248Disclaimer: We don't own DCMK
Caught on Camera
Photograph: Roadmap
The following page of the album contained not a photo but a miniature world map marked with tiny gold stars…
. . . . . . . . .
"This is our chance!"
Shinichi looked up from the book he'd been reading with a thrill of dread. Nothing good ever came of declarations like that, especially not when the source was one Kuroba Kaito.
Still, the curiosity he'd been cursed with made him ask, "Chance for what?"
"Our first world tour!" Kaito declared, indigo eyes gleaming with the madness of art and adventure both. "Remember? We talked about it."
Shinichi looked at him blankly, trying to remember if they had had any such conversation. The only remotely related incident that was coming to mind was a brief comment Kaito had made a few weeks ago about wanting to go on an international tour sometime, and he had assumed that the magician had meant it in a 'some day in the distant future' kind of way. He said as much.
"I mean, you haven't even been performing for a year, and we still have school and everything," he reasoned. "And you said you didn't want to tell our parents yet. They're going to notice if we go traveling around the world."
"Ah, but that is precisely why this is our chance," Kaito said as though he thought this should be obvious. "We both have two-week breaks coming up. And we already know your parents are going to be out of town at the same time for that publishers and authors conference in Okinawa."
"I remember," Shinichi agreed. He'd been looking forward to it. There was nothing quite like a whole two week vacation without his parents' craziness to deal with. He'd already lined up a reading list and acquired an extra large supply of coffee as well as a special new coffee ice cream he'd recently discovered at the local grocery store and subsequently fallen in love with. "I got your guest room ready in case you wanted to stay over."
Kaito blinked, momentarily sidetracked, then smiled. "Thanks. But I'll be taking a rain check on that. You see, Dad just told me that he'll be taking Mom to Spain for those same two weeks."
"Wow, that's…coincidental."
"It's an opportunity is what it is," Kaito replied, looking smug. "It means we have two whole weeks to do whatever we want—and that includes going anywhere we want because we know where Long Noses One through Four are going to be. Look!" He produced a slim, stapled pack of printouts with a flourish. "I took the liberty of going ahead and arranging our itinerary. I've booked our flights and hotels and everything."
Shinichi stared at him, shocked speechless. Mistaking his wide-eyed stare for curiosity, Kaito handed him the printouts, which contained the information on the aforementioned arrangements. Shinichi accepted the packet on autopilot. He goggled at the overview on the first page for several seconds before he managed to find his voice.
"But these are official venues," he said, half in surprise and half in question.
"Well yeah. I started sounding them out back when we first talked about the tour. All the publicity I got after the shows I did for the Suzukis really helped. I got several good offers. They even agreed to cover most of our travel and hotel costs. I had the first two venues publish my notice today. I'll have the rest released over the next few days. It'll give my fans and the locals plenty of time to figure out the times and locations and get tickets." Kaito paused in his enthusiastic explanation as his phone pinged. Pulling the little device from what appeared to be thin air, he checked the text message and grinned. "Looks like somebody's cracked the first notice. Tickets are already beginning to sell."
"…That was fast."
"Well, I did make the first notice extra easy just in case. It'd be a shame if we went to all this trouble and no one could attend because the notice was too hard."
"That wouldn't have been so much of an issue if you didn't pick cities all over the place," Shinichi pointed out. "Wouldn't it have made more sense to just pick one location for your first international appearance?"
"But then it wouldn't be a world tour," Kaito countered. "The physical distance between rapid appearances is going to be part of the mystique. I'm planning to theme the shows as a series on inter-dimensional travel."
"…I assume I can't change your mind about this?"
"Nope. You will come with me, won't you? I picked London as one stop for you."
Feeling his cheeks warming at that, Shinichi ducked his head. "I'd have gone anyway," he mumbled. He couldn't let his best friend take on such a huge operation all by himself. He'd have worried.
Kaito smiled, indigo eyes soft. "Thanks."
"This is going to be really tiring though," Shinichi warned. "You know that right?"
Kaito laughed. "I know. But it'll be worth it."
Tiring turned out to be far too feeble a word.
They had gone to San Francisco, New York City, London, Paris and Hong Kong. They practically lived on airplanes and in airports for those two weeks. If it weren't for the fact that Kaito had thought ahead and acquired exact specs for all the venues he'd picked and prepared the majority of his tricks and props in advance, they'd never have made it. As it was, Shinichi still felt as though the entire string of days was a single long blur of activity colored by the constant pressure of the sensation that they were running out of time.
In short, it was exhausting in every possible way. How Kaito managed to pull off all five shows without making any mistakes, Shinichi honestly had no idea.
For Shinichi, however, the worst part was that they were in London for an entire day, and he was unable to go to the Sherlock Holmes Museum or any of the numerous Holmes related London sites that he'd been dreaming of going to for pretty much what felt like his entire life.
The tragedy was a result of several unforeseeable factors. Kaito had initially planned for them to be in London for an extra day because he knew that it would make Shinichi happy, but certain hiccups in the weather and flight schedules had conspired to steal the extra time from them.
For a moment after he'd broken the news to Shinichi at the British airport, Kaito honestly feared that Shinichi was either going to throw a tantrum or burst into tears. But Shinichi, being Shinichi, ended up doing neither. He had instead elected to sink into a disappointed gloom so deep that everyone at the airport gave them a wide berth. His sad, kicked-puppy eyes as he gazed forlornly out the airplane window as they left London behind had left Kaito feeling horribly guilty. He'd almost have preferred tears.
"I'm really sorry," he felt compelled to say again, grasping Shinichi's hand between their seats.
"It's okay," Shinichi said quietly, still gazing morosely at the city dwindling away beneath the clouds. "It's not your fault."
Kaito silently vowed then and there that he would bring Shinichi back to London for a good long visit one day in the near future, just the two of them. And they would go to every site Shinichi had ever hinted at wishing to visit (unbeknownst to Shinichi, it was after they returned from this trip that Kaito had sat down and read the entire Sherlock Holmes series from end to end in order to take notes on all potential tourist sites. He had proceeded to research said sites and compiled a comprehensive travel plan. The actual trip, on the other hand, was one that Shinichi would never forget, both because of its contents and because he'd realized right away that Kaito must have put an enormous effort into planning it).
Though Kaito considered the tour to be an overall success, he too was relieved when they finally boarded the plane for home.
"Note to self," he announced as he flopped into the seat beside Shinichi's. "In the future, buy a jet."
. . . . . . . . .
…To put the icing on the cake, they landed back in Tokyo to find their parents—all four of them—waiting for them at the airport. At that point, they'd pretty much had to let the cat out of the bag about KID.
"I guess at least we weren't being tailed on this trip either," Kaito noted, flipping through the accompanying newspaper and magazine clippings.
"Perhaps because we experienced travelers know an unreasonable travel plan when we see one," Toichi commented.
Kaito rolled his eyes then stuck his tongue out at his father. "Whatever. You just don't want to admit that you old people couldn't keep up."
A sudden dark aura emanating from Yukiko's direction made Kaito cringe and hastily turn the page.
TBC