“We’re far away from the exit now, though…”
“Did you forget who I am? Our club has performed here dozens of times, so I know this place like the back of my hand, including the way out,” Yukimura announced confidently.
Oh, yeah! Yukimura is as dependable as always!
She slowly opened the door and peered into the hallway, carefully looking to her left and right.
“It looks like there’s no one here… We’re going to turn off our flashlight, so make sure you don’t lose sight of the person in front of you.”
Yukimura stepped out of the room first, followed by Minatsu, President Shiori, and then me.
We progressed down the hallway, careful not to create too much noise. Yukimura guided us through the darkness without showing the slightest sign of being lost.
We went down the hall, turning right, and then left. My body felt heavy as we moved, due to both the darkness and worry that the kidnappers could pop out at any time. I realized that there was sweat running down my back, and I could hear the nervous breathing of Minatsu and President Shiori in front of me.
We came to a split in the hallway, where Yukimura stopped in her tracks. Minatsu and President Shiori both looked at her with confusion, and she responded by putting her finger to her lips. She wanted us to be quiet.
We listened closely.
Clack, clack, clack…
Footsteps?! Someone’s coming this way!
President Shiori and Minatsu motioned to hide, but Yukimura stopped them.
“I’ve got this.”
Though she looked nervous, she was giving us a thumbs-up.
What are you going to do, Yukimura? Are you going to try and knock them out? It may be dark, but they’re trained fighters, so they won’t go down easily.
Clack… Clack…
Huh?
Yukimura suddenly took a step out into the hallway and spoke to the man who was farther down the corridor.
“There’s no one here. Head back to the stage to help,” came a deep voice.
“Oh, yeah? All right. Be careful; we think the kids are still in the building,” said the man.
“You got it.”
He went back down the hallway. Once we could no longer hear his footsteps, Yukimura heaved a sigh. “Whew… Glad that worked.”
D-did you do what I think you just did?
“I acted like a man. Given the darkness and the distance, I thought it might work.”
W-wow! You really did sound like a man!
“That’s our Captain,” Minatsu said, looking at Yukimura with a sparkle in her eyes.
“Glad to see Minatsu is back to her usual self, too,” I added.
“What?” Minatsu shot me a glare.
“Oh, nothing. Anyway, we should hurry on out of here.”
“Yeah, I doubt that’ll work a second time,” President Shiori said, and Yukimura nodded in agreement.
We continued to move carefully down the hallway until we could see sunlight coming in through a window. Yukimura carefully opened the door.
“We’re good to go. There’s no one here.”
She peeked outside before beckoning us to follow her with her hand, and we followed her outside.
The bright sunlight blinded me as we left the building, but it was more than welcome—we’d finally managed to escape!
“We’re not in the clear yet. Let’s run,” Yukimura said before she broke into a sprint, followed by President Shiori, Minatsu, and then me at the rear. Yukimura looked back at us, making sure to match her pace to President Shiori and Minatsu.
I looked behind us and saw we weren’t being chased.
This means the men are focused on Hibiki and Kotone… Hold on a little longer until I can come back, Hibiki!
“Huff…huff… We should be okay here.” Yukimura stopped when we arrived at a supermarket parking lot.
“Yes, there’s no one suspicious-looking here,” President Shiori said after looking around us.
There was a mother with her child, a young couple, and some elderly people; the peaceful scene you’d expect to see outside of a supermarket.
I let out a sigh of relief before looking at Minatsu, who was smiling calmly. As soon as she noticed me looking at her, her expression reverted to her usual scowl.
Wait a second… I know this place; it’s the supermarket we went to earlier. We were this close the entire time…?
I could tell Minatsu had realized the same thing; she looked as surprised as I felt.
“I think we can explain what happened now. I’m sure you have a lot of questions,” Yukimura said.
“Yeah! We were too busy escaping back in the theater hall to ask questions, but I have so many. To start off with, why did you two come to our rescue?”
I knew President Shiori was clever and Yukimura was a go-getter, but how did they find a spot it took Hibiki so much effort to find?
“That’s fair… I don’t know if you two will believe us, but…” It was rare for President Shiori to sound so unsure. “The truth is… I received a call from Phantom Thief Red. That you two…and Hanasato had been kidnapped.”
Huh? Phantom Thief Red—you mean me? Well, I didn’t call anybody, so that leaves one possibility:
Kei?! He must’ve realized something was wrong and helped out!
“I didn’t believe it at first, but we couldn’t contact either of you, and they knew all about what happened at the school festival.”
I see! It would be hard to believe if someone called you and claimed to be Phantom Thief Red, but only President Shiori, Kei, Hibiki, and I know about what happened at the culture festival.
“Shiori told me what happened, and honestly, I didn’t believe it at all. It was so sudden, and why would Red contact us? But not too long after the call, Hibiki came back to our school to see if you two made it home, so we decided to believe Red.”
What happened?
President Shiori could see my confusion and continued. “Phantom Thief Red gave us the rundown: ‘Hibiki Shirasato will appear at the school and ask if Asuka Kouzuki and Minatsu Segami have come back. I want you to secretly follow him out when he leaves.’ It was so hard to believe, but when Hibiki Shirasato appeared asking about you two, Suzuka and I hurried to follow him.”
“So that’s how you figured out where we were. Hibiki must’ve been too preoccupied to notice you two were following him. But even if you were following him, coming to save us was way too risky.”
“Yeah, we thought so, too. But I knew that theater hall inside and out, so I asked Phantom Thief Red to let us help. They were reluctant to agree at first, but eventually agreed to help on the condition that we would follow their instructions. We wanted to do anything we could to help our cute classmates!” Yukimura said, and she and President Shiori smiled at me.
I bet Kei couldn’t say no to these two. Once he knew the location, he could get a blueprint of the building for him to find a safe way out, too.
So he was their navigator, like he usually is for me.
“Originally, I thought about going in as a decoy, but Red didn’t like that idea. They said, ‘the last thing we should do is give them more hostages.’” Yukimura chuckled ruefully.
Yeah, that definitely sounds like Kei.
“But Red sure is cool, right? I’ve gotta say, I’m a fan,” she went on, and I couldn’t quite tell if she was joking or not.
Oh…? I guess that’s nice to hear, but I’m not quite sure how I feel about that…
“Now we just need to figure out how to help Detective Shirasato and Hanasato…,” President Shiori remarked with a worried look.
“I’m worried about them, too, but we already called the police, and Red is on the job. They should be okay.”
“I agree, Shiori. We did what we could. It was dangerous, but we saved our friends.”
“Yes… I suppose we should leave the rest in their hands,” President Shiori said with a nod, as if she was trying to convince herself.
The truth is, if they didn’t come for us…I don’t know if we would’ve made it out. I might’ve had to do something that revealed I’m actually Red, too.
“Sorry…,” Minatsu said. “You guys had to put yourselves in danger for us.”
“That’s not right, Minatsu,” Yukimura retorted.
“Huh?”
“When someone helps you, you’re supposed to say, ‘Thank you.’” Yukimura gave Minatsu an encouraging look, and Minatsu’s expression brightened.
“Okay, Captain Yukimura!”
That’s right! I’d rather be thanked than apologized to, too.
Minatsu and I looked at each other.
“Thank you both!” we said.
“Yeah! We should probably head back to school now,” Yukimura replied.
She, President Shiori, and Minatsu began walking home, but I stayed behind.
I can’t go back like this—not yet. There are still people waiting for me!
I called out to the three girls. “Um, sorry, but I, um…I need to go to the bathroom really quick!” I said, then darted into the supermarket.
“Hey, wait! Asuka!” I heard Yukimura shout.
“You guys can go on ahead without me!” I yelled back.
I continued weaving through the aisles until I passed through the rear exit.
I was heading back to the theater hall at a full sprint. Back when we were escaping, I had to slow down for President Shiori and Minatsu, but not anymore.
“Here should be a good spot.” I dipped into an empty alley and changed into my Red uniform. I put my earpiece in, and I already had a signal.
“Asuka. Where are you?”
There was Kei, with his usual uninterested voice.
Even though we’d only been apart for a few days, hearing Kei’s voice felt like a breath of fresh air. My heart was a little warmer now.
“I just got back to the theater, so I’m right outside,” I told him, and a smile spread across my face.