Oh, he was definitely glad that Kaito was willing to listen. That was something that already meant a lot to him. Taking a deep breath, the adult began to explain.
“… I bet you found that room, right? You said that KID made international news which causes me to guess that you decided to take it over– am I guessing it right? That’s actually something I hoped that wouldn’t happen. I wanted you to be able to live a normal life. But I also wanted you to know the truth about who I was. Back then, I ended up getting in trouble with an organization. Apparently I was in their way. Such organizations can do dangerous things and sometimes– sometimes they can even get people’s family involved by hurting their family members. I couldn’t let that happen. I didn’t want them to go that far. I didn’t want them to find out about you. I wanted you to be safe. Back then the only plan I could come up with was faking my death and let nobody know about it.”
A sigh escaped from his lips. “I had to dissapear for a long time, until I was certain of it that they truly believed I was dead. I didn’t want them to start searching for those close to me and I most certainly didn’t want them to search for you.”
Kaito crossed his arms as he listened, not interrupting as his father spoke. The only change in expression came at the mention of the organisation, with a slight narrowing of the teen’s eyes. And when the man seemed to have stopped speaking, those eyes closed in thought.
…He did know those people were dangerous. And even the feeling of wanting to protect those around him himself. …And honestly, if his own identity wasn’t still unknown to people like Snake, faking a death to help didn’t seem like too bad of an idea…
…But understanding why his father pretended to die didn’t help. It didn’t answer everything. All the decisions… just… where to even begin?
A few moments of silence later, and the magician spoke, not yet looking back at Toichi.
“…I did decide to be Kid. But that was after the supposedly dead thief had already come back. Jii-chan took it over first, and I showed up to one of his heists after finding the room to see who Kid was.”
I thought he might be…
…
“He mistook me for you and mentioned what happened eight years ago wasn’t an accident. He thought you’d been killed because of being Kid.” Now the teen turned his head back up to meet Toichi’s eyes.
“Oyaji… I didn’t take over your job. I had no intention to just from finding the room. I wanted to be Kid because I wanted to find out what happened to you.” A pause, and Kaito lowered his head, falling silent.
…Should he even mention that he’s caught up with that organisation now? After just being told that his father had gone so far to keep them away from him? …Or even that his original goal had been revenge… And his current one directly involved getting in those people’s way.
“I don’t think that will ever happen again. I’m planning to stay and never leave again unless people close to me show signs of not wanting me to be here.” There was a possibility that something like that could happen right?
“Yep, you should be good, then. Even if he got mad, I know Kaito wouldn’t want you to leave again. And I’m not sure how much it counts for, but I don’t either.”
The thief kept the hug going a little while longer before gradually letting his arms fall away.
“Besides, you’ll have to stay a while if you’re to hear about some of the crazy stuff that’s happened. We’ve got quite a bit of catch-up to do.” He grinned, tone light. Even if some of what had happened hadn’t been at all nice to deal with at the time, he can’t say there weren’t some things he’d be excited to share. “I bet even you will start wondering how much I might be making up.”
“You’ve got a point there.” Toichi agreed with a small nod. Usually he was the one comforting others due to him hiding his emotions a lot more. Not that the male was the type of person who would ask for help when he needed it. Right now it mainly was nice that how he was feeling was being noticed. It made it a lot easier for him to calm down. The smile on his face widened a little when hearing the words Kid said. “Thank you… I’m happy to be back. I just hope that I will be capable of making it up to everyone at some point though.”
The thief gave a small chuckle.
“Well, you’ll have to work at it… but I think you’ll be fine. Just no up and leaving again without warning again. Thaaat might not help.”
The hug Kid gave him definitely had a good effect on him. It was rare for him to actually react to things in such a way but there was no doubt that it was nice to be comforted for once. The man closed his eyes and not long after that his usual smiling facial expression returned. “–Thank you.”
“No problem. Everyone needs company at times. Especially when troubled.”
And Kid couldn’t say this didn’t comfort him as well. The affection for Toichi was still there, even if Kaito was his actual son. Technically. It’s harder to think about things like that when they were split like this.
The thief just isn’t as upset about the eight year disappearance as the magician had been.
Deciding to return wasn’t easy. It had been something that he had thought about for quite a while. He knew that people were going to be angry, which was why Kaito’s reaction didn’t came as a shock to him. It was something he had expected.
Of course he had expected it. He had faked his death! Everyone would get angry if someone faked their death and then suddenly reappeared like that.
Toichi wasn’t hoping for his son to forgive him. All he wanted was to let him know why he dissapeared. He definitely had reasons for it. Reasons that were important enough to make everyone believe that he was dead for as long as necessary– no matter the consequences.
It wasn’t as if he had much of a choice back then. Toichi had feared that if he wouldn’t dissapear, the organization would search for his relatives and eventually find out about Kaito. He didn’t want to– no, he couldn’t let that happen. Who knew what they would do to him?
“I had to disappear in some sort of way. I have reasons for it– I can tell you if you’re willing to hear them.”
…
Kaito hesitated a moment before he let out a breath and closed his eyes, crossing his arms over his chest. The anger slowly burning in him wasn’t likely to die soon, but a part of him did still want to believe his father’s reasons for not showing his face all this time would be good ones…
…But really… what was the point in becoming Kid if his father never died to begin with? The whole reason he’d become a thief, done so much, invited all this trouble when he largely worked alone, kept most people away because of it… had been to find out how Toichi had died and then for revenge… If the other never died in the first place…
…Then what have I… everything I’ve been doing up until now has been pointless…
Another few moments of silence passed, then the magician raised his head again, a weariness that a normal teenager really shouldn’t be able to show yet settling over him.
“I guess I’m willing…“ A tiny half-smile twitched at the corner of his mouth, though it wasn’t the best attempt of lightening the mood, “But it better be good, oyaji.”
…
Don’t mind the eavesdropping white shadow leaning on the wall around the corner. He’s just making sure everything’s okay.
((Hearing about all that is only going to give him more reasons to never forgive himself. He might act calm but on the inside he’s very angry at himself. If he finds out about all of that he would basically hate himself and everything he did.))
(Yeah, kinda figured. My Kaito might be mad, but he’ll eventually forgive him when it’s obvious Toichi never meant for that to happen. The ironic thing is, it’s true what Toichi’s said in other threads before. Showing the room, he did, but he never told Kaito to do his job. Thereby meaning that Jii and Chikage did more of the encouraging to bringing Kid back. Jii might not have been happy, but he started it and supports Kaito. Chikage should have known better, though, even if they all might have wanted to know the exact reason behind Toichi’s ‘accident’.
Basically, a lot of assumptions the characters make, even if Toichi actually being alive weren’t a possible thing. Everyone involved has made mistakes in this.)
“But really oyaji? A cassette tape? CDs were around when you were active, you could have put so much more on them instead of a relic that doesn’t do as good a job withstanding the test of time… The anime did one thing better, with the jukebox, but still. Really?”
(Oi, Kid, get out of here. This is mun talk, not for the muse to jump into…)
“But I what?” Toichi asked, the smile on his face not leaving at all when Kaito pinched his face. The adult understood the male’s action very well. After being quiet for a minute or two his facial expression turned a bit more serious, his eyebrows furrowed. "I am not aware of the things you’ve been through ever since what happend but… I apologize for everything.“ It wouldn’t surprise him if Kaito hated him– but the least he could do was apologize.
The magician drew his hand back, a touch shakily.
That… that was real skin. Not a mask, no prosthetics, even the pencil mustache looked too real and attached to be fake… Not to mention that voice… Guess he should be glad for shock, because the teen felt so many various emotions right now, they would have overwhelmed him. However, two that were coming forward were confusion and anger…
“I thought you were dead!” He spat, fingers that had touched the other’s face clenching into a fist that fell to his side, still trembling. A faint happiness at seeing, really seeing his father again might be there as well, but it lost out to the sheer hurt and betrayal cutting him right now.
“It’s been eight. Years. Where have you been!? Why are you back now? Even if you haven’t been in touch here, Kid made international news, how could you not-?”
Kaito’s voice started to get affected as well and he got choked up. An apology? That was all he had to say for everything the teen’s had to go through? He’s nearly been killed on multiple occasions, had hell to deal with with robots and classmates and police, lying to everyone he cared about, been responsible for someone’s death…
Like hell would an apology after showing up out of the blue would be enough to cover for all of that.
“What’s with that look on your face? You look like you’ve seen a horror movie that was too scary for you.”
“B-but… you..”
This Kaito isn’t even going to start interrogating, he’s just outright reaching to pinch the other’s face and check that the man isn’t wearing a mask. After the last encounter he had with someone with that face, a test like this or straight up getting hit should be expected, at the least…
Moonlight Archive 