Chapter 1: Edo-Tokyo Museum
When the cherry blossom season passed, Tokyo remained blessed with beautiful spring weather and pleasant, sunny days.
The first weekend of May was the time Alexander and Hikigaya had agreed to meet in Tokyo. The location was the Edo-Tokyo Museum. Situated in Yokoami, Sumida District, this museum consists of seven floors above ground and one below. Its mission is to preserve the historical heritage of Edo and Tokyo, which faces gradual disappearance, and to look back upon Tokyo's history and culture.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture, which manages its operations, has a certain degree of connection to the History Compilation Committee according to Hikigaya's knowledge. Or rather, investing in culture and history has always been a major expenditure for that organization—namely, the work of compiling the so-called "Official History."
The museum is open from 9:00 AM to 5:30 PM daily. Ticket prices are tiered by age, ranging from 600 to 300 yen, while elementary students, preschoolers, and junior high students living or studying in Tokyo can enter for free.
Hikigaya arrived at the Edo-Tokyo Plaza at ten o'clock and walked toward the iconic ship-shaped roof. After buying a ticket at the entrance, he crossed a replica of the wooden arched Nihonbashi Bridge, entered the museum interior, and ascended to the permanent exhibition rooms on the upper floors.
Today, there was a Sakamoto Ryoma special exhibition.
Hikigaya wasn't particularly interested in Japan's Meiji Restoration or the people involved, nor was he keen on the history of Edo; after all he found it easy to understand why that fat man, Tokugawa Ieyasu, wanted to build a new city in Edo—the summers in the Kyoto basin were indeed quite difficult to endure.
However, Alexander's goal was at this Ryoma exhibition, so Hikigaya figured he would take a look as well.
Walking through the entrance passage, he saw a long table set up near the exit of the corridor. It was covered with a white cloth, upon which were written the ticket prices, exhibition times, and information about the organizers. Among them, a name called "Suzuki Jirokichi" was written particularly large as the consultant for this exhibition.
At the same time, Hikigaya noticed many police officers around. Three men who looked like police inspectors were stationed at the entrance, carefully sizing up everyone who entered. Hikigaya had never attended a Ryoma exhibition before; he hadn't realized that the security for such events was handled by the police.
After paying 700 yen for a ticket, he entered the hall. The first thing he saw was a life-sized statue of Ryoma. After a casual glance, Hikigaya retracted his gaze and began wandering
through the exhibition hall. Most of the items were things Sakamoto Ryoma had used, whether in his daily life or during his battles as a Restoration patriot. There were wine cups, bottles, small Buddha statues, and things that looked like toys, as well as gun belts and blades.
However, some display areas were empty. Although they were still cordoned off, these spots mostly had officers in police uniforms moving around. Hikigaya felt that something must be going on. These police officers were clearly paying much more attention to these empty spaces.
After a while, he saw someone walking over with signs and placing them in the empty spots. Hikigaya heard some young female tourists let out suppressed cheers. He walked over to take a look; the sign read: "The place where Kaito Kid returns the treasure."
For a moment, Hikigaya was stunned. He remembered Alexander once telling him that his bald friend who ran a bar in England was very fond of a magician named Kid. Given the kind of bar he ran, Hikigaya believed that Alexander's bald friend didn't like a "magician" in the normal sense of the word.
But not jumping to conclusions was a good habit of Hikigaya's, so he continued to scan his surroundings. He didn't look up; he only checked the "lower paths," because according to the setting of that world, Kaito Kid's rival was an elementary school student who was not only immortal himself but could also bring immortality to everyone around him.
Just as he was thinking this, an alarm suddenly rang out in the exhibition hall. Hikigaya turned his head and saw a man wearing a hat being pulled out of the crowd by two strong men and escorted to the police officer at the door. It looked like the police were hiding in the crowd, but their plainclothes disguises were truly half-hearted; one of them was even dressed as a woman in a short skirt.
Hikigaya saw the man being scolded like a grandson at the door; it was likely just a misunderstanding. However, looking at the reaction of the tourists, it was quite amusing. No one was nervous because of the alarm; on the contrary, they all had looks of anticipation. When they realized it was just a misunderstanding, most of them showed expressions of disappointment.
Hikigaya believed that, since he didn't watch the news much, he must have missed something. He checked his watch again. Alexander was due to arrive in about five minutes.
At that moment, Hikigaya saw a young police officer walk into the corridor leading to the restrooms. He decided to go relieve himself as well. As he entered the corridor, he heard the sounds of an officer's apology and a young boy's voice coming from around the next corner.
After walking a few steps, he saw the young officer from before returning. Upon seeing Hikigaya, the officer gave him a friendly and polite smile. Nodding back at the officer, Hikigaya rounded the corner and found two teenage girls walking toward him, accompanied by a young boy wearing a waistcoat and glasses.
Of the two girls, one had long hair and the other had short hair. He heard the short-haired girl sigh, saying to her companion with great disappointment: "I can't believe I came all this way, but Master Kid isn't here today."
"There, there," the long-haired girl comforted her and suggested, "It's about time. Why don't we just head back?"
However, this suggestion was quickly rejected by the short-haired girl, who declared: "I am absolutely not going home until I see my beloved Master Kid!"
As for Hikigaya, looking at this die-hard fan and the elementary schooler rolling his eyes beside her, he felt a strong sense of déjà vu.
"Excuse me, you two, sorry to bother you." He walked over and greeted the three of them.
Seeing a strange man approach, the short-haired girl looked defensive—Hikigaya didn't think he looked that much like a criminal. Fortunately, the other two were normal, including the boy who looked far too mature for his age.
"May I ask, regarding the 'Kaito Kid' in the exhibition hall, is that some kind of event program?" Hikigaya chose his words carefully, using a conservative approach. After all, the tourists were as happy as if it were New Year's.
But the one who answered Hikigaya was not the long-haired girl, but the short-haired one.
"Nani!?" she shouted.
"Don't tell me you don't even know who Master Kid is!?"
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