The Phantom Thief by Snowrabbit (short story to read TXT) 📖

come without training, you know?
But whatever, for now, I had time to play.

The next interesting thing happened about a week later. I just had to steal something for my siblings one other time (of course, I used another mall and another disguise). Then Lucy came to me, looking really happy.
“Hey Yuri, guess what? I found you another job! There is a rich guy again who thinks way too high of himself and started drifting off in the wrong direction. And he has a nice collection of diamonds. I think it’s time for new decorations...!”
Oh yeah, if you’re wondering what she meant with decorations: She’s reusing the stuff I steal as the Sapphire Phantom. Like for example the jewelry I stole the last time. It was just some necklaces with gems in it, but Lucy took them out and made other nice things out of it. She took the rubies and made herself earrings and I got a nice sapphire ring to wear as the Phantom. Over my gloves of course. Fingerprints are the worst mistake for a thief. Anyway, diamonds sounded really nice, so I nodded.
“Alright! Where, when, what about the safety measures and so on?”, I asked then and started going through all the details with Lucy. That was one of the most important things and then it was time to let ‘him’ come out again!


Chapter four

“Today, we got another note from the ‘Sapphire Phantom’! He will strike at midnight. And this time, we will

get him!”
These words came from Jose Gonzales - the Spanish Inspector who led the case of the ‘Phantom Thief’ - who held a blue framed card with a rose on it in his hands. And he got new men today, so he was pretty positive that he was able to do it this time. Also, one of his new man seemed to be pretty clever, as he already had captured a wanted criminal on the first day. Though of course, no one told Mister Gonzales that it wasn’t exactly Alan - the name of the new guy - who captured the criminal, since he had help from some random girl. Not that it meant that Alan was a bad policeman. Far from it!
So just like that, they prepared for the night.
And as the sun slowly went down a whole lot of policeman started to guard the house of the rich man. Only Alan wasn’t with them. He got to see the blueprints for the house and decided to go looking at another room. Actually, it was the room with the diamonds in it. Most of the policeman were sure that the Phantom would not be able to enter the mansion unnoticed, but somehow, Alan wasn’t so sure about that. So instead, he waited there.
And sure enough, only a few minutes after midnight, he heard a sound and as he looked to the window, he saw the Sapphire Phantom himself standing in the room.
Who actually looked genuinely surprised as he saw the policeman, though the latter didn’t know what exactly was that surprising of him being here. But the surprise didn’t seem to last very long as suddenly, the thief started smiling.
“Oh. Looks like I’m not alone tonight, huh? Nice, I thought I’d never get any company here before I flee. You seem to be more intelligent than the rest of your people.”
Alan frowned. “And you seem awfully confident for someone who just got caught while stealing.” He pulled out a pair of handcuffs.
The Phantom laughed. “Do you really think someone like me is caught that

easily? But it’s nice that you’re trying. Otherwise it would be boring. Ah how I love challenges!”
With that, he went away from the window - he probably came in through that - and in the direction of the diamonds, but Alan stepped into his way.
“What do you think you’re doing? You are arrested now!” He pulled out a gun. He didn’t actually intend to use it, but he could if he had to. Though it didn’t seem to impress the master thief very much. With a swift motion, he grabbed Alans wrist - the one that was holding the gun, of course - and held it firmly.
“Sorry but I don’t really like prisons very much, you know? I like gems much more.”, he smiled, watching as the policeman struggled against his grip, but it was useless. At the same time though, the thief wasn’t able to take the diamonds as he would need two hands to not set the alarm system off and send every single guard a signal. And as much as he liked publicity, thirty guards and more could be a little bit too many, even for him.
So instead, he had to confuse the guy in front of him and he had a pretty good idea how to do that.
“You know... you’re not only a pretty intelligent officer - I mean, it’s not exactly an easy guess for a first timer that I don’t really try to take the front door. Or any door by that means - you also have pretty good looks if I dare say. So... forgive me my next action and continue trying to catch me, kay? Otherwise it might get boring.”
Confused, Alan looked at the thief, determined to not let him pass. But he simply wasn’t prepared for what happened next. Because the Phantom didn’t try to get past him (at least not visibly) but instead... he kissed the poor policeman.
Being completely and one hundred percent straight, it was more than enough to shock Alan, especially as the thief deepened the kiss.
And then, it was over. And the Phantom wasn’t in front of him anymore.
Trying to get his senses back together Alan turned around and saw the thief working at the security glass of the diamonds. He just opened it as the policeman got his language back.
“What the hell?!”
“Sorry, like I said, you caught my interest. Also, I needed to get past you, you know? But don’t worry, I’ll try to hold myself back the next time. Though I have to say, you taste pretty good. See ya!”
With these words, the blue haired man threw a blue colored rose at him and jumped out of the still opened window into the night, leaving Alan to stare into space for a short time before narrowing his eyes. No one kissed him without his permission, especially no thief like the Sapphire Phantom! He would

get him into prison for that one day!
But for now he had to admit his defeat. He wasn’t fast enough to catch the guy if he ran out of the house now and he couldn’t simply jump out of the window.
So he went down to the others, clenching his fist around the rose, grumbling about how that stupid guy dared

to do these things and how he’d get him for that one day.


Chapter five (Yuri)

The next few times when I stole something as the Sapphire Phantom, about the same thing happened over and over again. Well, minus the kissing. But really, that guy somehow managed to always know where I would strike, but thankfully, he didn’t seem to tell anyone, at least he was alone when we met.
And it started to get funny, because he made it really complicated to get past him. Which was good, because I nearly started to bore myself before the guy had appeared. And now it got interesting again! Also, I found myself thinking about him increasingly often.
So you could say that I looked forward to my next theft, wondering if he would see through me again and find where I’d break in.
But as the time finally came and Lucy had another mission for me, I was alone. Well, not exactly alone, since I had sent my notes as usual the normal policemen stood guard at the entrances (by now, they also guarded windows and so on, seeing that I still seemed to be able to get in without anyone - except one - noticing) but my favorite guy wasn’t there.
Did he really didn’t get where I would come in today?
I had no idea, but it looked like it. So I took the treasure - this time it was just some strange, golden statue Lucy would melt into something better and more beautiful - and was just on my way out as I heard a noise from the toilets of the house. I wondered if the police was allowed to use it and if the guy just drank too much, maybe he was here?
But as I watched from behind the corner, a different policeman left the toilet. Aw, I had hoped I had company today... though that lonely guy there could help me anyway, he didn’t look like the strictest man, more like... young and not that experienced.
So I waited until he went further away from the toilet, probably heading back outside, but just as he passed through an empty room I caught him from behind, turned him around and placed a hand over his mouth (Just as a precaution, you know? I don’t want him screaming or something and alarming more policemen).
“Hey there, just a question. That pretty new policeman, short, black hair, reddish eyes, glasses ... where is he today?”
The guy looked unsure at me. Oh right, I still had my hand over his mouth. Dammit. I slowly took it away, but looked at him warningly. He shouldn’t dare crying for help now. I just wanted some answers...
And I seemed to actually get them, as the confused policeman didn’t just start screaming for help but instead actually talked.
“Um... you mean Alan? He didn’t show up to work today... I guess he’s ill...?”
Did I say talked? It sounded more like mumbling... was I that

scary? Creepy... Or maybe he just didn’t know how to act in front of the guy he should arrest even if he seemingly was weaker than me. But I got my answer at least... though it wasn’t a satisfying one. But I knew what to do now.
“Thanks for the answer. Hope you won’t get in trouble for talking with me... just pretend you haven’t seen me or something like that. Goodbye!”
With that I went past him, breaking into a run before he could answer or think about doing something else. Today it was surprisingly easy to sneak past the guards, I even got out of the mansion of my victim without getting noticed. Nice one. But it still bugged me somehow that Alan - hey, at least I had his name now! - didn’t show up. How boring. So naturally, instead of simply returning home for the day, I called up Lucy.
“Yes? What’s wrong?”
“Uh... hey sis, nothing’s wrong actually, I finished my job without problems, but-“
“Then why are you calling? You know that this is risky, don’t you?”
“Hey, I’m using your ‘special phone’” - which meant a phone, that send interfering signals to prevent being located, for example - “and I’m completely alone, okay? Anyway, I have to ask you for a favor... could you please check the database of the police station for a guy named Alan? He has transferred here recently, has black hair, reddish eyes and glasses. And he’s in the team which has to capture me. I need to know where he lives...!”
I could nearly see Lucys raised eyebrows...
“For what? Is he troubling you?” “Uh... not exactly, but anyway, could you? Please

?” I heard her sighing. “Fine. But I really hope you have a good reason for that.” Yeah, I kinda hoped that too... “Wait a sec.”, she told me and I could hear her moving into another room. Probably into her