-degree bow before f*ckawa started berating her for sloppy appearances and beating her with a paper fan.

f*ckawa, for her credit, didn’t look the least bit deterred by almost being knocked over by someone less than half her age and put her tiny wrinkled hands on her hips, staring Azusa down when she rose from her bow with a stern look. “What am I doing here? The better question is what are you doing here, Azusa-san? Didn’t I assign you to kitchen duty this week?”

Azusa stood there, flabbergasted. “B-but, the KID notice, the alarms-”

“What, that infernal racket going on upstairs?” f*ckawa asked, pointing a bony finger up, just as grouchy as ever. “Who cares! None of my business upstairs is. I’m the head maid and a head maid has duties even if the sky is falling! Otherwise, nothing would get done in this hovel Wakita-sama calls home.” She narrowed her eyes at Azusa. “Duties like the ones you should be doing in the kitchen! Honestly, I don’t know where the rest of the staff have gone, leaving me with a godforsaken skeleton crew to work with.”

f*ckawa made a point to roll her heavy cart of cargo forward towards the door. “Now be a good dear and get out of the way and back to the kitchen! I have errands to run.”

“Head Maid f*ckawa, pardon the intrusion, I’m Detective Tooru Amuro. I respect and admire your duty to your post, but I’m afraid Azusa-san can’t return to the kitchen just yet, I’ve had to borrow her for a moment,” said Amuro, making himself known to the old crone. He gestured around them to the flashing lights synced to the wailing of the alarms upstairs. “But f*ckawa-san, surely you think working with the house in this condition is a little extreme?”

Between the state of chaos the house was in, and the battalion of strange black-clad guards he had a point. Azusa knew the head maid was a bit eccentric and always dedicated, almost religiously so to her work, but this was too much!

“Extreme? Extreme? I’ll tell you what’s extreme, young man!” f*ckawa thundered, getting all up fearlessly in Amuro’s face, eyes flashing and exerting her seniority. “What’s extreme is the state of incompetence of these silly girls! Honestly, buying the wrong kind of laundry detergent for Wakita-sama. The insolence!”

“The … wrong kind of laundry detergent?” Amuro blinked several times in incomprehension, eyeing the heavy barrel. “What’s wrong with it? Laundry detergent is laundry detergent, isn’t it?”

“What’s wrong with it? Everything is wrong with it!” f*ckawa shrieked. “And you have the nerve to call yourself a detective! Wakita-sama is allergic to this detergent!”

Azusa blinked, staring at the innocuous barrel. It seemed like the regular barrel they used for laundry every week. “He is? Is that a different type to the normal one?”

f*ckawa rolled her eyes and held up a hand to her forehead like she was fighting off a headache. “Yes, you stupid girl. Wakita-sama has a bad allergy to the ingredients used in the scent of frangipani.” She shook her head, muttering under her breath about ‘letting the girls have it when they get back.’

“It gives him a terrible case of the sniffles. We can’t very well wash the Master’s clothes in something like that. So of course with all my staff missing it now falls to me to go dispose of it and buy a fresh supply myself,” f*ckawa huffed. She narrowed her eyes at the two suspiciously. “What are you both doing here anyway? I need to lock up.”

“I’m terribly sorry for your inconvenience f*ckawa-san, I’m actually here with Azusa-san on official private-eye business, you understand. It will only take a moment, direct orders from Wakita-san.” Amuro shouldered his way in through the door and stepped around the barrel-laden cart.

f*ckawa looked troubled. “Can’t it wait? The stores will be closing soon.”

“Sorry to keep you, Head Maid, but I’ve been ordered to find the whereabouts of the thief who announced his intentions to steal Wakita-san’s precious belongings tonight. My investigation has subsequently led me here to investigate the laundry chute.”

He beckoned with his hands for Azusa to follow him through. “We won’t be very long, and then we’ll let you get back to your important duties, I promise.”

Amuro turned to his companion, “Azusa-san, can you show me where the chute is?”

“O-of course, right here.”

Azusa side-stepped f*ckawa’s stern scowl and led Amuro to the pile of discarded clothing that filled the laundry bin to the brim. Ignoring Azusa’s protests that he’d get himself dirty and that she could do it, he stepped into the bin and started to rummage around while the head maid looked on in disapproval.

When Amuro came back up empty-handed, Azusa asked hesitantly. “Um, did you find what you were looking for?”

Amuro stepped back and shook his head in disappointment. “Unfortunately not. It’s strange, I thought for sure he’d have come through this way.” He examined the shelves of laundry supplies littering the room, eyes lingering on an empty box that used to contain scented soap bars.

“Well, if you’re both quite done here, I believe you’ve wasted enough of my time. I really must get going before the stores close.” f*ckawa tapped her foot with all the patience of a ticking time bomb.

“Of course, Head Maid f*ckawa-san,” Amuro replied. As he clambered out of the laundry bin, he looked up at the chute inquisitively. “Azusa-san, this chute connects to every floor in the Wakita Estate, correct?”

“It does,” Azusa confirmed. “Everybody needs things cleaned and oftentimes it’s easier to just throw things down a pipe to where you know it will get cleaned. We bring everything up again the next morning.”

“And there are absolutely no other exits in the laundry chutes in the house, everything comes out to this chute specifically?”

Azusa pursed her lips and followed his gaze to several feeds connecting to the main chute in a spaghetti bowl of twisted pipes visible from the ceiling. “Well, if there are, it’s the first I’ve heard of it. From what I know, everything connects right here, because otherwise how else will people’s things make it to the laundry room?”

“Right,” said Amuro, still scratching his head as he eyed the fruitless piles of laundry he had just rummaged through. “Just thought I’d make sure and ask.” He turned to f*ckawa, who was drumming her fingers against the sealed barrel in irritation.

“f*ckawa-san, have you been working in this room all evening?”

She rolled her eyes, jabbing a bony finger against his collar. “Yes, because half my staff are missing, haven’t you been listening to a thing I say, boy?”

Amuro stumbled back and held his arms in front of himself placatingly. “Of course, f*ckawa-san, but as a detective, it never hurts to make sure of all the details,” he said breezily.

He pointed up at the knot of tubes as a metallic cluttering was heard just before another load of laundry was deposited from the end of the chute into the bin. “I must ask, have you seen anything suspicious come down the laundry chute tonight? Anything at all?”

f*ckawa barked a laugh, high and reedy just like her voice. “Are you trying to jest young man? Of course, I’ve seen something suspicious.”

“W-what?” Amuro asked, having not really expected the crabby old lady to be very cooperative. “Wait, you have?”

She placed her thin hands on her hips like she was speaking to a child, despite the fact that Amuro towered over her. “Yes, silly boy. I see suspicious things tonight just like every other night. You can only ignore so many blood-stained lab coats that come through there until you start thinking that the good master’s hobbies are none of my business. But that’s neither here nor there. Now out of the way before I run you over!” f*ckawa stubbornly rolled her cart over Amuro’s toes, causing the young man to curse lightly as he held up his tender foot.

“Ouch!”

“Walk it off young’un, you’ll survive.” f*ckawa quipped back, rolling her eyes at the frailty of youth as she rattled her cart away. However, Amuro grabbed her shoulder, stopping her.

“Just one more moment, f*ckawa-san.”

“What is it now?” f*ckawa asked, exasperated. She had in her hand a paper fan at the ready if this kept up.

Amuro eyed the cart suspiciously and approached the wooden barrel. It was rather large for a barrel of laundry detergent, and the edges of the seal looked like it had been recently disturbed, wood chipped as if from the efforts of a crowbar.

“I just need to check something.” His hand crept to the top of the sealed barrel-

f*ckawa slapped his hand away with a loud smack of the paper fan. “What are you doing?!”

“Head Maid f*ckawa, as part of security detail, I must inspect-”

“Wakita-sama is very allergic to the scent of frangipani. If you open it here, you’ll get it into the air vents!” She shrieked, gesturing wildly at the air ducts by the floor that stopped the underground staff levels from becoming underground tombs.

“I’ll not be losing my job because of some self-important freelance wannabe detective! Just smell the barrel if you really want to confirm the contents. If we get the scent into the air vents, the master will need to have the whole system ripped out and deep cleaned and I’ll tell him that’s going to come out of your pocket!”

Amuro blanched at the threat, but f*ckawa seemed adamant. Seeing no other choice but to comply, lest he set off the head maid again, Amuro went down to the barrel and gave it a big old whiff.

Yep, there was a heavy scent of industrial-grade frangipani, like the ones used in hand soaps. As well as a refreshing underlying note of sea breeze oddly enough. But it definitely smelt of the floral-scented detergent. The smell was strong enough to cause Amuro to sneeze himself, as his eyes watered and he pinched off his nose. No wonder Wakita was allergic to this stuff, it was absolutely pungent.

“So sorry to have held you up, f*ckawa-san, as you were,” said Amuro, bowing his head and finally releasing the maid.

“You’re lucky I’m too busy working to knock some sense upside your head!” f*ckawa screamed, shaking her paper fan. With that, she ushered them all out, all but beating them with a feather duster she pulled from somewhere and slammed the door behind them. When she confidently went to input the security code to lock the door without hesitation, Amuro relaxed. However, when she didn’t bother to cover her hand as she input the numbers, Amuro’s brow sank in concentration once more as he made note of the numbers. They were supposed to be random, but something was nagging at the back of Amuro’s detective mind to have a closer look. But his stormy thoughts were interrupted as Azusa bumped her shoulder into his own playfully as the older woman rolled her barrel away in a rickety rage.

“She’s just a bit stressed today, she’s not normally that bad,” said Azusa. “f*ckawa-san is a really hard worker, I wouldn’t have made it past my first week here without her.”

“I can see that.” Nodding to himself, Amuro started heading back upstairs with Azusa to look for another lead in his investigation on the whereabouts of the thief. “What a dedicated old woman.”

“Hell hath no fury like a woman with a job to do” Azusa commented.

“I think that’s not the right turn of phrase at all,” Amuro replied, amenable as they made their way back to the fray of the upper floors.

Maybe it was nothing, possibly even coincidence. After all, there was no one Amuro knew by the name K-A-T-S-U-K-I/D-O-I-T-O

Carting the barrel down the cemented corridor, Shinichi and KID made it to Wakita’s underground garage without further incident as KID blessed his lucky stars. It was a good thing he had checked the staffing schedule before they had left and that Azusa was wearing her name tag today. He nearly had a heart attack when that Amuro fellow wanted to crack open the barrel. KID probably would have sprayed him in the face with knockout gas and made a break for it if he pressed the issue. But that would have been less than ideal as Amuro’s disappearance would no doubt send the guards swarming into the staff levels, further limiting their chances for escape.

As they swerved around the corner Shinichi couldn’t hold his breath any longer and knocked, angrily against the barrel lid. It was all the warning KID got before Shinichi blew the top clean off like a champagne bottle with a furious smack of his coiled tail and took a huge gulp of fresh air.

“Oh thank god, for a moment there I wasn’t sure I was going to make it.”

“Oi oi,” said KID, shedding his maid’s voice in favour of his regular timbre, pushing Shinichi’s head back into the barrel, in spite of the mermaid’s steel-edged glare. “Keep down, someone could spot you.”

“Calm down, I don’t hear anyone else coming,” Shinichi dismissed KID’s concern and caught the falling barrel lid before it could clatter on the ground, scanning up and down the empty corridors

anyway with a watchful eye. “I was about to suffocate in this oversized peanut jar. If I expire in here and end up as a barrel of marinated frangipani-anchovy sauce it will be your fault!”

“Alright, alright. But if we get caught, don’t say I didn’t warn you.” KID mumbled as he input a code into a Wakita Estate keypad for the last time and opened up the door, revealing a vaulted chamber garage filled with aisle after aisle of gleaming classic cars.

Shinichi stared at the nimble movement of the thief’s fingers at the keypad as he visualised the number with a set frown. “Really, KID? Do you sign off on all your heists? A bit obvious isn’t it, when the code is an anagram of your name?”

KID looked down at the mermaid in surprise. “You deciphered that?”

“Of course,” said Shinichi, shifting in the barrel proudly. “K-A-T-S-U-K-I/D-O-I-T-O, when the characters are rearranged, becomes ‘Kaito KID’. I’m good at things like puzzles and codes.” He shrugged, “Secret organisations thrive on secret codes, so it's not like there was much else for me to do in that tank you know.”

They rolled to a stop at a pristine Porsche 356A, body sleek, polished, and black fit for a funeral, and KID let out a low whistle. “This secret organisation has some seriously deep pockets. Why do you even need this many classic cars? Doesn’t Wakita have anything less conspicuous in this garage?”

“No,” replied Shinichi, “The Black Organization, as discreet as they are, can’t help themselves when it comes to certain displays of power and wealth. Vehicles happen to be one of their vices.”

KID clicked his tongue in disappointment. “So there’s no chance I’ll find a nice, indiscreet, one-of-a-million grey sedan in here?”

“The odds are basically nil,” Shinichi confirmed.

Of course. “Great, well if we’re going out in a mad car chase, may as well make it a good one,” said KID, hand going for the door. But Shinichi spat on the flawless finish of the Porsche before KID could lay a single finger on it.

“Not this car, pick any other car. Please.”

KID affixed Shinichi with a searching look but the mermaid’s face was inscrutable.

Nodding and not questioning the mermaid’s judgement, KID carted Shinichi’s barrel up to the opposite row of cars, leaving the black Porsche out of sight while looking for something that could at least fit his fishy passenger comfortably.

“We were lucky you managed to stop Amuro-san from opening the barrel. If he checked, we’d have been cooked,” said Shinichi, steering the dead conversation anywhere else.

“I pride myself on my ability to spin a story,” KID bragged, a happy skip to his step. “An overzealous maid protective of her master’s allergic tendencies?” He pantomimed a chef’s kiss, “Immaculate.”

“Yeah, yeah. Congratulate yourself when I taste seawater, or your big head might hit the door on the way out, idiot Thief.” Shinichi snarked.

“Admit it, you’re impressed,” KID needled, revelling in the uptight mermaid’s displeasure.

Shinichi glared as he folded his arms in the barrel. “What I’m impressed with is your incessant addiction to playing with danger. We could have been caught when you hit Amuro-san! What if he had retaliated?”

“But he didn’t,” KID gloated, leaning in from behind to tease the words by Shinichi’s left side fin. “Anyway, you’re assuming I didn’t have a plan B. Have more faith in your thief, Merman-kun, I don’t steal things without a plan B. Now all that’s left is to load you into a getaway car and we’re home free.”

They stopped at the part of the garage that housed sports cars. All black, of course, the signature colour of the Organisation. Unfortunately, KID basically knew nothing when it came to vehicles, other than which ones had enough secret compartments to store all his magic tricks, and was at a bit of a loss at their wide selection.

“Pick that one.” Shinichi pointed to a white-striped black car in the back row. “It’s a 1966 AC Cobra 427.”

The Cobra was a low-set aerodynamic beast of a vehicle, all gleaming wax polish and chrome edges, but also compact enough that it wouldn’t be too cumbersome to drive. The car would not have been out of place in a racing museum.

KID arched an eyebrow looking at the surprisingly car-knowledgeable mermaid currently in his barrel. “How in the world does a mermaid know anything about classic cars?”

Shinichi turned an amusing shade of red up to his frilly side fins. “My mother was a mermaid and my father was a human. She was a human enthusiast. She fell in love with a human sailor back in the day and raised me with all her eccentricities,” he mumbled.

Kaito looked at Shinichi disbelievingly. “You’re a half mermaid? That can happen?” He let out a loud exhale, air ruffling his hair on his face. “You really look full-blooded, could have fooled me.”

Shinichi glowered, as if he seemed embarrassed about the fact. Though Kaito didn’t think Shinichi had anything to be embarrassed by, as he didn’t even know mermaids existed till an hour ago.

“Technically half-blooded, yes. Though most supernatural genes, such as mermaid genes, supersede any human traits or else things would get messy really quick if I was born with half a tail or something. So functionally for all intents and purposes, I am fully mermaid.”

“Wow,” Kaito gaped. “So, what if two different supernaturals had a kid together? Would their genes battle for dominance?”

The disbelieving look Shinichi sent his way was nothing short of scathing. That wasn’t how genes worked at all.

“Kidding,” amended KID, holding up his hands from the handle bar of the cart. “Sheesh Merman-kun, I was only having a bit of fun. You know, the thing you’re woefully lacking in.”

Still, he pulled out his lockpicks, easily picked the lock and loaded Shinichi’s barrel into the passenger seat of the Cobra. The dark leather was smooth and cool to the touch, exquisitely stitched lines like the grooves in a scallop shell. He didn’t know if wrapping the belt around Shinichi or the barrel would do him any good, but it was probably better than nothing.

Shinichi leaned his arms on the rim of the barrel and looked up at the thief. “We need to make sure they can’t follow us-”

“Way ahead of you, Merman-kun.” KID held out his hands and with a flick, three small cherry-red explosive charges were held up between each of his four fingers. He flicked his wrist again and three green coloured explosives were between them instead.

Shinichi stared with wide eyes. “Do you just carry various explosives on you everywhere you go?”

“Only on dates with cute boys with a taste for danger,” KID promised.

“Where do you even put them?”

KID hummed playfully. “Where indeed?” He winked at Shinichi, taking pride in his ability to make even a supernatural blush. Oh, this was doing wonders to his ego. This must’ve been how his father felt when he got the Fairy’s Favour from Queen Titania.

He set up a large device by the door and the explosive charges around the rest of the garage with enough firepower to bring the whole thing crashing down around them with the press of a button. It was a shame about the rest of the cars, they were relics of a time past and worth a pretty penny, but they would have to be a necessary sacrifice. He also felt bad that the barrel they had commandeered in their haste wasn’t exactly waterproof. It was slowly but surely leaking frangipani soap scented water Amuro had mistaken for detergent all over the nice black leather interior of the Cobra. But it was their only way of keeping Shinichi hydrated.

“I sure hope Wakita has this car insured for water damage.” KID said, starting the car with a throaty rumble of a well-looked-after sports engine. “And well, theft,” he added offhandedly.

KID hit the first button on his switch and the black contraption by the door made a high-pitched whine as it activated before crackle-popping as arcs of electricity shot out before the whole room was plunged into darkness.

It was a blackout, silencing the screeching alarm outside as panicked shouting could be heard over the din. KID bore his manic grin as he flipped back the big red cover on his switch revealing a red blinking light signalling the explosives were armed and floored it, pressing the button just before they hit the garage door.

There was a massive explosion that ripped through the garage as the AC Cobra did what it was made to do, and accelerated from zero to a hundred kilometres per second in just four seconds flat. The car exited the garage in a giant belching fireball as the door was blasted away in a shower of concrete dust and splinters as the guards surrounding the house dove out of the way in a mad scramble. A shard of concrete debris shot in front of the car, a violent crack splintered over the windscreen but they couldn’t stop.

Shinichi held on for dear life as the barrel rattled in the car seat, feeling very much like he was strapped to a runaway train car secured only by the lone safety belt thrown across his belly. The KID Task Force, who hadn’t gotten very far when dismissed, started up their sirens ready to follow in hot pursuit, only to have their vehicles stutter to a stop when KID passed them.

“Oops, did I do that?” KID chuckled, throwing a wired device in the back that crackled with an apparently bugged Nakamori’s furious shouting.

As the Wakita Estate faded into their rearview mirror Shinichi sighed and allowed himself to minutely relax, just a little since endeavouring this impromptu adventure. It was a real shame, blowing up all those classic cars. But it was the only way they could make their getaway without Wakita’s guards and the Black Organisation coming after them in their own vehicles.

However, they couldn’t relax for long, as soon Shinichi noticed flashing lights fast approaching in the sky.

“KID, KID!” Shinichi called out, fighting to be heard over the wind that howled through the windscreen cracks.

“What is it, Merman-kun?” Shouted KID, focusing on not flattening them against a signpost after all their hard efforts.

“We need to get somewhere to bail and switch cars, there’s a chopper on the way!” Shinichi shouted, pointing at their rearview mirror. “Even with the blackout, there’s no way no one saw what kind of car we were driving, they might have even seen the licence plates. I don’t know if that’s Wakita’s chopper or Nakamori’s, but we need to switch cars, and we need to do it soon.”

Kaito checked his rearview mirror and noted the airborne lights converging on the pillar of smoke where the Wakita Estate stood.

“Alright, hang on tight Merman-kun, I have somewhere in mind.”

Where KID had in mind turned out to be an old car park off the motorway. The building was old and sun-worn, tired colours having faded long ago into bleached reds and yellows that chipped off the corrugated iron roof and sported rusted railings that were sure to be a health hazard if anyone bothered to come out this way. KID had rolled in their worse-for-wear AC Cobra, a stark difference from the other non-classic, non-just-barely-survived-an-explosion cars parked in this same building, and selected a car at random. He tactfully hid Shinichi from the security cameras by navigating their blind spots and he loaded the barrel into his desired discreet grey sedan of his dreams and sped them away to a safer location under the cover of night.

They ended up taking refuge in a large underground bunker. KID’s bunker, if Shinichi had to garner a guess. It was huddled between tall abandoned apartment buildings that would encourage airflow so that KID could take off on his paraglider more easily. There was a small hidden garage they rolled up in, revealing a white motorcycle that was under repairs and a beautifully kept white 1985 Alfa Romeo Spider Series 3, a far cry better than the pitiful 1999 Honda sedan they stole. If it was any consolation, the vehicle had been basically falling apart by the time KID and Shinichi got their hands on it, so really they were doing the original owner a favour if they had any car insurance to take a payout for a nicer car.

There was a large main room filled with equipment used for heisting and magic alike with half-finished boxes with false floors, mirrored sides and quick-release pulleys. A large pool table doubled as a spot for spreading out floor plans to places of interest, and a vintage jukebox was somewhere softly playing piano music that could be heard throughout the building. There were posters of a man who looked very similar to KID dressed in the same flashy white outfit obscuring his face behind a billowing cape. That must have been his father, the previous Kaito KID. As KID entered the room, a mannequin popped out, accepting his top hat, cape and suit jacket. Shinichi eyed the mannequin as it reappeared in a glass case displaying the outfit not unlike a superhero’s trophy room.

Shinichi co*cked an eyebrow at the thief as he was wheeled into the room. “Really, KID, you have a Batcave?”

“How do YOU know what a Batcave is? You’re a fish!” KID protested, pinching his nose to stave off the impending headache. He disposed of his gloves in the rubbish bin. Yeah, those were goners. No amount of deep cleaning would be able to remove the smell of fish from them after tonight. He was still hoping the rest of his outfit might be salvageable, although he didn’t hold out much faith in the cotton dress shirt.

Shinichi opened his mouth to answer but KID interrupted him. “Don’t tell me; your mother read you pop culture books too.”

“Now you’re getting it,” Shinichi replied, smug.

The water in his barrel had long ago leaked out, and Shinichi was beginning to feel the effects of dehydration. His dry skin pulled at his scars, which he covered with his fingers self-consciously, his scales on his side fins and tail were starting to flake, and his webbing was starting to feel stiff.

Kaito looked concerned at his slow-moving tail fin, which seemed to be a bit more limp than it had been an hour ago. “I’ll go run some water for you. Do you think you can fit in a bathtub?” He scratched the back of his head, looking unsure. ”I don’t exactly have a pool, and I haven’t quite gotten to the point of incorporating underwater escape tricks yet in my routine I’m afraid,” KID frowned in contemplation. “Maybe this is a sign that I should.”

“I don’t exactly have much choice, do I?” Shinichi sighed. His skin was still damp so he wasn’t in any danger of actually hurting himself, but it was still uncomfortable. “Do what you can, and I’ll make do.”

KID stepped out into what Shinichi had to assume was the main area of residence to locate a bathtub. When he came back, he was dragging a large, white, plastic tub that left scrape marks along the ground before depositing it in the corner near the pool table. Then he wheeled Shinichi’s barrel closer to the site and picked him up again.

“Hey, watch it! I can get in myself!” Shinichi protested, quickly looping his tail around the thief so as to not get in the way and trip him.

Smirking, KID ignored his protests and lowered Shinichi into the tub, tucking away a stray strand of hair from his face as he did so. “Nope, I stole you, so now you’re my treasure. And I make it a point to look after my treasures.”

“You’re such a shameless flirt,” Shinichi complained, knocking KID’s fingers away from his reddening face and holding his hair away from the digits.

“One of my many charming characteristics,” he replied, hopping to the kitchenette “Alright, the sooner we get those pearly scales some H2O, the sooner I’ll be able to sleep soundly tonight without worrying about you drying out.”

KID connected a red rubber hose to a small sink that was normally used to wash out colourful dyes and threw the other end of it to Shinichi, who caught it with one hand. The cold water came out in a steady gush that washed over Shinichi’s fins, it made a pleasant steady pressure against Shinichi’s scales that reminded him of rain long ago, before he was caught. The tub was also a nice change from the barrel, which was much too claustrophobic. He was practically sitting on his fins the whole time they were using it, but the tub was much wider and allowed him to actually spread them and uncoil his tail.

The relaxing results were immediate. Shinichi leaned back in the tub and closed his eyes, making a soft contented clicking noise in his throat that Kaito probably would have defined as ‘aquatic purring.’ A much cuter expression crept on that face than his signature scathing glare. Kaito couldn’t resist, and he snapped a photo on his phone.

Shinichi lazily opened one eye, looking at the offending device disdainfully in response. “Did you just take my picture?”

“Sorry, I couldn’t resist when your face isn’t so scary~” KID teased. Shinichi’s other eye opened in an open scowl.

“Yeah, like that. Why, Merman-kun, what sharp teeth you have!” He said, taking another photo and laughing.

“All the better to bite thieves who don’t know when to quit,” Shinichi retorted hotly. “You’d better keep those to yourself. If Wakita finds us from your geolocation data or something we’ll never make it to the ocean, but I trust you have more sense than that.”

“Of course, Shinichi. I wouldn’t even dream of sharing~”

The answering splash of water was all the response KID needed as he danced out of range with light laughter.

Shinichi intensified his scowl. “Why do you even want to take photos? Photos are for things that are worth recording, and It’s not like I was doing anything of note.”

KID checked his new photos, nodding in satisfaction and saving them under a new gallery he titled ‘Pretty Fish’.

“Do I need a reason? I just like photos,” KID replied simply, tucking away his phone in the safety of his inner lining pocket, out of reach of touchy mermaids. “Especially of things not of note.”

He spread his arms wide in a grandiose motion. “We always remember to take photos of big things and events like birthdays and celebrations, when so much happens in day-to-day regular life with regular people and regular events that we forget about.” KID patted the pocket housing the device affectionately. “It’s nice to keep a record of a lot of little things that we otherwise might forget about once they’re gone.”

Shinichi gave KID an odd look. “You’re weird,” he decided.

“Says the actual mermaid,” KID pointed out, intensifying the spray of water from the tap. “Since you didn’t mention anything, I assume it’s alright for me to be using tap water? I think saltwater fish bloat until they explode if they breathe freshwater or something. That’s not going to happen to you, right?”

Shinichi snorted. “Well, it’s not like I can’t breathe in it, I can breathe a bit if it’s not long term, but this water’s not even aerated. We’re just using it to keep my scales wet. So I’ll be fine just breathing air in the meantime.”

The tub was filled as far as KID dared without Shinichi flooding the room every time he wanted to move. The colour and lustre of his scales were restored, but there were still patches that felt off. So Shinichi started to massage the water into the drier parts that needed it and flexed everything like a stiff muscle until it felt reinvigorated again.

KID made a barely contained noise of strangled discomfort as Shinichi moved on to the back of his tail, watching him warily.

“Do you, uh, need some help with that?” KID asked, motioning to the finned part Shinichi was struggling to reach. He was trying to be polite and offer assistance, what a nice gesture. Though, it looked like KID would rather be doing literally anything else and was kicking himself at even offering as he now faced down the prospects of actually following through and lending a hand moisturising Shinichi's tail.

Shinichi snickered. “No, I’ve got it. No offence KID, but you look like you’re about to faint just at the thought of touching my tail. Thanks for offering though.”

KID let out a grateful sigh, and it didn’t escape Shinichi’s notice that KID took solace in being relieved from fishy care duty.

Now, with nothing better to do than make conversation with the living legendary creature, KID sat on a sofa near the pool table and pulled up a leg to rest the bottom of his chin with all the manners of an alleycat.

“So, Merman-kun. Since I’ve broken you out of your prison and I’m currently wanted by every police officer in the county, well, more so than usual at least,” KID commented. “I feel like you should tell me a little bit about just how a legendary, previously-thought-to-be-myth mermaid ended up in the private labs of a shady sushi chef obsessed with the supernatural in the first place.”

KID made a clicking sound with his tongue. “I read while I was in the lab some notes that he was looking for ingredients for some kind of potion that would grant immortality. I understand dragon liver and unicorn blood, every myth refers to those creatures and their long lives. But I haven’t heard anything about mermaids.”

He pulled a disgusted face. “He wasn’t looking to eat you just because he’s a sushi chef, was he? I don’t think the legends say anything about mermaid flesh granting immortal life.”

Shinichi guffawed at the suggestion. Honestly, being eaten after he was captured might have been a mercy, that would have made Wakita only a predator. Predators like sharks were easy to understand, they wanted to feed themselves. Humans, well, sometimes humans wanted to hurt. Especially if they get something out of it.

“No, nothing like that. Mermaids are only mildly magical creatures, that’s why our blood and liver aren’t worth very much unlike a dragon’s. You’re lucky I have enough power to charge your Fairy’s Favour. No, he needs something else from me.” Shinichi pooled the water in his hands, wetting his side fins and rubbing the moisture back into the back of his neck.

“You might have noticed from the research in the lab, but Wakita is close, scarily close to achieving his formula for immortality.”

“What does he want immortality for?” Kid asked. “I can’t imagine a sushi chef would particularly fear death very much.”

Shinichi felt along the webbing between his fingers, testing the flexibility. “No, it’s not for himself. There’s still someone above him, someone they call Renya Karasuma. I don’t know much about him, other than he wants Rum to complete their formula.” He shrugged his shoulders to emphasise his next statement. “As for why, does it really even matter? Who with enough money, power, and influence wouldn't want the secret to immortality?

Great, so Wakita wasn't even the biggest player on the board. And here, KID thought things were already bad enough having pissed off the nation's possibly wealthiest sushi chef.

“So, what even is it, the ingredient they needed from you?” KID asked with a grim-set expression.

Shinichi glared up at KID, flashing his sharp teeth dangerously. “No offence, KID, but I’ve only barely just met you.” The tip of his tail snaked out of the water to point to KID. “You have my thanks for keeping your end of the bargain and getting me out of Wakita’s estate, but until I taste the open ocean in my gills I hope you understand why I can’t trust you with that information.”

He pushed away from the side of the tub nonchalantly. “You’ve already told me that your father was killed hunting for Pandora, a gem you’ve said as such is meant to grant its owner with immortal powers. How do I know that once I tell you what ingredient they needed from me, you won’t turn around and steal it from me yourself?”

KID pouted and swung his legs back and forth on the couch like a boy at the schoolyard. “Aw, come on, Merman-kun, I wouldn’t do that.”

Shinichi looked around like he was worried about being overheard before gesturing for Kaito to lean in close like he was going to tell him a secret. Bouncing on the balls of his feet, Kaito eagerly scrambled forward, and let Shinichi cup the shell of his ear for some extra privacy.

“I. Don't. Believe. You.” He sing-songed back to Kaito in a familiar taunting jingle. KID leaned back disappointedly only to see Shinichi had also echoed his shark-like grin.

KID took a page from Shinichi’s book and scowled himself. “You’re such a tease.”

“And you’re just a thief,” Shinichi quipped back. “I think that automatically makes you less trustworthy than me.”

“You wound me, Merman-kun, Really, I’m hurt.” KID clutched at his heart, feigning being stabbed. But Kaito somewhat understood. Shinichi wasn’t stupid, some secrets were best kept close to the chest. Especially given his treatment from humans up till this point if his scars were to be inferred.

“But that’s alright, your secrets aren’t what I’m after anyway.” KID shot back a predatory smile, “All I want is the gem.”

“And you’ll get it, as soon as you get me back to the ocean,” Shinichi remarked, pushing Kaito’s nosy face out of his personal space and away from leering at his right hip.

Leaving Shinichi to continue rehydrating, Kaito decided it was time for a bit of ego-stroking and turned on the night’s news report. He didn’t have to wait for long, there was already a news crew on the scene, interviewing Nakamori as he lamented KID’s excessively destructive escape, though there were no casualties as usual. The carnage and fallout of tonight’s heist were a bit more explosive than KID’s normal shows, but then again tonight’s heist was hardly normal to begin with. Case and point, his current fishy guest. Shinichi also turned in his tub to watch the report as he caught Wakita’s name.

“Tonight, true to his word, international jewel thief Kaito KID infiltrated the Wakita Estate in pursuit of the Atlantic Envy, a recent purchase for Wakita-san. However, it seems KID has taken to stealing more than just gemstones tonight. Wakita-san has confirmed that in addition to the jewel, KID has also stolen Wakita-san’s beloved pet albino Chinese giant salamander, the only one of its kind in recorded history, and a treasured member of Wakita-san’s remaining family. KID was captured on CCTV footage fleeing the Estate in an AC Cobra 427 with the salamander stashed in a barrel. Wakita-san implores that anyone with more information should contact the authorities as soon as possible, as he is eager for the return of this precious member of his family. Unlike previous full moon heists, KID has also yet to return the jewel. If anyone has any information regarding KID, or the whereabouts of the Atlantic Envy or Wakita-san’s giant salamander, Wakita-san is offering a five million yen reward. In addition, please inform the authorities at this number.”

As the police tip hotline scrolled across the screen, they played the CCTV footage of KID’s daring escape and a still image of the Atlantic Envy, as well as the grainy screenshot of something pale in a barrel as KID’s Cobra rode past the camera.

“A salamander?!” Shinichi yelled, affronted. “He called me a freaking salamander!”

“Not my finest angle in that screenshot. It’s not every day I commandeer a sports car. My fans must be so disappointed.” KID sighed, much more focused on himself in the screenshot than the indistinct collection of pixels butchering Shinichi’s classification.

Shinichi co*cked an eyebrow disbelievingly. “You have fans?”

As he turned to him, KID looked tickled pink. “Oh, that’s right! You wouldn’t know that part about Kaito KID, legendary phantom thief of the moonlight!”

“I know he’s an idiot thief, that’s enough isn’t it?”

Miffed at Shinichi’s assessment, KID pulled a deck of cards from somewhere and began to spring the cards back and forth between each hand, pulling out cards and changing their backs from blue to red seemingly at random as Shinichi’s eyes carefully followed the motion, eyes sharp and intrigued enough to attempt to figure out KID’s trick. He was caught off guard last time when KID had pulled his tricks, making the red rose appear from seemingly thin air and the changing of explosives between his fingers. But now, given another trick to watch, Shinichi could tell it wasn’t real magic, like the Fairy’s Favour, but all an illusion. Sleight of hand. Visual flair in the place of real, mystical power.

“Well, Shinichi, allow me to illuminate you to my brand as a magician.” He allowed the dancing cards to spring from his fingers towards Shinichi’s face, making him duck as they landed chaotically behind him in the bathtub.

KID disappeared and reappeared in a puff of smoke, now standing on the pool table, giving a grand bow. “I take my role as a magician phantom thief very seriously. You can think of my heists as a stage, Nakamori with his team as my assistants, and the adoring public as my audience. I use the publicity of heists to put on a good show. The stunts are for me to make off with the gem, while the magic is for the cameras. I do adore a good audience.”

“And how are people supposed to attend these ‘magic shows’ of yours, if they’re heists and only the police have access to them?” Asked Shinichi dryly.

Wordlessly, a steel-edged card shot out from KID’s gun, which hadn’t been in his hand a

moment ago, and embedded itself into Shinichi’s bathtub. Curiously, Shinichi plucked it from the edge and read the contents. It was a copy of the KID notice he sent to Wakita that afternoon.

“I’m a gentleman thief, I don’t like my targets to think I cheated them for my prizes. I send advance notices to my targets. It helps them prepare for my arrival by beefing up security for an even more impressive show than if I took the jewel on Friday night security. My fan club gets wind of the heist notice, and I’ll usually have a live audience, if the police let them get close enough, that is.”

Shinichi pulled a face. “That doesn’t make any sense. Why would you deliberately make the heist harder for yourself by telling people ahead of time so they can prepare in advance?” His bestowed title of ‘idiot thief’ seemed to be more and more accurate the more Shinichi found out about this ridiculous man.

“It’s all about showmanship.” KID purred, snatching the KID notice from Shinichi’s fingers and turning it into a King of Clubs, showing Shinichi. “Not that I expect you to understand. You’re such a critic for a mermaid. What’s wrong with a little added drama and action to a heist?”

“The part where you make it easier for yourself to get caught,” Shinichi deadpanned, eyeing the transformed card design with suspicion. “You don’t have a good sense of self-preservation about you.”

“Says the mermaid who maimed his own tail to blackmail a thief into escorting him to the ocean.” KID pointed out helpfully.

Shinichi huffed and folded his arms but noticeably didn’t say anything to deny it.

“In any case,” KID continued, “the Beika town exits will be crawling with police for a few days at least, checking to see if anybody’s trying to smuggle the Atlantic Envy or an apparent ‘giant salamander’ out. It’ll be best if we lay low in town for a few days before making our way towards the ocean.”

Shinichi levelled a dangerous stare at KID. “I am not a salamander.”

KID easily waved him off, but filed the jibe for future use in his mind. It was funny riling the mermaid up, he was so easy to tease.

The clock chimed the changing of the hour, startling KID. He hadn’t noticed how late it had gotten, the chaos of the impromptu jailbreak, magic and fish care keeping them late into the night. KID got up, stretching and staving off a yawn. “Well, I’m going to turn in for the night. It’s been a long one, and far more exciting than I think either of us were anticipating”

Shinichi nodded, already looking like he was also about to turn off at the drop of a hat.

He watched as Kaito pulled out the couch for more comfortable sleeping. KID was also taking off the rest of his magician’s clothes into more casual sleepwear as he handed them into the glass display case.

“What are you doing? Don’t you have a bedroom in your Batcave?” Shinichi asked, confused.

KID nodded, fluffing up a set of sheets and pillows by the side of the sofa that was closest to Shinichi. “Of course I do, but you still have my gem, Merman-kun”

He smiled and leaned his arms on the edge of Shinichi’s bathtub, staring intently at the aforementioned patch of scales. “And I keep a careful eye on my stolen prizes.”

Shinichi flushed at KID ogling his hip where the gem was hidden. “Perv,” he said, shielding the area by fanning his tail fin over it. If it weren’t for how securely small items could be held under a pocket of scales, Shinichi might have thought of moving the gem to a different location so the thief would stop acting so indecently.

KID laughed as he hopped onto the converted sofa, kicking up his feet. “I’m only keeping an eye on the jewel Shinichi, calm down. There are other more … fishy parts of you which do well enough to deter my gaze alone.” His laugh simmered down to a quiet snicker. “You can be rest assured, I’m not looking at any scaly part of you that way.”

As he continued preparing his sleeping arrangements, KID looked with a thoughtful frown at Shinichi, sitting in his pitiful tub looking quite unready for bed in comparison. “Should I uh, get you a blanket or anything?”

Shinichi snorted at KID’s awkwardness playing host to a magical creature whose sleeping arrangements must have been a mystery to him. It was funny how much emphasis humans put on warmth when the bottom of the ocean could reach temperatures well below freezing. Just a part of human metabolism running at much warmer requirements, Shinichi supposed. “No need. The bottom of the ocean is much colder than this. I’ll be fine.”

That was the thing about humans. They ran warm, warm, warm. Much too warm to survive the cold depths, unlike mermaids who typically ran a good bit cooler.

“Still,” Kaito looked unsure. It just felt unnatural to leave a guest with a hard, water-filled plastic bathtub through the night and nothing else. “I should at least get you a pillow. What did you do before in Wakati-san’s tank? Did you just … float?”

The mermaid glared at KID. Yep, definitely Shinichi’s default expression with his current track record. “I slept on a shelf of rock. Don’t look at me like that! It’s not nearly as bad as you think it is when you’re supported by water buoyancy,” Shinichi explained when KID looked like he was about to protest on Shinichi’s behalf over his previous sleeping arrangements.

“Right, well I don’t have a rock shelf, but I still don’t think sleeping with your head up against the edge of the tub would be very good for your neck.” KID threw a pillow at Shinichi, who caught it in a clawed hand.

“Use that for tonight.”

Shinichi co*cked a brow at KID. Was he daft? The pillow was made of a fabric that wasn't even water repellant like those shiny wetsuits Shinichi had seen humans wearing before. In fact, it was practically drying Shinichi's hand where he held on to it, all soft and squishy. “Are you sure? It’s going to get soaked.”

KID snorted, rubbing at his hair. “Believe me, I’m not stupid. I know. It’s fine, I can take it to the cleaners in the morning. Or I can just burn it and buy another one if nothing else. But I feel awkward as hell with you just sitting there in a dank, hard tub for the night while I bury myself in proper bedding. Take it, it will at least make me feel less like I'm being selfish or something.”

“Alright then, if you’re sure.” Shinichi carefully accepted the pillow, mindful not to shred it with his claw-tipped fingers and laid it gently on the edge of the tub as dry as he could manage. He tested the soft cushioning with his fingers, watching the square of cushioning bounce back into shape whenever he deformed it.

Satisfied with their sleeping arrangements, KID went to the wall and flicked a switch, turning off the lights.

“Good night, Shinichi.”

“Goodnight … KID,” Shinichi said in turn, the pleasantry alien and foreign feeling on his tongue. It had been years since anyone had wished him a good night, usually in the lab he was left to his own devices once the scientists and Black Organisation were done with him to drift off whenever he could.

As the quiet night settled over the room, Shinichi looked over at the sleeping form of KID, still not entirely sure what he was supposed to do with the pillow. KID had just thrown his head into it. But KID had a great deal less hair than Shinichi, and his fleshy shell-shaped ears were much more malleable and fleshy than Shinichi’s side fins. He might have been familiar with some things human, namely in the books, pop culture and knowledge on classic cars, but that didn’t extend to their bedding habits when Wakita and the scientists didn’t exactly sleep in the same room as him. He decided to just copy KID and rested his head against the fluffy pillow, moulding the edge to the back of his neck, the unfamiliar pressure of which against his skin caused a slight shudder to run through him. As he had expected, the soft fabric instantly absorbed the water in his skin like a dried-out sponge, but it did help support Shinichi’s head while he was expected to sleep outside of water and would prevent it from cramping. Sighing peacefully, Shinichi let himself drift off to sleep as the first truly relaxed smile he’d had in years crept across his face.

He was out. He was really out! He almost couldn’t believe that he finally got out! Sure, he was stuck in a still-sort-of-cramped human-sized bathtub with a pitiful amount of water compared to the old tank, but he was out of that infernal prison! Shinichi couldn’t help the excited shiver of anticipation for freedom as he kept imagining the salt of the ocean touching his skin, real sand polishing his scales in a sand bath in the nice, warm sunlit light beds by the coral reefs, the taste of freshly caught wild fish! And soon? He would be able to reach it. The ocean … Shinichi had only dreamt of it for the past few years. How long had it been since he’d felt the ocean current against his gills? Seven years? Ten? More? Long enough to forget the taste of real seawater. It felt like more than a lifetime ago. Shinichi had lost count when he no longer thought it was worth keeping track of time during his imprisonment. That night, Shinichi smiled with contentment as he drifted off to sleep dreaming of schools of fish and whale songs for the first time in a decade.

Chapter 4

Chapter Text

Kaito woke up the next morning before Shinichi did. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes a few more times while they adjusted to the morning light as his gaze fell on a familiar tub of water. So last night wasn't a dream. He was sort of hoping it had been because then his life would have been a lot easier if he didn’t need to escort a mermaid with an official bounty on its head to the ocean to earn his hard-earned jewel. But, he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t also pleased it hadn’t been a dream because then the most handsome face that wasn’t his own he’d seen in years would have been nought but a fantasy.

He was glad to see his fishy guest hadn’t somehow broken the bathtub, flooding the place and drying out overnight. Kaito snorted when he saw the sorry state of the lended pillow. It looked like a drowned lump of feathers. But at least Shinichi seemed to be sleeping soundly enough if the sleepy clicking sounds were anything to go by. He was twitching in his sleep, a slight smile on his face as his facial fins flared with every intake of breath in what Kaito thought looked like content expressions. Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to sneak in another snap.

A photogenic sunbeam peeked through a gap in the curtains and lanced over the mermaid’s features, illuminating his thick eyelashes and shining over the colours of his side fans as Kaito took the shot. Not a masterpiece by any means. But at the very least, it would make for another nice memory of his adventure with an honest to god mermaid after this ordeal was all over and Shinichi was back at sea.

After running a precursory check over the tail, Kaito discovered that the scales that laid over the Atlantic Envy were now rimmed in faint red lines. They had since stopped emitting a faint glow under the morning light, fading to only a slight blue discolouration around the area. But the skin under the armour appeared to be irritated and inflamed. Careful not to wake the sleeping sea creature, Kaito dipped his arm into the tub to feel around the area. The hard plane of scales met his hand. Kaito struggled not to shudder and tried to maintain his composure by pretending it was the surface of a big, rubbery ball that just happened to have the texture of fish scales.

Keeping a wary eye on Shinichi’s reactions, Kaito experimented with pressing down on the area. There was a hard, inorganic lump of the right size pressing back at him from beneath the scales. The Atlantic Envy really was wedged somewhere under there, Kaito gulped. Shinichi shifted in his sleep, adjusting his head against the pillow and Kaito freaked out, thinking Shinichi would wake and find him all the way up in his business with his hand in the water by his hip. But the mermaid remained conked out. It seemed that nothing short of a natural disaster could disturb the mermaid from his slumber. Taking his chances, Kaito tried scratching his nails against the scales. They glided over the smooth, healthy scales, but caught on some flaking over the irritated ones. Eventually, KID managed to pry off a single layer of scale, clear and iridescent - not a complete one to his dismay - but the removed layer didn’t even make a dent in the overall barrier.

“Well, this is a bit forward.”

Kaito felt the sinewy muscle under his hand tense as he turned around sheepishly to come face to face with the displeased mermaid. Shinichi’s previously peaceful expression was swapped out with a slightly sleep-addled but no less coherent glare; which Kaito wanted so badly to take another picture of because his damp, morning hair was sticking up every which way and his left side fan was stuck to his cheek like a stray lock of hair.

“Are you quite finished?” he said, looking pointedly at the spot where Kaito’s fingers still laid overtop his hip scales like a child with their hand caught in the cookie jar.

“Merman-kun! Uh, how long exactly have you been awake?” He asked smoothly.

Shinichi gave an irritated flick of his tail as Kaito felt the scales under his fingers flex and clamp down much more securely over the spot, denying him access.

“Long enough,” said Shinichi simply, grabbing Kaito’s errant hand with his own. He lifted it out of the water and deposited the wandering extremity back to Kaito’s side where it belonged if the Phantom Thief could manage to keep his hands to himself.

“I did say there’s no chance of you getting to the gem by yourself.” Shinichi yawned, flexing his fins in a languid stretch and brushing his side fan off his cheek. “Mermaid scales are thick and designed to protect us from shark bites and withstand thousands of pounds of pressure at the bottom of the ocean. You’re welcome to keep trying with your feeble human fingernails, but really it’d save us all the time and embarrassment the sooner you accept it.”

Kaito intensified his sheepish grin. “Who me? I wasn’t trying to take the Atlantic Envy, I was uh…” Kaito’s mind rushed to come up with a plausible explanation as to his hand being very much over Shinichi’s hip that wasn’t what he was insinuating when he woke up.

“Wetting your scales for you. They got a little dry over the night.” Kaito finished as he flicked his wet hand over Shinichi’s face in demonstration. He bit back a laugh as Shinichi went cross-eyed looking affronted at the droplets of water sitting on his nose.

“Which, by the way, did you know your scales around there are all weird looking and sort of red?” He pointed at the red-rimmed scales in the water with concern. “They’re not like, getting infected or something are they? I can’t imagine keeping a gem hidden in there is very healthy for a fish.”

Shinichi co*cked his brow dubiously like he knew Kaito just wanted to get a better look at the area but flexed his tail and brought the area in question to the surface for closer inspection anyway. Water sluiced over the pale torso-tail juncture as the movement caused some of the water to splash over the edge of the tub while Kaito mourned his previously dry floors. Shinichi took a look at the scales, evaluating the damage before shrugging.

“It’s nothing, just some mild irritation, it happens. When I ripped out the scales it probably also ripped up some of the skin underneath like this.” He pointed to one of his scars that strayed from his human-like skin into a scaled area. The skin beneath the scales under the scar was ropey and raised. “The gem isn’t cutting into me or anything. I’d feel that.”

“Does it hurt?” Kaito asked. For humans who only had skin, injuries were easy to see. When you were cut you could see how wide it was, how long it was, and roughly tell how deep it was by how damaged the skin was surrounding it. With scales or fur, things could be worse underneath, hidden under a layer of visual clutter. If the irritation was showing even through Shinichi’s tightly packed scales, Kaito wondered if things were worse than he was letting on.

Shinichi let his tail fall back beneath the surface of the water, taking care to submerge it slowly so as to not lose any more water. The water level in the tub had lowered quite substantially since moving around so much in the morning. Kaito made a mental note to give the bathtub a refill.

“Not really. Scales get damaged all the time. It’s really no big issue.”

He made a waving motion with his hands, shooing off Kaito’s concern. “Normally, it’d have healed by now. Mermaids are fast healers. But sometimes scale damage can persist longer if the immune system is compromised. Like when a mermaid is sick, or malnourished.”

He yawned again, screwing his eyes shut and frowned when his hand came up to touch his hair only to discover the mess it had become. Kaito had no such reservations, his hair was always a hot mess and that’s just the way he liked it.

Shinichi let his hand fall down as he rolled out a crick in his neck, thankfully less severe than it would have otherwise been if he had gone without the pillow last night. “Well, That’s enough about me. Don’t play coy, Thief. I know you just wanted a good look and confirm if there was a way to get at the gem.”

A teasing flick of the tail sent water droplets flying at Kaito’s face, who blinked as they fell on his cheeks.

“Well Thief, did you see anything?” He taunted. “Any openings?” His tail flexed in a gratifying wave, all sinewy and smooth.

“Noooope, you’ve got some dense scales there, Merman-kun. In my expert opinion, it looked pretty impregnable to me,” Kaito said with a coo.

“Wasn’t my word alone enough for you?”

Kaito got up, red rubber hose in hand as he sauntered to the sink to refill the tub, all resigned smiles. “Well really, I had to try. I wouldn’t be a very good thief if I just gave up every time someone told me I couldn’t steal something.”

“Uh-huh.”

He came back to the tub and handed the hose to Shinichi, who dutifully held it over the tub. A gurgling roar from the sink and the tub was being filled with more fresh water. Kaito took the time to start mopping up the floor around the bathtub a little, even if he knew it was an ultimately futile exercise with a mermaid splashing around.

Shinichi must’ve been really tired since he let out another yawn, blinking owlishly while he started to untangle his hair with his fingers. It reminded Kaito of those old sailor’s tales of mermaids sitting on rocks, tempting sailors with their honeyed songs. He wondered how long mermaids usually slept for if Shinichi was struggling to keep himself awake. Not that Kaito was a paragon of proper sleeping either, but Shinichi seemed especially tired this morning.

“Ugh, how long was I even out?”

KID looked back at the clock on the wall above the sofa. “Seeing as how we made it back at around four in the morning, you’ve probably been asleep for only five hours, give or take.”

“Really? Feels like forever,” Shinichi mumbled, rubbing the sleep from his eyes with his knuckles looking oddly childlike.

The tub was as full as Kaito dared, so he turned off the tap and started to wind up the hose. “So, you were looking awfully happy in your sleep. What were you dreaming about?” he asked.

“Open ocean,” Shinichi said honestly, still rubbing at his eyes. He didn’t mean for it to sound quite so wistful and disappointed, but KID visibly deflated all the same.

“Ah, right of course.”

KID put on a confident smile and held up an overenthusiastic thumbs up. “Don’t worry Shinichi, we’ll have you back in the water to your fishy heart’s delight soon enough, just bear with me and be patient for a few more days.”

“I’m well aware,” Shinichi replied, looking more and more irritated as he noticed a stubborn cowlick of hair refused to be tamed at the top of his head before giving up. Kaito thought it looked endearing.

They were interrupted from further discussion by a familiar gurgling noise all living things knew as Shinichi’s face turned a very pleasing shade of red.

KID gave a coquettish smirk. “Hungry there, are you?”

Shinichi scowled, fanning his tail fin over his face to hide his embarrassment. “Of course. Tell me you have something to eat in this Batcave.”

Kaito bit his lip. He had to ask, even as he feared he already knew Shinichi’s answer. “Uh, well, what do mermaids even eat?”

“Fish,” Shinichi deadpanned, like the answer was obvious. Because it was. Duh.

“Right, of course. Why wouldn’t you eat those nasty, finny things,” Kaito muttered under his breath, working up a nervous sweat.

His fridge was full of many things, a lot of it not very healthy if KID was being honest, but none of it was fish. Not even fish-shaped jellies or candy since it wasn't just their taste but their wriggly, scaly bodies he also found disconcerting.

“Given your ichthyophobia, I take it you don’t happen to have any fish on hand,” Shinichi said with casual acceptance. “That’s fine, I can go a few days without food. Just until we reach the ocean, that is.”

KID frowned at Shinichi’s statement. Shinichi already had a significantly thinner frame than his own. It wasn’t just lithe, as he thought, Shinichi was properly underweight. Possibly even malnourished, if his slow healing scales were any indication. Kaito had a nasty feeling that in his previous predicament, it wasn’t so much that Shinichi could go for days without food, but that he was forced to.

“I’ll go get fish for you,” KID decided. “How uh, how much do you normally eat?”

Shinichi quirked up an eyebrow at him, analysing KID’s open discomfort at the prospects of acquiring fish. “It’s fine, really. You don’t have to go out of the way for my sake.” He rubbed the back of his head guiltily. “I already kind of blackmailed you into taking me with you in the first place so you weren’t exactly looking to suddenly feed an extra mouth.”

Shinichi leaned back into the tub, willing his audible traitorous bodily functions back under silent control. “Our deal was getting me to the ocean, I’ll manage.”

But KID was already shedding his sleep clothes and pulling on a fresh pair of jeans and a casual jacket over his t-shirt. “It’s no trouble, I was just planning to go to the market to buy breakfast for myself,” he lied. KID had a fully stocked chocolate cereal shelf in the back of the safe house. Milk was optional.

Shinichi sent him a dubious look, entirely too observant for KID's liking. “You live in a Batcave safehouse, fully stocked with magic tricks and heist supplies, but you don’t already have food on hand?”

He snorted, causing his side fins to flare in disdain. “Forgive me if I find that a little hard to believe. You may act foolish at times but as a thief, you're a natural survivalist. It wouldn’t be a very good survival strategy if you didn’t even have an emergency stash of food in case of emergencies in your safehouse.”

Putting on his socks and shoving them into a pair of boots, KID gave Shinichi his best cultivated innocent look to get him off the hook. “What can I say, we all have our flaws. I happen to not be very good at keeping a well-stocked fridge.”

“You didn’t seem very concerned about food in the morning, yesterday,” Shinichi pointed out. “Even if it slipped your mind then, it was low enough on your list of priorities that you were more concerned with refilling the water in my tub. That tells me you already had a plan to eat in the morning, or that you were planning to go without.”

“You can tell all that just by my morning behaviour? What are you, a detective?” Kaito joked. That'll be the day, when Kaito KID even had mermaid detectives on his tail on top of ones from the KID Task Force.

“Really, it’s no trouble at all. I usually go out for food. That’s why I don’t usually keep a stocked fridge, it’s a bad habit that means I keep running low on emergency supplies,” he fibbed. “I’m just going to get some breakfast muffins, what do you want?”

Shinichi still looked like he didn’t fully believe him, but if KID was going to insist, he would be a fool not to take advantage of it …

“Well, if you’re going anyway … two fish should about do it. About the size of a sea bream,” Shinichi demonstrated by holding up two fingers a medium distance apart.

Kaito eyed the jutting collarbones and the pronounced shadows of ribs on Shinichi’s frame. “I’m getting five fish.” He announced decisively. “Anything else you need while I’m out?”

Shinichi leaned his head against the side of the bathtub and pulled out his pitifully waterlogged pillow. He frowned at its newfound lack of fluffiness. “Could you do something about this? It was rather nice last night but now this one’s all … deflated.”

At least Shinichi had liked the pillow, that was a good sign at least.

“Look at you, a day into my care and already making demands. So needy Merman-kun,” KID laughed, taking the sad-looking soaked lump and depositing it in the wash with a wet slap.

“You asked,” Shinichi grumbled, staving off yet another yawn.

Nevertheless, Kaito went to his couch and fetched one of the cushions and tossed it to Shinichi. “I hope this will make do while the pillow is in the wash. I’m afraid I don’t have much in the way of spare pillows, but I’ll look into getting some waterproof covers or something while I’m at the market.”

But Shinichi was already lost to him, snuggling against the new cushion and resting his weary head. The water was slowly bleeding into the cover, but he let out a few involuntary pleased clicks at the reinvigorated support. Kaito made a mental note to consider investing in a plushie. He thinks Shinichi would look very cute on a bed of soft plushy friends.

“Pleasant dreams, Merman-kun.”

Whoever invented fish markets should be hanged, decided Kaito. He had never seen so many stalls dedicated to only fish his whole life and he was going to be sick. The colourful stalls sold big fish, skinny fish, colourful fish, grey fish, pet fish, frilly fish, spiny fish, and live fish. Kaito had just about enough of fish all week but given he was currently harbouring a mermaid fugitive, he supposed his fishy woes were only just beginning. He didn’t know much about the different kinds of fish, such as what kinds tasted good (if such a thing existed) and which ones had fewer bones, since he didn’t associate with the slimy things if he could help it, and so he was woefully uninformed of even the basic kinds of fish like the one Shinichi had named; “Sea Bream,” whatever that was. So, Kaito had to go to the fish market and ask around.

Fishmongers were all mentally insane, he decided, as they could talk his ears off about fish all day. When he said he was buying for the first time, they had all sorts of enthusiastic advice.

“You want the white flesh! It’s the most delicate and mild-flavoured meat!”

“You want to avoid oily fish, the oils trap the fishier flavours if you’re not too keen on seafood flavour.”

“Go for flatfish! They tend to be sweeter if you have a bit of a sweet tooth!”

That last one came from an enthusiastic woman who had asked what kind of foods Kaito liked normally and he admitted he was a fan of chocolate.

But when she tried to sell him a ‘poor man's lobster’ and pulled out a fish as ugly as sin she called a ‘monkfish,’ Kaito decided he was better off just winging it.

Morosely, Kaito had picked out five fish he thought looked the least unappetising, one of which was a sea bream, and had them bagged on ice. He wasn’t quite brave enough to buy the fish live just yet. Now, he just had to find the local bedding store and pick up a few waterproof pillow covers. He wondered in hindsight if they even made waterproof pillowcases, he probably should have looked into that sooner. If not, well KID made his own suits anyway, a waterproof pillowcase would be literal child’s play to an accomplished seamster like himself.

KID was just exiting the market when he realised he was being followed. He paused at a flower shop, making small talk to the elderly grandmother tending the store about her roses and checked their security mirror to check out the crowd. Two individuals, one tall with long silver hair and the other short wearing sunglasses. Both men were clad head to toe in black. Kaito pretended to browse the wares, asking if she sold any herbs that might go with his fish. He could feel them getting closer, every instinct warning him of danger.

Feeling a tap on his shoulder, Kaito pretended to be surprised when he turned around to see the two individuals before him.

“Can I help you?” He asked.

“Yes, we’re with market security, I’m Security Chief Uokka and this is my partner, Security Chief Kurosawa,” the shorter one said, holding up an ID, no doubt fake. ‘Uokka’ spoke with a curt, gravelly tone that reminded Kaito of seedy underground stereotypes of yakuza hitmen from movies, and was willing to bet he wasn’t too far off given ‘Uokka’s’ state of all-black attire.

“Since when does a fish market need two security chiefs?” Kaito joked with a half-hearted laugh. The two men in black were not amused, failing to crack so much as a smile. “Sorry, carry on.”

‘Uokka’ cleared his throat. “As I was saying, we were just on the lookout for suspicious purchases in the area. There have been reports of illegal activity nearby, and we couldn’t help but notice you’ve bought an awful lot of fish for just one person.” He pointed to Kaito’s shopping bags which hung heavily under the weight of his five fish.

Kaito pretended to look down at his bags in puzzlement. “You think this is too much fish?” Truthfully, any amount of fish to Kaito was ‘too much’ fish, but that was neither here nor there for his current predicament.

“Could there perhaps be another reason you had to buy this much fish?” Questioned Uokka, trying to sneak a peek into Kaito’s bags. “Perhaps to feed someone other than yourself?”

Okay, this was definitely suspicious. His companion was also stoically analysing Kaito’s every move like he was just waiting for Kaito to make a break for it and it was setting him on edge. The two of them were dressed far too warmly for the summer in their full-length black coats over black suits, they stuck out among the brightly coloured market sellers like an ink-stained sore thumb.

Kaito pretended to rub his hair sheepishly. “Oh, alright you caught me.”

The two reacted far too eagerly at the admission, turning to put their full attention on Kaito like they were ready to drag him off into a nondescript white kidnapping van to parts unknown.

“I run a local animal shelter and I was just looking to buy a special treat for our cats.”

The two men visibly deflated, irritation casting over their faces as Kaito’s statement dashed their hopes.

“Care to tell me the name of this animal shelter?” asked Uokka, apathetic, pretending to do his due diligence by taking out a spiral-bound notebook and holding the pen cap between his teeth. Kaito got a distinct smell of tobacco from his open-mouthed breath, the man must smoke.

“Ekoda Animal Shelter.” Kaito answered easily. “I can give you their number if you want.”

Kaito rattled off Jii-chan’s number. He was always willing to roll with the punches in whatever scheme Kaito got wrapped up in as an old family friend, and passing off as the owner of an animal shelter would be far from the strangest favour he’d done for Kaito.

“And if we ring up this animal shelter, they’ll be able to support your claim for the purpose of the fish?” Uokka asked, bored of the act already, scribbling down the number.

“Buying too much fish isn’t exactly a crime, is it?” Asked Kaito.

The tall, long-haired ‘officer,’ Kurosawa, seemed to have lost interest in the conversation, scanning other people exiting the fish market with their purchases instead, his long brimmed hat casting a foreboding shadow across his face.

Flipping his book closed, Uokka capped his pen and sucked in a breath through his teeth. “Of course not, sir. We were just following up a tip-off regarding suspicious fish purchases.”

“What suspicious things could I do with fish?” Kaito asked, dismayed, looking every bit like a scandalised civilian.

“Oh, all sorts of things,” the fake Security Chief answered. “Using their body cavities to smuggle illegal substances, defiling property,” he gave a significant glance as he paused, evaluating Kaito’s reactions. “... feeding illegal pets.”

He pointed down at Kaito’s bag. “You have to understand sir, five whole fish is an awful lot for one person, wouldn’t you say? Why, that’s enough to feed something like a large dolphin.”

Kaito forced himself to laugh at the ‘joke’ as ‘Uokka’ once more scanned Kaito head to toe for any signs of falsehoods. Keep up the poker face Kuroba, don’t let them know anything.

“Nope, no illegal pets here I’m afraid. Just ordinary, cute little kitty cats.”

In situations like these, there was only one way to safely shake these two suspect individuals off his scent, and that was to make them want to leave him alone of their own volition.

Hit with sudden inspiration, he held out his phone to ‘Kurosawa,’ as he seemed to be the least patient of the two suspicious individuals. “Would you like to adopt one? All the kitties are house-trained, have had their shots and are looking for a good home if you’re keen.”

He scrolled to some photos he had on his phone of Aoko’s cats and pretended to loudly gush over them as he scrolled down the many, many extensive albums worth of photos she had sent him. ‘Kurosawa’s’ face recoiled in disgust at the onslaught of cat pictures and Kaito’s overly social jabbering. The movement caused his dark fedora to tip back slightly, revealing a chunk of his ear had been torn off.

Huh, I wonder how that happened, Kaito thought.

Just then, while Kaito was going on and on in ‘Kurosawa’s’ incomplete ear about spring and the sad influx of more kittens being given up at the shelter than ever, another shopper passed by on a bicycle, his rickety bike basket loaded with a large plastic bag full of frozen anchovies.

“Honestly young man, are you trying to feed an army with all that fish?” The shopkeep joked as he helped the shopper balance his unweildy purchase in his basket.

“Just me and my very large stomached friend, old man!” the shopper laughed as he waved an enthusiastic farewell back to the shopkeep.

Two fake Security Chiefs snapped to attention and glared after the shopper with uncanny, laser-like focus as he cycled away, bike rattling as he passed over the uneven market grounds, their interest in Kaito Kuroba long since fizzled out.

“That won’t be necessary,” ‘Kurosawa’ grits out, making a point to step far away from Kaito and shoving the offending cell phone away from his face. “Uokka!” He snapped at his partner.

“Got it, aniki, Sharon said she’ll intercept them up ahead,” ‘Uokko’ replied, tapping on his earpiece. He turned back to Kaito, nodding. “Excuse us, I think we’re finished here.”

Kaito held a hand to his cheek in faux disappointment. “Oh, leaving so soon? That’s too bad, I think you look like you’d be a great cat dad-” Kaito thought no such thing. Both these men looked like they’d have a cat stuffed and mounted on a wall. “-But alright, good luck with your search gentlemen, I hope you catch that ruffian with the illicit fish purchases soon so we’ll be all the more safer for it! Now if you don’t mind, I have to get going myself before the cats get hungry enough to chew through the couch!”

The two men in black looked like they couldn’t be glad enough to get rid of him as they dashed off in pursuit of the bicycle rider, leaving Kaito at the flower shop grinning to himself at a job well done of annoying people to death.

Wary of any more unwanted black shadows, Kaito made a few more detours, slipping into an overcrowded ramen restaurant only to pick up a small can of soda before slipping out the back door and taking a random bus three stops down before finally feeling safe enough to take the train home, picking up his originally intentioned cover story breakfast muffins from a generic train station bakery.

He stopped in line when he saw the bubbly pink promotional shelf by the front. ‘Buy two flavours for the price of one!’ Well, Kaito did have a bit of a sweet tooth, who was he to turn down a golden opportunity like this?

Kaito picked off a double chocolate muffin easily but was dismayed to find it was the last one on the shelf. Well, it’d be a waste not to get the second one if he was paying the same price anyway …

“Excuse me,” he asked the nice man at the register. He wore the white button down bakery uniform, had a gangly build like he hadn’t quite finished filling out his adult-sized limbs and sported unevenly shaved stubble. There was also a watch on his wrist which didn’t seem like the safest of food handling practices and his shoes were brand-name sneakers as he gave an alarmed look when Kaito addressed him, glancing at the other staff for answers. The experienced-looking frumpy lady at the ovens in the back with his same dark, curly hair and aquiline nose paused in her rolling of bread dough long enough to give him an encouraging thumbs up. He must be the owner’s son.

“Can you give me any recommendations to go with for my second flavour?” Kaito asked, pointing at the shelf of assorted delicious-smelling breakfast muffins.

The boy glanced at the flavour Kaito had already chosen, then looked back to the selection on the shelf. “Is this for a date or just for yourself?”

“What? No, it’s not for a date. I mean it's not for myself either, but it's not for a girl. It's … it's for a friend.” Kaito clarified unhelpfully. Taking out a person who had a live, scaly fish-tail and the stomach for five fish on a date seemed like a terrible idea to the phantom thief.

The boy blinked. “Oh, then you won’t be wanting me to use the couple’s promotional bag?” He pointed to the decorated wrappings used for the muffins, one of which was a cat-shaped brown paper bag with heart shaped cookie stickers on it promoting the two-for-one special being held at the bakery. It was very cute, but he could already see Shinichi making a disapproving disgruntled expression if Kaito dared to come back with that.

“Definitely not,” Kaito agreed. He then drummed his fingers on his bag while the boy hovered over the selection of muffins to pick out the second flavour.

“What kind of muffin flavours do you like, aside from double chocolate?” He asked, skimming his tongs over the selection thoughtfully.

“You know what?” Kaito said, reaching into his bag to pay without waiting for the boy's final choice. “Just pick what you like. Don’t tell me the flavour, surprise me.”

After Kaito paid for his breakfast he then went to wrap up the rest of his shopping by getting the waterproof pillow covers and after some careful consideration, went to a pet fish store to buy a large bottle of aquarium-safe disinfectant for Shinichi’s scale problem as well.

Having ended up buying a lot more things than he’d anticipated, it was well into the warm, sunny afternoon when Kaito finally got back to the safe house, considering all the extra detours he took in precaution for any lingering shadows.

“I come bearing gifts~” he called out, announcing his return.

Kaito kicked his boots off and closed the door with his hip, heading over to Shinichi’s tub. The bag of fish on ice had collected a beading sheen of condensation throughout the trip and was beginning to drip with water, so Kaito unceremoniously dumped the fish and melted ice into Shinichi’s tub without preamble, which caused the mermaid to back up against the side in mild disgust.

“Breakfast is served,” bowed Kaito, like it was a feast fit for a lord.

Shinichi grimaced at the sudden cascade of melted ice and breakfast. “KID, that water is bloody! I can’t move from this tub and now it’s filthy!” Just because his breakfast was leaking fish blood juices didn’t mean Shinichi wanted to stew in it.

“Oh hush, we can change out the water, it’s not a big deal.” Kaito said, rolling his eyes. “I even bought some disinfectant if we have to clean out the tub.” he continued, holding up the blue bottle and inspecting the instruction label. “It says it’s also used to treat injured fish, so you should try using some on your scales, it might help it heal faster if your immune system is slacking.”

He gestured at the collection of dead fish. “But that can wait until after you’ve had something to eat. The faster you finish, the less I have to look at these nasty, dead-eyed things,” KID shuddered.

Shinichi grabbed the bottle of disinfectant from KID, checking the ingredients and nodding in approval, but sent another scathing look at KID. “If this is another ploy to get your hands on the jewel, I keep telling you you’re not going to get under my scales that easily.”

Kaito chuckled, holding out both his hands in the universal gesture of being unarmed. “Of course not, Merman-kun, I was just genuinely worried because the redness this morning looked painful. Those scars and that tear on your fin look kind of bad too.”

Shinichi’s hand shot to his scars up his sides reflexively, hiding what few he could from the Phantom Thief. Given his reaction, KID wondered why Shinichi was bothered by the way they looked. They looked kind of cool in Kaito’s opinion, if the implication of how they were obtained wasn't so sad.

“... Fine,” he said, giving the bottle back to KID before turning to his new treasure trove of fishy food.

He reached for the closest one, KID thinks the fishmonger called that one a cod, and efficiently shredded its flesh off in strips using his sharp teeth with the efficiency of a shark.

KID threw his hands to his face, both to hide his face of disgust so as to not offend Shinichi, but also to spare himself the trauma of watching the fish being methodically dismembered into little white fleshy chunks and scales. He risked a peek between his fingers morbidly and caught the sight of Shinichi sucking down the succulent pale flesh from needle-sharp bones like a well-stewed steak and shuddered. KID decided there were much nicer pictures he had of Shinichi instead, and replayed them on repeat in his mind as he went to busy himself with the washer and check on his suit and pillow.

“You looked stressed when you came in, was the fish market really that bad?” Shinichi asked, selecting his next fish (victim) to devour.

“It was worse!” KID bemoaned. “I’ve never been so stressed in my life, and I’ve been in a crashing plane! But the market’s not the main reason I’m stressed.”

Ignoring the comment about the crashing plane, because of course, KID led a rather exciting life, Shinichi furrowed his brow as he sucked on the tail bones of his second fish for any remaining scraps of sea perch flesh. “Then, what is?”

“There were these two shady men in black coats and suits following me at the market today. When they spoke to me, they said they were keeping an eye out on suspicious people who were buying large quantities of fish.” Kaito explained, shaking his head. “But if you asked me, they were the most suspicious people at the market by a mile.”

Shinichi visibly paled, his face taking on an ashy pallor and abandoning his fish to give KID his undivided attention like he might recognise the men. “What did they look like?”

“Uh, let me think,” said Kaito, and began to list off the notable traits of the two suspicious men.

“One was kinda short and tan, black suit and tie, wide set, stocky build, he’d make a good wrestler. I couldn’t see his eyes because had sunglasses on the whole time. He also did most of the talking but he also didn’t feel like the one in charge. He called the other guy ‘aniki,’ and that guy was tall, thin, with silver hair that looked like he hadn’t gotten a haircut in decades, a big black trench coat with a popped collar that covered half his face, missing a bit of his right ear. They called themselves ‘Uokka’ and ‘Kurosawa’ but those were fake names if I’ve ever heard one,” he summarised.

“Gin and Vodka,” Shinichi’s face darkened with a stormy expression.

Of course, more alcoholic names. So they must have been part of the same organisation as Wakita, or rather, Rum. Not that Kaito ever really doubted it, since they were about as subtle as a bloodstain. But still, the confirmation was nice.

“Stay away from them KID. They’re trouble. The tall one, Gin, is an accomplished sniper. If you get on his bad side, he’ll pop your head from fifteen hundred metres and you won’t even know what hit you,” Shinichi warned. “Vodka’s not a bad shot either, he’s usually the one doing pistol grunt work when he’s not handling information.”

Kaito wondered just how familiar Shinichi was with them both to refer to them by code name and knew their specialty roles within the Organisation as he slowly nodded at Shinichi’s warning.

“Duly noted, fans of real guns, and definitely not talking to them again any time soon,” assessed KID.

“So, what did you tell them?” Shinichi asked.

KID stuck the suit and pillow from the washer into the dryer where they rumbled away in the machine.

“They stopped to ask if I was keeping any illegal pets. I think they must be on the lookout at the fish market for anyone looking to feed a fugitive mermaid,” KID explained. “I managed to throw them off by saying I ran a cat shelter, but if I see them at the market again that excuse isn’t going to fly unless I’m feeding Beika’s most spoilt shelter cats.”

Guilt bubbled up in Shinichi’s stomach, threatening to bring up the two fish he already ate. “See, I told you, you only had to buy two fish! That would have been far less suspicious.” KID had basically just risked his life, whether he knew it or not, in the face of the two infamous Black Organisation members. Shinichi was now far less enthusiastic about eating the other three fish, knowing what his demanding diet could cost.

Kaito snapped his fingers under Shinichi’s nose, looking affronted. “Hey! Don’t tell me off, you should be thanking me! You need the extra food, don’t pretend you don’t, Shinichi. It’s so bad, your immune system isn’t responding as normal, you practically said as such yourself.”

He pointed at the remaining floating fish with disdain. “Now eat, so I didn’t get traumatised at a fish market over nothing.” After all, if Kaito went through all that trauma and effort walking through the fish market only for Shinichi to lose his appetite, that only added insult to the injury.

“Oh please, like you’re an expert in mermaid health,” Shinichi shot him a dirty look. He wasn’t a child, he could handle it. He’s faced much worse under the scientists at the lab. “I told you it was fine. And look where caring about me has gotten us. Now the Black Organisation has seen your face, and if you go back tomorrow for more fish your silly little cat shelter excuse isn’t going to cut it. They’re definitely going to catch on.”

“Then I won’t go for fish then,” KID replied. “There’s gotta be some other things you can eat. Don’t tell me mermaids can only eat fish.”

He wasn’t going to allow Shinichi to go days without. Not if he could help it, that was simply non-negotiable, no matter how much Shinichi disagreed.

Shinichi scowled, even as he started using his claws to slice up the rest of the other fish. It would be a waste to not eat the fish now, they didn’t exactly keep unfrozen for longer than a day.

KID tried not to look too closely at the way Shinichi’s inhuman claws easily parted the skin like melted butter. His teeth audibly scraped against the delicate bones which suggested they might have been slightly serrated and he swallowed inhumanly large chunks of meat into his gullet. Shinichi was … really not human.

“Technically, while I was imprisoned, Wakita liked to vary my diet if I wasn’t being very cooperative,” said Shinichi, rubbing the back of his neck uncomfortably under the scrutiny.

Kaito shuddered to think what ‘being cooperative’ entailed. He was beginning to paint a very ugly picture of the reality of what Shinichi’s captivity had meant. He was glad Shinichi blackmailed him to get him out of that environment, nobody deserved that.

“He couldn’t outright starve me of course, or they’d risk losing one of their key ingredients for that immortality tincture. But they would feed me eggs in place of real fish every now and then,” Shinichi supplied.

That was something at least, Kaito frowned. “Alright, that’s a start. But I can’t only feed you eggs, especially when they fed you that they weren’t intending on a well-balanced diet. I imagine you’d be missing a few things, like important fishy oils. How about shellfish, can you have that?”

Shinichi nodded. “Shellfish, crustaceans and squid are fine. And I think my mother was lying when she told me about the time she caught a seagull out of the air one time and ate it, but it wouldn’t hurt to try that as well.”

Kaito folded his arms. “Well, I don’t know about any seagulls, but I can definitely get some bird meat like chicken from the market. With that supplementing your diet, hopefully, I can get away with only buying one fish a day with these other protein sources and it won’t arouse as much suspicion.” He began to make a schedule in his head of protein runs that could support Shinichi’s diet. Eggs could keep longer than fish, and chicken could last longer if he froze it. While they were at it, maybe Kaito could try red meats with omega-3 supplements or something. All the seafood was still tricky, but at least it didn’t have to be exclusively easy-to-spoil foods now. Though, the sheer amount of food needed to feed Shinichi would probably cost a pretty penny these coming days. Oh well, it was probably about time Kaito ate more whole foods in his diet instead of his usual unsupervised sugar runs.

Shinichi nodded and as he sucked dry the last of the fishy carcasses (Kaito couldn’t look) he pulled a despondent face. “Ugh, I didn’t want to say anything because I know beggars can’t be choosers, but I was hoping with my freedom I’d at least get fresher fish. But all the fish you humans eat is dead,” he complained. “For years I was having fish that tasted at least a day old. But even compared to that, this stuff is just nasty.” The meat tasted dead and bland like meat that had fallen to the bottom of the ocean ready to decay, or be scavenged. Shinichi wanted to taste fresh fish that he caught with his own two hands, that tasted of the sweet vitality of life and weren’t subjected to a slow and draining death upon a bed of ice. Though, of course, that was an impossibility right now.

“Well forgive me, Beika is a couple days out from sea,” explained Kaito. “So by the time it hits the market here, most of the fish have to be on ice. Wakita is a sushi chef, and one with money at that. So he probably gets his fish delivered to him fresh-” Shinichi made a face. “-well, fresher on the same day with the fastest, most direct transport money can buy.”

That … made a certain amount of sense, Shinichi supposed. At least those fish still smelled like the ocean, even if they tasted dead, dead, dead. He curled his lip in disgust as he evaluated the tiny pile of fish bones. “You may have a point there.”

Regretful that he couldn’t fully provide for the mermaid’s needs, KID chuckled half-heartedly, trying to make light of the situation. “Hey, if the food is really that bad, maybe you would have been better off staying at Wakita’s after all. I mean, all I can give you is two-day-old fish and a single-person bathtub. And even that isn’t really big enough to fit you if we’re being honest. Wakita’s place must’ve been a lap of luxury compared to this.”

It was just an off-handed comment, taking a mild jibe at how the mermaid had literally given up residence under a millionaire to hole up and rough it out with a wanted criminal, not to be taken seriously. So KID was entirely caught off guard to find himself suddenly face to face with a very angry, snarly mermaid. He didn’t know when it had happened. One moment, Shinichi was in the tank picking at his fish bones, the next he had lunged and now his jagged claws were digging red lines into Kaito’s neck, fins flaring and tail thrashing in agitation, sloshing fish-bloody water all around the room.

“Don’t. Don’t even joke. Wakita’s a bastard and I’d rather die than go back to that madman’s estate,” he snarled. And he meant every word. A clear, vertical cut eyelid - the Nictitating membrane - Kaito’s head helpfully provided - opened, revealing in full clarity Shinichi’s slightly panic-shaking, constricted pupils. Without the clear membrane covering them, the light highlighted the captivating azures like hummingbird feathers even in his threatening gaze, and Kaito was ensnared.

“Whoa, hey! I’m sorry. It was a bad joke. Shinichi, calm down I didn’t mean it-” KID said apologetically.

“See to it that you don’t,” Shinichi hissed, hurling the discarded fish bones at Kaito. Kaito flinched and dodged as the bones hit the floor with a clatter while Shinichi went to sulk back in his now mostly empty tub.

Okay, he definitely overstepped a line there. It was probably a bit insensitive to recommend Shinichi’s previous situation as anything preferable to freedom even if Kaito wasn’t capable of providing him with much. Though, Kaito was already making plans in his head to rectify some of the problems he had identified if he could help it.

He didn’t like Shinichi being mad. Kaito wanted to grab a mop and clean up the spilt water and discarded bones before his whole safehouse started smelling of dead fish, but he felt like he didn’t ‘deserve to’ anymore. Of course Shinichi wouldn’t want to go back, no matter how terrible the food was, or how small the bathtub was. What they did to him there … Well, it’s not like Kaito actually knew, given Shinichi has been deliberately sort of vague about it. But given how much Shinichi seemed to be familiar with pain and starvation, it couldn’t have been sunshine and rainbows. And it wasn’t even like with a regular friend where Shinichi could just leave if Kaito upset him. He was quite stuck with Kaito all the way until they reached the ocean, and Kaito didn’t want Shinichi to be unhappy with him that whole time. So, he took the chocolate muffin he got from the bakery and cut off a bit to offer Shinichi as a peace offering.

Shinichi wasn’t really in the mood to entertain Kaito after that, but given how they were now sort of road-tripping together, he knew he should at least make an effort to make peace. “What’s that?” He asked with a frown.

“It’s a muffin!” Kaito beamed, holding out the morsel tantalisingly by his fingertips. “Well, part of a muffin. Try some, we may as well see if you can have other foods while we’re at it. It’ll make feeding you a whole lot easier if you can have grains.”

He knew the koi fish at the local pond were fed bread by passing grandmothers on their morning stroll, so it was probably not going to kill Shinichi at the very least. How the mermaid would find the taste, however, was the more interesting question.

Shinichi eyed the morsel suspiciously. “If you kill me with food poisoning, I’m haunting you.”

“Oh please,” said Kaito. “A little chocolate muffin never killed anyone.” Well, that wasn’t true if you asked people with pets, but Shinichi was (looked) half-human anyway. That’s gotta count for something, right? He could probably handle a little bit of chocolate no problem.

Cautious claws took the small morsel in one hand while Shinichi inspected it. It was soft and squishy, kind of like that pillow KID had given him, but much more crumbly as well. It had small, similarly-coloured melty irregularities of a different consistency that spread over Shinichi’s fingers like a paste. It smelled very sweet, not like anything Shinichi had ever had before. He gave the peace offering a small, cautious lick and made a surprised sound at the taste.

“Is that a good sound, or a bad sound?” Kaito asked nervously.

Shinichi glared at him. “It’s an acceptable sound. It’s very sweet, but also very slightly bitter. What is that?” He asked, licking his lips.

Kaito laughed, “That, my friend, is chocolate. You’re not really supposed to taste the bitterness though.” He wondered if Shinichi’s mermaid tastebuds were more geared to certain tastes than others. That might explain his almost exclusive diet for fish, because Kaito was still convinced that no one in their right mind could survive voluntarily on a diet primarily consisting of fish unless their taste buds were hardwired for it.

Shinichi pushed the rest of the muffin piece into his mouth, chasing the flavours around his teeth. Sweet, gooey, slightly bitter, rich. It was also weirdly soft against his teeth, it didn’t quite feel like food to Shinichi, who was used to rendering chunks of meat into swallowable sizes. This new food turned to mush in his mouth. But it also wasn’t … unpleasant.

“That was … interesting. I wouldn’t be opposed to trying more.”

“Well, it’s a good thing I got this muffin in two different flavours then! Let’s see what the baker-boy gave me.” Kaito lifted up a second muffin from the brown paper bag, frowning at its lighter colouration and strong aroma that in contrast, instantly had Shinichi’s eyes dilating as he practically salivated at the smell.

“Coffee flavour?” Kaito cried, appalled.

Who the hell picks coffee flavour when there was perfectly acceptable banana-chocolate chip? Or white chocolate blueberry?

“I knew I shouldn’t have trusted that kid for recommendations, his taste buds must be as dead as his sense of fashion,” KID raged, pointing an accusatory finger at the muffin like it personally offended him for being the objectively ‘incorrect’ flavour.

“I want to try it,” said Shinichi.

KID looked up, stunned at Shinichi’s transfixed gaze following the little brown muffin, he swore he could hear slight heavy breathing as Shinichi’s nostrils flared tracking the aroma to its source. But even still …

“Are you sure, Merman-kun?” Kaito asked hesitantly. “Coffee isn’t really a beginner-friendly taste, usually only really boring people like it-” Plenty of people liked the smell of coffee, not everyone liked to actually drink it. Case and point, Kaito himself.

“Just let me try it.”

Reluctantly, KID cut off a piece - he wasn’t risking Shinichi throwing the whole thing back up if he didn’t like it - and served it to the mesmerised mermaid.

When Shinichi’s eyes lit up as soon as his tongue touched the muffin, Kaito knew he had struck gold.

It was bitter, but not unpleasantly so. It was far less sweet than the previous muffin had been and was absent of the gooey chunks that tickled slightly unpleasantly against Shinichi’s teeth. But best of all, was that heavenly scent that called to Shinichi like siren song and paused all other thoughts in his brain until he answered the call.

“That’s amazing,” Shinichi breathed, licking his lips. He wanted more.

“Ugh, you like coffee flavour?” Kaito complained, devastated. “Figures a nasty fish like you who eats fish would have a nasty taste in cake flavour.”

But Shinichi had already inhaled his piece and was looking eagerly at the remainder of the muffin on Kaito’s counter with a one-track mind, it was kind of adorable. Like a toddler with an eye on a piece of candy he just had to get more of.

“Do you want the rest of it?” Kaito asked, smirking at the mermaid.

Shinichi at least had the decency to look embarrassed at how obviously he was enthralled by the muffin when he detected the note of amusem*nt in Kaito’s voice. “No, that’s your breakfast. I couldn’t possibly-”

“I,” said Kaito, already putting the plate with the rest of the muffin in front of Shinichi, “will be having the rest of my lovely chocolate muffin since someone isn’t appreciative enough of it. You can keep your nasty, bitter, coffee muffin. I only got a second one because there was a promotional special at the bakery anyway.”

Not waiting for him to protest, Kaito took his chocolate muffin and made a big deal of eating the rest of it himself, waiting for Shinichi to accept the plated offering.

Shinichi took the offered muffin reverently, savouring its heavenly smell as he took his time relishing each bite, clicking in his throat with profound satisfaction to the point of even going as far as to lick his fingers of crumbs with a delicate pink tongue once the plate was empty.

Okay, Kaito definitely didn’t stare. He definitely wasn’t jealous of a coffee-flavoured muffin in the slightest as Shinichi practically made love to it.

When Shinichi was finished, he put his plate down, looking at Kaito.

“You look like you want to say something,” Kaito cautiously observed after he picked his mouth off the ground. He really hoped it wasn’t something along the lines of ‘What were you staring at, you creepy thief?’ Because Kaito really didn’t have a good explanation for that right now.

“... You’re forgiven.” Shinichi finally said. He looked down at the ground apologetically. “I’m sorry too, about before.”

He reached a tender hand out and Kaito hissed as he realised Shinichi was tracing a cut on his neck where Shinichi had gripped him earlier, leaving a shallow scratch. He hadn’t even noticed it before.

“It's been a tough few years since I was captured. But that’s no excuse for hurting you.” Shinichi withdrew his hand and held it against his chest, seemingly self-conscious about the whole affair.

“And thank you … For everything.” It meant more than Kaito could ever know, Shinichi thought sincerely. He really meant it. He thought he was going to die in that laboratory.

Kaito visibly cheered up, glad Shinichi was feeling better after his well-timed snack bribery and being let out of the proverbial dog house.

“Thankful enough to hand over the gem? I’ll still get you to the ocean, cross my crooked heart.”

Shinichi levelled his signature glare, Kaito was glad the tense atmosphere was gone and Shinichi had gone back to the normal, tired-of-your-nonsense scowly and not actively-hurt-antagonistically scowly. This Shinichi was much more receptive to his playfulness.

“Not quite that thankful, Idiot Thief. I might be thankful, but I’m not stupid. The gem stays with me.”

Kaito pouted good-naturedly. “Killjoy.”

Chapter 5

Chapter Text

For the next couple of days, while they waited for the police presence to calm down, Kaito managed to buy an assortment of fish, eggs and fowl without further incident. Shinichi, as it turned out, could get indigestion from eating too many grains, as he discovered when Kaito had come home one day with an entire two-tiered coffee cake he snapped a photo with for his “happy first-week jailbreakiversary,” where Shinichi had handled the first half of the cake just fine, but the second half had him groaning and clutching his stomach. Even so, Kaito slept a little easier each night that Shinichi’s rib bones showed a little less as his body filled out to a more healthy frame.

Toileting was also infinitely awkward because of course, Shinichi couldn’t exactly go in the little bathtub he had and just … stew. So Kaito had to teach him how to use the toilet and picked up Shinichi to the bathroom every morning and it was infinitely mortifying for them both.

Kaito had also been working on a private project, making blueprints for something on the pool table, building scale model prototypes of mechanisms and refusing to answer Shinichi when he asked about what he was working on. It involved something that looked like a confusing apparatus with trapdoors and false bottoms, so probably for some kind of magic trick. As long as it didn’t seem dangerous or posed a risk to their location, Shinichi paid it no mind.

Despite the unfortunate mishap with the big coffee cake, Shinichi had asked Kaito every day when he went out for fish if he was going to get more coffee muffins. Though, it was cute when he tried not to sound too excited over it. He discovered it wasn’t so much the cake that Shinichi liked so much as it was the smell of coffee itself, so Kaito had eventually given up and started straight up buying coffee grinds and started making Shinichi a cup every morning.

Shinichi had taken to coffee like, well, like a fish to water. And he also seemed much more alert throughout the day and coherent after he had it. Even asking for it multiple times a day. When Kaito ran out of coffee one morning, Shinichi’s mental acuity suffered and he was practically brain dead throughout the day without.

“You know, I thought you were just really, really, sleepy the first day I had you here because you only got like, five hours of sleep on top of mild starvation, but it turns out you’re just a coffee addict,” Kaito teased one such morning.

Shinichi grumbled, rubbing sleep from his eye and in a much more scowlier mood than usual if it were possible before his morning coffee.

“That’s because I have narcolepsy. I’ve struggled with it since I was a child. Sometimes when it gets really bad, I find it hard to stay awake for very much at all.”

“Mermaids can get narcolepsy?” Huh, that’s something Kaito wouldn’t have expected. “You learn something new every day.”

Shinichi nodded, grumpy as he was being interrogated before he’d had a chance to fully wake his higher brain functions before he was caffeinated. “Yeah, my brain sometimes falls under uncontrollable tired spells to the point of almost falling asleep, even in the middle of the day. It’s part of how I got captured actually, so I’m very grateful humans have a stimulant to combat it.” He tilted his head to the side in consideration. “The taste doesn’t hurt either.”

He breathed in the scent of his cup, sighing as the chemicals in his brain responded like a Pavlovian dog to the prospect of delicious, aromatic, coffee.

“Wait, you’ve been trapped in that estate since you were a kid? That’s so … lonely.” KID said. It was bad enough thinking about the kind of treatment Shinichi would have had in that lonely, dark lab as he was now. It was even more distressing thinking of a smaller, younger Shinichi in that situation, growing up virtually all alone aside from the scientists who wouldn’t have even treated him like a real person. And given what Kaito thinks he’s pieced together from comments Shinichi has made under their ‘care,’ he could only say the Black Organisation should be thankful he’s too busy looking after Shinichi to storm the Wakita Estate and rain hell on earth to the ones who would do such a thing to a child. He should make a note to get the authorities involved and frame them for fraud or something. Wakita was a millionaire, there had to be some dirt on him Kaito KID could get to stick.

Shinichi blew on his coffee, cooling it down to a more tolerable non-scalding temperature and visibly perked up as the hot liquid touched his lips as he recounted. “Me and Ran - she’s another mermaid my age - we were playing a game. It was stupid now that I think about it, but a mermaid had gone missing. We decided to play detective and try to retrace her steps. I was in another one of my Sherlock-Impersonation phases.” Those were rather common back then, Shinichi’s father had liked to challenge him with mysteries and made up murders, so Shinichi had taken the next logical step and gone sticking his nose into a real disappearance.

His brows furrowed in thought. “I must have been like, six at the time? I’m not sure, it was a long time ago.” He thinks he’s around seventeen or eighteen now, so it must have been a little over ten years ago. “Well, to cut a long story short, I was a bit too clever for my own good, and we ended up actually finding the body.”

Kaito baulked. He thought he misheard Shinichi, but he looked completely nonplussed by the revelation as he continued sipping at his coffee. “I’m sorry, body? You two were just kids!”

“Yes, and?” Shinichi said, looking at Kaito confused.

“It’s not normal for kids to see dead bodies!” KID exclaimed. He would have thought that much should’ve been obvious.

Ah. Perhaps Shinichi had miscalculated how safe childhood was for typical humans.

“... A lot of things can happen at the bottom of the ocean,” said Shinichi simply. “Things can get tangled up in ghost fishing nets, merfolk get eaten by sharks, it happens. Wouldn’t have been the first body I’ve seen. Probably wouldn’t have been the last if I hadn’t been taken.”

KID frowned. “You must have been a fun kid.” He said sarcastically. He could just picture mini-Shinichi, swimming around and poking around dead bodies like an inappropriate fun house. No wonder he always acted like he was sorely lacking in the fun department. Oh well, Kaito would just have to be fun enough for the both of them.

Shinichi’s nose wrinkled as he sniffed. “Maybe not fun, no. But Mum always called me nosy. She said I got it from my dad, he’s a murder-mystery novel author, though I don’t remember his pen name or the names of his books anymore.” It was one of the things he wished he hadn’t forgotten. It was like he lost one of his parents when he found he couldn’t quite remember Yusaku’s pen name. Now, even if he wanted to, he wouldn’t be able to find his father’s books to reread his stories.

“Hence, the Sherlock,” KID realised.

“Hence, the Sherlock,” Shinichi confirmed. “Anyway, we found Akemi Miyano’s body in an underwater cave near the shallow reefs. We’re not supposed to go by the reefs, it's too close to the surface and we could have been spotted by humans. But I sniffed out some clues she left behind and I figured out she had to be in there. Ran … didn’t handle seeing the body very well.”

“I can’t imagine why,” said KID drily.

“She started crying and when I inspected the body, my narcolepsy started acting up. I had to actively try and not fall asleep, and did a sloppy job of it. Miyano-san’s body didn’t have much external trauma, only a small puncture on her left shoulder, which suggested she must have been poisoned by something. Since I was trying to not fall asleep, I realised too late that she still had some invisible fishing line tangled all around her tail, pulling when it was moved. It was part of a trap. There the walls of the cave were slowly closing in, and it was all I could do to push Ran out of it. My tail got caught in the lip of the trap,” Shinichi pointed to the tear in his tail fin grimly.

Kaito looked at the tear under a new light. He could picture heavy rocks crushing its thin membrane, unable to budge.

“Of course, I was too scared to rip it to get free at the time, I was only a kid. I would have done it a thousand times over today of course, but you know what they say about hindsight,” Shinichi gave a self-deprecating laugh. He should have ripped himself free, pain be damned and fled with Ran back to the colony and never looked back at the surface. But he was too stupid.

KID put an arm over Shinichi’s shoulders, scales and all. Shinichi looked puzzled at the gesture like it was foreign to him. “What are you doing that for?”

“You were only a kid,” said Kaito gently. “Don’t blame yourself for being scared.”

“It didn’t matter if I was scared or not, none of this would have happened if I just bit the loss and ripped it out. The Black Organisation ended up tearing it anyway when they pulled me out,” Shinichi complained. “Gin was the one who came down to inspect the trap, he had a long-barrelled, sniper-sighted dart gun. Got me good right over here.”

Shinichi pointed to a spot on his arm with a healed raised welt, the dart gun must have packed quite a punch. “Turns out Miyano-san died because the Black Organisation were experimenting with their poison darts to subdue and capture a mermaid.” He gave a bitter laugh. “They sucked at it and on their very first try, they miscalculated and overdosed her. Luckily for me, they overcorrected and the new dosage was low enough to not kill a small child.”

Kaito started tracing a small circular welt on Shinichi’s shoulder comfortingly when he felt the mermaid start to tremble slightly. He wasn’t even sure if Shinichi was aware of it, since he started rubbing the back of his neck again trying not to sound too pitiful.

“When I came to, I was in a tank.” Shinichi recounted miserably. “I kept trying to escape for months, I was proud of the headache I was being for them when I wouldn’t give the Black Organisation what they wanted for their little immortality potion.”

“And your friend? Did she get away?”

Shinichi nodded. “Yeah, they never even saw her. Since Ran escaped she probably warned everyone about them so they couldn’t catch another mermaid like me either, not for their lack of trying.” It brought no end to Shinichi’s satisfaction when they had tried looking for another mermaid like him after months of no results from Shinichi and kept coming back with empty fishing nets. It meant they had failed and he taunted their failure every time. Even when he got punished for it.

“Of course, now I was invaluable to them as their only ‘specimen’. They couldn’t get rid of me. Not even when I bit off Gin’s ear,” Shinichi said, remembering the moment proudly. Gin had gotten too close while feeding Shinichi, and the mermaid had gotten a mouthful of squishy, bloody flesh and ripped it off viciously while the man screamed.

“Wait a moment, I thought that a bullet must have grazed his ear or something in their line of work. You’re telling me that was you?”

“Uh-huh. Don’t worry though Kaito,” Shinichi teased with a grin full of sharp teeth. “I don’t bite the ears of Phantom Thieves.”

Kaito snorted in response. “So, where were your mother and father in all of this? Shouldn’t they have been looking for you?”

Ah, that. Shinichi retreated into himself a little, hugging his tail. “They tried, and the Organisation … killed them.”

He remembered how one day, Gin in came in looking like someone sh*t in his cornflakes. Normally, whenever Gin was pissed Shinichi could take some satisfaction from it, but he could tell something was different. Gin had complained that a low-level recruit accidentally killed a perfectly good specimen candidate. Worried, Shinichi had asked what he meant.

“Gin told me my parents came looking for me, and they killed them.”

Kaito tightened his grip over Shinichi’s shoulders as the trembling got a little worse. But even still, words weren’t facts, and Shinichi said he had been trying to escape for months. If the Black Organisation wanted to manipulate Shinichi, the first thing they would have done would be to crush his hope.

“I hate to ask, but why did you believe him?”

“He had my mother’s tail fin,” Shinichi said miserably, scratching a little at the irritated scarring on his neck. Gin had thrown the dismembered flap of flesh of his mother’s beloved tail into Shinichi’s tank for him to mourn. He had been so distraught, that he almost gave the Black Organisation what they had wanted from him then and there. “Mermaids can’t swim without their tail fins. If you can’t swim, you can’t survive. If Mum didn’t die when Gin took it from her, she may as well be dead anyway.”

“And your father?” KID asked, his hand on Shinichi’s shoulder tensing.

Shinichi shook his head. “He’d have never let Mum get hurt like that. He loved her, and he’d have done everything he could to protect her from getting hurt like that. Up until his dying breath.” He had no one. But it was just as well. If anyone was left to look for him, they’d have just gotten hurt from the Black Organisation. It was better this way.

Kaito let out a tight breath. “I-I know it doesn’t mean much because whenever I tell someone about my dad they say it, and it means nothing. But for what it’s worth, I’m sorry.” It wasn’t enough, it wasn’t nearly enough, obviously, but it was a start.

“What are you saying sorry for, stupid thief? You didn’t kill my parents.” Shinichi brushed KID’s hand off his shoulder, scowling.

In response, Kaito attacked Shinichi with a comforting hug, resting his head against the side of Shinichi’s face, heedless of the alarmed flap of his side fans against Kaito’s skin. He was not letting go, even when Shinichi tried to wriggle out of his grasp.

“KID!” He complained. “Hey, what gives?” Shinichi didn’t know what to do, KID was stuck to him like a weird, human octopus and he was feeling ‘sorry’? For what?

“It’s a thing humans do. They say ‘sorry’ because they feel bad for your loss.” Kaito explained softly.

Shinichi pushed against Kaito in frustration but the thief wouldn’t budge, suckered on the mermaid's side, so all he could do was intensify his disapproving scowl. “That’s stupid.” Humans were irrational.

Kaito laughed as he nuzzled into Shinichi’s shoulder scales in a show of solidarity and comfort. “That’s us, stupid humans. Now shut up and take the hug.”

Shinichi groaned. “I’m beginning to think I wasn’t wrong with my initial assessment when I met you. Are you daft? It happened a long time ago. Feeling ‘sorry’ for it now doesn’t change anything.”

“But it makes you feel better.”

Did it? Shinichi turned internally and assessed the ugly, psychological injuries that no medicine the Black Organisation would forcefully administer could touch for years. He found it was a little quieter, a little less raw. He hated that KID had a point and the pain he carried in his heart for the past ten years seemed to hurt a little less.

“Shut up.”

“Aha, I knew it was working!”

“Get off,” Shinichi grumbled, having had enough and shoving Kaito away, succeeding this time now that Kaito knew his mission was completed. “I’ve got scales to disinfect.”

He didn’t really need to anymore. The redness around the jewel had gone down a lot since he had been using that disinfectant Kaito had bought him. It seemed to help bolster his immune system while his body gained strength by the day as he was regularly eating and it didn’t even itch anymore.

Chuckling at Shinichi’s reddening side fins, Kaito let himself fall away from Shinichi and left him to his business. As much as he wanted to spend longer cuddling the grouchy mermaid, he did actually have business to do today as well. He went to the display cabinet which offered him an alternative to his usual flashy white suit. Instead, this one was a more traditional black with blue accents and a blue vest. He started donning the outfit and packing tricks and things into carry bags.

Shinichi observed Kaito’s new activities with no small amount of curiosity. “What are you getting all dressed up for, Thief? It’s not time for another one of your moonlit heists again already, is it? You haven’t even finished stealing the Atlantic Envy.” He briefly worried Kaito didn’t believe him anymore that the gem was Pandora, and that he’d have to dig it out of his scales again in order to re-tempt the thief.

But he needn’t have worried.

“I need to do my show tonight.”

Shinichi co*cked his head at the thief in confusion. “Show? You mean a ‘show’ other than your nighttime heisting?”

“Oh, that’s right,” Kaito realised, tapping the flat of his fist against the palm of his other hand. “You wouldn’t know because we’ve been holed up in here over the weekend. But on weekdays, my day job is a travelling show magician.”

KID went over to a poster of Toichi, flipping it over to reveal a slightly yellow-aged poster advertising the ‘Amazing Magic Kaito,’ as well as a list of tour dates and cities from a few years back.

Shinichi pulled a disbelieving face. “Isn’t that a bit suspicious? The local magician-themed Phantom Thief also happens to be a magician by day?”

“You know what they say about hiding in plain sight,” Kaito grinned, slipping on a pair of white silk gloves. “It’s actually the perfect cover, look.”

From within one of his carry bags, Kaito produced a marionette of impressive likeness to him. It was fully articulated, didn’t move unnaturally, and even seemed to simulate breathing. He then opened its mouth and extracted a small rolled-up scroll.

“A Fairy’s Favour isn’t the only genuine magic trick I have up my sleeves.” He said with a knowing wink.

“A golem heart,” Shinichi breathed. “How did you get your hands on that?” Golems were very sophisticated tools of warlocks, almost completely impervious to physical damage save for their tiny enchanted scrolls.

“Some very clever haggling at a supernaturals convention, let me tell you,” said KID, smirking. “Anyway, I have this body double and it can perform for me on the same nights I hold a heist, giving me a rock-solid alibi with dozens of witnesses when the authorities or nosy rookie detectives come knocking.” Nosy rookie detectives like a certain son of the local head of law enforcement.

“And you’re telling me no one’s caught on the fact that on the nights Kaito KID runs a heist, he’s got a golem running around performing his magic tricks?” Shinichi asked sceptically, prodding a finger against the double’s simulated skin. The golem blinked at him and Shinichi recoiled, uncanny.

“Nope,” said KID, gleeful at just how perfect his cover story worked. “Well, not except this one persistent fellow, Hakuba. He’s an asshole. He’s started to read books about animation magic but he hasn’t quite worked out it's a golem yet, so he’s just accused me of general witchcraft.” KID popped out his dark traditional silk tophat and affixed it over his messy hair. “I just pretend he’s just complimenting my magic tricks. I mean, what magician doesn’t want their craft to be called the real deal? Anyway, he hasn’t managed to prove anything before I skip town on him.” KID checked his reflection in the mirror, making sure his snazzy vest and tie lay straight.

“Your magic show, is it more of that sleight of hand illusion work you showed me?” Shinichi asked. “The stuff with the smoke, cards and roses?”

“Yep,” Kaito said, popping the ‘p.’ “With a little genuine magic sprinkled in for extra flair where I can.” He added mischievously.

“You mean you have more to your arsenal of magic than just a Fairy’s Favour and golem heart?” Shinichi asked, curious as to what other tricks the thief had up his sleeves. Things other than explosives and flowers anyway.

Kaito nodded, grinning. “Correct, I also have in my possession; a Fairy’s Pocket.”

From the depths of his suit jacket, Kaito procured a small, discrete, black satchel made of silken velvet secured with a golden drawstring.

“A magical envelope in space and time that holds an infinite number of things, what on earth do you store in there?” Shinichi asked, arching a brow.

Kaito gave an impish wink and look and pulled a living, breathing dove from the depths of his sleeves which flapped its wings at its sudden appearance. “A few magician’s tricks. It makes running heists a lot easier and lighter when I can just carry everything in an interdimensional pocket. Time doesn’t pass in there either, so my doves don’t starve.”

Shinichi rolled his eyes. “And that’s it? The great Phantom Thief uses Fairy Trinkets and a scrap of enchanted paper? That’s hardly very amazing or magical for the ‘Amazing Magic Kaito.’”

“Well, don’t be too impressed, Merman-kun. We humans don’t have the benefit of being magical creatures by blood,” he stuck out his tongue playfully at the mermaid. “Besides, Fairy magic is most often used for cheap tricks and mischief, perfectly fitting for a thief like me, wouldn’t you agree?”

Shinichi glared at the impudent thief. “Disgustingly so.”

“Anyway,” said Kaito, giving a dramatic flourish of his cape, now blue instead of the phantom white Shinichi was more familiar with. “My regular magic show is going to run much longer than a simple trip to the market, I’m going to be out all day.”

“All day?” Shinichi echoed anxiously, fidgeting in the bathtub. He had never been left alone in the safehouse for extended periods of time. “When will you be back?”

“Around ten at night.”

“Ten at night?!” Shouted Shinichi, glancing at the clock. “It’s nine in the morning! That’s much too long.”

“Considering stage setup, rehearsals, and ticket selling, it’s actually very reasonable,” said KID, counting off his fingers. “I’ve got to keep the lights on somehow, and this is how I make my money. I’ve already signed contracts booking venues for the tour too, and they’ll call on the law after my legal persona for fraud if I don’t show up.”

But Shinichi still didn’t look satisfied, fretting over being left alone and vulnerable if anyone broke in while KID was out. What if something happened? What if someone broke into the safe house? What if the Black Organisation found him?

Seeing this as a golden opportunity, KID’s face then cracked into a wild, excited grin. “Want to come see it?”

Shinichi narrowed his eyes at the thief, wondering what hare-brained scheme he was talking about. “What?”

“Do you want to come see my magic show?” Kaito asked eagerly, practically all but jumping in Shinichi’s face at the prospect. “It’s really fun, I promise.”

Shinichi rolled his eyes. “Kaito, I’m a creature of magic. I hardly think your human illusions are going to impress me.”

“Such a critic, Merman-kun” KID tut-tutted, wagging his finger at the mermaid. “You’re only saying that because you’ve yet to see me on the big stage. I have more impressive magic than just card tricks and doves up my sleeves, you know.”

“You disappeared and reappeared on the pool table that one time using a rotating trick floorboard,” Shinichi surmised. “Using the cards as a distraction, I hadn’t noticed at the time that your position only changed one point eight metres, or, the perfect length of a floorboard. Then all you have to do is jump on top of the table, making it seem like you appeared there. When you were mopping up, I noticed the water didn’t follow the grainline correctly, and that’s when I knew.”

Kaito beamed. “So you noticed all that.”

“Obviously,” Shinichi co*cked a wry eyebrow. “Do you still think you can impress me?”

“I know I can,” Kaito replied, confident. He just had to up his game around Shinichi. He had to pull something extravagant. He hadn’t been this excited about giving a magic show since, well. Possibly ever. It was going to be a fun challenge.

Shinichi turned his answering smirk at KID. “Is that a promise?”

Kaito exposed his shark-like grin, promising danger, which Shinichi was slowly getting accustomed to. “It’s a threat.”

Well, KID certainly had guts, Shinichi would give him that. “I’ll be looking forward to it then.”

He squared his shoulders and splashed his tail at the magician, forcing him back. “Well then, I suppose you better not be late to set up. How are you planning on getting me to your little performance anyway?” Shinichi asked, not really expecting an answer.

A slow, devious smile spread over KID’s lips. “Oh, I have a few ideas.”

KID’s plan, as it turned out, was really quite simple; he added an extra act to his magic show. After he packed up a travelling tent and multiple boxes of tricks into a little travelling show caravan, he took out Shinichi’s favourite, now fully waterproofed barrel (ugh), and drove them all the way to a construction company.

It had taken a fair bit of prototyping and sweet talk, but KID had called in a favour from an old friend of his father’s who worked at a local construction company, someone he called Jii-chan, into building him his first ever underwater escape tank. It was made to be special. The top part of the tank is where Kaito would get tied in chains and have his ankles tied to weights. Then, he’d drop into the larger, bottom portion of the tank. This tank was rigged up with spotlights that would highlight the magician from all angles against a deployable screen that rolled down the sides of the tanks to obscure the magician behind a silhouette. Finally, there was a countdown timer rigged to a red light, which would activate once the numbers hit zero, pull back the screens to reveal the empty tank as Kaito made his grand escape.

It could easily be disassembled and reassembled on site by a single person. The trick also had a hidden third section in the form of a false floor. This false floor was hidden with a tilt that took advantage of the natural light bending properties of water and glass to give off the illusion of a perfectly flat floor. In reality, the bottom of the tank was tilted, allowing for a trapezoid compartment between the tank and the floor large enough to fit, say, a mermaid. Concealed trap doors separated the tank from the compartment, allowing for easy access between the different layers.

Of course, since Shinichi was to be hidden in the hidden compartment he was privy to all this happening behind the scenes. It was going to be much harder to pull a trick on him from right under his nose than to fool his audience. But KID wasn’t giving away any spoilers and merely shushed his finger against his lips whenever Shinichi asked him about it. After all, he couldn’t spoil the surprise or no one would be impressed. With Shinichi safely shut in his barrel away from prying eyes, KID practised his underwater escape trick in the shop and it only took him two tries to pull it off before the timer hit zero. To commemorate, he had Jii-chan take a photo with him by the tank.

“Very impressive, Botchama,” Jii commented as Kaito checked the photo. “You’ve got a talent for the escape arts just like your father.”

KID laughed. “Please, I could slip a pair of cuffs while falling from a skyscraper in less than 60 seconds. This was child’s play.”

“And modest as ever, I see,” Jii added, a note of bemusem*nt in his tone.

“Ah, what can I say Jii-chan?” Kaito gave a faux sigh, “I’m naturally a braggart.”

“Or, you’re using that fairy good luck charm your father left to you.” Jii accused.

Kaito huffed, offended. “For something as simple as this? Never. Do you really think so little of me Jii-chan?”

As if he’d ever sully the name of Kaito KID the magician relying only on Fairy tricks to break into safes and places he wasn’t wanted. His lockpicking skills were second to none and the Favour was only used to speed up the process thank you very much.

“Now hurry up and help me load this into the caravan. I’ve gotta get it on stage before my biggest fans arrive.”

Kaito’s caravan consisted of three main segments. The front car which was used for driving, a middle section which was more like a moving truck which housed all his show equipment and the tent he set up on location, and another truck-like segment which housed the living space section in the back, which was set up similarly to his bunker in that there were two rooms, a kitchen and a bathroom squeezed in the tiny cubicle of portable space.

When Jii had asked what was in the big wooden barrel Kaito had left on the passenger seat, Kaito claimed it was for holding decorations for the underwater escape trick tank so it didn’t look too boring for its debut.

Kaito had been quite excited to share this little project, proud of himself for planning for this moment all week. This way, he solved one of the problems Shinichi had since escaping Wakita’s Estate of limited living space and would finally have a tank larger than his pitiful bathtub. At least, not during stage hours when he had to be sequestered away in the hidden compartment, and finally get to stretch out.

Once everything was set up properly and Kaito had finished raising the tent and was getting ready for rehearsals, Kaito let Shinichi into his new tank.

“You were planning this,” Shinichi accused, as he experimentally swam laps around inside, familiarising himself with its dimensions.

“Who me? Never,” Kaito denied wholly unconvincingly.

Shinichi paused in his rotations and pointed an accusatory finger at him. “No, you were planning this at least a few days in advance with all those prototypes I asked you about. No one just wakes up one morning and decides to add an entire new act to their performance and you just ‘happened’ to have the blueprints for a trick water tank handy. You planned on bringing me here.”

Kaito gave an innocent whistle. “I admit to nothing~”

Shinichi glared, Kaito was taking unproportionate pleasure in winding him up and they both knew it.

“Come on, think about it. This is perfect!” KID crowed. “With you hiding in my acts, we can go from town to town like this until we reach the port without arousing suspicion! And you won’t have to stay in that dinky bathtub for most of the day, it’s literally perfect! Admit it, I’m a genius.”

Shinichi thought about KID’s plan, and he did see the logic in it. They could plot a path using the shows as cover, slowly making their way show by show to a portside city with the authorities hopefully none the wiser. “Your ingenuity … might have its merits. That much is obvious. Whether or not your intelligence matches it is another matter entirely,” Shinichi allowed himself to say.

“I’ll take it,” Kaito grinned.

As the afternoon began to darken, lights were lit up in flashy displays advertising admittance to the magic show, and people were starting to queue up at the ticket kiosk. People were walking past gawking at the glowing lights and red and white striped tent promising a break from the monotony and mundane workings of everyday life in the town in favour for a night of wonder, magical mischief and fun.

As part of his act, Kaito was now putting the finishing touches on a new disguise.

“Must you dress as a woman?” Shinichi scowled, exasperated. He didn’t think much of it when KID had disguised himself as Mina f*ckawa back at Wakita Estate, but after a certain point, some things were beginning to emerge to him as a pattern. “Something tells me you’re doing this for less than innocent purposes when a male disguise would work just as well.”

Kaito pouted his cherry-red rouge lips and fluttered his darkened lashes playfully. “But it’s more fun this way!” His voice was pitched up into a bubbly, mid-range voice that complimented well with his bright pink skirts and harlequin stockings like a cotton candy festival. “Contrast makes for a bigger reveal! The more removed I get from my real form, the more impressive it is! Where’s your sense of showmanship, Merman-kun?”

“Back in the trauma dumping box I call my childhood where it belongs.” Shinichi deadpanned. “I didn’t have a time or place for showmanship before.”

He folded his arms as he leaned on the side of the tank, observing while KID put on a backpack equipped to dispense soda and popcorn. “Surely there are limits to how far removed you can get from your original form? I doubt you could disguise yourself as a mythical creature, for instance.”

“Hmm, who knows~” KID teased as he straightened his wig of blonde curls. Striking a pose, KID snapped a selfie of his disguise with a grouchy Shinichi in the background. He giggled to himself as he set the picture to his background and put his phone in his pocket. That one was a keeper for sure.

“Alright, how do I look, are you impressed?” He said, giving Shinichi a glittery pink twirl.

“Like you’ve been thrown up on by a geriatric unicorn,” Shinichi replied, rolling his eyes.

“Such a buzzkill, Merman-kun.”

A small device was shoved into Shinichi’s hands as he raised an eyebrow. “What’s this?”

“Just a trigger for the timer. Don’t worry, it’s waterproof,” KID assured. “I need someone to start the digital timer when I jump into the tank. I’ll have my hand’s full escaping, so I need you to do it.”

Shinichi eyed the device as he took it carefully in his hands. It was a simple silver, palm-shaped device with a big green “Go!” button in the middle. In other words, almost impossible for him to mess up for the show.

“So I just press this when you hit the water?”

“Yep, Look at you, you’re already an expert,” KID bumped his shoulder into Shinichi’s playfully.

KID rapped his knuckle against the trap door where there were peepholes strategically situated to give Shinichi views of each of the main areas of the stage. There was also an internal release button so Shinichi could activate the trap door if he had to exit in emergencies, and a backup externally just in case on KID’s side of the tank. Shinichi swam his way to the trap door and hid himself within the compartment just as Kaito closed the lid.

“Well, enjoy the show Merman-kun. Break a leg. Or, tail I guess. Whatever you have. You’re part of the show now, even if only a small part!” KID giggled with a wink.

“Break a leg? Why on earth would I want to do that? Shinichi asked in confusion.

KID motioned his hands animatedly. “It’s another human custom. It means ‘I wish you luck.’ Actors and showmen say it just before a performance because we believe that if we just say ‘good luck,’ we jinx ourselves and something terrible will definitely happen like breaking a leg. So if we say ‘break a leg,’ we jinx that so that good luck will happen instead. It’s sort of a superstition that if we don’t say it, someone will definitely break their leg.”

That made absolutely no sense. “That’s a stupid human superstition,” Shinichi responded.

Kaito held his hands in surrender. “Hey, I don’t make the rules, I just play by them.”

Giving his skirts one last pat down, Kaito walked over to the curtains and pulled them back, stepping into the throng beyond before glancing back at Shinichi’s tank.

“Oh, and I’ll have you know a male disguise wouldn’t nearly do so well. I’ve got tickets to sell. And everyone loves a pretty girl selling tickets.”

Shinichi rolled his eyes as KID blew him a kiss and skipped off to charm some poor fathers and disgruntled wives into taking their children to see a magic show tonight.

The audience seats filled up rather quickly, with the front rows reserved for adoring children. There was also a section where teenage girls and young women were whispering excitedly among themselves decked out head to toe in what looked like Magic Kaito merchandise. Since when did KID have merchandise? Shinichi thought to himself incredulously. The smell of freshly popped popcorn filled the air, buttered and caramelised alike. Children’s excited chatter sounded as they clutched their silver foiled admission tickets and wore colourful face paint. The incandescent lighting was warm and gaudy as the bouquets of flowers that were dotted around the venue.

It was all too soon, however, when the tent was suddenly plunged into pitch black darkness and the audience quietened down before exploding into clamorous applause.

Somewhere, the sound of rolling drums started up, building up the anticipation of the audience before releasing the tension with a hi-hat.

Centre stage, a single spotlight shone, illuminating a raised red platform where KID stood curtseyed in his disguise. Blonde curls bouncy, puffed white sleeves on either side of a hot pink ribboned collar, red showman’s cropped vest, harlequin tights, pink heels, and enough pink skirt flounces to rival an animated magical girl. A billowing smoke cloud emitted from the base of the platform, steeping the stage in an atmosphere of mystique.

“Ladies and gentlemen!” KID announced dramatically in his bubbly show-woman voice. Shinichi had to admit, KID had talent. He sounded nothing like his natural voice, save for the unbridled undercurrent promising a night of magic and mischief.

“Welcome one and all, to the great Magic Kaito show!”

There was polite confused applause as the audience wondered why the overdressed ticket sales lady selling overpriced snacks from the door was announcing for the show.

“For tonight, I am your one and only host…” KID trailed off dramatically before flourishing a sheet of blue silk. With a flash of the blue silk cape, KID had shed his disguise in an instant, revealing the sharp, black, white and blue magician’s outfit he had been wearing this morning underneath. “The great magician himself, Kaito Kuroba!” The polite applause turned thunderous as the crowd gasped and whistled at the reveal.

Somewhere, confetti cannons erupted, sending sparkling streamers to the applauding crowd below driving them to a rabid frenzy.

Shinichi blinked. ‘Kaito KID’ was his Phantom Thief alter ego. Of course, he’d go by a different name at his day job. He wondered if ‘Kuroba’ was another alias, or if KID would prefer Shinichi to call him by his given name. But, he hadn’t mentioned it yet. If he was uncomfortable with Shinichi calling him by his legally dubious alias, he would have said something.

“Thank you, thank you! You were all such good sports buying tickets tonight.” KID sent a few flirtatious winks at male audience members taken in by his charm who promptly blushed. He sent flying kisses to the female audience members who screamed in exhilaration.

“For tonight, prepare to be amazed, as I, the magnificent Kaito Kuroba, transport you into a world of magic and the impossible!”

KID started relatively simple. He started off with a card trick, picking a child from the audience as his assistant to pick a card to keep in their back pocket. With a snap of his fingers, the kid’s pocket appeared to start smoking with dry ice. When he got the child to check again, the card was missing. He made a big show of getting the child to peel back KID’s gloves, confirming nothing was there, or up his sleeves, in his hat or under his cape.

A simple trick. Shinichi’s observant eyes had spotted the moment KID had swapped out the card for a sheet of dry ice. A classic sleight of hand made the child believe they had received their card when in reality it never left KID’s hands. Where KID had stashed the card though, Shinichi didn’t know.

Another snap of his fingers and KID then invited the child to check his box of popcorn. Out of which, KID miraculously pulled out a white-furred rabbit, to much applause as not only was the rabbit stashed away in the popcorn, but it was also chewing on the child’s chosen card.

Kaito thanked the child for joining him on stage with a bow, letting him keep the card as a unique souvenir. He let the kids take turns petting the rabbit, both confirming its authenticity as a real creature and not some kind of advanced animatronic. Once the rabbit had made its rounds back to KID, he vanished the rabbit under his hat. Grinning, a silver gun appeared in KID’s hands, - his KID card gun - and KID shot three sharp-edged rounds into the hat, ripping the bottom to shreds.

Children screeched, mourning the rabbit even as KID assured them the rabbit was unharmed, his hat was empty after all. He flipped his hat and suddenly it was whole. This time he invited a girl to the stage to help him say some magic words, and out of his new hat came a pair of doves. KID pretended to be disappointed that the magic words failed to make the rabbit reappear and asked the girl for assistance. Shinichi spotted KID slip in his Fairy’s pocket into her purse and she watched in amazement as KID proceeded to pull two new doves, throwing knives, a saxophone, his card gun, and finally the missing rabbit from her impossibly small purse.

For the next act, KID proceeded to place doves upon doves over himself until his person was entirely engulfed and the doves all flew away, revealing Kaito had somehow disappeared underneath. The spotlight travelled down the stage and shone over the tank as KID reappeared over the Underwater Escape tank

“Ladies and gentlemen, tonight is a very special night because it will be the first night I’ve ever performed this daring magical feat. For I present to you, the Underwater Escape Spectacular!”

Spotlights by the bottom illuminated the entire eight-metre-high tank, lighting up the stage in blue.

“Now, for a disclaimer, what I’m about to do tonight you should not try to recreate in any way, shape or form back home. This is the work of a professional, and any attempts to perform this trick for yourself could end with you getting hurt,” KID forewarned. He swept his arms out in a grandiose fashion, presenting the stage to the audience.

“Tonight, I will be submerged with my arms locked to my slides in a straightjacket, my hands will be cuffed, and forty-kilo weights will be chained to each of my feet.” KID announced dramatically. “Once this is all done, a black rucksack will be thrown over my person as a length of rope is looped around me in secure knots.”

He revealed a row of equipment laid out with detailed instructions on how to use them and make sure the locks are secure. “Then, I shall be thrown into this tank of water. The average human can only hold their breath for about ninety seconds,” KID pointed up to the timer set above the tank, foreboding red numbers set to the correct amount of time. “So, I’ve set my timer to that same limit. Once time runs out, the top of the tank will close and automatically lock shut.”

KID demonstrated by kicking closed the top of the tank as an answering audible mechanical locking sound was heard. “Once this door closes, I’ll have no way out of the tank leaving me to my watery grave if I do not escape in time.”

The audience watched with rapt attention, the mortal peril of the task KID was about to perform seemingly insurmountable. He opened the top of the tank again, resetting the automatic locking feature.

“Be rest assured, all equipment used in this trick is very real, and poses a very real danger to my life once I enter this tank. Now, could two adults in the audience come and help me get into this? I might have nimble hands, but even I will struggle to put on all my restraints by myself.”

KID invited up two older audience members to begin restraining him. By the time they were finished looping the chains to KID’s satisfaction, confirming the authenticity of the locking equipment and had the bag tied over him, KID looked like little more than a body in a bag.

He wriggled around until KID’s deep blue eyes were visible through the eye holes poked through the bag. “Alright, now if you two could please return to your seats, the Underwater Escape Spectacular is about to begin!”

Alone on the platform above the crowd, KID rocked on his heels as the audience watched with bated breath. The creaking from the metal frame holding up the platform was not lost on Shinichi as he held the trigger tightly in hand.

KID bounced once. Twice. Then sprung off the suspended platform and landed into the tank with a loud splash. Shinichi pressed hard on the button. The red numbers giving an audio cue as each precious second ticked by that KID was going without air. The audience gasped as KID sunk to the bottom of the tank, pulled by the heavy weights.

Shinichi pressed his face to the peephole and saw KID had already wriggled his way out of the rucksack and was now in the middle of slipping the first pair of cuffs with ease. The straightjacket was proving more of a hindrance however, as it restricted KID’s full range of motion and limited his access to his ankles.

As the timer ticked down past the halfway mark, KID had somehow unlocked the straps on the straightjacket and was now working on the locked chains around his ankles. Thirty seconds, and the sides of the tank deployed opaque screens obscuring KID from view beyond a well-lit silhouette. Shinichi frantically swapped from one peephole to the next to try and keep track of KID. Twenty seconds, KID managed to finally unlock the weights from his ankles but the chains were still tied around his legs. Ten seconds, KID’s struggling had brought him close enough to the trap door that Shinichi could see the whites of his eyes. KID kicked out against the trap door, thumping it hard enough Shinichi could feel it and then KID was- Gone? Shinichi’s eyes widened. Right before his eyes, when just before KID was close enough to touch if only they hadn’t been separated by the trap door, and the next moment KID had disappeared. He hadn’t even heard a splash if KID had somehow left the tank.

This of course all happened in a manner of seconds, as Shinichi didn’t even have time to react to KID’s disappearance before the sounds of terrified screaming filled the audience as the timer hit zero and let out a loud buzz, bathing the room in a morbid red light as the opaque screens shown to the audience were pulled back to reveal the now empty escape tank. There was a crash as the lid of the tank snapped shut, locking the chamber and its inhabitants within.

Then, a middle-aged lady in a bright red coat lunged forward from the audience, panicking as she frantically circled the tank searching for KID. The crowd whispered among themselves, not sure if this was still part of the act. Shinichi himself went back to the peephole by the trapdoor where he had last seen KID, scanning the area for clues. Then, there was a fresh plume of pink smoke exploding out from the tank, enveloping the lady. Then, wicked laughter could be heard as none other than KID himself emerged from the smoke, revealing himself to have been the lady in the red coat all along, nary a drop of water soaked into his magician’s suit, and the crowd erupted into rambunctious applause.

“Thank you, thank you. You’ve been a wonderful audience for my debut performance of my Underwater Escape Spectacular, see you all next illusion!”

The velvet curtains finally drew closed as KID gave a final bow, and the house lights came back on, illuminating the exits for the showgoers. He allowed children to approach and take photos with him after the show, posing with cards and doves as the parents tried to hurry their kids along before they stayed up too late after bedtime.

While the last audience member exited, KID turned to Shinichi’s tank, rocking on the balls of his feet as he leaned down to a peephole and whispered. “Well? Well? What did you think, Merman-kun? Were you impressed?”

Shinichi opened the trap door a crack to level a glare with an insatiable thirst for knowledge at KID. “How did you leave the tank without me noticing? You were right in front of me with your ankles still tied at the time. How’d you vanish?” He demanded.

“That would be telling~” Kaito playfully sing-songed, breath fogging up against the glass of the tank in front of the trap door. His face was fully smug that his grand illusion had fooled his favourite critic. For now, at least.

“I’ll leave you to figure that one out for yourself.” He said, tapping his nose knowingly.

There was loud clamouring coming from the entranceway as the audience walked past a sign advertising souvenirs as both Shinichi and KID looked over KID’s shoulder to the commotion.

“Oops, that’s my cue. I’ll be back later. I’m going to dress as another sales lady. My merchandise makes up like half my revenue and it isn’t going to sell itself after all!” KID laughed as he skipped out, letting the velvet curtain cascade behind himself and all too eager for the prospect of dressing up as another lady for Shinichi’s taste. Yep, it was definitely a pattern, Shinichi noted.

Just how had KID had done it? Shinichi was hardly unobservant, but somehow he had missed KID vanishing from a water tank quite literally under his nose. Although, what Shinichi saw was slightly different to what the audience had observed.

While the audience was shown a silhouette of KID playing out in the last ten seconds, Shinichi had seen KID without that barrier in place, and KID had disappeared to Shinichi five seconds sooner than the timer going off. Yet, the audience seemed to think KID was still in the tank until the moment the buzzer went off. Perhaps there was some sort of double visual illusion at play here, one from the audience’s point of view, and the other from Shinichi’s. There had to be something about Shinichi’s point of view that necessitated KID disappearing five seconds sooner than the audience saw KID disappearing. But Shinichi just couldn’t quite work out what. Shinichi let out a frustrated groan as he scratched his head in confusion. He had to know the answer, the puzzle was staring at him right in the face and it was wearing a stupid top hat and thief’s grin.

So engrossed in going over the magic show in his mind, Shinichi had failed to notice three curious voices coming closer and closer until they were right by the tank.

“Come on, there has to be some sort of trap door here!” A young boy’s voice spoke.

“Yeah, check for water around the floor! He can’t have been dry when he got out!” Said a second, raspier voice.

“Ayumi is going to check the back,” a young girl’s voice replied.

Shinichi quickly slammed the trapdoor shut and crowded to the side of the tank and looked out the peephole closest to the source of the voices. Three unsupervised children, probably around six or seven. One of medium height with dark brown hair, one taller and rather heavy for his age with a strange, localised bald spot in his black hair, and a little girl wearing a pink sweater with soft brown hair had somehow snuck past Kaito outside and were coming to investigate.

Shinichi backed away from the trap door and distanced himself from the peephole. What if they found him?

It’s okay, he quickly reassured himself.

They’ll never find the external release lever for the trap door. And even if they did, they’re just children. They wouldn’t have the strength to pull it. Without that, there was no way they could open the compartment to discover him.

However, that didn’t stop the three curious children from circling around the tank to inspect it for trickery. The girl clambered up the ladder like a jungle gym to the raised platform and scanned the tank from her new vantage point, but couldn’t reach the lip of the safety wall.

“Genta, come give Ayumi a boost, Ayumi can’t see above the wall!”

“Okay, I’m coming, Ayumi.”

There was the sound of young children scuffling as Shinichi watched through the peephole with trepidation as they leaned dangerously over the wall of the tank. This was bad, the edge would be much too high for them to climb back out if they fell, the children needed to be more careful!

Ayumi was squinting and peering through the water closely at the bottom of the tank. “Ah! Ayumi sees something! The floor of the tank isn’t quite flat!

“What?” The dark brown-haired boy asked, still circling the outer perimeter of the tank. “What do you mean? It looks flat from this angle.”

“Ayumi knows what Ayumi sees, even if Mitsuhiko can’t see it.” Ayumi insisted. “The floor is at an angle, like a ramp! Maybe there’s something under it!”

She leaned further and further out over the tank, pointing over it as Genta pushed Ayumi’s ankles higher to allow her to lean out more. “Wah! There’s a door at the bottom! Ayumi couldn’t see it before, because it’s so far down, but- Aah!”

Like a prophecy, Shinichi’s stomach fell as he watched as Ayumi’s hand slipped from the side of the tank where she was bracing herself and fell into the waiting water of the tank with a splash.

“Ayumi!” the two boys screamed as Ayumi floundered in the tank.

“Ahhh! Genta, Mitsuhiko, help! Ayumi can’t swim!” She cried, the water splashing over her face as she helplessly tried to tread water.

“Genta, go get help!”

But the larger boy was rooted in place, frozen in panic as Ayumi’s face slipped under the water and she clutched at her throat trying to hold her breath in, precious bubbles of air streaming from her lips as she continued to cry for help.

Help.

Shinichi froze. He couldn’t let the child drown, that was a given. But he couldn’t call KID, the crowd outside was too loud for him to be heard over and he wasn’t sure KID would even make it in time, Ayumi was drowning now. Shinichi didn’t even have to think twice. He pushed the lever releasing the trap door in his compartment and shot out as fast as a torpedo, sweeping Ayumi into his arms to push her face out of the water as they both broke the surface.

Her little hacking coughs wracked her small frame as she spat up the water.

“Easy there, easy. Just focus on breathing Ayumi-chan,” Shinichi said, lightly thumping her back with his hands to promote the coughing and expel the water from her lungs. Her voice was slightly hoarse from the effort spitting up the water exerted on her. Shinichi continued rubbing circles to ease the discomfort until finally, her coughing somewhat subsided.

Once she had gotten her breath back, Ayumi looked at Shinichi with wide, sparkling eyes from his hold. “You rescued Ayumi! Thank you so much, mister!” She promptly grabbed his arm in a hug with the full-body force a little six-year-old could muster.

Shinichi was at a bit of a loss as to what to do about the child plastered to his arm. He hesitated, peeled her off, and then gave her head a gentle ruffle, causing her to squeal in delight. “You’re welcome, Ayumi-chan, I’m glad you’re safe.”

Then his expression dropped in disapproval. “But you should know better than to go off wandering around water.” Shinichi scolded. “Don’t your teachers tell you not to play by the water by yourselves?”

“I’m sorry,” Ayumi said mournfully, her bottom lip wobbling. Obviously, the children had known better, but had been chasing their overwhelming sense of curiosity even in the face of danger. Shinichi could relate to that.

However, Ayumi’s puppy eyes didn’t last long as she suddenly brightened up with realisation. “Oh, that reminds me, what were you doing in the tank, mister? Are you Kuroba-niisan’s assistant? Mum told Ayumi that magician’s assistants are pretty, and your hair’s very pretty, mister!”

“Uh, you think so?” Shinichi asked, looking at his fringe hesitantly where the damp locks were falling over his face, unsure what exactly to do with this information. He wasn’t exactly well versed in dealing with children in his isolated upbringing.

“Um, Ayumi?” A hesitant voice asked from the side of the tank. The brown-haired boy, who Shinichi recalled being called Mitsuhiko, was pointing flabbergasted at the tank. Above, Genta was openly speechless as well, pointing at the appendage extending out from behind Shinichi. That’s when Ayumi noticed Shinichi’s side fans poking out from under his wet hair as his tail fin crested the water behind his shoulders.

Ayumi threw her tiny hands to her mouth and squealed. “Ahhhh! A mermaid!”

“Uh, noooo,” Shinichi drawled out, looking between the gobsmacked faces of all three children sending his head racing, struggling to think of just what he could say to rectify this whole situation. He wasn’t great at lying, he wasn’t Kaito. “This … this is …”

Before Shinichi could embarrass himself with some story about being cursed by a sea serpent and being subsequently called out for it by three scrappy young children, a charming voice rang out.

“Mon Dieu, have you three troublemakers found my prized treasure?”

The four of them turned to see the Amazing Kaito Kuroba, holding aside a length of curtain and smoothly letting himself back inside.

“K-Kuroba-niisan!” Mitsuhiko exclaimed. “W-we- we’re the Detective Boys, we weren’t sneaking in to check your tank or anything, um. The door was open!” He babbled.

Kaito’s silk blue cape swished about his feet as he strutted up to the tank with the pretentious sway of a peaco*ck to where the other two boys were gathered in front of the water tank.

“Really now? That’s certainly interesting.” KID tut-tutted, scanning between their guilty faces, knowing full well the children were caught snooping.

Genta sheepishly backed away from the water tank as KID approached, allowing him space in front of the tank where Genta had been pointing at Shinichi’s tail.

“And here I thought I could have sworn I closed the door, I didn’t want anybody else seeing my treasure after all.” KID cooed, leaning his hand against the glass of Shinichi’s tank with a possessive leer. Shinichi shot him a dubious glare in response.

“Treasure?” Ayumi said questioningly, seeing that Kaito was looking at Shinichi. “But, niisan’s a mermaid!”

“An astute observation, my pretty lady. But I’ll tell you a little secret.”

KID hopped up the ladder to the tank with the practised ease of an acrobat, reaching into the tank and taking a waiting Ayumi from Shinichi’s arms to set her back down on dry land.

He leaned down to her with a stage whisper. “To a magician like me, the greatest treasure imaginable is magic. Merman-kun here is my lovely assistant, he’s just practising to help with my next trick in costume.”

Ayumi co*cked her head to look between Kaito and Shinichi. “Really? That’s just a costume?” She asked, wide eyes looking at Shinichi’s tail through the plexiglass closely. “It looks so real though!”

“Uh, yeah. It’s not real,” Shinichi ‘confirmed,’ swishing his tail as stiffly as possible channelling thoughts of crustacean armour. “Well, KI-Kaito is very good at costumes, as I’m sure you noticed.” He spread his tail fin in demonstration, trying to imitate a folding hand fan as closely as possible as if it were just a really convincing practical effect.

Ayumi gasped in wonderment as she followed his tail fin gliding through the water with entranced admiration, seeing it in its entirety for the first time. “Wow, your costume has so many pretty colours!” She said, pressing her hand hard against the glass as if she could touch it.

She turned her eagerly sparkling doe-like eyes on Shinichi, who felt the unasked question hanging over him like a guillotine made of puppies. “... Do you want a closer look?” He sounded out reluctantly, the words really more of an obligation than anything else.

“Yay!” Ayumi cheered, making grabby fingers to the glass. Kaito laughed as he hoisted her safely next to the lip of the tank, keeping a secure hold as she waited for Shinichi to swim closer.

Shinichi sighed to himself in resignation as he swam up to the edge and offered up his tail to the eager child. Genta and Mitsuhiko were also looking on enviously. Rolling his eyes, Shinichi gestured them over to the side of the tank to come take a look as well.

Ayumi giggled as she dragged her hand freely along Shinichi’s scales, making him feel an awful lot like a pony at a petting zoo. “It’s so shiny!”

“A work of art,” KID agreed, happy to indulge in Ayumi’s appreciation. “I do love a good costume. Even if fish scales aren’t my particular cup of tea, I’m glad you like them.”

“So what’s the story behind having a mermaid assistant?” Asked Genta, addressing the elephant in the room. “We didn’t see him at the show at all today.”

“Ahh, I’m afraid this act wasn’t quite ready yet.” KID lamented, spinning a plausible tale. “It’s a bit of a play I’m planning for the grand finale where I, the heroic magician, steal a mermaid from an evil pirate from a secret organisation who was keeping him prisoner!”

Shinichi scowled at KID’s fanciful recycling of their history, but KID lifted a shushing finger to his lips, smiling devilishly.

“Pirates?” Genta asked, outraged. “Where are the evil pirates? We should go catch them!” He looked like he had half a mind to start marching off in search immediately. “Pirates are bad, they’re thieves, and they steal from people! And bad guys should be arrested by the police!”

How ironic, these kids were practically calling for KID’s head and he was right underneath them.

“How noble of you!” KID chortled. “But you might be a bit too little to catch these pirates I’m afraid. Maybe you should leave it to someone a bit bigger to catch the pirates.”

Once she was done admiring Shinichi’s tail, KID descended from the ladder with Ayumi still held in his arms, letting her sit in his hold while he shot a cheeky look at Shinichi’s reddening face, shy from the attention he had received from the child.

“What do you think Merman-kun, do you think I could catch the naughty, thieving pirates?” He let out a flirtatious wink.

Shinichi glared and wanted to say some choice words to the shameless thief, - for goodness sake, could he at least stow it in front of children? - but now the kids were looking at him expectantly for an answer and he didn’t think KID would approve of the language he wanted to use.

“I don’t know Kaito,” Shinichi said sarcastically. “If pirates are nought but thieves, then are you sure you’re just not a pirate scoundrel yourself?”

Ayumi gasped. “Kuroba-niisan isn’t a pirate! He’s a good person!”

“That’s right, Kuroba-niisan is a magician!” Agreed Mitsuhiko.

“Kuroba-niisan is too good-looking to be a bad guy!” Ayumi huffed.

“Yeah- wait. What did you say, Ayumi?” said Genta, narrowing his eyes at Kaito with a new suspicion. The two boys sent newly jealous glares at Kaito, vying for Ayumi’s attention.

Kaito laughed. “Oh, I suppose that’s true enough, I’m no villain, so I wouldn’t make a very convincing pirate. Maybe someone else should play the part of the pirate in that case. Perhaps we should switch roles, Merman-kun?”

He crouched down and gathered the kids in a small huddle like they were conspiring together. “What do you think, do you think Merman-kun makes a better pirate than me?”

All three children nodded sagely in agreement as KID shot Shinichi a victorious look. Shinichi almost flipped Kaito off but managed to restrain himself for the sake of the children. He could always leave his discarded fishbones on Kaito's couch next time for retaliation.

“Well then, it’s decided. Let’s flip the script!”

An explosion of cotton candy-scented pink-tinged gas filled the room. Shinichi heard something splash and enter the water next to him as he coughed and attempted to clear the air. The next thing he knew, Kaito was next to him in the water. Shinichi’s eyes widened in disbelief. Because Kaito wasn’t just next to him. Instead, next to him was Kaito, if Kaito were a mermaid. A long, dark, rust-red silicone moulded tail extended out from his torso with long, drapey fins modelled after Shinichi’s own, if they were undamaged. Plastic scales shimmered, painted in excruciating detail with iridescent layers imitating the lustre of the real thing. Kaito had for all intents and purposes as far as the children were concerned, transformed into a red-scaled copy of Shinichi. The similarities were … uncanny. Kaito had peppered his shoulders similar to Shinichi’s own scaling, prosthetic special effects makeup gills rippled lifelike on his neck and he had added some decorative scales as tiny, starry freckles across his cheeks. If Kaito had also worn a long-haired wig, they might have been mistaken for nestmates.

Kaito flashed Shinichi a very kitschy, self-satisfied smirk as Shinichi gawked at him in utter shock. Kaito … didn’t look bad for a mermaid. Shinichi’s mouth had gone strangely dry and he could do nothing but swallow around his dumb tongue.

“Wow, that’s so amazing Kuroba-niisan!” Mitsuhiko said as the kids applauded, as if this were all an extension of tonight’s show. Kaito couldn’t exactly bow in the water with his legs shoved in the tail, so he simply dipped his head in a weak facsimile of a bow. “Thank you, I’ll be here all night!” He proclaimed loudly in his showboaty manner.

Genta turned expectantly to Shinichi. “Now you turn into a human!”

KID snorted, enjoying Shinichi’s deer-caught-in-the-spotlight expression far too much, but thankfully was ready to bail Shinichi out. “Oh no, I’m afraid we haven’t gotten that trick down yet, children. We only know how to turn into mermaids, not turn back again. I still have to make the costume to turn Merman-kun into an evil pirate.”

“Aww, really?” Genta asked, pouting with disappointment.

“Sorry squirt,” said Kaito.

Ayumi turned her determined eyes to KID’s tail in jealousy. “Ayumi wants to turn into a mermaid too!”

KID mussed her hair affectionately. “Aw, are you sure, Ayumi-chan? Do you have enough water at home? Otherwise, living in the ocean is a long way away from home. Would your parents be okay with that?”

Her expression turned glum. “No …”

“I think Ayumi-chan is pretty enough as a human, you don't need to wear a mermaid costume,” said KID. He pointedly ignored the twin glares burning holes into his back from her two male companions.

Ayumi preened under KID’s compliments, as her two friends were quick to reassure her she was prettiest on land without being a mermaid.

“Ayumi, Mitsuhiko, Genta, where did you kids run off to?” Called a voice from outside. It sounded like it belonged to an exasperated elderly gentleman as he called out the trio’s names, presumably their caregiver.

Kaito pointed towards the curtains, revealing he had covered his hands with prosthetic webbed gloves tipped with claws. “I think I hear someone out there is looking for you three.”

“Oh no, Professor Agasa!” Ayumi cried, clutching her fingers to her face.

“We've got to get back, or Professor Agasa will call my parents!” Said Mitsuhiko, hopping from foot to foot in agitation. “We can’t be the Detective Boys if we all get grounded!”

“Well, we certainly can’t have that. But, one more thing.” He then gestured for them to all come closer to the edge of the tank so he could lean in close and cupped his hand to his mouth in another stage whisper. “Canyou promise me that you won’t tell anyone about this? It’s for my next magic act and you'll ruin the surprise for everyone if you tell anyone about these mermaid costumes, promise?”

The children looked between themselves, gauging the possibility of keeping this request. “We won't tell,” the children promised, their eyes sparkling with honest determination. Kaito mimed locking his lips and throwing away the key that the children echoed in turn, a solemn playground vow.

As the three kids snuck their way back through the drawn curtains, Ayumi stole one last glance at the two ‘mermaids’ sitting in the tank.

“Thank you again for saving Ayumi’s life, Merman-niisan!” She called out. “I really do like your hair, you should keep it that way!”

“Uh, Thanks?” Shinichi replied, hesitant. “You’re welcome?” he added, holding a hand to his head and running his hands through his strands self-consciously.

Ayumi giggled and sent one last wave goodbye their way before following after her friends.

Shinichi found he had a warm smile on his face and was still holding up his hand in farewell long after the kids were gone.

Kaito turned and bumped his shoulder into Shinichi’s, his hundred-megawatt smile beaming. “I think that went rather well,” he said, gesturing to his mermaid tail disguise.

Shinichi felt his face heat up mildly and then pushed himself away from the side of the tank, sending a small wave of water splashing at Kaito. “Your fin’s on backwards and I can see the slight bend in the structure where your knees are.”

“What?” Kaito yelped, looking down hard at his silicone tail in confusion. “I thought I got it perfect.”

Shinichi pointed at his own fins and tail scales. “The right side of the tail fin follows the grain of the spine while the reverse goes against it. It provides better control when I’m turning.” He then pointed about a third of the way down KID’s tail. “There’s a little wrinkle on your left side by your knees where the material’s deforming to your true skeletal structure underneath.”

He continued to circle around Kaito, poking at more places that wrinkled where he mentioned. “Take it off, it’s off-putting and makes it look like you’ve got kinks in your tail.”

KID pouted as he reluctantly slipped out of the silicone tail, revealing his long gangly human legs with his bendy knees and knobbly toes, much less sensible than a graceful mermaid tail in Shinichi’s opinion, but looking much more like himself. He threw the fake tail over the edge of the tub as he started to climb out of the water to prevent it from filling up with water and sinking to the bottom of the tank. Shinichi tried not to think about how the image made it look like Kaito had cut a mermaid in half and was lugging their tail around like a hunting trophy.

“Oh come on!” Kaito groaned. “You had no idea where I was hiding this! Bringing out such a complicated, bulky costume and then quick-changing into it under your nose is a feat in itself and you said you didn’t believe I could transform into a supernatural,” said KID accusingly. “So I decided I wanted to prove a point. I spent hours studying your tail to make a perfect copy, and that’s difficult since you’re so attentive to being watched. I slaved over the silicone mould, hand-painted scales and getting the fins right. Admit it! Can you say you’re a little impressed?”

Shinichi glared, Kaito had been pursuing that a lot from him lately. “You’ve been asking me this all day. Why are you so determined to impress me?”

“Because it’s fun and you make the cutest little thinking faces.” KID teased as he leaned in to tweak Shinichi’s nose playfully.

Shinichi flushed bright red in response and reeled back. “I- you- It was in your Fairy Pocket, that’s where you were hiding it,” he spluttered, quickly swimming away from KID and slapping his tail against Kid’s arm, where a hidden sleeve surrendered the little black satchel onto the floor.

Kaito pouted fondly after the swiftly retreating mermaid. “You’re no fun.”

Chapter 6

Chapter Text

Kaito’s new Underwater Escape Spectacular was a huge hit with the audience. At his next stop, word had already spread and there were kids lining up asking the nice ticket lady if Kuroba Kaito was going to perform that particular trick that night. Normally, KID wasn’t one to repeat an act unless under very special circ*mstances, but the act also let him add one very special member to his audience every night, so the Underwater Escape Spectacular became a mainstay act. Of course, KID would add variation to it in order to keep things interesting both for himself and for his audience, - one night he added rings of fire that he had to jump through to land into the tank - but the core attraction of the act, being his impossible escape, remained the same. Shinichi had started playing other behind-the-scenes roles in KID’s shows too. Kaito had made a waterproof control board for Shinichi to be able to trigger lighting, music, and special effects like the confetti canons all from the comfort of his hidden compartment. Before, all these effects were on a set timer throughout the show that KID stuck to rigorously, unable to deviate much in order to make the timing set for the confetti canons to accentuate his reappearance for example. But with Shinichi behind it now, KID found the flexibility to improvise a lot more and not worry about hitting his cues.

That night, KID and Shinichi were celebrating another show well done and were packing things up to go on the road again. They had made some progress, having hit three towns and performing just as many shows since KID started including the Underwater Escape Spectacular. Shinichi was in KID’s familiar tub they brought with them on the road as the main tank was currently being emptied out for a water change.

“I figured it out,” Shinichi said. He was brushing his hair with a comb Kaito had gotten him on another trip to the market as it had gotten rather tangled as of late.

“Figured what out, Merman-kun?” Asked Kaito lazily from where he was taking down the bouquet decoration displays around the crowd stands that night.

Shinichi stuck his tongue between his teeth, furrowing his brows as he recreated the underwater escape trick in his mind. “It’s a double visual illusion,” he surmised. “There’s two disappearing acts going on at the same time. The first is easy enough to explain, it’s the act you’re showing to the audience.”

KID stopped what he was doing and came over to Shinichi’s tub, sprawling on a prop sofa he carried over in an easy-going sprawl and leaning his chin on a hand. “Do tell,” he prompted, eager to hear Shinichi’s deductions.

Shinichi licked his lips and went to do just that. He leaned over to where there was a small shelf situated up next to the tub for his convenience that housed things he often used; the aquarium-safe disinfectant, a mirror, his show controller, a notebook of puzzles and ciphers, his usual mug he used to drink coffee from, and wiped his hands on a dry towel before grabbing a handheld torch and ripping a blank sheet of paper from his puzzle notebook.

“The first minute of your act is entirely dedicated to the escape,” Shinichi explained. “The last thirty seconds is where the real illusion begins. You pull a screen over the sides of the glass so as to build up suspense for the main reveal when the screens come off and you’ve disappeared from the water, but that’s not all the screens do.”

He clicked on the torch, lighting up one side of the paper. “You expect spotlights to be shining head-on to give you the cleanest silhouette against the screen, but that’s not the case in this instance. I noticed that the spotlights you have by the water tank are actually angled.”

Shinichi demonstrated by angling the paper as he held his hand in front of it and shone the spotlight from behind. The resulting shadow was fuzzy and indistinct.

“By layering multiple shadows, you can however, create a clear silhouette, as if it were one clear shadow being cast by a single light closer to the screen than it actually is.” Shinichi held his hand closer and straight onto the back of the paper, creating a distinct shadow. “By using this trick, you can trick the audience by continuing to thrash about under the spotlights into thinking you’re still in the water, when in reality you’ve escaped long ago and are currently hiding somewhere else. That way, they believed you were in that water tank until the very end and vanished as soon as the screens came down.”

“Very good, Merman-kun.” KID said, wagging his finger. “But that’s not all, is it? How did I manage to sneak away under your very nose?”

Shinichi pointed at the water tank currently being cleaned. “It’s the trap door,” he explained. “You kick it every time before you disappear. There’s a mechanism there, a spring-loaded mirrored panel. When you kick the trap door, it flips the panel and due to the spotlights lighting up the water tank, I can’t see the glass moving through the water from the bottom view until it’s already flipped, giving the illusion you disappeared right in front of the trap door.” Shinichi explained. “Then, you use the final ten seconds to slip into the hidden space behind the mirrored panel, I expect there’s some sort of built-in escape tunnel there, and emerge on the other side on the outside of the tank,” Shinichi finished. “Neither illusion could have fooled me or the audience by itself. It was a two-fold trick.”

“And how do you explain the fact that when I emerge from the audience, entirely dry?” Asked KID, looking absolutely ecstatic as Shinichi dismantled his magic trick before him like a magician himself, revealing the secrets to his audience of one. “Someone would surely notice if a soaking wet stranger came into the crowd wearing a bright red coat as it happens in my act.”

Shinichi counted off his fingers as he put down the paper and torch used for his demonstration. “One, the red light when the buzzer sounds. Red objects appear invisible against a white or red background when lit up under a red light. You took advantage of the fact that the fabric of your tent alternates between red and white, so as long as you kept to the edges of the tent fabric until you were well and truly assimilated into the crowd, no one would notice you with their eyes on the tank. Two, as for how you avoided getting wet, you used a finely powdered form of silica to form a nanoporous layer over your entire body. The result is a layer of hydrophobic air around your body, you were never wet in the first place, the inside of that rucksack they throw over you when you’re getting bound, it’s really coated for getting the powder on you, isn’t it?”

With that, Shinichi’s deductive reasoning show came to a close and KID gave a slow clap. “Very good, Merman-kun. You were right on every count, congratulations.” He giggled, proud of his little mermaid that had cracked the case. “And this is why you’re my favourite critic.”

“It wasn’t that hard,” said Shinichi, trying to keep the arrogant streak out of his voice but failing miserably. “All of your tricks more or less follow the same basic setups. Vanishing, and reappearing. It’s just a matter of how you’re doing it.”

“That’s … surprisingly insightful,” KID laughed. “You notice a lot of things, Merman-kun.” He leaned in from his perch, eager to let Shinichi in on a secret. “Did you know there are only seven kinds of magic trick? All magic is just variation and building on one or two core ideas.” He began listing them off. “Vanishing and Appearance, Levitation, Penetration, Prediction, Restoration, Transformation, and Transposition.”

KID kicked back in his seat, reclining against the armrest of the small couch. “You don’t have to know all seven kinds to be the best magician. The best magicians perfect their particular specialty magic tricks and it’s all about presentation from there.”

He made a fan of cards appear between his fingertips. “I just happen to specialise in vanishing and appearing for the most part. Though, I have dabbled in levitation as well.” KID gave a flirtatious wink. “Maybe I’ll show you some of those other tricks some time.”

“I look forward to being boggled,” Shinichi replied drily.

Still, KID sighed, slumping over on the couch. “Ahh, but it’s also too bad. You worked it out so quickly, Merman-kun! Now you see why I don’t typically do repeat tricks, or critics have too many chances to work out the magic.”

Shinichi frowned. “You’re not going to stop performing the trick just because I know how you did it now, are you?”

“No,” KID shook his head. “Obviously, we have the tank now and you need a place to stay while we travel under the cover of my travelling show so we may as well use it. Word about the act got out so now I’ve booked out our course to the ocean over the whole week. At the pace we’re going, we’ll hit the ocean-side city of Haido on Sunday.”

“Sunday?” Shinichi frowned. “Didn’t you say the port is only two days out from the Wakita Estate? This is the third town we’ve performed in. Are you telling me we’re not even halfway to the ocean?”

Kaito nodded solemnly. “Yes, but we have to move slowly. There are checkpoints set up on all the major roads that’ll be on the lookout for you or the Atlantic Envy. One of the easiest ways to get around them quicker without being searched is to have a same-night performer’s business pass. By having performer business in the next town that same night, you can get away with just a basic magic scan and skip the search. So, we have to stop at every town between here and Haido City to dodge the checkpoint scans.”

That … didn’t make Shinichi very happy to know he wasn’t going to be tasting seawater for at least another week but he supposed that made enough sense.

“Plus,” KID added. “I’d be disappointing a lot of children if I didn’t stop at their towns to perform the Underwater Escape Spectacular. And that wouldn’t be very nice.”

Shinichi thought back to the eager shining faces of the three Detective Boys who had accosted him after that very first show. He hadn’t been around children since getting captured, so he hadn’t known how he felt about them. But now, having witnessed several of KID’s shows and interacting with a few himself, he found that he quite liked children. They were filled with such abundant curiosity, wonder, and play.

“I guess so,” Shinichi replied at last. He picked up his comb again and continued to work on his tangles. That girl had liked his hair, Shinichi gave a small smile. Nobody had said that to him since he had last seen his mother. It was nice.

Catching the smile, KID beamed. “See, I knew you had a soft spot for children!”

Shinichi paused in his ministrations and bared his teeth at Kaito in return.

Kaito merely laughed and stuck out his tongue at Shinichi like a child. He then went back to packing up the decorations and sweeping the floors, the venues didn’t like it when you didn’t clean up after yourself after an act. After a while, Kaito had even finished scrubbing out and disinfecting the interior of the disassembled water tank and was beginning to put it back together, when he noticed Shinichi was still occupied with detangling his hair. He looked at Shinichi with a thoughtful expression on his face.

“What?” Shinichi snapped, wondering if Kaito was thinking about pulling some sort of trick on him because he was bored of packing.

“You uh, you’ve been at that for a while. I’ve even finished piercing the cleaned tank back together…”

“So you have,” Shinichi observed, irritated that Kaito felt the need to point out his lack of progress. “What’s your point?”

“Well, you look like you could use some help with that. I can get another comb.” KID nodded to himself and pulled the tool from his Fairy’s Pocket. “My mum used to get me to help her with her hair before big shows. Do you want me to lend a hand?”

Shinichi stopped what he was doing and levelled Kaito with an icy stare. “Buttering me up and doing favours won’t get you any closer to the gem KID. You get this when we reach the ocean, and no sooner.”

“That’s not- That’s not what I’m trying to do,” argued Kaito exasperatedly. “Just, come here. Let me help. Four hands are better than two.”

Shinichi was apprehensive but allowed Kaito to approach as he continued to comb out the tangles. Luckily for him, Kaito didn’t have a very rough hand when he was working, lending his nimble magician’s fingers so the experience didn’t turn painful and together they were making quick work of Shinichi’s hair.

After a short while of working in comfortable silence, Kaito felt like he had to ask, because it had been nagging at him for quite a bit since he had met the mermaid.

“Hey Shinichi,” started Kaito, opening with a casual tone. “You don’t have to tell me, you can just tell me to screw off and I’ll shut up. But I was just wondering; why is your hair so long?”

Kaito worked at a small tuft at the ends of Shinichi’s hair, using the teeth of the comb to take out the broken hairs from the ones still growing on Shinichi’s head to ease some of the tension in the knot. “Not that there’s anything wrong with it, of course, it’s nice long. I was just wondering if this is like, mermaid fashion or something.”

Shinichi sent a look at Kaito's way. The magician’s eyes were laser-focused on his work, his brow furrowed in concentration. There was no trace of mockery in his eyes, like Shinichi had gotten from some of the scientists under the Black Organisation. Kaito’s question was sincere.

“Sort of. When I was a kid, my mother always liked to style my hair on the longer side. She told me that she liked it when our styles would match,” Shincihi said, remembering her warm, butter soft curls that flowed behind her like a bouquet of thick kelp. “She had nice, long, curly hair, and she was always on top of the latest fashions, so I suppose it must have been fashionable when I was a kid. I guess I never thought to change it because it reminded me of her, and now she’s gone,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Oh, sorry to bring it up,” said KID. Great, he had accidentally brought up Shinichi’s dead mother. Way to kill the mood KID, he berated himself.

“No, it’s fine,” said Shinichi. “Human males typically have short hair, Gin’s hair notwithstanding, and you don’t know much about mermaid culture, so it’s only natural for you to ask. If I didn’t want to answer a question I’d let you know. So, what about you?”

“My hair?” Kaito asked, and Shinichi nodded. “Oh, I just let it sit however it likes when I get up in the morning,” KID laughed. “My mum hated it. Her hair couldn’t be more different from mine.”

Kaito took out his cell phone and scrolled until he showed a picture to Shinichi. “My mother likes her hair short, straight and neat, her name’s Chikage.” She was a woman with shoulder-length, umbra brown hair worn tucked behind her ears. Her smile looked kind and mischievous, not unlike Kaito’s own. He flicked to a blurry photo which contained a much younger Kaito in the photo next to an older man who looked like an older version of Kaito with a thin, pencil moustache.

“That’s my dad in case you were wondering. Sorry, I don’t actually have very many good pictures of him, or well. Not very many pictures of him not as Kaito KID, period. But it’s okay, because the ones of him as KID are better anyway.” KID said quickly.

Shinichi wondered absentmindedly what Kaito meant by that. He had noticed at the KID hideout he had seen there were many posters of the previous KID, but none of Kaito or his family in their civilian lives. Did he … not have a good picture of his father as his father? But KID was so reliable to take at least three each day doing mundane things. How was that even possible?

“So, what else looks nice to mermaids then, if long hair is a fashion thing?” Asked Kaito, changing the subject.

Shinichi let the subject of his father’s picture pass, making a mental note to ask Kaito later perhaps, and shrugged. He dragged his hand through significantly smoother hair and admired the easy glide.

“Bright colours, big flashy fins, you know, the usual in the ocean,” Shinichi explained. “I’m sure you’ve seen the fish in the reefs, it’s like that. Mermaids like to show off. Not unlike a certain flashy thief I know.” Mermaids usually aimed to have the biggest, flashiest, most brightly coloured fins for miles around, Shinichi’s colours were monochromatic blues for the most part and rather unexciting. He was hardly an impressive model of mermaid resplendence like his mother was, her fins had been a fetching peach, orange and red.

“So, would you consider yourself a good-looking mermaid?” KID teased, pushing against Shinichi playfully with his elbow.

He felt his face grow hot as Shinichi considered it. “I wouldn’t know. It’s not exactly like I grew up in the ocean long enough to compare myself to what was considered ‘good looking’ with mermaids my own age and what wasn’t, but I do know that my fins are a travesty.”

Shinichi miserably flexed his tail so that it dangled over the edge of the bathtub, bringing up the tear front and centre. “Fins are a mermaid’s pride. They are a good sign of good health and status and you quite literally can’t live without them. A tear like this is basically a stain labelling me as ‘weak’ or ‘sickly’ for the rest of my life.” He traced the fluttery edges of the tear with his fingers, mourning the loss of their former splendour.

KID took Shinichi’s hand in his own and took them away from the tear, and gingerly placed the torn fin back in the water where Shinichi didn’t have to look at it. “Well, for what it’s worth, I think you’re a fantastic looking mermaid Shinichi. You definitely at least stole my breath away,” KID winked.

“I’m also the only mermaid you’ve met, asshole,” Shinichi growled, shaking Kaito’s hand off and massaging the back of his neck again. “Enough about my fashion, what about you, Thief?”

Shinichi gestured at the chest which housed the Kaito KID outfit while Kaito wore his daytime magic show garb.

“What’s with you being a ‘Phantom Thief?’ I get you have a poor sense of self-preservation and you love putting on a good show, but you could have themed yourself after anything. Hell, with the Batcave going on, I’m surprised you didn’t theme yourself after doves or something. So why a gentleman’s suit?” He pulled out Kaito’s tie from where it was tucked into his vest, demonstrating just how easy it would have been to get a hold of the thief with his inconvenient choice of grabbable clothing and pulled the thief in. “It can’t be very practical gallivanting through the night on the rooftops in a full suit as flashy as that.”

KID allowed his head to follow Shinichi’s pull on his tie, tilting upwards to maintain eye contact with the mermaid as his head fell into the latter’s personal space.

“Really? You don’t recognise it?” KID tut-tutted from his new angle. “You quoted Sherlock Holmes to me the first time we met, but you don’t even recognise inspiration from the great works of Arsène Lupin? For shame Merman-kun.”

“Arsène Lupin?” Shinichi questioned, raising a questioning brow.

“Arsène Lupin, a gentleman burglar, is the fictional creation of Maurice Leblanc,” Kaito explained, giddy to share. “Leblanc wrote in the same era as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Arsène Lupin was written as a great gentleman thief, one of his rivals was a world-renowned detective named Herlock Sholmes. Sounds awfully familiar for a name, don’t you think?”

Shinichi scowled, pushing Kaito away from himself. “So Leblanc stole a respected character from a work that wasn’t his own in order to further his own second-rate creation, sounds about right for someone who would make their protagonist a thief.”

“Actually,” Kaito corrected, hopping up on the balls of his feet. “The court ruled in favour of ‘Herlock Sholmes’ being a totally original character for Leblanc to use, not stolen. ‘Herlock Sholmes’ has subsequently been in use as a stand-in ‘parody’ for anyone wishing to portray Sherlock Holmes and not face the legal spaghetti string that is copyright law since at least 1894.”

Shinichi co*cked his head. He wasn’t aware there was an entire subset of parodies that starred a ‘legally distinct’ version of his favourite detective. He wondered how they held up to the original, and if he should consider reading any of them instead of rereading ‘The Adventure of Dancing Men,’ again.

“And they’re hardly second-rate books,” added Kaito, high-key offended. “I would have thought someone as clever as you would know to not judge a book by its cover, or by its ideological inception of the main characters in this case, and only judge it by its own merit when read.”

Kaito prodded Shinichi on the shoulder, drawing his attention to the thief. “I could get you a copy if you’d like to read them sometime,” he suggested hopefully.

“I hardly think an author who needed to steal the characters of a better work is worth reading,” Shinichi said aloud, but his face on the other hand looked far from disinterested. “But I suppose it’s been a while since I’ve had anything to read.”

Kaito gave a satisfied smile looking forward to completing his new task the next time he went to the local market. Maybe he’d make a fan out of Shinichi yet, they could get matching mugs. Sherlock and Lupin, hah!

“I suppose if you read these books as a child this would explain your love for thievery and magic,” Shinichi said wryly. He could see a younger Kaito dressed in a cape and playing pretend, playing tricks on his friends and generally being a hyperactive nuisance.

Kaito nodded. “Of course, because I was a fun kid. And it’s not just me, my parents love the Arsène Lupin books as well. I told you I inherited my title as Phantom Thief from my father, remember?”

“I recall,” confirmed Shinichi.

“I loved when Dad would read Arsène Lupin to me as a kid, and I looked up to the old Kaito KID. Whenever I saw him in the newspaper, I collected the pictures, you saw some of them at my safe house as posters. Of course, I didn’t know it was Dad at the time,” KID clarified at Shinichi’s questioning glance. “But when I inherited the title, it just made so much sense. ”

“And your mother?”

“She was also a thief herself, though, retired once I came around.” Kaito snorted. “I guess you could say mischief runs in the family.”

Shinichi scoffed. His hair was now entirely free of tangles and he turned to another self-grooming activity instead. It had been a long while since he’d had the opportunity to clean his teeth since being freed, but he had to make do.

“Liberating valuables that don’t belong to you is a funny definition of the word ‘mischief,’”

KID shrugged. “I never claimed to be an expert in etymology.”

“So, how does Kaito KID get their hands on Fairy magic anyway?” Shinichi asked, leaning over to his shelf and picking up a mirror and a stray fish bone he had kept from breakfast this morning for the express purpose of cleaning up his teeth. “I know when I asked before you said you didn’t kill any supernaturals, but that still doesn’t happen every day.”

“Funny story actually,” said KID, kicking his feet back and watching Shinichi checking the mirror as he picked at his teeth. “My father as KID once stole a strange jewel from a group of bandits in the forest. He figured out it belonged to the local Fairy Shrine, and returned it there. When who else should appear and give him thanks, than Titania, Queen of the Fairies.”

“That is a funny story,” said Shinichi, eyes widening. Not just any human could say they met the Queen of the Fairies and lived to tell the tale.

“Long story short, he was charming, she was grateful. So she gave him a Fairy’s Favour as a personal blessing. The Fairy Pocket came later because the Queen’s daughter also developed a crush on him” KID winked mischievously. “My mother’s never been fond of fairies and carried iron and salt on her ever since.”

Shinichi snorted, imagining Chikage jealously glaring at any fairies she came across and throwing salt on them if they dared approach Kaito’s father on the street. Not that fairies would be on any human street, but it still painted an amusing picture. He finished with his fishbone and inspected the results in the mirror. It was not perfect by any means, but he didn’t exactly have an alternative.

“So, are you happy with that or would you like to look into an alternative?” Suggested Kaito, wincing.

Shinichi looked at the thief, covering a clawed hand over his mouth in embarrassment at having been caught by the thief.. “What do you mean?”

Kaito gestured at the discarded fishbone. “I didn’t want to say anything because I thought being a fish you just liked your breath smelling like that, but if you’re looking to clean your teeth I could get you something a lot more effective than a messy toothpick.”

He strolled to the caravan sink and came back holding a small white tube. At Shinichi’s inquiring look, he took hold of the mermaid’s finger and squeezed out a white, green and blue dollop onto his fingertip for Shinichi to inspect.

“Mermaid, meet toothpaste,” KID said proudly.

“And what’s toothpaste?” asked Shinichi, giving it a cautionary sniff. The smell was sharp and kind of medical. Not exactly like bleach, but not entirely dissimilar either. Perhaps a bit more herbal in origin.

“It’s what humans use to clean their teeth!” said KID, sticking a finger into his mouth and pulling back his upper lip to expose his white, blunt teeth. “It also helps with bad breath, and no offence Shinichi, but eating mostly fish and drinking coffee isn’t doing you any favours.” The living caravan had been accumulating something of a dead fish smell when they had their food as of late and had been driving Kaito crazy up the walls.

“Oh, so that’s what I’ve been smelling on your breath, I did wonder,” said Shinichi, faintly recognising the scent.

Kaito did a slow dry swallow because Shinichi had been noticing the smell of his breath?

Seeing the panicked look of confusion on KID’s face, Shinichi rolled his eyes and pointed to his tail. “When you’ve been carrying me,” he explained.

“What else do I smell like?” KID teased. But Shinichi didn’t answer, choosing instead to splash water over KID’s face.

Kaito mopped off his face with a dry towel as Shinichi continued to inspect the glob of paste on his finger.

“So what is toothpaste made of?”

“It’s a paste made of, uh, well I guess it’s a kind of super fine sand that lathers, polishes and whitens your teeth and also makes your breath smell like mint, that’s the smell by the way.” KID explained.

“Ah, so it kind of works like polishing your scales by rubbing against the sand,” said Shinchi, eyes lighting up in understanding. What a fine abrasive the toothpaste must consist of, Shinichi couldn’t feel any grit at all. The consistency was off-putting though, it reminded Shinichi of medical paste they’d spread on his skin back at the lab.

Kaito co*cked his head to the side. “What did you use to clean your teeth in the ocean?”

“My mother would make me chew on a special kind of kelp,” explained Shinichi. “It was red, bitter and burned my mouth. But it was also used as a disinfectant and made for good bandages.”

“Well, I think toothpaste will be a bit nicer experience than chewing on kelp,” suggested Kaito. “Give it a try and tell me what you think. I don’t have a spare toothbrush on me though, so you’ll have to make do with your finger for now. Remind me to buy you one when I next hit up the market.”

Shinichi spent a few more cursory moments looking at the toothpaste on his fingers. He gave it another smell and spread it around his fingers to inspect its consistency. Then, Shinichi did what Shinichi does with any unknown substance. He licked it off his finger like it was a dollop of cream.

Shinichi screwed up his face at the taste. “Ugh, that doesn’t exactly taste good.” Even still, he licked the residue from the rest of his fingertips, popping them in his mouth one by one thoroughly to clean them off.

Halfway through though, Shinichi stopped, noticing he was being stared at. “What?” He said, glaring at KID.

Shinichi had asked a question. Shinichi asked a question and KID wasn’t responding. KID wasn’t responding because KID was too busy staring holes at Shinichi’s fingers. It wasn’t fair how hot it was seeing that pink tongue snake out and drag across skin sensually like that. Seeing those thin lips wrap around each claw-tipped fingertip and drag over them, leaving them shiny and slightly pink. It was different this time from the coffee muffin because Shinichi had been too engrossed in the muffin itself to notice KID was looking. This time however, Shinichi had no such distractions.

“What?” Shinichi demanded again, looking entirely irritated at KID’s lack of response.

“Erm. Nothing,” said KID, clearing his throat vigorously. He had to get the blood flow working back upstairs or things were about to get really awkward. “Uh, maybe don’t do that. You’re not supposed to eat it.”

Shinichi looked at his hand, turning it over in confusion. “Why not? Doesn’t it polish the same way as chewing on red kelp?”

“No, you’re not supposed to chew on it,” KID laughed nervously, cursing his mental processes insisting that he replay the mentally saved footage in the back of his mind now like a sort of live sports stadium playback because that was so hot.

“You’re supposed to drag it across your teeth until it lathers, like this.” KID said instead, wishing he had taken photos to immortalise the moment but distracting himself by demonstrating taking off his glove and putting some on his own finger and dragging it across his teeth until small bubbles formed, then spitting the residue out into a cup.

Shinichi flushed red. Oh please don’t do that right now- thought Kaito. “Why didn’t you tell me that before! Ugh, now that taste is in the back of my throat!”

Frantically, Shinichi swiped the tube of toothpaste from Kaito’s hand and squeezed out another glob of it on his fingers before dragging it across his teeth in mimicry of Kaito, too preoccupied with fixing his mistake to notice Kaito was trying desperately to avoid eye contact with him. Eventually, Shinichi finished up and spat the lather into a cup when Kaito offered it.

“Well, what do you think?” Kaito asked intelligently. He tried not to stare too openly at the way Shinichi’s lips glistened and were slightly swollen from his rushed thoroughness.

Shinichi swirled his tongue around his lips experimentally until he pulled a face.

“Weird, my breath smells like yours now.” He let out a breath into his hands and sniffed it back. “It’s not unpleasant though, so I suppose I’ll keep using it.” Shinichi wanted his breath to smell like Kaito’s-

“Right,” said Kaito, gathering his wits about him, his hands felt like they were sweating enough to drop the tube of toothpaste if he wasn’t careful about it. “I’ll pick up an extra toothbrush next time so you can do it a bit easier and not have to- to use your fingers next time.”

“You don’t have to do that, I think my fingers worked fine-”

“I’m picking up a toothbrush!” KID declared loudly. “Trust me, Shinichi, you will thank me later!”

Shinichi started, surprised at Kaito’s sudden outburst. “Um, alright then,” he said awkwardly.

After that strange outburst, KID had fallen silent, seemingly content with continuing to just sit there in contemplative silence while Shinichi continued his grooming rituals. Next up were his fins and scales and strangely enough, KID didn’t rush to make himself scarce in the next room while Shinichi was tending to them. Shinichi frowned because that was another mark chalked up on KID’s odd behaviours today. Instead, KID was staring at a space on the wall somewhere above Shinichi’s head.

“Soooooo, KID,” said Shinichi, feeling infinitely awkward and wanting to snap KID back to his usual self with some kind of light conversation. “What’s up with the name? I figured your stage name; Kuroba, either is, or is at least closer to your given name, hence the insignia on your monocle for Clover. But what’s up with ‘KID’? Does it mean anything?”

KID finally seemed to snap out of his stupor at the question. “Huh? Oh, yeah. That.” He gave a dry swallow and scratched the side of his head, knocking the thoughts loose from his brain.

“Dad, Toichi Kuroba, was the first Kaito KID as you know. Interpol had a police file on him with the case number; 1412.”

Shinichi nodded, showing he was listening. He was glad that whatever had taken over KID before seemed to have worn off. He brushed a shoe brush over his scales in a facsimile of polishing. He was looking forward to having a sand bath again after all this time the first chance he got, he’s never felt so dull in his life.

“The story goes that some tabloid got ahold of the file and leaked the number to the public, but it was misread as capital K-I-D. And then the name just stuck.”

“Really, that’s it?” Said Shinichi, incredulously. He had thought there might be more of a story there, but he supposed sometimes things that happened by happenstance stuck. “I guess that’s more recognizable than referring to someone by their case file numbers. At least they didn’t call you ‘1412’.”

Kaito shot Shinichi a confused look. “What are you talking about? That’s not a name.”

“Why not?” Shinichi stopped his scale brushing and set the brush down to look back at KID in equal bafflement as he started scratching at an errant itch to ease his discomfort. “I mean, you said that was your dad’s case number. It’s only natural, isn’t it? I mean the Black Organization did that. I was Specimen 4869, so they called me ‘4869.’”

“Why would they call you that?” asked KID, sounding strangely upset by this.

Shinichi scowled. He needed Kaito to stop acting so weird and to start making sense again, it wasn’t a big deal, it was just one of the many things the Black Organisation did. “Because I was just an asset to them. And assets don’t need names. They need owners,” he said matter-of-factly. Why was Kaito being so weird about this? Shinichi started to scratch his itch just a bit harder. KID was just being ridiculous.

KID threw his hands on each of Shinichi’s shoulders and tightened. “You’re not an asset , Shinichi.” He said imploringly, he needed Shinichi to understand that.

Shinichi nodded absentmindedly; he knew that objectively, of course. “Yeah, but sometimes, it was hard to remind myself of that while I was there.” The itch wasn’t letting up and in fact, had started to prickle with an uncomfortable heat. Shinichi’s claws scraped the surface harder, the motion harsh enough to shift his hair over his neck to the other side, he shook it out of his face, distracted.

Suddenly, Shinichi felt a hand grab his wrist. He looked up to glare at Kaito and ask what the hell he thought he was doing when he caught sight of Kaito’s disproportionately horrified face. Confused, Shinichi looked to see where Kaito was looking and- Ah, so that’s what that prickling sensation was.

Kaito’s trembling hands pulled Shinichi’s wrist away from where he was scratching and they came away bloody. Kaito brought his other hand up to brush more of Shinichi’s hair away from the area, exposing it to scrutiny. Shinichi closed his eyes, shielding himself from Kaito’s reactions as his tail flicked uncomfortably under the attention to that area that he’s kept shielded with his long hair for so long.

Shinichi always had scars running up his sides, marring his arms and creeping down the back of his shoulders in silvery, spider-webbing patterns. With Shinichi’s hair out of the way, he knew that Kaito could see that the scars actually continued on further. They crept from his shoulders up the back of Shinichi’s neck, closer, more raised and layered from repeated trauma to the area the higher up they got until they reached a gnarled patch of skin directly at the back of Shinichi’s neck, where big, stark, black numbers were tattooed- no. Branded with disturbing precision to be read clearly no matter which way someone looked as they roped over Shinichi’s C4, C5 and C6 vertebrae.

4869

He hadn’t even noticed it had been itching again. The skin had been long since scarred almost beyond recognition because Shinichi had a bad habit of picking at it when he was younger, trying to scratch it off. He was always hyper-aware of it even when he knew it was long since healed. Phantom pains, he’s pretty sure it was called. It helped a bit when his hair started getting long enough to cover it, and he could pretend the itching came from his hair brushing against the area and that there was nothing there. But it seemed he hadn’t quite kicked the habit after all. Another wave of prickling sensation hit Shinichi as the scratches he left with his claws beaded with blood as he heard someone gasp, that might have been Kaito. Okay, yeah, ow. That hurt, now that he was aware of it. Shinichi opened his eyes and glared at his claws accusingly.

Snapping to action, Shinichi clapped his other, non-bloody hand over the back of his neck, shielding the numbers protectively. “Well, I guess now you’ve seen it.” He said, deliberately looking anywhere but at Kaito’s face.

“That’s barbaric,” Kaito breathed, still looking at the area as if he could see it under Shinichi’s fingers and like it was burned into his eyes. It certainly was burned into Shinichi’s memory the day it went on. The prickling sensation continued as he felt a rivulet of blood snake down his neck.

“That’s business,” Shinichi said evenly, trying to play it off. Crap, Kaito was never meant to see that. No one was. “The same thing happens with humans and their cattle, it’s nothing new.”

“You’re not cattle, ” Kaito insisted, voice desperate. “You-”

Shinichi cut Kaito off before he could finish his next sentence. “Kaito, save it. Whatever you have to say about it, trust me I know. I’ve thought about it for ten years. That ‘it means nothing.’ That ‘despite it, I could still retain my sense of personhood.’ That ‘it doesn’t mean I belong to them. ’ And I’ll think about it for the rest of my godforsaken life.”

He continued on, furious at how every word Shinichi said instead of reassuring Kaito that ‘he was alright, that he got over it a long time ago, accepted it even,’ it made Kaito look sadder.

“I know it was f*cked up, still is f*cked up in fact, but it doesn’t change the fact that it happened. So don’t you dare say you’re ‘sorry’ about it.” Shinichi drew in a long, slow, steadying breath. “So please, drop it.”

Kaito looked like he still wanted to say something. He opened his mouth, and closed it. Then aborted whatever he was about to say next, seemingly thinking better of it. Shinichi thought it would make him feel glad that Kaito listened to him about not saying anything but instead, it just made him feel hollow as his shoulders slumped. He really should have been more careful, more aware of what he was doing-

A hand grabbed the one shielding his scratches and Shinichi’s bloodied free hand shot out defensively before he could think better of it. Kaito looked just as shocked as Shinichi when his claws nicked Kaito across the eyebrow, drawing blood.

“sh*t, sh*t, Kaito, I’m so sorry,” Shinichi started, holding up his hands to check Kaito’s eyebrow.

However, Kaito took the opportunity to knock away Shinichi’s hands to instead inspect the back of Shinichi’s neck now that he was no longer shielding the scratches from view, a grim look on his face.

“That … that looks bad. You got pretty deep, it could even get infected. Let’s clean it out. Where’d you leave the aquarium-safe disinfectant?” Kaito asked.

Wordlessly, still staring at Kaito’s shallow-cut eyebrow, Shincihi pointed to the shelf where the cleaning supplies were. It wasn’t with his other grooming supplies. He hadn’t needed to disinfect his scales for a few days now, having healed relatively well over the past couple of days.

Kaito retrieved the bottle and took it back to Shinichi’s tub. Thinking for a moment, Kaito took one of Shinichi’s waterproof lined pillows and ripped the cover off. He then split the stitching along the seams until he had a sheet of fabric twice as wide as the pillow and laid it down, barely covering the couch. Then, without warning he scooped his arms under Shinichi and lifted him out of the tub.

“Hey, hey, hey! What are you doing?!” Shinichi screeched, clutching at Kaito’s shoulders so as to not fall off at the sudden elevation. Water was dripping all over the floors and Shinichi was worried Kaito might slip.

“Getting a comfortable angle. I can’t clean this out without hurting my back if I was going to be leaning over your tub the whole time,” Kaito complained. “This way, I’ll be able to access the scratches a lot easier.” He spilled the blue solution into his hands, warming it up before use.

“Don’t be stupid, you’ll get the couch wet-” Shinichi complained.

“So I’ll get another couch. Now stop being logical, you’re now my patient. I don’t think that tub is very comfortable, and I want my patient to be comfy while I put this where he’s hurt, doctor’s orders. So suck it up and deal.”

Kaito manoeuvred them into the loveseat, the seats lined with the dismembered pillowcase in vain. The cushioning was nice, like a whole structure made of that soft, cushiony material that Shinichi’s pillow was made from. He hated to admit it, but it was a whole lot more comfier than sitting on the hard plastic walls of the bathtub as Shinichi curled up on the couch, half-hanging over Kaito’s lap to sulk.

Despite KID attempting to warm up the solution in his hands, Shinichi still shuddered at the cool sensation of the disinfectant being rubbed into his tender skin.

As Kaito’s ministrations continued however, the cool sensation didn’t last long as Shinichi quickly felt like he was heating up beyond the normal parameters of his body. Shinichi was intensely aware of just how close KID had gotten as he worked on his neck. It was because Kaito was human, Shinichi reasoned. And humans ran hot. Hotter than mermaids. Humans ran at 37°C while mermaids ran at a cool 27°C, a full ten degrees lower and easier to maintain at colder temperatures at the bottom of the ocean. Sure, the couch wasn’t designed to be the most spacious seating, but this was close. Intimate even, and the closeness was what was heating Shinichi up. Wasn’t this weird? Maybe Shinichi was the one overthinking it, making it weird since KID was just applying disinfectant to the back of his neck. Still, Shinichi felt like he should maybe ask KID to take a step back, say that he could apply the disinfectant himself. But before Shinichi could gather his courage to protest, KID was already finished in no time at all.

“There we go,” said KID, smoothing over the area one last time. “All better?”

Shinichi stretched his neck each way experimentally and winced. “I suppose, it still stings a little admittedly, but it’s nothing I can’t handle.”

Kaito gave a syrupy sweet sympathetic smile. “Aww, you big fish baby. Don’t worry, I’ve got just the thing for that.”

He then leaned his face even closer and Shinichi’s brain was still trying to play catch up from earlier when a soft, pillowy sensation brushed against the back of his neck feather-light, and everything came to a screeching halt.

“K-KID?” Shinichi asked, terrified of the tiny waver in his voice. “What did you do that for?”

He felt those lips smirk against the back of his neck and Shinichi shivered, his senses overloading with information he didn’t know what he was supposed to do with.

“What’s it look like? I’m kissing it better,”

Shinichi scowled, mentally thrown off-balance and unsure if he should feel uncomfortable or not, so he decided to play it safe as he tried to push KID away, who playfully danced out of Shinichi’s reach. KID was playing, that’s what KID did because he thought it was fun-

“That’s not a thing. Is this another one of your weird human superstitions?”

“It’s a human myth that ‘love heals all wounds,’” KID explained, allowing Shinichi to pull away from him as he admired the mermaid’s reactions. “So, we kiss it better.”

“That’s a stupid myth,” Shinichi said, rubbing the sensation from the back of his neck and flushing lightly. “Just like all your other stupid human myths.”

KID reached a languid arm out and traced a finger over the bumps marking Shinichi’s vertebrae, eliciting a sharply drawn breath.

“Up until a few days ago, you were a ‘stupid myth’ too,” he cooed. “If you’re real, then maybe this ‘stupid human myth’ might have some merit to it as well.”

Shinichi glared from his position on the couch, looking away. “You’re messing with me,” he accused.

KID smirked, his idly playing hands drifting to rest on Shinichi’s chin, gently tilting it down to look at him.

“Am I?” He challenged. “You’re not complaining about the pain anymore, so it must be working~”

KID laughed, easily letting go of Shinichi’s chin as he pulled back, affronted. “Maybe it’s some kind of human magic. You shouldn’t knock it until you try it.”

Shinichi frowned, his gaze landing on that thin slit of blood that decorated KID’s brow from where Shinichi had scratched him. The edges were coagulating already, and KID didn’t seem too bothered by it, but if KID was going to play, Shinichi decided he ought to put KID’s money where his mouth is.

Leaning forward slowly enough so that KID had time to pull away, Shinichi took KID’s surprised face in hand and slowly tilted it forward until his lips pressed against the cut on KID’s eyebrow. It tickled slightly, KID’s messy hair that fell over his face brushing against Shinichi’s lips, and he didn’t really know if he was even doing it right. When Shinichi pulled away, he searched KID’s face for a reaction, if any at all. He didn’t have to go looking very hard though, as KID was gaping up at Shinichi open-mouthed, a light dusting of pink over his ears looking as if at any moment steam would begin coming out.

“Did … did that work?” Shinichi asked, worrying his lip between his teeth.

KID gave a long, dry, swallow as he looked at Shinichi's cute pink lip between his teeth.

Oh, KID was so f*cked .

Chapter 7

Chapter Text

Kaito left early in the morning leaving a note to Shinichi that he was going for a supply run because they ran out of fish again. Right. Fish. Fish like Shinichi. Shinichi was a fish and Kaito had kissed a fish. Sure, it wasn’t on the lips, (Mmm, Shinichi’s lips. Did Kaito want to replay that nice mental footage of Shinichi’s lips as they encircled his fingers stored in his mental hard drive? No thank you brain, thanks for the offer though,) he had only kissed him on the neck, but even that was arguably more intimate.

He had just been teasing Shinichi at first, riling him up over a silly human superstition. But when Shinichi had then looked so sincerely adorable, asking if Kaito was feeling better after he kissed the cut on his eyebrow, Kaito had to excuse himself in a hurry or things were going to get really uncomfortable in that loveseat sofa really fast.

Kaito didn’t know when he had stopped recoiling looking at Shinichi’s tail and had actually started admiring it. It might have been somewhere in between all the times he had to discreetly study him when Kaito was making his mermaid tail disguise to rile a reaction out of Shinichi. But Kaito no longer found himself jumping when he found a stray scale left on the floor, or got hit in the face by a tail fin. Okay, maybe that last one still made him shudder if Kaito wasn’t expecting it, but Kaito had spent hours meticulously layering paints over clear plastic scales for maximum accuracy, and after some time had gotten used to the little shiny things, even appreciative of them. Only Shinichi’s though, since his scales were the ones Kaito was most intimately familiar with. Other fish scales still made his skin crawl when his hand brushed up against them.

He managed to make a fool of himself at the market by running squarely face-first into a pole and dropping his bag full of scallops all over the ground but at least he had managed to save the haddock from the same fate. Luckily scallops had shells so there was no worry about the meat inside getting dirty. He then stopped by a cafe to pick up some local coffee blends for Shinichi, bought some takeaway curry rice for himself, and he got a spare toothbrush while walking by a nearby convenience store. Belatedly, Kaito also remembered he should stop by the local bookshop and check if they had any of the Arsène Lupin books for Shinichi.

While browsing the shelves, Kaito found he had gotten caught up in his swirling thoughts which were still replaying yesterday’s events in his mind over and over, and realised he had wandered into the non-fiction section in front of the marine biology shelves.

Filled with morbid curiosity, Kaito swallowed his instinct to recoil and picked up one of the books that caught his eye on the subject that seemed pretty pertinent to his current predicament.

On the Subject of Marine hom*osexuality

Same-sex relationships have always been observed in several hundred species of marine life in the animal kingdom from aquarium pet fish, to bottlenose dolphins. Species like clownfish, wrasse, and Amazon mollies have been observed to form hom*osexual communities both in the wild and in captivity. Male bottlenose dolphins are all bisexual, no exceptions. Some male individuals even become exclusively hom*osexual, while female dolphins are typically heterosexual, although some female dolphins are open to being bisexual. Both dolphin sexes have been found to engage in monogamous and polygamous relationships. In one study on courtship and breeding behaviours, hom*osexual pairings between male dolphins were found to be even more common than heterosexual pairings. hom*osexual dolphin courtship behaviour does not differ from heterosexual courtship behaviour where the individuals engage in tooth-raking or headbutting. When they come of age, hom*osexual dolphins engage in breeding behaviours where they will stimulate each other’s-

“Are you looking for something?”

“What?” Kaito yelped, snapping the book that came with f*cking pictures of dolphin courting shut with a sharp snap.

The demure store clerk levelled a knowing gaze from where she was watching Kaito between a gap in the bookshelves.

“I just noticed what you were reading. It’s alright you know, we’ve got all sorts in this neck of town,” she said, tapping the side of her head deliberately and mouthing a few words silently. You know. Gay.

Kaito shook his hands frantically in front of himself. “Oh, no, no, no. This isn’t for me, I was just interested in … marine biology. Fascinating stuff. You never think about these sorts of things in the animal kingdom, you know?”

“Uh-huh,” said the store clerk affectionately. “You’re a doll. Do you want me to wrap those up for you?”

“Oh, no. I won’t be getting them, just these ones thanks,” said Kaito, bowing and hastily thrusting his armful of the Arsène Lupin books at her, cheeks flaming and too embarrassed to look her in the eye.

After the store clerk finished wrapping his order and checking him out, saying it was alright if Kaito was ‘interested or just looking dear, we’ve all been there,’ Kaito hurriedly made his way out of the store and practically sprinted all the way back to where they had parked the caravan last night for the venue.

Shinichi was just about crawling up the walls of his usual tank with the newly changed water by the time Kaito ran into the room and slammed the door closed, panting and holding himself up by the counter.

“About time, I was about to jump out of this tank myself and scrounge around in the trash for the old coffee can, I’m sure there was some more left in there,” Shinichi said, eyeing the rubbish suspiciously.

“You have a problem,” Kaito said, catching his breath while Shinichi snatched the coffee grinds from his hands and poured them into a waiting strainer of hot water and filter he had already prepared in advance.

Running a hand through his hair as he caught his breath, Kaito held up one of his other bags in amusem*nt. “Make sure to have some fish with your coffee, Merman-kun. I went through all the trouble of getting you some after all.”

Shinichi waved him off as he watched the dripping caffeinated gold drip with laser-eyed focus, ignoring Kaito smirking and snapping a photo. Shinichi was already inhaling deeply as his higher brain functions came back to full capacity and fighting off this morning’s sleepiness from his latest bout of narcolepsy.

“Yeah, yeah. Coffee is not a substitute for breakfast, I heard you the first dozen times.”

When the coffee had finished brewing, Shinichi blew on his piping hot cup but still ignored the haddock and scallops Kaito had so graciously gotten for him despite the aforementioned magician’s aversion to fish. “You were out longer than usual this morning, it’s almost afternoon. You were about to be late to set up. What took you so long anyway?”

Kaito recollected quite a lot of things leading up to his tardy return and promptly decided to say not a word about any of them.

“Oh right, sorry about that. I was out getting you these when I got distracted, here.” Kaito unwrapped his package to hand Shinichi his bag of books when he spotted a familiar cover inside and instantly died of mortification internally. In his haste to get the store clerk to leave him alone, it seemed he had inadvertently handed her the book about marine hom*osexuality along with all the Arsène Lupin books and purchased the lot of them together. Moving as quickly as he did for a quick change, Kaito instantly shoved that book back inside the wrappings.

“Ooh, oops. Haha. Here you go,” he said, separating the biology book from the novels and handing Shinichi his newly separated load of books.

Shinichi’s eyes narrowed suspiciously at the still-wrapped book remaining in Kaito’s hands.

Please don’t ask-

“What’s that?”

Kaito thumped his head against the wall repeatedly in his mind. Lady Luck really seemed to be out to get him tonight.

“Nothing!” Kaito squeaked. “It’s … personal.”

Shinichi quirked up an eyebrow disbelievingly. “Personal?”

Kaito nodded, eyes glancing around the room nervously. “Yeah. Personal … viewing material. Private personal viewing material if you catch my drift.” He let out a not-entirely-fabricated groan of frustration into his hands. “Don’t make me spell it out for you. Even mermaids have to know what I mean right? You’re the smart human-culture expert, don’t judge me. Everybody does it.”

Shinichi scrunched up his face in disgust. “Ew. Alright, I get it. Stop bringing attention to it before breakfast. I’m trying to have my morning coffee here.”

“You asked,” said Kaito as went to the front of the caravan, arms up either side of himself in a ‘what was I supposed to do gesture,’ with his bags still hanging loosely from his wrists, before swanning out the door.

Kaito hurried to the driver's car of his tent and shoved the offending book under the seat and pointed an accusatory finger at it. “I’ll deal with you later,” he hissed.

He’d have to return it at a different time, or burn it, if they ended up leaving town before Kaito had a chance to return to the bookshop.

How embarrassing. What would Shinichi say if he saw that book? He didn’t even know if Shinichi felt attraction, let alone to Kaito. Sure, he was riled up easily by Kaito’s antics, but that could have been just as easily because as isolated as he was, Shinichi wasn’t familiar with flirting in of itself, not because Kaito was the one doing it. Did he even think of Kaito in that way? Kaito was an equal opportunity connoisseur himself, but Shinichi hadn’t really shown much response to Kaito’s flirting until after the incident he disguised himself as a fellow mermaid. Maybe legs were a huge turnoff for him. Well, that was honestly understandable, as Shinichi’s scaly tail was a huge hurdle to get over for Kaito himself but it wasn’t really so bad and even pretty at times when Kaito looked at it.

Oh no, he was definitely Down Bad for Shinichi if he was considering the fact that maybe his fishy tail wasn’t ‘so bad’ after all. Would Shinichi be disgusted? Was it even worth pursuing? They were due to hit Haido City on Sunday and then Shinichi would give him the Atlantic Envy and then he would be free to leave and they’d likely never see each other again.

Kaito frowned as he realised that thought brought with it a painful sensation gripping his heart. He’d only known Shinichi for a little over a week, but it felt like he'd known him for a lifetime. Like they were two sides of the same coin, two kindred spirits, two reflections of the same soul that walked different paths. Shinichi challenged Kaito like no one ever did before. He was clever. Kaito found himself having to perform bigger, more spectacular tricks each show just to keep Shinichi guessing, even if only for a little bit longer, before that smart mermaid caught on. He was a fan of ciphers and puzzles, looking back at old Kaito KID notices and solving them in that little book he kept on the shelf by his tank. Kaito found himself gravitating towards Shinichi with a burning desire to dazzle and impress the mermaid that warmed something deep in his heart and he didn’t want to examine too thoroughly. He was a source of infectious fun.

He had to do something about this or he was going to explode. He’d do something tonight, Kaito decided. Something to impress Shinichi. Then, he’d decide for himself if it would be worth it. To have lived having tried and then losing it all, or to have let it go before it threatened to become anything at all.

And so for the first time since almost a week after escaping the Wakita Estate, Kaito began planning a different kind of magic show tonight.

KID was acting strangely all afternoon. After he had gotten back from his supply run, instead of heading to the main tent and preparing to set up his usual props for the stage, KID had been sequestered up in his room in the living car and refused to come out for any reason at all.

Shinichi wondered if he had crossed a line somewhere last night. He was only dishing out the same as Kaito was giving since he seemed to have an insatiable affinity for flustering him. He wondered if returning the gesture wasn’t … normal. It’s not like Shinichi had a lot of practice socialising since being kidnapped at six, but he knew from books he’d read that humans often echoed behaviours back at each other to build their relationships. It had just seemed like the right thing to do at the time.

It would be … troublesome to Shinichi if he had broken their tentative friendship when he had decided to play into KID’s goading and fluster him. Perhaps KID was deliberately avoiding Shinichi because he was disgusted by him? He did have a bad case of ichthyophobia, the last thing KID probably wanted was to have a half-fish touch him. Shinichi groaned into his hands in frustration.

Great, the first decent person he had met in over ten years and he had somehow managed to screw it up. He hoped KID would forgive him, he had to make it up to him somehow.

When five o’clock came around and Kaito still hadn’t emerged from his living car, Shinichi was beside himself fretting with anxiety. Finally, at six, KID emerged to the main tent in his black, white and blue showbiz attire and began setting up the tent for the magic show tonight, but he wouldn’t have any time for rehearsals at this pace.

“KID! Where have you been? The show’s only like, in an hour and a half, and you’ve been gone all day!” said Shinichi, churning the water in the tank in panic.

“Listen. About yesterday, I’m sorry about what happened. I know it probably made you very uncomfortable given your phobias.”

KID turned to him, a surprised look on his features. “What?”

Shinichi wasn’t a fool. Kaito loved magic, he wouldn’t have risked preparing for his magic show over a non-issue. Even though Kaito had started it, it didn’t give Shinichi permission. Kaito hated fish, it would be too easy for him to hate Shinichi in turn if he had made Kaito uncomfortable.

He fidgeted nervously. “I made you uncomfortable. I can tell, I’m not stupid. I knew you’re weirded out by fish, weirded out by, well, me, but I did that anyway. I’m so sorry, it won’t happen again. Can you please forgive me?”

Kaito continued to look at Shinichi, his face unreadable. Shinichi didn’t often get the full brunt of KID’s poker face, being privy to some shade of the thief’s genuine thoughts under the mask whenever they talked, but this time was different. He couldn’t make heads or tails or what Kaito might have been thinking and it was disconcerting, to say the least.

Finally, Kaito rubbed his palms together and turned around. “That’s right, I am weirded out by fish!” He announced, heading to the main stage setting up the spotlights and drawing the curtains.

Shinichi cringed into himself with dismay. The way Kaito just said that so bluntly was harsh, but warranted, he supposed.

“Do you want to earn my forgiveness?” Kaito asked, dragging his table of props centre stage and covering them with a tablecloth.

Shinichi nodded, eager to mend fences with the thief and just go back to the way things were; comfortable before Shinichi had screwed it all up.

KID’s conspiratorial smile crept across his face. “Then help me with my show tonight.”

But, he always helped with Kaito’s shows anyway as of late, what made tonight any different? Some sort of new trick? But they haven’t had any time to rehearse, Kaito hadn’t mentioned anything about a new trick. “Of course, I always help you-” Shinichi instantly agreed, though still confused at the non-conditions of Kaito’s offer. But Kaito held a hand up.

“Perfect! Then it’s settled, you’ll be forgiven. Though I should warn you, it’s not my usual kind of show tonight I’ll need your help with, Merman-kun,” interrupted Kaito, laughing. “Really, you must be feeling troubled, normally you would have caught on by now.”

Caught on? Shinichi wondered, tilting his head in confusion. What was KID talking about?

When KID stepped closer, that’s when Shinichi noticed it. There was something slightly off. The colour of KID’s eyes was ever so slightly greyer than his usual deep blue, and his grin while exuding an aura of confidence, lacked the mischievous undertone Shinichi had taken to associating with KID’s smiles, the way he carried himself was slightly stiffer the usual, like his joints were being moved by-.

“Oh... You’re the golem,” Shinichi deduced, somewhat put out by the revelation.

“An astute observation, as only expected from my favourite critic,” crowed KID, as he appeared with a swish of his alternate Phantom-white cape from behind Shinichi.

Shinichi’s eyes widened. That was the Kaito he recognised. Full of unbridled, joyous energy that made the golem appear to be a pale imitation in comparison.

“KID? Why did you take the golem out, why are y-” Shinichi’s question died in his throat, his eyes widening in realisation. The real Kaito was wearing white tonight. “You’re going out on a heist.”

“Bing-go~” Kaito sang. “And I’m so glad you just agreed to help me out tonight, Merman-kun, as your presence will, in fact, be paramount to my show!”

KID did a little twirl, stepping next to his golem and mirroring it, making Shinichi see double as both KIDs posed dramatically.

“You can’t!” Shinichi protested looking between the two Kaitos. “The Black Organisation is still looking for you, if you broadcast where you’ll be-”

“Ah, but this is a special kind of heist, Merman-kun,” said KID, interrupting him. “For you see, this heist I’m holding at the personal villa at the behest of Jirokichi Suzuki-no-jiisan.”

KID pulled out a newspaper and showed the second page to Shinichi.

Suzuki outraged over KID’s absence!

‘What, are my jewels not good enough for you, you no good rotten thief!’

Jirokichi Suzuki is outraged yet again at the continued absence of Kaito KID despite three issued challenges to open a Meiji-era safe. The thief has yet to be spotted since making off with the Atlantic Envy and Kanenori Wakita’s beloved pet salamander.

Shinichi scowled at the article, still particularly peeved that the official statements were calling him a ‘salamander’.

“So, what does this have to do with not being caught by the Black Organisation?”

“Suzuki-no-jiisan is a very rich man, there’s not much he desires that he doesn’t already own. One thing he desires above all else, is ultimate publicity. He gets jealous easily, he can’t stand other people stealing front page news from him,” explained KID, turning to the front page where Shinichi could see was a large, full-page wanted poster of KID with Wakita’s offered bounty.

“Something like this bothers Suzuki-no-jiisan like nothing else in the world.” KID rolled the paper up, flicking his fingers and making a single white card with a KID notice printed on it appear out of thin air.

“I simply made dear Suzuki-no-jiisan an offer.”

Shinichi took the card, flipping over the KID caricature to read the text.

“My dearest friend Suzuki-jiisan~

Tonight on the hour of the Rat when the moon hangs above your private abode,

I shall come to steal the Tranquil Lotus!

Its light grows wearier by the day

I only ask that our appointment tonight be kept private

At least for the days leading up to the day of the Earth

Else, tonight’s magic shall be but nought but a dream!

-KID”

Shinichi frowned as he returned the card to KID. “The Tranquil Lotus?”

“A treasure from a more conflicted time,” said Kaito, holding up an old book. “During the Meiji Restoration, the Jōruriji temple was ransacked and the wooden statues of the twelve Divine Generals of Yakushi Nyorai, the Buddha of medicine, were lost, along with the Tranquil Lotus, a diamond-tipped five-pronged sceptre.” He flipped the book to a page detailing the lost and recovered treasures of the temple in an itemised list.

“And why do you want to steal a diamond-tipped sceptre?” asked Shinichi. “Don’t you have Pandora right here?” he asked, pointing at his hip.

KID tut-tutted. “Oh I already know the Tranquil Lotus isn’t Pandora, Merman-kun, but it’s about the challenge. Suzuki-jiichan is a repeat customer of mine, I can’t possibly let him think I’ve forgotten about him!”

“‘Customer,’ isn’t the word I’d use,” muttered Shinichi. “‘Victim,’ is more like it.”

“Details, details,” waved off KID. “Anyway, Suzuki-jiisan should be sharp enough to figure out the basics of my offer. ‘Delay saying a word about the heist until Saturday, the day of Earth, or there won’t be a heist at all.’”

KID shrugged. “We’ll be in Haido City by Sunday, so if the Black Organisation comes sniffing to Jirokichi’s villa on Saturday, we’ll be long gone. By then, it won’t matter if the Black Organisation knows I went to see him.”

“So, that’s why you’ve taken the golem out, to go on a ‘private’ heist ‘for fun,’ and to maintain an alibi?” Shinichi’s brow climbed with every implied air quote.

Kaito thought to himself for a bit. “Yep, that’s about it.”

“You’re completely insane,” concluded Shinichi, exasperated.

“Insane, but good~” KID crooned. “Now come on, Merman-kun, there’s heisting to be done!”

Kaito didn’t wait for Shinichi to reply, instead, he and his golem doppelganger pulled out a net from seemingly thin air and swept Shinichi out of the show tank in one fell swoop.

“Whoa!” Shinichi cried, quickly wrapping his fingers around the net and wrapping his tail around KID when he hauled Shinichi into his arms so that they wouldn’t lose their balance.

“What are you doing?” He squawked, outraged. “Put me down! I agreed to help you with a show. Don’t involve me with your criminal activity!”

“Too late~!” KID chirped as he loaded Shinichi into the sidecar of his fully repaired KID motorcycle, which had already been lined with the desecrated waterproof pillow lining he had used yesterday. “You didn’t specify which show you were willing to help with, and you’ve already agreed to earn my forgiveness!”

As he started securing Shinichi in with a safety belt, KID continued. “And, you’re already involved with my criminal activity my dear! You still have Wakita’s Atlantic Envy literally on your person, so what’s one more jewel?”

“But, CCTV, we’ll be spotted!” Shinichi protested futilely, still trying to make the thief see reason.

“Please, you act like I don’t already know my way around CCTV blind spots. Haven’t I already proven myself better than that?” KID scoffed, forgoing his normal top hat temporarily for a helmet and giving Shinichi one to match.

“Take care, don’t get caught~” said the KID Golem, blowing kisses and returning to the main tent to continue setting up for the show.

“Wouldn’t dream of it dear, we’ll be out late tonight, so don’t wait up!” KID laughed, revving the engine and shooting off into the night as Shinichi spluttered in his wake.

This was mad, KID was mad, just what nonsense was he dragging Shinichi into?

Suzuki’s villa was moderately private, sitting on a hill of freshly mown grass from which tiny black motion sensor boxes could be seen peeking on the ground. These sensors were wired to trigger concealed nets to spring forth, ensnaring unwelcome guests. The building itself was a modern yet cosy design based on art nouveau architecture. The walls were made of white and tan brick stonework giving the area a sandy, natural and bright colour palette as hydrangea hedges fringed the property to spruce up the colours.

As per the request in the KID notice, Suzuki-jiisan’s villa was guarded only by his private security team tonight. Although, that didn’t make them any less formidable. Suzuki had spared no expense, hiring out motion detection lasers, metal detector checkpoints, and kitting out his men with night vision goggles. Suzuki himself was spearheading the operation, pacing up and down the corridor relaying orders into his radio, his deep burgundy suit giving him the appearance of a no-nonsense corporate villain who had been thwarted one-too-many-times. Tonight’s heist was going to be a bit trickier, since KID hadn’t had much time to scope out the area beforehand, unlike Wakita’s estate. But KID was never one to shy away from thinking on his feet with a pretty jewel on the line.

“Does he even know when you’re coming?” Asked Shinichi, surveying the area with a pair of binoculars lent to him by KID. “Or has he just been bossing people around like that all day?”

“Well if he could read the clue in the notice, it should have been very obvious when I was coming. But who knows if our dear Suzuki-san has figured it out,” cackled KID, finishing the last touches on his disguise with a handheld mirror, fixing up his streaked mascara and rolling his glossed lips with a pop.

KID checked his phone; it was almost time.

“I would just like to say, for the record, you look ridiculous. I feel ridiculous.” Shinichi complained.

“Shush, just stay under there, stay hidden and everything will be fine!” Hissed KID.

Shinichi didn’t have time to point out the many ways he could see this plan going wrong; someone seeing through KID’s disguise, someone spotting Shinichi under his hiding spot, all this and more could get KID apprehended and Shinichi sent back to an aquarium. But Shinichi didn’t get to say any of this because KID was already marching right up the winding driveway, skirts bouncing.

That night, ‘Sonoko Suzuki’ came to visit her uncle.

“Jirokichi-ojisamaaaaaa!” KID called out in a distressed, shrill way only a girl who grew up in abundant wealth can. “What’s with all the guards? I came here to visit you!”

Like he was hardwired to respond, Jirokichi came running out of the villa in his polished leather loafers only to find his guards already had his beloved niece surrounded by the front entrance, denying her entry.

“Sonoko! W- are you crying? What are you doing here? Tonight?”

Jirokichi looked past Sonoko and noted she had come alone; no friends of chauffeurs to compromise the relative privacy KID heist. He needed to not scare off KID, and that meant no unwelcome visitors.

KID’s eyes watered as his bottom lip trembled before he gave a dramatically heartbroken wail. “I came to visit you because my boyfriend just dumped me on our date night!”

He pretended to break down in tears, gathering the folds lying over the front of his full-length hoop skirt and blowing into the hem like a handkerchief.

“Oi, oi!” Shinichi whispered as the fabric folds shifted dangerously. “Are you trying to get us caught?”

For you see, Shinichi had the unfortunate position of being hidden in the one place no security guard would ever dare to check; under ‘Sonoko’s’ skirt. KID’s full-length ‘date night’ mauve dress was styled after a princess evening gown, layered with tiers, bustles, and a dramatic train, creating a truly extravagant silhouette large enough to hide a mermaid in a small compartment under the back bustle. Shinichi was only glad that KID had the courtesy to wear trousers under his skirts to spare Shinichi receiving an eyeful, had he gone for full ‘authenticity.’

Jirokichi, for his credit as a kind and loving family man, appeared to be very sympathetic to ‘Sonoko’s’ plight. And he looked like he wanted nothing more than to invite her in for some honeyed tea. However, with the clock ticking ever closer to the end of the day, KID was due to show any minute, and this was not the time or place for soothing his niece’s emotional turmoil.

“Sonoko, I’m very sorry you got dumped. You were probably too good for him anyway. But I’m afraid I can’t entertain you tonight. I’m very busy-”

“But Jirokichi-ojisamaaaa-” KID whined. “You’ve been busy for the whoooole week. I need to see you tonight!”

“That’s because I’ve been preparing for KID Sonoko, you know this!” Said Jirokichi, exasperated. “He missed my last three challenges, but he’s going to strike tonight! I just don’t know when, but the night is nearly over, so I’ve got to be on my toes.”

“Really? KID-sama’s going to be here tonight?” ‘Sonoko’ asked eagerly, his entire demeanour flipping on a dime. “But I didn’t even hear about a KID notice?”

Shinichi thought the change in character was far too abrupt, but apparently it was completely normal for ‘Sonoko’ because Jirokichi didn’t even so much as bat an eye at her sudden interest in the heist. He wondered briefly just what the real Sonoko Suzuki was like, as she seemed to have a warped sense of priorities.

Jirokichi hesitated. “That’s because he asked me to keep quiet about it darling, and you should too or he might not show up.”

“Where can I see him?” KID asked eagerly, pushing aside the guards. It didn’t matter that ‘Sonoko’ was surprisingly strong, because no one could stop ‘Sonoko’ when she wanted to see a hot available bachelor, not even big burly bodyguards.

“I’m sure he wouldn’t mind little old me attending, I’m the president of his fanclub!”

Ah, that would explain it. Shinichi wondered how that worked for the real Sonoko. Did she root for KID, or Jirokichi? Or perhaps both? Either way, it must be frustrating for Jirokichi as a ‘repeat customer’ of KID’s to have his own niece support the dastardly thief.

Shinichi was jostled as KID’s heels kicked against the structured support of the bustle where he was hidden and he bit back a grumble of annoyance. Could KID slow down-

“Sonoko, please wait!” Jirokichi begged, rushing after his wayward niece. “Just as a precautionary check, we need to make sure you’re not actually KID in disguise, we can’t take any chances here.”

KID slowed down as the guards and Jirokichi caught up to her and clapped her hand to her face. “What? Do you think I could be KID? But you’ll ruin my date makeup!”

“Sonoko, darling, you’ve already cried tracks in your mascara-”

“But I spent a reeeeally long time on it!” KID complained, fluttering her eyelashes at Jirokichi. “If KID sees me with a really big red pinch mark on my face, what if he thinks I’ve got a really big pimple? I can’t let KID-sama see me like that!”

KID pretended to think hard about a solution, leaning close to Jirokichi as she hemmed and hawed,

“Oh Ojiisama, I have an idea!” KID said brightly. “Why don’t you get a whoooole bunch of your guards to guard me? That way if I am KID-sama, I’ll be too surrounded to try anything. And if I’m not KID-sama, then I’ll be properly protected during the heist!”

Jirokichi seemed to think over the idea carefully. “I’m not sure, that could really mess up my security plans if some of my guards are pulled from their posts…”

“Pleeeeease Ojiisamaaaa?” KID begged, fat tears building up again until they flowed over. “I was heartbroken tonight when I got dumped. If I could catch just a glimpse of KID-sama tonight, I could feel a little better, all thanks to you.”

Shinichi rolled his eyes as he could practically hear audible cracking as Jirokichi’s resolve broke when KID laid on the tears thick.

“Alright, I suppose, we can spare a few guards.”

KID clapped his dainty hands together with delight. “Oh, thank you so much, Jirokichi-ojiisama!”

A few guards, it turned out, soon turned into about a whole squad as ‘Sonoko’ kept demanding more guards be pulled from their posts because ‘she just didn’t feel safe enough yet.’ Soon, KID had about half the guards Jirokichi hired tonight flanking him, passing the metal detectors with ease by planting a signal jammer while walking by, the guards none the wiser as ‘Sonoko’ chatted up a storm.

Together, the guards and Jirokichi escorted KID and Shinichi to the main room where a large, well-lit, impressive-looking pedestal enshrined the short, golden handheld sceptre, barely longer than thirty centimetres, topped with five gleaming diamond-tipped prongs. The pattern was mirrored on the bottom half of the sceptre, but the bottom five prongs did not have any gem ornamentation on it. The pedestal had five lights shining brightly on each gemstone, refracting the dazzling light over a ring of black devices all turned towards the Lotus.

“Oooh, is that the treasure KID-sama’s going to steal tonight?” KID asked. Leaning in as far as he dared to the display with the wall of guards in front of him.

“KID can try to steal it, but he won’t get very far,” Jirokichi huffed proudly, scratching at his moustache.

“On top of the standard pressure plate the Tranquil Lotus is sitting on, I’ve got a top-of-the-line lumens sensor system set up for that damned thief this time!” Jirokichi bragged. “These devices detect even the slightest changes in light intensity. If KID so much as casts a shadow on this baby, he’ll trip the sensors and a hearty dose of knockout gas will fill the room, stopping the thief cold!”

“Ooh! Sounds sophisticated!” said KID.

“Indeed,” said Jirokichi, smug. He then spoke into the radio, now affixed to his lapel. “This is Suzuki, how’s everything looking out there?”

The patrol guards stationed at the north, east, south, and west sides of the property all confirmed normal activity, no sign of KID. All was quiet in the villa of Suzuki.

“How strange, KID said he would be coming tonight if I kept this function private, and it’s getting late. Did I miss something?” Jirokichi wondered, getting worried he had gotten something in the KID notice wrong.

Just then, as the clock struck the hour, an explosion was heard outside.

“It’s showtime,” Shinichi heard KID whisper to him as the guards rushed to the windows, looking out into the grounds.

“What was that?” Demanded Jirokichi. He barked into the radio, “Perimeter guards, tell me what’s happening!”

"It's the motion sensors, sir, they’ve got some kind of explosive paint bombs strapped to them and they’ve taken out the cameras, I’m blind!” Crackled a voice over the radio.

Jirokichi swore. “Alright, camera team, join us in the main office and maintain communication about positions over the radio, we can’t let KID get that sceptre!”

“Oh, I saw KID-sama!” Cried KID, pushing Jirokichi aside and pointing out a window. “He’s coming from the south corridor!”

“Southern patrol?” Asked Jirokichi into his radio.

“Southern patrol is on it!” Sounded a response from Jirokichi’s radio.

Suddenly, the sound of a radio crackled and Jirokichi’s voice sounded out again, seemingly coming from no direct source. “I see KID, he’s coming from the guest rooms! Quick, north patrol, after him!”

“What?” Cried out Jirokichi’s voice again, somewhere to Shinichi’s left. He heard the patting down of fabric as Jirokichi checked if his radio had been swiped sometime in the commotion. It wasn’t, KID had just slipped an intercepting bug on the receiver when he had pushed Jirokichi aside and was an excellent ventriloquist, projecting his imitated voice to strategically appear to come from no particular direction at all.

Shinichi heard KID let out a giggle to himself as he continued speaking into the mic in Jirokichi’s voice.

“Wait, no he’s east side, east patrol, after him!”

“That’s not me! East guards, maintain your posts, you morons! We need to keep our perimeter secure!”

But Jirokichi could not maintain order. A confusing web of misinformation was fed into the radio until all the guards were corralled together into the main room with Jirokichi, ‘Sonoko’ and Shinichi, quickly overcrowding it as the guards were practically elbow to elbow.

“Where is he?” Jirokichi growled, scanning the room as he tried to shove his way past the guards to check on the Tranquil Lotus. “I said back to your posts! We’re leaving the exits wide open!”

“No, he’s lying, I saw him come in here!” KID called out in Jirokichi’s voice. “Everyone guard the Lotus!”

With the guards and Jirokichi thoroughly confused and packed like sardines in a can right where he wanted them, KID managed to slip away from the guards encircling ‘Sonoko’ and pulled out his KID gun, shooting a card right down at Jirokichi’s feet. The man bent down to read it aloud

“‘Nighty-night, gentlemen’-?”

There was an ominous sound of ticking before an explosion of pink gas appeared above the pedestal, a little automaton in KID’s flashy white cape and hat laughed mechanically before the cape fell over the pedestal glass, blocking the light shining on the display from reaching the sensors.

The hissing expulsion of thick gas flooded the room as KID slipped a gas mask over himself and Shinichi in the fray, sparing them the effects of the drugged gas while the guards and Jirokichi groaned and passed out, collapsing around the room in a heap.

One of the guards who was still coherent enough took out his stun gun. The electricity arced threateningly as he took clumsy aim at KID and managed to fire it before falling over. The electrodes shot out but missed their mark, flying wildly overhead and about to land on Jirokichi.

“Whoops!” KID said, catching the electrified ends with a well-timed shot from his card gun. The electrodes landed harmlessly onto the floorboards, as KID picked up the stun gun and turned it off.

“Ahhhh,” sighed KID, stepping out of the dress and pulling up the skirts, exposing the wicker basket compartment that Shinichi had been hiding inside.

“Do you have any idea how hard it is to run around naturally with a mermaid hidden in your hoop skirt?” KID asked, pulling his hair out of his eyes as he shed his Sonoko mask as the gas cleared up.

“No, I don’t run, and I don’t wear skirts,” said Shinichi flatly, taking off his own gas mask as KID helped pull him out of the compartment. “But you have my sincerest sympathies.”

He looked towards Jirokichi and the nearby deactivated electric nodes. “Why’d you do that? It’s not your fault the guard decided to fire his stun gun despite losing consciousness. It wasn’t even a lethal voltage.”

KID wagged his finger. “Rule of thumb, I’m afraid, Mermaid-kun,” he said, retracting the wires of the gun back into its chamber and setting it on the floor next to the guard. “No one gets hurt on KID heists. Not even private ones. Even when other people might bring guns or dangerous weaponry to guard the jewels, I always make sure as best I can that nobody ever dies.” KID shuddered. “I can’t stand death.”

Shinichi looked towards KID with an eyebrow raised. “Huh, you’re weird, Mister Honourable Phantom Thief, always making things harder for yourself.”

KID sent a wink Shinichi’s way. “It’s part of my branding.”

With that, KID hopped up to the pedestal, flipped open the glass and quickly swapped out the Tranquil Lotus with an equally heavy stone, preventing the pressure plate from being set off.

“Score~”

KID took the sceptre and held it up to Shinichi like a diamond-tipped flower. “A pretty jewel for a pretty face~”

Shinichi rolled his eyes, pushing the sceptre away. “Well, you have the jewel. What did you bring me here for then? You said my presence was ‘paramount’ to your show.”

“And it is!” KID insisted, happily holding up the diamond-tipped sceptre once again for Shinichi to examine. “I told you I already knew that the Tranquil Lotus wasn’t Pandora, but did you ever wonder why I knew, Merman-kun?”

Shinichi squinted at the diamond-tipped sceptre. He didn’t see anything of particular note about the gemstone, other than some carvings of shells that looked kind of familiar-

When his hand touched the surface, he felt a slight undercurrent of magic responding to him. Then, Shinichi knew. He looked up at KID in surprise. “It’s a Fairy’s Favour.”

“Bing-go~” KID sing-songed.

“Suzuki-no-jiisan was in possession of a Fairy’s Favour all along! Although, a much more old-fashioned, flashier one than mine, I’ll admit.” Said KID, admiring the sparkling gem. “His one was made with Old Fairy magic, limited to just one particular lock. For you see, I didn’t really come for this particular gem. I came here for what the gem leads to. This Fairy’s Favour was made with the explicit purpose of unlocking a particular safe in possession of our dear Suzuki-jiisan.”

KID gave the sceptre for Shinichi to hold and bent down to pick Shinichi up off the floor, heading downstairs to the lower level of the villa they hadn’t been in yet.

There, they came face to face with a polished steel safe that stretched from floor to ceiling, engulfing the entire room.

“Ah, safes. My favourite” said KID, wiping away a nonexistent tear from the corner of his eye. “Nothing quite says ‘keep out’ like a giant three-foot thick airtight sealed door booby-trapped to the teeth. And that makes it all the more exciting once you get in.”

Shinichi started as KID took his hand in his own and placed it against the surface of the safe door.

There was that familiar charge of dormant magical energy that matched the current he could feel within the Tranquil Lotus.

“And this is the lock the Tranquil Lotus was designed for,” said KID proudly. “For you see, Suzuki-jiisan has been repeatedly sending me heist notices because his Fairy’s Favour has run out of magical energy, and he’s been just begging me to open up this safe for him for good.”

He traced the surface of the door with his silken gloves. “Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to respond as of late because I’m not a supernatural, and my Fairy’s Favour only works on non-magical locks, and so I couldn’t think of anything to help the old man until I ran into you, Merman-kun.”

KID leaned against the safe door, holding Shinichi at eye level with the big, imposing-looking lock on the safe door. “And a little birdy told me that these things can respond to other magical things from the sea. So, Merman-kun, care to give it a whirl?”

Shinichi scowled. “Even if I charge the Favour up now, it won’t last forever. Old Fairy magic needs a lot of power, the best I can do is charge it for a one-time use like your coin.”

“So, we’ll need to dispel the magic for good,” concluded KID. “That’s fine, I’m sure between two handsome, bright minds like ourselves, it’s something we’ll be able to manage.” KID folded his arms triumphantly, drumming his fingers against his arm.

The Tranquil Lotus lay heavy in Shinichi’s hands, a magic relic from a time long past. He wondered what secrets Jirokichi sought to protect with such a valuable key that lay beyond the heavy steel door,

“But I do hope you have another method to charge the Tranquil Lotus, Merman-kun, because I don’t think you’ll be able to stick that whole sceptre in your mouth unless you have a secret talent I should know about.” KID teased with something of an indecent giggle.

“What are you talking about, you stupid Thief?” Asked Shinichi, looking at KID exasperatedly.

“Nothing~” replied KID, implying there was absolutely something else he had in mind.

Choosing to ignore him, Shinichi instead decided to close his eyes and focus on getting this heist over and done with as soon as possible. Jirokichi and his men wouldn’t be knocked out forever after all.

Mermaids weren’t very magical creatures. They neither had meat, bones, hair, nor blood of much mystical worth. Instead, their ocean magic came from emotion. The siren’s song, imbued with the power of pure desire, was one of a mermaid’s most magical tools. That magic was so potent, it could bleed into a mermaid’s saliva, resonating with any other magic originating from the ocean. Dispelling an Old Fairy spell would take more than a mere bit of saliva, it would take real magic. Holding the sceptre close, Shinichi began humming a lullaby his mother used to sing to him. The words were … a little hazy, Shinichi had to begin making up lyrics in his mind since it had been so long since he’d last heard it. But that didn’t matter. The power came from the emotion the melody carried, not the words. His melody was melancholic, wistful of a time long ago and lost youth when his mother still took him to see the migrating whales.

When Shinichi next opened his eyes, the Tranquil Lotus was gleaming like freshly fallen snow, positively thrumming with magical energy.

Shinichi held the sceptre to the groove of the vault door, and it glowed with a mystical lagoon-green light. Several clinks and clanks of internal locking mechanisms were heard, until out popped a multi-layered wheel combination lock wheel laden with several carvings in the place of numbers.

“Verrrry nice, Merman-kun!” KID crooned, hopping closer to take a look at the lock. “I thought you were pulling my leg there for a moment, but I see the result speaks for itself. Although, you probably could use some singing lessons.”

“M-my singing ability has nothing to do with ocean magic!” Shinichi spluttered, an indignant heat rising in his cheeks.

KID laughed, taking out a stethoscope and holding it to the metal of the door carefully. “So cute! It was just a suggestion!”

Shinichi scowled, cheeks flaming and hiding it with a spread of his tail fan as he watched KID at work. He spun the dials experimentally, listening to the unique sounds of each step. The dial at the base had twelve various warriors in different fighting stances, the next layer up had the twelve Chinese zodiac animals, the layer above that had nine different weapons in a repeating order, and the topmost layer was marked with a cardinal rose.

KID stuck a tongue between his teeth as he twisted each layer of the dial, brow furrowed in thought when there was a mechanical click, punishing an incorrect move with an electric shock sending Shinichi reeling as he pulled his own hand back from the door with a yelp.

“Oi oi, watch it!” Shinichi said, sucking on a still-tingling finger irritatedly.

“Sorry, sorry,” said KID, still fiddling with the dial. There was another click, KID leapt out of the way as a secret compartment opened up, shooting out a spiked iron ball that crashed into the floor where KID had been standing just a moment ago.

Examining the damage, Shinichi looked at KID with a raised brow as KID cursed the lock.

“What the hell? This doesn’t make any sense,” grumbled KID with frustration.

“What’s the matter KID, losing your touch?” Shinichi teased.

KID scoffed. “Hardly. The answer to this door’s little riddle is easy enough, but I must be getting something in the combination wrong.”

He pointed at the Tranquil Lotus in Shinichi’s hands. “This sceptre is one of the nine weapons used by the Twelve Heavenly Generals, also called a vajra,” he indicated the combination wheel at the base of the lock with the twelve warriors.

Shinichi nodded. “I see, and each of the twelve generals corresponds to an animal from the Chinese Zodiac. That’s what you meant in your KID notice hint about the ‘hour of the Rat.’”

“Exactly, as each general also corresponds to certain times of the day. Next, the weapons layer is self-explanatory, and the topmost layer is for each cardinal direction the twelve generals are associated with.” KID replied with a smile.

“So, how do we know what the combination is?” Asked Shinichi.

“It was in my hint,” KID explained. “The hour of the Rat belongs to Kubira, the leader of the twelve generals, extending from eleven at night to one in the morning. Kubira is one of the generals who wields a vajra, and I knew that because if we line up the Tranquil Lotus to the cardinal rose-”

KID took the sceptre- no, the vajra from Shinichi’s hand and lined up the five-pronged diamond with the inscription on the dial. “We can see that to line up each other the five prongs to the five repeated vajra points on the weapons layer, we get North-Northwest, the direction associated with Kubira.”

“But the combination isn’t working?”

KID shook his head. “No, and I don’t get it. My logic makes sense, and my instincts are telling me I’ve got the code right. This should be the combination to the vault. I thought maybe I got the orientation of the cardinal rose wrong, and tried lining up the prongs in different ways, but it’s the only way one that lines up perfectly.”

Shinichi took a moment to study the lock and the vajra. Maybe the problem wasn’t in misunderstanding the lock itself, but the context. The Tranquil Lotus and the original twelve wooden statues of the heavenly generals were lost during the Meiji Restoration, that’s what KID had said. The Jōruriji temple had been built sometime in the early thirteenth century, that meant-

“It’s not Kubira.”

“What?” KID asked, turning to Shinichi in confusion.

Shinichi took the vajra from KID and began unscrewing the diamonds from the prongs.

“Hey! What are you doing?”

“It’s a red herring, and you fell for it. There’s a reason the vajra is symmetrical, it’s reversible depending on which era you’re using it for. The heavenly generals became associated with animals from the Chinese zodiac during the Heian Period that’s 794-1185”

“So?” KID asked, still looking as Shinichi pried out the last diamond.

“So, you said the Tranquil Lotus and the statues were housed at the Jōruriji temple, that was built a full two hundred years later at least.” Shinichi flipped the vajra the other way around and began fixing the diamonds to the bottom five prongs instead. “By then, which zodiac animals associated with which heavenly generals had changed within Japan, shifting back one cycle.”

KID’s eyes widened with realisation. “That would mean-”

“That means that the ‘hour of the Rat’ no longer belongs to Kubira, but instead-”

Shinichi lined up the newly diamond-tipped bottom five prongs to the cardinal rose, and the orientation pointed-

“True north, the direction for-”

“Bikara,” finished KID.

Excited, KID input the new information into the combination lock. There was an electric hum as the clock struck one, the final hour of Bikara. There was a great grinding of gears as the metal vault door groaned and swung open to a dark, unlit room.

They looked at each other with matching grins, equally ecstatic at having cracked the code.

“Consider yourself fully forgiven, not that there was anything to really forgive in the first place, I just wanted to make a criminal out of you!” KID said, pulling his hand from the lock.

Shinichi frowned. “So, you were never really pissed at me this afternoon … it was all an act.” He scrunched his face in a grimace. “You’re a menace, you know that?”

“You’re so clever Shin-chan, I knew I brought you with me for a reason,” teased KID, tapping Shinichi on the nose. He laughed as he adjusted his grip on Shinichi more securely, and started practically skipping down into the dark room with a celebratory whoop, heedless of any dangers in the dark.

“Shin-chan?” Shinichi asked with a frown as they made their way in. “Only my mother’s ever called me that.”

“Oh, do you not like it?” KID asked, uncertainty lacing his voice as his steps echoed the further they descended into the vault.

Shinichi shook his head. “I don’t really mind, but why do you seem to be so averse to calling me by name? It’s always nicknames with you. I think I’ve only heard you use my name like, twice. Does it come with running around by your alias?”

“Not at all, Shin-I-Chi,” said KID, savouring every syllable. “But I give little nicknames to all my favourite friends, like my doves. And you’re one of my new favourite friends.”

Shinichi pulled a face. “You named your doves?

“Of course!” Said KID, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “There’s Aoi-chan, Mei-chan, Suki-chan …”

“Good to know I fall on the same spectrum of closeness to you as your pet birds,” said Shinichi, wryly, rolling his eyes as he adjusted his tail around KID’s waist, holding on tighter. He glanced back, the tiny square of light indicating where they had come from waned smaller and smaller. KID had put on a pair of night vision goggles and Shinichi wished he had brought a spare pair. Mermaid night vision was better than a human’s, but that didn’t mean Shinichi could see in complete darkness.

“If that’s the case, then why don’t you use Kudo? That’s still a nickname.”

“But that’s so cooooold!” KID complained. “I like to think we’re a bit more friendly than that, Shin-chan! After all, we did just commit a crime together. That’s got to count for something,” he chortled. “Whoa-!”

Suddenly, KID tripped, dropping Shinichi sprawling onto the cold concrete floor.

Shinichi landed with a roll, bumping his head against the concrete floor as his fins made a wet slap against the surface. There was a metal skittering sound as something was dropped onto the floor in the darkness, sliding far away.

“Ow! KID? What’s going on?” Asked Shinichi, picking himself off the floor and peering into the darkness. It was pitch black, he couldn’t even make out KID’s flashy white cape. Endless dark seemed to extend every which way with no sign of the thief anywhere. “KID?”

But KID didn’t answer him. Shinichi’s confused frown deepened. “KID?” He had been here a moment ago, why wouldn’t KID respond? He couldn’t have gotten too far in the dark, even if he had the night vision goggles.

Frustrated, Shinichi pulled himself up by his arms and inched around using his tail. “KID, this isn’t funny, apologise for dropping me, you asshole!”

KID still wasn’t answering. Now Shinichi was starting to get worried. He groped around blindly in the darkness, hand coming into contact with something that felt sort of like a light switch. Taking a gamble, Shinichi flipped it.

The floor of the vault dropped out from under him. Shinichi was getting hit with a severe sense of deja vu of their daring escape into the laundry chute as the smooth, slippery floor underneath him acted as a slide as he fell through.

“AAAAAH KIIIID!” Shinichi yelled out as he slid down the concrete ramp in darkness. As he slid down, the temperature began to rise dramatically as he shot through a large cloud of steam!

When Shinichi landed, it wasn’t into a pit of deadly steel spikes as he feared, but rather into a pool of water. A rather warm pool of water actually. Warm enough to source the steam he had encountered. He blinked as some underwater lights lit up, revealing he was in a naturalistic grey-stone lined spring of water. It was several tail lengths deep before shallowing out on one end. Shinichi looked around, spotting a Kaito sans KID suit and instead wearing a pair of swimming trunks grinning at him underwater. Kaito pointed up to the surface and kicked his way up, breaching it as Shinichi came up with him.

“You dropped me!” Shinichi accused, pulling the curtain of wet hair from his face and splashing water at the cackling thief.

“Surprised?” Kaito laughed. He shook his hair out like a wet dog as Shinichi shielded his face when the water droplets rained down on him.

“I was too, I'll be honest. I totally forgot about the switch and tripped over it myself, falling in. Sorry about dropping you.”

Shinichi looked around. They had landed in some sort of saltwater spring, the grey stones were warmed by some sort of underground heating source, bamboo structures lined the edges of the room and steam was clouding the air. The water was warm, but not so much that it was uncomfortable.

“Where are we?” He asked. “Why is it so … warm?”

“This, Merman-kun, is the true treasure of the Tranquil Lotus, the reason Suzuki-no-jiisan asked me to unlock his vault! We’re in an onsen! This town is famous for them.” Kaito explained, kicking back in the water. “There’s a lot of geothermal vents in this town that heat naturally occurring springs of water. Most hotels and dedicated public baths have their own ones, but Suzuki-no-jiisan just happens to be rich enough to have his own private one in the basem*nt of his villa. He’s been using it to soothe his old man's aches and pains when he’s away from home. When suddenly, his key to the vault, his Fairy’s Favour, stopped working because it lost its charge.”

Kaito gave a dramatic sigh, holding his hand to his head. “You should have seen his earlier challenges. ‘My aching bones can’t stand it Kaito KID, come by my villa Kaito KID, I have a big, tempting, impenetrable vault Kaito KID, hurry or I might fall down a flight of stairs one day!’”

He laughed, clutching at his own stomach with mirth. “You’d think he was trying to come on to me with how much he kept trying to tempt me to steal the Tranquil Lotus. He kept dropping me hint after hint until I understood what was inside the vault. I figured since he was so desperate for me to unlock it, he wouldn't mind us using the facilities for one night. Especially since as a mermaid, I’m sure you’ve never been to one before.”

“And what about dispelling the charm on the lock once and for all?” Asked Shinichi, wondering belatedly where the Tranquil Lotus went.

“Oh that? I already took care of it,” Kaito pointed back down into the water.

Shinichi submerged his head, looking around the illuminated pool. In the centre of the spring was a sea magic glyph, and in the centre sat the Tranquil Lotus, lodged into the stone floor and diamond tips poking out from the surface.

Resurfacing above the water, Shinichi pulled back his long hair from his face. “You completed the glyph.”

Kaito nodded. “Yep, while you were taking your time getting here, I figured out that the Fairy Favour lock worked because the glyph was deliberately left unfinished so that it would only open when it received magic from the Lotus outside the safe. Well, I say worked out. I just noticed it did weird glowy things when I brought the Lotus closer to the glyph. So now, with the glyph completed and permanently glowing, it won’t ever lock itself again. Problem solved.”

“But what about Suzuki-jiisan and his men?” Shinichi asked, looking up to the ceiling where they had dropped from. “We can’t stay here, what if they wake up and check on the vault?”

“Don’t worry,” Kaito assured, cupping his hands together and allowing them to fill with warm water before pouring it over Shinichi’s head, causing him to look affronted at the thief.

“Suzuki-jiisan spares no expense when it comes to security measures. I’ve used that grade of knockout gas before and let me tell you, they won’t be waking up until the break of dawn at the earliest. We have the whole onsen to ourselves allllll night.” He said with a saucy wink.

“And this ‘onsen,’ it’s safe?” Shinichi asked, holding up the warm water and letting it trickle down his arm in rivulets. It was pretty pleasant actually. His fin and side fans were flexing to run the warm water over themselves reflexively.

Kaito snorted. “Of course it’s safe, why wouldn’t it be safe?”

“You said the water is heated by geothermal vents,” Shinichi said. “In the ocean, we have underwater volcanic vents which do heat the water, but if you swim in that toxic chemical soup, you’re as good as dead.”

“Nah, the springs come from underground reservoirs running concurrent to geothermal vents so the water and magma don’t come in direct contact with each other. Don’t worry, the water’s not polluted with all that volcanic stuff.”

Kaito joined his hands together and threw a wall of water over Shinichi, who ducked under the water to avoid the resulting splash. “All that’s in this water is good old sodium chloride from mountain salts, so you should be able to even breathe in it with your gills.”

“That sounds very uncomfortable,” Shinichi said, shuddering at imagining the hot water running through his sensitive gills.

“Shut up, it’s probably good for you,” said Kaito, waving Shinichi off. “Warm water helps soothe aches and pains and joint stiffness, and the minerals help out with health like insomnia, sore scars and stuff. I don’t know, my mum told me all this when I was little. Yakushi Nyorai is the Buddha of medicine, so if the divine generals were guarding this onsen, it must be legit. Now come over here and let me prove it.”

Shinichi started as Kaito took Shinichi’s hand and dragged him over to a little bamboo furnished area equipped with little wooden buckets and fluffy white towels. When he deliberately moved Shinichi’s hair to the side exposing the ugly scarring at the back of his neck, Shinichi stiffened. Kaito took the little wooden bucket and filled it with the warm water, soaking one of the towels and wrapping it over the scarring.

The heat seeped into the skin, deep into the muscle and Shinichi felt himself involuntarily relax into it to the point of letting out a content clicking from his throat.

“Better?” Kaito asked, as Shinichi’s eyelids drooped slightly.

“Do that again.”

The onsen was an … interesting new experience for Shinichi. It was like lying in the sun-warmed waters by the forbidden beaches of the ocean, but more intense. He did find that the warm, salty water worked wonders for relaxing his muscles and old scars to the point of him dozing off without even realising it. He couldn’t tell if it was his narcolepsy acting up again, but the heat and steam made nodding off feel more restful than the fitful bouts of exhaustion that usually plagued his sleepy fits. For a moment, he had felt like he wasn’t navigating the roadmap of aches, pain and abuse that made up his body.

He heard another shutter snap of Kaito’s phone camera and he cracked open one eye to see Kaito mouthing ‘cute’ at him and Shinichi responded by splashing him with his tail.

This initiated a water fight when Kaito pulled out a water gun from somewhere Shinichi couldn’t fathom without the pockets of his KID suit and blasted warm onsen water directly at Shinichi’s face. Determined to retaliate, Shinichi had swum up behind Kaito and upended an entire bucket over him. Shinichi ended up winning spectacularly since he was much better at manoeuvring in the spring and Kaito couldn’t help to catch up despite his ranged water gun attacks.

Then Shinichi had tried to do as KID suggested earlier and took a big gulp of onsen water, filtering the warmth through his gills but it made his insides uncomfortably fluttery and warm and so he had spat out the water like a kid who had milk going down the wrong pipe and Kaito recorded the whole affair on his phone.

The recording replayed with distorted, tinny audio as KID rewatched the incident. Curious, Shinichi swam over to the edge where Kaito was sitting and flicking through his photos.

“You’re always taking pictures, are they really that interesting?” Shinichi asked.

“Probably not, they’re not always good pictures, but I like them. Wanna see?” Kaito asked, showing Shinichi his phone.

Shinichi had seen photos of himself before while at Wakita’s lab. They had tranquilised him and laid him out on the table, documenting his features for his file, how he healed after being injured, the side effects of whatever drug co*cktail they dosed him with that day, and how he physically changed as he grew up under their ‘care.’

Photos of himself were nothing Shinichi had ever been interested in, so he had never asked to look at Kaito’s photos.

However, these photos were … different. The photos the scientists took were for evidence and documentation. The photos Kaito took, they were for memories. Snapshots of a moment in time, recording his emotions and memories in a digital file. In the screenshot of the recording, Shinichi looked … happy. And that wasn’t the only instance. After they had watched the recording itself, Kaito flicked to the other photos he had taken of Shinichi throughout their time together. There was that photo after the first morning when he was out of the Wakita Estate. There was a photo of him enjoying coffee after a long night’s sleep. There was the photo Kaito had taken right before he had seen KID’s first magic show.

Shinichi knew Kaito was always taking photos but he hadn’t paid it any mind before, because, to him, photos had always just been information for someone else. These photos though, they felt … precious. Before, in the lab, if you asked Shinichi what would make him happy he would have said something like the heads of the members of the Black Organisation on pikes. Or being able to swim in the open ocean again. He had achieved neither of these things so far, but here was photo evidence of Shinichi looking content, relaxed, and even smiling. Did … did being with Kaito make Shinichi … happy? That thought was … troubling.

“What are you thinking about?” KID asked, poking Shinichi on the nose again. “You’ve got your thinking face on again. You should smile more, I guarantee it’s a better look on you.”

Kaito holds his phone out and takes another photo of them with the front-facing camera pulling a winning smile. After a bit of messing around on the screen, he shows Shinichi the result.

Shinichi blinked in surprise. Kaito had manipulated the photo of him and Shinichi so that their faces had been swapped over. Kaito’s winning smile was replaced with Shinichi’s signature glare, and vice versa, making it appear as though Shinichi was the human and Kaito was a mermaid. Honestly, it wasn’t too different, because they looked astonishingly similar already. But Shinichi could point out all the ways in which Kaito’s facial features differentiated from his own. His teeth were blunt, square and smooth. Not slightly sharp and serrated for catching wriggling fish. His eyes were a cooler, deeper blue than Shinichi’s own bright blue. His facial structure was more boyish, permanently set with a certain smirk about it.

With their faces swapped, Shinichi was reminded of the time Kaito disguised himself as a mermaid in front of the trespassing children. What would Kaito be like, if he were a supernatural? Shinichi wondered. If their situations were reversed? Shinichi imagined what his life would have been like as a human, perhaps even a detective, like his beloved Sherlock Holmes series. Maybe while investigating the corrupt dealings at the Wakita Estate, he’d run across Kaito, a mermaid with a kleptomaniac streak who got on the wrong side of stealing shiny things from human ships. Maybe instead of “Mermaid-kun,” Kaito would call him “Detective.”

Aside from his ichthyophobia, Kaito was a natural mermaid. Red-tailed like his mermaid disguise, Kaito was all glitter, flashy fins and bright eye-catching colours. He imagined Kaito’s tail fin would have been soft and feathery, split down the middle like an angel’s wings, trailing behind him with an invisible breeze like his typical capes. His side fans would be ruby red as Shinichi traced his hand over the cool spines with his human warm fingertips, the freckle-like spray of scales decorating his face blending in with an attractive flush as Kaito let out a throaty click when he whispered into the shell of Shinichi’s human ear, “Meitantei-”

Whoa. Shinichi shook his head. What was that? Shinichi’s stomach sank like a lead weight. Those thoughts- DId Shinichi just- So alarmed he was by his uninvited brain fugue, Shinichi missed the next thing Kaito said.

“Sorry, could you repeat that?” Shinichi asked, hoping his face betrayed nothing. These thoughts would require further investigation, if they were what Shinichi thought they were-

“I said, you didn’t answer me. What are you thinking about?” Kaito questioned.

A whisper against human warm skin and the trail of a cool mermaid tail fin tracing his back. Cursing his unbidden active imagination, Shinichi flushed. “Nothing, the picture just reminds me how ridiculous you looked in your mermaid disguise.”

Shinichi had to get out of this onsen heat, it was doing funny things to his brain.

By the time they finished up, Jirokichi and his men were just beginning to fight off the effects of the knockout gas and the first rays of dawn were beginning to peak out over the horizon as rain began to pitter-patter on the rooftops. KID’s show was long since over, his golem having packed up the show from the venue for them in their absence, the caravan all ready to drive to their next stop.

The KID golem was smirking when Kaito walked into the caravan, carrying a thoroughly exhausted Shinichi in his wake.

“Did you have a good night~?” The golem teased. “Look at the little mermaid, all tuckered out for the night.”

“The best,” Kaito confirmed, sticking his tongue out at the golem as if he could make it jealous. “You think so too, don’t you Shinichi?”

“Mmmf.” Shinichi yawned, too tired to bite back at either version of KID’s teasing and still mulling over his distressingly confusing thoughts from the night. He was out of the heat, the night air had been cool against his skin on the ride on Kaito’s motorbike back, but it didn’t feel like he had cooled down any and his thoughts were still plagued with intense feelings of elated happiness, confusion, and strangely enough, affection?

Kaito laughed at his lack of response. “Someone’s certainly sleepy. Come on you narcoleptic baby, I have something to show you. Did you do that other thing I asked of you?” Kaito asked his golem.

Other thing?

“Yep!” The KID golem replied, pointing at Shinichi’s tank. Shinichi pulled himself up from where he was languidly curled up in KID’s grip to look over KID’s shoulder and see that on the side of the Water Escape Spectacular was now a merrily bubbling black box.

“What’s that?” He asked, tilting his head in confusion, giving the box a slow, sleepy blink. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say that looks like-”

“A saltwater pump,” Kaito confirmed. “Part of the reason why I insisted we needed to go on the heist today is that I needed you out of the tank to drain for golem-KID to install the pump. I’m sure it’s annoying when we already drain it on the regular to clean the tank between shows, but this way with water actually circulating in the tank, we’ll be able to clean it a lot less and the water’s actually aerated.”

Kaito carried Shinichi over to the tank, allowing him to slide in. Cool water enveloped him, extinguishing the strange, hot, floaty feeling that had been bubbling in Shinichi’s chest all night into a more reasonable simmer. Shinichi rippled his gills as he opened his gill guards, allowing the salt water to rush over them. The water was pumped full of oxygen, it was no longer stale and didn’t leave a slightly bitter aftertaste on Shinichi’s tongue. In other words, it was wonderful compared to the stagnant water from before.

As much as he appreciated this new development to his temporary living situation, Shinichi gave Kaito a confused look. “Why would you go through the trouble of installing a salt water pump? It’s not like you’re going to need it for your act after I’m gone.”

Because Shinichi was going. That was a fact. The Black Organisation would stop at nothing to recover him for their coveted Apoptoxin ingredient. He couldn’t stay with Kaito either, Kaito with his dumb photos he treated as treasures, while Shinichi belonged in the open ocean.

Kaito shrugged. “Of course not. I just thought, while you were stuck with me, that didn’t mean you had to keep swimming in stagnant water. It’s not the ocean I know, but I don’t want you to hate staying with me while you have to either, you should be happy.”

“I don’t hate staying with you,” Shinichi replied before he could stop himself, not noticing the odd look Kaito sent his way. But what Shinichi did notice, was the bubble of truthfulness to that statement in his chest when he had said it. His father used to always tell Shinichi that ‘there is only ever one truth,’ and given the evidence tonight, he was sure of it, the warm feeling in his chest.

“I … I am happy.”

Saying those words shouldn’t have filled Shinichi with the sheer cliff of dread that it did. But he was, wasn’t he? He was happy. Kaito made him happy. And that, was agony.

Chapter 8

Chapter Text

Given that Kaito and Shinichi didn’t get back until sunrise, the KID golem had been put in charge of driving them to get breakfast. Normally, Kaito wouldn’t trust an automaton with something as complex as driving in the middle of a rainstorm, but he really didn’t have a choice as his body made the executive decision to have him sleep through the entire morning.

Today, breakfast - or rather, lunch given the hour - was sausages and eggs on toast fried on a giant cast iron frying pan because Kaito really wasn’t feeling up to anything more than that and Shinichi still had leftover haddock from yesterday. Shinichi was brewing his cup of coffee for the day, having gotten up not long after Kaito to the sound of thunder while they were stopped at the edge of town. It was a little disturbing how easily life with Shinichi was becoming routine in such little time. Kaito was almost pleased with how domestic it had all become if it wasn’t so terrifying. The weather report on his phone showed that the rain wasn’t going to let up any time soon, and in fact, they were expecting heavy floods leading to road closures by tomorrow. However, if they hurried, they should be able to make it to the next town by morning before the roads closed and stay on schedule if they left town tonight.

Yesterday’s activities were absolutely worth it of course. Kaito looked through his wonderfully growing collection of pictures with Shinichi. Even if he knew Shinichi would be disappearing from his life after all this, he was glad he had managed to nab as many pictures of the mermaid as he had thus far. He had planned the heist to help determine to himself if it was worth developing his burgeoning new feelings for the half-fish man. He was both devastated and incredibly elevated to confirm to himself that it was absolutely worth it. Shinichi was a natural match for puzzle solving, and nothing made Kaito sleep more soundly that night than hearing that Shinichi was even happy during his stay with Kaito. It was scary how easily he could imagine spending his entire lifetime trying to make Shinichi happy, and he wouldn’t even hesitate. You love too fast and hard little bluebird, his mother used to tell him, when he cried as Aoko didn’t return his feelings.

As Shinichi engaged in his more mermaid-ish morning activities, such as polishing his scales with his shoe brush, Kaito KID thought back to his book on marine hom*osexuality.

hom*osexual dolphin courtship behaviour does not differ from heterosexual courtship behaviour where the individuals engage in tooth-raking or headbutting.

He knew Shinichi had been kidnapped at a young age, so he might not even be familiar with mermaid courting rituals. But he wondered all the same how he would’ve courted Kaito, if he was interested in him that way, and if they could have that kind of relationship. He wondered if it was something more human, where people liked to present each other with pretty flowers and shy gifts, or if it would be more like a fish or a dolphin with physical acts of possessiveness. It was cute imagining Shinichi showing Kaito a pretty shell he found, or a shiny stone, given Kaito’s affinity for jewels. But still, he also remembered the pictures in the book of scars of raked-over dolphin skin of mated pairs. Maybe Shinichi would do something similar, and rake his serrated teeth tantalisingly over KID’s jugular, so vulnerable, putting his whole trust in the mermaid to not tear out his throat like he had with that sniper’s ear. He wondered if Shinichi would let him do the same in return. He wondered if those same lips would look kiss-swollen after Kaito spent an evening ravishing them. He wondered if mermaids bruised like humans, if he could leave his mark on Shinichi’s neck and physically mark over those ugly, ugly numbers placed there by people who wanted to hurt him. He wondered if Shinichi would let him kiss over his scars, his eyelids, his nose-

“... KID? KID?” Shinichi asked repeatedly, looking at Kaito with concern.

Kaito snapped out of his reverie, not noticing he had zoned out to some very inappropriate vivid imaginings.

“What are you doing? You’ve been looking off into the distance for a while now and that’s not your thinking face.”

No, that’s my indecent fantasising face, Kaito wanted to retort, but luckily caught himself with his thankfully working internal filter.

“What are you talking about, you don’t know me, this could be my ‘thinking very hard face,’” he said instead, sticking out his tongue at Shinichi.

Shinichi rolled his eyes. “Well ‘think very hard’ later, someone’s coming to the caravan,” he said, pointing out the window into the heavy rain.

“What? Who’d be crazy enough to do that? Tonight’s show is cancelled because of bad weather,” said Kaito, peering out the window. It was completely black, Kaito had no idea how Shinichi could make out anyone in the darkness but he didn’t doubt him.

“Well, tell them that,” groused Shinichi. “Now, get rid of them.” Shinichi put his cup of piping hot coffee onto the insulating mat, grabbed the remainder of his breakfast from the frying pan and retreated into his secret compartment in the show tank and pulled the deployable screens over the sides for good measure. Without the spotlights, no silhouette could be seen through them.

There was an atmospheric clap of foreboding thunder as Kaito got up to head to the door, lighting up the silhouette of someone standing just outside the peephole.

Creepy.

“Sorry, we’re closed,” Kaito called out, eager to get rid of whoever was crazy enough to come accosting him in the middle of a rainstorm in the night. They had to hit the road soon if they wanted to beat the flooding, and the sooner they could get rid of this grifter the better. Or a fan, sometimes Kaito’s crazier fangirls managed to stalk him to where he parked the show caravan and showed up.

However, those theories were quickly shattered when an annoying familiar face barged right into his stage caravan as soon as the door unlocked, stereotypical deerstalker hat in tow.

“Kuroba-kun, I’ve been looking everywhere for you.”

The blonde, rain soaked Hakuba announced, lowering his umbrella and shedding his tan overcoat to drop it on the coat rack without so much as a ‘hello.’ Under his coat he was wearing a dark grey suit jacket and pressed white button up, all rather damp from the frenzied rain.

“H-Hakuba?” Kaito asked in jaw-dropped disbelief. “Haven’t you ever heard of knocking?”

“Yes, in fact, I have. But this is urgent,” said Hakuba, letting himself inside and closing the door behind himself, far too familiar with the workings of Kaito’s caravan.

“What the hell are you doing here?”

“I would have thought it was rather obvious, I’ve been looking for you, I just said as such,” Hakuba replied, confused as to where there was to be confusion in his earlier statement as he straightened out his deerstalker hat.

Kaito held an exasperated hand to his burgeoning migraine. Hakuba could be so obtuse at times.

Hakuba pulled off his gloves and boots and began to make his way to Kuroba’s couch, indicating for Kaito to join him. Kaito stubbornly stayed standing, however, as sitting was practically inviting Haku-bastard into staying longer, no thanks. Hakuba could say what he came here to say and then make himself scarce as soon as humanly possible, please.

Hakuba shrugged, letting Kaito stay standing and leaned forward on the couch, steepling his fingers. “Kuroba-kun, You may have heard lately on the news that there was a large-scale theft of Wakita Estate some week and a half ago by Kaito KID.”

“I’ve heard,” Kaito rolled his eyes, already ready for Hakuba’s usual song and dance. “You’re not about to accuse me of being Kaito KID again, are you? Really Hakuba, you should get a real hobby. I was at a show that night, full house. I have the ticket sales to prove it if you want to corroborate my alibi with witnesses.” He began to scroll through his phone for his ticket sales, he knew he had them saved around somewhere.

“Of course you do, you always do,” said Hakuba, pushing Kaito’s phone away from his face. “And normally, I’d just leave it at that, I’m still not sure how you do that by the way, but this time it’s different, Kuroba-kun.”

“In what way?” Kaito asked, growing cautious now. So, this wasn’t going to be a more social hangout.

“It’s Kanenori Wakita-san,” said Hakuba. “KID hasn’t returned the diamond or the salamander yet. KID always, always returns the gems he steals, and the fact that he hasn’t has outraged Wakita-san into taking drastic measures. He’s exerted full mobilisation of the police force and his private forces to find his missing diamond and pet salamander-”

Kaito had to hold in a snort at that but refrained for Shinichi’s sake, and because he knew Hakuba would pick up on it and accuse him of knowing something about said ‘salamander’ if Kaito reacted, so he kept his best poker face plastered on and didn’t eke out so much as a giggle.

“-as well as the private security forces of our neighbouring districts.”

Hakuba massaged his fingers against his temples. “I came here to warn you Kuroba-kun, because even though I don’t have the proof yet, and as much as you make it your life’s work to make my life miserable, I, for some reason still consider you somewhat of a ‘friend,’ and felt it was my moral obligation to warn you before Wakita-san’s full formidable forces descend upon you, to please; turn yourself in.”

Strange, Haku-bastard was practically all but on his knees begging. That was certainly new for the blonde. But Kaito wasn’t about to confess just because Haku-bastard decided to finally give up and beg. No, Kaito still had an obligation to complete his father’s mission, and that meant getting his hands on the Atlantic Envy.

“Wow, if you consider me a friend, no offence but I think you need new friends, Hakuba,” replied Kaito, buffing his nails carelessly on his shirt.

Hakuba made a frustrated noise, rising to his full height and poking a finger square into Kaito’s chest, hard. “This isn’t a game, Kuroba!” He said, outraged. “This is serious, I heard my father talking about how Wakita-san has the entire law enforcement board in his pocket and they’ll let him do whatever he wants if he manages to apprehend the thief, up to and including shooting to kill them on sight.”

Kaito blanched. “Kill on sight? What the hell? All this over a dumb rock and a salamander?”

Hakuba nodded gravely. “But we can protect you here, I’m glad I caught you while you were in one of my father’s districts. My father has put in place a ‘no-kill’ order to his men if we’re the ones to apprehend you.” He explained. “I don’t know exactly why your little magic tour is headed to Haido City Kuroba, but it ends here. This is the last district under my father before you hit people in Wakita’s pocket. Once you leave here, if Wakita-san’s men are the ones who find you, my father won’t be able to protect you.”

Kaito had never seen Hakuba this frazzled before. It was unprecedented, for a mere ‘civilian’ like Wakita to have the power to convince the board of law enforcement to bend the rules to his whims, it must be due to the influence of the Black Organisation. They must be a lot bigger than KID initially thought. Then again, secret societies of multi-millionaires always were.

“So please,” Hakuba implored. “Before things get too serious and I have to explain to Aoko-san why you’re in a body bag in Sumida River one day, just give back the Atlantic Envy. I know you have it, there’s no way you’re not KID. For once in your goddamn life just listen to me just this once. As much as you’re a pain in my life, I don’t actually want to see you get hurt.”

Hakuba was … worried about him? How cute. He almost felt sorry for the guy, if he wasn’t such a funless, pain in his ass on the regular.

Kaito looked Hakuba dead in the eye as he pushed the detective’s finger away from his chest. “Hakuba, believe me when I’m telling you, I’m not KID. I don’t have the Atlantic Envy, or Wakita’s pet salamander on me.”

Hakuba’s eyes saddened in response. “Please Kuroba-kun, it’s not worth it. I know you at least have the Envy, jewels are your thing. I don’t know if you’ve already dropped the salamander off somewhere, but if you still have it, just leave it someplace. Someone else can pick it up and collect the bounty if you just don’t want to admit it to me or something. Whatever you think you’re protecting, it’s not worth your life.”

Kaito’s eyes flicked to the tank where Shinichi was hidden. He imagined the barrel of a sniper rifle, Gin’s, trained his way if he kept walking along this path. He remembered Shinichi’s word, that Gin would not miss. He imagined Shinichi’s face, curious and inquisitive after a show, eager to piece together Kaito’s trick in a burning desire to simply understand more than anything else, Shinichi’s face from last night, silly and carefree as onsen water dripped down his chin when he found it too strange to breathe in such warm water through his sensitive gills feeling relaxed and happy because Kaito made him feel that way. He imagined that same face twisted into betrayal if he listened to Hakuba’s advice and just let someone collect Wakita’s bounty to save his own skin. And he knew that no, he was pretty sure Shinichi was well worth it. A thousand times over.

“I assure you Hakuba, that jewel is not here.”

Hakuba’s expression hardened to a blank slate. “... I see, and that’s your final answer?”

“That’s my final answer,” Kaito confirmed, folding his arms, resolute.

Hakuba swayed on his feet, where he stood, defeated. “Well, I’m afraid that’s not my final answer,” said Hakuba, new determination steeling his step as he reached into his inner pocket and took out an official-looking sheet of paper and shoved it in front of Kaito’s face.

Kaito’s eyes narrowed at the official seal stamped on the corner. “What the hell is that?”

“This is an official search warrant,” Hakuba explained, taking out a pair of handcuffs and cuffing Kaito to himself before Kaito could react.

“Hey! Hakuba, what the hell! I might have some vices, but I’m not into you, man!” Kaito complained, his wrist now hanging from Hakuba’s own by a length of chain.

Ignoring him, Hakuba continued in stride. “I came to you initially as your friend, but now I see if you won’t listen to a friend, then maybe you’ll listen to me as one of my father’s detectives. I’m officially arresting you on suspicion of being the criminal thief, Kaitou KID.”

Kaito gaped his mouth at Haku-bastard. He always knew this was one of Hakuba’s fantasies, finally getting his cuffs on him, but really this was going too far, he couldn’t do this. Kaito still had things to do, he had to hide Shinichi from the Black Organisation. If Haku-bastard was going to insist on taking him down to the precinct, who would get Shinichi back to the ocean?

“I am going to conduct an official police search of your vehicle, if I find any evidence supporting your identity as KID, I am at legal authority to bring you in with what I discern to be the maximum necessary force,” Hakuba said, dragging Kaito with him as he began to tear through Kaito’s things in his caravan even as Kaito protested. “If I do not find any evidence of wrongdoing, you’ll be free to go. This search will only take a moment of your time, I only ask for your full cooperation or you may be charged for resisting police.”

Kaito opened his mouth to speak, but Hakuba interrupted him. “I am not going to let my friend get himself killed doing something incredibly stupid if I can help it.” He hissed. “I tried letting you come clean to me yourself, but I see we’re going to have to do this the difficult way. Luckily, I did anticipate that this was one of the possible outcomes of my visit, and I’ve taken the necessary precautions.”

There was a popping sound as well as the sound of four sources of hissing air from the outside.

“Did you just f*cking pop my tyres, you bastard?” Kaito snarled, tugging on his handcuffs. “That’s illegal, Mr Detective.”

“Officially, no. I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Hakuba said, not meeting Kaito’s eyes. “Unofficially though, I’d suggest you blame Aoko for that, she’s the one who suggested to me that I gift you her suspiciously thumb-tack looking adornments to your caravan tyres, I deny any knowledge stating their purposes otherwise.”

Kaito could tear out his hair. “Aoko!” He cursed as Hakuba dragged him to the main stage set up in his caravan, eyeing the half-built prototypes which could equally be possible magic trick contraptions or heist gear in progress.

“Kuroba-kun, I’m going to use this search warrant to prove once and for all, your identity as Kaito KID, bring you in, return the Atlantic Envy and the salamander if you still have it, and save your sorry hide while I’m at it. You may thank me when you’re still breathing in Ekoda Prison.”

“Haku-bastard, how’d you even get a warrant? You have no damn proof-”

“Oh, but I do have proof, well, maybe not enough proof to get you taken in for being KID, but enough to search you on suspicion,” said Hakuba, a victorious smug adorned his face.

“Last night, I happen to know KID sent a notice to Jirokichi Suzuki to hold a private heist. Don’t look too surprised Kuroba-kun, he loves the attention of being one of your targets for your little nighttime escapades. I simply had a man on the inside promise to inform me of any secret KID movements and found out you were in town on the night of the heist.”

“I was at-”

“Yes, yes. You were at your show last night, I know.” Hakuba interrupted. “But that same little birdy told me KID didn’t leave the premises until well into the next morning, that’s plenty of time for you to make a visit after your show and any last witnesses who can confirm your location at ten p.m, eleven if we’re being generous about stragglers, left. Maybe you have an accomplice to give you an alibi for the first part of the heist, but you don’t have one for the hours of midnight until morning. I formally accuse you of, at the very least, if not KID himself, being Kaito KID’s accomplice, and as such, have a warrant to search you.”

“This is crazy,” Kaito protested. “If your father hears what you’ve done I’ll … I’ll accuse you of improper use of power and false arrest!” Kaito threatened lamely.

“Then be glad you’ll still be breathing living air to make such an accusation, Kuroba-kun. In fact, I welcome it.” Hakuba said, ripping out various drawers and cupboards where hidden compartments were stashed all throughout Kaito’s caravan.

As Hakuba’s search led him closer and closer to the big water tank where Shinichi was hidden, Kaito wanted to sweat bullets. He hadn’t cleaned up the area around the tank yet, having not expected company.

Hakuba went up to the shelf they usually had by the bathtub whenever they changed the water in the tank - Shinichi’s bookshelf - and he pulled out the aquarium-safe disinfectant, Shinichi’s code notebooks, and the entire row of Arsène Lupin books Shinichi had finished reading, dumping them on the floor to search for any hidden compartments. Kaito felt a tinge of anger at the damage Hakuba was wrecking on Shinichi’s things.

“Listen, Hakuba. You can search me. But do you have to make a big mess of all my effects? I still have to use these at my show tomorrow-”

“Your show that’s scheduled for tomorrow night in f*ckui?” Hakuba asked.

Kaito nodded.

“Cancel it, you’ll never make it tonight in this weather anyway.”

“What? But the roads don’t close until tomorrow according to the weather repo-”

“The weather report is wrong,” interrupted Hakuba. “I saw the bridges myself, my father’s men are planning to seal off the roads tonight, it won’t be safe.”

Kaito’s stomach dropped from under him. sh*t, then that means they’d have to cancel tomorrow’s show too, and drive the whole day if they wanted to make it to his show in Yokohama on Saturday and hit Haido City by Sunday.

Hakuba prowled the premises, looking for things out of place and clues as to the whereabouts of the Envy

sh*t. Kaito realised Shinichi’s still hot cup of coffee was still on the insulation mat. Hakuba would notice-

“Aha!” Said Hakuba, spotting the coffee mug right as Kaito was closing his eyes in frustration at not cleaning up the glaring evidence sooner. Goddamn detectives.

“What have we here? A table set for two? Now, I happen to know you don’t drink coffee that doesn't contain obscene amounts of sugar, Kuroba-kun.” Hakuba gave the cup an experimental stir as he gave it a smell. “Warm, barely partaken of, and artisanal too, my, my, aren't we suddenly a big fan?” Hakuba smiled knowingly, taking pleasure in watching Kauto sweat. “That's my favourite blend, how did you know? Have you company over by any chance, Kuroba-kun?”

He pointed over to where Kaito had been originally sitting when he was still conversing with Shinichi, next to the contraption prototypes.

“Don't answer, I can see your still steaming mug of hot chocolate just over there. So a friend who has only been in the room as of at least three minutes ago, given by the timer set on your kettle. Ergo, if I had to hazard a guess, I would say your company is still in the room with us. Given how quickly you were to conceal their presence, you didn't want any unplanned visitors to see them. If, by some miracle, you have been telling the truth in your insistence Kaito Kuroba is not in fact, KID, then logic dictates you must be sheltering KID as his accomplice.” Hakuba examined Shinichi’s abandoned cup of coffee carefully, trying to divulge more clues.

“Why, congratulations Kuroba-kun, I apologise for all the times I accused you of being KID, it seems you might be innocent after all. But not so fortunate for your missing roommate. Now, as to just where your roommate could be hiding, I think I have a few educated guesses.”

Kaito wanted to hit himself as Hakuba's eyes combed the room for places a person could hide and he headed straight for the not-so-inconspicuous drawn screens over the water tank on stage.

Hakuba went over to the tank, and by extension, dragged Kaito over too. He smirked at Kaitos's grimace. “Hiding something here, are we?”

“I’m not hiding anything,” Kaito answered. God, just how was he going to explain this to Hakuba if he did find Shinichi? Hey Hakuba, this is my friend Shinichi, no he’s not KID, but he is a mermaid. Where are you going? The psych ward is this way.

And if Hakuba was going to make him hand in Shinichi … Kaito would never let that happen.

Hakuba peeled the screens away, revealing the seemingly empty water tank. Kaito prayed that Shinichi would be able to stay hidden and that Hakuba wouldn’t find the emergency release lever.

“A false bottom, I take it?” Hakuba asked, running his hands along the sides of the tank carefully.

“Now, it's a fire hazard to not include multiple redundancies in case of emergencies, so there must be an exterior emergency release lever, but it has to be somewhere the audience won't notice it, somewhere like …”

Hakuba felt along the bottom of the water tank until his fingers came into contact with a tiny lever hidden behind one of the spotlights.

“Right here!”

The spring-loaded trap door sprung open, and out popped a wild-eyed mermaid who shot out of the water aiming directly for Hakuba’s face.

Kaito had about half a second for his brain to register that Shinichi was about to knock Hakuba out cold armed with the breakfast frying pan. The image was so ludicrous Kaito almost could have laughed if it weren’t for the sheer terror he felt at the consequences if Shinichi succeeded.

He flung his arms protectively over the detective, which was harder to do now that he had f*cking cuffed him, but Kaito still managed.

“Wait, Shinichi!”

“What? He saw me.” Shinichi snarled, side fans flaring and barely managing to halt his swing before Hakuba’s head grew a new egg-sized lump if Kaito’s arms hadn’t been shielding him.

“We can’t attack him, he’s the Superintendent General’s son!” Kaito explained. He really didn’t need Haku-bastard’s father mad at him on top of everything.

“And? Is that supposed to mean anything to me?” Shinichi demanded. Right, Shinichi didn’t exactly know what rank a Superintendent General was.

“It means, he’s the son of the head of law enforcement of this whole goddamn city we’re in! If he finds out we hurt his son, all of the police force will be after me for assault and battery of a detective!

“Oh, too bad,” said Shinichi, readying his strike like he was going to swing the frying pan anyway.

“Shin-”

“WHAT IS GOING ON?” Shrieked Hakuba, hysterical. His eyes were bugging out of his skull and his pupils were trembling as he looked back and forth between Kaito Kuroba and that-that-that creature!

“That-this is-you … !”

He looked desperately at Kaito, incoherently babbling, his wide eyes begging for an explanation that made logical sense. Because this was ludicrous. This was insanity. This is what he gets for dealing Kaito f*cking Kuroba isn’t it? He’s finally cracked.

Kaito let out a long, suffering sigh, “I told you I wasn’t hiding the fact that I’m Kaito KID,” he started, pretending like this was the conclusion he wanted Hakuba to reach all along. This was a mess. Just how were they going to convince Hakuba to keep his goddamn mouth shut now that he has seen Shinichi? Kaito was already planning for the worst-case scenario and wondering how feasible it would be to just hog-tie the detective and take him with them as their hostage in order to stop him from reporting back to his father and just accepting being charged with kidnapping as well as grand theft. Just until Shinichi got back to the ocean anyway.

“I was trying to hide … well … this.” Kaito sort of gestured to everything in the caravan, but with an emphasis on Shinichi.

“Is this your doing? Is this one of your tricks? Is this the latest KID illusion?” Hakuba demanded, still convinced this was an elaborate trick. Because the alternative was simply too absurd.

“Oh, come now Hakuba. You’re too smart for that. You’d know if it was a trick,” Kaito retorted

“But mermaids aren’t real-”

Kaito snapped his fingers under Hakuba’s nose, interrupting him.

“Hey, Haku-bastard.” He said with a falsely bright smile that promised immeasurable torment if Hakuba didn’t listen to him. “Take a hint; Ix-nay on the ermaid-may. Shut up, and keep a secret” He grabbed Hakuba’s head to make the blonde nod minutely in agreement even as he kept glancing in disbelief between Kaito and the mermaid, who now Hakuba noted looked quite similar to one another. Hakuba felt like the world didn’t quite make sense anymore when apparently seeing double of Kaito was the least of his worries because really? Mermaids?!

Kaito pointed his hand at Shinichi, then back to himself. “Me and him, we’ve been through this whole, hysterics part already. He’s real, otherwise, I’ve been talking to a hallucination for the past week and a half and I don’t really want to know what that says about my mental health.”

He pointed at Hakuba, then at Shinichi. “It’s already too late and it's not like I can make you unsee him. Shinichi, this is Hakuba. Haku-bastard, this is Shinichi, our missing ‘giant salamander’ you’re so eager to find. Got it? Got it? Good.” Kaito took the opportunity to give Hakuba’s cheek a hard pinch. It was easy from all the practice Nakamori gave him whenever he disguised as one of the guards.

“OW!”

“Sorry, just trying to prove that you aren’t dreaming either,” said Kaito, wiping his hand on his trousers.

“You were so eager to prove that I was KID, or that I was harbouring KID, that you didn’t even stop to think that maybe I had a good reason for keeping secrets. So if you want anything to make sense again, you’re going to sit there and let me explain.” Kaito yanked his cuffed hand to convey his irritation with the blonde. At the very least, it would pull at Hakuba’s wrists uncomfortably.

“Yes, a week and a half ago, KID stole the Atlantic Envy. But Shinichi was there too, weren’t you Shinichi?”

“Uh, yes?” Replied Shinichi, not really sure why Kaito was telling Hakuba all this.

“Shinichi escaped that night using KID’s heist as a distraction. That’s why Wakati-san’s been saying his ‘valuable pet’ was stolen, there was never any albino ‘Chinese giant salamander,’ he’s been keeping Shinichi in his aquarium.” Kaito took hold of Shinichi’s wrist and showed Hakuba the scarring there. The detective winced in sympathy.

“After the heist, Shinichi lost track of KID. I happened to find him when I was closing up my magic show that night.” Kaito spun his tale as he gave a shrug. “It was practically fate, I felt like I had to help him at that point. So we’ve been using my show as a cover to get him to the ocean ever since. Are you with me so far?”

Hakuba had thankfully stopped looking like he was about to explode from incoherence anymore and levelled a more reasonable look at Shinichi, who was still flicking his tail in the water anxiously, frying pan in hand. As reasonable as Kaito sounded in all this, he was also Hakuba’s number one hater. So he had to go to a slightly less biassed source for confirmation.

“Is Kuroba-kun telling the truth?” He asked Shinichi seriously.

The mermaid stirred in response as he put the frying pan down, apparently no longer feeling the urge to knock out Hakuba now that the blonde was being filled in on everything.

“Yes, he is,” agreed Shinichi easily. Technically Kaito wasn’t lying. it was just in each separate instance, KID and Kaito were also one and the same person in this story. But Hakuba didn’t need to know that.

Satisfied, Hakuba nodded. “This is … well. This is extraordinary,” he said, inspecting Shinichi a little closer now. “I’ve never met a supernatural before, how exciting.”

Kaito snorted. “You’re telling me. The week and a half I’ve had, let me tell you. It’s been mad .”

Hakuba noted the mess of the room he’d managed to make and had the decency to look embarrassed for it. He looked at the pile of books scattered on the floor from the bookshelf during his rummaging and winced.

“I take it, those books belong to you? I happen to be unfortunate enough to know Kuroba-kun can quote them word for word, so he has no need for physical copies. Sorry about that, Shinichi, was it?.”

“Shinichi Kudou. Yes, those are mine.” Shinichi confirmed. Hakuba went over to the shelf, dusted off the books and apologetically began to put the things back on Shinichi’s shelf. “Of course, they’re no Sherlock Holmes books, but they were entertaining enough.”

Hakuba’s regard for the mermaid instantly became warmer, a spark of intrigue for a fellow mystery lover. “Oh? You too, are a fan of the great detective?”

“Very much so,” said Shinichi, finally glad someone else could appreciate his Sherlock Holmes trivia. ”I have been reading them since I learnt how to read. Very interesting books.” Shinichi pointed at Hakuba’s deerstalker hat in appreciation. “I like your outfit Hakuba-kun, very Sherlock.”

“Thank you, I aim to make an impression,” said Hakuba with a warm smile. He had a feeling he was going to get along well with Kudou.

Oh no, it seemed Kaito had made a grave miscalculation when he introduced two Sherlock Holmes-obsessed mystery novel nerds together. Now that they’ve initiated a talk about the finer points of the Sherlockian universe and debated the best Holmes cases, they may never stop.

Shinichi talked easily with Hakuba. The two spoke plainly and logically, nothing at all like the games and teasing between Kaito and Shinichi. Sure, Hakuba was another Sherlock fan, but Hakuba was also a certified stick in the mud who didn’t even know fun if it jumped up and bit him on the nose. And Kaito didn’t want that seriousness rubbing off on his favourite, grumpy critic.

Kaito dragged a palm over his head and groaned into his hands. He hadn’t imagined he would have been spending this evening third-wheeling a Sherlock Holmes geek out. Not to mention Hakuba’s deerstalker hat wasn’t even that cool, Kaito huffed. Really, he didn’t even have a cape.

At some point, Hakuba began examining Shinichi’s side fans to satiate his curiosity, but he had accidentally pushed some of Shinichi’s hair back, revealing to Hakuba a glimpse of the dark numbers.

“Oh, what’s that?”

Shinichi’s hand shot up to cover the mark, embarrassed at exposing the marks yet again so soon from the last time. “O-oh that’s just some numbers. They don’t mean anything,” he tried to deflect. Shinichi didn’t really want to spin his whole backstory on someone he had literally just met today.

“On the contrary,” said Hakuba, “that number is very special. If we take the first Japanese syllables of the numbers 4-8-6-9, we get shi-ha-ro-ku. Otherwise pronounced as-”

“ Sherlock ,” Shinichi realised, rubbing the back of his neck slightly. How ironic.

“Right, reading numbers like this is a code I learnt as a child. I thought you knew and you were just a really big fan.” Hakuba went to take Shinichi’s hand away from the numbers to take another look, but Kaito slapped Hakuba’s hands away. And if it was a bit harder than strictly necessary, well Hakuba probably deserved it anyway.

“Hands off Hakuba,” he said with false brightness. “Shin-chan was hurt there recently, so you shouldn’t touch it. I’m sure Shinichi wouldn’t want you putting your disgusting detective hands all over there irritating his healing skin. Not to mention, you haven’t earnt it, Haku-bastard.”

Hakuba raised an eyebrow as he looked between the two. “Shin-chan?”

But Shinichi had ignored Hakuba’s question, instead turning to Kaito irritably. “It doesn’t even really hurt anymore, you didn’t have to hit him, Kaito.”

No, Kaito was pretty sure smacking the detective’s hands was a very necessary action.

Soon, the two Sherlock fans’ conversation had drifted from discussion about Holmes, to discussion on cases themselves, and inevitably, as all things did with Hakuba, turned to a discussion on the case of Kaito KID.

“So, on the topic of Kaito KID’s identity,” said Hakuba, trying to get Shinichi’s opinion on the matter. A fellow respectable Holmes fan wouldn’t lie to him after all.

“And I want your honest opinion, Kudou-kun, since you seem to be a very intelligent and observant individual yourself; has Kuroba-kun ever done anything that might seem suspicious to you? Anything that might connect him to KID?”

When Shinichi didn’t answer right away, Hakuba sighed. “I know KID rescued you and then Kuroba-kun apparently found you, so you probably regard ‘both’ of them very highly, but you and I both know that no one should stand above the law. Did that night in any way shape or form feel like not a coincidence to you? Perhaps KID called in Kaito for a favour, or perhaps KID was disguised as him, or vice versa?”

Shinichi pretended to think for a bit. Because as nice as Hakuba was, from his discussion with Shinichi, he also deduced that the other stuck rigidly to the rules to a fault. It might not matter to him if KID was helping Shinichi, Hakuba might still try to get him arrested. And really, KID wasn’t that bad anyway, relatively harmless in the grand scale of criminal activity and from Kaito’s stories, just as eager to help people using his less-than-legal talents where the law could not, case and point in the case of stealing Shinichi himself.

“Ah, Kaito warned me about this. I’m afraid you’re seeing shadows where there is only fog, Hakuba.” Shinichi shook his head. “Kaito is right. The only secrets he hid from you was my existence. You were correct in your assumption that Kaito was hiding something, but in your overwhelming expectation to catch his supposed secret identity red-handed, you’ve stopped paying attention to the clues right under your nose.”

Hakuba frowned. Like he couldn’t quite believe someone he was beginning to respect would knowingly abet a criminal. “So, if Kuroba-kun isn’t KID, and KID made off with the Atlantic Envy and left Kudou-kun here behind-”

“He did,” Kaito stage-whispered to Shinichi.

“Then you’re also by extension saying that the Atlantic Envy can’t be here. So I should be able to search your caravan from top to bottom, without a problem, correct? After all, as pleasant as conversing with you has been Kudou-kun, I’m afraid I still have a search warrant for Kuroba-kun’s property.”

Shinichi looked at Kaito, who was still looking irritated beyond measure at being handcuffed to the detective.

“I suppose if it’s alright with Kuroba, it’s alright with me,” said Shinichi, nodding

‘It’s not alright.’ Kaito protested, but both of them ignored him.

“However, given that we’ve provided you with the reason for Kaito’s suspicious behaviour hiding me, I only ask that you keep your search as non-destructive as possible. I didn’t really appreciate seeing you rip through Kaito’s effects before.”

Hakuba nodded. “Consider it done.” He then held up his handcuffed hand, dragging Kaito with him. “Come along, Kuroba-kun. Why don’t you show me the other parts of your caravan? I think I’ve searched quite enough of your stage car tonight.”

The two stumbled out into the rain which had begun to build up to sizeable pellets that struck the caravan mercilessly, impairing vision and creating unsettling sheets of water that sloshed down the rooftops. The sooner Haku-bastard finished his silly inspections, the sooner they could dry off and Kaito and Shinichi could hit the road.

They opened the rear car Kaito had been using for living space and Hakuba set to work poking through Kaito’s chairs, shelves, and other personal effects after pulling on a pair of rubber gloves. It’s not the first time Hakuba’s come poking around, he thinks he’s so slick. But Kaito knows Hakuba used to break in looking for KID evidence. He knows where to hide it from the nosy bastard.

“So, Shinichi’s really Wakita’s missing ‘salamander’?” Hakuba asked, his brow furrowed deep in thought.

“Yeah, but don’t call him that. He doesn’t like it,” Kaito giggled. “I think he gets offended because salamanders are so slimy.”

“How have you been looking after him?” Asked Hakuba, checking under the bathroom sink. “No offence, Kuroba-kun, but you seem like the last person I’d trust to take care of my pet fish.”

“I can be responsible, and Shinichi is not a pet,” said Kaito, affronted. “It wasn’t easy, he eats an obscene amount of fish. Fish, Hakuba.” Kaito shuddered. “But I guess nobody can be perfect. And he needed my help. You’ve now met him, he’s a good person. They were treating him like an animal, Hakuba.”

Hakuba flipped through Kaito’s toiletries, taking note of the second toothbrush Kaito had set aside for Shinichi and the long hairs tangled in one of the combs. “Why didn’t you report Wakita-san to the police? It’s illegal to keep fully sentient supernaturals as pets.”

Kaito shook his head. “You said it yourself, Wakita’s got some kind of influence on the police force. If we reported it, they might have just returned him to the Wakita Estate. Plus, mermaids don’t even officially exist in our laws, so who knows. Wakita might argue that Shinichi doesn’t count as a ‘fully sentient supernatural’ and so that law might not even protect him.”

Hakuba lifted Kaito’s bed frame, stripped back the sheets and felt along the mattress for irregularities. “So, what are your plans, if going to the police is out of the question? I assume it has something to do with reaching Haido City, the last stop on your tour?”

Kaito nodded. “Haito City has a port, Shinichi just wants to get back to the ocean and I respect his wishes. He just wants to go home, that’s our goal.”

“I see. I still don’t think not reporting it is the wisest choice, regardless of the official status of mermaids, I think it would have been wise to seek out an officer you could trust for some sort of protection rather than going about it on your own. But I admire your loyalty as his friend, Kuroba-kun.”

Hakuba finished up his last check of the living quarter car and dusted off his gloved hands. At least he didn’t make too much of a mess this time. In the stage car, that was just him being an asshole it seemed. Well, what else was new, Kaito supposed.

“Of course, I’m the best and only friend he’s got since escaping,” Kaito said, beaming.

They trekked to the front driver’s car and got in for Hakuba to continue his search. This one was pretty bare-bones. Just the driver’s seat and some small compartments Kaito used to store snacks and beverages on the road.

“Well, now you can consider yourself not the only friend he’s got,” said Hakuba, new resolve to his tone as he fingered through Kaito’s maps in search of the Atlantic Envy. “Is there anything I could do to help?”

“Not getting in the way?” snarked Kaito, holding up his cuffed hand. Hakuba pulled an exasperated look on him. “I’m only joking. Well, a little. Seriously, uncuff me, man. But honestly, just don't tell anyone that you saw us.”

“Of course I won’t, what do you mean?” Asked Hakuba, affronted.

“Well,” Kaito worried his lip between his teeth. “What are you going to tell your father? You have that report to write up after you finish your search warrant, don’t you?”

“Hmmm,” Hakuba said, taking out the document and making a big show of reading the text. “Why, it says here that I’m on the lookout for the whereabouts of a ‘Chinese giant salamander.’”

His thoughtful expression slowly morphed into a sly smile as Hakuba folded away the warrant. “I think I can leave any official mention of supernaturals that aren’t even supposed to exist out of the report. After all, it’s true I didn’t find any ‘salamanders.’”

“Thank you, Hakuba,” Kaito smiled gratefully. He pointed at his cuffed hand. “So, about these shackles…”

“One step at a time, Kuroba, I’m still looking for that gemstone,” Hakuba said, checking for hidden compartments under the dashboard.

Kaito pouted.

After a while of feeling around Kaito’s car ceiling for secret compartments, Hakuba finally decided to ask what had been nagging at him since Kaito had called Shinichi by that overly familiar nickname. “By the way, what is your relationship with Shinichi?”

“What do you mean?” Asked Kaito, as his palms began to sweat nervously.

“I mean, you two seem rather close for someone who just happened to take him in a bit over a week ago. You got him his own toiletries, you got him books.”

“Oh, well we just click,” said Kaito, scratching the back of his damp hair.

“Unfortunately, I could see that in your interactions,” Hakuba shuddered. “I don’t know how you managed that. I can already tell Shinichi Kudou is a very sensible individual. How you manage to get along with someone so normal is a mystery to me when you’re … well you.”

“Thank you,” said Kaito proudly.

“It wasn’t a compliment.”

“Coming from you? To me it is.”

“In any case,” Hakuba continued. “You seemed awfully protective of Kudou-kun when the subject of those numbers came up and I couldn’t help but wonder if you were harbouring any feelings for him-”

“Oh, I only did that because you’d barely met the guy,” Kaito said quickly, gesturing with his hands as best he could with one of wives cuffed to Hakuba. “I mean, how comfortable would you be if someone you barely met ten minutes ago came up to look at your neck? That would be weird, right?”

“I suppose.”

Hakuba kept poking around Kaito’s effects, having well and truly run over every compartment in the driver’s car.

“Well Hakuba, as you can see there’s no Atlantic Envy here, and once again you’ve wasted your time, and my time looking for KID. I’m sure you’ve talked Shinichi’s ear off at this point and you should really get going, I want to try to make it to the next town-”

Hakuba, however, had paused.

Kaito went to look at what had made Hakuba so intrigued and wanted to die right then and there.

Hakuba had removed Kaito’s seat cushion and discovered his copy of ‘On the Subject of Marine hom*osexuality.’ He had completely forgotten he had even hidden it there.

Hakuba sent Kaito a meaningful look. “ Kuroba -”

“It’s not what it looks like!” Kaito said quickly, waving his arms defensively in front of him. “Look, I got that book by accident , I swear, you can even ask the store clerk-” Kaito wanted to spontaneously combust.

“Does Kudou know?” Hakuba demanded.

“Does Kudou know what?” Kaito said, deciding to play dumb.

Hakuba nodded to himself. “So, he doesn’t. You do have feelings for him.”

Hakuba sighed as he let the seat cover fall back over the book. But they both knew its presence couldn’t be erased now. Even if it was out of sight, it was certainly not out of mind.

“Kuroba-kun,” Hakuba said seriously. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“Getting you out of my car?” Kaito suggested, gulping. What could he even say to that?

“Stop playing stupid, Kuroba-kun, it’s not a good look,” snapped Hakuba. “You said it as such yourself, your ultimate goal is to get Shinichi Kudou to the ocean for his freedom. Don’t let yourself get distracted by … unnecessary attachments.”

How cruel, for Haku-bastard to reduce everything he and Shinichi have been through together to just ‘unnecessary attachments.’ To call his feelings a ‘distraction’ from the main goal. The cold, hard, manacle chaining Kaito to Hakuba felt like it weighed a thousand tonnes.

Hakuba shook his head in sympathy. “Be careful with your heart Kuroba-kun, don’t put it in a doomed boat.”

“Is that what you think this is?” Kaito demanded, looking down at Haku-bastard’s infuriatingly rational face and clenching his fists. “Doomed?”

Hakuba looked at Kaito sadly. “Don’t you?” He shook his head ruefully at Kaito’s apparent ignorance. “I know you Kuroba-kun. I was there when you were rejected by Aoko, remember?”

Kaito grits his teeth. He remembered.

“You’re a clever individual Kuroba-kun, frustratingly so. But when you play by your heart, you’re blinded by emotions to the point you never even saw the rejection coming even though Aoko had been hinting about it for weeks.”

He thought she liked him, and maybe once, she did. But things changed-

Hakuba set a hand on Kaito’s non-cuffed shoulder. “Think about this rationally , Kuroba-kun. What possible future can you imagine if you were to see these feelings through? You know when he goes to the ocean, that means Shinichi Kudou can’t come back. If he sticks around close to the coast, he could be spotted by witnesses and Wakita-san might track him down and get a hold of him again. You know what that means, Kuroba-kun, don’t you?

Kaito bites his lip and directs his gaze to the ground, unable to look Hakuba in the eyes. “Like you said, I'm not stupid, give me some credit Hakuba.” He let out a bitter laugh. “Of course, I’ve imagined it. I know. He’ll leave and never come back.”

“Then, you must also know you cannot tell him about your feelings.”

Kaito’s eyes widened as he looked at Hakuba’s serious expression. “What? Why not?”

“I don’t have to act on them, but why can’t I even tell him?”

Hakuba’s solemn eyes hardened, looking out the windshield at the unrelenting rain outside as he rested his non-cuffed hand on the steering wheel. He already knew Kaito was a dreamer at heart. It was therefore Hakuba’s duty to show him the cruel truths of reality before the dreamer got himself hurt and the people around him, namely Kudou.

“Because, if there’s even a sliver of a chance that Shinichi ever felt the same way, it would weigh on his mind and burden him,” Hakuba explained. “It could affect his resolve to achieve his freedom. He could hesitate, he might even choose to stay with you.”

“And would that be so bad?” Kaito whispered, daring to ask someone as callous and level-headed as Hakuba. “He … he said he was happy.”

If anything, Hakuba’s face fell with even more worry. “Perhaps. But if this happiness were to cost him his freedom, and he was instead to pursue a life with you, eventually, he would grow to resent you for costing him that freedom. It may not be the physical cage that he had with his original captors, but it would be an emotional cage that he would never be able to bring himself to escape from. He’ll hate you, even as he loves you.”

A clutch of dread settled over Kaito’s heart as a vision played out in his head.

They were together, Shinichi was sipping on a cup of coffee, Kaito was putting together dinner and they were having a lazy night in on a couch lined with waterproof fabric. Photos of them over the years decorated the walls. Shinichi wore his hair up and a tattoo of a dove with an ace of clubs playing card covered the numbers on his neck, and Kaito even saw a silver band hanging from a chain around it. There was a little TV playing a movie in the background, showing a couple kissing on the beach. But even as Vision Kaito was paying attention to the couple in the movie, Present Kaito saw Shinichi instead looking at the waves that crashed up on the beach in the background. His gills twitched, stiff with disuse, folded up against his neck to breathe air for years, his eyes melancholic. Vision Kaito then noticed Shinichi’s slight frown.

“Is something the matter?”

Shinichi blinked, and his face cracked into a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes as he took in the face of his lover, eclipsing all his worries.

“No, nothing’s wrong. Your choice in movies just sucks.”

Kaito blinked and the vision faded. The dread in his heart bit into his soft, tender core like poisoned thorns. Vision Shinichi could never be truly happy, he would always be forced to be missing some fundamental part of himself away from the water. Even though their lives together were as perfect as Vision Kaito could make them, he had to take away part of Shinichi to make the mermaid fit into his life. The worst part was that Vision Shinichi would never fault him for it, he had seemed fully content to mould himself to fit Vision Kaito’s world at the expense of himself.

“I won’t let that happen. I’d rather die than have Shinichi hate me,” Kaito announced.

However, Hakuba didn’t quite look convinced yet, so Kaito gave an additional laugh. “Besides, you’ve blown the situation way out of proportion! I don’t even like Shinichi like that . It’s a crush, at best, Hakkuba. Thanks for screwing my head on straight though.”

Hakuba’s eyes softened at Kaito’s declaration.

“And you’re sure of that?”

“Yes.”

“Nothing more than a crush?”

“Positive.” Kaito was always good at spinning stories.

Hakuba seemed to finally relax. He then let go of Kaito’s shoulder. “I see. No need to be so dramatic, declaring your intent to die for him. Although I suppose this is you we’re talking about, Kuroba-kun. Always one to make a show of things.”

He took out a small key and finally unlocked the cuffs shackling them together, giving the car one last look around. “I suppose you’ll be pleased to know I failed to find the gemstone, so it appears you’re free to go. We should head back and tell Kudou-kun the good news.”

Kaito rubbed his sore wrists and rolled his eyes. “I told you as such, Haku-bastard.”

As they made their way back to the stage car, Kaito overheard Hakuba say something under his breath before they got inside.

“Be careful with your heart, Kuroba-kun, despite your words, I fear your heart is much more fond than you may realise.”

‘Of course, because I love him,’ Kaito answered in his mind.

Shinichi thought they were taking an awfully long time to search Kaito’s other rooms. He wondered if Hakuba had found anything, but Kaito was generally sly enough so as to not get caught, so why would he start getting sloppy now?

But also, what was with Kaito’s behaviour earlier, slapping Hakuba’s hand? While it was true Shinichi didn’t like anyone looking at the numbers on his neck - he’d much rather pretend they didn’t exist - wasn’t Kaito the one berating him earlier for almost assaulting the son of the ‘Superintendent General’? He got the feeling the magician didn’t like Hakuba on principle because Kaito had a fun-loving devil-may-care attitude and Hakuba seemed a lot more proper and level-headed, but Hakuba hadn’t seemed that bad to Shinichi to warrant snapping at him for trying to touch Shinichi’s neck.

When they both came back, soaking from wandering out in the rain, Kaito at least appeared to have simmered down and was downright civil with the blonde and Shinichi relaxed.

Shinichi dutifully tossed them both a towel to dry off. He had a pretty good collection as spillages were pretty common next to the show tank.

“Well, as much as I loathe to admit it, I haven’t found hide nor hair of the Atlantic Envy, nor any evidence that Kuroba-kun is in fact, living a double life as KID. I’ll have to report my findings back to my father.”

The Atlantic Envy in question weighed heavily under Shinichi’s right hip scales as he took the damp towel back from the Detective. “And the rest of your report?” He asked cautiously.

Hakuba nodded. “Kuroba-kun asked the same. You’re a good person Kudou-kun, and no one deserves to be imprisoned the way you were, you’re a living person. Your presence won’t be in the report, rest assured. I’ll keep your existence a secret on my honour as a detective.”

Shinichi nodded. The most solemn vow between two detective novel fans.

Hakuba turned back to Kaito. “Be very careful though, Kuroba-kun. I’m not the only one sniffing around these parts looking for Wakita-san’s thief. Many members of the police force have gone private for Wakita-san to collect on the bounty if they’re the ones to find his missing ‘pet.’” Hakuba said with no small amount of disgust at the terminology. “You may not be so lucky next time and run into a less-than-friendly face.”

“Thanks for the heads up Hakuba, and for telling us about that kill-on-sight order.” Kaito then grimaced a bit to himself. “I wish you listened to me before you busted my tires though man, what the hell?”

Hakuba looked sheepishly away. “Oh. Those were tiny airbags. I didn’t actually pop your tyres, Kuroba-kun. Aoko wanted to play a practical joke on you and see how you liked it. They’re perfectly harmless.”

He demonstrated by taking one out of his pocket, it was a tiny airbag that made an extremely loud deflating sound when triggered. Kaito looked at it in disbelief.

“That scheming witch.” He shook his head. “In any case, we’ll keep our heads down and head out to f*ckui after the flooding goes down.”

Hakuba nodded. “See to it that you do. I’ll be heading off now, I don’t want to get caught up in the storm any longer than I have to.” He started to leave, putting on his coat and collecting his umbrella from the rack.

“Wait,” said Shinichi, taking a hold of Kaito’s sleeve. “Could we take a photo first?” He asked, pointing at Hakuba.

“I want to wear his hat.”

Kaito looked incredulously at Shinichi. “Seriously? You want to wear that bastard’s hat?”

Shinichi pouted, “it's a deerstalker.”

“I’ll get you another deerstalker.”

“But this one is worn by an actual Detective.”

Kaito let out a long drawn breath and groaned, massaging his temples. God, Shinichi was lucky he was cute when he pouted like that, such a goddamn mystery-otaku. Why couldn’t he want to wear Kaito’s hat like that?

“Haku-bastard, could you wait a moment?” groaned Kaito, unhappy he had to deal with the detective for any longer he had to. “Shinichi wants to try on your deerstalker hat.”

Hakuba only looked mildly surprised before he nodded obligingly, “Of course, I don’t mind.”

They ended up taking a few photos together because Shinichi was so enamoured with getting to wear a real-life detective’s deerstalker hat. Kaito even put on an outfit that was somewhat inspired by a masked baron thief he read about a few years back to get into the spirit while Hakuba took up the role of Scotland Yard with his dark grey suit.

However, it was a flash of lightning and the chime of the clock that reminded them all that they all had places to be tonight, and Hakuba stopped at the door to bid his farewells.

“Best of luck to you both.” He said, nodding to each of them in turn as he unfolded his umbrella. ”Though we only met today and I may never see you again, I hope you at least think of me as a friend, Kudou-kun. It was pleasant talking about Holmes to someone else. I really hope you reach the sea.”

Shinichi nodded. “Likewise, it was nice to meet you too, Hakuba-kun. You’re only starting out, but I can tell you’re going to be a great detective.”

Nodding in turn, Hakuba then turned to level Kaito with another look. “Remember what I told you, Kuroba-kun.”

Kaito rolled his eyes. “Yes, Haku-bastard. I know. Now get lost.”

Hakuba nodded solemnly. “Take care.” And he stepped out into the rain, the door closing behind him with a final click.

The rain outside pelted the glass relentlessly, masking the sounds of Hakuba’s departure as the two were left in the performance car to contemplate their next move. Kaito moved to clean up the mess Hakuba had left behind, picking up scattered magic equipment and fixing upturned secret compartments.

Shinichi looked as Kaito moved about the room, eyebrow raised in question. “So, you and Hakuba talked while you were out?”

Kaito nodded carefully, taking out the long cold incriminating cups of coffee and hot chocolate and putting on a fresh pot. “Yeah.”

“What did you two talk about?”

“He wanted to know if he could help,” said Kaito elusively. “I told him the best thing he could do was stay out of our business. Bastard Hakuba, can’t stay out of other people’s business.” He also wanted to talk to me about my embarrassing book on Marine hom*osexuality, don’t ask.

“And, that’s all he said?”

Kaito levelled an amused grin at Shinichi’s apparent nosiness. “Why, did you think we were talking about you? Why, Shinichi, you may be the prettiest mermaid we know of, but that doesn’t mean the world revolves around you.”

Shinichi scowled, flushing a light red. “Well, it’s only a logical conclusion for me to make! Usually, when two people step out to discuss things in private from a third party, it is usually about said third party!”

He huffed in consideration as he folded his arms. “Or, I suppose it could have been because you wanted to discuss things or perform things that couldn’t be shared in polite company, but somehow I highly doubt Hakuba-kun would tolerate hearing innuendos coming from you.”

Kaito pulled a horrified face. “Don’t you dare insinuate that to me again.”

Holding back a smirk at Kaito’s offence, Shinichi nodded. “I thought as much. So, pardon me for thinking you two might have been talking about me.”

We kind of were. Kaito thought. But he was terrified to bring it up to Shinichi. But Kaito was already in too deep, having all but devised a date for them the previous night. Rolling up the unravelled length of red hose Hakuba had strewn in his carnage, Kaito hesitated. “Well, it wasn’t not about you.”

Shinichi narrowed his eyes at the stalling thief. “Explain.”

“He said I was close with you,” Kaito said, righting a tipped-over scale model prototype of a hang glider launch pad.

Shinichi’s brow arched higher. “Yeah, we basically live together. What’s his point?”

Kaito wasn’t sure if it was a good idea to tell Shinichi what Hakuba had told him. The image of Vision Shinichi appeared unprompted in his mind. What if Hakuba was right? That telling Shinichi wouldn’t do anything but ultimately hurt him? They would be at the ocean by Sunday anyway, and Shinichi knowing how Kaito felt would only complicate things. But Kaito also couldn’t stand the thought of not doing anything. Because yesterday … Yesterday was fun. The adrenaline of the heist, the way they complimented each other’s skills solving the puzzle, the thrill of hanging out in an onsen where they weren’t supposed to be. Shinichi was happy. Really, genuinely happy, and seeing him like that, knowing he was the one who set it into motion, had made Kaito feel like he was walking on air. What did Haku-bastard know? It’s not like Haku-bastard knew everything, because Kaito wasn’t the only factor in this equation. Shinichi deserved to know so he can have a say in this too. And if it came down to it, Kaito would make sure Shinichi chose correctly when they got to Haido City. No matter what.

Mind made up, Kaito went up to Shinichi’s tank. He climbed up the ladder, Shinichi watching him all the while, to sit on the edge of the tank after shedding his shoes. He then patted the side next to him, indicating Shinichi should join him.

Curious as to what was troubling the thief, Shinichi hoisted himself out of the water next to Kaito. They made quite a pair, Kaito with his toes grazing the water, Shinichi with his mermaid’s tail hanging under him. It was a song that had to end, but to end it also had to start. The thief hummed in contentment, leaning over and resting his forehead on Shinichi’s shoulder, his hair tickling the side of Shinichi’s neck.

“He said I have feelings for you,” Kaito said softly.

Shinichi’s face clouded, carefully schooled into something neutral and unreadable. “And, do you?”

“... Yeah,” Kaito said. As if it wasn’t obvious.

“Is that okay?”

He let his hand rest next to Shinichi’s open-palmed.

Shinichi didn’t know how to answer. Kaito’s head weight on him was gentle, allowing him to escape from under him with no repercussions if he wanted to. The agony that had bubbled up in Shinichi’s chest from yesterday’s revelations burned a hole at the back of his mind.

“People might think it strange,” Shinichi warned, allowing his hand to land on top of Kaito’s, taking it cautiously into his own.

Kaito interlaced their fingers together, his hold still light so that either of them could break free if they wanted to.

“I love strange,” he answered. He meant it.

“It probably won’t last,” Shinichi whispered.

“Then I would make it count,” Kaito promised, letting his grip between them tighten just for a second so that Shinichi could feel it.

A hand rested on Kaito’s other shoulder, prompting him to lift his head from where it lay on Shinichi’s shoulder and meet his bright blue eyes.

“You’ll get hurt.”

Kaito brought their intertwined fingers to his lips, leaving a soft kiss on Shinichi’s knuckles before holding their hands above his own chest.

“It already hurts.”

Shinichi’s eyes widened, feeling the rapid thump-thump-thump of Kaito’s heart against his fingers, betraying the thief’s nerves.

He let himself lean forward, mirroring Kaito’s earlier position and letting his forehead rest against Kaito’s neck. He didn’t move their hands, crushing their fingers against Kaito’s chest. Shinichi’s claws slipped under the gaps in the fabric of Kaito’s shirt, pushing the buttons from their holes so that Shinichi’s fingers covering Kaito’s hand splayed directly over Kaito’s heart.

“Then, what if I told you, I had feelings for you as well?”

Kaito leaned back, Shinichi’s head tried to chase but Kaito insisted and guided Shinichi’s forehead to rest against his own, nose to nose.

“Then, I guess we can get hurt together.”

Chapter 9

Chapter Text

The storm was worsening. Warnings were shrieking from phones as the roads had water waist-high in certain places. Despite leaving as soon as Haku-bastard had left, they hadn’t been able to find a good place to park for the night, Kaito’s lease on the venue parking having expired. As such, they ended up at an emergency temporary compound set up at a high school by the local authorities to house unfortunate travellers.

Vehicles were parked in rows in the car park while people went to sign their names and receive extra blankets, pillows and rations if they needed them. Kaito didn’t need any of it, having topped up his supplies for Shinichi every day, but he still needed to register for a place on high ground to park for the night, if nothing else.

Shinichi was back in the barrel in the shotgun seat, as officers conducted magic scans on the vehicles being let through, at least no one was searching them.

There was a rapping of knuckles on the window as Kaito scrolled the window down to greet the two officers registering all the people at the compound. They were two women. One with long dark brown hair cascading down her back, and the other in small black twin tails. They were both in patrol uniform with white plastic ponchos and high-vis vests.

“Hello officers Miike, Yumi.” Greeted Kaito, reading their name tags.

“Three-piece vehicle huh? Well, aren’t you a demanding fella?” Yumi commented, marking down a description of Kaito’s vehicle.

“Yep,” Kaito laughed, patting the side of his caravan. “Sorry if that’s inconvenient.”

“It’s no worry, we have space in the back we’re using for large freight trucks, are you delivering something?” Yumi asked, inspecting the caravan.

“No, I’m a performer, I carry my tent and tricks with me wherever I go.”

While Kaito got his vehicle registered, Shinichi looked out of a gap in the barrel out the window. The compound looked like a disaster zone, really. All sorts of people seemed to have been caught out in the flood. Travellers, delivery men, families, locals with homes in really unfortunate locations, all being directed by tired, overworked police staff operating the compound running around in white plastic ponchos.

There was the sound of wandering footsteps, stepping from one side of the caravan to the other, pausing at intervals as someone checked around the caravan.

“Ah, Sharon. Not there, the hand warmers need to be delivered to tent three, not five. You’ve been all over the place today, is something the matter?”

“Oh, my mistake, I’ll get right on it! You know me, Yumi. Sometimes I just get so lost. Would you like a hand warmer as well sir?”

Shinichi felt his blood freeze in his veins. It couldn’t be- That smooth foreign inflection, the Hollywood glamour confidence, he recognised that voice. Through the gap in the barrel, he spotted a female figure. It was hard to make out under the white compound poncho, but he thought he saw a bob of blonde hair, a flash of designer rings, and a flash of lightning briefly lit up a pair of round, circular glasses.

It was Sharon Vineyard. Vermouth. And she was offering a pack of hand warmers to Kaito with a warm smile through the open window.

Kaito waved her off. “No, I’m alright. I’ve got my own in the back, you should make sure those get to people who really need it. I’m just here for the free parking.” Kaito laughed at his own joke and drove through when Officer Miike and Officer Yumi let him through the gates as Vermouth watched him leave, the glaring light from her glasses obscuring her eyes.

Once they were in the back section between two delivery trucks, Shinichi popped off the top of the barrel to get Kaito’s attention, but stayed ducked beneath the view of the windows.

“Oi, what are you doing, someone might see-”

“We can’t stay here,” Shinichi interrupted. “We need to leave. Now.”

Kaito started, looking down at Shinichi's barrel in confused dismay. “What? Why, we just got here, and there’s nowhere left to stay. All the nearby hotels are booked for the night and there’s no way out of town.”

Shinichi shook his head from the barrel, his face ashen and eyes frantically looking around, checking if anyone was watching them. Kaito had only seen him like this once before, and that was when he said he had run into those two men in black at the fish market.

“You saw one of them.” It wasn’t a question.

Shinichi nodded. “Vermouth. I recognised one of her disguises, she goes by the name of Sharon Vineyard. She’s one of Rum’s personal favourite agents. She’s a supernatural herself, working for the Black Organisation. Vampire, I think. Though I’m not sure, it’s not like we had many chances to chat,” said Shinichi, checking the car park frantically for exit options.

“That’s Sharon Vineyard? Isn’t she like, a major American celebrity?” Kaito asked. “And of course, she’s a vampire, my mum’s a fan of her moisturiser line.” He’d have to write a text to her later about that. “What’s she doing working for the Black Organisation?”

“The Black Organisation has members everywhere, Hollywood especially. Sorry to break it to you. But we’ve got to get out of here,” said Shinichi agitatedly. “It’s not too late, the flooding has only just started. We might still be able to sneak out of town across one of the bridges.”

“Hey, calm down, she hasn’t even seen you yet-”

Shinichi shook his head again, frantic. “You don’t understand, she doesn’t need to ‘see’ me, vampires have a very keen sense of smell. The rain’s probably muddled it enough that she couldn’t pinpoint my exact location, but that’s probably why she came up to you. Can you think of a bridge that won’t be sealed off by the police?”

Kaito pulled out a map from one of the compartments under the dash, studying the routes to and from town. It wasn’t looking good, even if they wanted to leave town from the other direction to circle back to f*ckui, there was a checkpoint on that main road. They’d have to go a different route. He tapped an old, winding footpath marked by the mountain. “One, but it’ll be risky. There’s an old mining camp about five minutes from here that was connected to the next town over by a big bridge. But the old mining bridges have been out of operation for a decade, they’re not maintained anymore,” pointed out Kaito. “It’s a death trap.”

Shinichi looked at the map, checking the route Kaito had selected and shook his head. “Not quite. Look over here.” He pointed at an unfinished route marked just further down the path from the bridge. “That looks like the construction site for a train station. It looks like they want to reuse some old infrastructure for the line. They wouldn’t reuse the old bridge for a train line if it wasn’t strong enough, even if it’s been abandoned. It’ll have to do.”

Kaito looked at Shinichi like he was crazy. “We would still risk being swept off. Even if the bridge is still standing, there’s no way the water level hasn’t risen enough over the top. I’d be driving through rapids.”

“Your caravan is made of several large truck components a lot bigger and heavier than your average car,” Shinichi pointed out. “Adding in the fact that your show equipment probably adds another twenty tonnes, we should be heavy enough to not get swept away so long as the current isn’t too deep or fast.”

“That’s still a lot of ifs, I don’t know, Shinichi, this is incredibly dangerous-”

“What other choice do we have, Kaito?” Demanded Shinichi, his eyes wide, scared. “Because I would love to hear it.”

His fingers twitched. He wanted so badly to scratch at the mostly healed scratches on his neck but if he started bleeding now, Vermouth would be on them faster than a blood-frenzied shark.

“The Black Organisation is here and you want to wait for Vermouth to find me, kill you, then take me back to that bastard Wakita?”

“Of course not-”

“Then what else can we do, Kaito?! We need to stay ahead of the Black Organisation at any cost.”

Kaito hesitated. He didn’t like it, but Shinichi was right of course. The rain wouldn’t deter Vermouth for long, and with the town completely sealed off they’d be sitting ducks for her reinforcements come morning. Even if he hooked up some sort of crazy engine to his hang glider strong enough to fly them out, the storm was rendering escape by air impossible. And if they tried to go by boat, it was out of the question. The flooding would crash them into smithereens as soon as they launched. They were well and truly stuck, with the only way out being that bridge.

“Alright. You’re right. We have to go, we don’t have a choice.” Kaito finally agreed.

Shinichi let out a grateful breath of air he hadn’t realised he had been holding. “Thank you, Kaito.”

Settling the barrel lid back over his precious cargo, Kaito circled around the compound back to the entrance where the two patrol officers stopped him.

“What do you think you’re doing? You can’t go back out there, that’s insanity!” Officer Yumi was gesturing wildly back to the compound. “Turn right around mister, as an officer of the law, I can’t in good conscience let you leave!”

“Sorry, sorry. I called one of my friends and he offered to let me stay the night at his place, it’s on a hill. I know my caravan is pretty big, so I don’t want to take up any more of your resources than I have to,” said Kaito sheepishly.

“Resources are not a problem!” Yumi insisted.

“You’ve been a lot of help though, officers. I really appreciate it!” He laughed. “Plus, I don’t think you can legally keep me here against my will. I’m not being detained for a crime, am I?”

“You can appreciate us more by not endangering yourself out there!” The other officer, Miike, spoke up for the first time to Kaito that night. “Please, legally we can’t force you to stay, but it’s much safer here for you, I promise.”

Kaito glanced at his precious cargo next to him. Safer for him, maybe. But not for Shinichi.

“Sorry officers, but if I don’t get going soon, my friend is going to be very worried about me.” He sent a cheeky wink at Miike, who blushed shyly. “Thank you for the concern though, you must be some of the nicest police officers I’ve ever met.”

Yumi, however, was not impressed by Kaito’s comments. She angrily put her hands on her hips. “Fine! If you want to go ahead and endanger yourself and the people around you driving that monstrosity of a caravan out in the middle of a storm, be my guest. But be ready for lawsuits up to the neck when you crash into something!”

Kaito barked out a laugh, “I appreciate your concern. Keep up the good work.” He waved as he exited the compound, Miike looking thoroughly huffy and concerned while Yumi just scowled about ‘stupid reckless men trying to look cool’ shrinking in the rear mirror.

As they drove along the mountain road, the track got a lot muddier, kicking up rocks that chipped at the caravan paint in its wake. Shinichi had long since popped the top of the barrel again to keep an extra eye out for Kaito, seeing as he seemed to have better natural night vision than the thief, as he had earlier spotted Hakuba out in the storm when Kaito could not. The headlights did little to improve visibility, and Kaito could use every bit of help he could get.

The old mining bridge was narrow, it would barely fit Kaito’s caravan, but it was possible. Water was sluicing over the surface making it incredibly slippery, but it was only about ankle deep so far. Kaito eyed the speed at which it was rushing over the wooden planks with caution.

Shinichi met his concerned gaze. “It’ll only get worse as the storm goes on, we cross now, or never.”

And never wasn’t an option.

Kaito set the caravan into first gear as they slowly, and carefully inched their way across the bridge. Every creak and groan of the bridge just about sent Kaito into cardiac arrest. The caravan swayed as the current of the water threatened to push them off. Kaito focused on correcting their trajectory with the wheels fighting him every step of the way as they slipped under the slippery wood and threatened to veer off course and topple them into the rapids below.

They were about two-thirds across when Shinichi sensed something was wrong. It was invisible under the rushing water, but something was causing an irregularity in the water flow over a spot on the right side of the bridge. The water flow was veering to either side of something under the surface but he couldn’t see what it was. But whatever it was, it didn’t appear to be dangerous, and they were almost across the bridge anyway. He only realised what it was when the caravan lurched when Kaito drove over it.

It was a giant crack, the irregularity of which caused a part of the road to lift up into a small bump. As Kaito’s caravan lifted on the right side due to the bump, the rushing water found purchase on the underside of the caravan as the weight shifted unevenly and lurched them into the side of the bridge, crashing against the guard rail. The shock sent Shinichi’s barrel crashing into the side of the car, bursting it open as he lay sprawled on the car floor and his head smacked off the side of the glass, which cracked when it hit the guard rail.

“Oof! Kaito, are you alright?” Shinichi asked, once he peeled his head from the cracked glass.

“Wheeeew, that was a close one,” Kaito laughed nervously from where he had been hanging from his seat belt. The mirror had snapped off the side of the door so Kaito had no choice but to unfasten his seatbelt and turn around in his seat to the mirrors to assess the damage to the stage car and the rear car. “Okay, the rest of the caravan hasn’t broken off or anything, we should still be able to make it across if I go really, really carefully.”

However, Kaito wouldn’t get to test his theory, because the river washing over the bridge was carrying with it a motorbike which was thrown over the side of the rail by the current and slammed into the side of the driver's car where Kaito was, ripping the door from its hinges.

“Kaito!” Shinichi shouted as water rushed into the interior, flooding the floor of the car.

“I’m okay, I’m-”

Shinichi never got to hear the rest of that sentence, because Kaito fell silent when they realised with the added water building up in the car, the weight of the caravan was steadily increasing pressure against the guard rail, and then the caravan was rolling over.

“f*ck.”

The caravan was thrown over the edge of the bridge. For a terrifying moment, they were in freefall, as the caravan rolled once in midair before landing into the river proper, throwing Kaito from the driver’s seat out where his door used to be.

The impact threw Shinichi hard against his belt, stopping him from going through the windshield himself. The car flooded with water, sinking fast. Shinichi’s gills opened, filtering in the water as the air was knocked from his lungs and his nictitating membrane flicked over his eyes, adjusting him to underwater vision in an instant.

Shinichi floundered in the water, he couldn’t find the place where the seat belt was fastened. Giving up, Shinichi tore through the belt with his teeth, slicing through it with ease. Free, he swam out from the car before the water current could flip him over again, looking frantically for any sign of Kaito.

The river water was murky, clouded from the debris picked up by the flooding. Shinichi had never swum in river rapids before, the closest being riding on storm currents in the open ocean. But in a river, he was pelted by projectiles in all directions as the water threw around rocks, sticks, and various human structure debris picked up by the water current. But Shinichi didn’t care about all that, because he was made for swimming and had a good chance of surviving, but Kaito? Kaito was human, Kaito was out here at the mercy of nature. Humans were relatively weak swimmers and Kaito couldn’t breathe underwater, he could very well die here and it would all be Shinichi’s fault.

Because it is, isn’t it? Kaito had reservations about leaving town tonight, but Shinichi had been the one to insist they leave this way. There weren’t many other options, but Shinichi wasn’t even willing to try their luck and hunkering down until morning. He … he was the one to convince Kaito there was no other choice. They could have forced their way through one of the other bridges, they didn’t have to take this mountain route, by an abandoned mine where no one was around for miles to spot someone being swept away by the river. No one around to help.

As good as his vision in the dark was, Shinichi could still only just barely make out things in the river, looking frantically for a human form in the water. There! By the riverbed, Kaito was floating in the water, out cold. Shinichi dove after him. He had sunk partially into the soft mud and was stuck. Shinichi pulled as he thrashed out with his tail furiously but only managed to budge Kaito slightly. A weak, silvery trail of bubbles was streaming from Kaito’s mouth. He needed air. Shinichi rushed to the surface, face breaking the barrier and sucking in a lungful of air, as much as he could carry. He dove back down below. Pinching Kaito’s nose, Shinichi pressed his mouth to the thief’s and allowed the precious oxygen to flow from his lungs into Kaito’s. A few scant bubbles escaped when Shinichi pulled away. That would have to make do, for now, the more pressing concern was getting Kaito out from the mud. A shadow fell over them, and Shinichi looked up with dread. The caravan had floated overhead and was now being pushed down by the water over them. It was going to crush Kaito.

Frantically, Shinichi dug his claws into the mud and began clawing at the riverbed, desperately trying to free Kaito from its hold. There was a sickening suction sound as the mud surrendered its hold and Kaito started floating towards the surface with Shinichi pushing him along as the long caravan overhead was rushing down to crush them. It was going to be close. Giving one last shove, Shinichi thrust Kaito out of harm's way as the shadow of the caravan engulfed him and he had to do some quick manoeuvring to dodge all the falling debris from the contents of Kaito’s caravan. Lockers, tables, and chairs, all falling through the water. The red and white striped tent Kaito used unfurled itself from the belly of the caravan and threatened to ensnare Shinichi like a giant fishnet.

Pain! Shinichi twisted around furiously. In the fray, a piece of rebar from some part of the caravan or another had lanced through the end of his tail fin, about an inch from the edge. Pinned, Shinichi was trapped. Shinichi tugged and pulled at the rebar but it was stuck tight between two twisted pieces of caravan metal. He looked up. Kaito was still floating in the water above him, Kaito needed Shinichi to reach the surface.

Without a second thought, Shinichi turned from the wreckage and tore a hole through his tail fin, further ruining the delicate, scalloped edge, but Shinichi didn’t care. He had Kaito in his arms and dragged the magician to the surface, gasping.

The river had carried them downstream to a giant reservoir, Shinichi could make out dim lights of civilization by the bank. They didn’t appear to be in town anymore, the buildings were built with a more rural traditional style than the modern, homey designs in the town centre.

Luckily, no one was out watching the reservoir out in the middle of a storm, so Shinichi was free to drag Kaito to the bank without worrying about being seen. He hauled them up the shore and set Kaito down on his back while Shinichi held his hand to his lips. Kaito wasn’t breathing. Immediately, Shinichi began the process of CPR.

Arms locked, one palm over the other. Down, one, two, three. Kaito was not dying here, he hadn’t even finished showing Shinichi all those wonderful tricks of his. Didn’t he promise to impress him? That would be quite impossible if the stupid thief croaked here. He promised to show him magic, he promised Shinichi fun. He thought to one of the nights when he hadn’t been able to go to sleep, still puzzling over Kaito’s latest trick when Kaito decided to give a little hint and had explained to him the different kinds of magic he performs as Shinichi timed his life-saving pushes.

“Did you know there are only seven kinds of magic?”

Four, five, six. No, he hadn’t known. Tell me more, Kaito.

“All magic is just variation and building on one or two core ideas.”

You make it sound so simple . Seven, eight, nine, ten.

“Vanishing and Appearance, Levitation, Penetration, Prediction, Restoration, Transformation, and Transposition.” Shinichi counted his next pushes with each type of magic Memory KID had listed.

Eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen.

“Maybe I’ll show you some of my other tricks some time.”

I’d love to see them. Eighteen, nineteen, twenty.

“Levitation, the act of floating in the air.” KID had appeared to suspend himself horizontally across the air, supported by nothing but an impossibly thin walking cane and defying all sense of balance.

Achieved through suspension using wires or thin platforms. By utilising specific stage lighting, rendering the black cables or platform practically invisible. Twenty-one, twenty-two.

“Transposition, or in layman’s terms, teleportation.” KID disappeared and reappeared seemingly in an instant from the bottom of the tent to the top with a plume of smoke.

This one Shinichi had already cracked a while ago. KID used rapidly rotating mechanisms or pulleys to launch himself from one position to the next, while covering the action through an eye-catching distraction like a flash of fire or a puff of smoke.

Twenty-three, Twenty-four, twenty-five.

“Vanishing and appearing, making something disappear and reappear from seemingly thin air.”

Practically KID’s bread and butter trick using cleverly timed sleight of hand and hidden compartments.

Twenty-six, twenty-seven.

“Sleight of hand is all about misdirection, and manipulating the audience’s attention. Attention is a powerful tool in that it controls a person’s very perception of reality.”

In demonstration, while he placed a hand on Shinichi’s right hip directly over the Atlantic Envy getting the mermaid to look at the offending appendage, KID had managed to swap out Shinichi’s cup of coffee he was holding onto for KID’s hot chocolate completely unnoticed.

Twenty-eight, twenty-nine.

“A convincing trick will always make the audience think that they’re the ones in control. For it’s only that confidence that causes people to slip up and miss things.”

Because he’d had his hand on the coffee mug handle, Shinichi thought that so long as he kept his hold on it, KID wouldn’t have had the ability to take the mug from him. In reality, Shinichi hadn’t noticed the handles of the mugs were clipped on, and KID and swapped out the mugs right from under his nose.

Thirty.

Shinichi took Kaito’s head and tilted it back with his hands. Pinching Kaito’s nose, he took a deep breath and sealed his mouth over the magician’s and delivered the life-giving oxygen until he visibly saw Kaito’s chest move.

Repeat.

KID’s flirtations and natural playfulness worked well to KID’s acts of misdirection, as flustering his opponent ‘got people stupid’ as he said, and people stopped paying attention to what KID was doing in favour of rebuking what KID was saying.

“That is the art of using attention for magic.”

Shinichi put his head on Kaito's chest. He could hear Kaito’s heart beating, but more distressing was the gurgle and rattle of water he could hear sloshing around in Kaito’s lungs.

Taking a deep breath of air, Shinichi sealed his mouth over Kaito’s and pinched his nose once again, willing the air to induce Kaito’s lungs to cough up the river water and accept the godforsaken surface air that tortured Shinichi’s lungs since the day he was taken from the ocean.

Kaito’s back arched from the mud as he started coughing up water into the soaked grass, hacking up an unattractive mixture of blood and saliva as he did so as his breathing evened out, shuddering into Shinichi’s side.

Shinichi breathed out a sigh of relief. He rubbed soothing circles into Kaito’s back, whispering comforting phrases of ‘just breathe,’ and ‘I’ve got you,’ into the magician’s ear. Kaito’s brief regained consciousness didn’t last long, however, as the thief quickly fell back under once his lungs stopped spasming.

They weren’t out of the woods yet, although immediate drowning was thwarted, there was still the matter of pneumonia. Kaito’s body temperature had dropped dangerously low as his lips were blue and his skin ashen. He needed warm shelter and he needed it soon. Seeing no other alternatives, Shinichi resigned to dragging themselves through the brush to some sort of human refuge.

An old-looking temple looked out over the reservoir. Little cabins to accommodate monks spread out from the main temple like node connections to a central brain stem.

Shinichi dragged them to a room jutting out from the main building of the temple, a little shed used to store firewood, staying out of the lights that ringed the entrances.

Shinichi fiddled with the lock on the door, cursing his lack of legs causing him to constantly keep slipping down onto the hard ground each time he failed. KID would have been much better suited to this. Getting an idea, Shinichi patted down Kaito’s pockets until he knocked loose his Fairy’s Pocket. Thank god that hadn’t gotten lost in all the commotion. Pulling the drawstring open, Shinichi fished out the Fairy’s Favour and powered it up with a quick lick, diverting some sea magic into the little trinket. When it shone with energy, Shinichi held it up to the lock which snapped open with a click and a hiss, the door creaking open slightly as it swung open.

No time to waste, Shinichi dragged Kaito bodily over until he was leaning on a pile of neatly stacked firewood and closed the door.

Kaito was still unconscious, his pulse was getting just a bit more erratic and shivering violently as Shinichi panicked.

“Godammit Kaito, wake up,” Shinichi begged. Prolonged unconsciousness was not a good sign. Most impact-related brain trauma knocked people out for at most fifteen minutes, anything longer than that and Kaito could be looking at anywhere up to two days of unconsciousness.

If he woke up.

Shinichi shook his head, now was not the time to be assuming the worst.

Kaito was wet, he needed to get dry or he would never warm up. Shinichi shucked off Kaito’s jackets and outerwear leaving him down to his undergarments. He didn’t have a towel so Shinichi made do and found an old cover thrown over the firewood to keep it dry and wrapped Kaito in it instead. It was no good, he was still shivering, and the night was only getting colder. Shivering was good, shivering was alive. Shinichi could work with shivering as he wrapped himself tightly around Kaito, making as much skin contact from his arms to the end of his tail as he could in order to shield Kaito from exposure to the frigid storm air.

But the shivering did not abate. In fact, the soft puffs of Kaito’s breath against his cheek only seemed to grow weaker. Dammit, Shinichi thought. It wasn’t enough, he wasn’t warm enough. He could feel Kaito’s body leeching what it could glean from Shinichi’s skin but it still wasn’t enough. Kaito’s shivering was only growing weaker. Kaito needed someone who was warm enough to keep him from dying and that person wasn’t Shinichi. Kaito wasn’t getting warm enough because Shinichi wasn’t human. Humans and mermaids didn’t have compatible heat signatures. Humans and mermaids weren’t compatible. They weren’t compatible.

The evidence was screaming right in Shinichi’s face as Kaito lay potentially dying.

Then, Shinichi could hear Kaito mumbling in his unconscious delirium. “Shinichi … ‘m so sorry, I didn’t mean to love you.”

Love him. Because Kaito had feelings for Shinichi. Shinichi had feelings for Kaito too, but he wasn’t sure if he was quite ready to call those feelings ‘love.’ But he thought he’d like to. Shinichi bit his lip. He didn’t know why Kaito was sorry about that. Being ‘sorry’ for liking him made it feel like Kaito thought his love would be a bad thing for Shinichi, but this could just be ramblings of delirium and probably didn’t hold much actual water. If anything, it was Shinichi's feelings for Kaito that were the real issue here. He had almost gotten KID killed. Hell, he still might if he couldn't wake Kaito up now.

But they weren’t compatible.

Shinichi shook his head at his stupid thoughts. That wasn’t important right now. What was important was saving Kaito’s life. And he … couldn’t do that by himself. Kaito wasn’t dry enough, Shinichi wasn’t warm enough.

Resigned, Shinichi knew he had to get help. He opened the door and slithered his way back outside, carrying Kaito. Luckily, the mud and rain made it a bit easier to move around on the surface but it was still slow moving progress. Shinichi made it to the front door of the temple, setting Kaito down on the front step. Feeling incredibly exposed under the warm lights he hesitated, his arm held up. He might not get away fast enough when someone came to answer the door. He might be spotted, and then the Black Organisation would know where he was. But he looked at Kaito, and the way his chest was moving up and down weaker in shallow breaths. There was no other option.

Shinichi braced himself and knocked heavily on the door.

Once he was sure he heard footsteps approaching, Shinichi turned around to leave. But he hesitated at the edge of the light and dropped down to whisper into Kaito’s ear.

“I’ll come back for you. So survive, and wait for me.”

Wiping the hair from Kaito’s face with one last lingering motion, Shinichi retreated into the shadows, just as the door to the temple opened.

“Oi, who is it? D’ya know what time it is- holy crap!”

Kaito was having a strange dream. He and Shinichi were on the beach, but they weren’t sad because Shinichi was leaving. No, they were happy because Shinichi had come back.

Kaito’s hair was a little longer, signifying some amount of time had passed. He was holding Shinichi back against himself between his legs on the beach, arms around Shinichi’s stomach. Kaito had been making futile silly sand sculptures as the tide came in, stealing the sand between his toes and gently caressing against Shinichi’s tail fins. He was peppering the back of Shinichi’s neck with gentle kisses, licking away the sea salt and tracing the scars with his teeth and lips until new, gentler marks covered the site.

A particularly large wave crashed into the surf, sending water flying up to their faces as Kaito got seawater in his mouth from his open-mouthed ministrations for his trouble. Shinichi turned around in his arms to laugh as Kaito coughed up the unexpected salty mouthful, hitting himself in the chest to spit up more.

Once he was done, Kaito pouted at Shinichi’s teasing for getting water in his mouth. He didn’t seem to be complaining when Kaito had been leaving the kisses after all.

Returning Kaito’s pout with a soft smile, Shinichi held a hand to Kaito’s cheek, leaned forward and tilted his head back in a soft kiss.

“There, did I kiss it better?”

“I don’t know, why don’t you try again to make sure?” Kaito purred, still only slightly miffed at Shinichi laughing at him.

“I’ll come back for you. So survive, and wait for me.” He whispered into Kaito’s ear.

What was Shinichi talking about? Survive? How morbid. Kaito would much rather Shinichi be whispering something else to him instead.

Kaito surged forward to return Shinichi’s kisses, deepening them as his lips left a searing heat against Kaito’s own. His arms looped around Kaito loosely, warm fingers raking across Kaito’s back as Kaito’s hand came up to grip against Shinichi’s warm, solid thigh.

But, Shinichi didn’t run that warm, he ran pretty cool, actually. And Shinichi didn’t have nice, strong soccer player thighs, he had a tail. And Shinichi didn’t have a tan, what?

Kaito blinked.

“Ayo, I think it’s a bit soon for ya to be feeling up her thighs, my dude.”

A very irritated, Osakan accented voice spoke. That wasn’t Shinichi.

Kaito woke up. His head was pillowed on the lap of a girl who was gently removing a damp cloth from his forehead and his hand had crept up her leg in his sleep. Coming to his senses, Kaito quickly ripped his hand away. They were in an unfamiliar room furnished with wooden rustic furniture, the walls lit with lanterns, and the floor was covered with tatami mats. It looked to be the modest interior of a temple room. A boiler bubbled away nearby, heating up the whole room as there was a crackle of fire lit from underneath. There was also a very angry-looking tanned guy sitting across from Kaito and the girl, looking like he was fighting off every urge to punch Kaito in the face.

The girl’s face brightened when she noticed Kaito’s eyes were open.

“Oh, you’re awake!” She set the towel in a bucket of warm, heated water and leaned forward over Kaito slightly.

“Who are you?” Kaito asked, rubbing the side of his head. Ow, that throbbed. He’d like that warm towel back over there, please. Yes, right here. Where it felt like a melon was splitting open.

“Kazuha,” the girl said in an equally heavy accent to her very jealous-looking male companion. “My name is Kazuha Toyama, the one with the frown here is Heiji Hattori. You’re lucky to be alive when Heiji found ya in front of the temple! What were you thinking, going out in the middle of a storm like this?”

When did Kaito even get to a temple? He racked his brain for his scattered memories. He remembered leaving the compound, getting to the bridge, getting thrown out of the caravan and into the river, and he thinks he remembers … something about waking up on the shore. But he’s not sure what, that part’s all fuzzy-

Holy crap. Shinichi gave him CPR.

Shinichi gave him mouth to mouth and Kaito wasn’t even conscious enough to appreciate it goddammit.

“Ow, my head,” Kaito complained aloud instead of commenting on all that. “Nice to meet you, Kazuha-chan. I’m Kaito. Kaito Kuroba.” Kaito did his best to bow his neck from where it was pillowed on her thighs because his splitting headache really didn’t want him to get up, and he grabbed her hand to brush his lips across her knuckles.

“Oi, paws off!” said Heiji, slapping away Kaito’s hand. “Kazuha, are we sure he’s not still loopy?”

Kaito winced as the two Osakans began to bicker as Kazuha scolded Heiji for slapping someone who was injured but Kaito was still trying to get his bearings. Where was Shinichi then? He couldn’t be in the temple or Kaito thinks the two Osakans would have asked him about that already. They didn’t seem to be monks either, visitors perhaps? Taking shelter from the storm. Then Kaito noticed he was just about naked, save for his underwear. Ah, that would explain part of why Hattori wanted to punch him in the face.

“How’d I get here, where am I, and why am I basically in the buff?”

The two stopped their bickering (like an old married couple) long enough for Kazuha to answer.

“We don’t know how you got here, it looked like you dragged yourself all the way from out by the river. This is Wakasa temple, in f*ckui. And as for how you’re dressed uh …” Kazuha flushed a bright red and looked away while Heiji’s expression thundered.

“We found ya like that. It’s a good thing though! Yer clothes were found soaking wet and your fever would’ve been worse if you didn’t take them off though, so you did the right thing! That being said-” Kazuha put her hands on her hips, and her kind expression twisted into that of a scolding mother. “What you did was very reckless!” Kazuha reprimanded. “All the bridges out west are closed for a reason! Why did you risk coming out here?”

“Uh, I must’ve missed the memo?” Kaito suggested. “I left out through the mountain path, there were no roadblocks that way so I thought it was okay.”

Heiji’s narrowed eyes suggested he didn’t believe a word Kaito said. “The only way out from the mountains is an old closed bridge that literally hasn’t been used in a decade. You must have noticed the path wasn’t maintained.”

“Nope, can’t really see a thing in this weather, I thought the mud was just storm damage.” Kaito said as a way of explanation and shrugged as if to say ‘hey, he was the victim in all this’.

“Uh-huh.”

“So, what was so important in f*ckui that you couldn’t wait until morning?” Kazuha asked, going back to wetting a fresh towel for Kaito.

“I was trying to … to help a friend,” said Kaito. It was the truth after all, and he didn’t think he was getting any favours from lying to Heiji’s face.

“Oh no, I hope they’re not still out in the river-” Kazuha fretted, looking out meaningfully at the storm as it thundered.

“They’re probably a goner if they are,” said Heiji.

“Heiji!” Kazuha admonished, casting a look at Kaito. “Don’t say that!”

“What, I’m only saying the truth!” said Heiji, holding his hands between himself and an angry Kazuha. “I’m a detective, and it’s highly unlikely for anyone to survive out there in the river this whole time. This guy here barely made it himself.”

Kaito internally groaned. Not another one. What was with him and running into all these detectives?

“What about you two?” Kaito asked instead, turning the two Osakan’s attention back to himself. “You two don’t look like temple monks. What are you two doing out here?”

“We came here to visit the temple and get a Mermaid Scale!” Said Kazuha brightly. “But then the storm hit early and we were stranded here with everyone else. The monks are very busy helping out people trapped in f*ckui due to the storm, so we’re helping out.”

Kaito’s eyebrow quirked up in question. “A Mermaid Scale?”

Kazuha nodded. “Uh-huh, don’t you know about what temple you’re in?” she smiled and sighed romantically while Heiji rolled his eyes.

“Wakasa Temple is known as the Mermaid Temple! They say that if you get a Mermaid Scale from the Mermaid Spring, then you and your lover will be together for all eternity!”

Mermaid Temple? Mermaid Spring? Kaito shook his head and snorted in disbelief. Talk about a twist of fate.

“Is something funny?” asked Heiji, defensive.

“No,” said Kaito, aware he didn’t need Heiji wanting to punch him more than he already apparently did. “You just look a lot like someone I know.” Kaito finished lamely.

“Oh,” Heiji blinked and scratched the side of his nose. “Yeah, I’ve been told I have one of those recognisable sort’sa faces, not too different from your own actually.”

“Heiji’s been mistaken for Okita-kun before in Kendo tournaments!” Kazuha added.

Kaito looked between the two, analysing their body language towards each other.

“So like, you two are together then, for the Mermaid Scale?”

“NO!” They both shouted out at the same time, startling Kaito.

“He’s not my boyfriend, he’s like a brother to me-”
“She’s not my girlfriend, she’d be too annoying-”

“And!” Said Kazuha, sending Heiji a scathing look. “The legend only says that the lovers will be together for all eternity, it doesn’t say you have to have a lover right now for it to work, so I’m getting it for future use!”

“... I see.” Said Kaito, unwilling to challenge her on the concept or the obvious fact that she and Heiji seemed already together in all but name.

“So you believe in mermaids then?”

Kazuha looked shy. “Well, why not?” She said. “I use all sort’sa lucky charms, I even make them for myself and Heiji.” Kazuha held up a tiny pouch she had tied on the end of her phone as a charm.

Just then, Kaito was saved from further Osakan interrogation by the timely arrival of one of the temple’s monks. He was a middle-aged man in a humble brown robe, glasses on his wizened face and a shaved head.

“Ah, I see our mysterious guest has woken up! Excellent.” He said, setting down a few herbs and a small, old-fashioned Japanese style bound book. “I was just coming to give my blessings for your swift recovery!”

“Ebihara-sama!” Kazuha cried, bowing quickly to the monk. Kaito and Heiji bowed in turn, though slightly less enthusiastically.

“You're a very lucky young man,” the monk, Ebihara says. “You could have caught your death out there in the river.”

Kaito laughed. “Oh, yeah, surviving crashing my caravan off a bridge, dragging myself out of the river in a rainstorm, I’d say I’m pretty lucky.”

Ebihara smiled as he took over Kazuha’s nursing tasks, wringing dry the towel from the bucket of warm water and reapplying it to Kaito’s head. “Indeed. You must have mermaids watching over you.”

“Eh, something like that,” Kaito said, if he only knew. “So … you believe in mermaids?”

The elderly monk let out a jaunty, full-belly laugh. “Of course I do! it sort of goes with the job description for a monk of the Wakasa Mermaid Temple, doesn’t it?” He chuckled. “It’s true, no one’s seen a mermaid in the history of our interactions with the supernatural. But with unicorn and forest spirit sightings in the forests, who’s to say mermaids aren’t real?”

Kaito looked at Ebihara’s book of blessings in question. “Well, what can you tell me about them?” It felt a little wrong to ask about these things behind Shinichi’s back, but maybe this would give Kaito some insight as to what the Black Organisation wanted from Shinichi, their last ingredient to complete the Apoptoxin and achieve immortality.

Ebihara let out a thoughtful hum, surprised that the stranger they had picked off the doorsteps half drowned had taken an interest in mermaids. Usually, only tourists and people chasing supernaturals asked questions. Of which Kaito seemed to be neither.

“What don’t you know? They’re guardians of water and the sea, masters of sea magic that pertains to emotion.”

“But what does that mean, exactly?” Kaito asked. “What kind of sea magic?”

Ebihara pulled out an old page of his book depicting a mermaid sitting on the rocks, brushing her hair as a sailor came closer.

“The classic siren, a mermaid of fearsome power that lures many a sailor to their death with their song. A mermaid’s power comes from emotion, either their own or their victim’s. The sailor’s initial desire fuels the siren’s song, empowering it to enthral him even further and leading him to his ultimate demise.”

The monk turned the page. “It’s because of these powerful emotional magics that we at the Mermaid Temple believe that a mermaid’s scale is capable of enhancing emotions of love, lust and desire, binding two lovers for all eternity.”

So far, nothing that would seem to attract the attention of the Black Organisation. And Kaito highly doubted either Wakita or his boss, Karasuma, were interested in eternal love.

“Are there any other stories about mermaids?” Kaito asked. “Maybe something about longevity?”

The monk gave Kaito a strange look. “You know, you’re the second man who’s come to me asking about that. The last time, a young man who served me a very delicious plate of sushi came and asked me that very same question. Strange fellow him, awfully interested in all things mermaid.”

Wakita. Kaito realised. “And, what did you tell him?” He asked.

“There is one other myth, pertaining to the powers of a mermaid,” began Ebihara. “They say that a mermaid’s emotions are so powerful, that consuming the tears of a mermaid can grant a person eternal life.”

“Really?” said Kaito, eyebrows raising. Bingo.

“What about yourself, Kuroba-kun?” Asked Kazuha. “You seem really interested in mermaids. Do you believe in them?”

“Who, me?” Kaito laughed. “No, I just liked that myth you said earlier, you know about the scales making couples stay together forever. So I wanted to hear some more.”

Kazuha giggled. “You’re really a romantic, huh Kuroba-kun?” She glared pointedly at Heiji. “Not like Heiji here who laughed at me when I told him about the legend.”

“That’s ‘cause mermaids aren’t even real, idiot!” Heiji scolded.

Cross, Kazuha threw a wet towel which hit Heiji in the face with a wet smack. “Oi!”

“But ya know, it's funny,” said Heiji, peeling off the wet towel and rubbing the underside of his nose with a finger. “Guy like you, turning up at the Mermaid Temple. Did you know, when we found ya, the ground around the area looked like there were a bunch’a scales layin’ around?”

“Really?” Said Kaito, biting back a nervous smile that would have given him away and trying to sound genuinely curious. Uh oh.

“Yeah, I saw a bunch’a them out front, took a few for a closer look too.”

Heiji threw a handful of iridescent, shining pale blue scales on the ground. “Ever seen a fish with scales like that?” The scales clattered on the mats, scattering in front of Kaito like so much evidence.

Kaito laughed nervously. “Wow, I must have bumped into a pretty big fish while getting tossed around in the river. I don’t like fish, so I wouldn’t know what kind it was. You’re the detective, right? Why don’t you tell me?”

“Uh-huh,” said Heiji, still looking at Kaito with open suspicion. “Well, when I opened the door to the temple, I thought I saw someone leaning over you. I thought Kazuha’s stories had finally gotten to me, cause I could’ve sworn whoever it was had a tail. Know anything about that?”

Kaito levelled Heiji with a derisive look. “What are you trying to say, Tantei-han? I think you’ve been listening to too many stories at the Mermaid Temple. There’s no such thing as mermaids.”

He took one of the scales off the floor and handed it to Kazuha. “I think you should hang on to this though, Kazuha-chan. Even if it’s not a mermaid scale, I think it’s a very pretty colour for a very pretty girl. It might even bring you luck.” Kaito winked. “After all, whatever it was that was watching over me, saved my life tonight.”

Kazuha looked at the scale with wonder in her eyes as it dropped into her palm. “Thank you, Kuroba-kun, I’ll treasure it always.”

They both ignored Heiji fuming in the back how he was the one who got the scales, not Kaito, so why was he handing them out like he had any right to them? As Ebihara left to help other residents in the temple, Kazuha slipped the scale into the pouch charm on her phone, and she picked another one to give to Heiji, despite the other boy’s protests.

“Do you want a charm too, Kuroba-kun?” Asked Kazuha. “I don’t mind making another one. Sometimes I even sell them at the market!” Showing Kaito the little purple pouch with embroidered lucky characters.

“Ah, no. It’s alright. I don’t really like putting charms on my phone …” Kaito trailed off. “Oh, that’s right, my phone!” He looked around himself frantically.

“Has anyone seen it? It might be in my clothes.”

There was an uncomfortable silence that stretched out between the monk and the Osakans.

“What’s wrong?” Kaito asked, fearing he already knew the answer as a yawning pit opened up in his stomach.

Kazuha bit her lip. “Well, we did find a phone. It might not be yours but-”

Heiji took out a small plastic bag with the mangled remains of Kaito’s phone.

“Ah.” His face falling probably said it all. Kaito wasn’t particularly attached to his phone itself, but the photos on his phone were some of the only pictures he had of his father being his father. Not his father as Kaito Kid, there were plenty of those photos taken by the press at his heists, but his father as Toichi Kuroba. There weren’t very many of them left, and now there may well be none at all. He had already lost his father once, now Kaito was afraid he might have lost him a second time. Not to mention, once Shinichi left, Kaito had been hoping to at least be able to hold on to his memories of him using the pictures they took.

Kaito took hold of the plastic bag from Heiji.

“Well, I guess I should be grateful this isn’t my face.” Kaito carefully didn’t let any emotions slip into his face or tone. He could deal with the loss later, it wasn’t any of their business. Keep up the poker face Kuroba, or people will see through the illusion.

“I’m so sorry, did you have anything on there that was important?” Asked Kazuha.

Kaito waved her off. “No, nothing that important. Just some pictures I’d have liked to keep.” He gave her a winning smile that didn’t quite meet his eyes. “But it’s okay! I can take new pictures.”

“Are you sure?” Kazuha looked like she was worried about him. “You looked really sad just before. Like you lost something important to you.”

Kaito shrugged. “Just some pictures of my dad. But I have other pictures. So don’t worry about me.”

Heiji looked like he was trying and failing to look annoyed and disinterested. “You know, it might not be all bad. That SD card looked like it might still be readable.”

“In this state?” Asked Kaito, looking doubtfully at the mess of machinery. “Don’t give me false hope, Hattori, it’s not very nice. I know water damage can corrupt data.”

“Yes, but that doesn’t mean it's not recoverable,” pointed out Heiji. “I could send it in to a specialist to see if we can recover anything.”

Kaito’s eyes brightened, daring to hope. “Could we get it done before tonight? Even though it’s probably a bust, I was supposed to perform a magic show here in f*ckui and then I’m due for another show in Yokohama and another in Haido City so I really can’t stick around.”

“You mean you’re the ‘Great Magic Kaito?’” asked Kazuha. “I saw posters about your show all around town. I’d love to see your show!”

Kaito gave a sad smile. “And I’d love to perform my show. But given my caravan, I don’t think I’ll be able to give you the full experience. I’d hate to disappoint the kids, so I’ll still do my best. But as for the flashier tricks, I guess I could show you some videos on my phone or something, if the data’s still there.”

“Ooooh, could you do that for him, Heiji?” asked Kazuha. “It would be really cool if we could see his show, even if it's just a video.”

Heiji rubbed the back of his head, looking away shyly from Kazuha’s pleading eyes. “I guess I can call a friend of mine, Otaki-han, and get him to send it to data recovery in a rush order. I can tell him it's important evidence for a crime or something.”

Kaito brightened. “You can do that?”

Heiji smiled, thumping his hand against his chest. “Of course I can, my dad’s the Superintendent Supervisor of the Osaka branch!”

Kaito’s eye twitched. He was getting a serious case of deja vu. What was it with him and the sons of high-ranking detectives? At least Hattori was the fun to rile up hot-headed sort and not the stick-in-the-mud sort like Hakuba.

“Thanks, Heiji! I can’t wait to see those videos, Kuroba-kun!”

Kaito gave a charming smile. “Well, videos are all good and dandy, but nothing quite beats magic in person. You should see me again tomorrow, I’ll put on a free show to make up for not being able to perform here tonight. I might not be able to do my full set of tricks, but let's see if I don’t still have something up my sleeves.”

At that, Kaito made a rose appear between his fingers as Kazuha squealed in delight.

“Wha-how- Ya don’t even have sleeves right now! Yer practically naked!” Heiji spluttered, face red. “ Where were you hiding that?!”

The next morning, Kaito got a new phone to store the restored SD card after Heiji got it back from the lab. All his photos were still there. The relief that washed over him was so great, that Kaito thought it was like part of him had come back to life.

“You really should make back-ups if they’re that important, my guy,” said Heiji, laughing at Kaito kissing the SD card.

Kaito did, but there was something special about having them stored on the original SD card he used to store the photos in the first place. It might have been a little irrational, but it served something like a good luck charm to him. Like the last snapshot of his father was always with him. Plus, there were no backups of the photos of Shinichi. Kaito wouldn’t be surprised if the Black Organisation could somehow get a hold of data on the cloud and track them down from there. He bought a new phone and nearly wept with joy when he saw his photos safe and sound loading up on the new device.

He felt someone watching him the whole time when he finally went down to the reservoir to check on the damage. But every time he looked he could only see quiet waves. The storm had finally died down around just before the afternoon and now weak sunlight filtered through the grey skies. f*ckui was a small town, so half the population had pitched in to help extract Kaito’s caravan and belongings from the bottom of the reservoir.

“You know, it was strange,” said Ebihara. “When we went to check on the banks this morning, a lot of your belongings had already washed up on the banks, like someone had been fishing your things out all night.”

“I guess the storm must have kicked up all my stuff from the bottom and washed it ashore,” said Kaito, laughing nervously.

Ebihara wasn’t kidding when he said most of his things had already been taken ashore. His tent, appliances, prototypes, and most of the furniture from his living space car, had all been moved ashore before the volunteers even got to the site, even if not all of them were in working order. His strings of lights and neon signs no longer worked of course, but they had also been brought ashore. Really, the only things the townsfolk had to retrieve was hooking up Kaito’s caravan to a tow truck and pulling it out, car by car, of the mud. Most everything else had been accounted for. Except for all his KID stuff. Suspiciously, none of the things he used as KID, his motorcycle, his hang glider, his golem, his KID outfit, had been recovered. Kaito suspected they were hidden elsewhere, away from prying eyes by the person who had retrieved them.

When Kaito was alone on the shore, there was a bang! And a card shot out of somewhere from the direction of the reservoir and landed by Kaito’s feet. On the back of the card, was a cartoonish caricature that resembled Shinichi, not unlike KID’s signature caricatures. On the front of the card was a code, that when Kaito deciphered discovered was coordinates for a small meadow by the river just on the outskirts of town. Once Kaito had cracked the code, he burnt the remains of the card in the boiler room of the temple.

True to his word, Kaito had done his best to give the residents of the town a truly spectacular free magic show, despite missing all the bells and whistles. The confetti canons and fireworks were obviously non-operational and the special effects were limited to what he saved in his Fairy’s Pocket (which thankfully, was among his pile of stripped clothing), namely pulling his doves out for special effects, but it was still a success if KID dared to say so himself.

Despite the show not being the full experience that Kaito would have hoped, the children and residents of f*ckui loved him. And so, when it came time to pack up for the road, many had volunteered their talents to help him get back on his feet faster. A mechanic had helped repair the damaged parts of his caravan until it ran again, a seamstress had helped him repair the rips in his show tent, a dry cleaners helped clean up all the things that needed cleaning, a pottery club shared with him some bits and pieces to replace his kitchenware, the temple supplied him with fresh bedding and food to continue his journey. The generosity of the town wasn’t something Kaito was likely to forget.

“Guys, it was just a little magic, this is really too much!” Kaito protested as a window repairman fixed his windshields.

“Nonsense,” said Ebihara, helping direct volunteers to repack Kaito’s caravan as best they could. “You came to the town with the Mermaid Temple, and as the head monk, I can’t help but feel we’ve been very blessed to have you visit. The Mermaid Spring has been sparkling particularly brightly as of late, as if a mermaid’s come to pay us a visit and recharge its magical power. The people of this town have reported various blessings coming true ever since your arrival. You may not believe in mermaids, young man, but I can tell you, they certainly seem to favour you.”

Kaito warily looked around them. He hoped word of these increased blessings from the conveniently mermaid-dedicated temple didn’t reach back to the Black Organisation before they could leave. They had bought some headway from reaching f*ckui as soon as they did, but all it would take is one lead and the Black Organisation could be back at their heels.

He said his farewells to Kazuha, Heiji, and the rest of the town, taking a commemorative photo with them on his new phone before he started making his way to Yokohama, taking care to follow the flow of water until they came to a secluded meadow a little ways from town where the code had indicated. Once Kaito pulled to a stop, he looked around up and down the river until he saw Shinichi, who was sitting against a rock happily chomping on a river fish looking thoroughly impatient.

“Really, Merman-kun, a notice?” tut-tutted Kaito as he sauntered up to where Shinichi was perched, “I must be rubbing off on you.”

“How else was I supposed to leave a secret message for you, stupid Thief!” Asked Shinichi hotly, tossing Kaito his card gun back. “If I left one just lying around in the open, that Osakan Detective kid would have gotten a hold of it, and then he’d be the one here meeting me instead!”

KID checked the mechanics of the gun, it all appeared to be working properly, especially if Shinichi was able to use it earlier when he fired it from the reservoir.

“I love it when a cute boy knows his way around a gun. Where’s the rest of my stuff?”

“Back here,” Shinichi answered, pointedly ignoring Kaito’s comment and diving into the water. He swam under an outcropping of rock Kaito hadn’t noticed covered part of the riverbank. The rocks provided natural camouflage that stopped nosy people from noticing that Shinichi had stashed all of KID’s gadgets here.

“I couldn’t fix your motorbike, obviously,” Shinichi said sadly. “But I think I managed to fix up your hang glider, though I couldn’t exactly give it a test run for obvious reasons.” He gestured to the whole of his fishy tail as he continued snacking on his fish. He had been ecstatic at the opportunity to chase, catch and kill a fresh fish, but was disappointed to find that freshwater fish were less salty saltwater fish, almost to the point of tasting bland. But the taste of live, bloody, fresh fish flesh made up for the lack of flavour.

Kaito had been given a new oil drum by the temple monks since Shinichi’s barrel had been shattered in the accident. It was waterproof, and a bit sturdier as it was made of metal. The only trade-off was that it was a decent bit smaller than the barrel before and so Shinichi couldn’t duck completely inside of it anymore. But it still made for a mode of transportation to carry the mermaid around places without worrying about drying out his tail. And so, Kaito had filled that up with river water and loaded Shinichi into the car seat while the merman watched Kaito load all his heist equipment back into the caravan.

“Did you really charge up their Mermaid Spring?” Kaito asked Shinichi, as he rolled his KID bike into the back of the caravan until he could get it looked at.

Shinichi fiddled uncomfortably in the oil drum. “I could feel it had the power of healing. They were using the water to wet the towels used to break your fever. It was the only way I could help since well, I couldn’t keep you warm myself.”

“Hmm, that’s a shame. While it did give me a great opportunity to wake up in the lap of a beautiful lady,” Kaito bragged. “I had a lovely dream involving some excellent kissing that I was very sorry to wake up from. Which, you wouldn’t happen to know why I was dreaming about kissing, would you, Merman-kun?” Kaito asked, a teasing lilt to his voice that suggested he knew all too well why his brain supplied him with such imagery.

Shinichi’s face went beet red as he fanned his tailfin over his face to cover the resulting blush. “It’s a survival technique and nothing more, you stupid thief! Just because I like you doesn’t mean you have to read so much into everything, I’d have done the same for anyone drowning so don’t start thinking you’re so special.”

“Awww, but you’re special to me~” Kaito cooed. Then, he frowned. He noticed that the edge of Shinichi’s tail had new tatters, a hole ripped through part of the fin. He finished loading all his KID supplies and then came to sit in the driver’s seat next to Shinichi. Gently, he traced the edge with his fingertips as Shinichi looked away in shame. The edge of the tear was dead white tissue mottled with raw red blood vessels.

“You got hurt because of me,” Kaito said.

Shinichi flexed his tail, hiding the fin further into the oil drum. “It’s nothing, there’s no major blood flow there, it’s like cutting off a fingertip.” At Kaito’s disapproving look, Shinichi scowled. “I’d do it again.”

“I wish you didn’t have to,” said Kaito, getting out the recovered bottle of aquarium-safe disinfectant from a compartment in the driver's car and pouring some onto his hands as he gestured for Shinichi to offer him his tail fin. “You’re too used to being hurt. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“Well, I didn’t want you to drown, and we can’t both get what we want,” Shinichi retorted. “At least my way we both get to live, so don’t think I wouldn’t choose you over a little tear in my fins, 'cause I’d do it again. A thousand times over.”

Kaito kissed the treated torn edge of Shinichi’s fin, causing Shinichi to shiver. “I know, and I thank you for it,” he whispered.

As he worked the disinfectant into Shinichi’s tail fin, Kaito thought back to what he learnt at the Temple.

“So, I might have asked about some things about mermaids at the Mermaid Temple while I was there,” he said.

Shinichi looked up, somewhat interested. “Yeah? And what myths about mermaids do those humans have?”

“Some usual stuff about siren songs. The monk there, Ebihara-san, said your magic is fueled by emotions or something.”

Shinichi nodded. “That’s right. The siren’s song is a type of sea magic. The song itself is used as a magical conduit to stir the emotions of the heart.”

“You said a while ago that mermaids aren’t very magical creatures, that your meat, bones and blood are near useless when compared to the parts of creatures like dragons or unicorns.”

“Yes, that’s still correct. Fueling people’s emotions isn’t exactly the most magical thing a supernatural can do. I can only charge other magical artefacts, I can’t make any of my own.” Shinichi said, rolling his eyes.

“But I also learnt that there’s a myth saying that the emotions of a mermaid are so powerful, that the tears of a mermaid can grant eternal life,” said Kaito. “Is that also true?”

Shinichi had frozen, looking at Kaito with caution.

“Is that what the Black Organisation is after?”

Unbidden memories of the Black Organisation came back in full force. Sharp objects clawing at his eyelids, burning chemicals swatched on his skin. All the while demanding Shinichi shed tears.

“... to an extent.” Shinichi finally managed to say, pulling away. There was no point in hiding it now. Kaito would be able to see through him if he denied it. “A mermaid’s tears by itself can’t grant immortality, but it can extend a life. Quite significantly, up to almost double a normal human’s lifespan.” He explained, rubbing the back of his neck. “But if the Black Organisation gets their hands on one, they can use it to perfect their Apoptoxin formula and achieve true immortality.”

“Like with Pandora.”

Kaito’s attentions on his tail fin ceased, and Shinichi snaked his tail around himself, hunching in. “Now that you know, are you going to hurt me?”

“What?” Kaito asked.

Shinichi gestured to all his scarring up his sides, over his tail, and up his arms. “What, did you think that Gin and the rest of the Black Organisation did all this just because? Do you think they kept me around for years torturing me, making up new fun chemicals to inject into me to see which ones would make me black out from the pain for the fun of it? Are you going to hurt me to try to make me cry?” He demanded.

“What, no!” Kaito said, horrified. “Shinichi, no. I would never do that. Why would you even think that-”

“Because immortality is one hell of a temptation.” Shinichi snarled, side fans flaring in accusation. “Time and time again in history, humans have killed each other for less for thousands of years. Your father died looking for a gem that was said to grant immortality so you’re clearly after it. Well, now you know you have a chance, why the hell wouldn’t you try to take it?”

Kaito extended out his hands towards Shinichi’s eyes. Shinichi flinched back, eyes wide with fear. But Kaito continued on until his fingers traced the hollow of Shinichi’s eyes, followed the curvature down his sloping cheekbones, and took hold of Shinichi’s hand, which had begun clawing at the back of his neck without him realising it again.

Shinichi glared at the bloody traitorous appendage as Kaito lowered it from the tender site, rubbing the remainder of the aquarium disinfectant on his hands over it gingerly. Shinichi hissed at the pain at the raised skin, refusing to look at Kaito while he did so. When Kaito was finished, he trailed his hands to rest rested up at Shinichi’s chin, tilting his head to look up at him.

“I would never do that, because I love you, Shinichi,” Kaito answered honestly. “And I’m sorry if there’s anything I’ve done or said that makes you think there’s any doubt to that fact. To doubt that the last thing I would want in the world is to hurt you. But maybe this will show you instead.”

Kaito leaned forward and gently kissed Shinichi on the lips. The first one was cautious. The second one was a comfort. By the third one, it was a message. Shinichi’s breath hitched, a confusing whirlwind of emotion, Kaito’s hands were a solid support under his jaw, but not a vice, allowing him to pull away if he wanted to. But Shinichi stayed.

Flashes of emotions kept surfacing in his mind. Hurt, confusion, desperation, desire. He wanted to pull away and nurse his pains in peace, not let anyone see how much he was scared of people coming to bring pain to try to force Shinichi to cry for their own personal gain. He didn’t know why Kaito wasn’t doing the same, now that he knew about mermaid tears. He wanted Kaito to never leave. He wanted him to come closer until he was fused with Shinichi’s skin like an armour plate of affection and safety and to never let go.

He didn’t pull away, in fact, he began to hesitantly lean forward, taking the comfort that Kaito was offering. Taking that as an encouraging sign, Kaito was emboldened and took the opportunity to tilt Shinichi’s head to one side and deepen the kiss, taking Shinichi’s cupid’s bow between his lips, sucking on the delicate flesh and begging for entry. Shinichi let him, surrendering to give Kaito’s questing mouth more access. He wanted to chase Kaito’s affection like a man dying of thirst. His throat was involuntarily letting out a series of throat clicks as Shinichi’s face burned with embarrassment while Kaito grinned in satisfaction.

Kaito’s tongue licked across Shinichi’s teeth and played with Shinichi’s serrated edges, exploring their sharper points, drinking in Shinichi’s breath as he tried to keep up with Kaito. Kaito’s teeth in turn were blunt, smooth and square, like little hard barnacles used to grind up food rather than the sharp, serrated edges used to strip fish meat bare from bone. Kaito’s warm, solid hand slid from his neck to the thick of Shinichi’s hair and it was warm because Kaito ran human hot while Shinichi was mermaid cool and they weren’t compatible. Shinichi grasped the air with his hands, unsure what to do, and Kaito grinned against his lips as one hand remained snagged in Shinichi’s hair and the other came to guide Shinichi’s hand to rest easily on his hips. His hips which led to a pair of human legs and planes of scale-free human skin because they weren’t compatible.

Shinichi would be leaving because they weren’t compatible and it was going to hurt when that day comes but Shinichi found he didn’t care. They were different pieces of a puzzle, and their edges didn’t match up. But these puzzle pieces worked so damn good together.

Kaito’s hand in his hair tightened in warning. Then, experimentally, Kaito gave a tug and Shinichi let out a gasp, coming up for air. Now that was new. With his new opening, Kaito moved the kiss to the corner of Shinichi’s mouth, down the line of his jaw, and to the side of his neck to where the scarring was the worst. Shinichi’s breath caught in his throat as he tried to keep a level voice.

“Kaito, that’s-!”

Kaito silenced Shinichi’s protest by planting a bruising kiss right over the centre of the ugly, ugly numbers as Shinichi bit back a gasp.

“Shh, trust me.”

And he did. Siren Mother help him, Shinichi trusted Kaito more than he probably should to lay himself bare like this.

Kaito layered kiss after kiss onto the raised skin. He thought it should have been unpleasant, having someone paying attention to that area that brought Shinichi so much torment. But surprisingly, the bloody scratches and phantom pains felt a little less insistent, a little less raw every spot the bruising kisses touched the column of his neck, and Shinichi let out a pleased sigh, startling himself. His claws tightened where they lay on Kaito’s hip and he hissed in response.

“Sorry,” said Shinichi before he could stop himself.

“No,” said Kaito, panting heavily over Shinichi’s neck. “That was- try copy me.”

Without another word, Kaito laid his blunt, human teeth over Shinichi’s neck and raked them sensually over the scars. It didn’t hurt, but it was rough enough to raise the hairs at the back of his head.

“Oh.”

That hit something deep in the back of Shinichi’s brain. His eyes fluttered and his side fans flared enticingly, begging for more. Wordlessly, Shinichi tightened his claws over Kaito’s hip in warning, and he braced his teeth over Kaito’s neck. Kaito craned his head back, giving Shinichi full access to the front rather than the back, baring his throat. He could so easily rip out his throat like this, Shinichi realised, looking at Kaito’s vulnerable jugular stretched out before him. He could feel the thrum of Kaito’s lifeblood under his fangs. Kaito was putting so much trust in Shinichi and only asked that Shinichi trusted him in return. Closing his eyes, Shinichi raked his teeth across the skin and at the same time dragged his claws up Kaito’s back in a slow, sensual arc, leaving pink skin-raised scratches in his wake across the expanse of skin.

Kaito shivered against him. “Oh yeah, that book was so right.”

“What book?” Shinichi asked, licking the sweat salt from his teeth with the slightest hint of blood and wondering if he was doing something wrong if Kaito had enough brain cells to be thinking of anything but what they were currently doing at this moment because Shinichi’s brain was already a pile of mush.

“Nothing,” Kaito laughed, dilated eyes following the motion of Shinichi’s tongue over his teeth. He leaned forward and purred pure promise against his neck. “Just you looked so hot doing that” The soft puffs of delighted air against the sensitive, spit-slick area had Shinichi’s tail writhing with the sensation.

Kaito peppered Shinich’s face with kisses. He kissed his eyelids, his side fans, the tip of his nose and the bottom of his chin as Shinichi let out an embarrassing whine under the unwavering attention. His throat clicking wouldn’t stop even when Shinichi tried to hold his hands to his neck to physically stop it, only to have Kaito grab his wrists and pull them away and hold them against the window of the car. The cold glass did little to fight the searing heat left in Kaito’s wake as his hands cradled Shinichi’s wrists. Shinichi’s shifting movements had him spilling out of the oil drum and over Kaito’s seats pressed up against the door. It was ridiculously vulnerable to allow himself to be physically cornered like this, back against a wall. The last time he was backed against a wall with his wrists restrained, Gin had come into the aquarium to administer another co*cktail of chemicals designed to make him cry. Shinichi had been catatonic, muscles minutely spasming uncontrollably as his body rebelled against him, brain sending nothing but pain, stop, pain signals through his nerves but unable to so much as writhe as the paralytic agent locked his muscles in place. But that memory was quickly being wiped over by the caring administrations of Kaito. The phantom tingles of pain soothed by the press of skin against his own, and then Shinichi found he didn’t mind his wrists being restrained when it was with Kaito, because Kaito would never hurt him.

“You’re thinking too much again,” Kaito admonished, kissing Shinichi’s eyelids with a frown. “Stop that. Focus on me.”

It was hard not to when Kaito seemed determined to completely suction his mouth and tongue over the side of Shinichi’s neck in an intoxicating heat like a particularly affectionate limpet as Shinichi groaned.

Shinichi wrapped his tail around Kaito’s hip, holding him closer to himself against the door. Maybe he didn’t mind having this particular limpet. “Have I mentioned that I’m so glad you’re still alive?” Asked Shinichi, slightly panting for air.

Kaito stopped his attentions long enough to laugh at him again. “No, but you could mention it a few more times if it gets me special treatment like this.” He tilted Shinichi’s head and ravished Shinichi’s mouth once more, not wanting Shinichi’s lips to think he was neglecting them after all that attention was given to his other kiss-marked areas.

Kaito transferred both of Shinichi’s wrists to one hand, Shinichi could now easily break Kaito’s hold if he wanted to, and trailed his free fingers up Shinichi’s stomach up to his clavicles, tracing his fingers over the speckling of scales that led to his shoulders and the roping, spider web of scars ached as Kaito wandered over each and every one.

“I wish I could make you forget about these,” he said, pressing down hard on the healed raised skin like he could erase the mark. “I wish I could fix your fin like I can fix my clothes.” His hand traced the raw edges of Shinichi’s ruined tail fin wrapped around his waist, causing Shinichi to flinch slightly. “But most of all, I wish I could heal your heart,” Kaito said, kissing Shinichi directly on the sternum.

Shinichi shivered when Kaito’s soft lips made contact with his skin, the hair on his head tickling against Shinichi’s chin when his head dipped over the area.

“You said humans believe ‘love heals all wounds’” Shinichi said, freeing his hands to tilt Kaito’s head to look back up at him. “After current experimentation, I’d like to think there might be some merit to that myth.”

He kissed Kaito’s forehead, and then gingerly rested his own against the site. “I wish I could heal your scars too, the ones you carry inside.”

Kaito smiled, clasping their hands together and intertwining their fingers. “Hey, that’s my line.” Nuzzling his forehead more affectionately against Shinichi’s

Shinichi shook his head. “No, you might try not to show it as much, since you’re worried about me. But I know you’re still hurt from your dad dying. I can see it when you talk about him, when you look at photos of him. You wish he was there more as your father, rather than as Kaito KID. You followed in his footsteps to connect with him now that he’s gone in order to finish his business. It’s what’s driving you after this after all.”

Shinichi unfurled his hand and Kaito saw Shinichi had dug out the Atlantic Envy from under his tail scales at some point. He really had to speak to Shinichi about not mutilating himself so casually. The gem sparkled and shined with its ethereal glow, stealing all the blues from the room as usual with its envious splendour, true to its name.

“Take it,” Shinichi said, holding it out to the thief. “Running into Vermouth made me realise that if they get to me, I at least want you to complete your quest so you can finally lay your father’s quest to rest.”

“What are you saying?” Kaito asked, he gripped Shinichi’s other hand in his own tighter.

Shinichi dropped his eyes down. “I mean that, I do trust you. And I don’t want to risk your life running away from the Black Organisation again. You almost died because we had no choice but to run when Vermouth could smell me back at the compound.” Shinichi took a shuddering breath. “If it comes down to it again, I won’t run. At least this way you can take the Envy and they won’t get their hands on both if they track me down, and you can get away to finish your quest.”

“I won’t leave you to be taken back after what they did to you-” Kaito said, clutching Shinichi’s hands to his chest.

“You won’t,” Shinichi promised. “Remember what I said when I got pissed off at you for joking about me being better off going back? I meant it. I’d rather die than go back. If the Black Organisation catches up to us, I want you to kill me.”

Kaito felt like he couldn’t breathe. “What?”

Shinichi freed his other hand and slipped it into Kaito’s pocket, pulling out his card gun and frowning at the non-lethal ammo.

“I want you to hold a gun to my face and shoot,” Shinichi said, holding up the barrel to his temple. “It’s too dangerous to risk the Black Organisation getting their hands on immortality, and now they’ll have leverage again. They f*cked up when they killed my parents, but if they know about you, they’ll take you too.” Shinichi shuddered. “I don’t want that. I don’t want them to hurt you just to make me cry, because I will, I know I will.” Shinichi said.

“So shoot me dead, and take the Envy and run.”

Kaito hesitated, his eyes couldn’t meet Shinichi’s bright blue begging. “I can’t do that, Shinichi.”

Shinichi smiled sadly. “Yeah, I thought not. You’re too good at heart for something like that. You never want to see anyone get hurt. You don’t even let people get hurt during your heists.”

He proffered the gemstone to KID anyway. “Then at least keep a hold of it. No matter what happens, at least you should be able to lay your ghosts to rest.”

Kaito put his hand over the jewel, but intertwined his fingers with Shinichi’s, trapping the jewel between them.

“No.”

Kaito surged forward, capturing Shinichi’s lips with a kiss as he pressed them both against the door, the contours digging against Shinichi’s back as Kaito leaned on top of him, their fingers clutched against the jewel banging against the window with the motion.

“I’m. Not. Letting. You. Go,” Kaito said, nipping at Shinichi’s lips between each word. He gave a devilish smirk as he came up for air, leaving Shinichi gasping. “What you don’t understand, Shinichi, is that I didn’t only steal the Atlantic Envy that night, you also asked that I steal you. And I don’t intend to give Wakita or the Black Organisation back the Envy OR you.”

He ravaged Shinichi’s mouth with another dizzying kiss, all teeth, lips and tongue communicating his desperation and liquid hot desire with every motion. When he finally came up for air, Shinichi noticed that Kaito had somehow slipped the Envy from their hands to between his teeth, pushing the gem with his tongue between Shinichi’s lips, silencing his protests as he whimpered at the contact. “You hold onto this Shinichi, because I’m a greedy thief, and they’ll have to pry both from my cold, dead, hands before I give up either of my stolen treasures that night.”

Kaito descended with more kisses, heady with desperation and cramming Shinichi right up against the door. Pressure heady and building as he sought to mould his body right into Shinichi’s.

Then, in his fervour, his leg accidentally hit the horn, causing both of them to almost jump out of their skin with the sudden noise, both springing up as the sound ripped through their passion fueled brain fog.

Snapping out of his kiss-drunken stupor, Shinichi made a small noise and spat out the jewel and panted heavily into Kaito’s left shoulder. “We should- we should hit the road. You’ll be … you’ll be late to your next show.” Shinichi said. “If you don’t, the Black Organisation might catch us here, making your whole speech just about useless.”

Despite Kaito’s persistence, Shinichi stood firm in his resolve that they wouldn’t be wasting their entire efforts just sitting here waiting for the Black Organisation to find them and insisted Kaito get his ass in gear and start driving down the road.

To this day, Kaito was still kicking himself for not being more careful about hitting that damn horn.

Chapter 10

Chapter Text

“Happy two-weekiversary of your jailbreak and freedom Shinichi!” Kaito cheered, entering the venue an hour before the audience for Yokohama was due to start queueing up armed with a two-tiered coffee-flavoured cake lit up with sparkler candles. The first, since Shinichi’s unfortunate incident with the previous coffee cake. Despite missing quite a few props and pieces since crashing his caravan into the river, Kaito still had enough tricks up his sleeves to put together a half-decent act to perform for tonight, and the Underwater Escape Spectacular was still the penultimate act of his show, even if he had to go with an analogue stopwatch over the digital.

“Sorry we took so long to make it, but we’re almost finally at the port city of Haido!” Kaito spun up the ladder to take a seat next to Shinichi at the lip of the tank, his feet dangling into the water as he held the plate of cake in his frilly skirt-covered lap.

Shinichi rolled his eyes, shuffling over and making more room for Kaito and blew over the cake, extinguishing the sparklers. “Did you get a discount going out for the cake dressed like that?”

Kaito puffed his chest out proudly. “Yes, I did as a matter of fact. And I got the baker’s number too.” He giggled, making a show of crumpling it away and tossing it in the bin. “But I don’t need that when I’ve got a cute boy to give me kisses in my private tent, do I?” He sent a coquettish wink Shinichi’s way and Shinichi promptly ignored him, fanning his tail fin over his heated cheeks.

Kaito pulled out a knife from under his glove somewhere and took Shinich’s hand in his, wrapping his fingers around the handle.

“What are you doing?” Shinichi asked as Kaito pulled him closer.

The thief poked a finger of frosting on Shinichi’s nose. “Silly fish! It’s human custom that the person celebrating is the one to cut the cake!” He placed the knife in Shinichi’s hands between his own and guided him through a slice, cutting the cake cleanly in half.

“There you goooo~” Kaito cooed.

Shinichi accepted his healthy serving of coffee cake, thankfully not big enough to cause him any problems, and mourned the fact this could quite possibly be the last time he’ll ever have it.

“Thanks, Kaito, you’re forgiven for flirting with other men.” He said, wiping off the frosting from his nose.

“Oh shucks, you know you’re the only one for me, Shin-chan!” Kaito giggled, helping himself to his own slice which he promptly murdered with extra chocolate sauce. “We’re so close to the sea, are you excited, Shinichi?” He asked between scarfed mouthfuls of sweet, delectable chocolate-coffee cake.

“Yeah, a bit,” Shinichi said with a forkful of his own cake between his lips, taking his time and savouring each bite. Shinichi would be lying if he said he wasn’t looking forward to seeing the ocean soon. His gills had been crawling with anticipation since he started tasting salt in the air, they weren’t far away now.

Kaito kicked the water with his toes, leaning his head and wig of bouncy curls against Shinichi’s shoulder. “This is our last show before we hit the port city tomorrow.” He said plainly.

Tomorrow was coming, whether they wanted it to or not, things were going to move forward.

Shinichi hummed, well aware that their time together was running low, bringing with it an overhanging atmosphere of melancholy. “But you’re still holding a show tomorrow night, right?”

Kaito nodded. “Yeah, but I can get the KID golem to do it instead if we need to.”

Shinichi bumped his shoulder into Kaito’s. “No, don’t. It’d be a shame if the last show of yours I get to watch isn’t even performed by you.” He took Kaito’s free hand in his own and traced circles into Kaito’s open palm. “And tonight’s not your last show.” He said pointedly.

“No, it isn’t.” Kaito smiled, happy that Shinichi was willing to extend their time tomorrow by just a little bit. Just until the last show was over, until the final curtain call, and he could bow out. Kaito would take that.

Shinichi carefully dried his fingers and looked over at the shelf where his things used to sit, now empty. It was all mush at the bottom of a river now of course, but Shinichi sorely missed the Arsène Lupin books Kaito had gotten for him. He’d have liked to give them another read before he left. Without his dad supplying his mother with a steady source of human curiosities, it would be harder to come by human pop culture, art and entertainment now. It wasn’t quite the same as reading Sherlock Holmes, but annoyingly the thief had been right in his assertion that the writing in Maurice Leblanc’s books wasn’t outright drivel either.

The thief was annoyingly right about a lot of things actually, and it drove Shinichi up the walls to no end as he dragged him into his nonsensical human customs and beliefs.

“What do you miss the most about the ocean, Shinichi?” asked Kaito, helping himself to some cake off Shinichi’s plate now that he had finished his own. “I mean, it’s been so long for you. What are you going to do first?”

“Maybe swim a lap around Okinawa?” suggested Shinichi, shrugging. “It’s been so long since I’ve felt proper ocean current, it’s probably going to tire me out. But it’ll be the first time I’ve been tired out by swimming in such a long time, so I think I’ll be glad for it.”

“Yeah?” Asked Kaito, already picturing Shinichi racing under the surface with his serpentine tail, leaving choppy waves in his wake. “How long do you think that will take you? Three hours? Four?”

Shinichi looked offended at Kaito. “I’m not a human, Idiot Thief. It would take me one hour, tops.”

“Wow, way to make the rest of us feel incompetent,” Kaito laughed, tossing his head back. “What about fish? Anything you want to eat fresh right away?”

“Squid,” said Shinichi without missing a beat. “Squid starts to deteriorate really quickly after death, and fishermen have to kill them immediately or they risk escaping out of their catch boxes. Squid that’s been long dead is just tasteless rubber.”

“Will you have anywhere to go, back in the ocean?” Kaito asked, glueing himself to Shinichi’s side as he clutched at Shinichi’s arm. “Do you have anyone waiting for you?”

“Hopefully,” Shinichi answered. “I don’t imagine the colony is in the same trench anymore, since Ran probably would have told them to move away from the area. But maybe I’ll be able to track them down and see everyone again.”

“You haven’t seen them since you were six, are you nervous?”

“Of course I am,” Shinichi laughed.

He had forgotten so much about the ocean culture after his time at the Wakita Estate. Smaller details like how mermaids treated each other, ate together, or even talked to each other were all alien to him now. He had inadvertently ‘gone native’ under human care. He wondered if he even found the old colony, would he even fit in anymore? Maybe he’d be too foreign from his time with the humans, too different. He’d be too human for the mermaids, but unable to exist on land with Kaito for fear of being hunted. He’d be an outsider, without even his family to take him in. But like with so many things that had happened over the past few days, what other options did Shinichi realistically have?

That is, if he even found the colony after returning to the sea in the first place.

But instead of telling all that to Kaito and worrying him, Shinichi laid back, resting his head on Kaito’s shoulder. “I think I’ll also spend an hour or two sunbathing on a rock on a deserted island, where no humans can spot me.” He said. “It was nice being warm in that onsen, but being in the lab for so long, I haven’t sunbathed on a rock properly in years.”

Kaito carded his fingers gently through Shinichi’s hair. “I hope you realise how utterly depressing the things you say sometimes are.”

Maybe it was a little depressing that he hadn’t been able to indulge in the little things of life, like natural sun and a little natural rock, that such small insignificant activities would be treated as a highlight for him.

“What about you?” Shinichi asked, leaning into Kaito’s touch. “Once I get to the ocean, you’ll finally have your hands on Pandora. Is Pandora really worth it all?”

Shinichi’s tail drifted in the water, wrapping around one of Kaito’s legs and rubbing his tail fin up and down. Kaito found he didn’t really mind, knocking his knees against Shinichi’s tail.

Shinichi’s right hip was slightly glowing blue once more, the Envy having been returned there under the scales once they had remembered to pick it up off the car floor when they both caught their breaths after the intense make-out session in the car.

“You’ve been spending your whole life looking for it, what are you going to do once you get your hands on it?”

“Hmmm,” Kaito hadn’t really thought about it a lot. This whole time had been about getting his hands on Pandora. What happened after was a bit up in the air.

“Honestly, I think I might destroy it,” said Kaito. “A lot of people have been hurt looking for it, and my dad was killed over it. Obviously, I don’t want the Black Organisation getting their hands on it either. People hurt each other too much over things this valuable. It might be better for the world if immortality remains unobtainable.”

That, and immortality sounded awfully drab to someone like Kaito. He couldn’t imagine wanting to stay still, stagnant, while everything withered away around him.

“That makes you wiser than most.” Shinichi gave a slow approving nod. “Who knows, if Pandora is destroyed, maybe the Black Organization will stop looking for me too, and I can visit you sometime.”

“Yeah?” Asked Kaito, trying not to sound too hopeful. “That would be nice. It’d be a shame if this was the last night I see you, Merman-kun.”

Shinichi’s side fans perked and his tail fin enveloped Kaito’s leg just a little more securely at that.

“The feeling is mutual,” said Shinichi. “You’ve been … interesting company, to say the least. I don’t think I would’ve ever thought I’d meet a Phantom Thief magician.”

“And I hardly thought I’d ever meet a mythical mermaid,” laughed Kaito. “Really, one event is drastically less likely than the other.”

Finished with their cake, Kaito collected their plates and laid his head as a warm weight on Shinichi’s lap, looking up at him with mascara-laden lashes and pretty, sparkly eyeshadow. “What will you miss when you’re back in the ocean?” He asked. “I mean land can’t have been all bad, life on the surface.”

“You’re just trying to bait me into saying ‘you,’” said Shinichi, glaring down at the shameless thief.

Kaito let out a guilty laugh. “Is it working?”

Of course. Shinichi huffed. “I’m going to miss coffee most of all.”

Kaito pretended to be hurt, pouting. “Addict.”

“And,” added Shinichi, exasperated and playing into Kaito’s antics. “You come in at a close second.”

Kaito rolled over, looking up at Shinichi through batted lashes. “What would it take to get me to first on that list?” He asked suggestively.

Shinichi pushed away Kaito’s overeager face from himself. “Absolutely nothing, I’m going to swim away with my coffee into the sunset, leaving you destitute.”

“So cruel, Shin-chan!” Kaito fake cried, clutching at his heart. “Coffee could never love you like the way I do.”

“Hmm, you bring up a good point,” Shinichi agreed, allowing himself an amused snicker. “I guess you might still have a chance to make it to the top of the list.”

“Yeah?” purred Kaito, sitting himself and his skirts over Shinichi’s lap with his heels neatly tucked under like a dainty maiden atop a steed sidesaddle and leaning up in all sorts of Shinichi’s personal space.

“Then I guess I better be extra good if I want to get on top of that list for Shin-chan, shouldn’t I?”

Shinichi flushed a bright red, flinging his tail fan over himself, hiding his face. “You’re so shameless!”

“Only because you like it~” Kaito teased, laughing as he hopped off. The gathering crowd outside was getting louder, and he had to get out there to make an impression.

“Ooh, one moment, I almost forgot. Photo time!” Kaito posed and snapped his first photo with Shinichi since getting his new phone, saving it to his gallery. The album ‘Pretty Fish’ was getting quite large by now. Every day, every inane moment with Shinichi seemed to be worth preserving. But Kaito wished he had even more, as each photo opportunity was noticeably dwindling every step they took closer to their goal.

Shinichi shyly tapped Kaito on the shoulder as he checked it.

“Can I see?”

Kaito’s face split into a winning smile and he held his phone out to Shinichi. “Of course!”

This camera was slightly better than Kaito’s old one, it seemed to have brighter colours and sharper picture quality. This time, Kaito had opted for a sparkly blue eyeshadow that matched Shinichi’s colouration. Kaito was being his usual over-the-top self posing as a convincing young woman while Shinichi was looking at the camera fondly, the back of his neck mottled dark, covering the scarring there.

Shinichi stared at the incriminating marks. “Kaito!” He complained, looking mortified at the picture. “What the hell did you do to my neck?” he asked, bringing his hand up to the offending area. “It looks like I’ve been mauled!”

Kaito cackled, far too pleased with himself. “Oh please, you weren’t complaining when it was happening. I like it that way, now no one has to see those mean numbers and it shows everyone you’re mine~” He gave Shinichi a cheeky grin. “Plus, I promise I’ll let you do the same to me after the show is over. “

“You’re a masoch*st.” Shinichi decided, nodding to himself and flushing a bright red but also noticeably not opposing the idea.

“I thought I was shameless?”

“You’re a shameless masoch*st.” Shinichi amended.

When Kaito got up to sell tickets, Shinichi flicked his tail at Kaito’s shoulder as he passed by. “Alright, Thief, ‘break a leg.’” The words still sounded awkward and alien in his mouth, but Shinichi had given the lingo his best attempt.

“Now you’re getting it!” Laughed Kaito, finding the awkward implied air quotation marks adorable. An idea came to mind, so Kaito turned around. He gestured for Shinichi to come closer, and Shinichi did so, curious, as Kaito whispered into his ear.

“There’s one more human tradition we can do now that we’re together, wanna try?”

“What is it?” Shinichi asked.

Kaito’s lips split into a boyish grin, mischief on his face. “A kiss for good luck?” He asked, pointing at his rouged cheek.

Shinichi scowled. “You’re impossible. I swear you make half of these ‘human traditions’ up just to flirt with me.” But he leaned in and gave Kaito a delicate kiss anyway, careful not to ruin his makeup.

Kaito looked like he was glowing a hundred lumens brighter, a million-watt smile on his face. “Thanks, Shin-chan, I love you!” he beamed as he skipped through the gap in the curtains, humming to himself.

Shinichi smiled, shy at the open declaration Kaito had shouted. Sure, Shinichi had feelings for Kaito. He even loved Kaito, he knew he did. But he wasn’t quite ready to say it back to him yet. That was okay though, because Kaito didn’t pressure him to do it. He said he’d be happy to wait until Shinichi was ready to hear those wonderful words back. That was a nice thing about Kaito. Despite their limited time they had left, despite knowing once Shinichi left there was a very real chance of him not being able to come back if the Black Organisation didn’t stop looking for him, he was alright with only taking what Shinichi was ready to give him.

Shinichi retreated to his hidden compartment, eyes watching the show as all progressed as normal. Shinichi didn’t have any parts to play now that most of KID’s electronics were totally fried in the river. Instead, now he got to enjoy the show purely as a spectator while Kaito carried the show through his performance alone. He looked out over the audience, admiring how they were enraptured by Kaito’s magic. KID was good at that, holding an audience captive with his tricks. Every gaze was following his actions as he pranced around the stage-

But then Shinichi noticed someone wasn’t watching the performance. It was a tan, blonde individual wearing a hat and sunglasses, obscuring his eyes. It was difficult to tell, but the man’s face wasn’t facing Kaito. It was levelled right at Shinichi’s water tank. Looking suspiciously like he was glaring a laser-focused hole right through the peephole. But Shinichi couldn’t tell where his irises were actually trained behind those tinted lenses. He was probably just being paranoid.

It’s okay, he can’t see you. Shinichi reassured himself. He’s just looking at the stage, nothing unusual.

That was, until he lowered his sunglasses and Shinichi saw his eyes looking right at Shinichi through the tiny peepholes and he got a full look at the man’s face.

Bourbon.

But how? Shinichi’s blood ran cold. As Amuro mouthed something in his direction.

Intermission.

Then he pressed a finger to his lips. Pointed at Kaito, then held his hand out in a fist and expanded his hand in the universal signal for explosion, then held a finger to his lips again. A threat.

Shinichi didn’t know what to do. He was tempted to use the panic button Kaito gave him. But they were in the middle of a show. If Amuro was telling the truth and he had an explosive rigged up somewhere, it would put the audience in danger. And Shinichi didn’t have any of the stage direction buttons on hand to signal Kaito discreetly, having been retired from backstage responsibilities. He couldn’t do anything. Sure that Amuro could somehow see him through the tiny peepholes - maybe his sunglasses had some kind of zoom feature - Shinichi had no choice but to wait in trepidation for intermission, glancing at Kaito and hoping he noticed something.

However, once the house lights lit up and the audience had gone out to stretch and otherwise relax, Kaito went right to another side of the stage to begin readying his next act, oblivious to Shinichi’s distress. Amuro meanwhile used the chaos to slip behind Shinichi’s tank completely unnoticed and took up position by one of the peepholes.

“So, 4869, how is freedom treating you?” Amuro asked, mindful to keep his volume low so as to not attract the attention of the magician.

“It’s Shinichi Kudou, and it was fantastic until you showed up.” Shinichi grit out. His heart was hammering away in his chest. Granted, Amuro had always been one of the nicer members of the Black Organisation. He was never cruel to Shinichi, and he even treated Shinichi’s wounds on occasion. But he was still one of the members of the Black Organisation, so he couldn’t let down his guard.

Amuro’s eyes widened. “Oh? I didn’t realise you had a name, Rum never mentioned it to me.”

“There’s probably a lot of things he didn’t mention,” Shinichi bit back, ready to claw out as soon as the first moment presented itself. “Are you here to take me back?” Shinichi was already eyeing the closest stage exit and gauging how long it would take to evacuate the audience out of range should things turn sour. But if that were all Bourbon was after, he wouldn’t have bothered to ask Shinichi to talk, he must have another objective.

Amuro simply leaned against the back of the tank, his hair flattening against the cool glass. “No.”

Shinichi stared uncomprehendingly. Amuro took off his sunglasses from his face and wiped the lenses clean with the bottom of his shirt, seemingly nonchalant.

“No?” Shinichi echoed, pausing in his internal evacuation plans, thoroughly confused now. “But in the audience, you were signalling to me there was a bomb-”

“Oh, this?” Amuro repeated the fist-bursting motion he had shown Shinichi from the crowd and grinned. “I lied. I just needed a chance to speak to you privately, Kudou-kun, without your magician friend present.”

That … wasn’t what Shinichi was expecting. Black Organisation members didn’t talk, they obeyed the chain of command, just what was going on here?

“I’m with the Public Security Bureau,” said Amuro, fishing his badge out of his inner pockets to hold up to one of the peepholes for Shinichi to investigate. The sigil was gold and looked official-looking, not unlike the seal that had been on Hakuba’s search warrant. “I don’t know if that means anything to you, but basically it means I’m with the human authorities. I’ve been infiltrating the Black Organisation as a Non-Official Cover agent for a number of years.”

“A N.O.C ,” Shinichi surmised, eyes widening in realisation.

Amuro nodded, pleased Shinichi understood. “Yes. It was part of my long-term mission to discover what Rum was working on in his secret underground lab and break you out of Rum’s mansion.”

“But Kaito KID beat you to it,” said Shinichi. He couldn’t help it, his lips cracked with a smirk on behalf of the thief.

Amuro tilted his head with a wry smile. “Indeed he did. That’s why I went looking for you in the laundry room the day you escaped. You did go that way, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, we did.” Shinichi nodded, but he was still confused. “Okay, I get that part, but what are you doing here now?” If part of Amuro’s mission had been to set Shinichi free, that part of the mission should have already been completed, so what was the PSB agent doing here now, at Kaito’s magic show?

Amuro looked around checking for eavesdroppers before leaning down next to the walls of Shinichi’s secret compartment and whispering urgently. “I’m here to take you back to the ocean.”

Shinichi blinked in disbelief at the ludicrous announcement and then couldn’t help but bark out a quiet laugh. “Yeah, about that. Sorry, Amuro, but that’s already a work in progress, so you don’t need to worry about it.”

“No?” Amuro asked, slightly unsurprised. “Maybe you’ve mistaken the gilded bars of your cage for freedom my little mermaid, but a cage is still a cage.”

“What are you talking about?” asked Shinichi irritatedly, not understanding the blonde’s angle. He didn’t like being condescended to.

Amuro leaned forward and pushed his sunglasses back up on his face. “I’m just asking you if you really think your Kaito KID is really planning on taking you back to the ocean.”

Shinichi looked around himself in confusion. “Uh, yes? We’re hitting Haido City tomorrow, I don’t know if you’ve had a chance to see Kaito’s tour schedule, but it’s his last stop.”

“And yet,” said Amuro, turning his back against the tank. “Haido City is only a two-day journey from Wakita Estate in Beika. It's been two weeks now since you’ve been ‘free,’ hasn’t it? I can’t help but wonder what’s taking Kaito KID so long to get you to your freedom proper.”

“Police were swarming the place for the first few days,” said Shinichi defensively. “So we had to lay low for a while until we could travel under the cover of KID’s shows.”

“He’s also got remarkable forethought to build you a sizable tank for someone only looking to house a mermaid temporarily,” Amuro added, eyeing the tank in question.

“He felt bad that I couldn’t stretch out my tail in a dinky bathtub. So he got a family friend from a construction company to help build it,” explained Shinichi, uncomfortable with where this all seemed to be implying under the blonde’s scrutiny.

“You became an active part of his performances, even as far as helping in the technical side of the stage,” Amuro held up the broken remains of Shinichi’s switch for the Underwater Escape Spectacular countdown timer up to the peephole. Where on earth had he gotten that? Did he pick it up in f*ckui?

“KID wanted to share his magic with me-”

“And more still, he’s even seen fit to buy a saltwater pump,” Said Amuro, looking at the damning bubbling black box. “Forgive me, Kudou-kun. But these actions don’t look to me like the actions someone would do if they only planned to house a mermaid for a short period of time. These actions sound like someone planning for long-term confinement.”

“Well, maybe that’s just your opinion. What are you getting at, Bourbon?” Shinichi demanded, feeling suspiciously like he was being interrogated.

Amuro levelled a steely gaze at Shinichi through the peepholes as he spoke cautiously. “I’m saying that when you do get to Haido City, I’m not fully convinced Kaito KID will let you go,” he said. “Maybe he intended to at the start, but I worry he’s gotten too involved and will be unwilling to give you up. I came here to rescue you from him.”

Rescue? From KID? Nothing sounded stranger to Shinichi at that moment than what Amuro had just said.

“I don’t need rescuing from Kaito KID,” Shinichi snapped.

Amuro shook his head sadly. “You might not see it, Kudou-kun, because you’re too close to it. But Kaito KID has now become just as much of a danger to you as Rum is.”

Shinichi let out a quiet derisive laugh, glancing in the direction where KID was literally helping a lost child find their parents before the show resumed. “KID? Just as dangerous as Rum? Hardly.”

Amuro merely shrugged his shoulders as if he were simply stating a fact. “It’s true. It’s a different kind of danger, but a danger all the same. He’s made you attached to him. Maybe you realise it, maybe you don’t. But he’s made it so that you don’t want to leave.”

“Of course, I want to leave,” said Shinichi. He did. He wanted to go back to the ocean. He knew he did … Didn’t he? “KID wouldn’t try to stop me.”

“He might not intentionally, but I think he and I both know that the real problem is whether you will be willing to leave him behind.” Amuro pointed out.

Objectively, of course, Shinichi always knew he had to leave KID behind. But actually doing it, there was a kernel of hesitation. And the more he fell in love with Kaito, the stronger Shinichi knew the doubt was growing. When he had accepted Kaito’s affections, they promised they would get hurt together, accepting that Shinichi would leave no matter what. They knew that. He knew that.

“Not to mention, Kudou-kun, I worry about you,” Amuro added.

“You?” Shinichi snorted. “Worried about me?” What could a N.O.C agent possibly worry about over Shinichi?

Amuro nodded gravely. “How much do you really know about KID, Kudou-kun? You’ve only known him for what, two weeks? Surely you don’t think within such a short timeframe you could possibly know enough to trust the complicated person behind the mask of Kaito KID, a wanted international jewel thief? He’s practically a stranger.”

“He saved my life, what else do I need to know?” Shinichi countered. “I was practically living less than half a life while at the labs. Without him, I’m not sure I’d have made it to today.”

Amuro’s eyes softened sadly. “I’m sorry to hear that, Kudou-kun, and I’m glad you have KID to thank for that. But please, I beg of you, think about your situation. Since rescuing you, KID hasn’t even made that much of an effort to get you back to the ocean if it’s taken him two weeks to accomplish a journey that can be done in two days. How do you know he’s really the kind of person you think he is?”

Because Kaito would never want to hurt him, he said as much and Shinichi believed him. But not wanting to hurt him wasn’t mutually exclusive to not letting him go either. Shinichi swam to the corner of the compartment away from Amuro’s accusatory words. “Shut up, you clearly don’t know anything about KID.”

Despite not looking at him through the peepholes anymore, Amuro’s words carried with them a mournful tone. A sad tone. Like he pitied him. “You barely know him, and yet, you defend Kaito KID so fiercely.”

Amuro hesitated. “I wonder, Kudou-kun, have you ever heard of Stockholm Syndrome?

“What the hell is Stockholm Syndrome?” Shinichi snarled, not in the mood to hear any more of Bourbon’s baseless accusations.

“Stockholm Syndrome is a condition of the mind where a captive develops a psychological bond with their captors. Sometimes, captives even develop strong romantic feelings for their captors as a traumatic response,” Amuro explained.

A stiff, cold silence stretched on between the two as Shinichi paused, considering what Bourbon was implying, was insinuating-

“Don’t try to psychoanalyse me,” Shinichi snapped. He hugged his tail to himself, using his tail fin to further block his view of Amuro through the peepholes.

Amuro raised an eyebrow in question. “Who said anything about trying to psychoanalyse you? Did something happen, Kudou-kun?”

“No,” Shinichi replied quickly, realising his mistake. Probably too quickly.

Amuro’s shoulders sagged as he sighed heavily. “I see.” Reaching into his pocket, Amuro continued with a solemn tone. “Forgive me, but I’ve read your file, Kudou-kun.”

From his pocket, he extracted a small notebook, overflowing with extensive notes and observations he had taken in his investigation into the Black Organisation regarding Shinichi.

“According to the information I found in my research, I know you were taken from the ocean when you were just a child, barely six years of age going by the photos on record. Your parents were then killed in that same year. Going through such a traumatic experience at such a young age and subsequently being isolated as you were, it’s only natural you would be psychologically affected-”

“That doesn’t mean-”

“-You could understandably develop a desperate need to make strong, positive connections with someone of a similar age who showed you kindness-”

“I’m not-”

“-And would be prone to developing a dependency psychosis, eager to throw yourself at anyone who would even vaguely accept you-”

“Stop-”

“And I’m very sorry, Kudou-kun, but you need to understand that your situation isn’t natural. This conviction you have that KID is a good person who may even care for you, It’s nothing more than a trauma response.”

“ Shut up, Bourbon! ” Shinichi screamed, holding his hands to his side fans to shut the man out.

Each accusation the N.O.C made rang in his head like the condemning bang of a judge’s gavel, throwing everything he thought he knew into question.

He didn’t need to hear it, how broken he probably was in mind … He didn’t need his list of mental hang ups thrown in his face to tell him he was, what? Vulnerable? Manipulatable? Weak?

That wasn’t true. Shinichi’s feelings for Kaito weren’t just a trauma response. Bourbon was wrong. His feelings were real . Because if he couldn’t even trust his own mind, Shinichi would be lost. Kaito loved him, he said as much. But can Shinichi say the same about Kaito? Of course, Shinichi loved Kaito too. But … then why hadn’t he said it back to him yet? There is only ever one truth, and the truth was that Shinichi had been unable to say those important words back to Kaito.

Did that mean his feelings weren’t real? Why not?

Why not? WHY NOT?! WHY NOT!?!!

Kaito rushed to the back of the tank, having heard Shinichi’s cry of distress.

“What the hell is going on back here?” He yelled, pulling out his card gun.

His eyes narrowed when he recognised Amuro. “You! You’re the guy from the Black Organisation!”

Amuro backed away from Shinichi’s tank, his hands held up in surrender. “There’s no need for that, KID, I was just on my way out. I’m not here to tell the Boss about Kudou-kun.”

Kaito levelled his card gun at the blonde’s head. “A likely story. How’d you even find us?”

Amuro smirked. “Funny thing about codes, you should always be careful in case someone can decipher them. It wasn’t very clever of you to sign off on your work at the Wakita Estate, Katsuki Doito-san.”

Dammit, Kaito internally cursed. It's not like he knew in advance he was going to be ticking off a major secret organisation hellbent on cracking the formula for immortality. He just wanted a jewel and to take a peek in a secret lab goddammit.

He clicked off the safety of his card gun.

But Amuro merely shrugged, unconcerned about the non-lethal firearm pointed at him. Slowly, he reached into his pocket. KID put his finger on the trigger and gestured with his gun in warning.

“Relax,” said Amuro. “I’m only getting out my number.”

Moving clearly and slowly to let KID see his every move, he took out a business card from his breast pocket, carefully leaving it and the ruined timer switch by the shelf where Shinichi’s things used to be.

“That’s my business card, Kudou-kun. Give me a call if you ever need my assistance getting back to the ocean. Be very careful, the rest of the Black Organisation won’t be very far behind me. I’ll be waiting.”

When he turned to exit the tent, KID’s eyes never leaving his retreating back, Amuro called out over his shoulder. “You put on a decent show, KID. I had a lovely time tonight, for as long as I was welcome anyway.”

And with that, Bourbon had left the show, just before intermission was up.

“What the hell did that guy want, Shinichi?” Kaito asked, looking out the way Amuro went. “Why is he asking if you need help getting to the ocean? We’ll be there tomorrow, won’t we? Will the Black Organisation be waiting for us or something?”

Shinichi didn’t respond right away, still trying to control his shaking in the compartment. Kaito couldn’t see him in his compartment, and he didn’t want to worry him.

“No, he’s … He’s actually with the Public Security Bureau, he was offering me help,” Shinichi explained robotically, unsure if he could keep the waver out of his voice.

He wasn’t broken.

He wasn’t just latching onto KID.

“Really? Then why’d you let me turn him away?” Kaito asked, looking back at where Amuro had gone.

“Because we don’t need his f*cking help.” Shinichi snapped.

It was real. It had to be real.

His thoughts and feelings were his own. Not the result of trauma-bonding.

“Amuro-san doesn’t know anything, and he definitely doesn’t know anything about us. So don’t worry about him, and get back to your show, intermission is nearly over.”

Damn, his voice wasn’t nearly as steady as he’d have liked it to be. He had to get his emotions in check because they were real . He was feeling them goddammit. If he didn’t really love Kaito, then being told it could all be a lie wouldn’t hurt so much, would it?

Kaito frowned. “Shinichi, I can tell you’re upset by something, and it sounds a lot more important than my stupid show-”

“Trust me, it’s fine.” Shinichi insisted, forcing his voice to calm down. Kaito would never let it go if he thought Shinichi was still upset about something and the crowd was waiting. They’d attract more attention if Kaito’s show was suddenly cancelled halfway. And the kids would probably be upset too. It was fine.

“He just made some stupid assumptions that weren’t true, and it made me mad. No one’s dying or will be in danger of dying, so don’t worry about it. We can talk about it after the show.” Shinichi let out a steadying breath of air. ”I promise.”

Kaito bit his lip, still unwilling to leave Shinichi when he sounded so upset. But the confused murmur of the audience as intermission continued to stretch on was demanding his attention. He couldn’t get the KID golem either because that would take too long when intermission was supposed to have ended three minutes ago.

“Alright, if you’re sure. I’ll be back with you as soon as the show is over.” Kaito promised.

Shinichi nodded, even though he knew Kaito couldn’t see him in the hidden compartment. “Yeah, see you then, KID.”

Kaito stopped, and made a strange face at the name, before returning to the main stage.

Left to his own devices, Shinichi curled up on himself as he rubbed the sides of his arms, knotting his hands into the tattered remains of his tail fin.

He wasn’t just a trauma victim grasping onto the first friendly face he’d seen in a decade.

He wasn’t just a dumb, scared kid who hadn’t had a friend in years.

He wasn’t a lonely, sad mermaid, the only one of his kind within miles and miles who hadn’t made a connection in all his lonely years of confined existence, desperate for his first chance at a romantic relationship.

He wasn’t desperate.

He wasn’t. He wasn’t. He wasn’t. Hewasn’thewasn’thewansn’t.

Maybe if Shinichi told himself that enough times, it would stop sounding like a lie.

Something was wrong with Shinichi.

After that Amuro/Bourbon person had shown up, Shinichi had been quiet, distracted and withdrawn all night after the show.

The audience had long since left and Kaito had started packing their things for the road and Shinichi hadn’t even asked Kaito about the latest teleportation trick he had performed tonight. Not even the slightest bit of interest from his normally lively favourite critic. It was one thing if he hadn’t even watched the show, but when asked about it Shinichi had recounted each minute of the illusion just fine. It wasn’t like him to not even be curious as to how a trick worked, Shinichi lived for puzzles.

“Alright, out with it. What’s wrong?” Kaito asked, the moment he flipped the sign on the venue to ‘closed’.

Without an answer from the tank of the Underwater Escape Spectacular, Kaito let out a huff as he went to the water tank, activating the emergency release button to open the hidden compartment trap door.

“I asked you what’s wrong, Shinichi,” Kaito demanded, as Shinichi slowly drifted his way out, refusing to make eye contact with Kaito. This wasn’t a shy, 'don’t look at me' refusal to make eye contact. No, this was an 'I don’t want you to look at me or I’ll break' refusal to make eye contact.

“Sorry, forget about it. It was nothing,” said Shinichi, allowing himself to sink to the bottom of the tank, angled away from Kaito.

“Bullsh*t it’s ‘nothing’, you haven’t been able to look me in the eye since intermission. What did Bourbon say to you?” Kaito snapped.

“Remember, you promised you’d tell me, Shinichi.”

But instead of answering, Shinichi looked up at Kaito for the first time since Bourbon left and Kaito was taken aback by just how lost and confused Shinichi looked. “Do you think I’m desperate?”

“What?” asked Kaito. That seemed like it was coming out of the blue.

“This is important. Do you think I’m desperate?” repeated Shinichi, licking his lips nervously waiting for the answer.

“What makes you say that?” Asked Kaito, confused.

“Just answer the f*cking question, KID.” Shinichi snapped.

There was that name again. Shinichi had basically stopped calling him KID outside of heists or disguises since that night at Jirokichi’s. But now, something had changed, causing him to revert back.

“Well, when I think of the word desperate, you don’t come to mind, no,” said Kaito. “Lonely, yes. Sad? Unfortunately. But desperate?” Kaito levelled a fond look at Shinichi. “I had to practically beg you to come see my first magic show. So, no, I don’t think so.”

“Why do you ask?”

Shinichi let out a sigh of relief, but even still, he looked troubled. “Bourbon was telling me he thinks I might be … psychologically compromised.”

Kaito’s eyebrow quirked up significantly. “Um, am I supposed to think you’re not? I think you’re allowed to come out the other end a bit traumatised if you were kidnapped as a kid and then starved and tortured for years.”

Shinichi shook his head. ”I mean yes, there is that. But Bourbon thinks I might have grown unnaturally attached to you as a traumatic response.”

Kaito whipped his head around to Shinichi incredulously. “Huh?”

“He called it Stockholm Syndrome.”

Recognition registered at the term in Kaito’s widening eyes as Shinichi frowned. “I take it then, you already know what this means?”

“Sorta, yeah,” answered Kaito, scratching the back of his head. “I don’t know a lot of specifics, but I know it’s the classic story of a kidnapee or hostage falling in love with their kidnapper. It's a whole dark romance trope and it even shows up in kid’s movies.”

“Why does Bourbon think it applies here?” Kaito asked before shrugging to himself. “I mean. I'm not keeping you here against your will.”

“But I can’t really leave,” Shinichi pointed out, swimming to the wall of the tank and leaning his back against it as he traced circles in the glass. “Without your help, I won’t make it very far to the ocean on my own. I’m quite literally dependent on you for food, water, travel and shelter. It doesn’t really matter that I technically blackmailed you into it, no matter what way you look at it I’m effectively your captive.”

Kaito’s eyes fell. “And you think, you might feel the way you do about me because of Stockholm Syndrome?”

As soon as Kaito spoke the words, Shinichi felt regretful at the tone of disappointment Kaito carried for even suggesting it.

“I … I’m beginning to have doubts.”

Shinichi worried his lip between his teeth. “I didn’t want to admit it, but Bourbon does make a certain amount of sense. I don’t know what a healthy relationship is supposed to look like, supposed to feel like.”

He gripped at the scars on his arms, behind his neck, “I was never treated like a person until you freed me.”

Shinichi gripped his hands on his head, like he wished he could pull it apart and examine it, determine the nature of the thoughts in his mind and find out the truth in an autopsy. “I don’t doubt you care for me, you’ve already done so much I could never repay you for.”

He looked up between his hands in horror. “But I’m scared. What if what I feel … isn’t real?”

Shinichi sounded so profoundly miserable that Kaito had no choice but to intervene.

“For someone so smart, Shinichi, sometimes you can be really dumb.”

Shinichi looked up at Kaito in confusion. “Huh?”

Kaito leaned against the glass tank himself, just on the other side from Shinichi, separated only by the glass barrier. “You’re too busy listening to your head, you’re forgetting to listen to your heart. For me personally? Some would say I ignore my head too often.”

“I don’t know if I can trust my heart,” admitted Shinichi.

“Ugh, this is why I always said you look like you could use some fun in your life.”

Shinichi blinked at the thief questioningly. “What?”

The magician was looking irritated, turning around, pulling his hands from his pockets and placing them against the glass of the tank.

“Look, while I won’t say that it’s impossible that this is alllllll Stockholm Syndrome-” Kaito said, moving his hands around the air like the syndrome was a gas permeating the air around them and he could wave it away. “-and it would suck if it is, but I just want you to know that I personally don’t buy it. I listened to my heart, and my heart says I think it’s a crock of bull.”

“Huh?” Shinichi asked, confused. How could Kaito be so confident, when this revelation had sent Shinichi into a self-existential spiral of dread, not knowing if he could trust his own decisions when it came to his very own emotions.

“Because this isn’t a one-way street Shinichi,” Kaito explained exasperatedly. “If what you're feeling is really a result of Stockholm Syndrome, then what the hell am I feeling?”

Kaito thumped a hand against his chest. “If your feelings are nothing but a trauma response to your sh*tty childhood, then what’s my excuse?” Asked Kaito. “I wasn’t kidnapped from the age of six, and I fell for you just as hard, and if not faster.”

He blushed as he realised what he had just said, out loud, for Shinichi to hear. But it was too late to take it back now, and he didn’t want to. Not when Shinichi was doubting himself and he needed every bit of confidence Kaito could give.

“Because I did fall in love. I knew I was in love for quite a bit actually,” said Kaito.

“Unlike you, I’m practically free to go as I please, and I can tell you my feelings for you are definitely real.”

Without regard for the consequences of his actions, Kaito clambered up the ladder and dove into Shinichi’s tank, suit and all.

“Kaito! What are you doing, your stage outfit-”

“Doesn’t matter,” Kaito said, breaking the surface and treading water as he took Shinichi’s hand from the glass, pulling him up so that they were both floating at the surface and he could look at him eye to eye. Kaito grasped Shinichi’s hand in a solid grip, showing he wasn’t going anywhere, and hopefully conveying his conviction.

“I don’t think your feelings are a lie, Shinichi, because my heart says I love you, and my head says I am definitely not suffering from Stockholm Syndrome.”

“But I haven’t even said that back to you yet,” said Shinichi miserably. “What if it’s because my heart is lying to me?”

“What if I told you that I have evidence that it’s not?”

Shinichi gave Kaito a disbelieving stare. “Then I’d say you must know something I don’t, because I don’t think such evidence exists.”

“Okay, then why don’t we try it?” Kaito said, holding Shinichi’s hand up to the pulse at his neck. “Tell me if I’m lying.”

Kaito took a deep breath and surged forward, splashing water against Shinichi’s skin as he kissed him on the lips. “I love you, Shinichi Kudo.”

Shinichi shivered at the sound of his full name on Kaito’s lips, his side fans wriggled with anticipation as the puff of Kaito’s breath washed over him. The beat of Kaito’s pulse remained steady against Shinichi’s fingers.

Taking Shinichi’s hand and placing it against his own neck, Kaito whispered, “You might not be ready to say it, and that’s okay. But tell me you weren’t happy to hear that and I’ll then I’ll believe you. That this is all in your head, and your heart has nothing to do with it. Tell me you’re lying when you say that I make you happy.”

Shinichi’s breath caught in his throat. His pulse had skipped a beat when Kaito had kissed him, but it was steady now, the thrumming beat of his lifeblood thumping against his fingertips in his carotid arteries.

Testing the words on his lips, Shinichi spoke. “I … You make me happy, Kaito Kuroba.”

His pulse did not waver.

Kaito beamed, seeing the look of relief and joy in Shinichi’s face.

“See, I told you-” Shinichi held a finger to Kaito’s lips, silencing him. He had more to say.

Shinichi waited until he felt his pulse calm down a bit, readying himself for one more step.

“I love you too.”

Grinning in exhilaration at hearing those words from Shinichi’s lips, Kaito giggled happily. “God, we’re such saps. Look at us, all official-like.”

He embraced Shinichi as close as he could, assuaging Shinichi’s fears and doubts. “See? It’s not a lie, you big dumb fish.”

“I’m glad,” Shinichi said, wiping at the corner of his eyes. “I’m glad you got to hear it. Before I have to leave. I was worried I’d never be able to say it, and that meant it wasn’t real.”

And just like that, despite the elevation Shinichi had felt at finally getting those words out into the world that made the butterflies in his stomach soar, they were reminded of the very little time they still had together. He was leaving, and now that he’s said it, Shinichi thinks he really was ready to let him go. It was going to hurt, but they both knew that from the start.

“But you did say it,” Kaito breathed, cupping Shinichi’s face and holding him close. “And it’s real.”

“Yeah, it is,” Shinichi whispered back, sharing in each other’s breath.

“Are you ready to let it go?”

Shinichi’s eyes fell to the water between them, being reminded again of their physical and inevitable incompatibility. But it was real .

“Not really, but that’s the point isn’t it?” Shinichi asked, kissing Kaito back on the lips. “It’s only real if I don’t want to let it go.”

“Yeah, me either.”

Kaito kissed Shinichi back, capturing his mouth like he wanted to take in every moment he could while they had it.

“Let's have some fun. It’s our last night before the big show tomorrow, and I want it to be a night I remember.”

Kaito pointed at the back of his neck. “Follow what I do and I’ll show you how to leave a love bite, I want to match.”

Shinichi rolled his eyes as he rubbed the back of his own neck self-consciously, blush staining on his cheeks and up to his side fans.

“I’m only glad Amuro-san didn’t see that. He probably would have kidnapped me right then and there from this tank when he proposed his Stockholm Syndrome theory if he saw them.”

“Well, I would have simply just had to steal you back then,” Kaito laughed with wicked promise.

He took Shinichi’s right side fan in his lips and sucked on the fin, drawing it into his mouth as Shinichi let out a series of alarmed throat clicks.

“Oh my god, don’t do that!” Shinichi protested, rubbing his released side fan into his shoulders to rid himself of the sensation. That felt weird.

“The blush bleeding into the fans is so cute though,” Kaito complained. “I like your pretty fins.”

Last night on earth, huh? Kaito thought. He never thought he’d be one to do things like this under a time limit, but he was good at improvising. He clambered out of the tank and lifted Shinichi out. It would be rather difficult to leave more love bites down Shinichi’s chest to where his precious Envy lay if they stayed in the tank after all.

Chapter 11

Chapter Text

This was the best and worst picture Shinichi had ever seen in his entire life. Best, because the photo had been taken under thematic lighting, had great composition, focus, and preserved a precious memory in its frame. Worst, because the contents of said memory was not appropriate for display.

“Delete it,” he demanded.

“Noooo,” Kaito complained. “You look so cute here though.”

“I’m literally drooling in it.”

“So, is that supposed to be a turn-off?”

“Kaito!” Shinichi wailed, absolutely mortified and hiding under his tail fin again. “How did you even take that photo?”

Kaito raised a finger to his lips. “With magic~. Trust me Shinichi, your attention was so occupied, anything could have happened and you wouldn’t have noticed it.”

The picture in question was one Kaito took immediately after Shinichi had finished raking his teeth over a lovely ring of hickeys around the back of Kaito’s neck. He liked the way they both looked absolutely debauched. Shinichi’s cute pink tongue was barely poking out between his teeth, a little trail of saliva connecting his teeth to Kaito’s neck, eyes heavy-lidded while Kaito was gently biting him on the side fan looking at the camera every bit like the cat that had gotten the canary. Delicious. Hey, if it was going to be their last night on earth together, the least Kaito could do was immortalise the moment in commemoration on his phone for … future reference. Kaito slid Shinichi’s tail from where it fell over his face to see his expression clearly.

“Come on, Shin-chan! It’s Haido City! We have to get ready for our last show!”

Haido City. The biggest port city on this side of the country. It was a well-off place with grand parks, hotels, and a shining clocktower that overlooked the city skyline, much different from the small towns Kaito had been stopping at. It was a city of lights and billboards, shopping malls and luxury apartments. The Suzuki Corporation was based here too. In fact, old man Jirokichi sponsored the venue where Kaito was going to be performing tonight. There was a bit of irony in that.

For their last show together, Kaito wanted to do something special. He wasn’t satisfied with Shinichi simply watching from his water tank. No, this time Kaito wanted Shinichi in the audience proper. As such, he had devised a clever disguise for Shinichi. Tonight, after a bit of makeup, clever contraption making and a wig, Shinichi was seated as a short-haired, lanky limbed wheelchair-bound Japanese-Malay haafu high schooler on a visit from Singapore. The wheelchair was a cleverly disguised compartment to hide Shinichi’s tail complete with manipulatable puppet legs Shinichi could operate with a series of puppet strings wired up to a control panel on the inside of his left armrest. The control panel had been made by repurposing the ruined timer switch Amuro had left behind on Shinichi’s shelf.

Shinichi thought it was a bit much, dressing him like a member of Kaito’s fan club with his Magic Kaito sunglasses, Magic Kaito novelty hat, Magic Kaito T-shirt and Magic Kaito foldable fan, but Kaito insisted it completed the disguise.

The audience was just starting to queue up when Kaito wheeled Shinichi out front to sit in the reserved seating area out front.

“Now, remember to look really excited! Otherwise, no one’s going to believe you’re a superfan!” Said Kaito, opening the secret compartment with false legs for Shinichi to slide his tail into.

“I don’t want people to think I’m a superfan.” Shinichi complained, but allowed himself to be seated all the same, eyeing Kaito’s phone. Maybe he could pinch it when the show was over to delete the picture.

Kaito tut-tutted. “I don’t think you get to say that, seeing as how you’re literally the mermaid who marked their kisses on me. Not just any fan can say that,” he said, hard at work covering the evidence of their activities with concealer.

Shinichi flushed bright red once more. “Tha-that has nothing to do with this!” He spluttered.

Kaito laughed, loving riling his beloved mermaid up. He gave Shinichi a bucket of fish fingers for finger food and a cup of iced coffee as his drink. He couldn’t have his beloved Shin-chan snackless and beverage-less for the last show after all.

“If anybody asks, you’re from Singapore so your Japanese isn’t very good. I find that’s one of the most effective ways to get people to not talk to you, just don’t speak the language.”

Shinichi nodded, petulantly accepting the snacks and eyeing the bread-crumbed fish pieces with distaste. Ultra-processed fish tasted about the furthest thing from fresh, but they couldn’t exactly bring in platters of fresh fillets and not attract attention. At least this way Shinichi’s fish fingers might be mistaken for a type of chip.

“Got it, KID-sama,” Shinichi replied sarcastically in accented Japanese, waving the Magic Kaito fan.

Kaito gave Shinichi a proud look. “That’s the spirit. Now gimme my good luck kiss.”

Shinichi sighed to himself as he obliged before Kaito went out to sell tickets in his usual disguise. Really, you’d think after all the time they spent sucking face as of late, Kaito would get sick of it by now. But it seemed the man was insatiable. Or, maybe he just liked flustering Shinichi. Or both. It was definitely both.

The wheelchair was a little cramped, but Shinichi could manage for the short amount of time he’d be confined to it. It would be worth it in the end, to see Kaito from the audience’s point of view, spotlights on stage.

As the audience were beginning to trickle in, Shinichi began to feel very uneasy. He felt very exposed, having been told all his life to stay away from humans in order to not be spotted, to being the private research specimen of a secret lab, to hiding out of sight when Kaito held his magic shows. This was the first time he’s ever just been out in the open in front of everyday humans. But Kaito’s disguise did its job. Most audience members only glanced at Shinichi as they walked by to get to their seats, acknowledging him as part of the crowded scenery as Shinichi allowed himself to breathe a sigh of relief.

As more seats began to fill and some light chatter was being held, a man came to sit in the seat next to Shinichi’s.

“Hello,” the man spoke with a strange lisp. “Is this seat taken?”

Shinichi took a look at the stranger. He was wearing a hearing aid, glasses, and had on a thick cable knit sweater and beanie. Ah, that would explain the accent, he must have been partially deaf.

“Uh, no. No problem at all,” said Shinichi, forgoing the fake accent. It wouldn’t be fair to a man who was already hard of hearing if Shinichi made it harder for him to understand him with an accent as well. Plus, it would just be with this one person, no one else had to know his accent was fake.

“Thank you,” the man said as he happily sat down, cracking open an unfamiliar black can of liquid.

Shinichi eyed the drink suspiciously as a familiar enticing scent caught his attention. “Canned coffee? Coffee comes in a can?” He asked curiously. He’s only ever had brewed or cups Kaito bought from cafes.

The man smiled. “It sure does, do you like coffee?” he asked, offering a second can he got from his bag to Shinichi. “Would you like to try some?”

“Yeah, I like it,” said Shinichi eagerly, taking the offered can and cracking it open to take a sip. The aroma of coffee was a lie, however, as the liquid inside the can tasted of foul metal and burned stale coffee beans. He pulled a disgusted face. “What the hell? This stuff is vile, what is it, tar?”

The man laughed, taking the can back from Shinichi and taking a swig like it was the easiest thing in the world.

“I suppose this brand isn’t very popular with a lot of people,” he said, still chuckling. “What kind of coffee do you like then?”

“Iced,” Shinichi said without missing a beat, picking up his cup of iced coffee and showing it to the man. “And not burnt and stale in a can, apparently.”

“Apparently,” the man agreed, holding his can up for Shinichi to toast. “So, where are you from? Forgive me, you don’t look much like a local.”

“I’m half,” Shinichi answered, half-mermaid, that is,tapping their two opposing styles of coffee drinks together. He had only read about the practice in books, but he was pretty sure he did it right even though it was typically done with glasses. “I’m from Singapore.”

“Singapore?” Asked the man in surprise. “You’re a long way from home then, aren’t you?”

“You have no idea,” Shinichi said, smiling to himself. Try the bottom of the ocean in a trench.

“You must like Magic Kaito then, coming all the way from Singapore to see him in person,” said the man, looking a bit in awe at all the merch Shinichi was decked out in. “Like, a really big fan.”

“He’s pretty good,” Shinichi agreed. “He might just be my favourite magician,” he said, waving his fan and hoping his enthusiasm didn’t sound too forced.

“Oh?” Asked the man. Shinichi wondered if he spoke this much with all the people he ran across who showed an interest in coffee. “I suppose he’s quite the fan favourite around these parts. I wanted to come see him for myself because I think Kaito reminds me a bit of Kaito KID, don’t you think?”

Shinichi laughed nervously. “Who? That lowly jewel thief? No way, KID’s nothing but an idiot thief, and no one’s even seen him for two weeks since he stole that Atlantic Envy or whatever. Maybe he’s finally kept the spoils to himself and retired with the profit.”

“I guess so,” replied the man, sipping on his toxic sludge easily.

Then, just as every show before, the house lights dimmed as Kaito began the show.

The show was a lot more grand when viewed from the audience. The spotlights cut the stage into clearly spaced out sections that Shinichi no longer had to keep switching from peephole to peephole to see between acts from unoptimised angles, but got the opportunity to simply relax and allow his eyes to follow wherever Kaito led them across the stage.

Most of his tricks were some variation of things he had already performed before, seeing as his list of tricks had shrunk considerably after losing some of his prototypes and props to the river depths, but Kaito had scrounged up a new act for tonight’s show just for Shinichi for an alternative grand finale to the Underwater Escape Spectacular.

“Ladies and gentlemen, you’ve been a wonderful audience. I’m sorry to say I only have one last trick to share with you all,” the audience let out a series of disappointed awws and boos, to which Kaito received with amicable grace.

“But I promise you all, it will be well worth the wait. However, before I perform this next trick, I shall need a volunteer from the audience.”

Children all but leapt from their seats thrusting their arms up into the air, eager to be chosen. A few members of Kaito’s fan club entourage screamed as they begged for him to choose them. However, Kaito only had eyes for one as he skipped and pranced his way in front of Shinichi’s seat, to which Shinichi levelled him with a glare.

“How about you, would you like to become my lovely assistant for the night?” Kaito asked, bowing graciously before Shinichi.

“That depends,” Shinichi challenged with a smirk, his fake accent returning in full now that the crowd’s attention was on him. “Are you planning on impressing me tonight?”

Kaito let out a delighted laugh. “That’s the goal, isn’t it Mr~?” He cooed, as if he didn’t come up with Shinichi’s alias.

“Arthur Hirai,” Shinichi answered. Kaito had thought it was funny to name Shinichi’s alias after two famous mystery novel authors. Shinichi wanted to remind Kaito his taste in aliases was lacking after the whole Katsuki Doito fiasco.

“Arthur~” Kaito crooned, as if the name was honey on his lips. “Is that name after anyone in particular?”

“Sir Arthur Conan Doyle,” Shinichi answered, playing into Kaito’s game. “Are you going to question me all night, or are you still going to amaze me with magic, Magician?”

Kaito pushed Shinichi’s wheelchair to the front of the stage, where the lights shined brightly, almost blinding Shinichi’s face. But he only had eyes on the thief, mindless of the audience in the dark. “How right you are, Critic.”

The set-up was one Shinichi hadn’t seen before. He had no idea how Kaito had managed to hide it from him in the caravan but he had to have been planning this for a while.

It was a wooden tower around three stories tall that brushed the top of the tent fashioned after a mediaeval rope suspension bridge with bronze statues of angels flanking a deep spiked pit.

Kaito wheeled Shinichi’s chair up the spiralling ramp leading to the top. “Now Arthur, you might be wondering about what you’ll need to do for me, but not to worry, my handsome friend, I don’t need you to do much at all. I just need you to sit there and look gorgeous,” he said with a wink, as they came to the top of the tower.

At the top, the rope bridge stretched out precariously between two points twenty metres apart on either side of the spiked pit. Kaito made a big show of securing Shinichi’s chair to one side of the bridge with ropes before walking to the other side of the bridge, and cutting the ropes. Either side of the bridge fell away, leaving Shinichi and Kaito stranded on either side of the pit.

Then, Kaito lit a match and threw it into the spiked pit, setting the whole thing ablaze. Shinichi tried not to sweat too much from where he was as the air around him got a lot warmer.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, the Arena of Ordeals!” Announced Kaito, the stage lights dimmed until only the fire cast a light over the entire tent, the blaze bathing the room in fiery hellfire light.

“Tonight, your two star-crossed protagonists must find their way to each other again, or the flames of ordeals shall never be extinguished, and engulf this entire tent tonight!” The fire roared as it grew from the pit, threatening to lick up the ramparts of the tower.

“As you can see here, there are no hidden ropes or platforms between me and our lovely volunteer,” Kaito pulled a bucket of rose petals from somewhere in his suit, throwing it over the pit. The rose petals fell freely where they were swallowed into the pit of flames, not hitting any hidden platforms or wires on their way down. Kaito also waved a long extendable pole over the pit, showing no suspended wires coming from the top of the tent.

“Now, the only way I can reach our dear trapped Arthur-san again is if I suddenly gain the ability to walk on air. But that, as we all know, is an impossibility.” Kaito smirked, pulling his hat over to cast a dark and mysterious shadow over his eyes. “Or is it?”

Spotlights from the ground lit and trained up towards Kaito, bathing him in lights as he dramatically flicked his cape behind himself. A drumroll started sounding from somewhere as Kaito walked forward and slowly stepped off the platform.

Children in the front rows screamed, certain the magician would plummet to his certain doom into the pit of fire. But instead, Kaito’s foot seemed to hover in mid-air, fully supporting his weight as the magician walked forward, surprising everyone in attendance.

Heedless to the laws of gravity, Kaito leisurely walked his way across the gap, even going so far as to give a twirl to show he was not suspended on wires, which would have surely tangled if they were above him unseen, steps echoing as he made his way to where Shinichi waited for him. Shinichi looked above and around Kaito, but even from his vantage point, he couldn’t see how Kaito was doing it.

As Kaito approached, a shower of sparks started to fall from his cape. The edges of the cape burned up the stretch of fabric as it fluttered, sending the audience gasping in awe as the little sparks fell away in dancing arcs. As Kaito walked, the cape burned away artistically behind him until it revealed a pair of translucent, starry patterned feathery wings that drifted behind him. The fabric of the wings was so delicate and thin and caught the air so easily - possibly made from parachute or extra KID hang glider material, Shinichi thought to himself - they moved in the heat rising from the pit of fire as if alive, making the illusion of Kaito appearing to be an angel walking on air as he approached Shinichi complete.

Being an angel supernatural suited Kaito, Shinichi thought. And not just because he brought Shinichi deliverance from the Black Organisation or whatever. But Kaito’s carefree spirit, his lively playfulness, his talent for acrobatics and a refusal to be pinned down or confined by anyone, much less the authorities, suited the element of air very well. Kaito was a free spirit in every sense of the word, and wings looked like they naturally belonged on him.

Kaito stopped in front of Shinichi as his wings flared out either side, waving softly in the updraft of the fires below, as he freed Shinichi’s wheelchair from its secure restraints holding his hands over Shinichi’s on the wheelchair armrests.

“Will you care to dance with me?” Kaito asked, clicking his fingers as the sound of music came from the venue speakers.

Shinichi looked incredulously at his wheelchair disguise, gesturing at his ‘legs’. “I can’t exactly walk, Idiot,” he scolded.

Kaito’s face split into a grin. “I asked you to dance with me, not to walk, Critic.”

The thief took a step back over the gap in the air, leading Shinichi’s wheelchair and Shinichi reflexively tightened his hold on Kaito’s arms as the overwhelming instinct to grab hold of something before he fell took over. Shinichi held his breath as the wheelchair rolled off the edge of the platform onto seemingly thin air … and he did not fall. But that was impossible, how was Kaito doing this? Being so high in the air over an open fire was an incredibly unnatural feeling being a mermaid, and so Shinichi screwed his eyes shut as Kaito guided him in his chair in lazy circles far above the audience to the tune of the gentle music.

“Open your eyes,” Kaito whispered into his ear as he swept him in an arc. “Don’t you trust me?”

“Do you really want me to answer that?” Shinichi hissed back at him, but opened his eyes anyway because of course, he trusted Kaito.

The audience was practically invisible over the beams of spotlights highlighting their movements from below, the yawning maw of the pit gaped as the flames danced over the edges. Kaito’s wings were moving around them in a long, sparkling, starry trail.

“Don’t look down, look at me,” said Kaito, as he continued to lead Shinichi.

Shinichi obeyed, glueing his bright blue eyes to Kaito’s deep blue and didn’t waver. Shinichi felt himself relax minutely as he focused on following Kaito’s movements, leaning into the sways and lazy circles of the music.

As Kaito guided them to a softly swelling and waning tune, Shinichi felt like Kaito was the siren, and Shinichi was the sailor enthralled by his supernatural song. Shinichi found himself humming along to the music, enthralling Kaito to the whims of his heart as they danced to their own tune.

So enchanted he was by their dance, that Shinichi didn’t even notice that with each circle and swell of the music, Kaito was bringing them slowly down back to the stage until the wheels of his wheelchair touched the floor as the flames of the spiked pit died down completely, revealing a completely smooth black marble floor.

The music stopped, Shinichi stopped humming, and he and Kaito stood alone on the dark marble floor, unwilling to part for a moment. Then, Kaito tilted his head forward, and gave Shinichi a small chaste kiss before Kaito finally stepped back.

“Everyone, a round of applause here for our very brave volunteer!” Kaito cheered, goading the audience into a thunderous applause as he made a single red rose appear out of thin air and presented it to Shinichi, fueling the applause even more.

Shinichi took the rose in hand as he slowly wheeled his way back to the reserved seating area, head still in a dizzying trance as if he were still being led in circles in the air. Kaito had kissed him, in front of everyone. Shinichi was so lost as a matter of fact, that he almost missed the man hard of hearing talking to him.

“That Kaito Kuroba, he’s a bit of a hopeless romantic, isn’t he?” he chuckled.

“Uh, yeah,” said Shinichi intelligently, rubbing his lips self-consciously still somewhat in a stupor as he looked at the rose left in his hands.

The man nodded. “He reminds me an awful lot of one of my favourite book characters, the Night Baron.”

“Uh-huh,” said Shinichi, mind buzzing, and siren songs on his mind because he couldn’t believe Kaito just did that, and in front of his fan club too. Their president, Sonoko, must be so disappointed. Even as he was wrapped up in his own head over Kaito’s display of romance, Shinichi was also still wondering how just Kaito had managed to walk on air, defying the laws of gravity.

“Well, that’s it for today’s show, ladies and gentlemen! See you as always, next illusion!” He vaguely heard Kaito closing the show.

The crowd cheered as those who could stood up and gave a standing ovation, while Shinichi still sat in his wheelchair contemplatively. Shinichi lifted the rose for examination. The perfume was soft and delicate, petals smooth and buttery to the touch. Kaito was always using roses in his shows.

Then, the words the man had said belatedly registered in Shinichi’s mind. Night Baron books-?!!

“Wait, you know the Night Baron books?” Shinichi asked urgently, dropping the rose to the ground and grabbing the sleeve of the man before he left with the rest of the crowd looking to exit the tent.

The man paused, surprised Shinichi had grabbed a hold of him and nodded. “Certainly, they’re some of my favourite mystery books. I got the latest book in the series on release just last week.”

“Last week?” Shinichi asked, daring to hope against hope this meant what he thought it meant.

“This Night Baron series, is it a book series about murder mysteries featuring a romantic phantom thief who dabbles in magic? White mask, black magician’s outfit and overcoat?”

The man nodded, “Why, yes. Are you familiar with the books as well?” He smiled, excitedly. “Who knew we’d have so much in common, liking coffee and the same book series!”

“Who wrote the Night Baron books?” Shinichi asked, shaking the sleeve of the man, his urgency was frightening, causing the man to step back hesitantly.

“Hey, calm down man, it’s only books-”

“Do you know the author’s pen name?” Shinichi demanded, shaking the man harder.

If this was the same series of books, and they were still releasing, then that meant Shinichi’s father wasn’t dead. Which means if he could track down the pen name, he could ask the publisher where his father was-

But Shinichi never got to hear the deaf man’s answer, because something in Shinichi’s wheelchair began to beep shrilly, causing his grip to slacken in shock.

Using the distraction, the man pulled away his sleeve and left before Shinichi could stop him, muttering about crazy foreigners.

Confused as the beeping persisted, Shinichi rummaged around until he spotted a blinking red light coming from the wheelchair control panel for the false legs. Ripping open the cover, Shinichi pulled out the remnants of the ruined timer switch used for the Underwater Escape Spectacular, except the button was red and flashing urgently. Not knowing what else do to, Shinichi pressed the button, hoping to get it to stop. The shrill beeping stopped, only to be replaced by the crackling sounds of a radio signal.

“Kudou-kun!” Amuro’s voice sounded from the tiny device.

“Bourbon?!” asked Shinichi, confused. “What- how- did you leave a bug in the switch?”

“There’s no time for that,” Amuro said urgently.

“It’s the Black Organisation, they’ve found out where you are.”

“What” Shinichi shouted, his blood running cold and almost dropping the switch in shock.

“How?!”

“Apparently, Vermouth disguised herself as an old professor and she overheard some young children talking amongst themselves about a mermaid they discovered while sneaking backstage of KID’s show,” Amuro explained in a rush.

“Listen to me, you have to get out of there Kudou-kun, they’re coming for you. Tonight.”

Chapter 12

Chapter Text

When Kaito came over to investigate the shrill beeping sound and discovered Shinichi ashen-faced and gripping the mangled remains of the control panel formerly stopwatch timer switch, he already knew what Shinichi was going to tell them; they had to move now. He didn’t know when Amuro bugged the old switch and he was kicking himself for not noticing when he was putting together Shinichi’s wheelchair but that didn’t matter, at least they got the warning in time.

Kaito didn’t even bother to pack up his show, there was no time for that. He simply disconnected the driver's car from the rest of the caravan, ripped off his stage outfit in favour of his KID suit, wheeled Shinichi to the passenger seat, loaded him up and began booking it to the shore, Haido City traffic laws be damned.

They couldn’t let Shinichi off at the port itself, it was a business port, it would be too well lit and there were too many security cameras and witnesses who would freak out at the sight of a mermaid jumping into the ocean. They had to reach the beach, a private beach preferably, away from any prying eyes who might be able to point in the direction Shinichi chooses to swim away for the Black Organisation when they came knocking.

It wasn’t too long until they spotted the lights of a chopper rapidly approaching from the west side, scanning up and down the coastline with searchlights combing the ocean surface, patrol boats making rounds up and down the perimeters. They all bore the family crest of Wakita’s Estate.

“They’re here,” Shinichi whispered, utterly panicked. His side fans flared as his tail was whipping back and forth agitatedly in the car and his hands itched to scratch at the back of his neck. “They’ve already got the beach secured.”

Unmarked cars with fully armoured guards with firearms were parked all up and down the beach parking spaces as they escorted civilians out of the area, putting the beach on total lockdown. Kaito shuddered when he saw all the excessive guns. Guns in the cars, guns on the boats, no doubt guns in the air as well in the chopper, all for little old Kaito KID.

Wakita-san has the entire law enforcement board in his pocket and they’ll let him do whatever he wants if he manages to apprehend the thief, up to and including shooting to kill them on sight. Thanks, Hakuba.

Kaito pulled the car over behind some faraway bushes. “sh*t, this is bad. We’ll never get close enough to the shore at this rate, we might need to head to another town-”

“They’ll be expecting that,” pointed out Shinichi. “There’s no way Rum won’t have already thought of that and had the exit roads from Haido City blocked off.”

Kaito banged his head against the wheel, scouring his brain for any different methods for escape. He could think of a few other ways to leave the city, but they all involved heading further inland, and then they’d just have this same problem again if the Black Organisation followed them to the next portside town.

Scanning the visible coastline, Shinichi tapped Kaito on the shoulder. “I have an idea,” he said. “The Black Organisation are looking for Kaito KID. We could use the KID Golem on the hang glider with a fake Atlantic Envy. If he flies out of here, the chopper should be the only vehicle that can go after him if he goes out over the mountains. That would severely cripple the boat patrols without their bird's eye view.”

He then pointed out to where the beach met a cliff face further up the shoreline back in the direction of the main part of the city where there was a large pipe emptying out into the ocean. “Then, we can sneak out from the sewers.”

“That’s still too risky,” argued Kaito. “The boats still have their own searchlights, even if the helicopter is occupied. It’d be best if there was something to lure the boats away from the sewer exit so they won’t see you leaving that way.”

But Kaito could still tell the opportunity was there and grinned. “You need a distraction.”

Shinichi frowned. “I’ve already thought of that, that’s why I suggested the KID Golem, he won’t mind getting shot at. But we already need him in the air to distract the helicopter, we don’t have anything for the sea-”

“You’ve got me,” Kaito said, holding his thumb up proudly to himself. “Only you need to get into the ocean, it’s no big deal if I’m caught.”

Shinichi’s eyes glared at the thief. “It’s a very big deal because we know the guards will shoot you on sight! You’ll be killed if you act as a distraction.”

“Not if I disguise myself as this,” Kaito said, pulling out his Fairy’s Pocket and opening it to reveal the tail fin of his silicone mermaid tail.

“They wouldn’t dare shoot at another potential precious specimen,” Kaito already started glueing on his fake side fans over his ears. “If they think I’m some other mermaid coming to rescue you, then they’ll follow me instead, and I can lead them away from the sewers when you make your getaway and disappear as I hold their attention. It will be just like a magic trick.”

“But this isn’t a magic trick, what if they capture you?” Shinichi demanded. “You can’t even swim well in that tail, they’ll catch up to you and then they’ll figure it out pretty quick that you’re not a real mermaid and shoot you dead.”

Kaito sent Shinichi a wink. “You’re forgetting, you’re talking to Kaito KID. Escaping is practically second nature to me, I’ll break out.”

“But what if this is the one lock you can’t beat?” Shinichi asked. “What if you don’t have enough time to escape before they figure it out? Even you’re not fast enough to dodge a bullet, Kaito.”

Kaito leaned into Shinichi and captured his lips over Shinichi’s protests. “Trust me,” Kaito said, putting everything into those words as he pulled away.

“I’ll be fine. Besides, of course I’ll have enough time to beat the lock, if everything goes awry, I still have this.” Kaito held up the shining Fairy’s Favour, fully charged from the moonlight and ready to be used.

“If I can slip a pair of cuffs in under a minute, I think I’ll have enough time to use the Favour on any unforeseen lock complications.” He said with a wink.

Shinichi tried to think of some other flaw in the plan, something to stop Kaito from going out there and endangering himself for his sake, but found nothing. It really was their best option.

This … was it. Their last night together and it was going to be spent in peril. Shinichi wishes they could have said a more substantial goodbye, parting was such sweet sorrow and all that, but it seemed fate had different plans for the pair. Shinichi gently brushed his lips over Kaitos once more. He cupped his hand over Kaito’s cheek, his thumb tracing the bone gently.

“I’ll miss you.”

Kaito leaned into the touch, putting his own hand over Shinichi’s. “Of course, I’ll miss you too, Shinichi.”

He threw his arms over Shinichi, hugging him as close as he possibly could manage, committing every bump, angle, fins and all, to memory.

“I’m happy to have loved you, I’m glad I stole you that night.”

Shinichi took a shuddering breath under his hold as he held Kaito back, wrapping his tail around his waist to tighten the embrace.

“You made me happy to love you too. Thank you for stealing me, Thief.”

When Shinichi pulled away, he found Kaito had left a band wrapped around his wrist, a string of metal beads with characters on it.

“That’s my phone number, encoded, of course, so you have something to do when you can finally stop swimming,” Kaito said. “I’ll carve the same numbers into the leftmost post of the pier too, once this is all done. If … if it’s ever safe to come see me again, find a phone, and give me a call. I’ll find you.”

Shinichi nodded, knowing that the likelihood of the Black Organisation ever letting him come near land again if he got away was near nil.

“I will,” he promised anyway. He’d find a way, even if he had to hijack a satellite phone from a sailor in the middle of the Arctic Ocean.

“Good, because don’t think you’re getting rid of me that easily,” Kaito laughed. He kissed Shinichi again, meaning every second of it. “You’re my stolen treasure, and I don’t let go of my prizes that easily.”

Shinichi blushed, a light dusting of pink over his cheeks and side fans, even though this was hardly the time or place.

“See to it that you don’t.”

Shinichi reached for his right hip, his hand hovering over the scales there. “I should give you the Envy,” he said, starting to dig his fingers under the scales.

Kaito grabbed hold of his hand, stopping him. Shinichi looked up at the thief, surprised.

“Why don’t you hold off on that,” Kaito said.

“But, I may never come back. The object of your quest, the jewel your father died for-”

“So make sure you are coming back and just give it to me next time we meet,” Kaito said. “After all, this gives you a reason to make sure you call my number. You promised me you’d give me the Envy if I got you to the ocean, I never said you had to give it back right away.”

Kaito closed Shinichi’s hand for him, and then pulled it up over his heart. “Hold on to it for me, just a little while longer?”

Shinichi nodded. “I’ll hold on to it for as long as you need me to.”

Shinichi opened his hand, there was a single pale iridescent scale that sat on it from where he had ripped it out when he went for the Envy. He placed it in Kaito’s blazer pocket.

“Then, will you hold on to this for me?”

Kaito placed his hand over Shinichi’s hand over his pocket protectively. It didn’t exactly come from the Mermaid Spring, but it probably still counted. He kissed the tips of Shinichi’s fingers and grinned.

“Of course.”

“It’s KID! Stop that thief, he’s got the Envy!”

Tail lights streaked after the glider in the sky as the Phantom in White whooped in glee, flying off in his propeller engine glider, shining blue gemstone in his grasp. The helicopter flew after him in hot pursuit as a handgun fired, barely missing KID and ricocheting off the sturdy metal frame of the glider.

“Ahhh~ Close one, maybe next time you’ll even catch me!” Said the Phantom, banking a hard left and dodging the following potshots.

“Come on gentlemen, I thought you were after this little stone of yours!”

The KID Golem flew off overhead, chortling and leading an entourage of cars and armed men running after him as the chopper followed close behind and he led them in a dizzying chase across town.

Several streets down, under the cover of the chaos, Kaito pried open a manhole cover and helped lower Shinichi into the cold, concrete underground.

“Okay, if you just follow this main line, it comes out into the ocean about four blocks down if you follow the path on the map,” Kaito instructed, giving Shinichi a hand-drawn map of the city sewer system that Kaito had managed to find online on his phone.

The sewer system was a huge underground network of cavernous tunnels that seemed to stretch on forever, little raised sidewalks designed to keep humans from wading through the dirty expanse of water on either side. Overhead, water runoff dripped from the ceiling as the sounds of city nightlife leaked in through the drains. It was, naturally, very dark. But Shinichi could still make out the details of the map in the limited light peeking down from drains to navigate.

Shinichi took the map and scrunched his nose in disgust at the stench. “These pipes are rank, I can’t believe I have to actually swim in this.”

Kaito laughed, nodding in agreement slightly at Shinichi’s unfortunate task. “Be thankful for the huge storm two days ago. All the water runoff would have washed out the worst city pollutant gunk you’d typically find in the sewers, now it’s just mostly stormwater.”

Shinichi huffed in disapproval but he supposed Kaito did have a valid point, it could have been much worse.

Before Kaito could send Shinichi on his merry way, Shinichi took hold of Kaito’s hand. Kaito was bare-chested now that he had mostly donned his mermaid disguise, save for actually putting on the tail, and stopped the thief from closing the manhole. Kaito looked back down the manhole at Shinichi questioningly.

“Be safe,” said Shinichi, bright blue eyes meeting Kaito’s deep blue. “Don’t die.”

He was being so serious, that Kaito couldn’t help but laugh. “Oh, Merman-kun, you’re so cute when you worry about me.”

He came back closer to lean his forehead against Shinichi’s, their breath intermingling as one.

“Get home safe,” he whispered.

Shinichi nodded, and finally pulled away, missing Kaito’s warm fingers holding his own as soon as his grip broke.

Then, Kaito let the thick metal cover fall back over the manhole with a metallic clang, sealing the mermaid in the sewers and he could see Shinichi no more.

The shouting of the members of the Black Organisation out in the boats demanding they ‘keep searching for the mermaid’ could be heard over the din of screeching of car tyres against the tarmac. Well, it seemed Kaito had one last act to put on before the night was over.

Under the cover of moonlight, Kaito snuck between the shadows into a draughty wooden shack by the beachfront. It was a small boat rental shed frequented by hobbyists and held a cosy selection of equipment for the locals that also provided gear for fishing and amateur diving. There, he rummaged around and ‘borrowed’ a small, compact, white sea scooter and a snorkel mouthpiece, that would be invaluable to buying more time for Shinichi the longer Kaito could stay ahead of his future pursuers, especially since he wouldn’t really be able to use his legs once in the silicone mermaid tail.

Exiting the shed, Kaito made his way closer to a sheer cliff lit by a lighthouse just north of the beach, far from the other cliffside Shinichi would be arriving at in about fifteen minutes if everything was going according to plan. Of course, with guards patrolling this end of the beach as well, Kaito couldn’t have hoped to get close on foot.

If he was going on foot.

Kaito reached into the infinite pocket dimension of his Fairy’s Pocket and pulled out his mermaid tail and his KID gun. Slipping on the tail and securing it in place, Kaito dropped the pocket between his feet at the bottom of the tail, stuck the snorkel in his mouth, and shot the length of grappling wire up into the air. The hook looped around the railing leading up to the light of the lighthouse and Kaito used the retraction function on his gun to launch himself through the air, landing into the ocean with an almighty splash in a swan dive, all the while holding on to his sea scooter.

“What was that?” One of the voices from the boats asked. “It came from the lighthouse!”

Under the water, Kaito turned on the sea scooter which hummed to life as the motor began turning and propelling him forward at a respectable speed, a trail of frothy bubbles in his wake. He had about half an hour of dive time with his snorkel, so he had to make it count.

A small fleet of seven speedboats drove closer to where Kaito had dived in, spotlights searching the dark water for hide or hair of him. Kaito zoomed forward a little ways from them and deliberately crested above the surface in a dolphin dive, allowing the guards to see his giant trailing tail fins.

“Look, there’s one over there! After the mermaid!”

The boats rumbled to life, kicking into gear and racing after Kaito. The boats were undoubtedly faster than Kaito, but what the sea scooter lacked in pure speed it made up for in manoeuvrability. Kaito took the boats on a chase around part of the beach where tall, rocky spires ripped out of the water, with the shorter ones barely poking out of the surface being almost impossible to see under the dark waves at night.

Kaito bobbed and weaved his way between them, using the light from the speedboat spotlights to his advantage as he rounded sharp rock formations that would shred a person to pieces if they crashed into it.

One of the boats followed him right over one of those lower spikes, the unseen sharp rocks under the waves ripping a hole through the hull of the boat as people on board shouted in panic, grabbing life vests as their little boat was quickly swallowed up by the water.

Another boat Kaito led into crashing headlong between two other spires, the captain misjudging their distance apart and instead wedging the boat immovably between the rock formations like an overstuffed meatball trapped between two chopsticks.

Having witnessed the fates of two of their boats, the other ones kept a safe distance, not daring to approach the rocky shore; he'd have to get a little more creative with those.

There was a muzzle flash from one of the boats as someone on board shot a gun. The bullet struck somewhere in the water to the left of Kaito, as he continued speeding along on his sea scooter without hesitation.

“Idiot!” He heard someone onboard smacking the gun out of the shooter’s hands. “You can’t hit the mermaid, that’s an important research subject!”

Kaito couldn’t swim too close to the commercial ports, there’d be too many civilians who could get caught in the crossfire. Banking a hard right, Kaito gunned his sea scooter in a headlong collision with the boat at the head of the pack. Panicked, three of the boats swerved to get out of the way as the guards on board the boat at the head of the pack tried to throw nets over Kaito’s path. Steel-edged cards at the ready, Kaito threw a handful ahead of him, cutting the net into ribbons as the cards sliced through the ropes and jammed into the propellers, causing them to malfunction and catch fire as he raced past. This third boat’s engine died, as the fourth boat bringing up the rear crashed into it, eaving the crew stranded in the water shouting angrily after Kaito while people from the first two ruined boats swam over for safety.

The last two speedboats were still in hot pursuit. Wait, two? Crap, Kaito hadn’t been keeping track of the boats well enough. Where was the seventh?

Scanning around, he saw it. One of the boats was heading back towards the cliffside, the one with the sewer pipe that Shinichi would be leaving through. On the stern side, the taller, long-haired man he had seen all those days ago from the fish market that Shinichi had referred to as Gin was standing, sniper rifle trained directly on the sewer pipe, where Shinichi was just exiting.

Kaito didn’t even think. He gunned the sea scooter slamming directly into the starboard side of the boat, knocking Gin off his feet and causing his shot to go wild. Shinichi started, hearing the bang of a gunshot ricocheting off the sewer pipe and quickly took off into the water. As Kaito lay stunned from the impact in the water, he saw Shinichi’s retreating tail fins fading fast into the ocean blue. Oh, Kaito thought belatedly, Shinichi wasn’t lying, he is a fast swimmer, he could totally make it around Okinawa within a single hour. By the time Kaito recovered from his crash, Shinichi was long gone now, a good thousand metres ahead at least. That was good. At least now, so long as the Black Organisation thought they had successfully captured one mermaid, they should let the other one get away. They only needed one for a mermaid’s tear after all.

The other two speedboats closed in on him, throwing their nets over Kaito now that he didn’t have the sea scooter to get away. Not that it was much better than a crushed hunk of metal right now anyway. He spat out the snorkel, watching the tiny device sink to the ocean floor and held his breath. They’d know right away if they saw it that he wasn’t a mermaid. He was somewhat surprised at how efficiently the nets could tangle up his fake tail as they hauled him on the boat Gin was waiting on.

Kaito made a big show of clawing and snarling at the nets the same way he’d seen Shinichi do when faced with a particularly stubborn clam as he was heaved onto the deck. He tried to keep his movements as inhuman and wild as possible, like a feral mermaid fresh from the ocean deep.

However, that was not the end of it. As soon as Gin regained his balance on the boat, he calmly swept his coat back and promptly levelled his sniper rifle back at the water, taking aim with a gleeful grin, and Kaito’s heart sank as the air around them cracked with a thunderclap POP! as Gin took the shot.

“No!”

Kaito watched as the distant dark silhouette of Shinichi staggered and slumped in the water, motionless.

Everything seemed to come to a stop. Kaito didn’t dare breathe. That can’t have happened. They can’t have just gone through everything just for it to end like that.

Their boats approached the water, spotlights trained on the spot where Shinichi’s body was floating just under the waves.

Shinichi’s body. Kaito just couldn’t comprehend it. He watched in abject horror as the nets descended. Shinichi was meant to be burning curiosity and passion for mysteries and restlessness to the point of narcolepsy. Not still, lifeless in the water. But, there was something strange. There was no cloud of blood to be seen in the water. Did Gin miss?

The nets tangled up in Shinichi’s tail as the mermaid was brought on board beside Kaito. Frenetically, Kaito lunged forward to check over him for signs of life. Kaito’s eyes widened as his fingers found their way to Shinichi’s pulse. Shinichi’s heart was still beating, there was no blood. But there was a red-tailed dart sticking out of Shinichi’s side in an ugly raised welt that Kaito yanked out, examining it. It was a tranquiliser dart, and a damn strong one too if Shinichi had slumped over immediately like that.

“Don’t look so surprised mermaid, we’ve had years to perfect our fast-acting tranquilising agents with a live test subject.” Gin bragged, almost bored as the other Black Organisation members and hired hands alike dragged the two apart.

Kaito was taken to be restrained against the side of the boat in a metal shark cage and could only watch helplessly as Vodka came from the driver's seat of the speedboat and shackled Shinichi’s arms up to the elbows in custom-made restraints and tied his fins down so he couldn't swim away.

“Don’t forget the other thing, Vodka, we don’t want a repeat of the last time you left those teeth unattended.”

Nodding, Vodka also fit a muzzle over Shinichi’s face, like he was a wild animal.

While Vodka was fitting the restraint over Shinichi’s face, Gin spotted the mottled, dark bruises at the back of his neck.

“Disgusting,” He hissed, assessing the way the dark marks concentrated around the dark tattoo lines. “To think, someone would lay with a creature such as this-”

“He’s not a ‘creature,’ asshole!” Kaito shouted, outraged by their degradation and dehumanisation tactics.

Gin’s eyes snapped to Kaito’s, ready to shoot whoever dared to speak over him dead. But then his eyes widened in recognition, taking in the familiar slopes of Kaito’s undisguised face, save for the fins. “Ah, I thought I recognised that foolhardy voice. You’re that brat from the fish market. So, I suppose that must make you the infamous Kaito KID.”

Kaito’s blood ran cold at the name of his moniker coming from Gin. Gin had a way of saying your name like he was dedicating it to a hitlist.

“Oh yeah, aniki, that’s totally him!” Vodka added, levelling his pistol at Kaito’s head.

Kaito swallowed as he realised that the gig was up. Gin and Vodka knew he wasn’t a mermaid now and they’d never let Shinichi go as their one and only specimen. But why didn’t they let him go before when they still thought Kaito was just another mermaid? What point is there in capturing two, when one of the two - Shinichi - had proven to be completely uncooperative for over a decade? It just didn’t make sense. If they wanted no witnesses, they would have taken a kill shot on Shinichi, as much as Kaito hated the thought. So why did they feel the need to spend so much effort in recapturing Shinichi?

There was a light vibration sound as Gin took out his phone, listening to the person on the other line, as he held out a finger to Vodka, a signal to stand down.

“Understood. No, we have the target right now. Return to the Estate, we’ll finish here while you inform Rum.”

Gin turned to KID, manic, bloodthirsty eyes making Kaito’s skin crawl as he pocketed his phone in his pants.

“Vermouth told me the KID she was chasing and the gem he was carrying were fakes. Tell me, KID, where is the real Atlantic Envy?”

Kaito spat at Gin’s shoes. “As if I’d ever tell you.”

Gin’s wicked grin broadened at the prospect of wringing the information by force from Kaito’s throat.

“No matter, we’ll be able to find it, whether you tell us or not.” He gestured to two of his grunts, who pulled out a black suitcase that housed some sort of electric scanner equipment.

This was bad. The Black Organisation had them on their boat, Shinichi was out cold and Kaito wouldn’t be able to get him very far into the ocean like this anyway. Not to mention Gin still had that rifle and could just shoot them if they were caught out in the water. He had to think of some way to get them out of this. Something, anything , he was the only one who could. But all Kaito had on him was his fake mermaid tail, and a handful of Fairy Tricks.

The two Black Organisation grunts hovered the electric device over Kaito which made strange electric beeping noises before shaking their heads in negative affirmation. Then, they turned it to Shinichi. It began beeping urgently when brought over the spot on his right hip where the Atlantic Envy lay.

“Found it,” Gin breathed. He went over to the restrained Shinichi, rolled him over onto his stomach like a fish about to be butchered, unsheathed a knife from his boot and stabbed it into Shinichi’s tail.

“Stop it!” Kaito shouted, horrified at the rasp of the blade against harsh scales and the wet sounds of squelching blood.

Shinichi jerked to full consciousness, gasping, hissing, gnashing his teeth, and thrashing wildly at the sudden onset of pain as Gin wriggled his invading fingers into the fleshy cavity in his tail until he forcefully dug out the bloody gem, brandishing it victoriously in the air.

Maybe once upon a time, Kaito had been sceptical, only guessing that Shinichi really had lied to him all this time about the Envy being Pandora, and maybe as time went on Kaito thought he didn’t care because it didn’t matter if the gem was Pandora or not the more he got to know Shinichi. But all that was wiped from his mind because the formerly blue gem was glowing a deep, blood red under the wash of moonlight.

“Pandora,” Kaito breathed. He couldn’t believe it. It really was the Envy, he’d had it in his hands. It had been so close this entire time.

Shinichi’s laboured breathing rasped against the deck of the ship, blinking his eyes into focusing again, gills rippling in confusion at being out of the water.

“Ah, 4869, how nice of you to finally join us,” said Gin, noticing Shinichi’s slack dumbfounded look slowly morph into one of terror.

“Gin-” He looked around and noticed with horror that Kaito was in the shark cage, and that he was thoroughly restrained as he pulled on his full arm cuffs and tail binds. Then, he noticed the degrading muzzle and made a despairing sound, spitting obscenities at the man.

“What’s the matter?” Shinichi taunted, shaking his face to try to knock the muzzle off to no avail, “Not too keen on losing your other ear? That’s a shame, I consider it an improvement.”

“Keep talking 4869, I’ll be thinking about this with your next physical examination once we get you back to the lab.”

Shinichi’s nostrils flared in alarm even as he kept a low threatening growl.

Ignoring the mermaid, Gin lowered the glowing red jewel, looking over smugly at Kaito.

“So KID, I believe this is the jewel your predecessor was after, it cost him his life, didn’t it?”

“What do you know about that?” Kaito growled.

Gin grinned. “You’re familiar with an individual who goes by the name of Snake, yes? Snake is one of our operatives, he’ll be disappointed to know we got to you before he did. He was developing quite a complex about you.” He turned to his partner. “Vodka.”

Vodka took out a new briefcase, this one was heavily armoured and when opened, revealed a black velvet cushioned interior protecting a phial of bright red shimmering tincture labelled as ‘Apoptoxin 4869.’

“Behold, the Elixir of Life, the Philosopher’s Tincture, Apoptoxin,” said Gin, gently removing it from its confines. “Not complete yet, I’m afraid, but that’s about to change tonight.” It seemed to catch the moonlight, sparkling like a liquid gemstone.

“Where is Rum in all this? Couldn’t he be bothered to get his gem himself?” Kaito asked, trying to buy time to think of a way to get them both out of this.

“Rum is handling things with the authorities, making this entire operation even possible. He has more important things to do than fetch assets .” Gin said cruelly.

“Why does he even want immortality?”

“Because Renya Karasuma wants it,” Gin said, rolling his eyes. “Because many would bow to the whims of our Organisation for just the chance to extend their miserable, meaningless lives, does it really matter? All that matters is that now, finally, the secret to immortality will be completed, all it needs is the last ingredients.”

“Because you need Pandora, and a Mermaid’s Tear,” said Kaito.

“Correct,” said Gin. “You seem to know your lore on Pandora, do you know the legend?”

“When the Pandora Gem is held under the moonlight, then the gem will cry tears of immortality.” Kaito recited, knowing the legend like the back of his hand. It had been ingrained in him from a long time ago when he had first taken up the moniker of Kaito KID and his first encounter with the operative under the name of ‘Snake.’

“That is correct, although that version of the tale is missing a few steps,” Gin said, placing the phial of incomplete Apoptoxin into his breast pocket and extracting his small knife from Shinichi’s tail. Shinichi gave a gasp at the sensation of the knife dragging against his tail muscle with a sickening wet sound as Gin resheathed the blade into his boot, bracing it against Shinichi’s back to the deck of the boat as Shinichi tried to wriggle out from under him.

“The Atlantic Envy goes by many names, Pandora being only one of them.” Gin explained, turning the jewel over in his hands as the light caught on the drops of Shinichi’s blood marring the surface. “The Atlantic Envy also goes by another lesser-known name; Mermaid’s Bane.”

Gin thrust his hand into Shinichi’s hair, pulling his head up next to the glowing red gemstone as Shinichi gasped, wincing in pain.

“Mermaid’s Bane produces a special kind of magic under the light of the full moon, a sort of anti-ocean magic if you will. It’s toxic to mermaids. Most of the time, it’s kept confined within the gem itself, rendering it harmless most of the time. However, while you two were on your little road trip …”

Gin dragged a finger over the surface of the gem, leaving a sticky magic glyph pasted on the surface which glowed. The moonlight bounced around the inside of the gem and coalesced into a singular point of light on the bottom of the gem, the magical red light seemed to condense into tiny drops of red liquid, and Shinichi visibly broke out into a cold sweat in close proximity to it.

“We finished developing the extraction spell at the lab, even without the gem present for testing.” Gin breathed. “Mermaid’s Bane is used for many things, first and foremost-” Gin pulled out a thin, small syringe, dipping the needle into the drops and collected the tiny amount of red liquid, flicking it with his fingers to rid the air bubbles and then held the device dangerously close next to Shinichi’s eye, which reflected the menacing red glow. “Is that it can force a mermaid to cry their tears of immortality.” Gin readied himself to inject the poison into Shinichi’s eye, the needle inching closer-

“Wait, wait, wait!” Kaito said, babbling for more time, he just needed more time! “I just want to know, why didn’t you fall for my trick?” Kaito asked. “I wanted you to believe you had already captured another mermaid so you wouldn’t need Shinichi anymore. Why did you still take Shinichi back?”

Kaito gestured at his fake tail. “Before you knew I wasn’t a mermaid, you could have had a new exciting specimen to break. Since Shinichi didn’t give you a single tear for ten whole years, why didn’t you want to even try a different mermaid who might have been easier to crack?”

Kaito waited with bated breath, Gin didn’t have to answer him of course but if he could just distract him long enough, then Kaito could do something.

Gin grinned. “Oh, that? It’s really very simple. I didn’t stop at capturing you, because modern mermaids can’t cry.”

“What?” Kaito asked. “But the whole basis of the myth is that-”

“The traditional myth is that Mermaid’s Bane forces a mermaid to cry and that Apoptoxin requires a Mermaid’s Tear, yes,” Gin confirmed. “But that myth comes from a long time ago. Once upon a time, they could cry. But thousands of years of evolution and hunting from humans have rendered a modern mermaid incapable of shedding even a single tear. Full blooded modern mermaids are physically incapable of crying.”

Gin grasped Shinichi over his muzzle, fingers digging into skin and forcing him to look Gin in the eyes.

“But humans can cry,” he said victoriously, spittle threatening to fly into Shinichi’s face at Gin’s excitement. “Not many human traits get passed down to supernatural half-blooded kin, but as fate would have it, the ability to cry is one of them, and our lovely Specimen 4869 here, happens to be a half-blooded mermaid, possibly the only mermaid in all the seven seas who is capable of crying.”

“f*ck off, Gin.” Shinichi spat. “I haven’t shed a single tear for you in over a decade and you won’t get one from me now, poison or no.”

Gin grinned. “We’ll soon see about that, you dirty half-breed. I hope you enjoyed your brief sabbatical with your little thief friend here, because I personally can’t wait to see how a human will react to your favourite treatments back at the lab.”

Shinichi’s teeth gnashed, wanting so badly to tear into Gin’s face. “Don’t, he’s got nothing to do with any of this-”

“He defaced one of Rum’s precious assets,” Gin growled, skimming the mottled, bruised skin of Shinichi’s neck with the needle point. “A thief like that must pay.” He held the needle to Shinichi’s eye as he looked on in terror.

Quick as a flash, Kaito leapt from the confines of the shark cage. He had long since unlocked it with his set of lock picks, he had just needed to buy enough time to devise a plan. It wasn’t perfect, far from it, but it was the only plan he’s got.

He shed his mermaid tail in one fell swoop, revealing his classic KID garb and twisting around in the air with his foot levelled at Gin’s hand. He knocked the needle loose where it clattered on the ground as both he and Gin scrambled for it. Kaito shoved Gin out of the way as his hand closed around the syringe, capping it closed and holding it out of reach as Gin attempted to snatch it from him. Gin had the greater height and longer limbs, but Kaito KID was well practised in being a slippery bastard as he danced out of Gin’s reach. Vodka pulled his handgun on Kaito, but Kaito quickly grabbed the back of Gin’s coat, ducking under it as Gin whirled around trying to get him out from under there and keep Kaito in front of him so Vodka could shoot.

“Ignore me, shoot the thief!” Gin barked.

Sparks danced as members of the Black Organisation scrambled to obey without hitting Gin, ripping up holes in the deck and up the sides of the boat.

Kaito grabbed one of Gin’s wrists and placed it over his dark breast pocket and grabbed the lapels of his coat, throwing Gin bodily into Vodka, causing them both to land in a heap. The other guards rushed forward, guns co*cked and hands outstretched to restrain as Kaito skidded under their legs in a low slide, bullets peppering the deck of the boat after him as some of the guards cried out when stray bullets caught them in the legs and another hit the boat propeller, setting it alight. Kaito got to Shinichi and took out the Fairy’s Favour, polishing it and holding it to his restrained arms. They clicked free with a brief glow as Shinichi yanked his arms apart, used his newly freed arms to rip off his muzzle, and wrapped his tail around his waist while Kaito pocketed the Favour in his front.

Kaito ran to the stern of the boat, pushing past the angry guards and preparing to dive off with Shinichi on his back when he lurched backwards as the mermaid was suddenly yanked from his shoulders. Vodka had gotten his hands around Shinichi’s waist and was pulling him off of Kaito.

“Shinichi!” Kaito yelled, twisting around, grabbing onto his arms. Vodka levelled his gun at Kaito’s face.

With one determined look in his eye, Shinichi used his tail wrapped around Kaito to push the thief off the boat, causing Vodka to miss his shot.

If he couldn’t get free then at least let Kaito go, Shinichi thought. Without the Mermaid’s Bane, they’d have to try to get him to cry the old-fashioned way.

Kaito stumbled, pushed off balance by Shinichi’s tail. His arms pinwheeled, he tipped back dangerously, Mermaid’s Bane still in hand and Gin made a dive forward, grabbing the wrist of Kaito’s hand holding the syringe just as he stumbled off the back of the boat.

Shinichi watched helplessly, thoroughly restrained by Vodka as Kaito hung off the back of the ship, only held up with Gin’s grasp. But of course, Gin didn’t care what happened to Kaito KID, he was only after the Mermaid’s Bane. At some point after being thrown into him, Gin had taken one of Vodka’s pistols.

“So long, Phantom Thief.”

Gin shot. Kaito twisted but the bullet still struck him, blood spurting up the side of the speedboat, his grip on the Mermaid’s Bane began to slacken as Gin let the Phantom Thief’s hand slip from his grasp, smoothly swiping the syringe of Mermaid’s Bane as Kaito’s fingers slipped and he landed into the water with a final splash.

“No!” Shinichi shouted, snarling from where Vodka was still holding onto him. Kaito could still be alive, but if he didn’t bleed out the cold could get him next. Shinichi had to save him-

“Now, now, settle down. It’s time to take your medicine, 4869.” Said Gin, a cruel glee in his eyes as he levelled the needle to Shinichi’s eye. “We lost the opportunity to punish your little thief, but no matter. You’re coming back with us to Wakita Estate, and you’ll be staying with Rum for a long, long time, my little mermaid. So get used to this, because we’ll be making a lot of Apoptoxin for the market.”

Shinichi scrunched his eyes shut and used his claws to try to pry Vodka’s arms off of his head, which was holding his desperate thrashing steady for Gin. But Vodka’s vice grip was ironclad, and he didn’t even flinch at the claws digging into his muscle, he wouldn’t so much as budge no matter how much Shinichi thrashed and pulled or clawed. Gin used his nails to peel Shinichi’s eyelid open. The warm shimmer of the red liquid beading on the tip of the needle.

He wasn’t going back, he wasn’t. It was too much, he never wanted to go back there under that bastard Rum’s ‘care,’ under Gin’s torture. He wouldn’t give these damn bastards what they wanted, otherwise his parents would have died for nothing. Kaito would have died for nothing. Everything he’d suffered for would’ve been for nothing.

His pupil shifted focus from the end of the needle to lock directly with Gin’s gaze.

“f*ck you, I’d rather die.”

In an instant, Shinichi’s clawing fingers shifted from pulling at Vodka’s arms to braced against his own jugular, claws digging deep into the skin.

Sorry Kaito, Shinichi thought to himself as he pulled with all his might, severing tissue and sinew alike as his claws ripped through his own throat, defying the Black Organisation in one final act. I would have liked to at least save you.

Chapter 13

Chapter Text

A lot happened in the moments leading up to Kaito KID being shot.

Attention is a powerful tool when performing magic that controls a person’s very perception of reality. A convincing trick will always make the audience think that they’re the ones in control. For it’s only that confidence that causes people to slip up and miss things.

Shinichi would have never given up a mermaid’s tear if he could help it. But the Black Organisation could force him to cry with the Mermaid’s Bane. So, Kaito had a new objective; steal the Mermaid’s Bane. Except, obviously, the Black Organisation weren’t about to just let him take it for free. There was only one way Kaito could make sure they didn’t get their hands on it; to swap it out with a fake. However, there wasn’t a lot for him to work with. Blood was far too dark, there almost didn’t seem to be anything that would have made a convincing double for the Mermaid’s Bane.

Almost.

There was only one source of liquid on board that boat that Kaito could have used; the Apoptoxin in Gin’s pocket. He had only shown it briefly, but when held up to the moonlight, Kaito noticed the shimmering jewel-like properties of the light in the liquid could almost be mistaken for a genuine glow. And there wasn’t very much Mermaid’s Bane in the clear chamber of the syringe. But then, there was a new problem, getting his hands on the Apoptoxin and creating a fake syringe.

Creating the fake syringe was easy enough. Kaito had Gin to thank for that one, because Kaito had pocketed the red-tailed tranquiliser dart Gin shot into Shinichi. The dart was essentially a same size syringe with an air pressure chamber in the back rather than a plunger and all Kaito had to do was rip out the tail and swap out the back of the syringes so that the dart had the plunger and the Mermaid’s Bane had the air pressure chamber.

Getting his hands on the Apoptoxin was a bit more tricky, and required the use of well-timed sleight of hand pickpocketing. By placing Gin’s hand over his own breast pocket, he had made Gin’s attention deliberately focused on the fact that the Apoptoxin was definitely in his pocket, and with his hand over the mouth of the pocket, Kaito shouldn’t have been able to get his hands on it.

When he grabbed Gin’s lapels, however, while Gin’s attention was focused on keeping the Apoptoxin in his pocket safe, Kaito’s other hand had gone for Gin’s boot, where he had sheathed his small knife. He had snatched the knife and gone for the bottom of Gin’s pockets while he was hiding under the back of Gin’s coat from Vodka’s shots in the chaos. One quick slice to the bottom of the pocket later and the Apoptoxin was ready to be stolen, though Gin’s grip over top of the breast pocket would have told Gin’s perception otherwise. Then, all it took was throwing him into Vodka, and when Gin held his arms out to brace himself against the impact, the Apoptoxin fell out the bottom of the pocket and neatly into Kaito’s waiting hands.

It had been tricky, extracting enough of the Apoptoxin into the tranquiliser-dart-turned-syringe, swapping the syringes, and then pocketing the Mermaid’s Bane and the remainder of the phial of Apoptoxin into his Fairy Pocket in the fray, but Kaito had managed and he had in his hands a Mermaid’s Bane double. Kaito didn’t think they would really be able to get away, not with Gin’s sniper rifle still in the picture, but he at least had to try on the off chance it worked. But if it didn’t, he couldn’t be of any help to Shinichi if he was still restrained on the boat.

With the fake syringe of Apoptoxin at least, he’s stopped Gin from being able to force Shinichi to cry. But Kaito still had to get off the boat somehow, and the best way would be to play dead. He was disposable, they’d do anything in their power to keep their hands on Shinichi, but Kaito could go overboard.

But what Kaito hadn’t anticipated was getting shot.

It hurt like a bitch of course, but Kaito had avoided a headshot at least. It took him until hitting the water to realise that while he was bleeding, the shot hadn’t actually passed through him. He checked, worried that the bullet was still lodged in his body, when he discovered that miraculously, the bullet had only hit his Fairy’s Favour. The twisted silver metal had splintered and lodged into his skin as so much bloody painful shrapnel, but it wasn’t a deadly wound.

Kaito had just managed to sneak back on board the speedboat under the shark cage when Shinichi had pulled his claws through his own throat.

Blood. Oh god, there was so much blood. There was a sickening gurgling sound as Shinichi reflexively bubbled blood through his severed windpipe and his lungs fought for air where he choked on the deck of the ship when Vodka dropped him in shock.

“Vodka, what have you done?!” Gin screamed. “You let him kill himself, you absolute buffoon!”

Desperately, Gin injected the red liquid into Shinichi’s eye, dyeing it jewel red, but of course, to no avail. No Mermaid’s Tear would fall because that wasn’t the real Mermaid’s Bane.

“f*ck, I think he’s too far gone to cry,” Gin swore. “You’ve ruined everything, Vodka!”

“Aniki, I’m sorry, I didn’t notice-”

“No, you didn’t, did you?” Gin snarled. “You can have fun explaining this one to Karasuma and Rum back at the Estate.”

“No, aniki-!”

There was the sound of a vibration as Gin slipped his hand into his pants pocket and answered his phone with a bark. “What is it, Vermouth? You’ve caught me at a very bad time.”

“Gin, this is bad,” said Vermouth on the other line. “The Public Security Bureau has launched a raid on Wakita Estate. They’ve apprehended Rum, I don’t know how they got any information on him, but it’s finished. The lab is gone. We have to retreat and regroup.”

“What?!” Gin roared. “That’s impossible, who could have-”

“Does it matter?” Vermouth asked. “Those of us who will be left need to lay low for now. Karasuma’s orders. I’ll meet you at these coordinates.”

There was a ping as Gin received her text message.

“Do you at least have the mermaid?” Vermouth asked.

Gin spat on the deck of the ship in disgust. “No, the mermaid’s gone. Dead.” Gin said disappointedly, standing over the growing pool of life blood as Shinichi’s body convulsed under him.

There was a long silence on the other end of the line. “... I see,” said Vermouth finally. “Things are worse than I thought. It might be some time until we can make another move. I’ll see you soon.”

Gin held his phone in his hand, shaking with anger before he threw the device overboard where it landed in the darkness with a violent splash.

“Clean up, Vodka,” Gin demanded, as he boarded one of the two remaining speedboats that hadn’t capsized or been otherwise destroyed in the chase.

“Yes, aniki,” Vodka replied miserably.

Vodka took out a jerry can of fire accelerant and began spreading it over the incapacitated boat. The air stunk of petroleum and sea salt as Kaito hunkered down, unseen clutching the underside of the shark cage. Vodka then struck a match and lit the whole boat on fire, getting onto the same sister speedboat as Gin.

With the ensuing blaze, the tattered remains of the Black Organisation sped off into the darkness, nursing their wounds to chase immortality another day.

Kaito didn’t have time to waste. He jumped up from the shark cage once he was sure the boats were far away enough and he leapt to where Shinichi lay in a pool of his own blood. He knelt over him, blood soaking into his KID trousers and supported Shinichi’s head in his lap, heedless of the flames licking around them.

“Hey! Shinichi, no you can’t die like this,” he said desperately. All this trouble to get a mermaid to cry, when all it took was tearing out his heart for Kaito’s eyes to begin leaking. Shinichi’s eyes unseeing as the moonlight reflected in his irises, one still dyed unnaturally red from the Apoptoxin.

The fire was spreading rapidly, chewing up the boat around them in an inferno while Kaito pulled out roll after roll of bandages from his Fairy’s Pocket as he tried to seal off the ugly gash through the front of Shinichi’s throat as his head lolled lifelessly, blood still bubbling through the open wound. He had to stop him from losing any more blood, but there was so much already, and how could he do that without sealing off Shinichi’s airway?

He’s part fish, his mind told him. He can breathe through his gills.

Without thinking twice Kaito wrapped the bandages tightly over Shinichi’s throat, taking care to leave room for the gills to peek out from the sides and as he pulled Shinichi into his arms and jumped overboard.

To Kaito’s immense relief, Shinichi’s gill chambers seemed to open reflexively, taking in water and gills fluttering as they filtered in oxygen. But he was still bleeding, just a lot more sluggishly now. Whether that was because there simply was less blood or because of the bandaging Kaito didn’t want to know. He dearly wished he had a sea scooter still on him now as they were only reliant on Kaito’s meagre swimming power to get Shinichi to shore as the speedboat exploded behind them when the fire reached the fuel tank. The smouldering debris arced in trails of black ash raining down into the water as the smoke blotted out the stars. Kaito had to take care not to get hit with bits of shrapnel without the moonlight to guide his way. Luckily, the lighthouse was still shining brightly, guiding Kaito back to the beach. Shinichi might only be able to breathe in the water, but Kaito couldn’t look at sewing the wound shut unless they were on land.

Once again, they had found themselves incompatible. But they’d make it work. They’d make it work because since when have they ever been compatible, even from the start?

When his feet touched the sandy floor, Kaito stumbled up the surf before collapsing in a heap on the wet sand, rolling Shinichi over to check on the bandages. It wasn’t looking good, they were soaked ruby-red and his gills seemed to be fluttering slower.

Kaito furiously dug through his supplies in his Fairy’s Pocket for something, anything. Come on, he literally had an interdimensional pocket that could fit live birds in his pockets and he didn’t have anything that could preserve Shinichi’s life? Maybe he could fit Shinichi himself through the opening, and then Kaito could freeze Shinichi at this moment in time in the pocket until he found a solution. But then what? How would Kaito find a solution to a slashed throat, even if he had all the time in the world? What hospital would even take in a half-mermaid supernatural? And if he took Shinichi to an official establishment, the Black Organisation, or rather what remained of them, wouldn’t be too far behind.

The answer came to him as the moonlight broke through the smoke and cloud cover and shone over his Fairy’s Pocket, revealing a red glow from beneath the fabric. The light of Pandora, the Mermaid’s Bane, glowed under its pale light.

Kaito took out the syringe and the half-full phial of Apoptoxin that hadn’t been used in the switch … what if? He pulled back Shinichi’s eyelid. The iris was still bathed in shining red liquid. If Kaito completed the Apoptoxin, would it work on Shinichi? Could Shinichi even cry in this state? Did he even have enough left in the phial?

Could it save him?

He had to try.

Whispering for Shinichi’s forgiveness, Kaito uncapped the syringe of glowing Mermaid’s Bane. his fingers were shaking, both from the chill of the night ocean seeping into his bones and with the knowledge that doing this could be Shinichi’s last hope. He flicked the plastic to empty out the tiny air bubbles from the tube, and injected it into Shinichi’s eye.

The glowing red liquid feathered out over Shinichi’s iris, bathing it in a fresh coat of red.

For a moment, nothing happened and Kaito thought he was too late. Then, Shinichi’s unseeing eyes slowly blinked. A single, silvery streak of liquid gathered in the corner of his red dyed eye and dripped down, flowing delicately down over his sculpted cheekbone.

Kaito gingerly held up the phial of Apoptoxin to Shinichi’s skin, collecting the tear into the liquid chamber. Nothing happened. Kaito was about to despair when he remembered what the priest at Wakasa temple had said; ‘Mermaids got their powers from emotions.’ But this mermaid’s tear was forcefully extracted, which meant it was probably lacking in power. He had to charge it with a strong emotion, but with what?

Once again, the moonlight provided him with an answer when the light glinted off the sharp shreds of metal embedded into his skin over his breast pocket. The remnants of the Fairy’s Favour, a glyph of a sand-dollar.

Kaito loved Shinichi with all his heart, he just had to bind that pure unbridled emotion into the tear. There was a scrap of the Favour digging into the skin directly over his heart, extracting it, he held the silver remnant to his lips in a kiss and a prayer.

It was one of his last keepsakes from his father, it was used the day he first met Shinichi, it was a cheap Fairy trick, but it was also magic and signified so much more than all of that.

“Shinichi, my heart. I don’t know if I need to ask the Siren Mother or whatever to get this to work, but don’t you dare leave me now. Take my emotions, take my love, my heart, and please just let this work!”

He dropped the shining remnant of the Favour into the phial, one of his own tears he hadn’t even realised he had started shedding joining it for good measure. They landed into the phial with a tiny splash, and the concoction started bubbling into a violent, frothy reaction.

“Whoa!” Kaito said. He had to place the stopper back over the top and held his thumb over the cover to stop it from bubbling over as the solution warmed his hands. It was near boiling to the touch, but Kaito couldn’t let go, not if it could save Shinichi’s life.

Once the liquid calmed down, it was glowing Pandora red, uncomfortably warm and fizzing with magical power.

There was no time to waste. Kaito opened Shinichi’s mouth and held the phial to his lips, dripping it down his throat and praying it didn’t just spill out the new hole in Shinichi’s throat. It fizzled and emitted steam where it landed on his lips, trickling in as Kaito waited with bated breath.

Kaito rested his forehead against Shinichi’s, hoping hope against hope, praying to whatever deity would listen.

“Come on, come on, come on. Work damn you!”

“WORK!”

Red light lanced down Shinichi’s blood vessels beneath the skin. His eyes opened, revealing the glowing red light permeating his normally bright blue eyes. Shinichi’s back arched as his muscles alternated between flexing and contracting. Kaito watched as the bandages around Shinichi’s throat slid away, the skin knitting back together and stifling the sluggish flow of blood. Shinichi’s face was contorting into wide eyed expressions of agony as his bones and blood bubbled beneath the surface. Then, Shinichi’s mouth ripped open as a plume of glowing red gas escaped, spiralling out of Shinichi’s lungs and dissipating into the air.

Then, Shinichi’s back collapsed against the sand, and to Kaito’s immense relief, he could hear his rasping breath gasping at air while his gills confusedly fluttered against the surf washing over them.

Once he had finished spitting up the blood that had soaked into his throat, Shinichi’s eyes cracked open, the last of the red glow disappearing from his irises until they were only left with his usual bright, non-dimmable blue.

“Kaito?” Shinichi asked, confused. He touched his hand to his throat, his nails still bloody. “Wha- I thought-”

Whatever Shinichi was going to say was silenced with a kiss as Kaito surged forward, capturing his lips with fervent desperation.

“Don’t you ever do that again,” said Kaito, when he came up for air.

Shinichi coughed, his throat still tender and the rusty smell of blood still burned in his lungs as he was pretty sure the blood painted all inside them.

“Me? What about you? You got shot.”

Kaito unbuttoned his shirt and showed Shinichi the site with the splintered remains of the Favour still stuck in his gashed up skin with a grin. “Looks like Lady Luck was smiling on me tonight.”

“That is stupidly improbable.” Said Shinichi, tracing his bloody fingers over the embedded bits of metal. “You’re lucky to be alive.”

“That's me, I’m lucky.” Said Kaito with a wink. “But only one of us physically died tonight, and that certainly wasn’t me.”

However, Kaito still winced at the pain when the metal was disturbed by Shinichi’s touch. “Ow, yeah ok I need to take the rest of that out,” he groaned, rolling over in the sand on his back. “Turns out even if they don’t rip a hole through you, bullets still bruise like f*ckin’ hell.”

Shinichi still traced his tender throat. “But I don’t understand, what happened? I …” Shinichi hung his head down.

“You slit your own throat defying the Black Organisation like a dumbass.” Kaito finished for him. “It was cool as hell, but don’t go dying to be a hero, Shinichi. You nearly gave me a heart attack.”

He remembered the bubbling feeling of air escaping his throat in bloody rasps, growing weaker and laying cold against the deck of the boat.

“Then … Kaito, how am I still here?” Shinichi asked, staring at his bloodied claws in wonder.

Kaito bit his lip. “Look, I had no choice. After the Black Organisation left you for dead, I … I finished the Apoptoxin, and I gave it to you. It’s the Elixir of Life, the Philosopher’s Tincture or whatever, right? I figured it might have some healing properties for the whole ‘immortality’ aspect of it.”

Shinichi’s eyes widened. “You did what?”

He scrabbled at his lips, where a smear of the red liquid still remained as Shinichi wiped it off his lips and stared at it.

“You gave me the Apoptoxin.”

“Yes, and I’d do it again so don’t you dare get mad at me,” warned Kaito. “That was the deal, you stupid fish. You’re the one who said in that stupid tank; the deal was that I get the Envy when you got home. You can’t get home when you’re dead.”

Shinichi pulled himself off the wet sand, looking down at his thief.

“Stupid Thief, I don’t even have the Envy anymore, Gin has the Envy-”

Kaito held out the now-blue gem, its magic now spent and dim, silencing Shinichi.

“... you got the Envy. When the hell did you get your hands on the Envy during all of that?” He asked incredulously.

Kaito held up a single finger to his lips. “Magic, Merman-kun. Why don’t you figure out that part for yourself?”

Chapter 14

Chapter Text

A year later, and Kaito had destroyed the Atlantic Envy for good. It wasn’t easy, destroying a blue diamond, but he managed to burn it into nothing by dropping it into the volcanic vent that heats Jirokichi’s private onsen.

Since the Black Organisation had left Shinichi for dead, Shinichi didn’t have to worry about being hunted down for the rest of his life if he ever came close to shore anymore. They were still somewhere out there, no doubt still in the pursuit for immortality, but Amuro had contacted Shinichi to let him know that the Public Security Bureau were hard at work tracking down and dismantling every last stronghold and safehouse until they could eradicate the Black Organisation from the face of the earth.

Hakuba had amassed a reputation as the expert detective in dealing with all things supernatural, and campaigned to rectify the law concerning the capture of sentient supernaturals to include mermaids, despite never being able to provide proof to his father that mermaids actually existed.

Heiji and Kazuha had returned to the Mermaid Temple, where Kazuha confessed to Heiji. Heiji had been rather frustrated about the whole affair because as it turned out, Heiji had been trying to confess to Kazuha for a little over two years now but hadn’t managed to pluck up the courage while Kazuha had resorted to looking for love spells and charms to get the idea through Heiji’s thick head. Kazuha had contacted Kaito to let him know she was glad the Mermaid Scales had proven to be just the thing that gave her the courage to confess.

As for Kaito, well Kaito now had a boat, funded in part in thanks to Amuro and the Public Security Bureau for his part in taking down the Black Organisation. He was sitting by the port with Shinichi, both about to set off into the ocean in search of Yusaku Kudou, pen name Fumito Edogawa.

They had found out that Kaito had actually read the books written by Shinichi’s father before, the best-selling murder mystery series; the Night Baron. After they had a name, they tracked down his father’s publishing company and Kaito had used his disguise ability to break in and find out Yusaku’s home address, only to find that he had none.

As it turned out, Yusaku hadn’t had a home address in a little over ten years, living out at sea and choosing instead to anchor at various town ports over the years to send off his manuscripts with the local mail carrier. When asking around the ports Yusaku had been frequenting, there were rumours that the reason Yusaku never stayed at one port for long was because he was romantically involved with a mermaid. Eyewitness who swore they had spotted the elusive mermaid had said that the mermaid’s tail fin had looked very strange, like an artificial sail cloth attached to the end rather than actual flesh, and that Yusaku had even brought it in to be repaired one time.

Yusaku was known to spend years at a time without touching shore, living off the ocean looking for something important to him, or someone. Given that the latest Night Baron book had been published a year ago now, it would be at least two more until Yusaku came to a port, if he even came to a port in this country, as the last time the manuscript had been sent from all the way in America.

“And you’re sure you want to come with me?” Shinichi asked carefully. “It’s not exactly going to be a quick trip, longer than the two weeks last year we spent touring all the towns around Beika.

Kaito hummed, looping his arm around Shinichi’s neck where a tattoo of a dove holding an ace of clubs playing card flew over the faded scarring. “You’re not getting rid of me that easily, Shinichi. I didn’t spend a year saving up and touring my daring show all across the country just for me to lose my precious treasure now.”

“And your mother?” Shinichi asked. “She’s still alright with all this?”

Kaito huffed. “She said it was about time I did something for myself and not chase ghosts anymore.” He leaned his head against Shinichi’s shoulder. “Do you think we’ll find them, your parents?”

Shinichi’s lips quirked up in a sharp-toothed grin. “I’m sure between two handsome, bright minds like ourselves, it’s something we’ll be able to manage.”

When they set off on their boat, Kaito took out his phone and took a new photo. He always liked taking pictures of everyday happenings that weren’t very special, because he didn’t have very many photos where his dad wasn’t being special, wasn’t being Kaito KID. He used to take everyday photos of Shinichi not being special because he knew he was going to lose him too. But now, everyday he had with Shinichi was something special, because it was another day he got to spend with the person who held his heart, and that was something special worth taking a photo of.

/Fin/