"Dick, I really don't understand why you've become so emotional lately."
Barbara's serious voice came through the earpiece, clear and firm.
"I know you believe Dean isn't Kaito Kid. And I don't want Kaito Kid to be your friend either. But belief alone cannot prove innocence."
Dick said nothing.
"Today is the last day," Barbara continued. "As long as Dean stays at home while Kaito Kid makes his move, that alone is the strongest proof. It's such a simple principle—don't you understand?"
She paused, then her tone grew heavier.
"And it's not just about Dean. Even your night patrols lately… you've been more emotional than before. That's not a good sign."
Barbara lowered her voice.
"Have you ever thought about what Batman would think if he came back and saw you like this?"
Dick clenched his jaw.
"A few months ago, when you convinced Batman to give me another chance," Barbara said slowly, "you weren't like this at all. What changed?"
She hesitated for a second before asking the question she had been holding back.
"Did those two failures against Kaito Kid… leave a scar on you?"
---
"… "
Dick remained silent for a long moment.
Then he finally spoke.
"I… I just keep thinking," he said quietly, "maybe there's another way."
Barbara frowned slightly.
"Batman is used to doubting everything," Dick continued. "So he taught us to do the same."
"Take Dean, for example. Do we actually have any solid evidence that he's Kaito Kid?"
His voice grew steadier as he spoke.
"No motive.
No evidence.
No witnesses.
No concrete clues."
"And yet," Dick said, a trace of frustration leaking through, "we think it's normal to break into his house. To secretly install surveillance. To violate his privacy."
"All because of a suspicion that's basically… intuition."
He looked up at the ceiling of the exhibition hall, his gaze distant.
"Is that really right?"
For a moment, it felt like he wasn't asking Barbara at all.
He was asking himself.
Barbara was stunned.
She hadn't expected Dick to say something like this.
"I used to treat Batman's words as absolute truth," Dick went on. "I copied his way of thinking. His methods. Everything."
"But over time… I don't know why, but I started to feel like I was just living in Batman's shadow."
Barbara stayed silent.
"You know I helped form the Teen Titans," Dick said softly. "But you probably can't imagine what kind of mindset I had when I first met them."
His memories surfaced clearly.
"Donna greeted me first.
Then Wally shook my hand.
Roy joked about my name.
Garth was quiet, but genuinely kind."
A faint smile appeared on his face—then faded.
"I'll never forget how sincere their smiles were."
"But what did I do?" Dick asked bitterly. "On the surface, I laughed with them. Fought alongside them."
"But secretly, I was analyzing them."
"How to defeat them.
Their weaknesses.
Their personalities.
How much they trusted me."
He let out a quiet laugh.
"That was Batman's mission for me."
"And that day…" Dick said, voice low, "was my fourteenth birthday."
Barbara's breath caught.
"During my time with the Titans," Dick continued, "I realized something."
"That being a vigilante… didn't always have to be dark."
"It could be bright.
Positive.
Human."
He hesitated.
"And that's when I started questioning whether Batman's methods were always right."
"I know," Dick said quickly, "I know it's dangerous to think this way. I know it could be wrong."
"But I just… can't stop myself."
---
Barbara didn't speak for a long time.
Finally, she sighed.
"Maybe you're not wrong, Dick," she said quietly. "But this is Gotham."
"We're not like them."
Dick hummed softly in response.
"Mm."
Barbara shook her head, refocusing.
"Anyway, once tonight is over, I'll retrieve the surveillance cameras from Dean's house."
"As for your ideological struggle with Batman?" she added. "I'm staying out of it."
"No problem," Dick replied.
The call ended.
Both of them turned their full attention back to the mission.
---
Based on the decoded Preview Letter, Kaito Kid's target—the Dragon Egg Ruby Necklace—was on the top floor of the Cultural Relics Pavilion.
His point of appearance was predicted to be the Jungle Pavilion, located right next to it.
So Dick and Barbara split up.
Dick stayed near the necklace.
Barbara positioned herself in the Jungle Pavilion, ready to intercept.
In their judgment, Robin's identity was already known to Kaito Kid. If Dick guarded the Jungle Pavilion, it might force Kaito Kid to change routes.
Barbara, however, remained unknown.
She was the better option.
---
Cultural Relics Pavilion – Smoking Room
A man stood alone in the dimly lit smoking room.
His expression was gloomy.
A cigarette hung from his lips.
He took out a matchbox, struck a match—
Whoosh.
The flame ignited.
But he didn't light the cigarette.
Instead, he stared blankly at the flickering flame.
When it burned out, he struck another match.
And stared again.
Over and over.
People who entered the smoking room glanced at him uneasily, then quickly left.
No one dared approach him.
In Gotham, you could provoke many people—
But it was best not to provoke someone who clearly wasn't normal.
---
Jungle Pavilion
Barbara's sharp gaze swept across the crowd.
Every person was a potential suspect.
Every movement mattered.
If anyone showed the slightest abnormal behavior, she immediately approached and questioned them.
Her current identity—as a temporary GCPD consultant—gave her the authority to do so.
Without that identity, she couldn't openly interrogate civilians.
And she couldn't let Batgirl draw too much attention.
Commissioner Gordon was also present.
Partly because he worried about his daughter.
Partly because after the Pink Dream incident, he realized that sitting in a monitoring room wasn't enough.
Kaito Kid could mislead them again.
So Gordon chose to stand on the front line this time.
Time passed.
Slowly.
Relentlessly.
Soon, it approached 10:00 PM.
---
At that moment—
Barbara felt her phone vibrate.
Her eyes narrowed.
She took it out and unlocked the screen.
The image displayed was Dean's bedroom.
Live surveillance.
Dean had just entered the room.
He was already in pajamas.
In his hand was a book.
A very unusual book.
"The Future Blueprint of Computer Technology."
The author was Will Magnus, a top scientist at S.T.A.R. Labs, rumored to be researching artificial intelligent life.
This book was considered cutting-edge even among professionals.
Most people couldn't understand it at all.
Even Barbara found large portions incomprehensible.
She wasn't surprised anymore.
Since the first day of surveillance, Dean had been reading this book every night.
A magician.
Reading advanced computer theory.
Barbara stared at the screen.
And for the first time that night—
She felt a strange sense of unease.
Because something about Dean never quite fit into a single box.
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