Midnight Disturbance at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Mimata Chieri seemed to have fully recovered from the brutal hangover that came as a side effect of the Elixir of Strength. From the crack of dawn, she came scampering over to me, shaking awake the guy who had stayed up late having sex with Nae Fitzgerald.
“Junior, Junior! Wake up already!”
“Ugh… It’s only six, you know?”
Breakfast at the Fitzgerald mansion was usually at seven-thirty, so there was still plenty of time. The fact that she was waking me this early made it clear she was thrilled by how much stronger she had become.
“That nasty liquor you gave me was definitely some kind of miracle elixir! My strength has gone through the roof!”
Mimata Chieri struck a front double biceps pose like a bodybuilder, proudly flexing both arms to show off her newfound power. No matter how hard she tried to show off her muscles, her arms still looked slender. Was that because she was a woman, or because of the biological modifications? They looked firm, but there wasn’t a single bulging vein in sight.
“Still, I don’t see any muscles, Senior?”
“But I really am stronger now. Hah! See? Still nothing?”
Thanks to Mimata Chieri making such a fuss, I finally woke up and sat up in bed. The thin sheet that had been covering me slid down, exposing my bare upper body. Mimata Chieri wrinkled her nose, then opened her narrow eyes and stared at me.
“Hmm, I can see why you’re so tired. Now that the sheet’s down, I can smell a woman’s scent all over you. This smell… Is it Aris? No, it doesn’t seem like hers…”
“Looks like your hangover is completely gone, huh?”
I ignored Mimata Chieri’s comment and tried to change the subject. There was no need to tell her. If I did, the story would just end up in her private collection of material to fantasize about me.
“Yep, I’m all better now!”
“Then I’ll go wash up first. Sorry, but could you throw the sheet in the laundry basket for me, Senior?”
I got up, grabbed some underwear, and headed for the shower. When I glanced back at Mimata Chieri, she was sniffing the sheet and muttering, “Whose scent is this?” I ignored her and went to clean myself.
While standing under the cold water, I thought about what to do today. Instead of some complicated plan, I decided on something simple: just follow the day’s schedule, then secretly tail Aris and Nae Fitzgerald when they made their move at night. I’d catch them right after the theft was finished.
The only question was whether to tell Mimata Chieri about it… I trusted her, of course, but if I told her that Aris and her aunt Nae Fitzgerald were probably the Phantom Thief Francois, she would definitely make a huge fuss.
“Junior, what are you thinking about?”
“I was debating whether I should tell you what I’m expecting to happen.”
“Aww♥ Tell meee~ If you say something like that and then don’t tell me, it’ll drive me crazy.”
Mimata Chieri clung to me as if trying to seduce me, acting all cute. Fine. I’d tell her. If it was just some fussing, I could handle it.
I explained a few incidents and my thoughts to Mimata Chieri, including the part where I suspected that Aris and her aunt Nae Fitzgerald were the Phantom Thief Francois.
“Heee~? Really? You’re amazing, Junior~! If you’re right, that means you figured out something no one else has been able to discover until now?! That’s so~ cool!”
Mimata Chieri reacted with the classic Japanese “Heee~!” and “So~ cool!” while making a big fuss, but it was bearable.
“They’ll probably go thieving tonight.”
“Hmm, then how about this? Since we got screwed over at that lab before, why don’t we catch both of them and then you can ravish them!”
“Excuse me?”
What the hell was this woman saying? I wasn’t some serial rapist… Catch them and then ravish them?
“You do know that Nae Fitzgerald is my aunt, right?”
“But you already did it with her, didn’t you? The scent on the sheet smelled like Nae’s perfume. And the other woman’s scent on it wasn’t Aris’s either. So the only women in this mansion are Nae and the maids, and the maids here aren’t exactly pretty.”
Don’t give me that yandere look again… That aside, her nose was incredible. She could still pick up Nae Fitzgerald’s perfume scent even though it had faded quite a while ago. On top of that, she could even tell whose “womanly scent” belonged to whom. It was truly impressive.
“You’re going to watch while I ravish both of them?”
“Of course♥”
I unconsciously pressed my temples. My head was spinning… For a brief moment, the thought of whether it was okay to keep someone like Mimata Chieri by my side crossed my mind, but the slight excitement I felt quickly took over, convincing me that it was all good.
Slap!
I smacked both my cheeks with my palms and barely managed to drive away the perverted demon inside me. Then I spoke.
“Let’s decide after seeing how things play out.”
“That means you’ll do it, right?”
“Let’s go eat breakfast first, Senior.”
I dragged the still-lost-in-lewd-fantasies Mimata Chieri by the waist and headed down to the dining room. We were a little late because of our conversation, so Oliver Fitzgerald, Nae Fitzgerald, and Aris were already seated at the table.
Nae Fitzgerald had a constant smile on her face and her skin was glowing with a healthy sheen. She must have sucked up a ton of my yang energy early this morning.
“Oh my, Ryuta, come sit down quickly. Butler~! Make sure to give Ryuta plenty of food.”
As expected, pretending to take sleeping pills and staying hard all night yesterday had paid off. The moment I sat down, Nae Fitzgerald began taking extra care of me.
Aris, who had no idea what was going on, tilted her head in confusion at her mother’s behavior. Oliver Fitzgerald greeted me with a “Did you sleep well?” before frowning and staring at his phone the whole time. Must be something going on at the company.
“Ryuta, what are you planning to do today?”
“I think I’ll tour around New York again. Senior Mimata hasn’t really seen the city properly yet, and I haven’t explored everything either.”
In truth, the only places I had seen since arriving in New York were the arms dealer branch, the Fitzgerald mansion, the industrial district, and the hotel where I had met Aris. Today was the day to finally enjoy a proper vacation.
At my words, Aris made a slightly sheepish face, stuck out her tongue, and laughed with a “Hehe.”
“Then let’s go out together after breakfast! I’ll make sure you have zero regrets today.”
I wasn’t sure if I could trust Aris’s words, but it looked like I would actually get to do some sightseeing today.
Aris Fitzgerald and Nae Fitzgerald quietly left the mansion and headed for the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
“What kind of time is this to show up?”
“We were doing New York sightseeing, so it couldn’t be helped, Mom.”
Since the three of them had gone out from morning until late at night enjoying themselves, Nae Fitzgerald—who had been forced to prepare everything alone—gave Aris Fitzgerald a light scolding. Aris Fitzgerald claimed it couldn’t be helped and clung to her mother, acting cute to butter her up.
“Let’s park the car here for now.”
Nae Fitzgerald and Aris Fitzgerald parked their car in a lot one block away from the museum and slipped into an alley.
When the two emerged from the alley again, Nae Fitzgerald and Aris Fitzgerald had vanished, replaced by the world’s most famous thief—Phantom Thief Francois.
Cyberware covered in various devices, combined tactical night-vision headgear that looked like VR equipment… Their appearances were identical to the Phantom Thief Francois that had been shown in the media. Excluding breast size, their body shapes and looks were so similar that unless someone knew them extremely well, it would be nearly impossible to tell who was who. The pair moved through the shadows of the night, and before long they had arrived at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Nae Fitzgerald headed toward the entrance while Aris Fitzgerald scaled the museum wall as if defying gravity. She stopped at a third-floor window and carefully opened it.
Because she had taken precautions during her earlier reconnaissance of the museum, opening the window didn’t trigger any alarms.
Aris Fitzgerald quietly dashed toward the control room on the third floor. Since the control room could monitor all the CCTV cameras and contact the police, it had to be taken care of first.
Upon silently arriving in front of the control room, Aris Fitzgerald attached a radio jamming device to the door, then slipped a small canister of sleeping gas—fitted with a thin straw-like tube—through the gap.
Hssssss!
With the sound of rushing air, the control room filled with white sleeping gas. Aris Fitzgerald waited a moment before opening the door. Inside, two chubby security guards were slumped in their chairs, fast asleep thanks to the gas. They wouldn’t wake up for at least four hours.
“Control room secured.”
While turning off all the CCTV feeds, Aris Fitzgerald radioed Nae Fitzgerald, who should have taken care of the guards at the security station by the entrance by now.
“We have a problem.”
Strangely, Nae Fitzgerald’s reply didn’t come from the radio—it came from right behind Aris Fitzgerald. Slightly startled, Aris pretended to be calm and turned around. Sure enough, Nae Fitzgerald was standing behind her.
“What’s wrong, Mom?”
“It looks like there’s already an intruder. The guards were already unconscious.”
At Nae Fitzgerald’s words, Aris Fitzgerald pulled up the recorded CCTV footage from the main entrance security station. Just one minute before they had arrived at the museum, a red mist had suddenly poured in through the front door, surrounded the guards, and knocked them out.
“That mist is the intruder?”
“Probably. Hold on, Mom…! Look! Check camera one!”
The footage from camera one showed the red mist gradually coalescing and transforming into a human shape. It was an East Asian woman with long red hair.
“She must be a thief too, right? Then we need to hurry before she steals our target!”
“You’re right. It wasn’t intentional, but it looks like we’ve suddenly ended up in a thief-versus-thief competition.”
Worried that their chosen item might be taken, the pair hurriedly left the control room. The moment both Phantom Thief Francois figures exited, the computer inside the control room suddenly powered on. From the instant the red-haired woman had appeared on screen, it had begun erasing all the CCTV data.