Bungo Stray Dogs - Volume 4 Chapter 2 Part 6

Chapter 2 Part 6

11:27.
Atsushi looked up at the clock and muttered the time to himself.
Only thirty-three minutes left until the weapon was expected to be detonated. Atsushi was briskly walking down the wide cobbled pavement on the German side of the island as tourists and wagons passed through. He couldn’t let even one second go to waste. Four million people’s lives depended on his actions. Although he was acting under Dazai’s instructions, Atsushi was the heart of the plan and was especially necessary for what was about to come, since he had seen what happened last time firsthand. He wiped the cold sweat off his chin with his hand.
“Dazai, can you hear me?” Atsushi spoke into the wireless microphone under his shirt’s collar.
“Loud and clear.” He heard Dazai’s cheerful voice coming from his earpiece. “How does it feel to be able to listen to my beautiful voice as if I were whispering into your ear? You’re so lucky. Oh, I know. How about I sing a song?”
“Just do your job!” Judging by Kunikida’s roaring voice, it sounded as though he was standing behind Dazai.
“Don’t be so serious. What’s the worst that could happen? If we fail, we die. Big deal.”
“Don’t drag your sick fetishes into this. Atsushi, we should be able to do something about the captain. I’ll make sure he isn’t killed. You just focus on the mission. Can you see the target?”
Atsushi looked up ahead and replied, “Yes, I found them almost immediately. They’re in the same place as last time.”
There they were, squatting in the back of an alley facing the art museum:

The key components to the plan.
“Boss, weren’t you the one who told us it wasn’t hard? I recall you saying, ‘All you’ve got to do is commit twelve measly numbers to memory! I can still remember the names of every woman I’ve slept with.’”
“Yeah, I said it. So what?”
Atsushi could hear his proud, unapologetic voice from here.
“I’m the boss of this band of thieves, so it’s your job to back me up! If the boss forgets the twelve-digit lock code, then you need to roll up your sleeves and get to work!”
“Boss, you’re amazing! You’re the man! I got your back no matter what happens!”
After seeing them again from a distance, I really don’t think they’re cut out for a life of crime. They’re talking loudly in public about their plans, they don’t care that a major part of their scheme failed, and they don’t seem to have much direction. The boss seems more in love with the idea of stealing rather than what they’re trying to steal. There’s a kind of beauty in that line of thinking, but…it doesn’t really amount to much when you’re thrown in jail ninety percent of the time.
Nevertheless, these three were nothing more than divine aid this time around.
“Hey, thieves. Lookin’ for a twelve-digit lock code?”
Somebody suddenly struck up conversation with the trio. It was Atsushi. “Hmm? Who are you?” The boss swiftly turned around and glared. “Who the hell d’you think you are, cotton swab?! What do you want
with my boss?!” The teenage boy rolled up his sleeves, ready to start a fight.
“Heh-heh-heh… Who I am is of little importance,” replied Atsushi as he desperately tried to put on a villainous facade. “What’s important is what we can share. Isn’t that right, Boss?”
I’ve never been this embarrassed in my life. What am I even saying?
Telling himself that this was all part of the plan, Atsushi continued acting just how Dazai instructed him to, despite the fact that he felt as if he was going to pull a face muscle.
“I am but a humble thief by trade, but some call me Matasaburo of the Wind, since I am like the wind when I steal.”
Atsushi couldn’t stop sweating. Matasaburo was apparently the name of a traveler who’d stayed in Kenji’s village for a short while, but was there really nobody better to choose from? Did Dazai simply tell Atsushi to do this because he thought it would be funny? No, that wouldn’t make sense. Dazai would never play games when people’s lives depended on the mission at hand.
“Hmm… I totally made that character up just for kicks, but you’re actually doing a really good job, Atsushi.”
Just for kicks…
Regardless, four million people’s lives depended on this. There was no backing down now.
“Heh-heh-heh… If you want to know the twelve-digit lock code, then I’m your guy. But in return…let me in on your plans.”
“What?” The boss raised an eyebrow.
“Boss—or should I say, Great Phantom Thief Nemo, I know about your special power. You’re a pretty big name in the business we’re in, after all— an elite thief with the power to walk through walls. All I ask is that you use your powers to help me out a little bit. There’s something I want to steal that’s being kept in the innermost area of the island.”
This was Dazai’s plan. This was how they would get into the secret zone without a gold coin. Wells said that the weapon was on the lowest floor of the top secret zone in the innermost section of the island. In other words, it was in a gold-coin area, but even if they got their hands on one, there was still the issue of surveillance cameras. This was the scheme Dazai came up with: becoming one of the thieves. Atsushi would be able to go to any gold- coin area without a gold coin by using the ability of the thieves’ boss to walk through walls.
“Heh-heh-heh. So what do you say? Not that I care either way.”
Dazai’s plan was perfect. I just wish it didn’t have to be this embarrassing.
“Who d’you think you’re talkin’ to?!” threatened the enraged teenager. “Ya really think we’d trust some stranger who just randomly popped up outta nowhere?!”
“Hmm… I regretfully have to agree with Gab,” chimed in the middle- aged man with his arms crossed. “This is just far too suspicious. He could be trying to steal something from us, for all we know.”
“Hey.”

The boss took a firm step forward and towered over Atsushi, blocking out the sunlight with his massive frame. Atsushi was naturally petrified by the giant’s sudden gaze, but he couldn’t let himself cower. “…Yes, Boss?”
“It was clear you were the real thing the moment you referred to me as the Great Phantom Thief. I like your style, which is why I would be thrilled to have you on board. However…” The boss glared at Atsushi. “Before I can do that, you need to answer me this. Out of all the thieves who have ever lived, who do you look up to the most?”
Atsushi’s mind went blank for a moment as he tried to figure out what the boss was getting at, but he almost immediately reached an answer. It was simple: Arsène Lupin. Even Atsushi was familiar with the name, and he remembered from last time that the boss essentially worshipped Lupin.
“Well, of course, the Phantom Thief Arsè—”
“Atsushi, say Goemon Ishikawa,” Dazai immediately advised from the other end of the earpiece. Atsushi suddenly froze, his mouth wide-open. The boss stared at him.
“What?” “Uh…”
Atsushi opened and closed his mouth a few times. Then, after a few moments went by, he stated, “Goemon Ishikawa.”
“Wonderful!”
The boss violently clapped Atsushi on the shoulder with his massive hand, which made him even more confused.
“I was planning on snapping you in two and throwing you in the ocean if you had said Arsène Lupin! We don’t need two thieves trying to succeed Lupin as the next legendary phantom thief, after all. Anyway, you’re in! By the way, who’s Goemon Ishikawa?”
Atsushi quietly breathed a sigh of relief.
“Please tell me you’re joking, Boss,” said the middle-aged man with a sigh. “Every time you randomly decide to do something, I’m always the one who has to keep you in check. Put yourself in my shoes for once, please.”
“Hmph. Boss says you’re in, so you’re in, but I’m still his number one disciple. You better respect me. Got it?” proudly stated the young man as he leaned back.
Atsushi looked at the thieves once more. The large man they called Boss was the leader of the group, standing over six feet tall with armor-like muscles and a shiny, shaved head. He went by the alias Nemo in the underground world, and he possessed the skill to walk through walls up to two inches thick.
The next thief was a weary-looking middle-aged man in a suit named Virgo. He always looked troubled. He’d mentioned last time that he was an engineer and his job was to disable security cameras and extract passwords. Atsushi felt a connection with him, seeing as how he was always being forced into tough positions thanks to the boss’s reckless behavior.
The youngest in the group was Gab, a poorly dressed teenager who had the utmost respect for his boss and always fed his ego. He kept a dagger in his pocket as well. Unfortunately, he was utterly spineless and never proved to be good for anything other than buttering up his boss from Atsushi’s point of view.
Then…there was the fourth thief, Matasaburo of the Wind. In other words, Atsushi himself.
“Let’s do this, Matasaburo! You’ve got nothin’ to worry about now that you’re one of us. I dunno what you’re looking for, but I’ll swing by wherever it is and grab it for you on the way. After all, they don’t call me the Great Phantom Thief for nothing!”
“Wait, wait, wait! Boss, we need to enter the lock code before we do that,” chimed in Virgo, flustered. “That way, we’ll know if he’s really trustworthy.”
Everyone looked at Atsushi. A cold sweat dripped down his nape. “Heh-heh-heh…” Atsushi laughed just for the heck of it.
The engineer Virgo opened the electronic control panel on the wall outside the art museum and pulled out a wire from inside. He then took the tip of the wire, plugged it into his cell phone, and opened an algorithm he had prepared in advance.
“All that’s left is to input the twelve-digit lock code,” said Virgo while looking at his cell phone. “So what’s the password, new guy?”
Atsushi scratched his ear while waiting. It wasn’t long before the information came in.
“We got it, Atsushi. It’s 148920577297.”
“148920577297.”
Atsushi repeated the numbers just as he was told.
“This should cut off the firewall, allowing us to freely alter the video.

Should being the operative word here,” added Virgo as he looked at his cell phone after punching in the numbers Atsushi gave him. “It worked, Boss. It looks like he was telling the truth. Now we can steal without the surveillance cameras catching us.”
Atsushi let out a sigh of relief, albeit softly so nobody could hear. The twelve-digit lock code was essential in order to get the band of thieves inside, but it wasn’t easy information to come by; Atsushi couldn’t just ask someone on the island and get a straight answer. That was where the detective agency came in. They always found a way. This time around, they received some outside help from a hacker and old friend of Kunikida’s named Katai Tayama, who possessed the skill to control electronics. While he rarely left the house—or even his bed, for that matter—his sheer genius was how he could uncover highly classified information like the surveillance cameras’ lock code in such a short period of time.
“We’re about to move out. I think it’s time we kindly ask the captain about this island’s secrets.”
There was a mirthful note in Dazai’s voice. What was he scheming? “What’s with the long face, Matasaburo?!” yelled the boss. “There’s no
time to waste! The world’s treasures are waiting for us! Now, come! It’s time to steal!”