Moonlight Magician

Chapter 38

Chapter 38

Chikage felt worried.

Kaito had been missing since hours ago. Of course, this wasn't exactly a rare thing, especially when there was a new heist to prepare for. But he always told her before he went out to do something like that, and he almost always took Jii with him. She had phoned Jii, who professed concern over Kaito's disappearance.
It was strange, really. Kaito didn't seem to need Jii at his heists as much as he used to. Jii had said it was because he was becoming more independent; Chikage privately thought that it had more to do with that Shinichi Kudo detective who usually showed up at his heists.

She paced up and down the hall, trying to decide what to do. He wasn't at Aoko's, wasn't researching for a heist, and wasn't pranking Hakuba. She felt panicked. Toichi was gone, and she had no other family to speak of. Kaito was all she had left.

Where could he be?

Chikage had a brain wave. She went to her computer and looked up a name. Kudo, Kudo... there! And there was the phone number.

Chikage picked up the house phone and began to dial.

===

Shinichi was awoken by bright flashes behind her eyelids. She sat upright, clutching her head. The flashing stopped.

You wouldn't wake up, Pandora said. Its face was unnaturally white.

"What", Shinichi snapped, "do you want?" She was more tired than usual, due to a fake heist note that had taken around ten minutes to decipher, and an hour to explain. It had been hard to convince Nakamori that the heist note had been fake.

It's Kaito.

"What's Kaito?" Shinichi rubbed sleep from her eyes. It was still dark outside.

No! Kaito's the reason I woke you up! He's in trouble!

"He is?" Shinichi looked at Pandora sharply. "You've been stalking him again, haven't you?"

Pandora looked guilty. No, I... I haven't left the house.

Shinichi's eyes narrowed. "You made a... link with him, haven't you?"

The jewel shifted guiltily. Well...

"Did you get his permission?" Shinichi's piercing blue eyes bored into the transparent figure in front of her.

Pandora reddened, avoiding Shinichi's eyes.

"Pandora! You can't just make a link with people's minds without permission!"

Never mind that, Pandora said hastily. Kaito's in trouble!

"Being-chased-by-an-angry-Hakuba trouble, or trouble trouble? Because remember when you couldn't tell the difference, and you-"

Pandora hesitated. Does being buried alive count as trouble trouble?

Shinichi stared, her face whitening. "Buried alive?"

The phone rang.

===

Kaito had managed to calm himself down sufficiently enough that he could think clearly. The gasping had stopped, which was good- it meant less of his air was being used up. He had tried searching for his phone, a torch, something to light the suffocating darkness inside the box, but he had left his phone and torch inside his bag, which had evidently been taken away from him. There wasn't any doubt as to where he was now- the scattering of soil across the floor of his coffin only served to show him how horribly correct he was.