Lonely Thieves

Act III, Part XII

Megumi's Side (April 12, 6:00 pm)

Megumi crouched down behind a fixture atop a building roof as she glanced out at the police officers patrolling the streets outside. "They've really come out in full force for you," she remarked to her companion dryly.

"It's quite an overreaction," Raven remarked with a grin. "I'm not so dangerous that I would merit a welcome like this."

"This isn't funny. If we head out there, they'll see us immediately."

"I'm aware. No need to kick up a fuss."

Megumi furrowed her brow in consternation. She had no idea what Raven was up to. Sure, he had said a client wanted to meet with her, but who hired a Night Hunter to deal with something that simple? There had to be more to it, but Megumi couldn't figure that out without playing ball with Raven's request.

To that end, they headed over to the Morning Star district, a place Megumi tended to avoid like the plague. Police were crawling all over, and to make things worse, they were looking for the man who was traveling with her right now, which certainly made moving around much harder.

Still, Raven seemed to have a sense of intuition and agility that even she was jealous of. Because of that, the two of them were able to easily make their way across the district without being caught, though they had been seen by civilians a couple of times.

Eventually, they arrived here, across the street from a massive skyscraper that seemed to tower even over the massive buildings of the Morning Star district. This was supposedly the place where the client was residing, which made Megumi even more suspicious. There was no way she knew anyone who could afford to live in a place like that, after all.

Raven, for his part, was surveying the road for a bit, then sighed and threw up his hands. "Well, looks like this is where we part ways."

"Huh? What about your job, then?"

"Well, you're almost there anyhow. Just need to get over to that building and head inside, right?"

"Yeah, it's so easy we've been sitting here for ten minutes trying to think of a way to sneak over!"

"Calm down. Listen, there's no way to get across the street from here without getting seen. So, I'll run over and cause a ruckus for the cops. That'll draw their attention, and then you can head over!"

"Are you sure that's the best idea? What if you get caught?"

Raven scoffed at the idea. "I won't get caught. Worry about yourself before even thinking about me, kid."

"But... But how will I even get in? It's not like I can just say, 'Hey, I'm the girl your boss asked Raven to pick up,' right?!"

"Fine." Raven took a card out of his pocket and wrote something on the back. "Show this to anyone who asks. That should take care of any issues you might have."

Before Megumi could even try to argue any further, Raven leapt over to the roof of the adjacent building, intending to make his way over to the patrols by the rooftops. In a matter of moments, she began to hear the sounds of police officers shouting in the distance.

"There he is!"

"Is anyone else with him?"

"No, he's alone!"

"After him! We can't let him get away!"

Megumi peeked down at the ground below and watched as the police that were patrolling the area ran off to another part of the downtown area. Once they were gone, Megumi climbed down the building, slipped onto the streets and tried to nonchalantly blend herself in with the crowd as she surreptitiously made her way over to the massive skyscraper.

As Megumi crossed the street and pushed through crowds of pedestrians, she noticed something out of the corner of her eye that caught her attention. It was a homeless man who was half-heartedly digging through some trash. Were it any other time, Megumi wouldn't have paid much attention to him, but this time, she felt as if he was merely putting on a show of doing so. As she continued to walk, she noticed his gaze following her as she made her way across to the other side.

Megumi didn't know whether the homeless man was a police officer in disguise or someone working with Norah. Nevertheless, she figured that it would be a bad idea to just walk into the building in view of someone clearly working for them. As soon as she was across the street, she turned to the left and walked away from the building. She knew where it was in a general sense, so she wasn't concerned about finding her way back. She took out her phone and used her camera to watch the homeless man as she walked away. Sure enough, the man went into action as soon as she left, pulling a phone out of his pocket to contact someone.

Megumi put away her phone and picked up speed. The faster she got away from this guy, the sooner she could head back to the client she was supposed to meet. She figured the best thing to do was round the block, so she continued steadily down the street, pretending to be a normal civilian.

In her haste, she paid little attention to where she was going and ended up bumping into someone. He was a surprisingly sturdy man, and though Megumi was moving quite quickly, she was the one who was knocked over onto the ground. She quickly grabbed her phone, trying her best not to look suspicious.

"Sorry about that! Guess I'm just too glued to my phone!" Megumi joked as she tried to walk past. However, she was stopped by the person she bumped into, who grabbed her hand firmly.

"Hold on!" he cried out. "You're not hurt, are you?"

"It's fine," Megumi said as she turned around with her best smile. However, her eyes widened in fear the moment she realized who she bumped into.

It was a Twilight Police officer, a mere beat cop with little authority. Nevertheless, the sight of him struck fear into Megumi. The officer glanced at her with a questioning expression on his face, apparently unsure why she was so scared of him.

"Did something happen?" he asked with oblivious concern. "You seem scared."

"I'm not scared," Megumi said as she tried to provide a reassuring smile. "I'm just in a hurry."

"Hmm," the officer seemed doubtful. Megumi swallowed her worries as she tried to look like she was trying to get somewhere. She needed some way to get away without rousing suspicion. But how?

As if in answer to her prayer, a familiar voice called out to her from the street.

"Hey! There you are!"

Megumi turned around to see Hikaru calling out to her from the passenger seat of a car. In the driver's seat, she spied Daryl, who kept his eyes strictly on the road.

"Come on, we're gonna be late! Get in already!"

Megumi nervously turned to the police officer and put on a pout. "Can you let me go now?"

The police officer sighed and he put his hands up. "Alright. Wasn't trying to cause you trouble, ma'am."

Megumi dashed towards the car and jumped into the backseat. Daryl drove away as soon as she was buckled in, and the police officer soon faded into the distance.

"How did you find me?" Megumi asked anxiously. She was still wary of Daryl, though she was sure she could trust Hikaru at the very least.

"There were images of a young girl running around town with someone called the original Night Hunter," Hikaru explained. "We just went wherever he was sighted. We were driving around the area and saw you by chance."

Megumi nodded in understanding. Raven was making a ruckus nearby. They probably showed up when they heard about that. Her attention turned to Daryl, who noticed her glaring at him through the rear-view mirror.

"You don't have to look at me like that," Daryl sighed. "I can explain everything, okay?"

"Then explain."

"When we got separated – it must have been days ago at this point – Norah and I were caught by Ingrid Hayasaka, who was operating in secret. They forced us to work as their moles in order to retrieve the necklace. I had no choice but to accept so I could be let out, but I never intended on betraying you."

"You could have said something."

"No, I couldn't have. They put a wire and a tracker on me. If I messed with it, they would have realized right away that something was wrong. Thankfully, Hikaru helped me get rid of the tracker, so we're good for now."

"I see." Megumi fell silent for a second. "Why are you helping me, then?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Daryl made a circle with the index finger and thumb of his right hand. "Money! You said you'd give me twenty percent of the reward!"

"I said ten percent, moron!"

"Who'd even remember in a situation like this?" Daryl said sheepishly. "Either way, it just felt wrong. I didn't want to betray you just because I was being threatened by Hayasaka."

"Hmm." A wry smile grew on Megumi's face. "Are you sure that's all? There wouldn't be some other personal reason for all this, would there?"

"Shut up," Daryl growled irritably. "Anyway, we should probably get out of here as quickly as possible. The police department is making moves, and we'll probably get screwed if we don't leave soon."

"Wait!" Megumi cried. "I still have something to do here! We can't leave the district yet!"

"Can't it wait? We'll really be in a sticky situation if we don't leave now."

"It can't." Megumi asserted with a serious expression. "I can't explain why, but something really important is about to happen soon."

Daryl glanced at Hikaru with a concerned look. "What do you think?"

Hikaru thought for a bit, and reluctantly nodded. "If she says it's important, then we should say."

Daryl signed and signaled to change lanes. "Alright, fine. We'll need to make a quick stop then, don't we?"