Kaito let out a yawn as he made his way down the stairs.
Even though it had been a week since Snake and his men were caught and he put KID to rest, he was still struggling to go back to a normal sleeping schedule, and the occasional nightmares that he was still having didn't help.
He had to admit that he missed being KID already, the thrill he felt rushing through him during heists, his fans and the matches with his critics. But he was also glad that he didn't have to steal anymore or be an internationally wanted criminal, Kaito also figured that becoming a professional magician after graduation will be good enough for him as an alternative — and even if he wanted to continue being KID, Aoko wouldn't have approved.
At least he managed to make his final heist his greatest magic show to date, and the most memorable and exciting for everyone involved in it, he was quite proud of the results.
And no, he didn't find Pandora, but with the men in black behind the bars, he figured that searching for it was no longer necessary — heck, Kaito wasn't sure it even existed to begin with.
He was heading to the kitchen to brew himself a cup — or maybe two — of coffee to give him enough energy for the day, but his legs froze in place before he could reach his destination.
The sight that met his eyes made him wonder if he was actually awake or still sleeping, if what was happening right now wasn't but a dream he was having, if he had eaten too much yesterday at dinner.
Because there was no way Kuroba freaking Toichi was sitting at the table with a cup of tea in hand, reading a newspaper like it was the most normal thing in world to do, as if nothing happened, as if he never left, as if he never... died.
Then his father raised his head, a warm smile taking over his features as soon as he spotted him and God, did Kaito miss that smile.
“Dad...?” For some reason he couldn't hope to understand, he suddenly felt an odd stinging in his eyes.
“Good morning, Kaito,” he greeted. “Did you sleep well?”
“I... Y-You... What...” Kaito was pretty sure that his Poker Face got smashed to pieces at that moment, he briefly wondered if it was even repairable. “... What're you doing here?”
That probably wasn't the right question to ask, but his mind wasn't exactly at its best shape currently to allow him to think straight.
“Well,” Toichi started, putting his cup down. “There's no need for me to hide anymore with Snake and his men out of the picture.”
“Yes, even though I destroyed Pandora I figured they won't believe me at best, or hunt me down and kill me for it at worst, so staying abroad with your mother under a new identity seemed like a good solution, you know.”
“You... destroyed Pandora.” Kaito repeated, slowly.
“Yes?” Toichi raised an eyebrow. “I left you the choice on whether you wanted to be KID or not because without Pandora it wasn't necessary, but it would allow you to bring Snake and his men to justice if you wanted.”
Kaito didn't reply, his father continued regardless.
“I also heard that you were having fun with it — as I expected — but Chikage said that it made you way too busy to visit us.”
“Yes, she did,” a small frown appeared on Toichi's face. “Why are you asking all these questions?”
“What... What do you mean why?!” Kaito snapped, he couldn't take it anymore. “You have been alive all this time? I've been chasing after a gem that was already destroyed for two years and risking my life? And you didn't even think about telling me?! How do you expect me to-”
“But I already told you.” Toichi interrupted, and Kaito almost tripped on his own feet.
“Kaito, didn't you listen to the tapes?”
“The tapes I left you in the secret room, one of them contained the answers to all the questions you just asked.”
Of course he had listened to the tapes, so many times that he pretty much memorized all of them, but that was exactly why he was sure that none of them included any of the things his father just tol—
Kaito's thoughts went into an abrupt halt when he suddenly remembered something, his eyes opened widely as he realized that he did not, in fact, listen to all the tapes.
Because there was that one tape that he totally forgot about until now, the one that was all tangled up and he couldn't dismantle so he decided to leave it be, thinking that it couldn't be that significant.
The one that just so happened to be the most important of them all.
“Excuse me, I need to go have a crisis.”
