At noon on Monday, all the members of the Occult Research Club gathered in the club's activity room.
Sonoko stood in the center of the room.
"Everyone, look over here. I have something to announce."
"Do you have any free time this Thursday? The Beika City Museum is holding a grand gem exhibition. Want to go with me to check it out?"
The invitation came too suddenly, and even felt a little out of place.
"Um~ Sonoko, the bombing at the Shinjuku Museum just happened over the weekend, and now the Beika Museum is hosting an exhibition? Are you sure people are going to want to visit?"
Fujiwara Chika voiced her doubts.
"I personally don't think it's appropriate."
Sonoko sighed. She, too, felt the timing didn't make much sense.
"The gem exhibition at the Beika Museum has actually been in preparation for half a year. A lot of connections were used to bring in gems from all over. It was originally supposed to be held on a much larger scale, but after the museum bombing over the weekend, the Beika Museum hesitated on whether to go through with it."
"However, since the gems were already shipped in by the museum, if they delay it, they'll have to return them. All the effort of the past six months would go to waste, and the financial loss would be huge."
"So, the curator of the Beika Museum decided to continue. Otherwise, both their money and reputation would go down the drain."
Upon hearing this, Kaguya sighed and slightly shook her head.
"After all, the bomber caused such a huge incident. Even though he's already been arrested, the aftermath won't settle so quickly."
"Trying to push an exhibition right now won't attract the public. Instead, it'll just make people more afraid to attend because of what happened."
At that point, Kaguya looked at Sonoko with a puzzled expression.
"Why are you bringing this up now? Is this exhibition connected to your family?"
"Hehehe..."
Sonoko let out a dry laugh, clearly poked in a sore spot.
"Actually, the Beika Museum invited our family when they were gathering gems. Normally, our family wouldn't participate in something like this. But didn't I mention it before? Our family's 60th anniversary is coming up, and since the museum extended an invitation, my dad decided to accept."
"The item we're exhibiting is a large black pearl collected by my great-grandfather. They say it's the biggest black pearl in the world right now. I don't really know much about it, but I think my dad cares more about its symbolic meaning than its value."
"I heard that ever since my great-grandfather obtained this black pearl, our family's business fortunes started to soar. It's considered a good luck charm. That's why our family has been taking great care of it all these years. If it weren't for the 60th anniversary, I don't think my dad would've agreed to let it be shown."
No wonder… Kaguya nodded quietly to herself.
The preparation time for a conglomerate's anniversary is always long, especially for the 60th, which is a major milestone. They probably started planning it a year in advance.
Just like the Beika Museum's exhibition, which had been in the works for half a year, it showed how important the Suzuki conglomerate's anniversary was.
"You mentioned it last week, but is it starting this soon?"
Ren naturally knew about the Suzuki conglomerate's 60th anniversary.
"Yeah, the banquet preparations have already started. This time, the banquet will be held on a cruise ship, so there's a lot to arrange. The rest of the work now is sending out the invitations."
"All of it needs to be done this week."
"All the invitations this week? That's kind of rushed."
Aizawa Sakuya couldn't help but comment.
"Yeah, it's a bit rushed."
Sonoko also sighed, sounding frustrated as she complained,
"It wasn't supposed to be this rushed, but someone's got their eyes on our black pearl."
"A person the police are calling 'Phantom Thief Kid 1412' has already sent us a notice saying he's going to steal it."
"Oh~"
Sakuya's eyes lit up with interest.
"So, your family's getting ready to take him on?"
"Yes. My dad didn't really want to, but my mom got really mad about the provocation, so now she's ready to fight back. She's treating the black pearl as a challenge."
"Isn't that kind of a big gamble? Your mom's really that hot-tempered?"
Sakuya seemed genuinely surprised that Sonoko's mom would take such a strong stance, directly confronting a marauder.
She was a little stunned, then asked,
"By the way, who is this Phantom Thief Kid 1412? Is he that famous?"
"He's quite well known. Actually, he became famous about twenty years ago. Back then, whenever Phantom Thief Kid 1412 took a liking to a treasure, he'd send a notice letter ahead of time and then steal it, even under heavy security."
"Apparently, even Interpol and the FBI couldn't stop him. Time and again, they failed, and the treasures he warned about were stolen right on schedule. But he wasn't stealing them for money—he was more interested in the thrill of the heist."
"Because of that, he became super popular in Western countries."
Sonoko could kind of understand why a marauder would gain that kind of popularity. After all, who doesn't like a mysterious thief?
In the past, she might've been curious about what he looked like, what kind of face he had under that white top hat.
But now, she really had no interest in him.
She didn't want her actions to be misunderstood by Ren.
Everyone else quietly nodded in understanding.
The fact that even Western police couldn't catch him meant this thief wasn't just some petty criminal. Everyone present knew what foreign police were like, once they got going, they really didn't hold back with the trigger.
"So, after school on Thursday, are you all free?"
Everyone looked at each other, then began showing some interest.
"Yeah."
(To be continued.)
***
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