ɪ ꜱᴛᴏʟᴇ ʏᴏᴜʀ ʜᴇᴀʀᴛ, ꜱᴏ ɴᴏᴡ ɪ'ᴍ ꜱᴀᴛɪꜱꜰɪᴇᴅ || SAIOUMA

Chapter 2 - The Rooftop Meetup

Hello my dearest detective,

I've heard you've been working on the case of the Phantom Thief! It sounds very interesting, apart from the fact that you're going absolutely nowhere!

So, I have a proposal for you.

Meet me on the roof of your apartment at midnight tonight.

Make sure to dress well ;)

-The Phantom Thief

*****

This is a stupid idea.

I looked at my watch hesitantly. 11:59

If I wanted to, I could leave. I wouldn't have to deal with this.

But yet here I am, alone on a roof, waiting for a phantom thief to show up.

I... should leave...

I started to walk towards the door, but a hand on my shoulder stopped me.

'Where are you going Saihara-Chan?'

I turned around at lightning speed to find...

Nothing.

I looked down.

A small person wearing a checkered top hat was looking up at me.

'A-Ah!' I jumped in shock as the figure smiled at me.

'Awh, did I scare my beloved detective? My sincerest apologies.'

What I now know is the Phantom Thief grabbed onto my chin and leaned up so our noses were almost touching.

'K-Kokichi?'

I had no solid proof confirming the Phantom Thief's name, but the worst that would happen is if he'd correct me, right?

He giggled. 'Really? My Saihara-Chan researched my name? I feel so special! Maybe I should start calling you Shuichi...'

My face started to heat up as I realised how close we were. I brushed it off and took a step back. 'So, your name is Kokichi?'

'Yep!' he confirmed in a sing-song voice, 'But I'm not gonna tell you my last name!'

'Well, it's a start...' I sighed to myself, 'Anyway, why did you want me to come here?'

'Simple!' Kokichi said, 'I wanted to meet the detective who was working so hard to arrest me! Speaking of, why aren't you calling the police? I'm right here.'

'I...'

'Awh, is my Shumai not wanting to arrest me? Really, I'm flattered.'

I suddenly grabbed onto Kokichi's wrists and pinned him to the wall. He smirked. 'Wow, going a bit fast here aren't we?'

'Sh-Shut up!' I said, my face going red, 'I'm not-'

Kokichi suddenly lunged forward, knocking us both over. He landed on top of me.

'Well, is my detective getting flustered?' he said, rolling off me, 'Well, it's been nice seeing you, but I gotta be going. I've got Phantom Thief stuff to do!'

I managed to get to my own feet, just in time to see Kokichi standing at the edge of the rooftop. 'Same time, same place tomorrow,' He said, winking, before taking a step off the roof.

I rushed towards him, but it was too late, he was already falling. 'K-Koki-'

I stopped abruptly as I watched him hit the ground and bounce. Bounce?

I watched Kokichi jump off a pile of mattresses and walk away like nothing happened.

He is... amazingly stupid.

I internally slapped myself in the face for that thought. I also externally slapped myself in the face for letting the Phantom Thief escape.

He was so close... I could have handcuffed him and had him arrested within seconds, but I let him toy with me.

God, I'm so dumb.

*****

I arrived at work the next morning, exhausted. I'd barely gotten any sleep after the thief left. I couldn't stop thinking about him. The way he moved, his gravity defying hair, his adorable, lilac eyes that I could stare into for hours...

'Shuichi?'

I jumped as my name got called. I turned around to see my colleague and good friend Makoto Naegi standing behind me.

'A-Ah, Makoto, hi!'

'You look tired, are you okay?' he asked, caring as always, 'You don't need to overwork yourself...'

I looked into his concerned eyes and couldn't bring myself to worry him even more with the truth. 'Don't worry! I just couldn't sleep. That's all.'

'Oh okay,' Makoto said, 'Are you still on the Phantom Thief case?'

'Yeah, it hasn't been solved yet...' I say guiltily, 'But I feel like we'll get there soon! Anyway, what about you?'

Makoto sighed. 'You know Crazy Diamonds, the biker gang? They have some debts to some big clan, and the leader's boyfriend got kidnapped.'

'Bike gang leader's boyfriend...' I said, looking at Makoto with wide eyes, 'Are you talking about...'

'Yeah... Taka from high school,' Makoto confirmed, 'Don't worry, we've found out where he is. He'll be rescued soon.'

I was never that close to Taka, since he spent all of his time being a hall monitor, and didn't have many friends. However, it was still unsettling hearing that he'd been kidnapped.

'Well, thanks for telling me,' I finally said, 'Good luck with the investigation.'

'You too,' Makoto said as I walked along the corridor to my office. I heard him quietly curse his social skills before I shut the door.

The second I sat down in my chair, my phone started buzzing. I answered the call after seeing it's Kirigiri.

'Saihara, good morning,' they said through the phone, 'Did you meet up with the Phantom Thief last night?'

I paused for a second before answer. 'Yes... I did.'

'Did you see what they looked like?'

'No,' I lied, 'They were wearing a mask and a hood.'

'Thats a shame,' Kyoko said, 'Well, it can't be helped. Did you talk to them?'

'Also no. They waved at me then left.'

There was a pause and I was about to check if the call had ended before Kyoko spoke up again. 'What was the point of that..?'

'I don't know...'

What am I doing? Why am I lying to my boss? Why am I defending Kokichi, the person I'm meant to be arresting?

My phone suddenly started vibrating again. An unknown number shows up on the screen. I declined the call.

'What was that?' Kirigiri asked, 'Your call cut out for a second.'

'Ah, just an unknown number. Probably some advertisement.'

I heard Kirigiri sigh through the call. 'You never know... You should call them back just in case. Let me know what it was.'

They then ended the call. I rolled my eyes and called the person back. The phone rang for a few seconds before being answered.

'Hello?' I asked the phone.

'Yay! My beloved finally answered my calls! It hurts to be ignored, you know.'

The voice that answered was unmistakable. The Phantom Thief had called me.