Chapter Text
“Milord,” Amami’s voice was a wakeup call to the prince, who blinked quietly out of his trance. “You have to go to sleep. Please don’t bother yourself with this sort of work...”
The exasperated, desperate tone of his butler filled the detective with an evident sense of guilt. He understood well that, yes, he didn’t need to put himself against the burdens of this situation, and he didn’t need to be provoke his own sleep for something so… unimportant. Well, unimportant concerning his stance as a prince, but very important to his own moral compass -- it was lost to him to when he had first started becoming interested in mysteries and felonies. For the young man that was the most secure in the entire kingdom, he sure wanted to put himself in danger, arriving at crime scenes to investigate on his own merit alongside the kingdom’s general department of crime (which wasn’t very good, per se -- however, they were hailed as heroes due to the mundane crimes that took place. Those cases didn’t excite Saihara much, as over time, they simply got easier and easier to solve…)
However, a new case began to spark, white hot, and right into Saihara’s hands.
Well, perhaps not right into his hands. It was only after a member of the castle had been conversing with another worker a bit too loudly. Mindless exclamations were exchanged, such as, “The crime rate of a thief in Acer is rising!” and “The security quality of Acer’s castle is terrible, don’t you think?” and “I do hope our prince can fix this situation…” Saihara had eventually consulted Amami -- his father’s butler, and yet not his own, he felt he was the person he was closest to in order to exchange casual conversation with -- about the gossip. Amami had mindlessly admitted to all the news that Saihara had been hearing about, and thus, here he was now.
“No. I want to help our neighboring kingdom,” Saihara replied, perhaps a bit too tiredly for his own good. Amami huffed, shaking his head. “Just… let me…”
“Hey now. You’re going to over exhaust yourself. Otherwise, you’ll be dazing while we’re at the castle…,” Amami mumbled, picking up the candle next to Saihara’s desk. “C’mon. Go to sleep -- I promise, you’ll feel better about everything in the morning.”
There was really no use resisting the butler’s words at this point. Letting out his own sigh, out of drowsiness, Saihara shifted out of his seat and sauntered towards his bed, acknowledging his own tiredness. Amami could see right through him and his needs, just like he could with most other people -- that was the amazingness of Amami. The green headed bidded Saihara a fair night as he used the base of his thumb to quickly put out the fire, leaving it on his bedstand as Saihara watched the darkness for any movement. It wasn’t very long until he felt his eyes tug downwards, and soon he was met with unmistakable slumber.
It was likely because of all the effort he had put into researching the case, and the quality of his mattress was certainly irreplaceable. Being the only son of the king and queen of Primefield, he had always been treated luxuriously, ever since he was born.
The story of his kingdom was just as average as anyone could predict. There was a boom of freedom in the country, and thus many citizens decided to set up a proper village -- the family that owned the most money built the best house, had the best fields of crops, and the best quality of produce. Likewise, many years later, this family became the ruling, most powerful family in the entire area -- eventually moving up the ranks and becoming a part of royality. This was many, many generations ago -- the kingdom of Primefield was no longer in its prime medieval days, but life was still inexplicably difficult.
The world around was still plagued with illnesses rushing to be cured, transportation was still done by the pulling of carriages, and crime such as murders were done carelessly and messily yet there was nothing general authorities could do about it. Thankfully Saihara’s own keen skills in detectrivery had set a lot of the town detectives to shame -- it was generally just easy to figure out these sorts of crimes, and because of the dashing detective prince, murders and crimes in Primefield were scarce.
Which was a good thing, but without much else with the exception of reading, Saihara found little to find some enjoyment in. Sure, he was treated to nice dinners, special treatment, and quite literally anything he could ever want… but he wasn’t interested in being entertained by women who were only out for his million dollar crotch, or indulging in the sin of gluttony, stuffing his face with all sorts of delicacies from around the globe. He wanted excitement -- the sort of excitement you didn’t receive from girls or gambling. He wanted the rush of figuring out puzzles, mysteries, and all sorts of other enigmas of the world.
These things didn’t come often due to the low crime rate, but the situation in the neighboring kingdom, Acer, had recently caught his interest.
According to Amami, and the soon booming news that was traveling from kingdom to kingdom, a particular mystery was coming about. Word spread about how items had slowly began to disappear over the course of a month, first becoming unnoticable, like bars of soap from the queen’s chamber and towels from the washing room, but pretty soon, the thief had managed to snatch a largely important item that caused a spark in the kingdom -- the princess’s engagement ring. She had awoke one morning to find it misplaced, and despite a castle-wide search, the ring was nowhere to be found. Despite the princess’s reassurance that they could always purchase another, word still spread like fire around the kingdom.
Someone was in possession of her engagement ring -- the one that was made to match Saihara’s exactly.
After many generations of small clashes, arguments, and kingdom rivalries, Shuuichi Saihara and the kingdom of Acer’s own princess Kaede Akamatsu would be wed on their eighteenth birthday. They were familiar friends ever since their childhood, and once his father proposed Saihara to engage to Kaede in their tween years, it wasn’t a very difficult agreement. Although they both felt nothing more than friendship, their marriage would very well be necessary for the conditions of both of their kingdoms -- they would collaborate with more ease, and the kingdoms could share a harmonious party here and there. Saihara would be traveling to the kingdom in order to hand off his own ring to the royal ringmaker of Acer -- in order to prevent the thief from stealing his, too, the transaction would have to be done under careful watch.
Still, this thief intrigued Saihara. Stealing wasn’t as large as a crime compared to murder, but it was a crime nonetheless -- and it was a new experience to hear someone had managed to steal a ring from a princess . There were too little of clues to figure out who exactly the perpetrator was, and even the Primefield detective force was beginning to get on the case. Which meant Saihara was most definitely involved, no doubt about it.
It was the first time he genuinely looked forward to a case.
The trotting of the horses, and the gathering crowds shouting (“Hey, it’s Prince Saihara!”) caused more and more people to come out of their homes (some chose to simply watch from their windows, heads out to eye the mysterious prince) just to greet and call out for Prince Saihara. Saihara was never too fond of all the attention that was brought onto him, but he supposed that was just the way it was considering he was the only prince from Primefield -- and the one that would be marrying these citizen’s princess. Teenage girls his age visibly swooned over Saihara’s presence, dreamily calling out his name, as Saihara shifted awkwardly in his carriage. Amami, who was sitting right across from him, chuckled.
“You look just as uncomfortable as you always do when we’re out in public, without your head being filled with a case. Trust me, Milord… they’re only reacting that way because you’re a handsome prince with a million-dollar smile,” Amami joked, which caused Saihara to cough.
“Ladies seem to enjoy looking at me regardless if I’m smiling or not…,” Saihara responded half-heartedly, scratching his cheek. “Ahah… but when they see you, Amami, they swoon even harder.”
Amami made a sour expression, “Now that is beyond me. I can’t put my finger on why girls seem to like me so much…”
“The same reason they like me, of course. Why don’t you have a wife yet, Amami?” Saihara questioned, although he knew the answer well. He asked the question whenever they had to visit Acer, and it was just the two of them in the carriage, the horse’s trotting and the rocks on the road bumping the carriage to and fro. Amami’s sour expression stayed put.
“I’ve told you that I’m not interested in marriage, Milord,” Amami explained, per usual, as he jumped along with the carriage’s rocking. “I’m dedicated to my job as your father’s butler right now, and I think my little sisters would be a little jealous over a wife.”
“Ah, well, I understand, Amami,” Saihara nodded, passing him a genuine smile. Eyeing outside the carriage’s window. The entrance of Acer’s castle was coming to view, and the horse’s trots were becoming less and less erratic. “As long as you’re pleased with your position… I see no reason to change.”
Eventually the wheels of the carriage began to roll to an eventual stop, and, with guards and ropes keeping out the now large crowd at the entrance of the castle, Saihara and Amami pile out of the cramped carriage and into the open. The kingdom of Acer was nearly identical to the kingdom of Primefield due to being in the same general area, with Acer being slightly colder during the fall and winter times, while Primefield boasted beautiful meadows in the spring. They simply completed each other. Ladies that had gathered at the ropes swooned and yelled for Saihara and his butler, as the two, flustered by all the comments of the women (Amami somewhat less so), made their way through the front entrance and out of the sight of all of the onlookers.
“Welcome to Acer Palace,” Kirumi Tojo, Kaede’s own father’s maid, greeted with a pleasant smile. The three were familiar with each other, as Tojo followed Kaede just as diligently around as Amami did with Saihara (with permission granted by their fathers). Tojo bowed a slight, as Saihara shook his hand, smiling.
“Y-You don’t need to do that all the time, Miss Tojo,” Saihara chuckled, still flattered by the treatment. They, Amami included, had known each other just as long as Saihara had known Kaede. The only real difference was that they were both several years older than the Saihara and Kaede. Amami and Tojo gave each other an acknowledging nod when Tojo rose.
“Nonsense. You are royalty, after all,” Tojo simply put, and Saihara didn’t have much of a capacity to argue. All this formal talk was something he was used to -- he was simply tired of it. He wished to get on casual terms with as many workers as possible, like how he was with Amami. “Come. Milady requested I wait for your arrival and guide you to her room.”
Despite already planning on going himself, Saihara nodded, allowing the treatment. It was Tojo’s job to follow the royals’ requests, after all, and he soon figured that continuing to deny Tojo’s orders would put her in a difficult position. Saihara and Amami were led through the familiar hallways of the castle, and upstairs towards Kaede’s chambers. Tojo knocked firmly on the door, “Milady, Prince Saihara and Amami have arrived.”
A bang of what was heard to be wood echoed on the other side of the door, with a strangled but excited voice calling out, “A-Ah, yes, let them in, Tojo!”
Tojo opened the door swiftly when commanded, revealing Princess Akamatsu -- dressed in a luxurious, but more casual looking gown, her tiara placed daintily on the crown of her head. Kaede smiled fondly towards her childhood friend and father’s butler, “Hi, Shuuichi. Hello Amami.”
“Hello, Kaede,” Amami and Saihara said in almost unison, looking at each other with a perked smile before making their way into the room, Tojo in lead. The maid approached the princess, beginning to help her pull the complicated ribbons on the back of her dress, mumuring about how she shouldn’t have tried to put it on without the maid’s help Kaede replied with some quiet apologies, as Saihara made his way towards Kaede’s bedstand. Amami stood near Kaede’s piano, observing the scene before him and keeping quiet.
“So that thief that’s been here -- he stole your ring… and you left it on this bedside stand, right?” Saihara questioned to which Kaede responded honestly as Tojo pulled her ribbons.
“Yeah… I take it off when I sleep, since it’s a little loose for my fingers. I was meaning to talk to the ringmaker in the morning to fix it, but it disappeared when I woke up… I knew the castle-wide search would be useless, too, since I remember that I left it on that exact bedstand,” Kaede explained as Tojo sat her down onto the seat in front of her beauty desk. The princess reassured Tojo that there really was no need to go all out, but Tojo urged gently enough for Kaede to let her continue.
“I see…,” Saihara mumbled, examining the scene a little more. The only possible places this thief could have come through was through the balcony or the bedroom door -- Saihara found it much more probable that the culprit had come in through the former. After all, the doorway to the balcony was considerably large, and if they had the ability to pick a good lock, it wouldn’t be entirely improbable.
“We don’t even know if it’s one person or multiple people, though…,” Kaede wondered out loud, Tojo brushing out her bright blonde locks. “New locks were installed on all of my doors because of it. There’s no evidence of someone coming in and out, too -- the doors were both locked from the inside in the morning.”
“It’s possible that whoever did this was smart enough to lock the door from the inside and then close it,” Saihara explained. “It’s also possible that the person might be a worker at the castle.”
“Yes, it might, unfortunately…,” Kaede sighed, watching herself get groomed in the mirror. “My father says that, when we catch the person, or people, we’re going to hold a public execution… but I think that’s a little harsh. Maybe just spending some time in the cells would be enough.”
“I have to agree. But unfortunately, it’s not really up to us… but I’m sure if you persuade him hard enough, he’ll be willing to tone down the punishment,” Saihara compromised. “There’s no doubt that they’ll get punished for their crimes, but lighting it all up wouldn’t hurt. After all, they didn’t murder anybody.”
Kaede nodded, “Yeah.”
With Saihara’s ring passed to the ringmaker, authorities and security watching in the secret, enclosed room in the process, Kaede’s parents agreed that it would only be best if Saihara were to stay in Acer until a new ring was fitted and placed for his fiance. Saihara couldn’t say no to his future parent-in-laws, so with his fingers ring-less and Amami bidding him a good night as usual, Saihara found himself lying down in the comfortable guest bed of Acer Palace. This thief had been on his mind for the past month -- he wondered if they were out for his own castle, with him not there anymore to protect his own belongings. He was sure that the perpetrator wouldn’t be able to steal anything precious to Saihara -- with the exception of a few personally sentimental things, there wasn’t much to benefit from Saihara’s items.
Saihara watched the ceiling, tracing the constellations in its crevices as he wondered what this thief might have been thinking. Why they continued to rob Acer Palace, even though security was becoming tougher and tougher by the minute due to their own crimes. It seemed even irrational to keep robbing the same exact place all over again, but with the amount of stealth they seemed to carry, stealing from Acer Palace was like a breeze.
It was like the prince had met his match.
The moonlight trickled through the curtain-bound windows, beams of the light pouring in through the cracks. Night time was always so… lonely, even though he could probably go to Kaede’s room and she’d let him sleep with her. Kaede was always such a nice friend, but that’s exactly what they were -- friends. Neither did things like hug or kiss, and at the very most, they had held hands and kissed each other on the forehead in public just to satisfy the crowds. In the end, there was no romantic spark between them -- just two individuals that wanted to better their kingdoms.
Just as Saihara was to fall into his slumber, a rapping of an unusual sound echoed through his room. This immediately caused him to shoot up, hearing for the source -- it was his balcony door. Was this the thief, now trying to steal something from his own room…? And if they were on the balcony, there was no possible way that they could escape if all they were faced with was rail and Saihara, ready to apprehend them.
Saihara carefully pulled out of his sheets, crept up to the door, and, as quietly as he could, unlocked the door -- pulling the doors open quickly and lunging forward with a, “HYAH!”
He immediately was met with the stone marble of the balcony floor.
“Ahahaha! Oh man, that was so funny!” A voice cackled, and Saihara looked up --
A figure, dressed in a noticeable shade of completely white, sat casually on the marble rail of his balcony. With one leg crossed over the other and a pile of rocks piled next to his waist, the mysterious stranger cackled more as he threw a pebble right under Saihara’s chin, “W-Wha--?”
“I knew you wouldn’t disappoint me, my beloved detective prince~” The figure sang against the moonlight, and Saihara was still dazed.
Even though it was dark, the moon overhead shown behind the figure’s body, showing off some of his frontal features -- this included a full-faced round mask with a clown motif, while the rest of his body donned a dramatically long cape and suit. On his head lay a top hat, strands of dark hair jutting out from underneath, “Surprised to see me , the elusive Phantom Thief~?”
“Y-You,” Saihara breathed out, trying his hardest to get to his feet, but was met with a pebble to the face. “Ow!”
“No, stay down, Prince Saihara. You look so cute all sprawled out and dazed…,” The thief chuckled under his mask, and Saihara was rattled. The perp was literally right in front of him, and he was lounging around on the floor. Saihara darted towards him, as there was no where he could escape other than right off of the--
Ledge.
The thief oh so casually avoided his grab by rolling backwards and off of the marble ledge, much to Saihara’s surprise and shock. Had he just committed suicide to escape his clutches? Saihara examined to and fro, and down below, but surprisingly, there was no sign of the thief whatsoever… until a voice came from an unknown place.
“I don’t feel like getting caught today, Saihara-chan~ let’s meet up sometime else instead! Have a friendly conversation and all~” And with that, silence followed. There was no sound of movement whatsoever, and Saihara had finally deduced that the thief was probably under the balcony.
“Agh…,” Saihara moaned, frustrated. He could call for Amami or literally anybody right now to help him reach this thief, but he was sure if he left, the thief would leave in his absence. And he couldn’t get down there himself -- he wasn’t sure if he’d die or not. Quietly, Saihara replied. “...Alright. But this isn’t over.”
“I sure hope it isn’t!” The phantom thief replied fondly, and there was a swooshing sound. Afterwards, no words were said, as Saihara simply watched the kingdom below him, bare of light, and wondered just who that mystery person was.