Red Lady Cigarettes

Chapter 4: 1/5

"Surely you could've worn something else."

Touza's short statement was shortly followed by Shinkiro repeating the sentence mockingly. "Surely you could've worn something else—Shut up." The lady locked her mask in place before continuing. "Wearing less helps me, it takes less time to turn these clothes into smoke and revert them back. If you have a problem with that suck it up."

"Apologies for assuming." Her eyes narrowed from hearing this response, mostly because she was questioning its authenticity. But he proceeded to carry on with the plan. "Remember that this operation solely works on what I do best. And that is precision with time." Touza expanded the blueprint of the Kumori's main company building, pointing to each area he marked. "Cameras are all in the corners, and ends of hallways. You will enter the vent, that will lead you up to the 23rd floor. I estimated for it to take at least ten minutes."

"Give me six."

"Shinkiro, you're entering from the ground floor."

"Yeah, give me six minutes. Do I have to explain how fast I can move as a smoke?"

"Right then." Touza lifted his head. "Six."

With a few more discussions, the plan was summarized and wrapped up before two in the morning. The time the plan is to be executed. From Shinkiro's knowledge, there are five safes that the Kumori household has in possession, one of them is at their company building currently ran by the eldest sibling Kijin Kumori, Shinkiro's uncle.

The safe is located behind a painting at the leftmost side of the office library. If the plan is properly executed, Shinkiro will enter from the vent from the ground floor as Touza guides the right passageways from outside of the building with the blueprint. Shinkiro will be equipped with a tracker, and as the tracker wont work when turned to air, Shinkiro will have to stop every thirty second mark to solidify herself so Touza could pinpoint her location and redirect the path.

"Are you sure you can do it in six minutes?"

"Look at the vents, they're all in the same pattern, by the 23rd repetition of the course, that's how I know I'm in the right spot. If you ask me, I just need your tracker to confirm my location."

"Remember, no killing."

"You got it."

"No, tell me you get it."

"Okay, Kousetsu-san. I get it. No killing."

As they all got in their respective positions and the hand of the clock landed in the designated time to start. Both of them are on the move.

By the first checkpoint, Shinkiro was on the right track, and Touza responded shortly. "Proceed to the next." He said before hearing huffs from the other end of the line.

"Well... I surely didn't expect these vents to be so narrow."

The tracker's light disappeared once more as the cycle continued by the third checkpoint. The third is a sign that shinkiro is on the 23rd floor. When the faint light dot of the tracker appeared in Touza's screen, he looked at the clock and she arrived there earlier than six minutes. The other line's audio scratched in static before he heard her voice. "No one's here at the library. I'm locking the door now."

"Good."

"Also, about the safe. How much time do I have to get inside?"

"We went over this, you have more than twenty minutes for that."

"Yeah, actually— no. Because this metal is as thick as my rear end and I can't melt this solid thing into air in just twenty minutes. So, you know, slight changes."