Part One: Transformation

Aoko and Akako were both stuck on cleaning duty, after the other students had left. Aoko was hard at work sweeping as Akako did the bare minimum, tired of this servant work. She also had a new love potion in her mind, one that might just work on Kaito, stealing him from the other girl. The genius of the scheme left her giggling to herself.

"What's so funny?" Aoko asked, having been closer than Akako had realized.

The red magic wielder gave her rival a wicked grin. "I do believe that I've worked out a way to win Kaito's affection. What do you say to that?"

"Is it your skincare routine?" Aoko asked, leaning in a little too close to Akako's face. "Your skin always looks so radiant. Honestly, Aoko doesn't know why Kaito isn't dating you when you're just so pretty. If Aoko were him, she would definitely say yes."

Akako blinked. She'd seen how the other girl looked at her from time to time, but this. This was a new level...

"You'd date me in his shoes?" Akako asked, her mind grabbing onto a new possible path to victory. If she could eliminate the competition without doing anything shady...

"Oh, definitely. You're so pretty. Boys are lucky, because they get to marry cute girls like you. I know I'm supposed to grow out of my Class S phase and all that, but... Aoko just doesn't find boys cute."

"Nakamori, is it possible you're just a lesbian?" Akako offered. Why hadn't she realised this before?

"A-an actual lesbian?" Aoko stuttered, blushing furiously. "I... I don't know. I don't think... I mean, you know if you're one, don't you? Aoko just isn't that interesting."

Akako placed a hand on the other girl's shoulder. The temptation to laugh maniacally was getting stronger, but she managed to subdue it. Barely. "My dear friend, you need to investigate it. Just as your father has to follow all leads in his work, figuring yourself out is much the same."

Aoko's eyes began to sparkle with wonder. "I... Oh my. At the very least, I might get to meet all sorts of cute girls."

"That's the spirit!" Akako replied. It was too easy. Kaito was hers now.

Kaitou Kid scrambled up the edge of the building, hoping that the pale tile would mask his white outfit well enough. The great detective was supposed to be on vacation in Okinawa... tonight was really going sideways. He really shouldn't have left so much prep work for the last minute, forcing himself to run on 3 hours of sleep.

Panting, Kid dragged himself over the edge of the building to lie flat as a helicopter flew past. He just had to get inside. Then he could put a disguise on.

"Took you long enough, Kaito," a haughty female voice announced.

Turning, Kid realized it was Akako, in one of her eccentric sorceress outfits. He swallowed the urge to roll his eyes. "I'm a little busy right now, mademoiselle. Can this wait until another night?"

"I've just got a little news to give you, and you can be an annoying person to get ahold of, Kaito."

"It's pronounced 'Kaitou'. And most people call me Kid... Anyway, what is it?" Kaito asked, getting back to his feet as the helicopter flew away.

"Aoko's come to a little realization about herself that removes her as competition. So, why not accept my affection now?"

"Ah, Detective Nakamori's girl? What did she realise that somehow affects a phantom thief such as myself?"

Akako sighed. Kid could tell she was getting annoyed with the secret identity routine. It was always a good way to annoy her. "She's a lesbian. She's going to go to a lesbian cafe I gave her the address to tomorrow."

In the blink of an eye, Kaito Kid closed the gap between them. "When and where? I've got to see this... um, to study how this might change her behaviour. A detective's daughter can be a useful disguise after all."

"Shinjuku Ni-Chome, a place called the Strawberry Leaf Cafe," Akako replied. "I don't have a when. I'm not really that invested in what she does. I just wish her the best of luck."

"Good enough. My thanks, mademoiselle," Kid replied, leaning into a bow as he dropped a number of smoke bombs.

He made it inside before a sudden (and probably supernatural) gust of wind blew the smoke away. Scrambling down the stairs he quickly changed into his prepared disguise: ironically, a disguise as Aoko. Well, tomorrow was likely to be interesting. What sort of girl would Aoko go for? He struggled to ignore the panicked feeling of jealousy in his gut. Aoko was her own person, and it wasn't like he had a crush on that girl with the curves of a barrel...

Kaito realized he was passing a large mirror in the lobby, and slowed down a bit. While it was only a disguise, and not the real girl... the Aoko in the mirror was cute. And he had to admit there was some real panic in his gut at the thought of losing her.

"Oh man, I think I'm overdoing it with the chest," Kaito grumbled as he tried to take his mind off the emotional mess in his heart. "She's way flatter than that."

The Strawberry Leaf sat in the middle of a block nearer to the edge of Ni-Chome. In fact, Kaito wasn't certain if this was technically still Ni-Chome or not. The tree-lined street was only a block from the Shinjuku Gyoen park, and rent had to be ridiculous.

Kaito swallowed nervously. Sure, this disguise was immaculate... in fact, Kaito was really proud of it. He rarely created new faces for disguises, so had gone for a mixture between his mother's high school yearbook pictures and one idol whose fashion sense he took so much inspiration for with his feminine disguises (her complexion matched his well, and had been so useful for figuring out stage makeup when he was younger).

This didn't change the fact that he was on a personal mission though. Maintaining his poker face would be a difficult challenge.

Crossing the threshold, Kaito was thrilled to see the cafe went for a darker and more intimate lighting style. That should make blending in easier. Kaito went up to the counter, about to order, when he froze. He realized he hadn't worked out a voice... the quickest and easiest option was just pitching his own voice up, and that's what he went for as he ordered a very strong coffee. (He hadn't slept the night before while preparing the disguise... and had three hours of sleep in the last 48 to draw on.)

Receiving his order, he slunk off to a corner and began to wait. Surely Aoko would be along shortly...

An hour and a half later, Kaito was on the third coffee, this time with a cute little raspberry cheesecake. The decoration was so adorable he was struggling to work up the courage to dig in and ruin it. The chiming of the entrance bell gave him a moment's distraction, and he checked who was entering.

The answer felt like a blow to the gut. It was Sera Masumi. Kaito dropped his eyes back to the cheesecake. There's no way she would know it was him, but... that martial artist girl spooked him. And might seriously have plans to break a limb or two if she caught him. His face had hurt for a week after she kicked him last on their first meeting.

Sipping nervously, he glanced at the counter, where she was chatting happily with the girl behind the counter.

Did they just point at him!? Maybe it was better to make a break for it. She was coming his way now. Kaito quickly hunted for an escape route with his eyes, but none presented itself.

"Hey there," Sera said. "Name's Masumi. Sera Masumi. I'm kind of friends with Kaori over at the counter. She said you're new here and you've been lurking in the corner for a couple hours now. Looking pretty nervous. First time?"

Kaito blinked in surprise. Of course, that made so much more sense than his disguise somehow failing. "I've been nervous plenty of times."

Masumi chuckled and sat down across from him in the booth. "Classic movie fan, nice. But seriously, if you want to chat a bit, or get some advice on how to make a move, I'm happy to help out a little. I'm no master at the art, but I'm still always happy to help."

Another chime at the door drew Kaito's attention for a moment. It wasn't Aoko.

"I, uh... well, I'm not exactly sure I belong here?" Kaito said, trying to build a logical cover for his awkward behaviour.

"Looking at the sparkle in your eyes with all the girls you look at, I'm pretty sure you do. Even if you like guys too, you can still be here," Masumi replied in a casual tone.

"I don't-er, that's not... um, it's complicated?" Kaito tried.

This was a disaster. It was supposed to just be an observation mission. He wasn't awake enough for cover stories.

"It always seems complicated at first," Masumi replied with a shrug. "By the way, I didn't catch your name?"

"Oh, uh," Kaito paused. He'd not built the disguise very well... all-nighters were risky. It needed to be girly... "Kai—ko. Kaiko."

That was terrible. Waaay too close to his real name. In fact he was pretty sure it was even an actual name anyone had. He tried not to cringe too much. This is why you planned ahead.

"That's a cute name," Masumi replied. "Very unique."

He was pretty sure that look in her eyes revealed that she knew it was a fake name, but what could he do? Maybe that wasn't too weird anyway, considering the setting?

The door chimed again, and -finally- revealed Aoko. She looked at least as nervous as he felt as she walked up to the counter. Kaito couldn't hear what she said, but was pretty sure she stuttered her order.

"Ooh, did we just figure out our type?" Masumi asked, turning towards the counter. The short haired girl blushed a bit. "Oh man, she is cute."

"I suppose," Kaito mumbled, shooting his eyes back to his cheesecake and finally slicing into it with his fork.

"You're an interesting gal, Kaiko," Masumi replied. "Firm on your stance you like girls, but you seem so nervous to act."

"I, uh, have my reasons," Kaito half whispered, glancing up to watch Aoko some more.

He was surprised by the silence from Masumi. Looking her way he saw she was quietly drinking her tea. The pair sat in silence for a few minutes, Kaito glancing over at Aoko a few times while finishing off the cheesecake. Finally the waiting seemed to get to Masumi.

"Okay, seriously, if you don't move I'm going to go ask her out for you," the fanged girl grumbled.

"You can't do-" Kaito paled, he'd forgotten to maintain his pitch. His cover was so horribly blown.

"Ooh, so that's it. I wondered with how you came up with your name. Between that, the worry you don't belong, and now the husky voice..."

Kaito swallowed. She was going to hurt him, wasn't she?

"You're trans, aren't you?" Masumi whispered. There was nothing threatening about her tone. "Don't worry, a girl's a girl. I have enough people who think that I'm a guy that I've got respect for what you gals have to deal with."

Kaito was too confused to reply. A lone brain cell processing this curveball of interpretation told him to nod.

"I guess you're worried about being too masculine if you're the initiator? Don't worry! I'll handle it," Masumi declared, walking over to Aoko before Kaito could reply.

Kaito watched in surprise as Masumi hit up a conversation with Aoko. The girl seemed pretty smooth. Then she pointed his way, Aoko's eyes following. Kaito waved awkwardly. To his surprise Aoko blushed before turning over to Masumi.

Kaito felt his heart racing, and stared at his empty coffee. Trying to get his mind off it. What in the world was he doing? He made the worst decisions while running on zero sleep and too much caffeine.

The sound of someone sitting down across the table led Kaito to think Masumi was back.

"So how did it-" Kaito began, freezing as he raised his eyes and saw it was Aoko across from him.

She was looking at him with a type of blush he didn't think she'd ever sent his way (though the whisper of a memory said it had happened once). Suddenly all rational thought was squashed as his heart shouted 'you love her, you idiot, make this work'.

"Hi there, the name's Aoko. Nakamori Aoko. And you?"

"Uh- Kaiko," Kaito replied, thinking desperately for a family name... then the bookshelf caught his eye. The white spine of Kirino Natsuo's Real World jumped out against the darker books around. "Kirino... Kirino Kaiko."

He was completely brain dead, wasn't he? Could you get any lamer than stealing a name off a bookshelf?

"Well, Kirino-san... um, I heard you were knew at this, and Aoko is also new at this, but, um, how would you like to go for a walk in the park? I thought it looked very pretty."

"That sounds nice," Kaito replied, smiling like a bit of an idiot. What in the world was he doing?

Kaito tried not to panic as Aoko stopped to watch the fish swimming by as they crossed what had to be one of a dozen bridges in the Shinjuku Gyoen garden. They were were small fish, and not the type to jump. Probably. Fish were such tricky and slippery things... but panicking would reveal his identity, and ruin the whole date.

The date that Kaito shouldn't be on, since Aoko wanted a girlfriend and he was only dressing the part. Yet it was going so well, the small talk flowing easily. For whatever reason, his usual instincts to insult Aoko to keep a distance between them just weren't manifesting.

Kaito breathed a sigh of relief as Aoko started moving forward again.

"What do you say we go over to the French garden?" Kaito offered. There were probably fewer fish there.

"Oh, sure," Aoko replied. "I... I hope you don't think this is too forward, Kaiko, but, I was wondering if I could hold your hand as we walked?"

"I can't think of any reason not to?" Kaito replied, his mouth moving before his brain had processed what it was going to say. The truth was that thinking in general was tricky right now, his brain and heart being totally overloaded.

Then, suddenly, it felt so nice, letting Aoko take his hand. His internal chaos calmed with her touch. Setting off towards the manicured French style corner of the garden, Kaito decided to try nudging the conversation a little deeper.

"So, you're a third year too, right?"

"Yep. So much studying. The exams are a little terrifying," Aoko replied.

Kaito nodded. He'd seen her and the others stressing out. Being focused on his burglary and magic, Kaito wasn't really too worried about finding a university. Well, that and he found school pretty easy.

"What sort of topic are you hoping to study?" Kaito asked, realizing after saying it that he honestly didn't know the answer. He'd never asked Aoko about her plans for life. He'd just assumed she'd always be around in some nebulous way.

"This is going to sound really dark, but... forensic sciences, especially the medical angle. Since my dad works with the police, even if he's not dealing with murders, I've met a few forensic doctors and their work has always sounded so interesting."

Kaito nodded, seriously surprised that ever his ever-juvenile-seeming friend wanted such a dark and serious career path. "I was expecting you to go for something more cheerful."

"S-sorry about it being so morbid... I just find medicine a good challenge, and want to help catch criminals like my dad," Aoko replied, seeming to shrink into herself a little and her hand slipping out of Kaito's own.

"Oh, no. Don't apologize. It's really cool. Just... it just surprised me," Kaito said, grabbing back ahold of Aoko's hand without thinking about it.

"Oh," Aoko gasped, firmly accepting the handhold. "What about you, Kaiko?"

Kaito's mind skipped a beat. What was the girl he was pretending to be like? Well, the easiest option was to get close to honesty. "I kind of like gemstones. Maybe an appraiser would be nice?"

Aoko pouted a little, muttering 'gems' under her breath.

"Not a fan of gems?" Kaito asked.

The long haired girl blushed a bit. "Sorry. It's just that Aoko's dad is always so focused on catching Kaitou Kid, and so he's always dealing with gems. Sometimes I feel like he cares about the gems more than me."

"I-" Kaito paused. The natural response was to dismiss that as nonsense and point out that her father just tended to really focus on one thing at a time, but then Kaito realized that 'Kaiko' didn't know Inspector Nakamori. "People can get caught up in their work, but that doesn't mean they don't care."

"This date was really nice," Aoko said, as the pair sat in an ice cream parlour.

"Mhm, I'd never been to the greenhouse before. Didn't even know they had one," Kaito replied while picking at his banana split.

"Oh, I just realized that I haven't gotten your phone number. How are we supposed to meet up next time?"

Kaito nearly choked on his ice cream. What was he going to do? Aoko knew his phone number... "I'm... uh, actually waiting on a replacement. I dropped my old phone, and my parents were planning to change providers anyway, so I don't know what my number is going to be."

"Oh no. Well, Aoko can give you hers, and then you can phone when you get your new phone."

Kaito smiled awkwardly as Aoko gave him the number. At least he wouldn't have to worry about losing the slip of paper as her number was the top of his contacts in his actual phone.

Kaito waved goodbye as Aoko hurried off to her train. He'd be catching the same line, but wanted to wait a while before heading off.

And there was one other thing to deal with.

"You're pretty good at hiding, but I know you were following me," Kaito said while turning around.

"Heh, sorry," Masumi replied as she stepped out of the nearby alleyway. "I tend to consider myself a bit of an investigator, and I was curious how your date would go, since I helped set it up, so I thought I'd practice my stealth surveillance skills. Guess they still need some work."

"I'm kind of on high alert today, and it still took me a while to notice you, so I think you're pretty good," Kaito replied.

"Pretty good isn't FBI level. Anyhow, seems like it went well."

"A little too well, maybe," Kaito replied, eyes dropping to study the sidewalk.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Masumi asked, leaning forward with suspicion.

Kaito leaned back nervously. "I-just... I hoped to have a nice time, but not 'let's have a second date' levels of nice. Since I... well, I've got that little secret I don't know how to deal with."

Of course the actual secret was rather worse than Masumi was aware of, but what she thought the issue was probably covered the issue enough. The way the fanged girl nodded confirmed Kaito's reasoning.

"Yeah, no idea how to handle that one. But Kaiko, if you want to chat, here's my business card," Masumi replied, handing Kaito a small card.

"Very professional of you. I might just take you up on the offer."

The next day, Kaito severely overslept and barely made it to class on time. His stomach kept grumbling all lunch, since he'd had to rush without breakfast. At least Aoko was smiling all day, and that made him happy. Finally the lunch bell rang and he could crack open the food that he'd originally planned as breakfast before reassessing his time options.

"Kaito! Aoko has so much to tell you!" the brown haired girl announced as she plopped down in the seat in front of him.

"Oh? What about? Did another one of your dad's investigation ideas hit a dead end?" Kaito asked, trying to maintain his usual teasing and hoping to ignore the feelings he'd been accepting yesterday.

"Well... yes. But that's not the thing I want to tell you. I had a date! With a-" Aoko froze, realising this was something for hushed tones and dropped to a whisper. "With a really cute girl. She was so nice to me, and we just clicked so well. It was almost like she was an old friend, we meshed together so well."

Kaito nodded between mouthfuls of food. He needed to feign disinterest, but that last bit nearly made him choke. "Eh, if she was on your wavelength she would probably drive me crazy."

That was, of course, perfectly true. The way that his defences against Aoko had vanished yesterday was confusing him. He knew he always felt a little freer in disguise, but this time it was messing with his actual life. So, 'Kaiko' was already starting to drive him a little crazy.

"I just... I just hope she phones me back soon. She seemed like she wasn't sure about a second date. I guess she could probably do much better than Aoko..."

Kaito was shaken from his thoughts by that, and especially the sad distant expression she was suddenly wearing. Was seeing Aoko looking that heartbroken the cost of backing out of this? Kaito knew he couldn't do that to her. He'd just have to, uh, to... mess up the next date. Yeah. Make Aoko dump him.

It was a flawless plan.