Behind the Scope

Chapter 16: Lily's Confession

Dinner at TMPD Headquarters was something that Kaito disliked.

It all started with a call from Inspector Nakamori this afternoon. He told Aoko that tonight he would not be able to eat dinner at home since the police were quite busy with Arata's fraud and smuggling case. There were many things to do, he said, and that was why he could not have dinner at home. Ginzo also told Aoko that she did not have to prepare his dinner since he would come home pretty late. He told his daughter that he would have dinner at his office with his colleagues. When Aoko asked what he would have as a dinner tonight, the inspector answered that he had plenty of instant ramen at his office. Perhaps he had not thought that his answer would make his daughter furious because Kaito saw with his own eyes how mad Aoko was when she heard that his father would have instant ramen as his dinner.

The father and daughter quarreled quite long over the phone and Kaito could only watch it, half amused, half scared. He heard Aoko nagging about how unhealthy it was if his dad ate too much instant ramen. She was quite sure the inspector only had ramen every time he could not have dinner at home these days. Finally, after a fierce quarrel over the phone, Aoko decided to deliver a bento for Ginzo's dinner. She would not allow her father to eat instant ramen again. He already had too much of it. Even better, she would have dinner with him at his office. Since Aoko had decided, Kaito could not help but follow her will, which was having dinner with the inspector at TMPD. After all, Aoko was also the one who made dinner for him. That was why Kaito found himself walking side by side with Aoko inside TMPD Headquarters, down the corridors and up the elevator to get to Ginzo's office.

The police are his enemy and that was why Kaito really hated being in TMPD. He saw police officers everywhere! He knew that they did not recognize him as Kaitou Kid and today was not the first day he went inside TMPD Headquarters as himself, but still, the feeling of having his enemy being so close to him made him uneasy. The teen had to struggle to put his best poker face when he was inside the building, especially when he was in division 2's office. It was a good thing Ginzo decided to have dinner outside his office. They ended up having dinner somewhere inside the building but far enough from division 2's office and in his heart, Kaito was really grateful for that.

When they were having dinner together, Aoko stated that starting from that day, she would prepare a bento for her father and deliver it to him if he could not have dinner at home since she did not want him to eat instant food too often. Actually, today was not the first day for Aoko to deliver a bento for his dad, but lately, she did not do that because Ginzo rarely stayed at his office when he was busy taking care of Arata's crimes, thus making Aoko unable to deliver a bento for him. This time Aoko was determined to deliver a bento for her dad if he was at his office.

Ginzo did not mind Aoko's decision. Actually, he really appreciated it, but Kaito nearly choked when he heard that because that meant he most likely would always have dinner at TMPD Headquarters as long as the inspector was unable to have dinner at home. The teen did not protest immediately, of course, since he did not want to hurt Ginzo's feelings, but he had planned to protest to Aoko later when they were on their way back home. When they were in the middle of dinner too Kaito noticed something unusual in the building.

"Wow, it seems the police are very busy tonight," Kaito commented when he noticed too many officers passing hastily around the building, talking to each other seriously as if they had serious matters to do. He also heard the sirene of police cars somewhere outside the building, so something serious must have been happening.

"Yeah, we're very busy, both division 1 and division 2. My division is busy digging Arata's crime while division 1 is busy chasing after the suspected sniper," Ginzo responded.