What Crooks Love

Catharsis Is Disappointingly Elusive

Lupin is forced to make a painful journey. Meanwhile Tomoe's apparition torments the thief, forcing him to his breaking point.

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Jigen checked his watch. It was midnight already. The abandoned warehouse that Zenigata had chosen for the meeting wasn't exactly what he had in mind when he said he wanted to talk, but it served his purpose nonetheless. 'Old pops should show up any minute now.'

"How did you manage to come into contact with him at such short notice," asked the samurai from his cross legged position. How the man was able to sit like that for hours on end was something that had perplexed Jigen ever since the two first met.

"I... I texted him man," came Jigen's irritated response. Goemon's relationship with technology had always been poor, but in recent years it had reached a comical degree. Goemon could easily adapt to the times, yet he was too stubborn to even try.

"Oh... I did not know you two had a direct line of communication." Despite trying his best to hide it, embarrassment was evident in his voice.

Jigen made one of his signature Jigen sounds that only two men knew how to interpret and lit up another cigarette, his first of the new day. The gunman was surprisingly smoking a lot less lately, far from his own gargantuan standards. "Everyone has a direct line of communication with everyone nowadays. If you tried using that phone we got you for once you'd find out for yourself."

Now it was Goemon's turn to be irritated. "I have no interest in being in direct communication with anyone," he exclaimed loud and clear. "Not to mention, these things can be easily tracked. What if someone were to pinpoint our location because you foolishly decided to text the man who has been pursuing us for years?" Goemon almost tried to hide the venom in his voice.

"How much of a freaking amateur do you take me for," yelled back Jigen. "So you don't know what Google is but you know that phones can be traced? I hate those damned things as much as you, but while some of us adapt to all that shit, others are still stuck in the Edo Period!"

Deciding not to press the matter any further both men eased up. The last thing they needed was more inner conflict. Jigen checked his watch again. "He's late," he announced.

Just then, the sound of a car could be heard outside of the building. The car's headlights went off and a familiar figure stepped out of it. The samurai finally stood up and held his sword tight. "Speak of the devil and he shall appear."

Within a matter of seconds, the inspector stood in front of the two men, his expression impossible to read. The tension in the room was almost palpable.

"Things must be getting out of hand if you two shitheads need my help." Zenigata was always straight to the point, a quality of his that both Jigen and Goemon appreciated.

Jigen took another drag before shoving the cigarette back into his mouth. "Yeah well, he's missing and if someone might know where he is, it has to be the president of his fan club himself," came Jigen's snarky reply.

Zenigata smirked. "You didn't seem to have any trouble tracking him down in his mansion the other day."

"Neither did you," came Goemon's reply. Hearing Goemon speak was still something Zenigata was getting used to. The samurai was so quiet and he could count the times he had spoken to him with his hands. Jigen's more familiar voice came to complete Goemon's sentence. "We know you were with him in jail so he might have told you something. We wouldn't ask for your help if he had just gone missing, it happens more often than you might think. Problem is, we're still not sure what's going on up there," he said, pointing his index finger at his head. "We don't want him shooting people on sight again, and we're pretty sure you don't either. He's hard enough to contain as is."