Best Excuse

This was the first time they had let Aoko stay in the building after giving her Dad his dinner for the night. Well– They’d forgotten to escort her out. With no obligation or force to leave, she took it as a “Explore if you want” gesture, knowing full well that she wouldn’t get in the way of the police when the criminal came in to collect his ‘prize’.

What she didn’t expect, however, was to be in the same room he had decided to escape from. And with his full costume on– He couldn’t deny who he was. The unfortunate display of white was his own fault, really.

Backing up against the window so he couldn’t use it as an escape path, she watched as he attempted to go out the door he came in–

❝ Th-There is a dragon outside this door! And if we go out, it will eat us! ❞

She shouts quickly, inwardly cringing as she realises how stupid that was. She was just trying to keep him in the room so the police could capture him once they flooded the building to find him.

Seeing Aoko here certainly had been a suprise. Sure, he’d known she brought her father a bentou, but she did normally leave afterward… Well, except that one time she managed to get a uniform, but to more casually be here during a heist? Of course he’s tried to back out the room.

The outburst did manage to make his hand hesitate over the knob, the sheer ridiculousness causing him to pause. Even if the statement alone he might believe (hey, magic and robots, why not a dragon, really), he’d been the last to come in. So the pause didn’t last more than a second before the thief snorted and took hold of the door.

“Dragons, I’d think, ojou-san. And while they certainly want to eat, I’m afraid it’s only one of us they’re interested in. They don’t take to well to thieves, but princesses, they have no reason to harm. I think I’ll risk it all the same.”