The Start of High School
The timeline shifted, not suddenly, but with the measured, inevitable progression of wealth and influence.
By the age of fifteen, Tenryuu Kaito was exactly where he needed to be: enrolled in Teitan High School. This was purely a strategic decision. It placed him directly in the environment of the burgeoning detective genius and the recurring epicenter of high-level crime.
He arrived not as a transferred prodigy, but as the quiet, impeccably dressed heir of the new wealthiest family in Japan—a fact noted with awe by the students, including the perpetually impressed Sonoko Suzuki.
Kaito quickly formed an orbit with the high school's two brightest stars: Ran Mouri, the beautiful karate champion, and Shinichi Kudo, the brilliant but arrogant detective.
Shinichi was immediately fascinated by Kaito. Not by his wealth—Shinichi didn't care for money—but by the sheer, unsettling breadth of Kaito's knowledge. During classroom discussions or casual debates about a minor local case, Kaito never offered a detective's solution. He offered a strategist's solution.
"It wasn't just the motive, Kudo," Kaito would comment, leaning back casually against the fence. "It was the lack of an alibi that interests me. The true error was the perpetrator's financial trail, which any diligent auditor could trace in a week. The police only saw the footprint."
Shinichi, fueled by an ego that Kaito found amusing, felt a simmering jealousy. He was the star, the logical mind, the local genius. Yet, Kaito, who claimed no detective title, could instantly articulate three angles of attack on any crime that Shinichi had completely missed—angles that involved finance, technology, or global logistics.
Their friendship was a strained alliance, a competitive intellectual dance where Shinichi sought the truth and Kaito sought the mechanism of control.
The Three-Year Shift: The Acquisition of Cerberus
The three years between the start of high school and the moment Shinichi Kudo's life was irrevocably changed by the Black Organization were not spent on homework and school festivals for Kaito. They were spent building the unstoppable force he intended to be.
The System worked relentlessly, fulfilling Kaito's commands in the shadows.
[Time Lapse: Three Years of Acquisition]
Over those years, Kaito, guided by strategic necessity and fueled by the System, mastered every discipline required for his self-appointed role as the world's ultimate strategic counter-threat.
Acquire Skill: Master of Disguise (Level MAX): He learned to replicate any voice, posture, and appearance, a necessity for operating invisibly within high-stakes environments.
Acquire Skill: Advanced Forensic Hacking (Level MAX): His digital fluency surpassed even the FBI's top teams, giving him complete mastery over the world's digital infrastructure.
Acquire Skill: Criminal Profiling (Level MAX): He achieved the highest level of psychological insight, allowing him to not only profile criminals but predict the strategic next move of organizations like the Black Organization.
Acquire Skill: Master of Evasion and Infiltration (Level MAX): He learned the art of silent entry and exit, required for accessing places where even the Dragon Throne's influence was denied.
Acquire Asset: The Cerberus Network: This was Kaito's most critical strategic creation.
The Cerberus Network was not an asset like a safehouse or a car; it was a global, anonymous, distributed intelligence and crime-execution apparatus. It was named for the three-headed dog of myth, representing its tripartite functions: Crime, Cover, and Control.
The "Crime" Head: Consisted of System-acquired experts in forensic hacking, assassination logistics (non-lethal for Kaito's use, but capable), and data theft—all the necessary tools to commit or perfectly dismantle any high-level operation.
The "Cover" Head: Kaito's global network of financial auditors, media manipulators, and legal experts who could instantly erase records, redirect investigations, and create flawless digital and legal cover.
The "Control" Head: Kaito's own core strategy team (Shiori, Kazuya, and his siblings), ensuring every move was coordinated and maintained the Dragon Throne's silent authority.
The Cerberus Network operated globally, moving assets, manipulating markets, and collecting intelligence, entirely outside the knowledge of any government or even the Black Organization.
The Day the World Changed
The atmosphere at Teitan High was charged with anticipation. Ran had just won a regional karate tournament, and Shinichi Kudo was riding the wave of solving his latest high-profile murder case.
Kaito observed Shinichi with a slight, knowing frown.
"You're obsessed with the truth, Kudo," Kaito commented during lunch. "But you fail to see the scale of the operation necessary to hide a truth."
"You always talk in riddles, Tenryuu," Shinichi scoffed, adjusting his glasses. "The bigger the crime, the simpler the motive, usually."
"Perhaps," Kaito countered, standing up. "But some crimes are so large they necessitate silence rather than just a simple motive. And silence is the hardest thing to buy."
Kaito left the school early. He had received a coded alert from his sister, Sara, indicating an unusually high-security anomaly near Tropical Land—a location where he knew a meeting of the Black Organization was scheduled.
He returned to the Tenryuu Tower. By the time he was in the Sky Lounge, the news was already filtering through: High school detective Shinichi Kudo was missing.
Kaito activated the central command panel of the Dragon Throne.
"Shiori," he commanded, his voice cold and absolute. "Activate Cerberus Protocol Alpha. The quiet game is over. The detective has been neutralized, and the syndicate has moved. We need the location of the victim and absolute, invisible surveillance on the Mouri Detective Agency, starting now."
The strategist had taken the stage.