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The detective rested his head in his hand while he stared at the papers stacked in front of him. All the case files for the Phantom Thief in one place. And Shuichi Saihara was the head of the investigation.
He’d been poring over those papers day and night looking for patterns between the burglaries, but the only thing he noticed so far was that all the items stolen were expensive. That was usually a given with burglaries.
Dammit.
He stood up and walked over to the whiteboard in the corner. On it stood a few red dots. All of them meant that the Phantom Thief had struck.
On it also stood many purple dots. Those times stood for all the times the thief was still at the scene. Not running or plotting, just waiting. Like he wanted Shuichi to catch him.
A few times he got close, and the Phantom Thief would brag about how he outsmarted the great detective until Shuichi made a move. Then, he’d disappear like smoke in the wind.
He looked at the names of the places stolen from, he looked at their backgrounds, how busy they were, nothing checked as a pattern.
Shuichi picked up a whiteboard marker and bit the back end.
There had to be something that he overlooked. Something huge.
Maybe the dates? But it wasn’t lining up. Right when Shuichi thought there was a pattern, it would disappear.
He was starting to hate this Phantom Thief a bit.
Shuichi stared at the whiteboard for a few moments before he thought of an idea. First, he connected the red dots in the order of the days they were robbed. Next, he connected the purple ones. It almost looked right, but not quite. He erased the lines and ordered them by date only. It looked even worse.
Shuichi sighed and erased the connections. He thought over the details.
No known patterns… when it looks like one’s established, it gets cut off-
Shuichi was struck by an idea.
He took a picture before he touched the whiteboard (to make it easier later if he was wrong) and erased all the outliers that made the pattern impossible. He then connected them all by date again. That wasn’t working.
Maybe alphabetical order?
To Shuichi’s utter amazement, the map of the city began to spell something.
CATCH ME. The M was only halfway finished, but Shuichi was almost certain he got it right.
Shuichi got to work, researching all buildings that would fit the criteria for being the next point on the map.
Eventually, he narrowed it down to one place, a small jewelry shop in downtown Tokyo. And, from what he learned by getting rid of the outliers in the dates, the Phantom Thief was going to strike tonight. In about… half an hour. No time to get a group of cops, Shuichi needed to be there now. He hopped into his car and drove as fast as he could.
By the time he made it to the future crime scene, it was about 5 minutes until the Phantom Thief should break in. Shuichi parked in an adjacent alley, turned his lights off and waited.
A few minutes passed before a figure appeared. They looked left and right before breaking the glass door of the store with their elbow and tossing a strange device inside.
The alarm didn’t go off as the thief punched out more of the door so he could enter finally.
Shuichi got out of his car and waited.
As soon as the man left the shop with jewelry in his hands, Shuichi shouted across the street.
“You!”
The thief’s face lit up. “Detective! You finally caught on to my little game? I’m so proud! I made it so easy a child could do it, and the Tokyo police only figured it out in… two months!”
Shuichi glowered and the man across the street giggled. “Well, it’s been a pleasure,” the Phantom Thief grinned, dropped everything he was holding, and ran into a nearby alley.
“Hey! Stop!” Shuichi called. He ran after the thief.
The Phantom Thief dashed up a fire-escape, and Shuichi followed, not far behind.
The two of them raced across the building before jumping to the next. The moon shone bright above them, only making the Phantom Thief more obvious in the night.
Eventually, the Phantom Thief grew tired, and stopped at the edge of an office building.
“Whew! That was quite a chase, Shuichi Saihara.” The Phantom Thief turned to face his rival.
“How do you know my name?”
“How did you figure out my plans?”
Shuichi grunted and the Phantom Thief smiled.
“Y’know, I don’t think you know what to call me yet,” the thief tapped his lips with his index finger.
“So you’re just gonna give us your name?”
“Sure. Kokichi Oma,” the thief laughed, “but who’s to say that’s my real name?”
“Well, who’s to say it isn’t?”
“Oh, you’re good, detective. Are you always this smart with the criminals you meet, or just me?”
Shuichi narrowed his eyes. “What are you playing at, thief?”
“I told you, call me Kokichi.”
“Alright, what’s your game, Kokichi? Why are you giving me all this information, and what’s your bigger goal?”
“Well, I can’t tell you the answer to the last one, but I’m giving you information so the game will be fun!”
“Fun?”
“Yeah, it’s like playing Yu-Gi-Oh with a brick wall. What’s the fun in that? This way, at least I know I have my beloved Shuichi on the case, ready to play.”
“Beloved?” Shuichi raised an eyebrow.
“Oh, absolutely. I wholeheartedly believe that Shuichi is the perfect playmate. He’s a genius-“ Kokichi took a step forward, “-witty-“ another step, “-and easy on the eyes.”
Kokichi was standing right in front of Shuichi now. He was quite short, a few inches shorter than Shuichi. His dark hair stuck out beneath his white hat. His purple eyes were half-closed, but Shuichi knew they could fly wide as soon as he made a move.
That’s right, he should be moving, pushing Kokichi off. Telling him his rights. Instead, Kokichi slid a hand up the detective’s chest.
“Oh, Shuichi,” he murmured, leaning closer to his opponent. His voice dropped an octave, “I have you wrapped around my finger, don’t I? You’re just a little plaything in my game. You only exist for my amusement.”
Shuichi felt his face go hot as the Phantom Thief moved his lips against his ear. “But sometimes… toys break.”
Kokichi shoved Shuichi backward and took off running.
Shuichi’s heart beat rapidly in his chest. Whether from the adrenaline or how close the Phantom Thief was to him, he didn’t quite know.
Kokichi ran to the end of the building before calling over his shoulder. “See you later, detect-oh shit, oh fuck!”
Shuichi sprinted as fast as he could to where the Phantom Thief just fell off the building.
“Help! Shit, oh my god, my fingers are slipping!” Kokichi called. His arm strength was the only thing keeping him alive, and unfortunately, he was a twig.
His fingers slipped off the edge slowly. Is this how he’ll end? Falling off a building after seducing a detective? He could live with that. He felt the last finger slip and he fell.
Before a hand grabbed his forearm.
“Kokichi, hold on!” Shuichi yelled.
Kokichi felt his hat slip off his head and fall onto the pavement below.
“Well… fancy seeing you here, my beloved detective,” Kokichi joked. He laughed a bit, but nothing about his situation was funny.
Shuichi was struggling to hold him up. “Shut up, I can’t arrest you if you die.” He sounded worried. Did Kokichi get to him that much? Virgin.
Kokichi laughed nervously to himself.
After a few seconds, Kokichi was back on the top of the building.
He stood there for a moment, stunned. “Holy shit.”
Shuichi stood beside him. He patted his belt for his pair of handcuffs, but they weren’t where he usually put them.
“Well,” Kokichi interrupted the detective’s search, “you should’ve let me drop. But… I appreciate you saving me.”
The Phantom Thief took a step closer to the detective. He tilted his head up and to the side slightly. He paused for a moment to let Shuichi pull away, and when he didn’t, their lips met.
It was a surprisingly gentle kiss considering what just happened. Kokichi held Shuichi’s hands and Shuichi melted into it.
They pulled away and Kokichi gave him a quick peck on the lips. “I hope that made this up to you,” Kokichi grinned an evil looking grin and waved. “Ta-ta, detective. I’ll see you in my next game.”
Shuichi moved his hand to grab Kokichi’s wrist, but it was connected to the other.
He’d been handcuffed. Dammit.
Shuichi spent a few moments opening the handcuffs and watching the Phantom Thief leave his sight. He sighed in defeat and looked at the city from his vantage point. It looked beautiful, but his mind was still occupied with two thoughts.
How did he end up falling for a master criminal, and how was he gonna get back to his car?