Between the lines 3
The Second Man held the ring up, studying it curiously.
"What do you think it does?" The First Man asked. He sipped from his slushy drink rather loudly and irritatingly.
"I'm not sure. I'll have to examine it."
Slurp!
"Stop that!"
The First Man regarded the Second with disdain, but complied nonetheless.
"Come on. We have to get back." The Second Man buried the ring at the bottom of his briefcase before walking off, accelerating at an inconspicuous pace.
"There's no rush. I doubt the museum will even notice anything." The Second Man didn't let this deter him. Thankfully, they didn't need to travel very far.
The Hinamatsuri was a three-star hotel residing only two blocks away. It was selected purposely because a five-star hotel would, while still remaining lavish and discreet, ask too many questions about why their guests insisted on paying cash and no doubt be littered with cameras for security purposes. On the other side of the spectrum, a crummy one or two-star hotel wouldn't have enough of the kind of security they needed to remain safe and inconspicuous.
No doubt.
The Hinamatsuri was perfect.
The First Man politely waved at the young man at reception, but the latter was more invested in the ecchi manga he was reading to reciprocate.
"Little jerk!" The First Man scowled. "He had no issues flirting with me this morning."
"You can probably thank our partners."
"Have I mentioned how much I hate the world?"
"Once or twice." The Second Man joked as they made their way up the stairs to the fourth floor. The Hinamatsuri was perfectly suited to their needs…except it couldn't afford more than four floors…or an elevator.
"I hate these stairs too."
"Quit complaining."
The climb didn't take long, but both men were dragging their feet by the time they reached the fourth level.
"Tell me again why we couldn't have picked a room on level one?"
"Staff clean bottom to the top."
"Right."
The First Man grabbed a big fatty chunk of his beer belly and played with it, shaking it up and down pretending it could speak and murmured… "I think it's time for you and me to start hitting the gym, eh?"
"If you've all but finished…"
The First Man recovered enough to follow his colleague to Room 412, the furthest room on the West side of the building. He pressed his ear to the door. A couple of jubilant, muffled groans could be heard from inside.
"Sounds like someone is having fun. What do you think they're doing in there?"
"Probably whatever is on page 10 to 25 of that receptionist's H-doujinshi."
"Well, I hope they enjoyed themselves because something tells me the rest of their life will be a lot less fun." The First Man took out his phone and punched in the number for the police. "Yes, hello. I'd like to report a crime…yes, I just overheard two men talking about how they robbed a museum…some valuable ring or something…yeah, they just strolled into Hinamatsuri hotel…okay, I'll wait. Please hurry." The First Man closed his phone, smiling at his co-conspirator.