Real

It was easy, too damn easy that Kaito wanted to laugh out loud. But currently in his form—the polite and charismatic Hakuba Saguru—he couldn't express much of his happiness without a warrant that it would expose his identity. The blonde detective had a fine reputation, and everyone in the ballroom, be it friends or rivals, had their eyes on him. But at the thought of how Hakuba was idiotically sleeping on his toilet seat back in his home, it made Kaito almost want to laugh again.

Kaito raised his champagne and excused himself from the conversation he had long lost interest in. He had already gathered enough insider's information about his upcoming heists as well as the Black Organisation that the police were secretly investigating so there wasn't any reason for him to stay. He thought of heading home to take a quick bath before checking out Hakuba's mansion and see if he was awake from the sleeping gas or not. Well, if he wasn't, Kaito could put his permanent marker to some good use and test his doodling skills too.

As Kaito made his way to a table to put his champagne glass down and leave, he glimpsed to his right, like some kind of natural instinct, and widened his eyes at the sight he didn't expect to see.

Nakamori Aoko.

She blended in well with the fancy crowd yet stand out at the same time too, at least in Kaito's opinion. She was donned in a long white dress that reached her ankles, and her blue heels matched perfectly with the blue purse she had in hand. On her other hand, though, was her phone, which she seemed very focused on.

Maybe it was fine for Kaito to stay a little while longer. The night was indeed young after all.

He slowly ambled his way towards her.

Aoko lowered her phone and looked up at him when he reached her side, and the moment their eyes met he thought it was a pity his heists often didn't give him the chance to look at her properly; they always crossed path in the blur of a blackout or on the rooftop where it was dark and dim-lit. But this time—with the ballroom's good lighting—was the best to show the curve of her rosy lips and the brightness of her blue eyes. He wondered stupidly why he hadn't noticed her the entire time.

"Good evening, Na- Aoko-san." Good grief, he almost slipped up and called her like how Kid always did. It was barely five seconds and he almost screwed up when he had perfected his disguise for the entire evening here.

"Hello Hakuba-kun," Aoko replied with a smile.

"Did you just arrive?"

Aoko blinked. "How did you know?"

No wonder. "I didn't see you around until now," he half-admitted.

"Then…" She glanced at him up and down. "Are you leaving?"

Kaito tilted his head. "No, but what makes you say that?"

Aoko shook her head and shrugged. "Just a gut feeling. I guess I'm wrong."

She wasn't wrong, but she was the reason why her guess eventually turned out to be wrong, though.

They started some polite talks: snippets of their work and the current world affairs. But Kaito knew the way to go. He slowly delved deeper, towards things there were more personal, like what she did during her spare time away from the detective matters and whatnots.

She talked about her two adopted dogs and some bits of her dad. She also talked about how she liked to cook whenever she was at home, especially hamburger steaks, her favourite dish in the world. It was nice to hear her talk while she was smiling, something Kaitou Kid was unfamiliar with, but he liked it a lot.

Throughout the conversation, Kaito was still careful to keep in his character. As far as he knew, Hakuba didn't have any four-legged pets because of his eagle, and he certainly didn't like hamburger steak when his choices for his expensive, imported steaks were between medium rare or medium well. It was hard to balance the conversation, between wanting to speak as Kuroba Kaito and fearing for Aoko's dangerous and accurate gut feelings, so he refrained talking as much and only listened to what Aoko said. But as nice as she always was, she frequently asked question back in return, though he swerved it well and ended up telling some stories Kaito knew of Hakuba's subordinates and private life rather than his personal interests.

She chuckled most of the time as he depicted those stupidly funny stories, and the sound of her adorable and soothing laugh made him wish that the whole thing was for real.