Disclaimer: I do not own Detective Conan/Case Closed.

Heart of a Spell

Chapter 6 - Suspicion

The following morning, Shinichi had forgotten about the shadowy figure who'd left the house in the middle of the night. It wasn't until he saw the morning paper that the memory came back to him.

The inspiration for the recollection was the news on the front page.

"Phantom thief makes off with Juniper's Blue Diamond," he read. According to the article, Lady Juniper, a woman from a noble family renowned throughout the country for both her beauty and her singing voice, had received a large blue diamond from a wealthy merchant three years ago. The merchant in question was a huge fan of her music. The diamond, rumored to have been created by a siren, had been mounted on a gold pendant that Lady Juniper wore around her neck at all times. She had given yet another rousing performance just last night. It had been an anniversary concert commemorating her debut twelve years ago. Afterwards, there had been a small party held for her close friends and colleagues. The celebration had lasted all through the night. That morning, however, she had woken to discover that her necklace had disappeared. In its place, the thief had left her a locket. And in the locket was a smiling caricature. The lady insisted that she had still been wearing her diamond when she changed into her nightgown the night before (well, it had actually been early morning). Therefore, the thief must have made the switch some time after that. The lady was greatly saddened by the loss, for she had come to see the diamond as a sort of good luck charm as it had been a gift from a devoted fan, but she had been equally distressed by the thought that the thief had been in her rooms while she had been fast asleep and dressed in nothing but a thin nightgown. The lady's embarrassment aside, the case was just as befuddling as all the others attributed to the Phantom Thief.

The truth was that Lady Juniper had received a notice five days ago of the impending theft of her diamond. She had told no one but the police. She hadn't wished to spoil the celebration being thrown in her honor, so she had asked that the police work as discreetly as possible. In response, the police had sent officers undercover as members of her audience for the performance that night. They had then set up hidden guards all around her estate where the party was being held. The officers present attested to the fact that no one had been seen going in or out of the estate that entire night. Nor were any of the guests missing the following morning. They had all been questioned and searched, but the diamond was nowhere to be found. Unfortunately, many had been quite drunk the previous night, so they couldn't account for all their actions. Still, the fact that the jewel was nowhere on the estate grounds was a fact. Or at least that was how the investigation team felt. Shinichi couldn't help but wonder if they'd been as thorough as they should have been. What kinds of questions had they asked? Were there any details they had found that might have been dismissed that could, in actuality, be useful clues?

It was as he was thinking about this that he suddenly remembered the man he had seen last night. A man who could only have been Kaito.

The heist had taken place last night too.

But no… No one had been spotted entering or leaving the estate during the party. And the party had lasted all through the night. Kaito had left at half past two. So, if he were the thief, he would have had to sneak into the party somehow. He couldn't have slipped in as another guest because that would have meant being there from an earlier time. The thief could also have been hiding on the estate grounds the entire time, but, again, that would require an early arrival. Then again, if sorcery was involved…

Shinichi gave himself a shake. Honestly, he was letting the other police officers' suspicions get to him. Just because Kaito happened to leave the house during the night of a heist didn't mean he had anything to do with the theft. Such a weak piece of evidence wasn't even worth being called evidence.

But then… Where had Kaito been?

He'd planned to just ask Kaito before, but now… Dare he ask? He had no solid evidence. If Kaito was somehow involved with the theft then asking him outright would just raise his suspicions and make any further investigation much more difficult. At the same time, Shinichi didn't want to believe that Kaito was the thief. As he'd told Hakuba, there was no reason for such a successful sorcerer to be wasting his time and energy on criminal activities. Right?

Unless there were reasons that went beyond riches.

"What's with that look? Is something wrong?"

Shinichi almost jumped out of his skin. Spinning around, he found Kaito standing right behind him. "Don't sneak up on me like that!"

The sorcerer arched an eyebrow, his lips quirked up in amusement. "You look like you've seen a ghost. Is there shocking news in that paper then?" Kaito stepped forward, deftly taking the newspaper from Shinichi's hands and looking it over. His face lit up. "Ah, so the phantom thief strikes again I see."

Shinichi looked at him quizzically. "Is that really something you should be smiling about?"

Kaito laughed. "Perhaps not. But as a fellow sorcerer, it's only natural that I applaud this guy for his skills. I mean, all the high end estates have formidable magical defenses in place, but this man's been walking right through them like they're not even there."

"His skills may be admirable," Shinichi conceded, frowning. "But what he does with them is not."

"Well, it's nothing we need concern ourselves wit." Kaito laid the newspaper on the side table of the entrance hall where they were standing and took Shinichi by the arm. "Come on, it's time for breakfast."

-0-

Though he was kept too busy most of the time to worry about the problem of Kaito's midnight excursion, the problem continued to haunt the back of Shinichi's mind as the days flowed by. He found himself peering out the windows at odd hours of the night, wondering if he would see Kaito leaving in secret again like he had that night. He didn't see the shadow in the night again. He did, however, inadvertently deprive himself of a lot of sleep.

He was sorely tempted to blame this sleep deprivation for the two questions he missed on Kaito's quiz. He would also like to point out that it was extremely unfair to expect him, a beginner in the ways of magic, to explain the difference between two insanely complex magical diagrams. But he couldn't deny that the information had been in the folder, and he couldn't deny that he had gotten the answers switched around between the aforementioned two diagrams. That led to a rather embarrassing day of being forced to wear that blue dress Kaito had oh so graciously picked out for him that time they had gone clothes shopping. Shinichi had been horrified to learn that the sorcerer had bought the damned thing. On the up side, Kaito cheerfully agreed to let him do only indoors work that day. On the down side, the sorcerer must have cast some kind of spell on the garment because Shinichi found that he was unable to take it off until the full twelve hour period Kaito had specified had passed.

Whichever of his parents had given Kaito his particular sense of humor had, Shinichi thought, not done the world a favor.

He was glad he'd only missed two questions though. Who knew what the consequences might have been for missing more.

"Would you like to come to my show?"

Shinichi looked up from where he'd been sorting the post. "Your show?"

"I'm giving a performance today at the Crescent Theater to help kick off the annual Summer's End Festival. You haven't attended one of my shows yet. It'll be a good chance for you to see what they're like. It can also serve as a chance to unwind before that presentation we're giving the day after tomorrow."

"Oh." Shinichi blinked. "Um, okay."

-0-

Back in Beika, having a festival meant that the market square would be filled with colorful booths and families would come out to buy little trinkets and eat lots of food. There might be some music and dancing at the end of the day, but then everyone would clean up and go back to their everyday lives. Festivals were cheery and relaxing, and they never went on for more than a single day. Naturally, now that he was in a much larger city, Shinichi expected festival days to be livelier and noisier and all the other stuff that comes with a greater population. And he was right to a degree. At the same time, he was completely wrong.

Festivals in Ekoda weren't restricted to certain public areas. No, festivals seeped into every nook and cranny of the city. Every building had been festooned with brightly colored decorations, and all the people out on the streets were wearing brighter, fancier clothes. All the streets had been lined with everything from vendors to games. There was a musician on every corner, and just about all the regular stores were closed. What had already been busy city streets were now so crammed with people that going anywhere at all required a great deal of shoving and dozens of trodden toes.

And this was only the first day!

Shinichi paused to watch in amazement as four people on stilts walked by to a chorus of cheers. He'd read about stilts before, but he'd never actually seen anyone use any. How they could actually manage to walk like that, he had no idea. Yet there they were.

"Don't fall behind," Kaito admonished, reappearing beside Shinichi and grabbing him by the arm. "If we move too slowly, we're going to be late."

"Sorry," Shinichi apologized quickly. He'd almost completely forgotten that they were on a schedule.

The Crescent Theater was the largest performance hall in the city, and it was definitely fully immersed in the festival spirit. The entire building was covered in strings of lanterns of all different colors—though since it was still daytime, none of them had been lit yet. The lights were accompanied by fluttering paper streamers and strings of bells that jingled every time the wind blew. There was also a faint fragrance in the air because of the wreathes of flowers that festooned the windows.

There was already a long line outside the theater entrance. Well, two long lines. One ended at the ticket booth while the other was inching its way into the building itself.

"We'll be going in through the back," Kaito said, leading the way.

As they rounded a corner of the building, they saw three children climbing clumsily onto the raised flowerbed outside one of the theater windows. They were whispering amongst themselves as they did so. One of them, a little girl with a ribbon in her hair, pressed her face against the glass.

"I can't see anything," she reported. "It's too dark inside."

"Let me see." The skinnier of the two boys cupped his hands against the glass and peered in. "Ah darn, I can't really make anything out either."

"Well they've gotta turn on the light when they get started," the last of the three said hopefully.

By now, Kaito and Shinichi were standing right behind the three. None of them had noticed. Then Kaito cleared his throat loudly, and all three jumped. They scrambled to turn around on the narrow ledge of a flower bed, guilt written across all three faces.

"Hey there," Kaito said with a toothy grin that, if the way the kids shied away was anything to go by, did not reassure the three one bit. "What might you be up to?"

"Uh, n—nothing!" the skinny boy said with a nervous laugh. "We were just—wondering what the inside of a theater looked like. Yeah. So we thought we'd take a look."

"You could always go inside," the sorcerer suggested. "The theater welcomes all kinds of visitors."

"Yeah, but you have to buy tickets for that," the stout boy grumbled.

"Ah, I see. They've cut the usual children's ticket price in half for today."

"We know that," the little girl explained. "But we sort of got carried away at the stalls this morning. They were selling so many cool things!"

"And delicious food," the stout boy added.

"So we sort of spend all our allowances," the girl finished.

"But we heard there was going to be this really famous sorcerer at the show this year," the skinny boy said, taking up the story. "So we were hoping we'd be able to get a look from out here. It looks like it's not going to work though."

All three sighed in disappointment.

Kaito laughed. "Is that all? Well then, today's you're lucky day. I think I can arrange for you three to have seats for the show."

"Really?" Three faces lit up with sudden excitement. "That would be awesome! Thanks, Mister."

"No problem. Come on then."

Fifteen minutes later, Shinichi found himself sitting in one of the balcony seats beside the three children from outside. They had introduced themselves as Ayumi, Mitsuhiko, and Genta. They were now bouncing up and down in their seats, exclaiming over the spectacular view and how amazing they were sure the shows today were going to be. Shinichi found himself smiling at their childish enthusiasm.

"Excuse me," the little girl said, tugging on his sleeve. "But isn't your friend going to watch the show with us?"

"No, he has work to do," Shinichi replied.

"Oh." She sat back in her seat. "That's too bad."

"Who is he anyway?" Mitsuhiko asked. "He must be really important if he could get us such great seats just like that."

Shinichi hid a smile. Boy were they going to be surprised. "Look forward, you guys. The show's about to start."

-0-

"I can't believe we were actually invited in to watch the show by the sorcerer everyone was talking about!"

"Everyone at school is going to be so jealous."

Shinichi shook his head in amusement as the three kids continued to chatter excitedly about the show. True to his prediction, they had been stunned when Kaito had appeared on stage. They had gone on to be completely captivated by the show in which Kaito had retold the legend of the two brothers who had ventured to the land of dragons to bring the secret of fire back to the human world. Shinichi had to admit that the sorcerer had been pretty spectacular. The illusions he'd woven to accompany his story had really brought the tale to life.

Since Kaito had a second rendition of the show to give, Shinichi found himself accompanying the three kids as they explored the festival stalls. Genta wanted to stop at every food stall there was, but unfortunately they were being limited by their lack of funds. Shinichi purchased a handful of snacks for each of them, but he put his foot down when the kids went for their fourth round of candied treats.

"Too much sugar isn't good for you," he said in the face of their disappointment. "Why don't we go to the game stalls instead?"

"Yeah, let's get goldfish," Mitsuhiko said enthusiastically. And off they went.

Shinichi was standing a off to the side of the goldfish scooping pool, watching the three children struggle to catch the little, golden creatures, when a weight suddenly landed on his head. Crying out in surprise, he reached up to find a large straw hat on his head. He could tell just by feeling it that it was one of the overly colorful festival hats covered in dried flowers and enough in the way of wax fruits to open a small shop.

"How about it?" a skinny man with missing teeth asked with a broad, cheerful grin. "Buy yourself a keepsake for the celebration."

"Uh, thanks, but I don't really need a new hat," Shinichi replied with a polite smile. He moved to remove the hat, but the salesman reached up to adjust it so that it now rested at an angle atop Shinichi's head.

"Looks good on ya," the skinny man assured him as though this were the problem. "And it'll keep the sun off better than any sun blocking charm."

"Sorry, but I really don't need it."

"For a friend then," the man suggested. "It's handmade, you know. One hundred percent unique."

"I'm sure it is."

The man beamed, showing off the gaps in his teeth. "Ah, you'll buy one then."

"Er, no, that's not what I—I mean, I'm sure your hats are very well made. I just don't need one right now."

The salesman persisted for another few minutes before finally relenting with a shrug.

"You're missing out," he told Shinichi, lifting the hat from the detective's head. Then he was gone. As if on cue, Ayumi came trotting over with a tiny bucket in hand and a beaming smile on her face.

"Look! I caught one!"

It wasn't until he was getting ready for bed that night that Shinichi noticed that the charm Kaito had given him was no longer around his neck. He searched every inch of his room to no avail. The last time he recalled seeing it had been that morning when he'd been dressing. So he must have lost it during the festival.

Frowning, he sat down on the edge of his bed and thought back. The chain had been thin, so it wasn't impossible that it could have snapped somewhere in all the jostling of the crowds. He couldn't remember catching it on anything though. And, even if the chain was thin, it had been fairly well crafted. It shouldn't have fallen apart without provocation. So when…

The hat salesman! Thinking back on it, something had brushed his neck when the man had removed his hat. Shinichi had thought at the time that it was one of the hat's decorations, but it could just as easily have been sneaky fingers relieving him of the charm.

Uh oh. Kaito had been very clear about his wish that Shinichi keep the charm with him at all times.

Well, the presentation was on the morrow, but it would only take half the day. He could go to the festival lost and found afterward. If they didn't have any clues for him, he could retrace his steps and look for that salesman while asking around in case someone really had just picked it up.

Plans made, he decided to review the presentation material one last time before calling it a night.

So at his first ever festival in the city, he was (very likely) robbed. Go figure.

-TBC-