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Being a security guard isn't exactly an appealing job these days. Yuyuko’s not surprised. It’s pretty boring, and nothing ever happens because no one really goes to museums anymore other than old souls and teenagers on a field trip. The only reason she even works here is because rakugo doesn’t really pay the bills and because of nepotism (Yuyuko still needs to buy some nice tea for Tamao). The night shift’s especially boring since there aren’t even people around. Not that Yuyuko particularly minds, since she’d rather be alone anyway. She’d like to make up some story about a thief or villain or something breaking in during her shift, but ever since the emergence of local superhero Onikage, the crime rate dropped dramatically, which Yuyuko’s glad about. It doesn’t make her job any less boring, though.
She can’t help but let her mind wander as she continues on patrol, the skylight making for a nice atmospheric stroll with her thoughts. Rui should be eating dinner now, leaving the leftovers in the microwave for her as she usually does. As soon as Yuyuko comes back, she gets up, running her dojo as Yuyuko recovers and sleeps through the morning and afternoon. They only have time together during lunch, where they call Yachiyo right as she wakes up for the day. The time difference is annoying, but that’s what happens when your girlfriend is a fashion designer in France. Yuyuko thinks she hides how much she misses Yachiyo pretty well. Rui’s not so subtle, which amuses her to no end—
A faint buzzing sound catches her attention. She’s currently patrolling the artifacts section, filled with jewels and trinkets more valuable than her yearly salary. They thrum with a certain air of energy that Yuyuko’s grown to ignore. Tamao warned her of them, the power they hold, and the consequences that come with them. Why the museum curator never upped the security is something that’s baffled her, but whenever Yuyuko asked, Tamao just gave a mysterious smile and a vague answer. She’s been hanging around Michiru too much, Yuyuko thinks.
Yuyuko pulls out her gun, not that she expects to use it, and quietly creeps closer to the buzzing noise. It stops abruptly as she barely makes out the sound of a plane of glass being oh so gently placed on the floor. A beat, and another before she hears shifting again, probably reaching for an artifact. Yuyuko turns the corner, pink curls, and turquoise eyes surrounded by an elaborate masquerade mask meeting her own.
“Arsene Y. Lupin, drop the artifact,” Yuyuko says firmly, sounding more confident than she looks. She used to be extremely prominent in the city around the same time Onikage showed up. Now, she’s known for her world-renowned capers. Yuyuko never expected to encounter her here of all places, a lipstick laser in one hand and the other reaching inside a glass case for the artifact.
“Aw, that’s cute, thinking you can do anything against me.” Lupin giggles, pocketing the artifact before, pulling a card with her signature, stylized ‘Y’ before pressing a kiss to it. Yuyuko yelped as she flicked it, the corner of it embedding itself in the tile floor. “Keep this as a little memento of our encounter, darling~”
Yuyuko absolutely refuses to be flustered by an infamous thief like Lupin, but she can feel her cheeks warm up. She ignores her racing heart and takes a shot at the super thief. She manages to dodge it, though her expression shows that she was not expecting Yuyuko to do that at all.
“Oh, looks like the knight-guard in blue armor has a little fight after all!” She smirks, immediately masking her surprise. Yuyuko bites her lip, hoping Onikage will come soon. It’s not like this is the only crime happening in the city, but Onikage always came to each of Lupin’s capers before. Until then, Yuyuko stalls like her life depends on it.
“Like you do?” Yuyuko taunts, her formerly-suppressed fixation of famous superheroes and villains cropping up again. She’s just glad she didn’t meet her girlfriends at the peak of her nerdiness. “You never shy from a fight, but you rarely initiate one. You go in, do your job, and get out. I can’t think of a single case where you stayed and fought the whole time.”
Another surprised expression. Yuyuko shouldn’t be as satisfied as she is from eliciting that reaction again.
“Well,” Lupin drawls, much more defensive than she was earlier. Yuyuko doubts she can catch her off guard like that again. “Someone’s been doing her homework.”
“What can I say, the night shift’s usually uneventful.” Yuyuko shrugs, gripping her pistol just a bit tighter than before. “Congrats for breaking that record.”
“I’m so very honored,” Lupin smirks, before pausing. The floor, the artifacts, even Yuyuko and Lupin themselves were slowly being tinted red by the moonlight. Yuyuko takes a hopeful glance upwards, seeing a red moon behind the silhouette of a person with a sword. Lupin frowns, muttering something under her breath, before looking to Yuyuko. “Smart girl, stalling for her. That’s my cue to leave, darling, but don’t forget my little present!”
Before Yuyuko can register the words enough to form a response, Lupin unholsters her infamous crossbow, shooting an arrow to the side, pulling her away like a grappling gun. Yuyuko curses as she pockets the card, giving chase. She’s just barely more than a civilian, not anywhere near the likes of Lupin, but she can at least give a good witness when the official cops come in to ask her about the incident. Running through each exhibit and weaving through displays like the back of her hand, she finally catches a glimpse of Lupin going to the main entrance hall, adjacent to the gift shop and information booth. She takes the time to go around to the other side, crouching behind the counter of the latter, peaking off to the side where she sees Lupin pocketing the artifact in her pocket. She aims her pistol again, cursing herself internally when she finds her hands are too shaky to properly aim.
Luckily, she’s spared from the responsibility of stopping Lupin. Yuyuko barely manages to stifle a gasp as Onikage comes into view, a literal shadow of herself creeping up behind Lupin with her blade raised. If she strikes Lupin, she’ll be frozen in place with the sword’s mystical ability, but Arsene Y. Lupin has always managed to evade it by the smallest of hairs.
This time manages to be no different, as when Onikage strikes, Lupin once again avoids it. Not fast enough as the tail end of her outfit gets cut, though, streaks of ice spreading then fully covering the fallen piece of cloth.
“Lupin.” Onikage’s voice calls, and it causes a chill to run down Yuyuko’s spine. “I never thought I’d see you back here.”
“I’ll give you a call next time, darling~” Lupin blows her a kiss.
“Don’t call me that.” Onikage growls in a way that implies that she doesn’t particularly care about the nickname. These two certainly have the oddest relationship in regards to superheroes and villains (not that Lupin counted as a villain herself; more like a henchman, actually). Neither of the Lupins or anyone they associate with rarely cause any harm, but there are times where Moriarty’s group gets their hands dirty, and the things they steal are priceless and an unfortunate amount of them will probably never be found again. Both Lupin and Onikage aren’t strangers to injuries during their scuffles, and though they make a point to avoid civilians, there is some collateral damage sometimes. “What did you steal this time?”
“Sorry, that’s classified information. Boss Lady specifically told me not to spill that little tidbit just yet. But…” She pulls out something else, a fancy red fountain pen that seemed to call out to Yuyuko. “I will say that’s not the only thing I took~”
Onikage’s kitsune mask gives nothing away as she raises her sword before dissipating. She reappears in the air, yelling as she raises her sword before swinging early, vanishing again. Lupin stood still, hand twitching. Then, she jerks to the right as Onikage’s sword smashes the place where she used to be. The hero fully reappears, now in a more relaxed stance.
“Rusty, aren’t we Onikage?” Lupin taunts.
“I’d say you’re the rusty one.” Onikage returns smugly. She holds out her hand, the pen in her grasp.
“What an annoying Oni.” Lupin sighs, before dashing around Onikage as the hero was standing still, waiting for the attack. Lupin finally dashes towards Onikage, her silhouette turning into a red and pink blur, but Onikage leaps away before she makes contact. Yuyuko catches a glimpse of something in the air headed in her direction, and she jumps up from her hiding place just in time to catch the pen Lupin showed off to Onikage earlier.
“Use it!” Onikage shouts at her. Without any explanation as to why, she crouches down to the floor and stabs the ground with it. Rings of purple surround the area underneath her before a more ornate sigil appears under Lupin’s feet, rose petals and magic bursting out of it. Yuyuko turns away, the light blinding her, but Lupin’s scream gives her chills.
When the glow dies down, Yuyuko checks on the thief. She’s unsteady on her feet, disoriented. She takes a step forward stumbling, before clutching her head with her hand.
“What did I do to her?!” Yuyuko laughs, more out of shock than anything.
“Magic migraine…?” Onikage sounds just as confused as she is. It reminds Yuyuko of Rui before she remembers that her girlfriend shouldn’t really be what she’s focusing on.
“Well, I might as well quit while I’m ahead.” Lupin sighs, before taking her grappling hook and pointing it upwards. It seems like a normal arrow bolt until it isn’t, destroying the roof and creating a hole big enough for a person to fit through it. The sound of a helicopter is clear, almost deafening. “This has been fun, ladies, but I have to get going. I’m sure the Boss Lady wants to talk to me, and I do have a life outside of thievery. See you around, ma grande, forte, oni et ma petite magicienne~!”
She shoots another bolt in the air, rope following it. Onikage shouts, trying for another attack against Yachiyo, but the thief dodges her by a hair. Yuyuko could see her grip onto a rope ladder as the helicopter gets more distant, Lupin’s silhouette fading as she makes her escape.
“That was… something,” Yuyuko says, at a loss of what else to say. She doesn’t get a response, causing her to look around. Onikage’s gone without a trace, leaving Yuyuko alone. Not half a minute later, Yuyuko hears police sirens, and she groans. She looks at the pen as if it could give her some sort of answer, before it shone, going from a pen in her hand to a simple string bracelet with an infinity symbol.
Yuyuko takes a deep breath in, then out. She takes out her phone, sending a text off to Rui.
“Just had a run-in with Onikage and Lupin.”
It doesn’t hit her until much later that Onikage and Lupin didn’t really try to hurt each other. Or her, for that matter.
-
“Yukko!” Rui runs up to her as soon as she walks through the door. It’s four in the morning, much earlier than she usually gets home from work. After the whole debacle, the cops showed up and proceeded to interrogate her for every bit of information she had. She told them everything except the pen and the card before Tamao arrived and thankfully let her off early, even giving her the week off. “I was so worried about you!”
Yuyuko’s not tired, but the night’s left her mind a little scrambled. “Why are you even awake?” she asks.
“I- well, I couldn’t sleep ‘cause Yachiyo should be landing from her plane any minute now,” Rui mumbled, rubbing her arm. “So I went to check my phone if she said anything about being here yet, and then I saw your message so I went to check the news and Lupin’s back, and—”
Yuyuko pulls Rui down by her shirt, kissing her. Rui immediately shuts up, melting into the kiss and wrapping her arms around the other girl. It’s Yuyuko’s favorite method of calming Rui’s nerves, so she utilizes it as much as she can. They part, Rui leagues more relaxed than she was a minute ago.
“I’m alright, don’t worry.” Yuyuko smiles. “You worry too much.”
“You don’t worry enough.” Rui furrows her brow, and Yuyuko gives her another peck. Neither of them notices the door opening as a certain pinkette snuck into their apartment.
“Is Rui worrying too much again?” A giggle rings throughout the apartment. Yuyuko turns around, facing Yachiyo as she swings the apartment door open. She’s in something more comfortable than she usually wears, a simple hoodie and sweatpants that Yuyuko's sure belongs to her and Rui. They lock eyes, and Yuyuko realizes she’s just as uneasy as Rui. “I caught the news on my way here, so I don’t really blame her.”
Rui loosens her grip on Yuyuko to pull Yachiyo into the hug. Yachiyo’s always caught off guard by genuine bouts of affection. Yuyuko takes an odd kind of satisfaction catching Yachiyo off guard since she rarely gets to see it. For once, though, Yachiyo doesn’t become shy, instead hugs Yuyuko as Rui hugs the both of them.
“I’m fine, really.” Yuyuko grumbles, cheeks pink. “Lupin didn’t hurt me plus Onikage was there.”
“Why is Lupin even back?” Rui mutters, sounding more like a petulant child than the twenty-three-year-old woman she actually is. “I thought she left the city for good.”
“Careful, Rui, your biases are showing~” Yachiyo teases. It’s always fun to poke at Rui’s black and white views on heroes and villains. Thankfully, repeated exposure to Yuyuko and Yachiyo’s more realistic views has gotten her to relax them more than before. “Maybe she missed it here. She is still human, after all.”
Rui sighs, rubbing her temples. “I guess you’re right. I still don’t like her, though.”
“No one’s saying you have to,” Yachiyo chuckles, though Yuyuko notes something off about it. “Just realize that everyone has their own reasons for doing things and that Lupin might not be as bad as you make her out to be.”
“Not to side with Rui or anything, but how do you explain this then?” Yuyuko pulls out the card from her pocket, the fresh lipstick still on it. "Even looks brand new."
"Spared no expenses for you it seems." Yachiyo giggles.
“She probably tried to catch you off guard or something,” Rui wrinkles her nose.
“By flirting with her?”
“She’s a super thief , Yachiyo. Who knows what she’s planning?”
The fashionista only rolls her eyes in response. “Do you mind if I take a look at that?”
Yuyuko shrugs, handing over the card. Yachiyo inspects it closely, giving it a sniff. “That’s some high-end perfume on this,” She remarks as she flicks the corner of the card.
“I wouldn’t expect anything less from the world’s most infamous thief.” Yuyuko gives a wry smile as she takes back the card, pocketing it again.
“This is Arsene L. Lupin erasure.”
“You’re surprisingly relaxed for having such an intense night,” Rui furrows her brow. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“I’m sure.” Yuyuko gives a more earnest smile. “If you really insist on it, though, we can watch something in the living room.”
“Can we watch Samurai Jack?” Rui pleads. Whether she realizes she’s using puppy eyes or not, it still makes Yuyuko cave.
“Give me five minutes to change out of my uniform,” Yuyuko gives Rui a peck on the lips, before turning to Yachiyo and giving her one as well. “And welcome home, Yachiyo.”
“I’m home,” Yachiyo chuckles, face tinted pink. “Now go change.”
Yuyuko makes her way to their bedroom, rolling her neck as she took off her security jacket. She tosses the jacket onto their bed, leaving it for future her to clean up. On the dresser where her clothes are, there’s a plain white shirt as well as a pair of shorts and her signature red jacket. She’s told Rui thousands of times that she didn’t need to do that for her, but it seems like it hasn’t sunk in yet. She changes into the shorts and shirt, then goes to grab the jacket. An envelope falls out of the hood, and Yuyuko quickly slips into her hoodie before she opens it.
It’s an invitation to the Jade Lounge, a bar in one of the sleazier parts of town, with a date and time tacked onto the bottom. She recognizes the address and the name because of Rui’s friend, Yumeoji Fumi. Yuyuko hasn’t gone before, but she knows Rui goes there a lot to meet up with her. The letter’s decorated with navy blue and blood-red wisps, highlighted by a few streaks of gold. In the corner is a small caricature of a fox mask.
Yuyuko furrows her brow before rummaging around in her uniform’s pocket, fishing out the card from Lupin. As Yuyuko inspected it more, she realized this wasn’t a normal playing card. In the corner, the seemingly singular car split, revealing that it was two cards stuck together. Yuyuko peeled the card apart, showing a different address. Her mouth parted slightly at the sleek, black interior, showing the address to Tendo Industries. In bold, blue lettering, is a single line, telling her to ask the receptionist for Moriarty at her earliest convenience.
Yuyuko would laugh insanely if she had the chance. Her two girlfriends, who were probably cuddling at this point, had sent her two separate invitations to what she could only assume was related to their affiliations, not knowing her arch-nemesis did the same thing.
She took a moment to tuck the invitations between the pages of one of her rakugo scripts. Today was a long day, and Yuyuko wants cuddles from her superhero and super thief girlfriends.