Chapter 3
We then heard another explosion, but this time it was very close. The room we were stood in shook. I stopped and looked around, I tried to figure out where the explosion came from.
BOOM!
The third explosion came from above me, I instinctively dropped to the floor. I looked up and watched as the ceiling started to cave in.
"Faye!" Riki shouted.
His shout broke me from my trance, as the ceiling started to come down I dived out of the way and skidded along the floor.
As soon as the dust settled, I stood up and looked around the room. A pile of debris was in front of me, the room looked a messed. It looked like a hurricane had been around the room.
"Riki? Riki!"
"You don't have to shout, I'm can hear you." He said.
I turned around in the direction of the voice and saw him lying on the ground. His leg was pinned underneath some of the debris.
"I'll be right there." I said.
I placed the bag on the floor and started to run towards him.
"Idiot! It's dangerous, don't touch it!"
"I can't just leave you here." I said and knelt down beside him. "Can you feel anything with your leg?" I asked.
"Yeah it's fine, it just got caught."
"Good." I said and looked at the debris.
There was so much of it, so if I tried to move it a bit at a time. So, I started to move bits of the debris when I heard another explosion in the distance.
"How many more bombs does that guy have?!" I said.
"Don't worry about me, get out of here!" Riki shouted.
"No."
"Idiot, listen to me." He shouted.
"No you listen to me, I won't leave you behind." I said firmly and moved quicker to move the debris.
"Why won't you listen to me?! Hurry and go! That's an order from your leader."
"Well sorry leader but I have to disobey." I said.
"Tch. Where'd you get that stubbornness from, anyway?" he asked.
"Dunno, I've always been stubborn. But talk about calling the kettle black, you're just as stubborn." I said.
"I'm not nearly as hard-headed as you." He said with a cheeky smile.
I grabbed the biggest piece of debris and slowly rolled it off his body and suddenly, Riki could move.
"That's it! Let's go!" he jumped to his feet, grabbed my hand and pulled me along with him as he ran. I scooped up the bag as we ran past.
As we headed outside, we heard another explosion. This one also came from above, the ceiling started to fall on top of us as we ran. At the same time, the force from the blast nearly knocked us down.
"Ugh.." Riki groaned. "You ok?"
"Yeah." I said.
"Good. Keep going."
He tightened his grip around my hand and we continued running.
30 minutes later,
"I'm just glad you guys weren't more seriously hurt." Boss said.
Both me and Riki were sat in chairs and Kenny was looking us over for injuries. We only had a few cuts and scrapes, nothing serious.
"Please, as if someone like the White Raccoon can do anything to me." Riki said with a confident smile on his face.
"But we got the scroll and the other scrolls he stole." I said and showed them the bag.
"Way to go!" Hiro beamed.
"Did you guys find the other items?" I asked.
"Yes, all of the items have been returned to your museum." Boss said.
"We'll return all the scrolls to the proper owner's tomorrow." Riki said.
I nodded.
"Thank you guys, seriously. I really appreciate it." I said.
"You're welcome." Hiro said.
"Anything for you Faye." Kenny said.
"Like I said, we're the Black Foxes. It's our job." Boss said.
"I just did it because leader told me to." Takuto said.
"Oh really? Out of all of us, you were the most desperate to get Faye's stuff back. He even offered to help me with the painting." Hiro said.
"Shut up!" Takuto hissed.
I smiled and jumped on Takuto before he could run away. I wrapped my arms around him and gave him a quick squeeze.
"Ew gross! Get off me!" he shouted and broke free.
His face was bright red.
"Faye just hugged Takuto. I want a hug to." Hiro said and held out his arms.
"Everyone gets a hug." I said and hugged Hiro first.
As I hugged him, he lifted me up and spun me around. By the time he set me back down, I was dizzy and almost fell over till Riki caught me.
"Hey Hiro, be careful." Riki hissed.
"Sorry Faye, are you alright?" Hiro asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks Riki." I said.
I stepped back and waited for my head to stop spinning before I hugged everyone else.
It was quite late and I didn't want to go home so I stayed at the bar and as usual, Riki gave me his room. He was such a nice guy.
I had just had a shower, I was stood in his room wearing a shower robe and was towel drying my hair.
*Knock knock*
I turned and say Riki stood in the doorway.
"Hey, thank you for letting me have you room. Again." I said.
He smiled "You're welcome but I should be thanking you." He said and walked over to me. "I never thought you'd be the one to save me."
He took hold of hands and stroked my fingers with his thumbs.
I smiled "You're welcome."
"I'm so glad you're safe." He said in a gentle tone.
His looked at me with such a passionate gaze, he had never looked at me that way before.
I wrapped my arms around him and stepped close to him, till our bodies were touching.
"I'm glad that you weren't hurt." I said.
I felt him return my hug, he held me tight in his arms.
"You were a big help for once. So, I'll give you a special reward." He said.
I let him go and stepped back so I could look at his face.
"What kind of reward?" I asked.
"What would you like?" he asked.
The next night, I got Riki to take me out for a special meal at the fanciest restaurant in town. Hiro even lent me one of his gowns to wear. It had been a while since I had been out with Riki.
A week later, I went to work as usual, only to find everyone a little restless.
Don't tell me there was another robbery!
"Mitsuru, what's going?" I asked.
"There's a new security guard starting."
Oh that's right, since the robbery we had tightened security. We had at least three security guards start in the last week.
"But why are people so restless?" I asked.
"Rumours say that this guy used to be a secret agent, he's the best of the best." He answered.
Oh really? Well, I couldn't wait for this.
"Hello everyone, so I would like to introduce you all to the new head of security. Hyosuke." The director said.
We all turned to the door, a man my age walked into the room. He had short black hair, stood taller than me and wore a black suit with a white shirt and a dark blue tie. He looked huge, I wouldn't want to mess with him in a fight.
"This is Hyosuke Kujo. You're about the same age as Faye and Mitsuru?" the director said.
"I'm 25." Hyosuke said.
He was kind of cute but he didn't look that special. He looked like he should be working at a night club rather than a museum.
All the other girls started to whisper to each other, saying how cute he was etc.
"With Hyosuke's help, from now on we're going to be proud to call this museum the most secure in the world. He will help us prevent any more robberies. Hyosuke, I look forward to working with you." The director said.
"Likewise sir." Hyosuke said with a smile.
The director seemed super excited today.
"I'm sure I have a lot to learn, but I can't wait to get started." Hyosuke said.
All the girls seemed to be hanging on his every word, what was wrong with them?
"At his age, Hyosuke's already provided security consulting for some of the largest names in business. He's here with us thanks to Mr Kanemoto, the chairman of our board of trustees." The director said.
"Does he work with computer system?" I asked.
"Actually, he'll be working with the building to prevent human intruders from physically trespassing. I'm sure computers will be a part of that thought. Until he's used to the place… Faye, I'd like you to help him get acclimated here."
"Yes sir." I said and nodded.
Hyosuke then walked up to me.
"Faye, it's a pleasure to meet you."
Such a polite guy!
"It's nice to meet you to." I said and smiled at him.
The director continued the meeting.
After, I spent most of the day receiving works of art that were basically national treasures from local and overseas museums. The artefacts would arrive, I would look them over and then send them to where they needed to be.
"Wow, all of these treasures. They are amazing and I can't believe they're coming here to our museum." I said to myself.
I was holding vase; it was from ancient Egypt. I could only imagine how long it must have taken to make, by looking at it I could picture what life must have been like back then. If I could have anything in the world, it would definitely be a time machine.
"Faye, I was hoping we could discuss the security for the exhibition?" Hyosuke said and walked up beside me.
"Oh sure." I said.
I put the vase down, removed my gloves and we walked into an empty gallery room.
"We always put the main objects up front here." I said.
"I understand that a lot of the objects for the next exhibition are going to be small, correct? I don't think putting them at the front will work." He said.
"Why?" I asked.
"It just doesn't seem all that secure." He said.
"But… that's what we've always done." I said.
"Right. I'm thinking that's why you have so many problems with thieves and break-ins. No?"
My heart skipped a beat when he mentioned thieves.
"For example, if this was a grocery store or a drug store, goods are positioned according to some rules. But here, we're not talking about lining up some carrots and potatoes." He said.
He then closed one eye and used his hand to get an idea of the room's measurements.
"Objects of various sizes, weights, values. Only one of each of these in the whole world, and they're all right here. Doing everything according to theory every time it isn't safe. And besides that, isn't it boring?" he said with a sudden grin.
"Boring?"
"Let's think this through, according to your plan. You're leading the exhibition aren't you?"
"Yes." I said.
"Based on the size of these windows and doors, and the distance between the entrance and the treasures on display and of course the width of the passageways, it sounds like you haven't thought about security at all."
"But, this room is equipped with security shutters." I said. "I thought that would be enough."
There was a moment of silence between us, Hyosuke then looked at me with disappointment.
"What if the shutters didn't work? Then what, that's it?"
"Oh, well you gotta point." I said.
Takuto could easily stop the shutters from working. Actually, that's probably exactly what he did when the Black Foxes stole from the museum.
"I'd like to come up with a system, in case the shutters don't work. That would give us more time, not the thieves. No one is walking out of this building with our works of art unless they collapse our ceiling to get it. Ok? I don't want a single one of these pieces to go missing. Is that ok with you?"
There was a seductive look in his eyes as he spoke to me. Well, he certainly was confident but I bet the Black Foxes could still beat his system.
"Yeah, that's fine." I said.
"Good, you're cute. I like obedient girls." He said with a big grin on his face.
"Obedient?!" I questioned angrily.
He then turned away "Ok so, at the entrance we should…"
He didn't even seem to notice how annoyed I was; it was like he just flipped back into business mode.
We continued working together till it was the end of the working day. I was stood outside the museum waiting for Kenny to come pick me up. It was pouring down with rain so I was holding an umbrella over my head. I was wearing my gym gear, every day after work I would go to the gym either with Kenny when he wasn't working or on my own. I was determined to get fitter and stronger, at least that way I could be of help to the Black Foxes.
"Hey Faye. What you doing?"
I turned around and saw Hyosuke stood behind me.
"Waiting for a friend." I said.
"Oh cool. Well, have fun." He said and waved before walking off.
Kenny arrived not long after, we went to the gym together and worked out for over two hours. We did a mixture of cardio with a lot of running on the treadmill and then loads of weighs. After, we showered at the gym and headed to the Le Renard Noir to discuss the next mission.
"We're going after a guy who sells stolen art on the black market." Riki said.
"So we're not stealing anything this time?" I asked.
He nodded.
"As a matter of fact, Takkun investigated and discovered that this Akura guy, the new prime minister, is involved in illegal art deals. So, I got a little help from an acquaintance and we're going to the prime minister's official residence." Boss said.
"Seriously? The prime minister is doing this?" I asked.
"In our own backyard." Hiro said.
"No one would suspect the prime minister of being on the same level as thieves and black market dealers." Kenny said.
"The day is next Wednesday. As always, Takuto you're in charge of taking down security systems." Riki said.
"'Kay." Takuto said.
"The stolen painting is believed to be either in a vault in the basement, or a reception room in the corner of the second floor. But we have to choose one first." Riki said.
He then laid out a map on the table.
"Normally, you hide that kind of thing in the basement." Takuto said.
"There aren't any windows and there could be traps set for potential intruders." Kenny said.
The corner of the room on the second floor had a large window. Normally, no one would put the painting somewhere so visible.
"Which makes the basement our target." Riki said.
"Actually, hang on a second." I said.
"What's up?" Boss asked.
Thought it didn't seem remarkable at the time, but something Hyosuke said earlier just hit me.
"'The best place to hide a tree is a forest'. Could that be what's happening here?" I said.
"Huh?" Takuto said. "There's no trees in a room. Did you hit your head?"
"That's not what I meant. I'm saying instead of hiding treasure somewhere obvious like the basement, it makes more sense to hide it in a room you can see from the street. And where there are lots of paintings on the walls." I said.
We all looked at the photos acquired for us by Boss's acquaintance.
"She's right, there's a lot of paintings in this room." Riki said.
"He could've hid the stolen paintings under any of these paintings, too." Hiro said.
"To get into the basement requires the security card of key personnel beyond the prime minster." Riki said.
"It'd be unnatural for the prime minister himself to be frequently going in and out of this place that houses state secretes." Boss said.
"Good going Faye!" Hiro said.
"Thanks but I can't take all the credit. It came from a new guy at work." I said.
"Oh really?" Hiro asked and gave me a suggestive gaze.
"Shhhh. Speak of the devil… and he will appear." Boss said.
The next was left on and sure enough, the prime minister was on. Boss quickly turned up the volume.
"Evil is running rampant. I won't simply stand by." The prime minister said.
"Look in the mirror." Takuto shouted at the screen.
"Oh no." Boss shouted.
He jumped to his feet and ran into the kitchen, he returned holding a white envelope in his hand.
"Whew, close call. I almost forgot about this." He said.
"Forgot about what?" Kenny asked.
"Is it a letter?" I asked.
"Precisely, but there's no sender." Boss said. "It was in LRN's mailbox this morning. It's totally weird, I figured I should show you guys."
"No sender is really fishy." Takuto said.
"What if it's cursed?" Hiro asked.
"Anyway, open it." Riki said.
We opened the envelope and found a letter inside.
"Tonight, 9pm. Be sure to watch the new prime minister's policy speech." I read aloud.
I saw a look of surprise on Riki's face.
Why would someone send us a letter? Was someone onto us? We were about to go after the prime minister after all.
"Oh yeah, the speech. Is today." Kenny said and pointed to the tv.
"Everyone. Now that I'm prime minister, our nation will be a bright place. In fact, my motto for as a leader is 'cleaner than ever!'"
"Clean? When has he ever been clean?" Takuto said.
"There's something weird about this." Hiro said.
Riki was silent, I wondered what he was thinking? Everyone looked anxious.
"As a first step, tonight I make a promise to you, the people of this country. That I will root out all the evil that threatens us. The 'Clean Japan' campaign starts today." The prime minister continued.
"What does that mean? That's the stupidest name I've ever heard." Takuto said.
"It's getting weirder-" Hiro started speaking but stopped when Kenny interrupted.
"Quite!" he hissed.
We all froze, Kenny without a sound rushed to the window. He peered out and clicked his tongue.
"Dammit. Guys…. The LRN's surrounded."
"What!?"
"By who?" Boss asked.
"I dunno. Dammit, it's the rain. Now it's too late." Kenny said.
"What do we do?" Hiro asked.
Boss's phone then started to ring.
"Caller unknown." He said.
"Boss, let's get out of here." Riki said.
"Ok."
Riki winked and Boss answered his phone, he put it on loud speaker.
"This is Atsumu Kashiwabara? Boss of the Black Foxes? It's a pleasure to speak with you. Did you see my speech?"
It was the prime minister!
"Sorry for calling you out of the blue like this. Did you see the letter I left this morning? And…. My speech?"
"Yes." Boss answered.
"Then this won't take long. I don't have a lot time anyway, so I'll make this brief. The first target of the Clean Japan campaign is you."
We all gasped.
"My men should be arriving before me. I look forward to meeting you. Heheh." He then hung up.
Not a moment later, someone started banging on the door.
"So, it was the prime minister who sent the letter." Riki said.
"Does he know that we're after him because of the stolen art?" I asked.
"Probably." Hiro said.
The bangs on the door were getting louder, they were trying to break down the door.
"The prime ministers men, so I'm guessing the guys out there are military?" Boss said.
"Doesn't sound like facing them head on is a good idea. Riki." Kenny said.
"Everyone, up to the roof! Emergency evacuation, we're getting out of here." Riki ordered.
How were we going to escape from the roof? It didn't seem like a good plan.
"Faye, quit staring. Move it!" Riki shouted.
"Ok." I said.
I followed behind Riki and the others as we made our way up to the roof. The door to the roof flung open as Kenny kicked it, rain continued to pour and the wind was starting to get stronger.
"Boss, ya can't leave your laundry hanging out at a night like this." Hiro said.
"That's not important right now. Here's what we do. We run away, use the roof tops." Riki said.
"But to where?" I asked.
"Anywhere. We have to get away from here." He said. "Ready?"
Everyone started running, but within moments soldiers piled onto the roof.
"There you are!"
"Don't move!"
The soldiers were all black and were pointing their guns towards us.
"Don't let any of them get a way. Go!" one ordered.
"Yes sir." The soldiers all replied and started to advance towards us.
"God dammit!" Riki shouted. "We have to split up. Meet at the rendezvous point."
What rendezvous point?
"Got it! Later guys!" Kenny shouted and he jumped off the roof and easily landed on the building next to us.
"Got it! See you there!" Hiro said and jumped to different roof.
"Alright, I'll see ya." Takuto said and he disappeared next.
"Stay safe you two." Boss said and disappeared to.
"Faye, come with me." Riki said.
"Ok." I nodded.
I grabbed his hand and we got ready to jump when some of the soldiers blocked our path.
"This way." Riki shouted and pulled me with him as we ran across the roof. "You go first, I'll hold them off."
"I can't leave you." I said.
"Just go, you need to get out of here." He shouted.
I froze and stared at him, I couldn't just leave him. There was no way he could handle this many soldiers on his own.
"Don't worry, I'll find you. For now, just go!"
I sighed "Fine, please be careful." I said before I turned and jumped.
I jumped off the roof and landed on another building before I made my way down a fire escape. I jumped off the ladder and landed in a dark street and started to run down it.
My feet were killing me, I sure picked one hell of a day to wear heels. I stopped and pulled off my shoes and continued running. Those gym sessions were really coming in handy.
