Sanctuary Night (Kaitou Kid X OC)

Chapter 5

Soon, the end of class bell rung and students hurried out their classrooms.

'I still don't know if I should go as Sanctuary Night later... School's over and the heist's gonna be at 8pm... I need to decide now or else-'

"Ne, Rie-chan. What's with the scary face?" Aoko interrupted Rie's thoughts. The girl in question widened her eyes for a split second and relaxed.

"It's... Nothing. Just thinking about what Mom will cook later." She lied.

"You looked way too stressed over dinner. Really, Kuro-chan, what's wrong?" Kaito caught on.

"It's nothing important. Shut up, Kuro-kun." Rie dismissed them both, zipping up her bag and standing up. They followed her actions. Then, the three walked out the classroom and eventually out the gates.

Kaito noticed that Rie was spacing out again, the same way she had before. He was subconsciously worrying about her. But as soon as he realized it, it was too late. The words already left his mouth.

"Neeeee, Kuro-chaaaan. Tell us really what's wrong..." He insisted, even though he barely knew her. He felt drawn to ask, drawn to care. He wasn't sure why he's compelled to. Not just yet.

"I told you, Kuro-kun. I'm fine, promise. Heavy thoughts, that's all." Rie nonchalantly replied, failing to ease Kaito's worries.

'Oh yeah, fine. Of course everything's fine. It's not like I'm worrying about you. Yeah, I'm buying that. Not.' He grunted, letting it slide.

"Yeah, BaKaito. If she says things are fine, things are fine. She wouldn't lie to us, you idiot." Aoko added, holding up her hand to Rie who responded with a high-five and a straight face. She felt bad. Kaito rolled his eyes at the girls.

"Okay fine. Geez, you girls and your unspoken conversations. Let's just meet up at the museum at quarter to eight, got that?" Kaito reminded. They nodded and went separate ways.

Rie waited until they were far enough, then, took her stance.

'Right foot forward, left foot ready to launch, in 3, 2, 1!'

"Rie-chan!" Rie faceplanted as she stopped herself on her first stride. Aoko and Kaito ran up to her, out of breath. Then, they helped her up.

"Kuro-chan, you idiot, what happened!?"

"We just remembered that we should exchange phone numbers so we ran back, and then we saw you were about to run so I called out! But then you disappeared and reappeared on the ground!"

"I... I, uh, t-tripped..." Rie lied again, rubbing her head. With the speed she was going and such a sudden stop, of course the momentum would launch her face first onto the street. She looked at the reasons for her fall and realized something. "Hm. Where are they? Where are my glasses?" She gingerly dropped, patting the ground around her.

"Relax, Kuro-chan, I have it right here." Kaito chuckled, holding it up. Rie looked up at his general direction, everything is in a blur. Aoko pulled her up to stand once more, wrapping one arm by her waist and holding up half of her weight. Aoko figured she was still shaky from her fall.

"Right... where?" She blinked over and over but her sight didn't clear up. Kaito got a good look on her eyes as he stepped forward to put them back on her. He never had the chance to see how deep her eyes were since they were always behind glass. He couldn't resist to stare and lightly blush. Aoko noticed and coughed, smiling deviously and wriggling her eyebrows at him. Kaito snapped out of his trance and blushed even more, finally catching Rie's chin to hold her still and placing her eyewear back.

She blinked twice, thrice, the images before her were starting to clear themselves up. It took her seconds to realize the proximity of hers and Kaito's faces. Another couple of seconds passed before Rie's cheeks grew hot and gave out a red hue. They noticed each other's colors and pulled away, avoiding the other's gaze. In the silence, the three shouted thoughts in their minds.

Aoko, who stood back, thought, 'Oh my goodness, my little Kaito and my beloved Rie...! They're simply perfect for each other..!' She internally squealed as plans to get them together formed in her head.

Rie, who was adjusting and re-adjusting her glasses, went down into a gentle yet neverending spiral, 'What... was that about...? Did I see him blush? Did I just blush? For what reason? Kaito? No, that can't be right, I just met him. Surely, I'm just embarrassed...' She rigorously shook her head, currently in the state of denial.

Finally Kaito, who wore an embarrassed face while looking away, yelled, 'No way, no way, no way, no way. Absolutely not! Not Rie. It can't be. It just can't! Definitely not! ... Right? I mean, her eyes were... the way they twinkle in the sunset... was really beautiful... I mean what. No! Stop it!'

They simultaneously sighed, in happiness, in genuine confusion and in frustration respectively. Aoko was the one who broke the silence of course.

"So yeah! Phone numbers! Rie-chan, your phone, pretty please! You too, BaKaito." She smiled as they took out their phones and put it in her hands.

"W-wait, Aoko, where's your phone?" Kaito stuttered, still flustered over the fact that he might end up having feelings for Rie.

"Oh, it seems I forgot it at home! So only you two would exchange numbers today." She grinned even wider, punching in the numbers in their phones.

'She's... Lying...' Rie and Kaito thought. They let her do it though. Afterwards, Aoko threw back Rie's phone and returned Kaito's to him as well.

"Remember you two! Quarter to eight at the museum! Come on, BaKaito!" She waved goodbye to Rie and pushed Kaito who was in a mid-wave. Soon, they were truly out of sight.

"Ahoko, you didn't leave your phone at all, did you." Kaito deadpanned while slowing down from a run to a walk. Aoko hummed happily and matched his pace.

"Maaaaybe~" She cooed.

"What do you mean "Maybe"! What are you scheming now, huh?" He pestered.

"Nothing~! Come on, BaKaito, you just exchanged numbers with your lovey-dovey Ku-ro-chaaaan." She teased, nudging her elbow at him. Kaito let out a 'hmph' and looked away, a frown on his lips while a dark blush sat on his cheeks.

"Aha, you're not denying it! You love her!" Aoko exclaimed, jumping in front of him with a big smile. The flustered boy turned to face her with mouth agape in protest as he shouted, "It's not anything like that at all! I just... Her eyes were weird! It's like a blackhole, sucking you in!" He retorted.

"Kaito, her eyes are violet, not black." Aoko said, crossing her arms and pouting.

"Exactly! Dark violet, at that! It's like the galaxies! I mean- from afar, it looks the normal dark blue but when you see it up close, it's really violet!" He continued, not really thinking straight.

"But the galaxies are very pretty to look at, not weird at all." Aoko grinned to herself, sure that Kaito will fall for her trap.

"Yes, that's precisely what I'm saying! They're really pretty! ... Wait, no! Agh!" Aoko laughed while Kaito held his head between his hands and griped. Aoko then wiped away a tear and patted his head, "Relax, Kaito. You just have a huge crush on Rie-chan, that's all! There's nothing wrong with that!" She comforted her best friend who just sighed.

"Everything is wrong with that!"

"What do you mean!? It's not a bad thing to have a crush, Kaito."

"It is, if it's Rie of all people! Remember, we barely know her. She might be a psycho under that calm and quiet facade!"

"It's just a crush, silly. It's not like you're trapped with her for the rest of your life. And honestly! Even if you were, I'd say you lucked out! Rie is a nice girl."

"She doesn't even look like a girl with that flat chest of hers..." Kaito said in defeat. Aoko punched him hard over the head. "That's not nice, BaKaito!" She shouted while Kaito rubbed the spot she punched him on.