Moonlight Magician

Chapter 43

Chapter 43

Nakamori hummed as he stood in front of the vending machine, absently jingling the loose change in his trouser pocket. His gaze switched from a packet of Kookie Krisp biscuits to a packet of soft jelly sweets, trying to decide which one he wanted.
He was in a good mood. Although he wouldn't admit it to anyone, the confirmation of a new heist always put him in high spirits, as it presented him with another chance to catch that damn elusive thief. And to top it all off, he had even managed to solve the heist note himself! Granted, it had taken him from the evening before to the early hours of the morning to work it out, with the assistance of several cups of coffee, but he had still cracked it! Those damn detectives had nothing on him!

Nakamori finally decided on the packet of Kookie Krisp and fed his money into the vending machine. He scooped up his snack, collected his change, and then ambled back to his office. He was just sitting down when there was a knock at the door.

"Enter!", he barked. Nakamori made it a rule to always bark his commands. He felt it earned him more respect.

The door opened to reveal a slim figure framed in the doorway. Shinichi closed the door behind her and walked forward to stand before his desk. "Good afternoon", she said, as polite as ever. "You said there was a heist note...?"

"Ah, yes!", Nakamori said, riffling through the mess of his desk to find the note. He passed it to her, smiling behind his mustache as he remembered his triumph. "Thought I might get you to look at it and confirm my idea! Ha! I can't wait for my chance to catch this damn thief!"

Shinichi blinked at him, nonplussed. She'd never seen the inspector in such high spirits before. Energetic, yes. Enraged, yes. Energetically enraged, definitely yes. But not cheerful.
Shrugging it off, she looked down at the heist note.

I burn bright
In the forests of the night
The leaves reflect my immortal light
I sit here, waiting, in captivity
The iron vines rise above me
In terrible and beautiful symmetry
Give me food and I will live; give me water and I will die
What am I?

Kaitou KID *doodle*

"What am I...?", Shinichi murmured to herself, jewel-bright eyes fixed on the card. She brushed her thumb across the KID caricature, her lips briefly forming a smile, before turning back to Nakamori. "And you say you've figured this out?"

Nakamori nodded, and beckoned her over to the laptop sitting on his desk. "The first two lines reminded me of a poem I once heard", he said.

Shinichi nodded, having noticed this too. "Tyger?", she suggested.

"By William Blake", Nakamori confirmed, swiveling the laptop a little so the detective could see the screen. "I wondered if this had something to do with the jewel, so I did some research and found that a jewel, an amber carving called Forest Flame, was being displayed in the country."

Shinichi nodded. "That sounds like a good start. But is there anything else connecting it to the heist note?"

"Well, after a little more searching, I found that the jewel was being displayed in the Beika Library for their Forest Flame exhibition- all art work and writing inspired by the carving will be put there."

"What about the iron vines?"

"Recently, there was a break-in at the library- a number of kids looking to have some kind of an adventure", Nakamori snorted. "One of them came close to knocking over the Forest Flame when the security guard found them, so they placed an iron cage around it to avoid it being broken. It is an ancient work of art, after all."