Lonely Thieves

Act I, Part X

Megumi's Side (April 8, 7:45 am)

Megumi rubbed the tiredness out of her eyes as she gazed out of Daryl's car. The road leading from the Solstice district, where Daryl's apartment was, to their destination in the Sunset district was backed up with traffic, making their early start to get ahead of the morning rush completely worthless.

"I'm glad we decided to eat breakfast before leaving," Daryl remarked as he tapped his fingers impatiently on the steering wheel. "I'd have starved to death before I ever got to the Sunset district."

"At least then I wouldn't have to pay your share of the reward," Megumi joked listlessly.

"Have a heart. I told you about my debt, didn't I?"

"And I told you what an idiot you'd have to be to co-sign a loan like that. Don't you have any sense of self-preservation?"

Megumi pulled out the necklace once more and stared at the emerald embedded into it. Though just barely, she could make out the shape of the flash drive hidden inside of it.

"What kind of data do you think is on this flash drive?" she asked herself out loud. "It's important enough to for the owner to have gone to this kind of trouble."

"Probably some classified files or blackmail on other companies. Considering Hayasaka's reputation, I wouldn't be surprised if it was something like that."

"Hayasaka, huh?" Megumi held up the emerald to the sun. "Do you think they even know about this?"

"Who cares? I have way to many other things to be worried about."

Megumi frowned at Daryl's unwillingness to carry the conversation. Was he still upset about her lack of sympathy towards his debt? It's not that she didn't pity him, but she was already giving him 2 billion redals. That should buy him enough time to work off the rest of the debt. She did the most of the work, so wasn't it natural that she got most of the reward?

This uncomfortable silence continued until the two of them arrived in the Sunset district. Unfortunately for the both of them, the morning rush was still underway, and traffic continued to clog up the roads.

Megumi spied a parking lot coming up on the right and pointed it out. "Hey! Let's just park already. At this rate, we'll never make it to downtown!"

Daryl nodded. "Good idea. It'll be a bit of a walk, but it's better than trying to find parking anywhere else."

Daryl drove into the parking lot, where an auto-valet took command of his car and handed him a ticket. The two of them hopped out of the car and onto the streets of the Sunset district, joining the crowd of pedestrians heading to work. The necklace had been put into an unmarked box, so that it appeared merely as a nondescript package. The going was still slow, but at least this way they were making steady progress to their destination.

"Will you be fine dressed like that?" Daryl whispered. "You kind of stand out."

"I can't help it, can I? I wasn't able to get a change of clothes since I was at your place all night. Well, it'll be fine. Without the vest, I look like a normal waiter. I doubt anybody here would notice."

After another ten minutes of walking, the two eventually made their way to the downtown area, which was situated in the center of the Sunset district. Here, the density of pedestrians traveling to work was at its peak, but they could still see their destination in the distance: a row of lockers placed against the wall of an office complex.

"All we have to do is place the necklace in the locker, right?" Daryl asked anxiously. "Any one's fine?"

"The client didn't specify in the memo," Megumi replied. "We're meant to leave the key in another location."

As the two of them discussed the situation, Megumi felt her phone vibrate from within her pocket. She pulled it out and saw that it was a call from her old friend Hikaru. It was rare for him to call her when he knew she was on a job, so something must have happened. She decided to duck into a nearby alley in order to take the call.

"Hey, Hikaru. Did something happen?"

"You could say that. Someone tried to look for you last night."

"Really? Was it about a job?"

"So she said, but I don't buy it. She smelled like a cop to me."

Megumi hummed curiously. "What did she look like?"

"Well, she was a Caucasian woman with long brown hair. Not very distinctive visually, but she definitely feels like a cop. You'll understand if you see her."

"Will I? You're always so abstract with these kinds of things, Hikaru."

"It'll be obvious, I promise. See ya." Hikaru hung up before Megumi could respond.

"Jeez, can't he wait for me to respond before hanging up?" Megumi complained as she put away her phone.

"What was that about?" Daryl asked curiously.

"A call from a friend of mine," Megumi answered as she stepped back out onto the main street. "Apparently I'm being asked about. Nothing too unusual for me."

"A friend? Is he also a thief?"

"No, not really. You could say that he's my childhood friend. We grew up together at the same orphanage in the Horizon district's Japanese sector."

"So you were orphans?" Daryl scratched his head awkwardly. "Oh, sorry. I guess that's a delicate subject."

Megumi smiled wryly. "Why are you being all sensitive now? In any case, it's not like I remember my parents anyway, so it's pointless. Come on, let's deliver this package already."

The two of them walked until they were stopped by a traffic light. Once they crossed the street, they would be right in front of the lockers. Megumi suddenly began to feel a sense of unease as she glanced at the row of lockers and grasped the package at her side uneasily.

Almost by instinct, Megumi suddenly began looking around the crowd for any suspicious folk. As if answering to her demand, she noticed a brown-haired woman who seemed to be walking right towards her. At once she remembered the description that Hikaru had given her, and a sense of foreboding overtook her. All of a sudden, it seemed like that woman really was walking towards her.

The light changed, and Megumi burst through the crowd of pedestrians, trying desparately to get to the other side of the street as quickly as possible. However, the woman noticed that she was trying to rush, and grabbed her arm before she could make it very far.

"Don't draw attention to yourself and listen to me calmly, okay?"

"Let go of me!" Megumi grunted under her breath.

"I'm not going to hurt you, okay?" the woman said cautiously. "I just want to talk."

Megumi tugged on her arm to try and loose herself from the woman's grip, but she was surprisingly strong. Daryl, confused by what was happening, eventually snapped himself out of his daze and entered the fray.

"Hey, what's going on? Do you have some business with us?"

"I do. Let's just talk for a second, okay? Somewhere that's...not so public."

"Screw that! Why do I have to talk to you anyway?"

"Please, miss! This is serious!"

Megumi was taken aback by her sudden burst of emotion. She still had that sense of foreboding, but she decided to do as the woman said for the time being. It didn't look like she was going to let go otherwise. They followed her into a cafe off of the main street and sat down at one of the outside tables.

"My name's Norah," the woman said. "What are your names?"

"I'm Daryl," Daryl replied. Megumi remained silent. "She's Megumi."

"Okay, then. Let's not mince words. I know that you stole the emerald necklace from the Hayasaka family."

Megumi and Daryl stiffened up. They'd had a sense of what this conversation was about, but it was unnerving how quickly they were found out.

"What do you want?" Megumi asked apprehensively. "Are you a cop?"

Norah shook her head. "No, I'm a Night Hunter just like you."

"Then what? I stole that necklace fair and square, just so you know. I've already got one guy trying to ride my coattails, and I don't need another."

"I'll be honest. At first, I wanted to find you so that I could try and steal back the necklace. But things have changed. It's too dangerous to hand off that necklace to the client right now."

"Why?" Megumi seemed irritated, but a seed of doubt sprang from inside. "It kind of sounds like you're a sore loser to me."

"I'm serious. I don't know the reason myself, but you need to get out of here, okay?"

"This is ridiculous!" Megumi stood up furiously. "I'm not listening to this."

She slid out of her seat and walked back into the main street, with Daryl reluctantly following after her.

"Wait!" Norah followed after them, but Megumi sped up her pace, and it was hard for her to follow after through the crowd. As she tried to make a beeline for the lockers, she suddenly felt Daryl's hand on her shoulder.

"What are you doing?" Megumi asked angrily, but Daryl merely pointed up in response. She turned around to see the large jumbotron that was mounted on top of the biggest building in the square. It was currently broadcasting the news, where a heavily made-up anchorwoman was about to give a report.

"In a statement released to the Twilight Police Department, Hayasaka Zaibatsu's CEO Tom Hayasaka confirmed earlier this morning that his mansion was burgled last night during his Anniversary Gala. While the details of the burglary have yet to be confirmed, both the Twilight Police Department and the Overman Foundation are working together to find the criminals who invaded his home."

Megumi suddenly swirled around. She hadn't been paying attention before, but there were for more Overman Officers on the streets than usual. This was strange. Hayasaka Zaibatsu and the Overman Foundation were business rivals. Why were they working together to recover the necklace?

Her thoughts were interrupted by the broadcast, which was now showing a video message from Tom Hayasaka. "We're deeply upset by this turn of events, but we have a description of two possible suspects that we're investigating right now. Despite this small setback, Hayasaka remains strong. A small message for the thieves in question; we don't know where you are, but we will find you. Count on it."

END OF ACT I