Kaiya POV
"There it is...the Robanov Dynasty's Treasure Exhibition museum!" I grinned.
"I'll be sure to capture Kaito Kid." Saguru stated as we got in line.
"But Kaito isn't here again, that jerk!" Aoko huffed.
Aoko... he can't be here because he's Kaito Kid...
*************
Conan POV
"Sonoko, didn't you say the line to the museum wouldn't be that long?" Ran asked.
"Well it wasn't... until Kaito Kid made an annoucement. Didn't you see the news?" Sonoko replied.
"Kaito Kid? If only Kaiya were here too... she's a fan of Kaito Kid as well." Ran said.
"Kaito Kid?" we heard a familiar voice behind us.
"Oh it's Azuza-san and Amuro-san!" Ran turned behind.
"They said it was going to take half a day to change the cafe's AC..." Azusa began.
"...so they gave us tickets to come here!" Amuro finished.
Sonoko raised an eyebrow at Azusa. "So you're not here on a date?"
"Shh!" Azusa said. "We're not dating! I don't want to attract any attention."
"You'll be fine, you even wore your glasses." Amuro told her.
"Oh, it's Amuro from Poirot!" a woman recognized Amuro.
"The handsome waiter from Poirot." another woman said.
For a PSB agent... you certianly attract a lot of attention, Amuro.
Suddenly people's attention turned to some newcomers in the line.
"Oh it's Saguru Hakuba!" they clamored.
"Ran... look!" Sonoko pointed. "That's Kaiya walking next to that Saguru person isn't it?"
"You're right!" Ran noticed.
Oh ... Saguru is here as well..?
*********
Kaiya POV
"Hakuba-kun, you're quite famous!" I laughed at him as people started to recognize him.
"Here, put this on so you won't be recognized as easily." I took off Shuichi's cap I was wearing and placed it on Saguru.
"I don't want to wear a cap! It doesn't go with my outfit!" Saguru argued.
"Stop being a baby! You won't catch Kaito Kid if you're distracted by people asking for autographs." I scolded him.
"Fine..." he sighed, putting on the cap.
"Oi Kaiya!" a voice called, causing me to turn around.
Yikes it was Sonoko...
"H-Hi Sonoko..." I waved. I could see Ran and Conan stifling their laughter. And is that Amuro and Azusa?
"You said you were busy so you couldn't come... don't tell me you blew us off for a date?!" Sonoko responded.
"We're not dating!" Saguru and I shouted at the same time.
"How could I ever like this detective jerk?" I crossed my arms.
"I could say the same to you, Miss Know-It-All." Saguru replied.
"Come on you two..." Aoko facepalmed.
"W-Well since we're all friends, let's go inside the museum together!" Ran said.
"That's right!" Azusa agreed. "While we're waiting... maybe we can see one of Amuro-san's magic tricks! You said you would show me when we weren't busy..."
"But we don't have a deck of cards..." Amuro replied.
"I have a deck of cards!" Sonoko pulled it out from her purse. "When it comes to Kaito Kid... I always have cards with me to get his autograph hehe..."
"Sugoi Sonoko!" I exclaimed. "I should do that too!"
"I want his autograph!" we both gushed.
"Seriously, autographs?" Saguru sweatdropped.
"Ahem..." Amuro cleared this throat and began to perform his magic trick. "I'll flip over the topmost card from the deck!" Amuro stated.
"It's the Ace of Hearts!" we noted.
"I'll then put it on the top of the deck, flip it, and the topmost card is buried among the others." Amuro demonstrated. "Where do you think the Ace of Hearts is now?" Amuro asked.
"It is...in the deck?" Ran and Sonoko guessed. No... it's probably on top...
"Well then please pick up the topmost card and take a look!" Amuro replied.
"No way!" We exclaimed. The Ace of Hearts was on top!
*******
"Excuse me, may I borrow your cards for a while?" A man with a hat approached us.
Amuro handed the cards to him with a confused expression.
"First, from the deck, you take the topmost card and show everyone, but in reality you take two cards. Then slide the two cards slightly, hold the topmost card, and let the second card fall back into the deck and pull half the deck out and place it on top. The topmost card is now back on top!" the man finished with a grin. That expression... of course it's Kaito.
"Of course it would be easy for someone like you..." I deadpanned. "Showoff..."
The man grinned and disappeared in a whirl of doves.
"He disappeared!" Ran exclaimed.
"Along with the cards!" Sonoko added.
"Sonoko... look!" I gasped I felt something in my pocket and pulled the deck of cards. Kaito never ceases to amaze me...
"That man... was Kaito Kid just now wasn't it?" Amuro asked.
Conan nodded, "Probably."
Conan and I looked at each other in confusion as Amuro excused himself and called Kazami.
*********
"My esteemed guests, thank you for gathering at the musuem to see the Robanov Dynasty's Treasure Exhibition!" Jirokichi announced.
Everyone gasped as at the sparkling crown when the curtain was drawn back. It was studded with diamonds and other jewels, with a big diamond in the center.
**********
"Eh?" Amuro-san went off somewhere?" Azusa pouted slightly when Conan told her.
"Don't worry, he'll be back soon! You should join us for dinner! You are all invited to join us at Five Sails Resturant next to the museum!" Sonoko told us.
"No way!" Ran gasped.
"That's the Michelin restaurant next to the harbor!" I exclaimed.
Sonoko nodded proudly. "Uncle is quite amazing!"
I turned to look at Saguru.
"You know, he's invited too." Sonoko winked at me.
"Sonoko, it's not like that!" I blushed, "Besides, doesn't Jirokichi-san want to focus on capturing Kaito Kid?
"He has all the preparations in place already." Sonoko explained. "And Inspector Nakamori will have men watching over the premises.
"But we aren't exactly dressed to go to a Michelin restaurant..." Azusa pointed out.
"That's totally fine!" Sonoko reassured us.
*********
We were seated on a patio, overlooking on ocean view. Appetizers including shrimp cocktails and smoked salmon bites were served, but we were still waiting on the main course, truffle with steak.
"Jirokichi-san, is everything alright?" I asked him when he seemed displeased while speaking with the chef.
"My apologies, " the main chef Nobu Matsuhisa stated. "there's a delay tonight..." he explained that he had to attend to an important customer, Tamaki Shichiro.
***********
Shichiro was ranting, "My wife Ayaka and I were celebrating our anniversary. We ordered a special meal, steaks with black mushrooms, and that's what we got. But when I checked the credit card, it was for the truffles, at three times the cost of the meal we actually had!"
Truffles... although it was a seafood restaurant, the dish with truffles with pretty popular as well.
According to Chef Matsuhisa, truffles were expensive because they grew randomly underground and were difficult to find. However, they give food an unforgettable flavor, rich with a touch of garlic.
"Don't worry, we'll get to the bottom of this." I reassured Shichiro. Saguru and Conan nodded in agreement.
Saguru turned to Matsuhisa. "I would like to meet everyone involved in the service please."
Matsuhisa summoned the waiter, Ikehara Kazuo, and the head waiter, Nishida Akio.
"Say mister, what is the serving procedure?" Conan asked Nishida.
"I deliver the menus, both the wine and also the food menu, if Kazuo-san has not already done so. I then offer to be of any assistance. Sometimes I even get the orders, when there is a rush." Nishida replied.
"Is Shichiro-san a regular?" I asked.
Ikehara nodded. "Shichiro-san is a very knowledgeable consumer...he had already made up his mind that he wanted the steak with black mushroom sauce, and he ordered it, so no special assistance was needed from me."
Nishida nodded in agreement.
"What happened afterwards?" Conan inquired.
Ikehara answered, "I gave the order to the chef, and when the order was ready, I served it immediately to the Shichiro-san and his wife."
"Then, I opened and served his wine after he checked the label. After that, I would check back from time to time, to see if everything was all right." Nishida added. "Shichiro-san seemed to enjoy his meal and left a generous tip, although he was in a hurry to leave when he finished his meal. He just picked up his credit card and left."
"May I ask who prepared the truffles?" Saguru questioned.
"That would be Chef Nakagawa Juro." Matsuhisa replied.
***********
We all went into the kitchen and Matsuhisa introduced us to Nakagawa, who was busy preparing an order.
"Sorry to bother you, but would you please tell us about the truffle service?" I asked. "Just take us through your routine."
"Those are special orders," Juro began. "Each is cooked to order, never prepared in advance. Truffles are not cooked for very long. If they were, they might lose some of the flavor that the customer is paying such a premium for." he said.
"Mister, where are the truffles?" Conan asked in a childish voice "I've never tried them before!"
"What is a kid doing here?" Juro glanced at us in confusion.
"Umm he's with me!" I ruffled Conan's hair.
Juro pointed a medium-sized jar that Conan ran to. It was a French import from a famous and respected shipping house.
"We had just two jars," Juro pointed to a half-full jar "I cook in front of the entire staff, and they know we used one jar last week, and this is what remains from the second jar. It can be used for around three more orders before it runs out."
"How many orders can you make per jar?" Conan asked.
" ... About six." Juro replied.
"Do you get many orders for steak with black mushrooms?" I asked.
"Sure, plenty of them. It's something of a specialty here. A good dish, certainly. But not the same as steak and truffles!" Juro answered.
"Did you have experience cooking truffles before?" Saguru asked.
"Well... I suppose I had seen it done when I was in culinary school, but didn't cook truffles until recently. They were just too expensive for student chefs to handle." Juro replied.
"Could there be a mistake, with one dish ordered and the wrong one served?" I asked.
"Absolutely not," he said. "Also, I never serve the two together in the same dish. If the customer ordered steak with truffle sauce, and got mushrooms instead, there has been either a mistake or a crime."
We left the kitchen, and everyone else went back to their stations. Shichiro seemed satisfied that the matter was being investigated, and the steak and truffle dish was prepared again.
***********
Saguru asked Matsuhisa to see the daily receipts. He introduced Umeda Hajime who doubled as the host and cashier.
"No, I really didn't see anything," he answered. "It was a busy day, and there was just time to seat Shichiro-san and his wife and give them their food menus. And then some more customers appeared at the front door, and I had to go and greet them."
***********
"Hajime-san seemed a bit nervous." Conan noted.
"I agree." Saguru appeared deep in thought.
"Look what I found on the records." I showed them a news clipping on my phone. "Apparently Hajime-san is on parole for petty larceny."
"That means Matsuhisa was giving him a chance to redeem himself." Saguru realized.
"Hajime-san had been doing well for the past feel months." Matsuhisa replied when we asked him. "He was on duty all last week, but couldn't have been at any table more than a couple of minutes."
*********
"What do we do now?" I asked Saguru. "Everyone seems to have an alibi."
"Can we take a look at the receipts again?" Saguru asked.
After we looked at the receipts everything seemed to be in order. There were three orders for today, and six orders of the special truffled steaks for last week, including the order for the Saunders luncheon, and there were also six credit card duplicates for those orders.
"Perhaps there was a mistake?" I frowned.
"No, it was larceny. I know who switched the orders," Saguru declared, and Conan had a smirk on his face. "Let's gather everyone in the kitchen."
*********
"Let's begin with the facts." Saguru started when everyone arrived. "Juro made the truffle dish in plain sight of the kitchen and staff. Furthermore, truffles and black mushrooms were never on the same dish. A waiter seeing an error would have pointed it out to the chef."
"Kazuo-san was really busy right?" Conan asked. Ikehara nodded. "So he had no opportunity to switch truffles for black mushrooms. He must have only picked up the plate and delivered it to Shihiro-san." Conan continued.
"And Akio-san never touched the order since Kazuo-san already delivered it." I added.
"So that leaves Hajime-san..." Saguru announced, turning to Umeda. "You were in charge of processing credit card charges, but you recognized a rich repeat customer, and thought that he would not notice that he was billed for the more expensive meal.
"But you saw the receipts, how would that be possible?" Umeda argued.
Conan held out two receipts. "It's an easy trick, right Kaiya-neechan and Saguru-niisan?"
"Oh I see!" I realized. "It's possible to switch a credit card charge for the actual one Shichiro-san had signed."
"And put it through after he had left the restaurant." Saguru finished.
*********
"What do you have to say to that, Hajime-san?" Matsuhisa questioned.
"They are lying!" he tried to reason. "Besides, how can you trust the words of these kids?"
"Because they are telling the truth." Megure entered with Takagi and Sato. "The report?" he prompted Takagi.
"Yes sir, we double checked with the credit card company." Takagi reported.
"And there indeed was a different credit card charge from this restaurant." Sato revealed.
Umeda gripped his head in frustration. "I will not go to jail again!" he ran past us towards the patio in the back to escape, causing the other patrons to gasp.
Saguru and I ran after Hajime-san.
"Don't do anything rash!" I exclaimed, cornering him in the back of the patio.
"It would do no good to add to your list of crimes." Saguru warned.
********
"This all your fault!" Umeda growled as us, gripping Saguru angrily by his collar. He threw Saguru against the railing before running.
"Saguru!" I exclaimed, as railing snapped and he toppled into the ocean, gasping for air. My eyes widened as he flailed in the water, and I immediately dove in and brought him to shore. "Come on, please wake up." I said, attempting to do CPR on him. I tried to pump water out of his chest, but he still wasn't moving. "Come on Saguru, wake up!" I cried. This isn't how I would imagine my first kiss to be. As I leaned forward, he suddenly coughed up water. I sighed in relief.
"Kaiya?" he asked weakly.
"You're awake!" I smiled.
********
We were given towels and drinks to warm up while the police handled Umeda.
"Thanks for saving me..." Saguru said.
"I'm just glad you're alright." I replied.
"I-I can't swim." Saguru admitted. "When I was younger.... a driver was supposed to take me home after school since my parents were busy. But a car started following us, and when the driver tried to evade our pursuers, he took a wrong turn, causing the car to fall into a lake. Ever since then... I was terrified of the water."
"I'm so sorry Saguru." I placed a comforting hand on him. "If you want... I could teach you how to swim..."
"So we're on first name basis now?" Saguru raised an eyebrow.
"Even though you're still an annoying detective, let's be friends." I offered.
"I would like that." Saguru replied.
"So... let's go back to watch the Kaito Kid heist?" I suggested.
He nodded in agreement and we headed towards the museum.