All The Way Around 2
[PART 5: While The Moon Is New]
"Has this happened to you before?"
She blinked. "Sharing a roof with a hero because of the rain? Nah."
"I meant having a getaway ruined by bad weather."
"A getaway...? Is that what you're calling me leaving your place?" she mused, a smile tugging at her lips. "I didn't even commit any crimes this time."
"Housebreaking," he pointed out, and she snorted, wondering what he'd say if he knew her original plan for getting through the rain.
"You also hustled one of my favorite shirts."
"Not this again... just buy a new one, you hoarder."
She could swear he wasn't this annoying the last time she took his clothes. Maybe he was grumpy because she interrupted his sleep?
"I will. Now stop dodging my question."
"Ehh... not really," she mumbled after wracking her brain. "I tend to improvise in my heists, but I can at least look up a weather forecast before going out. You won't see me prancing around when there's a rainstorm or snowstorm..."
Although there was that one time... nah, that didn't count.
"What didn't count?"
Oh, he heard that.
She raised a hand to wave him off, then hesitated. There was no harm in sharing a few details about a previous heist, right? What would he do? Go back in time and stop her?
"Alright, so this was... a little over one year ago. My job was to invade a mansion and steal a bracelet."
"What kind of bracelet?"
"A blend of diamonds and... emeralds, I think?"
His eyes narrowed slightly, and he nodded.
"The security there was pitiful. Only cameras and motion sensors. The guy didn't even put the bracelet in a safe or something. He wore it in his sleep! Can you believe that?"
"Yes? It's not that odd..."
"... I almost forgot you're also a rich boy with no sense. Anyway, I took it off his wrist, easy money."
"Or so you thought."
"Or so I thought! As I turned to the window to make my daring escape, I spotted a blizzard."
She gestured to the whipping winds raging beyond his bedroom window. "It was the middle of July, and the sky was clear a minute ago, so it could only be two things. An illusion quirk or a snow quirk."
A smirk was thrown his way. "Guess which one." Then, a challenge.
"Illusion."
She nodded, not impressed. It was an easy question. "My senses would've warned me earlier if someone forced a new weather outside. Turns out there was some security. A bodyguard with an illusion quirk. And a gun. And a jetpack."
"How did he figure out you were there?"
"I dunno. Maybe there was one alarm in the room even I couldn't see. Maybe it was something in the bracelet. Maybe he knew all along and was prepping his quirk for the showdown."
He held his chin, seemingly not satisfied with the answer by the way his eyebrows furrowed. But she paid it no mind, simply continuing her story.
"I knew it was an illusion, but my body didn't, so I couldn't run through the fake snow. I tried breaking the illusion by taking out the bodyguard, but he made himself and the mansion owner disappear. At that moment, I knew he was trying to keep me indoors so law enforcement could finish the job... can you guess how I escaped?"
"I'd rather not."
"Tapping out at the first difficult question?"
How very unlike him.
"What if I give you a tip? I couldn't run through the snow, but I still had to take one step outside."
"... you went underground."
She nodded. "Looked for a window facing the mansion's garden, jumped, and burrowed my way out. I got dirt all over my costume, but the bracelet was worth six hundred million yen, so... worth it."
He waited for her to continue, but she didn't.
"Is that all?"
"Yeah. Did you expect me to get caught or something?"
"You didn't encounter any heroes after resurfacing? No trouble besides getting your costume dirty?"
"What can I say? I'm a pro," she bragged, relishing in his glare. He was probably expecting a story in which he could enjoy her suffering or at least nitpick any mistakes she made. But why would she ever give him that?
"Besides... I didn't have to resurface."
With that cryptic comment, she turned her gaze back to the window, letting him stew on his—
"Hah."
A tiny chuckle escaped his lips. "I think I get it."
"... get what?"
"I was a little confused as to why the reports stopped after you dug underground. Despite the amount of heroes on your trail that day."
"...You... you..." she stammered with a growing realization.
"So you were using some sort of basement... probably one of Night Parade's hideouts," he concluded.
Then, he brought up his hands to stop her from throttling him.
"Hey, Seiryu..." she began with a sickly sweet tone. "If you knew the whole story from the beginning, you should've told me... I would have come up with something better...!"
Suddenly, everything made sense. His reactions as she talked, not surprised, but still interested, as if he was trying to figure something out. And the fact that he didn't try that second guess. He didn't want to fake a response since he already knew the answer.
She shouldn't have expected anything different. This stalker probably had all her heists memorized by heart now.
"Sorry," he said, not looking sorry at all. "I wanted your perspective of the events. There's something about hearing it from the criminal's mouth that's unmatched by police reports."
"After the rain ends, I'll leave and come back to stab you in your sleep. How's this for a criminal account?"
With a hold on her wrists, he turned their positions, pushing her against the mattress.
"Why are you so upset?" he asked, tilting his head. "Does that hideout hold anything important...?"
Yes. Nowadays, it was an underground lab belonging to Greenfinger.
"Hmph. As if. We ditched that place months ago."
She put up her best poker face, but by the look in his eyes, he was already planning to tip the police first thing tomorrow. They could easily uncover it by employing someone with a sensor quirk and using that mansion's garden as a starting point.
She would have to wake up even earlier than him and warn Greenfinger to relocate his things... then come up with a response when that fatass asked why. Because there was no good way to explain what happened tonight...
"Ahh..." she groaned, losing all fight and slumping on the bed. "... I hate you."
The dragon-shaped honey pot laughed. "... I hate you too."
Ending 3
In the light of day, though our faces meet Someone there might see, so we never speak 'Til the dark of night, while the moon is new When we whisper words of love in our secret rendezvous