He sat alone in the long, empty corridor on a bench made of high-grade plastic that was common in military vessels. Coated the way it was not only added durability, but made it resistant to dirt, moisture, and dog hair, which was helpful for a Haukeff in the summer. Despite his meticulous grooming, the student still found himself shedding at alarming rates. It wasn’t as though they had seasons on board, either, but his body responded to the changing seasons of the academy’s station planet, anyway, and that caused problems among his classmates.
Not that Saguru had any choice in the matter. He couldn’t help what his species was any more than he could change it, and he was only half to begin with. Genetic splicing wasn’t something that they allowed on that side of the interplanetary territory, and he wasn’t about to abandon the Embassy for the Alliance. Not when he was on track to become the youngest captain in the Academy’s history.
So he sighed and picked another clump of fur from his textbook and watched it float down to the polished metal flooring. At least dressed in his uniform, it was really only his head and tail that he needed to worry about. But he wondered if it was why he was always so alone, or if the aversion had less to do with his physical features and more to do with himself as a whole. He wasn’t really willing to do the legwork necessary to find out either way; there were enough things to worry about without that, too.
Hakuba couldn’t believe it. Of all of the evenings to be stuck investigating such a mundane crime, it had to be that one. The rain came down in miserable sheets, flooding the gutters with debris from the storm, mud splattered over the sidewalks and hie shoes. He had exams in the morning, he’d been up all night the previous evening to study, but none of that mattered to his agent. What was so important about the case, anyway? A break-in at a little pawn shop on the bad side of town out in the middle of no-one-cares. Nothing had even been stolen, according to the owners, so why had they hired a private detective?
It was actually that question that had dragged him from his exhausted slump over his desk to check it out. The circumstances didn’t make any sense, which was, in and of itself, interesting.
At least he was the only one out there, examining the cracked glass from the inside of the darkened shop. In his brain-addled state, he’d actually donned the deerstalker and inverness cape which, while looking ridiculous, at least afforded decent protection from the weather.
His shoe squeaked as he made his way to the back of the shop to check the back door of that first level, and Hakuba sighed as he about ran into it, vision blurred from how damned tired he was. “Bloody hell,” he muttered, and opened the door, which he realized a second too late that it should have tripped the alarm – but didn’t. Grateful that no one had witnessed his mistake, he went about examining the frame, hoping his blush would calm soon.
The Circus, or in its homeland language Il Circo, was made up by mostly game stalls where children of the performs would pick the unknowing players for wallets and purses, then a large black and crimson striped tent in the center. With its multiple peeks it gave the impression that it would come crashing down or at lest not look as big as it did on the inside. The ramshackle wooden fence circled it in a half moon to keep onlookers away from the workers wagons, animal cages and tents. In the day it was fun filled with smiling clowns and bright colors, but at night, for the fair few that received a ticket, from one of the prettiest of show girls, the bright colors melted into darker shades and the smiles were replaced with masks or sinister grins. At night was when the twisted and grotesque would be put on display for a few pieces of coin.
With in the big top tent the ringmaster waited under the raised floor and the trap door for the smoke and explosion to appear before he sprung threw as if by magic. Behind curtains clowns, acrobats, show girls, the cat tamers watched the fall of the lights and held their breaths in anticipation for the opening act, the Grand Masters speech.
In flashes of light and standard smoke a tall, gruffed voice man stood cloaked in deep purple velvet. Hands by his side to drop the small pelts of smoke on his companions doors he began his speech. ”Ladies and Gentleman, boys and girls of all ages, we humbly invite you to join us on a journey into a world of dreams and enchantments. Watch as daring artists fly threw the air as if they had wings on their back, as elephants dances with bears, as even the wildest of man eating beasts be tamed into house cats.”
As his speech reached the end his voice raised and he threw down the small bombs. From the door to his left a sleek black panther emerge, head tall chest puffed in a showman’s pride and to the right a woman. She was clad in black leggings that disappeared into her tall black boots on the top a pure white ruffled shirt with a blood red tuxedo jacket trimmed in gold. Though it was a panther on stage, the back of her jacket had a tiger embossed on the back. She smiled broadly and bowed slightly to the Grand Master when introduced her by her stage name. Electra, the beast tamer.
The Grand Master slowly walked away for the opening performance the cloak dragging and whispering around him like water while the light dimmed and focused on the woman and cat.
The act, was light, minor tricks only to the entice the audience attention but as the cat and tamer bowed the lights flashed, brightening and gliding over to the Grand Master. He had his large arms extended and the cloak billowed around in a torrent before it pulled away over him and revealed his ensemble. Black shiny boot to the knee, white doe skin pants lined down the thigh with gold, a vest of dark green and gold, a jacket in the deepest of purple and a black top hat. Unlike some masters he knew where they held a whip he preferred a simple straight black walking stick. He clapped his hands once and slowly brought them open to make it appear. Twirling it in one hand then the other he slammed in to the ground and took a military stance. Then in a hushed voice he spoke. “Please, enjoy the show.”
The flaps of the entrance erupted with sound and people. Clowns poked and teased the audience as show girls rode horses around and flirted with the men. If the audience looked up they would see acrobats climbing ropes and getting ready. All in all the entire show wouldn’t end till four hours after this mark.
“Arty!” Hakuba crooned to the man closest to him. “Have you ever seen anything like this?"
Arthur looked to their other companion with a patient sigh and shook his head. Robert, however, humored the younger man with a shake of his head. "Only in fantasy,” he said, and then nodded to the center stage. “Don’t miss anything, James. You’ll need to remember all of these details for later.”
The blond turned back around in his seat, eager and excited. “Right, right… Just think of the murders that could take place in such a scene! So many people watching, so many things going on… it would be easy to commit a crime right under everyone’s noses and no one would be the wiser. They could easily rule it an accident… There’d be far too many suspects and far too many witnesses – a diffusion of responsibility and blame – god, what a splendid stage!”
“James,” Arthur said, groaning. “I can’t hear a bloody thing you’re trying to tell me over the crowd! Just watch the show!”
Similar conversations were shouted over the cheering and applause, and Hakuba was keen to join in on the more impressive displays of oohs and aahs. And he was flirted with, of course, as were his gentleman companions in their suits and finely groomed appearances. Those with money and power always attracted interest, and the young heir was particularly susceptible to those siren calls. But that was why he never went alone to this sort of thing.
Heiji just stared for a moment. Was this guy, one who had called Heiji hot-blooded, incompetent and a disappointment. Actually apologizing to him for something that Heiji was clearly at fault for? This was more awkward then finding out Kudo shrank down to the age of a six year old. And that one was rather hard to top.
In good conscience, and of course Heiji had the worst of those. He figured it would be best to dismiss Hakuba’s apology and apologize himself. And maybe, this could erase the bad start the two had? After all during the koushien when all things were set aside the two of them did work well together.
“No, don’t apologize it was my fault. So…’m sorry. I shoulda watched where I was goin.” Heiji muttered as he bowed to the other in apology much like the Brit had done for him. That should show him that Heiji at least had some manners. And boy did Heiji love proving people wrong.
“I hope I didn’t spoil yer fun. After all Osaka throws the best festivals.” he babbled afterwords. When in actually he should have just said goodbye and left. Instead of standing here trying to make conversation with someone who disliked him. Maybe if he prayed hard enough the ground will swallow him, or Kazuha will come and save him from such an embarrassing situation.
As difficult as it was to listen to the Osakan carry on, Hakuba managed a fake little smile and another nod, wincing as he looked Heiji over once more. “Ah, no, I’m certain that things will be fine… one little bump in the road is nothing but an interesting occurrence to break up the monotony of the journey and keep you grounded in the present, hm?”
Hakuba had no idea if what he’d just said made any sense to Heiji, much less to himself, but he hoped that it would at least serve as some sort of transitory passage to let them move on with their lives. If he had to listen to any comments about his yukata, he might die of embarrassment.
“Ah, anyway, it’s fine, and I’m pleased to see that you’re fine, so… yes, go. Enjoy your festival; I’ve heard many wonderful things about it, and am looking forward to seeing what your beautiful city has to offer."
The cold was settling into Ran’s bones, causing a few shivers to run up her spine. She didn’t care, considering her company. She could feel the warmth from his breath, so close to her as he wrapped them both in the scarf. A blush crept into her cheeks and she looked up into his eyes, biting her lower lip. He was certainly one with words. “Th-thank you.” She stuttered, not from the cold, but from the hundreds of butterflies she felt in her stomach. He always seemed to do that to her. She nodded. “Yes, of course.” She took his offered arm with a smile.
“Splendid."
Arm in arm, Hakuba led her away from the agency with a glance upward at the sky. Despite being early afternoon, the heavy clouds blocked out the sun and, well, most everything any significant distance away. The detective briefly wondered if it would interfere with their plans for the day, but in the end just smiled, pulling the girl closer to himself.
"I was thinking that we could walk the first leg of the journey…” he said, glancing down at her as they made their way over the white-speckled sidewalk. “Take the train to Shibuya… And I’ll have a car sent ‘round when we’re finished shopping, if that’s all right.”
“Hahaha, What brings you here today? Sadly the palace museum is closed for the day, but I can personally give you a tour of this city! After all it was once the shining center of the world you know?” She says with a small smile on her red painted lips.
she was stunning in her appearance, unreal almost. she gives him a once over, mostly because hello English gentlemen~ although she could see the distinct japaense influence, which slightly put her off but oh well. she’ll deal. He;s so young looking too! Aww. Young ones were her favorite~ <3
The question– or questions –had the young detective scrambling to find the words in his translation guide, but unfortunately, he’d lost most of what she’d said. Hakuba knew that taking a crash course in Mandarin would only be minutely helpful for his trip, but he’d hoped it would have at least bridged some gaps. Alas, though the kanji was the same in China and Japan, still so much was lost on the half-Brit teenager.
Biting his lip, Hakuba looked back at the woman and offered a mumbled apology in poorly pronounced Chinese. “Ah, sorry. Could you.. repeat that?” He’d understood the words ‘museum,’ ‘closed,’ and ‘tour,’ but little else. “Where is the tour?”
Hopeful, charming smile. Please take mercy on this foreigner!
Is he really going to stop their conversation for tea. Is he that british? Although tea did sound good.
“……”
“It won’t be but a moment, Mouri-chan, I promise…” Hakuba stepped away from the girl and into the tea shop, looking back over his shoulder with a sheepish grin. They’d been on their way to the detective agency for business, but having passed the little shop, there wasn’t really anything he could do to help it.
Import cafe. With real earl grey, infused properly. All of the accoutrements. Yes, the tiny building was full of touristy nonsense, but the Brit couldn’t resist.
“Come along, I’ll treat you to some tea, too!” A pause. “And crumpets! They have fresh crumpets today!”
[unfamiliar location. but hey why does she care? jumping down from a lamppost she looks around, then freezing in place when called out]
Huh? Oh.. [she looked down] i forgot I was still dressed as him..eh..why not? [She grins and turns around to the voice, leaning against the lamppost.]
Hello how may I help you?
There was something distinctly wrong about the thief, but Hakuba couldn’t place it immediately… Kuroba had a fairly slight form to begin with, after all, which made it easy for him to disguise as anyone regardless of sex, but…
…Kaitou KID didn’t usually disguise himself as someone else wearing the KID uniform, so… even if it was KID in disguise, things were still… wrong?
Unless this was some sort of a trick. A way to throw him off the trail? No… it wouldn’t work. Not against Hakuba Saguru, the one detective who had any sort of common sense in Japan.
“Kaitou-san,” he said, forcing a little smirk. “And just what are you doing out here tonight? I wasn’t aware that you had a heist planned. At least, I certainly wasn’t invited to one– I’m hurt.”
Ohhhh, check out the cutie in the suit~ She needs her a piece of that.
”Hey, ya look a little lost.”
“Ah, I am, actually… a little bit…” Hakuba glanced around the busy shopping district, then down at the printed map in his hands. “I know that I’m in Shibuya, but… ah, do you think you could help me find this store?”
He held the folded, crinkled paper out to her, and pointed out the store title, which was written in kanji. It was just a high-end clothing store, but the British detective wasn’t exactly well-versed in every particle, yet. To be honest, he wasn’t even certain how to pronounce it.
Kazuha was just one of those people that would get lost in the crowd or stop at a stall while the other continued on their way. There was no since of worrying since Kazuha did have her other friends with her. It was because of this fact that Heiji, although he would never admit it out loud, was glad he had lost her in the crowd.
Just because they were friends with Kazuha doesn’t mean they were Heiji’s friends after all. In fact some of them could be a bit rude when Kazuha wasn’t looking but that hardly bothered the dark-skinned male.
Anyways.
That was enough about them.
For now Heiji was going to enjoy the festivities, even if he had to do so by himself. So dressed in a dark brown yukata that had small stripes of light color going down it vertically. And a simple gold band wrapped around his hip. Heiji made his way through the crowds. He stopped at some of the stalls some to look at the wares and one to buy some takoyaki.
After a little bit his gaze wandered to the sky that was now splashed in an array of colors as the sun began to set. It was really a sight to behold even in the city of Osaka who responded by slowly lighting up as darkness began to descend.
Really he should have stopped walking when his gaze no longer lingered on his path because he bumped into someone. It snapped him out of his daze and he quickly went to apologize. But the words died in his throat when he realized who he had bumped into. There was no mistaking it with that blond hair of his and brown eyes.
“Hakuba…”
Shit.
Hakuba recognized the voice long before he turned his head, his own apology stifled, suddenly, by the turmoil that ripped through his gut. Great. Of all of the people to run into, especially so quickly, it would have to be that Osakan brute Hattori Heiji. The one person he had absolutely dreaded in the whole damned bloody prefecture.
But, social protocol dictated the he respond courteously to being addressed by name. He couldn’t just ignore it; that would be a gross misconduct of etiquette and he was not about to be branded a hypocrite by that so-called detective.
Though, even as the thoughts swept through the whirlwind that was his mind, Hakuba had to admit that the evidence stacked in his mental profile for Heiji contradicted his verdict. He knew very well that Heiji could be competent; he’d seen it in the numbers and first-hand at the Koushien, but still. Still.
He put on a small smile, expression polite and mostly neutral, lowering his head in an appropriate and cordial bow. “Hattori-kun. What a coincidence. Apologies for bumping into you."
