Trust

Golden Eyes (P2)

The girl excitedly waves, grasping the attention of everyone in the room. 

''Welcome! Welcome, everyone!'' her dress flows around her body, the pink shining brightly due to the spotlight being on her.

''My name is Kaede Akamatsu.'' she smiles widely. ''I want to thank you all for coming to this wonderful ceremony! The Golden Beauty is truly exceptional and will be cherished by Suma university, it is one of a kind. I'm sure most of you must know that already since that's why most of you are here.''

My eyes flicker to my uncle, he seems to be talking frantically to one of his colleagues. They look worried. 

''It has been around for centuries, having a net worth of a few million. Our prestigious university tries to-''

The girl's voice is cut off by a devilish laugh through a shitty-sounding microphone. She looks frightened. The bright light on her flickers and eventually shuts off. Everyone starts panicking and talking to each other, clearly worried about what is happening. I feel my heart racing in my chest and try to make sense of the darkness.

A loud thud shifts my attention to the left of the stage, the lights turning back on. A boy with a checkered scarf and hat is holding the golden crystal. My heart sinks. His face is mostly covered by a black mask, but his cheeky smile is very visible. His hair is in a bun under his hat, I can't tell what his face looks like at all apart from his smile. Standing on the window frame on the ceiling, he grabs a microphone and starts to speak.

''Sorry to burst your bubbles, everyone!'' he balances the crystal on two of his fingers. ''Buuuutt.. I will be taking this with me home, I think it will look great on my bathroom wall!''

His eyes make contact with mine, for just a second it seems. A second long enough for me to notice him playfully winking at me.

He opens his mouth to continue talking, focusing on the crowd itself again but is quickly cut off by a gunshot right next to him. I see some of my uncle's colleagues running to the top of the building in an attempt to catch him. The thief quickly turns back, making a not-so-grand exit. 

I feel my heart thumping with adrenaline and start running to the staircase on the side of the building, Kaito screams after me but I ignore him. The stairs exhaust me, the other detectives and security are running way ahead of me clearly having a better physical condition than me.

Finally getting to the top of the roof filled with windows I see the thief standing at the edge, my uncle and the security circling him with guns.

''We do not want to harm you, we just want back the crystal.'' my uncle calmly stands before him, holding him at gunpoint. ''Lay it on the ground and put your hands on your back.''

''Oh noo... what should I possibly do?'' the wind blows his scarf side to side. One hand in his pocket, the other playing with the crystal.

''Take your mask off and give us the crystal you filthy thief.'' 

The thief smiles sheepishly, noticing me standing on top of the stairs, still trying to catch my breath. 

''Au revoir!'' my uncle tries to grab him, but is slightly too late and he steps off the building. Running to the edge, I feel the wind going through my hair wildly. A white van quickly turns the corner with a net on top of it, the wheels squeaking loudly as it rides over the pavement.

The masked thief falls in it, waving to us watching from above. The van quickly makes its escape, while the security on the ground-floor tries to miserably run after them. 

~

I let myself fall on my bed. Extremely exhausted from the eventful night. Kaito and I met up after the party at our dorm, I told him everything I saw. The thief dropping down, my uncle holding him at gunpoint, and how he seemed to notice me more than any of the other people there. Kaito responded that I don't have to be afraid, the crystal will surely be found and we will never see him again. I felt relieved at the time for his comfort, but now that I'm finally alone I feel a bit odd.

I finally start unpacking the small bag that I had brought with me, it just had my university ID, some gum, and a little notebook I use for my detective work or just scribbles. However, I noticed a small pink origami of a bird in my bag, that I had given to the odd boy earlier with a note next to it. It looks quite childish, it has a dice logo on it with a quickly drawn smile next to it. I open it and read it.

ɪᴛ'ꜱ ᴀ ꜱʜᴀᴍᴇ ɪ ᴄᴏᴜʟᴅɴ'ᴛ ꜱᴛᴇᴀʟ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡɪᴛʜ ʏᴏᴜʀ ɢᴏʟᴅᴇɴ ᴇʏᴇꜱ

I feel my face burn. Who does this guy think he is? I barely know him and he's trying so hard to play with me. I'm sure the thief and the odd boy are one and the same, I promise myself that I will go to the police office tomorrow morning first thing in the morning.

I stare at the paper in my hands, he's confusing me. If he is actually that boy I met earlier, he must know I'm a detective in training, this will only blow his cover. I feel a sense of responsibility for this case suddenly, I will get that crystal back and expose who he truly is.

A knock on the door distracts me and Kaito is on the other side holding a box with pizza in it.

He's about to ask me something cheerfully but seems to notice something. He lifts his eyebrow. ''Sidekick? Why are you so red?'' 

I open the camera on my phone and notice that my face is completely red.