Hello everyone! Thanks for all your kind words last time! I'm back to present you with chapter 4! Hope it was worth the wait!

Happy reading! ^_~

Chapter 4 - Movie 16: The Eleventh Striker, Part 4

As the soccer ball rebounded off the top of the crossbar, Kaito was on his feet right along with his classmates as the Spirits' Hideo Akagi forcibly squeezed his way through two opposing players and headed the ball into the net right in front of their seats. Kaito laughed as he watched Yamada tackle-hug his neighbor in joy.

With all the excitement going on in front of him, neither he nor anybody else noticed the club staff coming out onto the field and speaking with the referees. It was only when a woman's voice began to speak over the announcement system that anyone noticed anything amiss.

"Attention everyone in the stadium, we have an emergency situation.

All the excitement Kaito had been feeling evaporated instantly the moment those words sank in. Thoughts quickly began to tumble through his mind.

An emergency situation in the stadium.

Tantei-kun running off.

Haibara's phone call.

Bomb.

Emergency.

It all equaled one thing: the bomb was in the stadium.

The realization made his mind go numb, but he had no time to contemplate it as, a moment later, a buzzing in his pocket caused Kaito to physically jump in his seat. Whipping it out he saw a message from Kudo and immediately opened it.

Listen. Stay with friends. Far end.

Kaito stared uncomprehendingly at the words. That was it? Not a word about the bomb? No suggested plan of action? How much time did they have? What –

The intelligent part of Kaito's brain finally broke through the panic with a jolt. The sensation reminded him oddly of getting hit with one of Aoko's mops, but he'd analyze that comparison later.

'Focus on the message,' he told himself firmly. If Kudo was dealing with bombs, of course he'd be short. Actually, Kaito was kind of amazed Kudo had bothered to contact him at all. Though that might have been more out of fear of what Kaito would do otherwise than anything else.

'Right. Focus. So – Listen. Listen to what?' Even as he thought that the female announcer began to repeat her words on the broadcasting system. 'Of course. He's telling me to do as I'm told and not go off on my own.'

Suspected reason for contacting him: confirmed.

"What's going on? 'Supporters on the Spirit's side'…that's us, right? " Aoko's voice broke through Kaito's thoughts and he glanced at her sharply, then at Keiko and the rest of his classmates beyond her.

'Stay with friends. Reminding me I'm not alone right now. Dammit Kudo. Fine. I get it.' He hated to admit it, but Kudo had read him perfectly. Had Kaito been alone, had been Kid, he'd have disregarded the order and gone to investigate anyway. He hated just standing around. But Kudo was right. He was Kuroba now, and Aoko was starting to look very nervous as a staff member approached their group.

"Everyone from this row please evacuate. There's no hurry. Move with the flow in a safe manner towards the center of the pitch."

The last part of Kudo's message flashed behind his eyes. 'Far end. He predicted they'd move us onto the pitch. He's saying to get as far from this section as possible. Is the bomb beneath the seats? Or–'

A pressure on his left arm snapped Kaito from his thoughts. He looked down to see Aoko fingers grasping the material of his shirt sleeve.

"Kaito…"

Reaching out to place a hand over hers, Kaito eased her fingers loose even as he put on a reassuring smile. "It's alright, Aoko. I'm sure everything will be fine!"

'Right, Kudo?'

"I still don't get why we couldn't…others are doing it! I could've gotten some cool pictures!"

Kaito rolled his eyes as Yamada continued to mutter under his breath. To say he was annoyed at Kaito's insistence that the group go to the far end of the pitch was a bit of an understatement. He'd been alternating between the repetitious muttering and glaring at Kaito for the last five minutes.

For his part, Kaito couldn't help looking back the way they'd come, wondering where the bombs were and how long they had. Would the bombs even go off? Kaito knew Kudo had experience diffusing bombs. He'd handled the simple ones on Jirokichi's airship easily, and if Kaito's hunch was right about what really happened at the Tohto Tower bombing attempt a while back, the detective was probably capable of handling a lot more. But even if Kudo did have the ability to diffuse the bombs it didn't mean he had the time. How long did they have?

'And now I'm officially thinking in circles,' Kaito let out a quiet sigh and tried to focus his thoughts on something else. He glanced over to where he knew the rest of the Shounen Tantei-dan were. He couldn't presently see them through the crowd surrounding him, but he'd confirmed they were still at their seats when he'd passed their section as he led his group across the pitch earlier. So at least they hadn't run off to investigate and cause more trouble again. 'That's something at least.'

Now if only he could be sure of the location of the group's most troublesome member. His eyes were once more drawn across the pitch to the now empty section behind the goal.

"Kaito? What are you looking at?" Aoko asked beside him, craning her neck in the direction he was looking. "Did you forget something at your seat?"

"No," Kaito shook his head. After a moment's consideration he added on truthfully. "I'm just wondering where that friend I told you about is."

"What? Was he in our section?" She began to look around the pitch. The action made Kaito smile slightly, since she didn't even know who she was looking for.

"No, but…well, let's just say he's not the type to just sit back and watch something like this happen."

"Hey! That's Akagi-san!" Yamada announced suddenly a few feet away, drawing both their attention away. "He's so close! Maybe I can get a selfie with him!"

"Yamada!" Kaito stepped forward. "This isn't the time for that!"

Yamada turned to glare at him right as the first explosion went off.

Aoko screamed and flung herself at him, and Kaito's arms immediately settled around her protectively as he watched several more bombs go off in quick succession around the electric scoreboard that they'd all been sitting beneath not fifteen minutes before. The acrid smell of burnt plastic and metal quickly began to fill the air and Kaito could feel his skin prickle from the heat even from this distance.

'Good gods.' Kaito gaped as he watched a section of scaffolding fall down onto some of the upper seats. 'Tantei-kun, you better not be anywhere near that,' but even as that thought crossed his mind, Kaito was struck by another. 'What did he need his skateboard for, anyway? He was already here…' There was also a niggling feeling he'd had for a while that was refusing to leave him alone. Something from when Haibara had run off…

It hit him.

The angle of her head. She'd been looking up.

With the explosions around the board dying down, Kaito drew his eyes up as well. He quickly took in all the various structures and possible routes around them. But any further thoughts were interrupted by a gasp to his left.

"Hey…if that scoreboard blew up, what about this one?" Keiko pointed up towards the opposing scoreboard, which they were now very close to standing directly beneath. "What if –"

"No," Kaito shook his head firmly even as he felt Aoko tense in his arms. "They knew about the bombs. That's why they only evacuated our section." No doubt based on Kudo's advice, and Kaito was absolutely certain the detective would have checked both scoreboards. In fact, that's probably what Haibara had seen: tantei-kun crossing from one scoreboard to the other, probably on the skateboard.

Kaito glanced up at the thought but a growing rumbling sound had his attention shooting back towards to the other side of the stadium. Kaito's stomach plummeted at what saw.

"The scoreboard! It's falling!" Aoko's voice was barely a squeak as she realized it as well.

The huge scoreboard, its surrounding structures weakened by the explosions around it, came crashing down into the seats beneath, the ground of the stadium shuddering with the impact. But it didn't stop there. Once it received the initial jolt, gravity and the board's huge mass continued to draw it down the stands. Somehow, something, probably a combination of the angle of seating, the weight of the board, and its growing momentum, was working to keep the screen upright in its downward run, but once it hit the pitch there'd be nothing to stop it from plunging forward to land on its face – right onto hundreds of fans still milling about on the pitch near the stands, standing frozen in horror and fear as they stared at the looming disaster steadily drawing closer to them.

Kaito shoved Aoko behind him even as he screamed.

"Don't just stand there! RUN!"

But even with Kid's vocal training, Kaito's voice wasn't loud enough to reach beyond the screams and panic echoing across the stadium. He felt helpless; he had nothing on him that could possibly help in this situation and was too far away to even try if he did. All he could do was watch in horror as the near-house-sized screen continued its path of destruction while the people in its path were frozen in shock.

In a few moments that each felt like an eternity, the board crashed through the final barricade surrounding the pitch and onto solid ground with another resonating thump that seemed to rattle the ribs in Kaito's chest. The jolt, as predicted, sent the face rolling forward towards the crowd.

Then, miraculously, it stopped.

Kaito couldn't believe his eyes. At the angle the scoreboard was leaning at, there was no way its weight shouldn't have pulled it down the rest of the way. 'So how…?'

Through the dust behind the board Kaito thought he saw something and without a second thought he pulled his binoculars up from where they were still resting around his neck.

There. A line. Connecting the scoreboard to a support pillar near the back of the stadium.

'What in the…' Then he remembered. 'Kudo! Those suspenders!' A slightly hysterical laugh nearly escaped his mouth. 'The heck are those things made of!?'

Somehow, Kudo had managed to stop the scoreboard's forward momentum, but something had to give. There was way too much kinetic force involved for everything to stop where it was. Either the pillar would give, the suspenders would break, or…

Or whatever the suspenders were attached to on the board would break away and provide an opposing force just strong enough to tilt the board back a few degrees and send it falling backwards instead of forwards.

The relief that went through him as the board finally settled almost made his legs give out from beneath him. 'He did it. He saved the day. Again.' He shook his head, a grin threatening to break out. 'Not quite as impressive as saving a whole mountain village like last month, but still. Very impressive Kudo.'

But as Kaito recalled the outcome of last month's adventure, he also remembered just how close Kudo had come to dying as a result. And there was a lot of rubble on the other side of the stadium.

Suddenly, Kaito wasn't feeling quite so giddy anymore.

"You're still worried about your friend, aren't you?"

Kaito blinked and looked behind him to find Aoko smiling fondly at him. He fought down a blush at the look and nodded in response. "Yeah. It's just like him to get wrapped up in this sort of thing." But he couldn't leave Aoko – she was probably still freaked out even if she was hiding it. And he had Keiko and the others to think about as well.

"Kaito," The magician blinked as he suddenly found Aoko's face right in front of his, and he felt his face go hot. "Go. Aoko and the others are fine. You already made sure of that by getting us so far away. Go find your friend."

"Aoko…are you sure?" Leaving her after such an event really didn't sit well with him, but he couldn't deny he was worried about Kudo as well.

"Of course. Just make sure I get that introduction!" She grinned then turned him around by the shoulders and gave him a light shove.

"You will. I promise." And sooner rather than later, Kaito decided as he slipped through the crowd.

Chapter End

And that's chapter 4! Please let me know what you think! Until next time!