Lonely Thieves

Act I, Part III

Norah's Side, continued

Norah quickly slipped into the right and entered the main hall. It looked like this place wasn't meant to be part of the gala, so there weren't too many people in this part of the mansion. She did note that more security guards were posted here and there, so she needed to look like she wasn't particularly searching for anything. She glanced longingly at the set of stairs placed against the wall. It looked like she wasn't going to be able to get to the upper level any time soon.

There was a limit to exactly how far she could go while pretending to be lost. Any deeper and her excuse of "I got lost, teehee" was going to be less and less effective. But it was pretty clear that if the emerald necklace was going to be anywhere, it was probably going to be in either one of the Hayasaka's personal bedrooms or in the office of Tom Hayasaka, the majority shareholder and CEO of the Hayasaka Zaibatsu. If she only had one choice, it was probably going to be the CEO's office. But where was it? There was still a lot of the first floor she still had to cover. On the other side of the center courtyard was the part of the building where the Hayasakas actually lived. There were two ways to reach the other side; through the connecting hallways blocked off by guards, or attempt to cut through the courtyard itself.

Norah weighed her options carefully. The courtyard wasn't particularly off-limits, but there wasn't much reason for an attendee here for the gala to be out here. If they did want a breath of fresh air, any partygoer would have headed east from the ballroom to reach the smaller secondary courtyard. If she got caught, it would be dangerous.

Still, she wasn't going to get any closer to the necklace just standing around. Norah walked up to the courtyard doors and slowly pushed them open. Sure enough, the courtyard was completely empty, save for the flower gardens that were arranged in circular formations around the paved pathways. The dim light made her hard to see from a distance, so she quickly made her way through the garden, making sure not to look too inconspicuous.

To her surprise, she made it to the other side of the courtyard without being seen. She worried for a moment about the security cameras that the Hayasaka family were most definitely using, but it was mostly paranoia. She'd had cybernetic implants that were designed to obscure her in security footage, and even if Hayasaka was using top-of-the-line security cameras, they shouldn't be able to able to bypass that. She quietly pushed open the doors and peeked in through the crack. No one seemed to be in the main hall, and the dimmed lights told her that the Hayasakas weren't planning on having anyone wandering around this part of the mansion.

Norah slipped into the building and took stock of the place. It was pretty similar to the front building, except that instead of having a large staircase in the center, there was a central hallway that looked like it led to the family's dining room. The central staircase was replaced by two symmetrical staircases on the left and right sides of the building. Looking around, it didn't seem like there were as many guards posted on this side of the mansion, which made sense if they weren't expecting people to come this way.

Norah slowly walked over to the left staircase and glanced down the hall. It didn't look like there was anyone here, not even a stray butler or maid. She passed the staircase and continued on to the next area, which was a giant hallway full of rooms. She had heard that the Hayasaka family was quite massive, but there were quite a few rooms in this building nonetheless. As she continued to walk down the hall that intersected with the one leading to the dining room, Norah noticed a rather extravagant set of doors on the second level guarded by two security officers. There was no question about it; that had to be Tom Hayasaka's office.

Norah glanced around. There had to be a way to get past the guards somehow. No, before that, she should get up onto the upper level first. However, as she turned around to head back to the stairs, she suddenly heard a voice that sent chills down her spine.