Yukino Mayuzumi runs her eyes over the woman sitting next to her one more time, sighs, and takes another sip of her drink.
She turns to her , finally, and says, "Is there a reason you keep doing that?"
Yukino fixes a partially confused look on her face and replies, "Sorry, doing what?"
"That sighing," she replies. She doesn't sound upset by it.
"Oh," Yukino says, and shakes her head. "Sorry. I didn't realize I was being so obnoxious about it." She offers a weak smile, shrugs, and says, "But hey, if you can't sigh in a bar, where can you?"
She frowns, and averts her gaze, so she can tell she's not apologetic, but regrets snapping at her. "Well, I suppose you're right."
She looks past her, and feigns surprise at the lack of someone next to her. "You're alone?"
Her turn to shrug. "I just came for a drink."
Yukino smiles. "And I'll drink to that." She lifts her drink and angles the lip towards her. She smiles a bit, takes up her own, and they clink glasses. She nods at her business attire. "Did you just get off work?"
"I did. And in," she checks her watch, "twelve hours, I've got to get right back there." She's young then. Not used to the daily slog. He can work with that.
She brushes some of her hair out of her eyes. "What'd you do?"
"Oh, I work for Okumura Foods."
Yukino smiles. "Last time I checked, Big Bang Burger waitresses don't wear clothes like that."
She rolls her eyes. "No, smart ass. I work in the corporate office. In accounting."
"Really?" She asks, turning to her.
She blinks. "I have to say, telling a girl that I'm in accounting rarely gets that kind of response."
Yukino allows a faint bit of color into her cheeks. "Oh, well, you see, I just love numbers." She chuckles and pats the air with her hands. "I know that sounds weird, but I do."
She cocks an eyebrow at her. "What do you do, exactly?"
"Actually," she says, and pretends to be embarrassed. "I do consulting work. Primarily with numbers. Mostly for tech companies. Biopharma guys, and whatnot. I come in, talk about algorithms for an hour, and a bunch of guys who have no idea what I'm talking about kind of nod their heads and act like they do."
"And people pay you for that?" She asks, grinning.
Yukino lets out a nervous laugh. "That they do. But, then again, that's why I'm here. I'm tired of doing it. Tired of people who don't get it. My buddy and I, we went to college together, we're actually talking about setting up our own company."
She blinks. "Really?"
"Yeah," Yukino says, getting into it. "See, what we're looking to do is-" A hand clamps down on her shoulder. Yukino twists without thinking about it, and lifts the hand away without even leaving her chair. She turns to face her attacker with something approaching a snarl, and then sees who it is.
A slight, middle aged man with chestnut hair, a face of all angles, and a crew cut. "Yukino," he says. "We need to talk."
Yukino turns back to the woman. "Speak of the devil, here he is! I'm so sorry, but what you excuse me for a moment?"
She nods, and she stands, patting her friend on the back. "Buddy," she says, friendly. "Good to see you."
"We need to talk," Tatsuya reiterates. They walk towards a booth near the edge of the bar.
When they're both seated across from one another, Yukino folds her hands atop one another, leans forward, and asks, "What are you doing here, Tatsuya? You know how we do this."
"Something's happened."
Yukino sighs, drops the last vestiges of the act, and sprawls herself across her seat. A strand of hair falls across her face. It's brown, and actually touched up with some dye, but she'd never admit that. "Fine. What's so dire?"
Tatsuya leans forward himself. "I'm passing you something under the table."
Yukino steals a peek. In her left hand, Tatsuya is holding out small card towards her. She snatches it and brings it to her lap. "What's this?" She asks.
"Just read it."
Yukino rolls her eyes. "Take your heart? Tatsuya, you know I'm strictly a ladies' woman."
"Turn it over, genius," Tatsuya growls.
She does, sees the words, and begins to read.
Sir Ichiryusai Madarame, the talentless, greedy, exploiter: You're finished. We know about the droves of students you've turned to the streets, the hordes of children who adored you that you betrayed. We know you've done nothing but pilfer and plagiarize. No longer will innocents feed the machine of your greed. Tomorrow, you will confess to your sins to the world, because we will have stolen your twisted desires straight out of your heart. See you soon. Yours, The Phantom Thieves of Hearts.
Yukino reads it, then reads it again, and again.
She looks up at Tatsuya and asks, "What the fuck am I reading?"
"What it looks like," Tatsuya replies. "A Calling Card."
Yukino groans and leans back in her chair. "You've got to be kidding me." Then, she stiffens. "I've heard that name before. The Phantom Thieves of Hearts."
Tatsuya nods. "They were on the news recently. There was an asshole gym teacher or something over at Shujin Academy, in Aoyome-Itchoma. These calling cards showed up one day, and the next thing you know, the guy's on stage at a school assembly, blubbering about how he raped some poor kid, and beat up a bunch of students."
Yukino darts her eyes towards the table top, indicating the card below it. "And this? Are these the same guys? They go from gym teacher to world famous artist?"
Tatsuya Shrugs. "Don't know. At first, I figured it was some kind of student revenge thing, but now? Who can say?"
Yukino taps the card in her hand. "Where was this?"
"Outside Madarame's exhibit. There were a bunch of them. Some have already gotten out and circulated online."
Yukino's eyes narrow. "It said he was a plagiarist."
"I caught that."
"Again, don't know. But they could be. I'm having Dunk look over the footage. See if we missed anything." Tatsuya frowns. "This could just be a coincidence."
Yukino chuckles. "A coincidence? Seriously? Tatsuya, how long have we been doing this?"
Tatsuya sighs. "Long enough to know coincidences never work in our favor."
Yukino spreads her hands. "Precisely."
Yukino shuts her eyes and takes a deep breath. Breathe it in, she thinks, and drifts off to her own little world. Breathe it in.
She sits there for a few moments, thinking. Then she shrugs, opens her eyes, and says, "Call everyone and let them know it's off."
Tatsuya's mouth drops open. "Off? As in off?"
"Yes, the opposite of on."
"We're close, Yukino. Are you sure that's a good idea?"
"Regardless, we'd be laughing stocks." Yukino taps the card one more time. "How would it look, if one day after the Phantom Thieves send Madarame their little calling card, we send him ours as well?" She shakes her head. "Nope. It's off. They struck first, called dibs. Let's let them run it. See how they do." She smirks. "I'm interested to see if these Phantom Thieves can pull this off. Getting someone to confess their own sins? Quite the heist."
Tatsuya sighs and stands. "I'll let the others know. They won't be happy."
Yukino smiles and lifts up her drink. "They know where to find me."
Tatsuya nods and walks out of the bar.
Yukino Mayuzum, the former Seven Sisters Hugh school member, takes another sip of her drink. "Alright, Phantom Thieves. Let's see what you've got."
