Chapter Twenty Four

Chapter 24

Wishes Don’t Work

Kaito's POV

*Yay! Kaitou Kid did find a way into my story after all! It only took me an hour and a half to finish Magic Kaito! Okay, enough about my jubilation, onto the story! P.S. This is like from the beginning of my story, I'm just putting it in now. Pretend I didn't seriously mess up the timing. And the Blue Summer is just a random name for a jewel I came up with.*

I could still hear the police sirens echoing around the crowded city, several blocks away. They always fell for the same tricks; how long would it take them to figure out that I used a dummy to get away? I was hiding on a rooftop just a couple hundred feet away from the crime scene. Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out the jewel and held it up to the moonlight, a habit I'd developed after those men had told me that Pandora glowed red in the light of a full moon.

The diamond in my hands only sparkled a pristine white, leaving me in disappointment. I tilted in into several different angles, still hoping that there would be a red jewel hidden inside. When there was no such thing, I angrily threw the jewel to the ground. I wished it would just shatter, like my spirit threatened to do inside of me. I'd been searching for what seemed an eternity for Pandora, the jewel my father had been killed for. Picking up the jewel again, I saw my reflection in the gem. A face showing no emotion, a cold glimmering monocle, and a mysterious smile. The poker face I had developed, that stayed even when I didn't want it.

Why do you do it? Hakuba's famous question echoed in my head. Tell me why you would do something like that. I had only one real reason. To get revenge for my father, to lure out the men who had killed him, and find and destroy Pandora. They were all the same thing. Do one, and all of them would be fulfilled. I changed out of my flamboyant white suit, and switched into normal clothing. Jeans, a shirt, and a jacket. It was rather chilly outside.

Running down the stairs to the exit of the building I had hid in, I decided to run past the place where the jewel had been kept. The Kaitou Kid fans were still there, cheering at my success. It was almost too easy to blend in with the crowd. I wished I could truly be among them, not a thief, not a petty criminal. Nobody noticed when I pulled out the priceless diamond and tossed it right at the police who were still trying to get their act together.

It clonked Inspector Nakamori in the head, and it took him a few moments to process the fact that the jewel was back in his possession. I thought about the note I had left on it.

This is not what I'm looking for. Sorry for the inconvenience.

With Love,

Kaitou Kid

It sounded so much lighthearted than I really felt. A light raindrop fell on my shoulder, and it quickly became a downpour, showering everybody who was unfortunate enough to be without an umbrella. To me, the rain was a tormentor, taunting me about the failure of not being able to find Pandora. Stop it, I thought, even though I knew I couldn't do anything about the rain. I'm trying my hardest. I ran home, my tears becoming nearly indistinguishable from the rain that was still ceaselessly pouring, ignoring my request.

When I got to school the next morning, I was surprised to find out that the Kaitou Kid heist wasn't the talk of the school. Instead, everybody was in huddled groups, discussing today's headline. A couple of girls were crying, as if someone they knew had died.

"Kaito, did you see today's news?" Aoko appeared from behind me. I shook my head. "Take a look." She handed me her newspaper.

Famous High School Detective Kudo Shinichi found Murdered in Tropical Land. There was a picture of a boy who could have been my twin brother on the front page. In the photo, he was wearing a broad, arrogant smile and looked like he was about to laugh. I read the first part of the article.

'Kudo Shinichi, a famous high school detective, was found dead about 21 o'clock last night in a small alleyway right outside the exits of Tropical Land. While the results from the autopsy have not come in yet, we know that he suffered a hit in the back of the head from what was most likely a bat or an iron pipe. The police are still in confusion.

'Kudo accomplished many things before he died'. The article started into an obituary. The only part that caught my eye was, once even nearly caught the famous thief Kaitou Kid.

I didn't remember ever seeing him at a robbery. Wait, there had been one time where Hakuba wasn't there and I'd still nearly been caught. Could it have possibly been this murdered detective.

"This article nearly scared me to death. For a second, I thought it was you on the front page," Aoko admitted. "You look a lot like him."

"It looks that way," I commented. At the moment, it had seemed like a one day thing, something that wouldn't matter in my life. But the days grew longer, and I realized that this was actually important to me. Especially when a high school detective named Hattori Heiji appeared on the news a few days later.

"The famous Hattori Heiji, detective of the west. Have you been able to make anything out of this shocking murder?" asked a reporter.

"The last person known to be with him before death is currently stunned with grief. I'm pretty sure she can tell us something once she's better. However, with no cause of death, I believe that it might have been the work of poison. I don't remember when, but I read an article on a type of cell destruction called apoptosis, which is programmed cell death. Of course, this is very hard to discover, because all the cells in the victim's body have already died, but it is the only plausible explanation I can think of."

And the newspaper articles a few weeks later, when another one of my heists was overshadowed by news on the murder. Murder of Kudo Shinichi seems to have been done by an Organization.

'Only a very rich organization or crime group could have had the resources and knowledge to develop an apoptosis poison. While we don't know anything about it so far, we are definitely getting closer.'

"What are you looking at, Kuroba-kun?" Akako asked me.

"Just a newspaper article about that high school detective. What about it?" I looked curiously at her. She seemed to pondering something.

"It is related to your own problems, Kuroba-kun. I can tell; I hear Lucifer in my head." She started zoning off, and I took a moment to consider what she said. Her little premonitions and 'feelings' were usually correct. Did she mean to say that this guy had been killed by the same people as my father? On the other hand, her stating that the devil was talking to her in head again was just plain creepy.

"What problem is she talking about, Kuroba-kun?" Hakuba asked.

"It's nothing, Hakuba," I said, trying to keep any emotion out of my tone. I didn't want to give him anymore hints pointing to the fact that I was Kaitou Kid.

"Did you hear about Kid's announcement yet?" His blue eyes seemed to light up with excitement. "He's aiming for the Blue Summer, which is being kept in the Beika Diamond Hall tonight at eight o'clock."

"Oh, I think I saw that on the news." I didn't look at him, no need to give him fuel. "He's been pretty busy, hasn't he?"

"It's quite surprising, because from the DNA tests I did on a hair that Kaitou Kid left behind, he's a high school kid. Strange, isn't it?" He stared at me suspiciously again. I remembered the time he had mentioned that to me before, the one time I had almost been caught. Luckily, Akako had disguised herself as me and stole the gem in my stead.

"Kaito, do you want to come with me to watch dad stop Kid today?" offered Aoko. "It'll be fun, dad says he'll definitely catch Kid tonight!"

"Sounds great," I said. "Where should I meet you?"

"At the front of the building at seven o'clock tonight." She smiled, I usually had to refuse her offers for me to come to a Kaitou Kid heist with her. It usually made getting away a whole lot harder than it had to be. I smiled back, there would be a good show tonight.

"Kaito! Kaito! I'm here!" I saw Aoko frantically waving at the head of the crowd that was beginning to form.

"Coming!" I was making my way through the sea of people, trying not to run into somebody. We walked into the building together, and she showed me the way to Blue Summer. It was a beautiful jewel; it shone a warm blue, kind of like a fire. "What kind of security did your dad set up this time?" I asked casually.

"There is bullet proof glass, a fingerprint scanner to open up the glass, and all the windows will be barred at eight. I'm guessing that it'll be pretty hard to get in and out. But, Kaitou Kid always seems to find a way, doesn't he?" It was Hakuba that answered my question. His eyes shone like a hawk's, showing me that he knew that I was Kid.

"It seems that way. But what would I know about Kaitou Kid?" I took a step back, nervously.

"Ah, Kaito-kun!" said Inspector Nakamori. "Looks like you decided to come today! So what do you think about the security? Not even Kaitou Kid's magic could get him out of this one, don't you think?"

"Who knows?"

"Oh come on, Kaito-kun. You're a magician, right? You should at least know something about things like this."

"I'm definitely not as skilled as Kaitou Kid. You never know what's up his sleeve." Currently, I was hiding my card gun, and my outfit in my sleeve. "I'll take a look at the security though." I closely inspected the fingerprint scanner. "How does this thing work?"

"It's pretty simple, it only works with my fingerprint." Inspector Nakamori pressed his finger to the scanner. It glowed green as it inspected his print. Then the case opened, leaving the Blue Summer vulnerable.

"It looks foolproof to me." I quickly slid a piece of untouched wax paper onto the scanner, taking Inspector Nakamori's fingerprint. "I bet he'll be caught today!"

The inspector chuckled, and walked away.

When it was 7:55, I told Aoko I had to go to the bathroom. "But Kaito, you'll miss Kid!"

"Don't worry, I'll try to hurry back!" Entering the bathroom, I got into the nearest empty stall. I quick changed into Kid, and crawled into the vent that was conveniently located right on the top of my stall. My first stop was the power room. I sprayed chloroform through the vent, putting the two guards to sleep.

5, 4, 3, 2,1. I pulled on the switch, successfully knocking out the electricity. I jumped back into the vent as I heard feet running towards the power room. It hardly took a minute for me to arrive at the room with the Blue Summer. I jumped from the vent, and ran to the fingerprint scanner. It scanned the wax paper, and opened. Snatching the Blue Summer, I ran back towards the bathroom. Nobody even saw me steal the jewel.

I was back by Aoko's side in seconds. When the lights snapped on again, Inspector Nakamori flew into a panic. "How could this happen? I thought that this was foolproof!"

The jewel was hidden in my pocket; I had carefully disguised it so that it wouldn't appear suspicious. I hoped that it was Pandora. I hoped that it was finally it. But, when had luck like that ever been on my side?

Wow, that's my longest chapter yet. I didn't even mean for that to happen at all. So, what did you think about Kaito? How is he going to fit in with all of this? Next chapter: Haibara goes back to class.