Kaiya POV

I thanked the lady at the front desk when I picked up the trench coat from the dry cleaners. Since Saguru let me borrow his trench coat, I wanted to get it dry cleaned for him to show my appreciation. Folding the trench coat nicely, I placed it inside a large bag before exiting the shop.

"Oh my, that's a long line at that restaurant!" I exclaimed as I walked closer to the restaurant. No way, that's Tsukiya Restaurant, the one I have been wanting to try. My eyes widened in surprise when I saw Saguru in line.

"Hakuba-kun!" I greeted him. "What a coincidence!"

"Kaiya-san!" he was surprised to see me and fumbled with a piece of paper he was reading. I picked up the paper for him and handed it back to him.

"T-thanks." he replied, quickly stuffing the paper back in his pocket. Was he hiding something from me?

"U-umm I-I wanted to return your trench coat to you." I handed him the bag. "Thanks for lending it to me."

"No problem." Saguru replied.

"Say Hakuba-kun I wanted to try out this restaurant also. Is there any way you'll let me get in line with you?" I asked. "Pleaseee?" I made a face with puppy eyes.

"I'm afraid not this time...I wanted to try this restaurant out with my family first." Saguru apologized.

"Aww ok...but I really wanted to try out this restaurant." I pouted slightly.

"Ah! Saguru Hakuba!" we suddenly heard some girls squeal. "The famous detective!" they gushed. "Please give us your autograph!" I blinked as I saw some of the girls had hearts in their eyes.

Saguru wore a panicked look. "This isn't good, I can't be recognized!" he turned to me. "The truth is, I've come to the restaurant to solve a case."

"Alright, I help you out." I sighed. The nerve of him...first he doesn't want me to go to the restaurant with him and now he wants my help? I turned to the girls, "You must be mistaken. He isn't Saguru Habuka." I lied. "He just happens to look like him." I gestured to Saguru. Satisfied with the answer, the girls finally left us alone.

"Phew" Saguru sighed in relief.

*******************

"It is quite a nice restaurant." I commented I sat down. The tables were adorned with tablecloths and flowers and the waiters were dressed in suits. In the center of the restaurant through a glass window, I could see four main chefs preparing food.



"Can I get you guys started with a drink?" a waiter asked us.

"I'll have the Earl Grey with milk on the side." Saguru ordered.

"A matcha latte for me please." I told the waiter.

The waiter took our orders and left.

*********************

"So... why are you after Kaito Kid?" I asked Saguru. "Is that what your case is related to?"

"Me? After him? I can't be bothered with petty thieves like Kid." Saguru replied. "There are more evils out there to worry about."

"You don't mean that you're using Kaito Kid as bait?" I asked in disbelief.

"I've been meaning to uncover his identity for that reason." Saguru replied.

"I understand how you feel, but taking down criminal organizations requires more than just one person." I said. I would know from firsthand experience... "Besides, I'll have you know that I'm a fan of Kaito Kid so I'm rooting for him!"

"Everyone seems to be a fan of Kaito Kid." Saguru grumbled slightly annoyed.

"What's the case you're trying to solve then?" I asked.

"Well...the case could be dangerous and I'd rather not get you involved." Saguru stated.

"Look Hakuba-kun, I told you I'm always surrounded by detectives. Whatever you have to do, let me help." I insisted.

Saguru sighed. "There's supposed to be an information exchange at this restaurant, and the contact is one of the chefs. We need to retrieve the disk before the enemy arrives." My eyes widened in surprise.

"We can do this." I reassured Saguru.

*************

"Tell me more about the enemy." I asked.

"I wouldn't want to put you in such danger, but all you need to know is that I intercepted one of the enemy. Inside the pocket of the jacket was the address of this restaurant, a donation ticket to a vegetarian society, and a cigarette lighter."

"So we must make sure that we order the right dish so that we can retrieve the data, whatever is inside. " I concluded. "What have you observed so far?" I asked.

"The first chef is preparing vegetarian Italian lasagna, the second chef is preparing Yakisoba noodles." Saguru said.

"Oh! I see the third chef is preparing French Onion soup, and the fourth chef is preparing steak." I noted.

"Here's your matcha latte and your tea." a waiter placed our drinks on the table. "May I take your orders if you both are ready?"

"We're still browsing the menu, but we were wondering if you had any recommendations?" I asked.

"I recommend the French Onion soup. It's been very popular today." the waiter replied politely.

"By the way, are the items on the menu the same throughout the day?" Saguru inquired. "No, sir, there is a lunch menu and a dinner menu. But sometimes if a dish is popular at lunch, we hire the chef for the evening session as well. This is the case with the French onion soup today. However, the yakisoba will also only be available for another hour before the chef leaves as the chef is booked at another restaurant." the waiter replied. "If you still need more time to decide, I can come back later." the waiter said.

"That would be much appreciated." I nodded, sipping my matcha latte.

"Assuming the enemy is vegetarian based off of the donation ticket, we can rule out steak." I said to Saguru once the waiter left.

"It can't be the yakisoba either because it will only be here for another hour and the contact couldn't be sure when the enemy would arrive." Saguru deduced.

"It's either onion soup or lasagna then." I thought hard.

"It's the lasagna!" Saguru realized. "The onion soup was only available in the evening by chance."

"Alright, let's go then." I said, stumbling a little as I got up.

"Kaiya-san are you alright? You look quite pale." Saguru had a worried expression.

"I'm probably just tired." I rubbed my temples.

*************

Saguru and I stopped outside the door to the kitchen.

"Look, there's a plate of lasagna the chef placed on the back table." I observed.

"I'll be the distraction and you get the plate." Saguru said. He whistled and soon a hawk landed on his arm.

"You own a hawk?" I gasped in awe. That's so cool!

"I do practice falconry." Saguru grinned before opening the door to the kitchen.



"Oh my apologies sir! My hawk flew around and got into the kitchen!" Saguru told the chefs and pretended to chase after his hawk in the kitchen.

While the chefs were distracted, I quickly grabbed the plate of lasagna.

*************

"The poor lasagna, we had to cut it. I feel so bad for wasting such delicous looking food." I pouted slightly as I found the USB drive in the dish and handed it to Saguru.

"It's a lasagna, it doesn't have feelings." Saguru deadpanned.

"Oi you two!" the chef came out of the kitchen angrily.

"Run!" I shouted, and we sprinted down the corridor, with the chef on our heels. We turned around in surprise as a loud bang resounded and the chef fell dead on the floor.

"He was a loose end. Now, Saguru Hakuba, hand over the drive." a man with blond hair aimed a pistol at us.

"Spider." Saguru greeted the man, his voice laced with venom.

Who in the world is Spider? Spider isn't the name of an alcohol so he is probably not from the organization.

Before I could ask Saguru, a sudden wave of dizziness hit me, causing me to stumble.

"Kaiya-san!" Saguru looked at me worriedly.

"H-Hakuba-kun I don't feel so good." I clutched my chest. I felt my heart rate increase and I leaned on the wall for support.

*************

"Spider! What did you do to her?" Saguru demanded.

"It's a slow acting poison derived from fungi that I added to her drink." Spider replied. "In exchange for the hard drive, I'll provide you with the antidote."

"N-no Hakuba-kun it's not worth it." I shook my head.

"Time is ticking. She'll die without the antidote." Spider announced.

"You'll be alright." Saguru reassured me.

As Saguru walked towards Spider, my eyes widened as Spider slowly lifted his gun.

"Watch out!" I shouted, and threw myself on Spider before he could fire at Saguru. As Spider struggled to get to his feet, I hit him with a roundhouse kick. "Hmph how dare you poison me!"

Having used up my strength, black spots began to dance in my eyes and my body went limp.

**************

Saguru POV

"Spider, you bastard!" I shouted and ran towards Kaiya. He never had the antidote in the first place.

Hearing all the commotion, the chefs and patrons gathered in the area, causing Spider to retreat.

"Kaiya-san!" I shook her when her eyelids began to close "Stay awake for me please." her breathing became shallow and her pulse was weak.

"H-Horseradish." she whispered.

Horseradish? Could that help with the poison?

"Chef, do you happen to have any horseradish?" I asked urgently. "Even wasabi works too!"

Luckily the chefs had some wasabi on hand.

I sighed in relief as Kaiya seemed visibly better after I gave her some wasabi. Even still, I'm impressed she found a cure for the poison so quickly.

**************

Kaiya POV

"How do you feel?" Saguru asked after he fed me a spoon of wasabi.

"B-better." I replied weakly. "But my mouth feels like it's on fire."

"Well it is wasabi afterall." Saguru laughed. "I'm sorry I got you entangled in this mess." Saguru apologized.

"It's not your fault. You couldn't have known that Spider would be at the restaurant." I said as Saguru helped me to stand up. "Who is he anyways?"

"All I will tell you is that he's an assassin." Saguru replied.

"Fair enough, we each have our own secrets." I said in understanding. "I feel bad I made you lose the hard drive though." I apologized.

"Actually, Spider never got the chance to take the hard drive." Saguru showed me the USB he had in his pocket. "Allow me to walk you back home, you might still be feeling the effects of the poison." he reasoned.

***************

"Thanks for walking me back home." I told Saguru as we reached the front door of the Kudo Mansion.

Saguru nodded. "By the way, the house says Kudo..." Saguru inquired.

"Yeah, this is Shinichi Kudo's house... my parents aren't here so I've been staying at the Kudo's house since we're uh... family friends." I explained.

***************

Yukiko POV

"Yu-chan look!" I pulled him towards the window and pointed to Kaiya chatting with a boy outside the house. Shuichi came to take a look as well.

"I must have seen that boy somewhere on the news before." Yusaku placed his hand under his chin in thought. "I recall now, he's that high school detective from London."

"From London? Well come on, Yu-chan, we're going to ask Kaiya-chan all about her date!" I squealed.

"Yukiko, I wouldn't be too sure it was a date." Yusaku called after me.

****************

Kaiya POV

"Oh my gosh, Kaiya-chan you're growing up so fast! Did a boy just walk you home? " Yukiko bombarded me with questions after I entered the house. "He was quite a handsome boy!"

I raised an eyebrow at her. Did she spy on me?

"Next time, feel free to invite him in." Yusaku told me.

"It's only proper to have a talk with anyone who dates you." Shuichi added. I facepalmed. Not him too!

"Yes, of course we need to do that." Yukiko agreed. "And Kaiya, you need to give us his contact info too."

"It's not a date!" I insisted. "This is only the second time I've met him."

"Tell us how your lunch date went!" Yukiko pulled me to a sofa.

*****************

"So from what I heard..." Yukiko began after I recounted the events (leaving out Spider's name) "...you met Saguru Hakuba and then you got involved in a spy conflict and even got poisoned?!" Yukiko had a disapproving expression.

"It wasn't his fault at all." I said, even surprising myself with that statement.

"Hmm." Yusaku disagreed.

"I should like to meet this Saguru Hakuba." Shuichi had a dangerous expression on his face.

Anyone who wants to date Kaiya has to go through us first, Shuichi thought. He quickly dialed his phone. "Camel, can you pull up the profile of a certain person for me?"

"Ugh, you guys are so overprotective!" I groaned. We weren't even dating at all! Shuichi please don't kill Saguru.... Saguru was nicer than he originally seemed...