I clenched my fist and ran at the fakers.
“Hey!”
The fake Reds were caught off guard by my charge and split up into two directions.
“Whaddaya think yer doin’?!” the little one wailed.
I’m taking back what’s not yours!
I pumped my feet to run even faster, closing right in on the small one.
He wasn’t ready to fight yet, so I took this chance to send a punch toward his stomach.
“Wagh! Oh, no, ya don’t!” The little man twisted and turned, barely avoiding it.
Let’s see you try that again!
I whirled around for a spin kick.
“Youch!”
The little man blocked with both arms, but he was sent back with the impact. I then turned to the larger of the two.
“Wait! S-stop! T-time out!”
“What?” The big guy raised both his arms. “I give up.”
Uh… Huh?
“I give up, so don’t hit me!” He looked like he was about to start crying. “You’re too strong, too fast. Ain’t no way we can beat that.”
“You tell ’er!” the little guy said over to the side, nodding with his hand over his belly.
Wh-what the…?! They’re making it seem like I’m the bad guy! You guys are the ones who stole from the museum!
“It’s fine, Asuka. They’re giving up, so let’s tie them down,” Kei said seriously, although even he seemed thrown off by the turn of events.
Sigh…
I let out a small sigh in my mind. I’d been so ready for a fight, but they just gave up.
I guess this is probably better than them being too tough, though. It is somewhat of a letdown either way.
I could think about it later. Instead, I used a rope I had ready to tie the two up. They both cooperated.
When I finished, I got up and shot them both a glare.
“Why did you guys fake being me?”
“…………”
The little one turned away without saying anything, and the larger one had his mouth tightly shut. Neither of them wanted to talk.
“I’m going to ask you one more time. Why did you claim to be Red for your heists? There has to be a reason.”
I kept glaring at them both.
“We ain’t gonna tell ya honestly either way, so try ’n’ figure it out on yer own,” the little one said, sneering.
Oh? Is that right? So that’s how you’re gonna act in this situation, huh?
“Right… Well, seeing as you’re both so acrobatic, you’ll probably survive a fall from the roof,” I said, grabbing the smaller one and hoisting him up—which was simple, given how light he was.
“H-hold yer horses! Now, let’s not be rash!”
“I’m not holding any horses.” I moved over to the fence on the roof.
“All right! Al; right! I’ll talk! I’ll talk!” the little one screamed, and I plopped him back down. “Ow, ow, ow! You could be a li’l nicer… How’re ya so strong anyhow?!”
“Wanna say that again?” I shot him another glare, and he shrank in on himself a little. “So? Why?”
The little one didn’t look like he was going to talk, so the bigger one answered for him.
“It was that smug magician.”
A smug magician…?
Wait… I’ve heard that before…
“What was that doggone name again…? Fantatister?” the big one continued, unable to recall completely.
“Hey! If yer gonna say it, git it right! It’s Fantasista!” the little one blurted out.
“Ah! That’s it! Fantasista!”
F-Fantasista?! W-wait! Why do these two know about him?!
“I knew it…”
✦ ✦ ✦
“You did?! You mean you thought he might be behind this?!”
“Yes, because these two were able to re-create our card so accurately. Also, from how quickly they were able to get in and out of places—Fantasista being involved makes sense. These two definitely don’t seem like the type that can figure out routes like these.”
“That’s true—they definitely don’t look the type.”
“And no matter what they stand to earn from success, I doubt these two would ever take on a heist as risky as this one. This tells me that someone else is the brains behind their operation, someone they know they can trust. That person wanted them to act as Red…and the only person I could think of who would want to do that is the magician.”
Fantasista! So it was you all along! You made these two pretend to be a fake Red.
“But why listen to him in the first place?”
“You’ll have to ask them.”
Oh, right.
I looked to the fake Red duo.
“You two. Why would you follow Fantasista’s orders like this?”
“Hmph! You wouldn’t consider it if the great Phantom Thief Fantasista came to ya?”
You literally just forgot his name, though…?
I kept myself from snarking and waited for my answer.
“He said he’d take care of all the plannin’—and pay us handsomely for it, to boot. That’s an offer ya can’t refuse.”
So it was all for money. Either way, why would Fantasista want to do this?
“Didn’t he want us to say somethin’ to her?” the taller one said, jabbing the smaller one with his elbow (as best he could).
“Ah, right! He had a message for ya. Fantasista says, ‘Hope this was fun enough for ya. Wouldn’t want ya gettin’ too comfy while I’m gone.’ Somethin’ like that.”
“What?! That dirty rotten thief… So he did all this to mess with us?! I guess it kind of checks out, but why?!”
“He just wants to have fun, I guess.”
Ugh… He did say that.
Fantasista said he stole to put on a show—what a joke. Although, going this far to play a trick on us did seem like something he would do.
There’s no use getting so upset over someone who’s not even here right now, so I’ll just have to save a knuckle sandwich for him for the next time we meet.
I went in front of the two fake Reds and held out my hand.
“Now, give back the Red-Hot Crown and the Blue Star.”
The smaller of the two took a second to find his words before eventually sighing.
“Fine, ya win. It’s in here.”
With his eyes, he motioned to a pouch on his waist. Slowly, I bent down next to him and opened it up. Inside, each wrapped in cloth, was the Red-Hot Crown and the Blue Star.
I took them out, then stepped back to give them a better look.
I had a red ruby in one hand, and a blue sapphire in the other.
“Oh? This was a lot easier than I anticipated.”
I expected them lie about not having it or hiding it somewhere.
“Yeah, ya think…?”
Hmm?
The smaller one’s tone changed; he suddenly seemed awfully full of himself.
I looked straight at him. He was looking down, but then he looked up—with a big smile on his face.
“’Cause they’re fake.”
As soon as he said this, the ruby and the sapphire in my hands started to crackle—just before a big flash-bang went off.