3
Umi had dreaded this day. Today in particular because it was the start of her official business as a member of the Black Foxes. After Atsumu had explained to her why she no longer had her job at the museum (which she was still very upset about), she was told that she also had to stop living at her apartment.
Atsumu had been kind enough to lend her one of the rooms upstairs since she didn't feel comfortable enough to live with one of the other guys but Umi still wasn't happy about all the sudden changes in her life. She had known these people for less than a week and they've managed to make her everyday life do a complete three sixty in less than 24 hours.
Which is why when Hiro greeted her upon his entry into the inconspicuous restaurant, she ignored him. Sure, it might have been petty of her but she was just very upset about everything and she preferred to deal with her emotions internally.
It was almost sundown and the mission discussion would begin shortly once the rest of the members had arrived. Atsumu had already closed shop about an hour ago which is why Umi was just now coming down from her room.
"Umiii…are you still mad?" Hiro asked as he curiously peered into Umi's face. Umi gave him a glance but other than that she remained silent.
Hiro sighed.
"I guess so. It isn't that bad, once we finish finding and returning your grandfather's things, your life will go back to normal" Hiro said.
Umi frowned at Hiro's optimistic words.
"That's easy for you to say. This is your lifestyle; you're used to these things. I'm not nor do I want to be" Umi said before getting up and going outside. Hiro frowned as he watched the girl leave. He didn't mean to make her anymore upset than she already was but it seems that's exactly what he did.
Umi sighed as she walked away from Le Renard Noir, deciding that she wanted to take a breather or two. She felt bad about being rude to Hiro like that but she couldn't help but let her emotions get the better of her. Maybe she was being a little dramatic but she didn't care.
Umi loved her job and the fact that they had been able to take that from her so easily, as well as the place she had called home. It was just all very irritating to her.
Umi's phone buzzed in her pocket and she looked at the caller ID to see that one of her childhood friends, Tatsuro, was calling her.
"Hello?" Umi said and Tatsuro's voice soon flooded her ears.
"Hey, Umi. I'm just checking in on you" Umi smiled at Tatsuro's words. He was always so sweet; just hearing his familiar voice had soothed her angry emotions away.
"I'm doing fine, thank you" She said.
"I'm glad to hear that. I know you were probably really shaken up from the other night" Tatsuro said and Umi nodded. He had no idea.
"So, uh, what are you doing right now?" Tatsuro asked.
"I'm kind of meeting up with some…friends, right now. I just stepped out to answer your call" Umi said. She felt a little guilty about lying to Tatsuro, it was something she's never really had to do before, but then again, she wasn't entirely lying.
"Ah…I see. We should definitely hang out sometime, though. I feel like it's been forever since we last met up" He said and Umi smiled.
"I would really like that. I'll let you know when I'm free" Umi said genuinely. She wanted something, anything really to take her mind off of her current situation and what better way to do it than hanging out with her friend?
The two agreed and once Umi hung up, she began to head back into Le Renard Noir.
Upon entering, everyone was already there and Umi sighed when she looked at Hiro who was still seemingly dejected from their earlier conversation.
"Oh, you're back. Great, now we can get started" Riki said. Umi nodded and made an effort to sit next to Hiro as she had wanted to apologize.
"Um…Hiro, I'm sorry about earlier. I was rude and I'm really sorry about that" Umi said quietly and Hiro beamed at her, his previous negative mood disappearing entirely.
"Aw, it's okay Umi! No hard feelings at all!" Hiro said as he ecstatically glomped the older girl who struggled out of his hold.
The rest of the members watched confused at the interaction before Atsumu broke it up.
"I'm glad to see that the two of you have made up, but now it's time for serious matters" He said and at Atsumu's words, Hiro let go of Umi who let out a breath of relief before bringing her focus to Riki who was beginning to discuss the mission details.
"There has been rumors of a clue leading up to the final masterpiece that Tokugawa left behind. It is supposedly being held by a famous dealer named Kabuto Ogami. He's known for his various auction deals and the many stolen goods that get sold there. The same goes for this clue. Our main objective is to go in, grab it, and get out and nothing else, we want to make this smooth" after finishing, Riki's eyes met Umi's in a sort of reassuring way.
"How are we gonna know what the clue is?" She asked.
"You're here for a reason, y'know? This clue is something that only you would be able to recognize" Atsumu said and Umi's eyes widened in surprise.
"Eh? Only me?" Umi muttered and Riki nodded.
"Yes, so we need your eyes focused. Takuto can only keep the alarms down for so long before the security begins to notice something is amiss" Riki said and Umi nodded.
"Let's go then"
In the van, it had been mostly quiet other than the occasional short talk between Kenshi and Hiro.
Umi couldn't be bothered to join in as she was still too deep in her thoughts to even pay attention. She wondered how long it would take until her life could go back to the way it was? How many clues are out there?
And then, it suddenly hit Umi.
Even though she wasn't staying at her apartment, that didn't mean she didn't have bills anymore. How was she going to pay those bills without her job?
Umi let out another sigh and this time, it grabbed Kenshi's attention.
"Whatcha thinkin' bout there Arisu?" Kenshi asked and Umi raised an eyebrow at his shortening of her name but didn't question it.
"Nothing. Please don't worry about me, let's just focus on the mission" Umi said in a robotic manner as she refused to meet eyes with Kenshi.
Shortly after, the group had arrived at Ogami's manor and Umi squinted to try and get a better look at it from the inside of the van, but it was just too dark.
"Umi" Umi turned her head at her name but nearly yelped when she realized how close Takuto's face was to hers.
"W-What?" She said flustered and Takuto glared.
"I need to put this transceiver in your ear. Quit making a fuss" Takuto said before pushing aside Umi's hair and placing the transceiver in her ear.
"Sorry…" she muttered after he was finished and Takuto just grunted at her apology.
"Alright, Takuto once we're in you let us know how long we have. Then Kenshi will check for any unseen trips or lasers and make sure we're clear. From there, Umi and I are going to enter the vault room. Hiro, you're on lookout" Riki instructed before turning to Umi.
"While we're in there, stick to me like your life depends on it because it possibly does" he said and Umi just gulped before nodding shakily.
"Alright then, it's showtime" Riki said and just like that everyone was up and out of the van.
When they had made it inside the manor, Takuto's voice filled the intercom.
"This guy is either an idiot or extremely conceited. His security is way too light for someone who deals with priceless artifacts. I can easily give you guys a good twenty to thirty minutes" he said and Riki thanked him.
Inside the manor was pitch black, as expected to be since it was the time where most people would be going to sleep.
Umi admired the manor's architecture as it seemed to have a very lovely structure and influence on the style. It reminded her of the statues back in the museum and already, Umi was thinking about how she would rather be working a night shift at the museum than doing this
Her ears perked up at the sound of heavy breathing but she couldn't detect where it was coming from. She looked around but saw nothing and just passed it off as her imagination.
"Kenshi, we clear?" Riki asked and Kenshi nodded.
The three of them had walked up to a room and Riki slowly tried to open the door but it was locked. Riki didn't see a keypad so he assumed it needed a key.
This man really did have light security.
"Locked" Riki said with a sigh and once again, Umi had heard the breathing. It even sounded close to a snore.
"Where are you going? I told you to stay by me" Riki hissed as he watched Umi walk away and she shook her head.
The boys watched as Umi walked over to a corner in the manner and Umi nearly gasped before quickly but quietly scurrying back to Riki and Kenshi.
"What's wrong?" Kenshi asked and Umi pointed to the corner she had just walked from.
"Dogs. Big dogs" She whispered and Riki's eyes widened in realization. The dogs were the security, probably trained to kill on sight of an intruder. This wasn't going as smoothly as he hoped.
"They have keys around their necks" Umi said and Riki nearly groaned.
"But there's only one door" Kenshi said and Riki shook his head.
"One of the keys is a fake. This is such a pain in the ass. Hiro is better at these things" Riki muttered.
"So, I'm guessing we're just going to choose one and hope for the best huh?" Umi said.
"Well, you better do it fast. You've got fifteen minutes" Takuto spoke up over the intercom.
"I'll do it" Kenshi said and Riki nodded but Umi stared at him, baffled by his bravery. Surely this clue wasn't worth risking his life, was it?
Seemingly enough so, as Kenshi crept over to the sleeping dogs and examined both of them. He wasn't sure which one to take the key from but he knew he had to think fast and act quiet.
He chose the left one, simply because it was the smaller of the two dogs and luckily for him the dog seemed to be a heavy sleeper so Kenshi managed to slip the chain off, of course while freezing if the dog moved in it's sleep.
"Let's just pray this is the one" Kenshi said as he returned to the two and Riki grabbed the key and didn't waste a moment of time. He stuck the key in and thankfully for all of them, it turned.
Stepping inside to the room, Umi marveled at all the different artifacts that were in there. No doubt that this was a sight that not many people get to see, not even once in their entire lifetime.
"Umi, it's time" Riki said as he nudged her and Umi nodded before beginning to look around.
Something only she would recognize. That wasn't much to go on when she thought about it but she tried as hard as she could. Their time was dwindling every second she spent thinking about it.
Was it the intricate painting of a single star in the night sky? Or was it the small little necklace that laid on a pedestal?
"Could you take any longer? You only have five minutes" Takuto's grumpy voice filled her ears and Umi frowned. She was trying her hardest, it wasn't as if she had much to go on.
"Sorry" Umi muttered sourly.
Just then, a glint on one of the shelves grabbed Umi's attention and she walked towards it with her eyes wide. Riki, noticing her walking, followed her until they reached the item.
"This is my grandfather's pocket watch" she said picking up the bulky watch.
"You sure?" Riki said and Umi nodded, even though they also didn't really have the time to make sure.
"Alright let's get out of here. I think the dogs are waking up" Kenshi hissed and just like that, the three of them got out of the room, grabbed Hiro, and got out of the manor and headed back to Le Renard Noir.
Umi's heart thumped loudly in her ears as she stared at the pocket watch that was sitting on the table in front of all of them.
"You should open it, Umi. It is your grandfather's after all" Atsumu said and Umi just nodded before taking the pocket watch off the table. Once it was in her hands, so many memories of all those summers that she used to stay at her grandfather's house had flooded her mind.
Whenever she wanted to go out and venture, her grandfather would let her borrow the watch so that she could always know when it was time to come back.
She opened it and frowned when she saw that the hands on the clock were unmoving. It was just a broken watch. What kind of clue could this actually be? Were they wrong about this being the actual clue? Or maybe there was something else of her grandfather's that she had missed?
"It's just a watch" Umi said as she showed the guys who were watching her as she examined the watch.
"That's what Tokugawa would want people to think. Especially since the watch seems broken" Atsumu said and Hiro nodded before asking for Umi to let him hold the watch.
She gave it to him and watched as Hiro fumbled with it before taking a knife out of his boot.
"Ah, what are you doing?!" Umi exclaimed as Hiro put the knife to the watch.
"Don't worry. He's not going to break it" Kenshi said and put a reassuring hand on Umi's shoulder but his reassurance did nothing for Umi as she watched Hiro pop off the actual clock part.
Underneath it was a paper and underneath it a puzzle piece.
"A puzzle piece?" Takuto muttered as he picked it out of the watch and looked at it.
"There's also this" Hiro said as he handed the paper to Umi.
She unraveled it and on the paper was a simple four words.
"Did you finish it?" Umi read aloud.
"Finish what?" Riki asked and Umi shrugged her shoulders as she continued to read the four words over and over again.
What could he possibly be talking about? Umi tried to think hard about it but nothing was coming to mind.
"Well, lets give you some time to think it over. Maybe a good night's rest will help you, yeah?" Atsumu said and Umi sighed.
"Sorry I couldn't help more" she said.
"What are you talking about? You're doing great! It's just going to take some time" Hiro said and Umi nodded at his words, although she found it hard to believe them.
After saying goodnight, Umi was given the puzzle piece and the paper to keep with her.
Once she finished changing into her pajamas, Umi read the four words a couple more times before sighing and putting them under her pillow and then lying her head on top.
What was she supposed to finish?