It was Friday evening. I was standing in front of the museum where the Red-Hot Crown was set to display from the next day on. I’d ended up agreeing to spend the night here. I actually thought Kei would say no, but when I asked him…
“That should be fine. It works to our advantage.”
If that was what Kei said, then it was best I took his word for it.
So I decided to spend the night at the museum with Rio and the others. Rio was a short distance away from us, talking to somebody over her cell phone.
“Okay. Right on time,” Rio said before closing the call and looking toward us. “The Red-Hot Crown will be here soon.”
“Huh? Isn’t it supposed to go in the museum?”
“I’m having them let us hold on to it while the security team finishes preparations in the museum. We also wouldn’t want Red coming and stealing it while it gets transported. We’re working together with the police for this, and since it was so sudden, they still need a little more time to get ready.”
“When will it get here?” Daiki asked.
“Yeah… Three minutes, give or take,” Rio said, looking at her watch.
“Soon then, huh?” Kento said in a slightly nervous tone.
I was pretty nervous as well. I kept looking around. The museum is so big, it looks like a park. There are also ten-foot walls lining the outer edge of the grounds, meaning it won’t be easy getting in. Although, I bet that the little acrobatic Red could probably find an easy way over.
As I thought, four cars came one after another into the museum grounds, just like Rio said they would.
The cars parked, and from the first three emerged multiple big men in suits. All of them were paying close attention to their surroundings.
Those must be the police.
More men got out of the final car shortly after, and one of them had an attaché case.
The man holding the case approached Rio, with around ten more buff guys waiting behind him.
This is an impressive security outfit…
We followed after Rio and the men into the museum. The museum was a three-floor building made from orange bricks, and its door was large, thick, and made of wood.
Two of the security guards stood by the door, holding it open for us to get in. Once we were through, he closed it and let down its shutter, too.
I looked around the museum. I’d actually come straight here after school, only making a brief pit stop at home to get my things for the overnight stay, so I hadn’t seen the inside of the museum yet.
The lights were a warm color, the floor was covered with a soft wine-red carpet, and the walls were a pale beige.
We passed the reception area, and there was a sign directing the visitors through the museum. We were probably supposed to follow it down the hallway, but Rio and the others took a different path in the opposite direction.
We went through two more rooms before reaching an empty one with nothing on display.
It wasn’t a large space by any means, but it also wasn’t too small. There were no windows, either.
In the middle of the room was a glass case, with ropes around it to keep people from getting too close.
“The security system is turned off, right?” Rio asked as she examined the glass case.
“Yes.”
She nodded and looked around.
“I’m going to open it,” Rio said before unlocking the attaché case.
Inside it was the large ruby that she’d shown me before.
Rio, who was wearing gloves, took it out of its carrying case and into the glass case. She then put the glass back on the case before backing away.
“Turn on the security system.”
Rio gave the orders, and one of the security members used a walkie-talkie to contact someone else. Guess the system was actually being operated somewhere else.
Before long, we received word that the security system was on, and Rio let out a small sigh of relief. A few members of the security team and people who I could only assume were police all left the room. They must’ve gone to their posts.
It was a huge museum, so it made sense that there were so many people there to guard it. That said, there must’ve been fifteen security guards and officers remaining in the room.
Rio came over to us.
“Our match with Red starts now and will last for another two days. Until then, we won’t have a moment’s rest.”
“I know, I know.”
“We’ll move according to plan.”
Daiki and Kento responded, showing confident smiles.
✦ ✦ ✦
The plan? What plan? No one’s told me anything yet…
“Ms. Kiyose. We need to make some final confirmations on tomorrow’s security,” a middle-aged man in a suit said to Rio. The man was one of the people who’d come out of the cars from earlier, and he had an even sharper look in his eyes than the others.
He’s probably a detective.
Rio mentioned that we were going to work together with the police, but it was more like she was running the show at this point.
I didn’t have anything to do, so I walked around and examined the room. There were security guards and detectives standing at the doors.
This room would be hard to infiltrate, even for the real Red—Kei and me.
“Looks like Rio is going to take a while, so let’s head back to our room.”
This was true. Rio was deep in conversation, and it didn’t seem like she would be finished any time soon. Daiki checked with Rio before we returned to our room, where we left our things before.
The building next door to the museum was an accommodation facility. This was where we were staying the night.
The museum and the accommodation facility were connected on the first floor by a hallway, which was obviously well guarded, too.
The door also required fingerprint verification to use, meaning your fingerprints had to be registered into a database for the door to recognize it. Daiki and Kento had already registered their fingerprints, so they could open the door. I hadn’t, so I needed someone else to open it for me.
It was inconvenient, but necessary for security purposes. The accommodation facility was pretty much a hotel, and it was so high-end that I actually felt bad being able to stay there for free.
We went back to get only the items we needed for the night before returning to the museum. When we got back to the hallway, it was packed with more strong-looking men.
Just how many people are there? There’s gotta be at least fifty…
Rio was waiting for us when we arrived at the room where the Red-Hot Crown was going on display. She had a large, tube-shaped bag.
Is that what I think it is…?
“All right! We’re going to stay on watch through the night, so I thought we could use these.”
It is, isn’t it…? Sleeping bags. I’ve seen those before.
Rio held up her clenched fist and called out:
“Come and get it, Phantom Thief Red!”
Ha-ha-ha…
I’m already here…