"What? Kaitou Kid helped you?"
A look of astonishment appeared on Gordon's face.
For a moment, he even wondered if he had misheard.
"Ever since you became Two-Face, I… and Batman, have been trying to find a way to bring you back. We hired the best psychiatrists to go to Arkham Asylum to treat you, but we never achieved any results."
Gordon's voice carried a trace of exhaustion as he spoke.
"To be honest, I once thought you would never come back."
Batman.
When he heard that name, Harvey's eyelids twitched slightly.
For just an instant, memories surfaced. Late nights in the office, heated arguments about justice, unspoken trust built through countless cases. Then came the acid, the courtroom explosion, and the moment everything shattered.
Gordon noticed the subtle reaction but did not comment on it.
"Haah.. But I really didn't expect that the person who finally brought you back would be Kaitou Kid."
He shook his head slightly, still unable to fully process it.
"What did he do to you?"
"He drove Two-Face crazy,"
Harvey answered after a brief pause.
The words were calm, almost detached, as if he were describing someone else entirely.
"You're not joking with me, are you? Two-Face was already as crazy as one could get."
Gordon showed a clearly skeptical expression.
In his eyes, Two-Face had long crossed every imaginable line.
"Yeah.. well.. Other than that, I don't know how else to describe Kaitou Kid's actions."
Harvey sighed softly.
In truth, he himself could not be certain how Kaitou Kid had "cured" him.
Batman had also used the method of manipulating the coin toss results on Two-Face more than once. It could even be said that Batman subdued Two-Face most of the time by controlling the outcome of the coin.
Clearly, such a crude approach alone could not plunge Two-Face's personality into total chaos.
If it had worked, Two-Face would have collapsed long ago.
"Perhaps… it's because Kaitou Kid made my inner self doubt itself."
Harvey spoke slowly, choosing his words carefully.
"He made me, as Two-Face, begin to deny the meaning of the coin's existence, yet the two are inextricably linked. The coin is like an extension of Two-Face's body."
Gordon listened quietly, his gaze fixed on the road ahead.
"Once Two-Face questioned the coin, it was equivalent to questioning himself… or rather, myself."
Harvey's voice grew lower.
"Naturally, he collapsed."
This was probably the most logical conclusion Harvey could offer at the moment.
It fit everything Gordon knew about Two-Face.
And yet, deep in Harvey's heart, he always felt that this was not the full reason.
He could not help but recall that brief period when he was alone with Kaitou Kid inside the glass wall.
In those incredibly short minutes, Harvey had felt a peace he had never experienced in the first half of his life.
Not during his rise as Gotham's golden prosecutor.
Not during his moments of triumph in court.
Not even during the brief flashes of clarity he had experienced as Two-Face.
Nothing compared to the calm and peace he felt then.
That wonderful experience vanished the moment Kaitou Kid left.
Harvey could not use words to describe the feeling. Even if he could, decades of firmly established beliefs made him subconsciously refuse to accept that it could be artificially created.
So he chose not to tell Gordon about this part.
If one had not experienced it personally, anyone listening would only think it was nonsense.
"So, Kaitou Kid took your old coin? Ah.. Was that his target to steal this time?"
After listening to Harvey's brief narration, Gordon propped up his chin.
He felt more confused than before.
He understood Kaitou Kid less and less.
In his first two crimes, Kaitou Kid had chosen priceless, famous gems. Later, because of the Riddler's challenge, he had gone out of his way to rescue hostages.
This time, he had set his sights on Two-Face's coin.
Heaven knows what about a coin could have attracted Kaitou Kid.
In the end, Two-Face's coin was nothing more than a double sided coin used to trick children into guessing heads or tails. It was not some rare or historically valuable commemorative piece.
And even if it had been, it would not have been worth much after one side had been deliberately scratched up.
Monetary value was probably the thing Kaitou Kid cared about least.
After all, even the priceless necklace had been tossed into the river by him like trash.
Rather than believing that Kaitou Kid had come specifically to steal a coin, Gordon was more inclined to think that he had been coming for Harvey from the beginning, and that the coin was merely an excuse to maintain his identity as a phantom thief.
"Speaking of which, there's still one thing I really want to know that I haven't figured out…"
Suddenly, Harvey spoke with a hint of regret.
"What is it?"
Gordon asked curiously.
"The coin."
Harvey looked down at his cuffed hands.
"I still can't figure out how Kaitou Kid manipulated the coin to land on heads every single time."
Gordon glanced at him and shook his head.
"Then don't think about it. Kaitou Kid has too many baffling tricks. Besides, even if you figure it out, so what? Do you still want to turn back into Two-Face?"
His words were blunt, but there was concern beneath them.
"No."
Harvey answered without hesitation.
"It's just... Kaitou Kid said that I would figure it out once you arrived, but I'm still completely clueless."
He shook his head slowly.
"Oh wait—"
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