Worth More Than a Sapphire

Chapter 2: An Interesting Lunch

The rest of the day came and went, and by the time you'd woken up the next morning you felt like it was just a bizarre dream. Maybe you'd been watching too much TV-- not that that would stop you from turning on the news.

    Sure enough, the great Lupin had swept a jewel from your hometown. It had no significance or anything, as not much in your city did, but it was certainly valuable if only for its size. A baseball was nothing worth focusing on, but a gem the size of one certainly was.

    The report made a special mention that Inspector Koichi Zenigata, the only officer stupid-- er, determined enough to attempt arresting Lupin, was already hot on the case. The specific detail made you wonder. Was this really his job? People talked about Lupin a good bit, once in a while someone would mention his little gang of sidekicks. They seemed even more unreal than he did, honestly. A real samurai, a gunman who could fire in under a second, and a woman who could steal anything just by giving it the right look? Those weren't people, those were things that went bump in the night, the source of creaks on your roof while you tried to sleep. But Zenigata... You hadn't heard any stories about him.

    Luckily, you were living in an age of modern technology, and more importantly, Google. You checked the time at the top of your phone screen. 11 already. You typed his name into the bar, and did a little light reading while you got ready for lunch.

    That had been a bad idea. You sat at the same table as before, somehow even more nervous than the last time you were here. Maybe going in blind was a better idea, as now you realized the full weight of the actions this Zenigata guy would be prepared to go through. Zenigata had apparently been declared missing more times than he'd had a birthday, to the point that they stopped announcing when he was M.I.A. because they knew he'd be back somehow. He'd survived falling off buildings, getting hit by cars, one article even detailed that he'd once been shot with a tranquilizer powerful enough to keep an elephant down for hours, and he woke up in 5 minutes. He was once legally, scientifically declared dead from a gunshot wound, but his heart started beating again when someone merely mentioned Lupin in his body's presence.

    Were you having lunch with a detective, or an immortal monster destined to capture Arsene Lupin's grandson?

    This time you took special care to sit in the seat facing the door so he couldn't sneak up on you, but you were so lost in thought that you jumped at the chair in front of you squeaking.

    "A warning would be nice!"

    Zenigata ducked his head sheepishly. "Oh. Well. I'm here."

    "I hope you don't mind, I got kinda hungry so I went ahead and got the food. There's a sandwich and some cake for you in that little box."

    He perked up and pulled the box closer to him. His demeanor changed as he remembered why they were here, but he still opened the box. "So," he said casually. "About the robbery."

    "Right," you nodded. "You see, I was just picking up some coffee around dinnertime..."

    You carefully recounted the events of yesterday back to him, trying not to miss any details. The sooner he was off your case and on Lupin's, the better. To your surprise, he didn't interrupt or ask questions while you explained, instead just quietly munching on his cold lunch while you talked.

    You couldn't remember the last time someone listened to you so carefully, and it almost made you self-conscious about your word choices and verbal tics thrown in.

    "... and then I saw you and the squad across the way." You neglected to mention how watching him stomp around made you giggle. "You saw me and came over, and I don't have to tell you much beyond that. A-Are you already done with both?"