Lupin The Third: The Beast of Lykanisches

Chapter 29

The verdict was favorable.

And as Diana and I had agreed previously, that meant it was time to travel. After everything we'd been through, a little vacay was just what the doctor ordered. We hadn't quite decided where we were headed, only that we wanted to go. Something fun and spontaneous. See where the road might take us. But our destination was soon decided for us.

No sooner had we stepped out of the courthouse, the bailiff slipped my sister an envelope. Inside, was a deed to a house; one that had both our names on it. I recognized the address at once, but I didn't dare tell Diana what it meant. And though I searched desperately for the bailiff, he'd made himself scarce. The only evidence of Lupin's presence was that deed and a single red rose.

Curiosity compelled us – perhaps Diana more than myself – to follow the directions provided. I didn't dare let on that I knew where we were headed, nor that I'd been there before. A childlike whimsy had overcome my sister. And even if it was a multi-day trip, that newfound freedom to go wherever she pleased, whenever she pleased, beckoned to her. Suddenly, she was the adventurous little girl I grew up with all over again, and it warmed my heart to see her in a way I hadn't seen her in so long.

A wistful composition played as the burnt orange Honda Fit traversed the long, quiet, sunlit road, flanked on either side by fields of tall, swaying grass. It passed through a tunnel of trees which painted the car and its occupants in filtered streams of emerald-green light, only to emerge onto a mountainous region where a look beyond the guardrail granted a view of an expanse of water which sparkled like liquid diamonds in the late-summer sun. At a railway crossing, the car puttered to a stop and waited for a train to pass.

"What music is this?" asked Diana, who was behind the wheel.

"It's called Fire Treasure, by Yuji Ohno," replied Ruby distractedly, her expression just as wistful as the music.

The elder sister's lips quirked. "What? No '80s power ballads to serenade us on our way to adventure?" she teased.

Ruby shook her head as she kept her gaze out the window. "I dunno," she said softly. "This song just seems to describe how I'm feeling right now."

Diana wasn't quite sure how, as the lyrics were in Japanese. And as far as she knew, Ruby wasn't fluent in that language.

"Besides," said Ruby as the train passed and the Honda Fit trundled carefully across the tracks to the other side. "It just fits the scenery, you know?"

Diana couldn't argue that.

The music was admittedly beautiful, in a poignant sort of way.

Shiawase o tazunete watashi wa yukitai
Ibara no michi mo itetsuku yoru mo
Futari de watatte yukitai

Tabibito no samui kokoro o
Dare ga daite ageru no
Dare ga yume o kanaete kureru

Honoo to moesakaru watashi no kono ai
Anata ni dake wa wakatte hoshii
Kizuna de watashi o tsutsunde...

By the time they pulled their car onto the Harp's Head ferry, bound for Longwell Island, only then did Ruby decide it was time to tell her sister just what they were getting into.

"So, this house..." she said slowly, for she was waiting for the ferry to draw close to the island. "I've been there before."

Diana, who stood at the prow of the boat, letting the wind caress her face and ruffle her hair, turned to gape at Ruby in surprise.

"What? How?"

"Erm..." Ruby made a gesture of scratching her finger against her cheek, just in front of her ear; a subconscious tick she had picked up from a certain thief who used to scratch at his sideburns in such a way. "When I was with Lupin and Jigen and Goemon," she said softly. "That's the first place we stayed. Kinda like a safe house, ya know?"