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Kaito unlocked the front door to the sounds of the television. This had been his life for some time now, but the main problem was that it was 3am.
While it was possible Emi had just fallen asleep with the TV on, since the lights were off, entering the living room dashed that assumption as he was greeted with a quiet “Hi, dad!” and wide eyes reflecting the television light.
Kaito flicked the lights on. Emi was sitting in the chair, which she’d dragged in front of the television and piled with blankets. The food he’d left in the fridge for her remained only as an empty container on the floor, and she’d raided the snack cabinet too.
“I guess you must have had fun, Em.” He could clean up the mess in the morning…afternoon, god he was sore.
“Yeah! There were monster movies playing all night and then a documentary. Did you know that the movie version of-” Kaito tuned her out with a polite smile. She was always full of weird facts. Some would be handy later, if he ever needed easy heist notes, others, well, others were just not something he had the energy to listen to at 3am.
Kaito grabbed the remote, and turned off the TV. “It’s bed time. For both of us.”
Emi pouted and crossed her arms. “Aw, but it was almost over and then there’s supposed-”
He leaned down and poked her on the nose, her eyes going crossed. “I’ll get you ice cream in the morning if you go to bed now.”
The change was instant. “Okay!”
She pushed off the chair, and rushed out of the living room at a speed that envied him at a heist.
Ha, the heist. Today’s target weighed in his pocket. She didn’t know that’s where he was, but she was a smart girl, and he feared at some point she was going to figure it out. If she already hadn’t. Even from the first time he’d held her, laying bewildered in that hospital bed, alone in the room except for the medical professionals, he knew she would be a problem.
Still, he would enjoy it while it lasted.
Today’s heist had been… unpleasant, to say the least. They’d brought in another consultant. It just made him miss his old critics more. At least their presence at his heists was genuine. But the KID Killer was gone (replaced by his cousin Shinichi, who was too busy these days being a famous detective to attend stupid things like heists) and Hakuba never really came back to Japan anymore around the time of heists.
But oh well, Kaito had put on his show, he’d gotten the gem -it wasn’t the one, but he wasn’t so naive at twenty-four as he had been at sixteen. It wasn’t gonna be as real as the syndicate thought- and he’d made it home with only sour joints and a few scrapes. Everything was fine.
Then Emi rushed back into the living room and tackled his legs. He stumbled back a bit. “Oh yeah, I love you, dad!”
She’d never really taken to the poker face philosophy, and he worried about that for her. She always spoke her mind. Never hid her emotions behind masks. Someone could hurt her one day.
“Love ya too, Em.” Kaito picked her up. “But seriously, bed time. I know what game you’re playing.”
Emi huffed, and puffed out a little “Dammit.”
His silly scheming little girl.