Click! The door swung open with ease, and Mayumi sighed. Honestly? This was way too easy? How could suck second-rate pretenders ever hope to compare to the Black Rose mafia? Then again, they surely didn't know that Black Rose had a mafia. She hadn't when she joined the guild. She'd only learned recently, right before their little trip up to Mt. Hakobe, but that was another story.
Still, this sad group of upstarts had decided to set up shop in the Rose Garden, right under her guild's nose! That couldn't be allowed to stand, everyone knew that. Still, she had been shocked when Izayuki had asked her of all people to gather information on them. At first, she'd thought it had been a huge vote of confidence. Now that she'd seen their appalling lack of security, she wondered if the experienced guildmaster simply knew they weren't much of a threat and had assigned her more experienced agents elsewhere. Either way, though, Mayumi still wasn't going to let her down. She would prove her worth to the organizations- both the guild and the mafia it hid.
She slipped into the building, closing and locking the door behind her. After all, an unlocked door would announce her presence here. She pushed back her hood for a moment to slip the hair pin she'd used to pick the lock back into the tight bun she'd wrangled her hair up into. After all, long hair like hers was noticeable, and it could get tangled in things. Not the best for stealth missions, especially considering the bright color. Plus, the pins came in handy, which was always a bonus.
The hood hid her appearance, and the Black Rose tattoo on the side of her neck. She'd taken the added precaution of wrapping a black scarf around her neck as well to hide the mark. She'd been told that if she were to happen to be caught, under no circumstances was she to allow anyone to find out who she was with. That, of course, was a given. Secrecy was very important here. The rest of her outfit fit the black theme. Black yoga pants and a black hoodie. Made it kind of obvious that she wasn't supposed to be here, but then again, in a place like this she would be recognized as not belonging no matter what she wore, so she had gone for what would make it easiest for her to conceal herself.
Now that she was inside the mansion, Mayumi set about her task. She began making her way down the narrow halls, carefully alert for any signs of life. She paused at every door, looking for light and listening for snippets of conversation, but found nothing. Then after about five minutes, she heard footsteps down the hallway, and they were coming straight at her!
Her heart raced for a moment. What was she going to do? Then the obvious answer hit her, and she felt a little dumb. She quickly crossed to one of the nearby rooms, which she had already judged to be empty, and quietly opened the door, stepping inside before carefully easing the door shut. She stood near the door, ear pressed against it as she listed to hear what was going on in the hall outside. And as she did so, she slowly became aware of another sound- snoring. There was someone else in the room with her!
Horrified, she slowly turned her head. Sure enough, even in the darkened room she could make out the massive figure sleeping in the bed just a few feet away. Oh hell! She'd picked a fine room to hide in. Still, she couldn't exactly back out now, not with someone else in the hallway outside, so she would have to wait it out and hope he didn't wake up. She swallowed and forced down her nerves, putting her ear against the door again.
As she listened, though, her thoughts on how unlucky she was quickly evaporated. Turns out there were two people outside the door, and they were both high-ranking members of this sorry bunch of losers. And what's more, they were discussing some upcoming scheme of theirs. As their voices began to fade Mayumi realized she needed to hear more, so she made the decision to risk leaving the safety of the room, being very careful in the process. She had two people in the hallway outside and one sleeping behind her. Any noise could be deadly.
Thankfully, she was fairly decent at being sneaky. She made it out of the room without alerting anyone to her presence. The two figures were already turning a corner farther ahead, so she began to follow them, being careful to keep a safe distance, although staying close enough to hear what they were saying. And commit it to memory, of course. Oh, these jokers were planning on stepping all over Black Rose's territory, and they were about to get their asses kicked for it. Especially since these idiots were dumb enough to mention real names. I mean, sure, they thought they were alone here, but still. By the end of this conversation they would be finished. She knew the names of their leader, and at least four other high-ranking members, plus exactly where all five of them would be a week from now. Perfect opportunity for a take-down if she'd ever heard one.
She trailed the pair all the way back to the front door of the mansion. Apparently they were planning on going out to meet with some client of theirs. Could she get away with following them to that meeting? She doubted it. Well, she could probably follow them to it, just not into it, and that was the important part. She suspected she wouldn't get much more out of these two. But it didn't sound like the meeting would be in a public place, or that the two parties trusted each other. Security would probably be amped up there, and she decided it wasn't worth the risk. She'd gotten a lot already. It was time to report back to Izayuki.
Word Count: 1,021
Still, this sad group of upstarts had decided to set up shop in the Rose Garden, right under her guild's nose! That couldn't be allowed to stand, everyone knew that. Still, she had been shocked when Izayuki had asked her of all people to gather information on them. At first, she'd thought it had been a huge vote of confidence. Now that she'd seen their appalling lack of security, she wondered if the experienced guildmaster simply knew they weren't much of a threat and had assigned her more experienced agents elsewhere. Either way, though, Mayumi still wasn't going to let her down. She would prove her worth to the organizations- both the guild and the mafia it hid.
She slipped into the building, closing and locking the door behind her. After all, an unlocked door would announce her presence here. She pushed back her hood for a moment to slip the hair pin she'd used to pick the lock back into the tight bun she'd wrangled her hair up into. After all, long hair like hers was noticeable, and it could get tangled in things. Not the best for stealth missions, especially considering the bright color. Plus, the pins came in handy, which was always a bonus.
The hood hid her appearance, and the Black Rose tattoo on the side of her neck. She'd taken the added precaution of wrapping a black scarf around her neck as well to hide the mark. She'd been told that if she were to happen to be caught, under no circumstances was she to allow anyone to find out who she was with. That, of course, was a given. Secrecy was very important here. The rest of her outfit fit the black theme. Black yoga pants and a black hoodie. Made it kind of obvious that she wasn't supposed to be here, but then again, in a place like this she would be recognized as not belonging no matter what she wore, so she had gone for what would make it easiest for her to conceal herself.
Now that she was inside the mansion, Mayumi set about her task. She began making her way down the narrow halls, carefully alert for any signs of life. She paused at every door, looking for light and listening for snippets of conversation, but found nothing. Then after about five minutes, she heard footsteps down the hallway, and they were coming straight at her!
Her heart raced for a moment. What was she going to do? Then the obvious answer hit her, and she felt a little dumb. She quickly crossed to one of the nearby rooms, which she had already judged to be empty, and quietly opened the door, stepping inside before carefully easing the door shut. She stood near the door, ear pressed against it as she listed to hear what was going on in the hall outside. And as she did so, she slowly became aware of another sound- snoring. There was someone else in the room with her!
Horrified, she slowly turned her head. Sure enough, even in the darkened room she could make out the massive figure sleeping in the bed just a few feet away. Oh hell! She'd picked a fine room to hide in. Still, she couldn't exactly back out now, not with someone else in the hallway outside, so she would have to wait it out and hope he didn't wake up. She swallowed and forced down her nerves, putting her ear against the door again.
As she listened, though, her thoughts on how unlucky she was quickly evaporated. Turns out there were two people outside the door, and they were both high-ranking members of this sorry bunch of losers. And what's more, they were discussing some upcoming scheme of theirs. As their voices began to fade Mayumi realized she needed to hear more, so she made the decision to risk leaving the safety of the room, being very careful in the process. She had two people in the hallway outside and one sleeping behind her. Any noise could be deadly.
Thankfully, she was fairly decent at being sneaky. She made it out of the room without alerting anyone to her presence. The two figures were already turning a corner farther ahead, so she began to follow them, being careful to keep a safe distance, although staying close enough to hear what they were saying. And commit it to memory, of course. Oh, these jokers were planning on stepping all over Black Rose's territory, and they were about to get their asses kicked for it. Especially since these idiots were dumb enough to mention real names. I mean, sure, they thought they were alone here, but still. By the end of this conversation they would be finished. She knew the names of their leader, and at least four other high-ranking members, plus exactly where all five of them would be a week from now. Perfect opportunity for a take-down if she'd ever heard one.
She trailed the pair all the way back to the front door of the mansion. Apparently they were planning on going out to meet with some client of theirs. Could she get away with following them to that meeting? She doubted it. Well, she could probably follow them to it, just not into it, and that was the important part. She suspected she wouldn't get much more out of these two. But it didn't sound like the meeting would be in a public place, or that the two parties trusted each other. Security would probably be amped up there, and she decided it wasn't worth the risk. She'd gotten a lot already. It was time to report back to Izayuki.
Word Count: 1,021
