K∀ITO

Short story
Information
Title:	K∀ITO Yaiba vs. Kaito!
Japanese title:	K∀ITO 刃vs.快斗! (Yaiba vs. Kaito!)
Original release:	March 1989
Magazine:	Shōnen Sunday 30th Anniversary Special (March 1989) Shōnen Sunday 8/1993 (August 1993, rerelease)
Volume:	Magic Kaito Volume 3
Pages:	16
Anime adaptation:	OVA 1: Conan vs. Kid vs. Yaiba - The Grand Battle for the Treasure Sword!!
List of short stories

K∀ITO is a self-contained short story first released in the Shōnen Sunday 30th Anniversary Special (週刊少年サンデー30周年記念増刊号 ,Shūkan Shōnen Sandē 30-shūnenkinen Zōkan-gō), which was published in March of 1989. It depicts a crossover between Gosho Aoyama's two most popular works back then, Magic Kaito and Yaiba, but is officially not in canon with either series.

It was later reprinted in Shōnen Sunday Special 8/1993 and included as a bonus chapter in Magic Kaito Volume 3 under the title of "Yaiba vs. Kaito!", which caused it to be counted as the eighteenth chapter of Magic Kaito by the western fandom.

Characters

Introduced

In order of introduction:

Picture	Name	Role
	Ginzo Nakamori	Inspector from the second division of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department in charge of the Kaitou Kid task force and father of Aoko Nakamori. Originally from Magic Kaito.
	Fuji Mine	Matriarch of the Mine family, mother of Raizo, mother-in-law of Shizuka and grandmother of Sayaka Mine. Originally from Yaiba.
	Yaiba Kurogane	Feral child who was raised in a jungle by his father, Kenjuro Kurogane. Currently lives in the Mine residence after accidentally getting transported to Tokyo. Originally from Yaiba.
	Kaitou Kid	Famous phantom thief who vanished for eight years until he recently emerged. The person currently behind his identity is Kaito Kuroba. Originally from Magic Kaito.
	Shonosuke	The pet vulture of Yaiba Kurogane. Originally from Yaiba.
	Gerozaimon Geroda	A frog demon who originally served Takeshi Onimaru before changing sides, moving into the yard of the Mine residence. Originally from Yaiba.
	Raizo Mine	Son of Fuji, husband of Shizuka and father of Sayaka Mine. Originally from Yaiba.
	Shizuka Mine	Wife of Raizo, daughter-in-law of Fuji and mother of Sayaka Mine. Originally from Yaiba.
	Sayaka Mine	Only daughter of Raizo and Shizuka, granddaughter of Fuji Mine and friend of Yaiba Kurogane. Originally from Yaiba.
	Kenjuro Kurogane	Perpetually drunk kendo master who raised his son Yaiba Kurogane in the wilderness of a jungle. Sometimes lives at the Mine residence. Originally from Yaiba.
	Musashi Miyamoto	400 years old swordmaster based on the historical person who currently lives at the Mine residence to mentor Yaiba Kurogane. Originally from Yaiba.
60px	Jirokichi Nakamura	Historical master thief who is considered the "Robin Hood of Japan". Gets mentioned by Musashi Miyamoto.
	Kagetora	Pet tiger of Yaiba Kurogane. Originally from Yaiba.
	Takeshi Onimaru	Yaiba Kurogane's rival who got possessed by the spirit of the wind god Fujin contained in a cursed blade, which turned him into a demon. Originally from Yaiba.
	Keiko Momoi	High school student who attends the same class as Kaito Kuroba and Aoko Nakamori. Background cameo from Magic Kaito.
	Akako Koizumi	High school student and witch who is well-versed in black and red magic. Background cameo from Magic Kaito.
	Aoko Nakamori	High school student, daughter of Ginzo Nakamori and childhood friend of Kaito Kuroba. Originally from Magic Kaito.

Gadgets

Gadgets
Hang Glider Cape

Settings

Introduced

In order of introduction:

• Mine residence
• Mt. Fuji (Background)
• Ekoda High School

Plot

Kid battles Yaiba.

Somewhere in Yaoya, Tokyo: Inspector Ginzo Nakamori and some of his police officers pay a visit to the Mine family to warn them of Kaitou Kid, who announced that he will take a treasured family sword from their residence. Fuji Mine however, matriarch of the house, greets the law enforcement by throwing them out of the entrance gate, ignoring their warnings on the grounds that the family knows how to defend themselves. Yaiba Kurogane noticed the commotion and is wondering about who this "Kanchou Kid" may be, but is nonetheless determined to finish him off if he dares to show up. At the same time, Nakamori orders his people to cordon off the surrounding area, but the Kaitou Kid is already sitting on a roof across the Mine's residence, admiring its sheer size.

Kid immediately goes to work, makes a daring leap over to the wall encircling the property, accidentally headbutting Yaiba's pet vulture Shonosuke, which causes him to fall into the yard and directly into the pond, where he crashes on top of the frog demon Gerozaimon Geroda who inhabits it. Raizo Mine, son of Fuji, and his wife Shizuka become aware of the noise outside the house and check if everything is okay, but Kaito manages to hide behind a bush in time. Gerozaimon gets reprimanded by the house's owner and Kaito muses that the premises seem to be haunted.

Afterwards, he climbs up to the roof, but it turns out to be anything but stable and once again it literally goes downhill for the phantom thief - who plunges into the room of the only daughter of the family, Sayaka Mine, who is just in the process of changing clothes. Her reaction is appropriate, but Kaito knows how to charm her with a kiss on her cheek, whereupon she even tells him the way to the dojo, where the sword is kept. But on the way to it, Sayaka's mother Shizuka and her grandmother Fuji get in his way, which he simply bewitches too with a rose and a kiss on the hand, as well as a gown, whereupon all three women try to stop Raizo, who was about to chase Kid.

Kaitou Kid finally arrives in the dojo, but Yaiba is already waiting for him. After a brief correction of their battle stances by Yaiba's father Kenjuro Kurogane, a kendo-like sword fight breaks out, during which Kaito makes his way onto the wall encircling the premises again, where he has a short conversation with Musashi Miyamoto, who compares Kid to the Japanese Robin Hood, "Jirokichi the Rat", which he just counters by saying that he isn't an honorable thief like him. He then tries to escape using his hang glider, but Yaiba and his pet tiger Kagetora also have a kite ready for transport, causing the fight between the two to go on high up in the air. This battle is observed by Yaiba's nemesis Takeshi Onimaru and his demon servants, who aim a huge cannon at the duo and blow them out of the sky. The sword that Kid managed to hold on to until now falls to the ground, right in front of inspector Nakamori's feet, who gets celebrated by his unit for this.

Next morning at Ekoda High School and the Mine residence respectively: Aoko Nakamori and Kenjuro each try to get Kaito Kuroba and Yaiba to start doing sports respectively - both supposed to practice some kendo. Both of them, looking extremely groggy, simultaneously say that they had enough kendo for now.

Yaiba and Kaito have enough of kendo.

Anime

Kaitou Kid, Conan Edogawa and Yaiba Kurogane.

This short story was adapted as the first Original Video Animation of Detective Conan, extended by characters from that series and enhanced by a new framing story in which the Mine family task Kogoro Mouri with protecting their treasured sword and catching Kaitou Kid.

Production

Gosho Aoyama got the request by his editor to draw a special one shot for the 30th anniversary special issue of Shōnen Sunday. Aoyama remembered that he always liked collaborations like Mazinger Z vs. Devilman since he was a child and that he always wanted to draw something like this, so he took both of his at the time most popular series and combined them for this short story.

Trivia

• This short story is mostly independent of both series, Magic Kaito and Yaiba, with the biggest inconsistency being Keiko Momoi's background cameo, who is of middle school age and part of Sayaka Mine's class in the latter, while she's high school age and attending Ekoda High School in the former. This is reinforced by Sayaka herself attending (a version of) Ekoda High with Keiko at the end of her series, talking about Kaito Kuroba and Aoko Nakamori, who are in the same year as they are. Gosho Aoyama confirmed this by calling this story a "self-contained [...] dream", a wording he also used for Lupin III vs. Detective Conan to declare it out-of-canon with Detective Conan. In the anime adaptation, it literally became a dream. Mazinger Z vs. Devilman, which was a direct influence on this chapter, was non-canon to both its series, too.
• In the table of contents inside the Shōnen Sunday 30th Anniversary Special, the story was misspelt as "KAITO", without the upside-down ∀. It's possible that this wasn't possible with how the lettering of the magazine was handled at the time.