Kiku and Yao had left for the Pink Diamond ten minutes before. As Kaoru’s group was about to leave, Lien approached him.

“Here,” she said, holding out a keycard, “I think you’ll need it.”

Kaoru (tried to) look it over, “From the guards?”

“Yeah.”

He dropped it into his pocket, “Thanks.”

“Hey!” Im shouted, “Kaoru, I think we should go now.”

“Be quiet.” He grumbled, sprinting towards the entrance.

 

Right at the back entrance, there were two guards splayed out on the ground, unconscious from Lien’s swift paddle moves.

The group stepped over their unmoving bodies and nudged the cracked door open. As Yao and Kiku left on their part of the mission, Kaoru, Im, and Mei crept down a flight of stairs to the museum’s (supposedly secret) archives.

The stairwell was dark. Very dark.

Kaoru breathed a sigh of relief as he whipped out his iPhone (with a panda phone case, mind you) and its flashlight function...only to illuminate Im’s smug face.

“So you are afraid of the dark, da-ze~”

And then Im was met with a foot colliding with his face. Tumbling down the rest of the stairs, Mei and Kaoru heard him crash into something at the bottom.

“Aww that hurt…” he complained, rubbing his head. Im sat up and looked around. “Crap, the archives are fenced off.”

Mei and Kaoru came down to inspect the door.

“What are we going to do now?” Mei questioned.

“LET’S KICK IT DOWN--” Im began.

Buzz--click.

The door to the archives slid open as Kaoru nonchalantly blew the keycard Lien had given him like a smoking gun.

Im jumped up and pointed at him accusingly, “HE’S ONE OF THEM!”

“I’m going to lock you out,” Kaoru threatened, beginning to close the door on the Korean.

“NO KAORU I APOLOGIZE FOR EVERYTHING JUST LET ME IN!” Im cried, pulling at the door frantically.

“Well you could just kick the door down like you said.” Kaoru smirked, leaving only a sliver of space open.

“NO!!” Im screamed, desperately prying at the door, “I’M SO SORRY KAORU!!”

“Maybe you should just let him in.” Mei said, sympathizing.

Im grinned, “So you do like me.”

“I take that back, Kaoru, lock him out.”

“NO!! MEI! KAORU!” He pleaded, “LET ME IN!!”

“You make so much noise we’d probably get caught if we left you here,” Kaoru said, “but you’ve also annoyed the crap out of me every day this week. Maybe we should leave you here.”

“YOU’D NEVER FINISH UNLOCKING THE VAULTS!” Im shouted.

Kaoru twitched, “What’s that supposed to mean, Im?”

“I unlock stuff faster than you. Aniki said so.” He sniffled.

A nerve appeared on Kaoru’s forehead, “Not possible, I pick locks way faster than you.”

“Well there’s only one way to find out right?” Im grinned, trying to appear innocent.

Kaoru thought for a moment, with huff he begrudgingly opened the door.

“You win this time,” He grumbled, “But I’ll unlock those vaults faster than you!”

“Ha!” Im smirked, “Aniki said I do it faster, but I’m willing to have a competition just to prove it~”

 

When they made it to the actual room, the three immediately began to work. Mei stood guard and handed the two boys whatever tools they required to open the locks on the vaults.

“Mei,” Im said, “Keep track of who finishes first, okay?”

The Taiwanese girl rolled her eyes, “Sure.”

The Korean grinned excitedly, “I’ll win, Kaoru.”

“Yeah right.”

Ready… Set… Go!