“Okay, I’m in.”
I climbed up a wall and onto the roof of a building.
This was the private home of someone rich. And it was in no way ordinary—you’d think the three-story building was some kind of museum.
The front was blocked off by a giant gate that was decorated on either side with intricate inlays.
Kei said this style of architecture was called rococo, but that sounds more like a yummy snack to me.
The roof I was standing on had a large balcony that overlooked the yard, making me feel like a queen surveying her people!
The yard was filled with flowers, and colorful lights were shining down upon them.
And the reason I was on that roof was…
Red business, obviously!
Once I was in my uniform, I was in the zone.
“So this fancy house and big yard were bought with dirty money.”
“That’s right. They’ve been selling stolen paintings on the black market. It was hard to determine, because they masked their crimes in legitimate transactions…”
But! You managed to figure out that the stolen art would be at this manor today, which is why we’re here now, with a plan!
I glanced at the item I had wrapped in cloth tucked under my arm.
It’s why I brought this.
There was one problem though…
“You need to be extra careful. He’s here.”
Yeah. Him.
The person in question that had Kei on edge was the Middle School Detective, Hibiki Shirasato, and he was here tonight on security duty.
Hibiki Shirasato was one of the most famous detectives of our time, and he often helped the police with difficult cases. He’d been able to take art theft and kidnapping cases that police had given up on and solve them through deduction alone.
And he was here, guarding our target.
Seeing as this is Hibiki we’re dealing with, he’s gotta know about the stolen art. My best guess is he accepted the request to work security so he could look into it on his own.
But we don’t have time to wait for him to find the proof! There are people out there who need help now!
“Don’t let your guard down, or he’ll find you.”
Duh! I know that!
I picked the lock to the door on the roof and quietly entered the building. The door opened to a hallway that was pitch-black.
There’s…no security here.
This seems way too quiet for Hibiki.
“All of the art is kept on the ground floor. No guards are stationed on the roof, though they do make periodic rounds up there. As far as I can tell, they just left, and you’ll have some time before they come back.”
“Oh, yeah? So that’s why you had me come in through the roof this time.”
“I’m pretty sure I explained this to you yesterday…”
“Oh… You did?”
I could hear Kei let out a small sigh through my earpiece.
“Ha-ha-ha… Sorry… I always get so sleepy when I listen to your explanations.”
“It’s fine. This is where the plan starts, so just be careful.”
“You got it!”
With silent footsteps, I made my way toward the stairwell. I walked on a thick, deep red carpet, and there were beautiful vases and brilliantly colored pictures decorating the halls.
“Make sure you don’t touch any of the artwork. They have an alarm system that triggers with any movement smaller than an earthquake.”
Whoa! They have those alarms set in every piece?!
“This isn’t just any old rich person’s mansion. The security system is better than most museums.”
If Kei says it, he means it. I’m going to need to do my best on this one!
Suddenly, I heard voices from up ahead.
“Dad… What’re you thinking…?”
A girl?! And she’s coming this way!
“Hide!”
I instantly wrapped around a nearby corner and hid behind the wall, holding my breath as she passed.
Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap…
“I know you want to keep your art safe, but you shouldn’t let strangers into our house…,” a girl who looked to be around high school age muttered to herself as she walked by. Apparently, she didn’t realize I was there.
Whew… That was a close one…
Getting caught here would spell the end for Kei’s master plan.
I wonder if she’s the daughter of the person who owns this place. She seemed really worried. No mansion is worth hurting people and making your own daughter sad! I’m gonna make sure our plan succeeds, and then you won’t be able to do this anymore.
“Check the ceiling. There should be an entrance to an open area above where you are now,” said Kei, so I stopped and checked around.
I see it! That should do the trick.
I used my grappling hook on an overhead vent and crawled into the space above the ceiling.
As you could probably imagine, it was completely dark in there, so I turned on night vision mode on my sunglasses and scanned the immediate area.
Looks clear to me.
As Kei gave me directions, I moved through the ceiling without making a sound.
“That’s the spot. Do you see any security guards below you?”
I peered through the duct to see what was going on in the room under me.
The space was huge, and the walls were full of art.
“Th-that’s a lot of art! Was this all stolen?!”
“Not all of it. That’s what makes this case so hard; only a few need to be stolen back. This is probably why Hibiki Shirasato can’t do anything about it yet.”
That makes sense… Not that I understand how you guys figure this stuff out either way.
I had a bigger problem to worry about—there were two security guards in the room below.
I could hop down and try to put one to sleep, but that would give the second guard time to sound the alarm—leaving me only one option.
“Do you think you can hit them both with finger bombs from up there?”
“I should be able to. I’m just worried about the cameras.”
“Don’t worry, I’ve already swapped the images. They won’t know what’s happening until they leave their posts.”
Good thinking, Kei!
I aimed my hand from overhead. If I missed, the guards would sound the alarm in seconds.
Careful…
Tap! Tap!
My two pellets of sleeping gas hit each guard on the forehead and broke open.
“Wha…?”
“Oomph…”
I heard two heavy thuds as they fell to the ground.
All right! It worked!
It didn’t seem like anyone heard the guards collapse, either.
“This is a large mansion, so the security guards have teams set up for their rounds. If they had their people spread all throughout, it would be hard for them to respond to an alarm together. We can use this to our advantage and wait until there are no guards nearby to make our move.”
“But don’t you think that’s just what Hibiki would expect?”
“Probably…”
“Probably? Are you really sure about this plan?!”
“It’ll be fine. What you should be more worried about is the next phase.”