Kid covered his mouth and nose and silently took a step back. "..." He had long suspected that this suspicious Knit Cap following them might end up in a dog-eat-dog clash with the people who had sent the warning letter. But in his imagination, he, the clever Phantom Thief, was supposed to have carefully engineered that scene.
And yet now...
"I hadn't even had time to say or do anything, and he'd already eagerly stepped into every pitfall himself, helping me eliminate all the traps?"
Everything had happened too quickly. For a moment, Kid could not tell whether Knit Cap had done it deliberately, and he briefly fell into thought. "Maybe this guy only looks vicious, but he's unexpectedly a good person?"
As he pondered, the smoke dispersed.
Kid looked toward the sports car with complicated emotions and saw a figure collapsed in front of the seat.
"He really fell for it?" Kid muttered inwardly, but he quickly realized, "No. Based on my years of experience anesthetizing people, given where he was standing just now, this shouldn't be the position he'd end up in after being knocked out. And while he looks unconscious at first glance, this posture actually makes it convenient for him to get up immediately... He's faking it. What a crafty guy!"
As he watched, an elevator arrival chimed behind him.
It was followed by a smug voice. "Heh heh, long time no see, Phantom Thief Kid—and the deeply hidden mastermind behind him."
"?!"
The two people beside the sports car both turned to look. Kid's expression grew grave, while Akai Shuichi fell into thought. "..." The female high school student beside him was Kid in disguise, so that was no issue... but what was this about "Kid's mastermind"?
Looking at the "mastermind" successfully caught in handcuffs,