Phantom Thief Kokichi x Undercover Detective Reader Short Story: A True Rival

A New job/A Break In The Case

You couldn't stop thinking about what had led you to the low of having to dig through the garbage to find a decent meal. You were a great detective, not that well known, but you were amazing at your job. Your goal was never to catch the criminals, but to simply find the truth, and you never made a show of it. People are always searching for narratives, stories of the good guys winning and beating the opposition, getting the stolen items was never enough for people. That was why you weren't well known. Obviously you did catch criminals, but your main goal was finding the truth, once you found the heart of the matter, often the criminal needing therapy or they had no other choice, you'd do all you could to help them outside of sending them to prison, something others often looked down at you for, calling you naive. None the less you could still solve cases decently quickly and your expertise was analyzing people, figuring out how they saw the world. That was what had gotten you called on the Phantom Thief Dice's case.

Almost nothing was known about Dice, not even if it was a group or a single individual. All that was known was that a pair of colorful dice would be placed on the target, whatever number the dice landed on was how many days before the item would be stolen in the night, a very childish looking replica in its place. A figure in the brightest of white and purest of black was spotted at each scene. The police always gave chase for this individual, but they always escaped whether it be via smoke bombs, a grappling hook, motorcycle, paraglider, colorful weapons with the most harmless of ammo such as glue or curtain string lights. After that the same number of days as before the items would be returned, unharmed as if it were never touched in the first place.

You had been assigned to the case for a year. In that time, you were sent across the globe more times than you could count, going from crime scene to crime scene, never getting even a glimpse of the phantom thief yourself. Though you were hired for your way of going about cases, many were upset that you were more so studying the thief then working to catch them. You knew to catch a person like this you needed to know their motivation, think like them, and a few times you were close to catching them, but all attempts ended in failure. In the end, you were fired, not even getting a paycheck at the end of it all. That's what you get for being a private investigator instead of a government detective. So, what were you going to do, sue them?

What a joke.

You bitterly chuckled as you sat on a park bench coming up empty handed. You hated this. Stranded in a foreign country, knowing next to nothing of the language and not having enough money in your pocket to at least get a morsel of food or afford a room at an inn. You hated this so much... and you were scared. You stared down at the clenched fists in your lap as you just let the whole situation sink in. Your breathing slightly hitched as you lightly trembled. You shut your eyes tightly, feeling it all welling up. The frustration, the fear, the sadness, it all kept welling up. This just all hurt so much.

"気を付けて!"

"... what?" Though your eyes were blurred and glossy from tears you could see the sakura petals that flittered and fluttered in the air around you, the boxes of crayons, paint brushes, paint bottles, and other such art supplies strewn atop you, the bench and even the ground. There was also a man who shakily pushed himself off said ground, a rather large half-full bag beside him, it's contents spilling out. He looked up to you with a smile. "ニシシ、ビックリ。" Once off the ground he held out a hand to you. "初めまして、私の名前は大間幸吉です" Taking a step towards you, he slipped on some of the round brushes, falling over. He simply lay motionless on the ground for a moment before quickly sitting up, laughing to himself. Those soft pink petals absolutely covered him, most gently entangled in his purple hair. His smile only grew hearing he had drawn even a small laugh from you. You helped him to his feet after quickly wiping the tear streaks from your cheeks.