“It happened two and a half years ago, back when I was still in middle school and head of the student body council and fighting the school over a few changes I wanted to make. One day, my fountain pen—a gift from my dad that I cherished—was stolen from me.”
What?! Who would do something like that?!
“I don’t know. It happened over the summer when I was staying at our summer home with my family. There was a break-in, and even though everyone, including the police, was confident there’d be a quick arrest, nothing ever came of it. Two months went by, then three, and people’s attitudes started to shift.”
Their attitudes?
“Yeah. They were starting to give up, telling me to give up. They said the stolen stuff was probably long gone by now.”
“That’s so dumb! It’s not like it was your fault! Why would they tell you that?!”
“I know, and I couldn’t do it. The fountain pen was really special to me. But there was nothing a middle school student could do about it, so there was a part of me that did give up.”
Oh no…
“That is, until one day, when we received contact from the police saying the fountain pen was returned.”
“Huh? Out of the blue like that…?”
“I didn’t get it, either. Which was why I went to the police asking how they found it. And when I did, the police officer reluctantly told me it was thanks to Phantom Thief Red.”
Red?! But two and half years ago…means it was my dad!
“Red had busted a criminal organization that sold stolen goods, returning everything back to the police. At the time, I’d heard rumors of Phantom Thief Red but never imagined in a million years he would get my pen back for me.”
Rio then looked at me.
“This pen was important to me, but to anyone else, it was just a regular old pen that was a little more expensive. But Red made sure I had it again. He must’ve realized it was important to whoever owned it, and I was so grateful.”
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. I get it now.
“I wanted to be like him, not that it would ever be possible.”
Nice one, Dad!
My dad would probably be happy to learn that there was someone here who had something important returned to them thanks to Red—especially because the person in question had continued cherish the act as well.
I only hope we’re able to do the same job he did.
“And ever since, I’ve been following all the Red news I could. This was how I learned there was kindness in Red’s thievery. That he has a desire for justice—something that hasn’t changed these past two and a half years. And that’s why I knew it wasn’t Red who committed these recent crimes. There’s nothing Red about him.”
Exactly! I was so happy to hear this, I had to hold back my tears.
“And that’s why I want to catch the fake Red with my own two hands and defend the real one,” Rio said, shining with determination.
All right! I’ll do everything I can to make that happen, too!
“But don’t you think you went a little overboard with the security?” I said. “What if the fake Red decides it’s too dangerous…?”
“I have a plan for that, and I’ll let you in on it because you are someone who loves Red like I do.”
“Oh? What’s the plan?”
“I set a trap.”
What?! A trap?!
“The security in the courtyard seems perfect at a glance, but there is one hole in there on purpose. Let’s say he sneaks in tomorrow with the visitors; it doesn’t matter if he can’t make a clean getaway, right? So we are going to cut off this route so that he can’t get out. I worked with Daiki and Kento to figure it out, and no one else knows about it.”
Really?! So that’s your plan.
My eyes wandered, aimlessly scanning the courtyard—not that I could see the infrared system either way.
“The fake Red doesn’t appear to actually hack the security system of the buildings he infiltrates—just goes for any holes they find. I knew if our security was too tight, it would scare him off, so our only hope is he finds this hole on his own,” Rio said, her shoulders sagging a little.