Partners In Crime - Random Inspiration Series

by OddEyes588

Yuya Sakaki is an ordinary 16-year-old who stayed at a boarding school with his friends, as well as his girlfriend, Yuzu Hiiragi. But for him and his friends, that is only one side of their coin. At night, they change into thieves that roam the night, taking and doing whatever it is they wanted. But how did it start? How did their lives change so drastically? Let's find out...

RANDOM BURST OF INSPIRATION

Probably thanks to Joker from Persona 5 coming out in smash, and just now hearing the song "Partners In Crime" by Set It Off.

I could no longer focus on my other fics, I absolutely HAD to write this, in all of its INCREDIBLY long glory.

Melodious: I for one, think it's pretty interesting!

OddEyes: Also, TO THE DICKHEAD ON FACEBOOK THAT SPOILED ENDGAME, YOU ARE A STAIN AND DISGRACE TO HUMANITY, YOU UNCULTURED SWINE!

Melodious: He's probably not gonna see that message, and you should have unplugged from 90% of the internet until you watched Endgame

OddEyes: REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-

(Damn, this is probably the longest thing I've ever written, but it's taken me a span of two days to finish it, sudden inspiration really is the best! After this, I'll probably only work on this on certain occasions, or I might just drop it and work on something else the next time I hit a block on my other projects and need a change of pace, either way, I hope you enjoy this!)

"Phantom, the place is surrounded…" Said a voice from an earpiece in "Phantom's" ear.

"I know! Exciting, isn't it?" Phantom said into the earpiece, "I figured you would say that…" Said the voice in his ear, "But you should probably find Diva, I haven't been able to get through to her…" The voice said with a hint of concern.

"Ah, I'm sure she's fine…" Phantom replied. The voice in his ear sighed.

"I know, but please, just make sure she wasn't arrested somehow…" Said the voice.

"Oh, alright, you're such a worrywart, Knight!" Phantom said in response.

Phantom wore a white hood and cape, along with a white mask that covered his eyes and a bit of his nose, a bit of black and red mixed in on the left side of the mask, he wore a red suit/cloak underneath the cape.

"Right… where'd you go Diva…" Phantom muttered to himself as he jumped from shadow to shadow inside the large building he was in, he noticed her hiding in a corner on the ceiling, a series of guards under her, unaware of their target being right above them.

He grinned, his red eyes flashing a bit through the eye holes in his mask, he pulled out two small guns from his side and aimed them carefully at the guard's neck.

Thoom Thoom!

Two quick shots sent small tranquilizer darts at the two guards, they fell unconscious almost immediately, "Wha!?" Said the third and final guard, he quickly attempted to bring out a walkie-talkie to inform other guards of what had happened.

Suddenly strong, feminine arms wrapped around him, a chloroform napkin was pressed up to his mouth and nose, courtesy of a slender female body hanging down from the roof and tightly pressing the napkin to his face.

"Shhh…" She said kindly, "Sleep tight…" she said softly as the guard slowly closed his eyes and passed out.

Phantom clapped as she let herself down from her hanging spot on the ceiling, she wore a black, skin-tight suit that fit her both tightly and perfectly, her pink hair hung down past her neck and to her back, her face (eyes and nose) were covered by a white mask with pink lines running along the edges, but her blue eyes still shone through.

"Quite a risky move you made there…" She said softly, moving close to him and trailing a finger down his chest seductively, Phantom grinned and placed a finger up to her lips, "I knew you could handle it… Diva…" He said softly.

They kissed passionately for a full ten seconds.

"Right, as much as I love watching you two lovebirds suck face…" Said the voice, Knight, in Phantom's ear, "You two need to get out of there, and explain to me why I lost connection to Diva…" Said Knight.

"Oh, that?" Diva said nonchalantly, she had heard him while she kissed Phantom, "I accidentally dropped it, then it got crushed underneath a guard's foot!" She said cheerfully, holding up the ruined pieces.

"MY BABY!" Yelled a different voice in the earpiece, much louder and hyperactive, "ME AND WINDWITCH SPENT HOURS ON THOSE!" He yelled. Phantom felt the urge to crush his own earpiece under his foot.

"Oh, SHUT UP Wingman!" Yelled Knight, the sound of someone falling over in the background shot out of the earpiece, "Phantom, give Diva a spare earpiece, I'm sending an escape route over to your hud's right now…" Knight said in exasperation.

"Alright, alright!" Phantom said casually as he gave Diva a new earpiece, she gratefully placed it into her ear.

Phantom suddenly grabbed her by the waist and pulled her close, "I promise I'll give you all the attention you need after this…" He said with a mischievous grin, she smiled at him.

"Man… I remember when you two were like, the definition of awkwardness around each other…" Said a female voice in their earpiece, "Oh, hey Nightingale!" Phantom said nonchalantly while Diva's cheeks pinkened.

"Okay guys, you actually need to go…" Said Knight, "A shit ton of guards are coming up the elevator, and you guys are near the top of the equivalent of a FREAKING SKYSCRAPER!" He yelled.

"Hm… interesting, mind if I try something?" Phantom asked, "Are you gonna listen to me if I say no?" Asked Knight.

"Hm… nope!" Phantom said cheerfully, running up to the elevator with Diva behind him, the sigh of exasperation Knight gave could probably win an award.

The elevator doors opened, "GO! GO! GO!" Yelled one of the guards as they all poured out of the elevator, only to find that nobody was on the floor.

"What? But they were just here! We know they were!" Yelled one of the guards.

"Yoohoo!" Phantom called out.

All of the guards shot around to see the thief they were supposed to capture inside the elevator they had just left, Diva leaning on his shoulder as he waved at them cockily, the elevator doors began to close.

"GET THEM!" Yelled one of the guards, they ran forward only to be knocked back by an explosion of gas.

"T-The hell is this!?" Yelled one of the guards as they inhaled the white gas, "Laughing Gas, believe it or not!" Phantom said cheerfully, he held a remote in his hands, something that had triggered a small mine that they had completely stepped over beforehand.

"Have fun laughing for the next 5 minutes!" Diva said with a scary amount of kindness as the elevator doors shut and began to move down to the bottom floor.

"W-Wait!" Yelled one of the guards before he suddenly burst out laughing, he and the other guards fell over and started laughing hysterically on the floor.

"Ah…" Phantom said as he leaned against the elevator wall, "I love making people smile…" He said with a wink, Diva giggled.

"I hope you have another plan because even though I disabled the buttons on the other floors, your heading to the bottom…" He explained, "And guess who's standing there with 40 men behind him?" He asked.

"Reiji Akaba?" Phantom asked.

"At this point, we already know it's him…" Knight said casually.

Phantom chuckled, "Relax, I know what I'm doing…" He said as he climbed to the top of the elevator, where he began to open a hatch…

---

"EVERYBODY, PREPARE YOURSELF!" Yelled a grey-haired man, though he looked like he was in his mid-twenties, he wore a long, red scarf that seemed to defy gravity as it flapped behind him.

Behind him was a ridiculous amount of men armed as though they were a SWAT Team, all of them had guns trained on the elevator.

Ding!

Fingers were resting on triggers, everyone waited in anticipation.

The elevator door opened, and a single note was on the floor.

It read "I said it before, and I'll say it again, you'll never take us ALIVE! - Love, The Phantom & Diva"

Reiji walked into the elevator and picked up the note, he crushed it in his hand angrily.

"MOVE OUT!" He yelled, "FIND THEM!" He yelled.

Phantom and Diva hopped over the roofs of smaller buildings nearby, "Man!" He said cheerfully, "That was fun!" He said as he waved a USB in his hand.

"It was a good haul today, wasn't it?" Diva replied happily, she held a large duffel bag on her shoulder, "You got everything in that thing, right?" Diva asked, referring to the USB in Phantom's hand.

Phantom smirked, "Yup, Venom's program worked fast!" He replied, "We've got all the proof we need!" He said with a grin.

The sound of sirens blaring in the distance reached their ears, Phantom smirked.

"Well, I guess it's time to leave…" He said, "You ready, Luna?" Phantom said into his earpiece.

A female voice responded, "Yup, now can you hurry up and get your asses over here?" Replied the female voice, her name apparently "Luna".

"Roger…!" Phantom said as he jumped off of a building and fell down to the sidewalk where a large, black van was parked, Diva followed suit.

"Oop!" Phantom said as he caught her while she fell, "Can't have a lady hit the ground that hard, now can we?" He said with a gentlemanly tone, Diva's cheeks pinkened.

The window to the van opened, and the masked face of a blue-haired woman peered out, her mask was shaped like a cat, but it was a similar shade of blue to her hair.

"Flirt with each other later, the cops are actually getting pretty close…" She said bluntly, "Hey Luna!" Phantom said cheerfully, he let Diva down and walked over to the backseat of the car, he already knew that shotgun seat was already taken.

He sat in the car, Diva also following suit, a green-haired girl wearing a white mask with a swirly design leaned back and stared at them, her mask almost looked like a solid version of the wind.

"Broken earpiece," She said immediately, "hand it over…" She said, Diva sheepishly gave her the remains.

"Good to see you too, Windwitch!" Phantom said cheerfully, "I believe I told you NOT to break my stuff…" Windwitch replied coldly, Phantom laughed.

"Right, buckle up everyone because this is gonna be a long drive…" Said Luna as the engine started and she began to drive at full speed.

"Oh, gimme the USB too…" Windwitch said, "I'll patch the data over to Venom…" She said, Phantom handed her the USB and she inserted the device into her laptop, before typing away at it furiously.

"I've sent an escape route to the car's GPS," Said Knight from everyone's earpiece, "I'll work on creating a diversion for you guys as well…" He said before going silent.

The van roared through the streets before swerving into the highway, something that was fairly empty except for a few other vehicles on the road.

A helicopter roared above them, a spotlight shone directly on their vehicle as they roared down the highway.

"Knight, we've got a helicopter on us…" Luna muttered as she drove up next to another black van, conveniently similar to their own van.

"I know, who do you think is driving the van next to you?" Knight replied, Windwitch looked out at the van next to them, there was no driver at the seat.

"Switch places with it when you enter that tunnel, then keep going on the path the GPS has highlighted…" Knight said before going quiet again, everyone in the car grinned.

"I didn't know you could control cars remotely now…" Phantom said with a grin, a chuckle from somebody else was the only response he got, "Well, I did most of the work on that little trick…" Said the voice of the man they called "Venom".

"Figured as much…" Luna replied.

Cop cars were quickly closing in on them on the highway, but they were far enough away that the cops couldn't quite see them properly.

They entered the tunnel Knight had mentioned, Luna immediately accelerated and switched into the lane the RC car was in, the RC car slowed down as it switched into the lane Luna had just been in.

And in a single moment, the identical vehicles successfully switched places.

They exited the tunnel, the helicopter's spotlight was now on the decoy car instead of the thieves.

The decoy car began to turn off into an exit, the helicopter followed it, the cop cars followed as well.

"Haha!" Phantom celebrated, everyone in the car laughed as well, he gave Diva a quick kiss in celebration before leaning back in the car in a cocky sort of manner.

"Another heist complete!" Phantom celebrated, "We'll be in the history books soon, I'll tell you all that!" He said in celebration, he took off his mask, revealing his face, everyone in the car did the same.

Phantom put his hood down and grinned, "I'll never get tired of this…" He said with a wide grin, Diva shed her mask and took out two blue hair clips, tying her long hair into twin tails on the sides of her head.

"Can't wait for our next activity… Phantom…" She said, shedding the code names they were using to talk to each other earlier.

"Thievery is done for tonight, let's switch back to normal you guys…" Said Knight before the transmission coming from the earpiece went quiet, everyone in the car quickly took them off and placed them in a hidden compartment in the van.

"Right then, until the next time he is needed, The Phantom shall vanish…" Said Phantom as he stared out the window at the night sky, he brushed a hand over his red and green hair while Diva leaned on his shoulder.

They exited the highway and drove a little more before they reached a mostly abandoned parking lot.

The van parked right next to a sleek, red sports car. The four thieves exited the van.

The "Phantom" No longer wore a red suit, instead he wore an orange T-Shirt and green cargo pants, goggles on his head and a blue pendulum hanging from his neck, he wore a similar white-cape on his shoulder, but unlike the one from before, it was really just a school-jacket with a hood that hung from his shoulders.

"Diva" had also changed, her hair done up in two ponytails to the side by large blue hairpins, she wore a school-uniform with a pink tie and pink skirt rather than the black skintight suit she was previously using.

"Luna" and "Windwitch" were now wearing similar uniforms, except "Luna's" uniform had blue where "Diva's" had pink, and "Windwitch" had green instead.

"Diva" Stretched her arms and yawned, "Yuya… I'm tired…" She said to the male of the group.

"Don't fall asleep yet, Yuzu!" Yuya replied with a grin, "I'm not explaining to your dad why I ended up having to carry your unconscious body to his door!" He joked.

"Your driving is really reckless, Serena!" Said the green-haired girl.

"Oh hush, if you want to drive, go right ahead!" Said Serena, her blue hair tied up into a ponytail with a yellow ribbon, "Oh wait! You don't have a license yet!" Serena said with a fake look of surprise, "So deal with it, Rin…" She said bluntly.

Rin pouted, "Oh shut up! I can get it if I really tried!" She argued back.

"Come on girls, no fighting!" Yuya said as he got into the driver's seat of the red car, Yuzu getting in the passenger seat.

The two girls got in the backseat and strapped themselves in, "Roof down or up?" Yuya asked.

"Down, I'm tired…" Said Serena.

"Up! Up!" Rin said quickly, suddenly excited.

"Hm… I'm feeling like the roof should be up tonight!" Yuzu replied.

"Up it is then!" Yuya said cheerfully, Serena groaned while Rin celebrated.

They started to drive again, entering the highway and heading to the place they called home.

"Do we have to go back to the dorms?" Serena groaned, Yuya chuckled, "We don't really have anywhere else Serena, we already stayed at Mr. Hiiragi's place last week, he won't let us do that again until next week!" He said. Serena groaned again.

"Ahh…" Rin said in a relaxed tone, "The wind feels great…" She said with a blissful smile.

"You're obsessed with having an open-roof car, you know that?" Yuzu said jokingly, "But yeah, it feels nice tonight…" She agreed, her hair flowing in the wind.

The Phantoms, that was the name of the group of thieves that pulled off incredible heists in the middle of the night, they came, they caused a little chaos, took what they wanted, then left just as suddenly as they came.

One would assume that a group of such skilled thieves would be a group of adults, after all, children couldn't pull off crimes of this scale, right?

If you thought that, you would be wrong.

This legendary group of thieves consisted of merely eight 16-year-olds, each enrolled in the same boarding school, living ordinary lives until the time came for them to don a mask and take whatever it is they wanted.

It was seemingly random, sometimes they took money, sometimes they took objects, and sometimes they stole something just to make a statement.

Other times, like this time, however, was to take as much as they desired from a man who had already stolen those things.

And one of the things they desired was something that purely belonged to that man, proof of his crimes against the people.

That man would be found the next day stripped of almost everything he once owned, wearing nothing but a simple polka-dot covered underwear and tied to a wall, a wall that had been spray-painted with the words "The Phantom strikes down another man blinded by desire"

He was brought down from the wall with haste, only for him to immediately fall on the floor while sobbing.

He confessed to all of his crimes, crimes that the authorities found proof of that same day as well, delivered to their doorstep quite literally, a box of files appearing just outside of the station with a note that read "A little present for you. - The Phantoms"

Did this mean they were good people? Well, as far as the law is concerned, "Assault" and "Theft" were against the law that a certain man, Reiji Akaba, tried to uphold.

On the wall of that man's office were multiple pictures of the thieves, some appeared while others did not, but it was always in a group of at least four.

However, with every image that was taken, no matter how clear of a shot, no matter how clear you thought it was when you snapped the photo, was blurred so that a facial scan was impossible, but you could still make out their features.

The man sat in his office with his hands on his head. Six months, it was six months ago that these crimes started, and five months ago that he was assigned the job of catching them.

They seemed to have three rules that they worked by no matter what.

We take what we want. When we want.

If we decide to come after you, there is nothing you can do, there will be no warning, and no mercy.

We will never take another life.

True to their words, they took whatever they wished, whenever they wanted.

There was no mercy given to people they targeted, there was no warning either.

And despite the fact they carried weapons, they had yet to ever take another life.

Who were they? Why did they do this? It had to be more than just "We wanted to" for their reason, there had to be…

But despite their attempt to catch them tonight, he was still no closer to catching them then he was before.

It should have infuriated him, but it didn't.

He grinned, "I will catch you, Phantom…" He said to himself, somehow excited at the thought.

---

"So, what did you guys do last night?" Asked a short, light-blue haired boy to Yuya and a black and purple-haired male.

"Yuzu and I brought Yuto and the others to karaoke last night!" Yuya said cheerfully while throwing an arm around "Yuto".

"Seriously? Yuri too?" Said the short boy, "How'd you do that!?" He exclaimed before a large man suddenly picked him up from the back of his shirt, "That's enough, Sora…" Said the large man, "Class is starting…" he stated.

"Aww, you're no fun, Gongenzaka…" Sora said with a pout.

Yuya chuckled as Sora went back to his seat as the teacher entered the classroom, he looked over at Yuzu, she looked back at him and smiled, her cheeks pink. Yuya smiled and blew a kiss at her, her cheeks pinkened even more.

"Mr. Sakaki!" Yelled the teacher, Yuya's head shot back to the teacher in surprise, "Y-YES!?" Yuya shouted out.

"I suggest you listen in today's class unless you want to fail tomorrow's test…" The teacher said firmly, Yuya scratched the back of his head and chuckled, "Y-yes sir…" He replied. The rest of the class laughed.

"Quit flaunting the fact you have a girlfriend, you jerk…" Yuto whispered with a small smile, "Especially when it took you three months of being "just friends" before you guys finally just up and confessed…" he whispered before leaning back in his chair.

Yuya blushed and chuckled a bit, everything Yuto said was true, both he and Yuzu ended up with feelings for each other at one point after becoming friends.

Three months later of constant awkward moments and insisting that they were "just friends" later, they finally confessed to each other and got together.

---

They sat down together at lunch, joined by six other friends as well, Yuto, Yugo, Yuri, Ruri, Serena, and Rin.

They sat there and chatted about whatever came up while they ate lunch and just enjoyed the moment.

But one good thing about that seat was that it was a good place to listen in on conversations they were particularly interested in.

"Did you hear? The Phantoms went after this rich guy and got proof of a bunch of crimes he committed!"

"Not only that, apparently they scared him so much that he confessed to all of them as well!"

"What'd he do?"

"Mostly stuff like Tax-Fraud and bribery, but that's not even the biggest thing!"

"Dude, stop keeping me in suspense!"

"Apparently he had committed MURDER!"

"You're shitting me, come on, what did he actually do?"

"I'm not shitting you! Apparently, he paid and blackmailed people to keep their mouths shut, he also apparently had someone in the police working for him!"

"Hold on… I'm searching this up…"

"Go ahead! I know I'm right!"

Yuri chuckled, "Sounds like the Phantoms brought another person to justice…" He said as everyone else grinned.

"Yup… I bet they're celebrating their victory right now…" Yuya replied with a smirk, "Speaking of which, I happen to have gotten a lot of cash recently…" He said to the rest of the table.

"What a coincidence…" Said Yuzu, "So have I…" She said with a grin.

"Arcade?" Yugo said.

"Sure, why not?" Said Serena.

"Tomorrow night?" Asked Yuto.

Everyone nodded their heads in agreement.

And so, a group-outing was decided on.

---

How was it that the Phantoms came to be? I'm sure that's what you all are wondering.

What happened that pushed this group of friends to don masks and adopt different identities?

How did The Phantom, Diva, Knight, Nightingale, Wingman, Windwitch, Venom, and Luna come to exist in this world?

It was shortly after Yuya and Yuzu officially became a couple…

"To these two idiots finally getting together!" Yelled an overly-excited Yugo, everyone else cheered while Yuya and Yuzu blushed, both of them sat closely together, their hands intertwined.

Suddenly, Yuya's phone rang, he brought it out and checked who it was.

It was his mother, "Sorry guys! I have to take this…" He said apologetically, he left the karaoke room they were partying in and answered the phone.

"Hey, Mom, what's up?" Yuya said cheerfully.

He heard the sound of his mother sniffling through the phone.

"Mom…?" Yuya said with a voice of concern, "What's wrong…?" He asked.

"Oh, Yuya…" Said the fragile and shaking voice, Yuya could tell tears were running down her cheeks as she spoke.

"It's… your father…" She started to say, Yuya's eyes widened.

What he heard next caused his heart to skip a beat.

"Oh, Yuya… I'm sorry…" His mother sniffled out.

His phone fell from his hand and hit the floor, his legs felt wobbly.

He collapsed on the floor with a loud thud, his hands on his head while his eyes began to water.

His friends heard him and quickly opened the door to see him on the floor, on the verge of tears as he clutched his head.

"He's… dead… he was killed…"

Tears finally started to run down his face.

He screamed at the top of his lungs, a despairing, curdling scream that echoed through the hallway he was in, some people opened the doors to their room with looks of concern.

He felt the soft embrace of his girlfriend wrap around him gently, he faintly heard his name being called, things like "what's wrong?" and "what happened?" was said.

He couldn't really hear it though, he couldn't hear much over the sound of his own screams and the sound of his heart pounding in his chest.

Her mother heard it from the call that hadn't been ended yet, her heart broke as the sound of her son's screams filled her ears, she fell to her knees as well, unable to handle the surge of emotions flowing through her.

Yuya was quickly dragged back into the room and placed on the couch, he screamed the entire way, tears rushing down his face.

His head was placed in Yuzu's lap while he let his emotions loose, she held him close, trying to comfort him in any way possible.

Yuto picked up Yuya's phone and placed it to his ear, he heard the sobs of his mother on the other end.

"What happened!?" He yelled into the phone frantically.

A moment of silence, well, actually it wasn't silent, Yuya continued to scream.

Yuto's eyes widened.

"I see… you… have my condolences…" Yuto muttered before hanging the phone up and placing it on the table.

"What happened!?" Yugo yelled as Yuto sat down.

He broke the news to them.

It's funny, really, how such a happy, joy-filled mood, can be turned into despair and mourning in a single moment.

Yuya had last spoken to his father on the day he decided he would tell Yuzu his feelings, he had asked for advice.

His father's words gave him the courage he needed to walk up to Yuzu that day.

The last thing his father had said to him was "Good luck son, I love you…"

Yuya had casually replied with "Yeah, love you too dad…"

He would never hear his father's voice ever again.

He continued to scream while Yuzu shed tears as well, mourning the loss of his father alongside him, and gently caressing his head while he screamed.

They had all come in Yuto's truck to get here, they decided that it was time to go home, and after Yuya finally stopped screaming, he was supported by Yugo and Yuzu as they walked him out of the building.

His quiet sobs filled the truck as they drove away, Yuri sat in the passenger seat with a neutral face, but a face that showed sadness as well.

Yuto wiped away a tear in his eye as he drove, he had met Yuya's father before, he was a nice man and someone that Yuto could have considered a father figure, something he didn't have.

Yuya was laid across two seats, despite the crowded atmosphere in the car, they didn't mind, his head rested in Yuzu's lap while his hands clenched tightly around her own.

Yugo, Rin, Ruri, and Serena crouched on the floor of the truck, Yugo patted his back while Rin leaned on him, wiping away a tear.

They had all met his father, multiple times actually, he was someone that became important to all of them.

The school allowed him to leave the school for a week to mourn, every day after school ended that week, Yuya's friends traveled to Yuya's home to check on him.

Yuya was grateful they had come, though he didn't speak much, just having the people he cared about around him was enough to keep him going, even though a part of him didn't want to.

A week passed, and Yuya finally returned to school.

Yuya entered the school with a smile, his friends asked him if he was okay, his response was the same each time.

"Yeah! I'm fine!"

His friends knew better.

At the end of the day, they surrounded him near the dorms.

"Hey, guys, what's up?" Yuya said with a smile.

Yuzu suddenly embraced him tightly, Yuya gasped.

"Please…" Yuzu said with a hint of desperation, "We know what you're doing… please… don't…" She said as she held him tightly.

"W-what are you talking about…" Yuya said, his smile still on his face, "Guys I'm f-fine…!" Yuya started to say.

He was suddenly surrounded by a huge, group hug around him.

"You don't have to pretend you're fine if you're not… idiot…" Yuri muttered.

"You always do this… you pretend everything's fine by forcing a smile on yourself whenever something goes wrong…" Yugo said.

"You don't have to pretend…" Yuto muttered, "We're all here for you…" Yuto said to the boy.

Yuya gasped for a moment as his smile finally faded, tears forming in his eyes.

"…Yeah…!" He said as he embraced them back, taking off the mask he had so desperately kept on his face that day.

"I really do… have wonderful friends…!" He said through the sobs.

It began to rain, but they still held him, they didn't care if they got wet, they would be there for him no matter what.

They remained there until the sobbing stopped, a small but real smile on his face, "Thank you… thank you so much…" he said, his friends smiled as well.

The rain finally stopped, and sunlight broke through the grey clouds, shining brightly on the group below.

It was a tough time, they all joined him and his mother for the funeral, and they continued to mourn.

But with time, the wounds on their hearts finally began to fully heal.

It wasn't the same as before it had happened, they could all tell.

They could all tell that their bonds became stronger after what had happened.

A month passed, but his father's killer still hadn't been found.

Finally, Serena's father (someone who worked with the police) gave them some news.

Yuya wasn't with them at the table yet, Serena pounded her fist on the table aggressively.

"They're dropping the case!" She yelled, pounding the table furiously as though she wished to break it.

"What!? They can't do that!" Yugo yelled loudly.

"Well, that's what they did! And it's bullshit!" Serena yelled, finally causing a crack to form in the table, Yuri quickly grabbed her by her arms and stopped her from damaging school property more.

"Why…" Yuzu muttered, "They can't just…" She started to say before her words stopped coming out of her mouth.

Serena finally calmed down and Yuri released her, "Yeah, I'm gonna go find out why this happened…" Yuri said angrily, "One of you needs to break the news to Yuya, I'm leaving…" He said as he stormed off.

They told Yuya the news, his reaction was similar to theirs, but with much more emotion than any of them.

That night, however, they all got a text from Yuri to come to his room in the dormitory.

Everyone assembled in his room, Yuri's hair was in disarray, his eyes were red, likely from staring at a computer for too long.

"What is it…" Yuya muttered, Yuzu leaned on Yuya's shoulder for support.

"What is it!?" Yuri said angrily, he grabbed his laptop and shoved it in their faces, "THIS is what's IT" He practically yelled.

The screen was set to a video, Yuya pressed play.

It was footage of a black-suited man meeting with what looked like a detective behind a police station.

The man with the black suit took a fat wad of money out of his pocket and handed it to the detective, the detective looked through it and glared at the man.

"This is only half of what you promised…" He said angrily.

"You get the other half when you fulfill your end of the bargain, Detective…" Said the man in a black suit.

"Yeah yeah…" Said the detective, "get the case for Yusho Sakaki's murder to be closed, I'm on it…" He muttered, stuffing the money in an inside pocket in his large jacket.

Everyone gasped, with the exception of Yuri, who was now chugging a cup of coffee.

The video ended there, Yuya looked up at Yuri with wide eyes.

"Yuri… what is this!?" He exclaimed.

"Exactly what it looks like…" Yuri spat out, "The lead detective for your father's case was BRIBED!" He yelled, "BRIBED to drop your father's case!" He said angrily.

"But that's…!" Ruri started to say, Rin interrupted her, "Awful! It's bullshit!" She yelled out, Serena nodded in agreement.

"I needed to know… and so did you guys…" Yuri said as he sat down on his bed, "The world is a shitty fucking place…" He spat out.

"We can't just let this happen!" Yuya yelled, "Something has to be done! Something… someone…!" He started to say before his legs started to wobble.

"Yuya!" Yuzu exclaimed as he started to fall, she quickly helped him to sit beside Yuri on the bed, he had a hand on his head and was gritting his teeth angrily.

"That guy in the suit…" Yuya said, "Why would he be so interested in my dad's case…" He said angrily.

Yuri responded, "Probably because he was the prime suspect…" He said. Everyone's heads shot to him, "WHAT!?" Yuya yelled.

"Wait, could it be that…!" Yugo started to say, Yuri cut him off, "That he's the murderer? Probably, yeah…" He said. Yuya stared at the man on the screen intently.

"Damn it… if the police won't do it then I'll go after him!" He said as he stood up, "Yuya, what are you…!" Yuto started to say.

"The man who killed my father is going to get away scot-free if somebody doesn't do something!" Yuya yelled, "I can't… I can't let that happen!" He yelled.

"Yuya, we can't…" Yuzu started to say before Yuri suddenly cut her off, "I'm in…" he said abruptly.

"What!? Yuri!" Yuto yelled.

"I dunno if it's just because I'm tired, but I really want to kick this guy's ass…" He said bluntly, "So I'm in…" He said.

"Yuri!" Yuto yelled, trying to be the voice of reason.

"Ugh… fine… I'll be on Yuya's side…" Yugo muttered, walking over and sitting down next to him, "YUGO!" Yuto yelled.

"Guys, doing something like this could mean breaking the law…" Serena pointed out, the room went silent, but Yuya, Yuri, and Yugo remained where they were.

"…Fuck it, sounds fun, I'm in!" Serena finally said.

"SERENA!" Yelled both Yuto and Ruri.

"That's four people, anybody else?" Yuri said calmly, "Besides, breaking the law is nothing new to me…" He muttered.

"WHAT!?" Yelled everyone.

"What? You all know I'm not the best person on the planet, I shoplifted once, and surprisingly enough, I actually got away with it without anybody knowing, including you guys" He said casually.

"Shoplifting isn't nearly as bad as what you guys are trying to do here!" Yuto practically yelled.

"Yeah, we're gonna find this guy, smack him around a bit, take some stuff, and get proof of what he's done…" Yuya said softly, Yuri smirked, "Ah, actual goals, I like it…" He said.

"Assault and Theft…" Yuto groaned, "And possible breaking-and-entering, you guys do realize what happens if you're caught, right!?" He said angrily.

"They'll definitely be caught if nobody handles Yugo properly…" Rin muttered, "Fine, I'm in…" Rin finally said.

"OH COME ON!" Yuto and Ruri yelled.

Yuzu gulped, "I… I said I would follow Yuya to the ends of the earth if I had to when I confessed to him…" She said quietly, "So… I'm in!" She finally said.

Yuto and Ruri looked like they were on the verge of having an aneurysm, "Yuzu, your one person that I want to keep out of this…" He said softly.

"Well too bad," She said, "A-as if I'm going to let you do s-something like this without me at your side…" She stuttered.

"God… you guys are doing this no matter what we tell you, aren't you?" Ruri asked.

"We may not know where to start, but we have our goal, and we're gonna work towards it…" Yugo said confidently.

"God… what's stopping me and Yuto from telling an adult about what you guys are planning right now!" She said, "Why don't we just turn this evidence over to the police?" She asked desperately.

"One…" Yuri started to answer, "You won't…" He said, answering her first question.

He was correct, neither she or Yuto would do that.

"And secondly…" Yuri continued, "Who knows how many people with the police are on this guy's payroll, it'll probably be useless anyway, and we might end up on this guy's hit list if we revealed that we could find evidence on them this easily…" He responded.

Yuto groaned, "So there's nothing we can do to stop you?" He asked.

They all nodded.

"Fine…" Yuto gave in, "You win, I'm probably gonna end up in jail, therefore ruining a good portion of my life by giving myself a criminal record, but who cares?" He said sarcastically.

"Good to have you on board…" Yuri said with a grin.

"God… I don't wanna be the odd-person out…" Ruri muttered, "Fine… but if I end up in jail, I'm blaming it on you guys when my mom yells at me…" She said bluntly.

Yuri clapped his hands together, "Right, step one of MANY more steps is done…" Yuri said casually.

"What do you mean?" Yugo asked.

"That should be obvious…" Yuri said, "We're 16-year-olds, none of us know how to fight, and the only crime I've committed is SHOPLIFTING, which just involved some sneakiness and critical thinking," said Yuri.

"It's great and all that we've decided to do this, but yeah, we aren't ready…" Rin said, "None of us know any form of self-defense, we've never committed any MAJOR crimes in our lives, we have NO clue where to start, and our skill as thieves is the equivalent to the thieving skill of a crying baby," She said bluntly.

"We also don't have disguises, code-names, and an actual team name…" Yugo started to list off more problems before he stopped and looked around him.

Yeah, they got the idea.

"So, what do we do then?" Yuya asked. They all sat there thinking for a moment.

"Actually try robbing a place?" Yuri suggested.

---

"Forgive me, dad… if you knew what I was doing… you would be so disappointed in your only daughter…" Yuzu muttered as they each sat in a large and mostly empty black van, they were all wearing black clothing, hoodies, pants, and ski-masks in their hands.

"You don't have to come along you know…" Yuya said with concern, Yuzu smacked her cheeks before staring at him with determination, "No… I want to be here…" She said nervously.

"I bet whoever's working there doesn't expect that not just two or three, but EIGHT people will come in to rob that store tonight…" Yuri said with a grin as he put the ski-mask on his head, covering his head entirely except for his eyes and mouth.

"Remind me again, how are we supposed to intimidate him enough to give us the money?" Yuto asked.

"I stole my dad's gun, and he didn't and hasn't even noticed!" Yuri said excitedly, holding up a black pistol.

"Holy shit, we're robbing a store not committing murder!" Yuto hissed, Yuri chuckled.

"Relax, it's loaded with blanks…" He assured him, "It'll sound like a gunshot, but it won't actually be a gunshot…" Yuri assured him.

"What happens if he starts shooting at us though!" Yugo asked suddenly.

"For that situation, we fucking run, and I did, in fact, bring live ammo just in case…" Yuri assured him.

"I also brought airsoft guns and various melee weapons…" Serena said casually, opening up a duffel bag and revealing multiple airsoft guns, a model katana, and a metal bat.

"Do these actually hurt people…?" Ruri asked as she picked up the katana, Serena shook her head, "Unless you like, really try to make it hurt…" She replied as she handed Yugo the bat.

"Oh, another thing…" Yuri said, "Who here is the best at getaway-driving?" He asked.

"What?" Yuto said.

"Well someone needs to wait in the car and be able to drive us away from the cops!" Yuri said as though it was obvious.

"Oh my god, this is a bad idea…" Yuto muttered, his breathing starting to quicken.

"If we're talking about driving skill, Yuto's the only one who didn't fail his driving test the first time…" Yuya pointed out.

"Ohh my god…" Yuto muttered.

"I can drive if anyone wants me to!" Yugo chimed.

"NO!" Everyone yelled, each of them knowing that if Yugo drove, they'd probably end up crashing, which is bad if you're running from the cops.

"Alright… I'll do it…" Yuto muttered.

"Alright, we're counting on you!" Yuri said kindly.

"How did you even get this car?" Rin asked as she and everyone else pulled on their ski-masks.

"Simple, this one guy never uses it, so I stole it!" Yuri explained.

"The list of crimes just keeps on growing…" Yuto groaned as everyone else stepped out of the van.

"Alright, everyone, be confident, if you aren't, pretend that you are…" Yuri said as they walked towards the convenience store.

They stormed into the store and Yuri fired off three blanks in rapid succession, there were two people in the store, the guy at the cash register, and one guy who fainted upon the first blank being fired.

"HANDS UP!" Yuri yelled, the guy at the register didn't seem to react too much, but he put his hands in the air anyways.

"Damn… nerves of steel…" Yugo muttered, Rin elbowed him, "Shush!" She said.

"No… he's obviously dealt with this situation way too many times…" Yuri muttered as he pointed the gun at his head, the man still looked like he didn't give two shits about the situation he was in.

"What do we say now?" Yuzu said nervously, earning an elbow from Rin and a harsh shush.

"Money in the bag!" Yuya suddenly yelled, tossing the duffel back at the man at the register, everyone stared at him in shock.

"Okay…" Said the man, opening the register and placing the money inside.

"FASTER!" Yuya yelled, the man stared at him for a moment.

Yuya's eyes stared directly into the man's sleepy eyes, "Cool… someone actually intimidating…" Said the man, he started to put money in the bag at a faster rate.

"Damn Yu-" Yugo began to say before Rin punched him in the gut, "Don't say our names, idiot!" She yelled, Yugo groaned in response.

"Someone's pretty serious about this…" Yuri muttered.

"Here…" Said the man at the register, he tossed the duffel bag filled with cash back at Yuya, he caught it.

"Remember! For this is the first crime of…!" Yugo started to say as they were leaving, "Wait… what's our name?" He asked.

"Forget the damn name! We'll figure that out later!" Yuri spat out as they ran out of the store.

The man at the register yawned, "I need a new job…" He muttered, "Too bad for them, the cops are on their way…" He said, eyeing the alarm button underneath the table he had leaned down to press while he put money in the bag.

---

Yuto sighed, desperately hoping that this was all a dream.

Suddenly the back of the car opened and all seven of his friends ran inside, "W-Whoa!" Yuto yelled suddenly, Yuri placed himself at the passenger seat and pulled off his ski-mask, as did everyone else in the van.

"DRIVE!" Yuri yelled.

"Wait… did you guys actually…" Yuto muttered as he looked behind him.

There were only two seats in the van, the driver's seat and the passenger's seat, the rest was just empty space.

Among that empty space were the panting forms of his friends, and a half-open duffel bag between them.

With MONEY in it.

"Oh god…" Yuto muttered, his face went pale.

"DRIVE!" They all yelled frantically, Yuto stepped on the gas pedal and drove off as quickly as he could.

"Oh fuck… oh fuck… we actually did this… we actually fucking did this…" Yuto panicked as he drove away from the store, Yuzu was curled up into a ball on the floor, "Forgive me, dad… you and mom gave birth to a bad apple… forgive me…" She muttered in panic.

Everyone stared at her, "YOU WERE LITERALLY TOLD NOT TO COME!" They all yelled, "I know!" Yuzu yelled back, "I'M JUST PANICKING A BIT, OKAY!?" She yelled.

Suddenly they heard the sound of sirens.

Yuto slowly turned and looked at his rear-view mirror.

A police car was chasing them.

Yuto let out a high-pitched scream of terror, causing everyone else to start freaking out as well.

"God DAMN it, I KNEW THIS WAS A BAD IDEA!" Serena shouted, "YOU WERE THE ONE WHO SAID IT WOULD BE FUN!" Rin screamed.

"YUTO, DRIVE!" Yuya yelled, "Should I pull over…? No… I can't do that… oh god, we're screwed…" Yuto muttered quickly to himself, his hands were shaking furiously.

"Oh fuck me… GIMME THE WHEEL!" Yuri yelled, unbuckling both himself and Yuto and shoving him away from the wheel, and taking it in a single instant.

"Wait, YURI YOU DON'T HAVE A DRIVER'S LICENSE YET!" Yugo screeched, Yuri ignored him and put hit the gas pedal, driving at full throttle.

"WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!" Ruri shrieked, "SHUT UP, I'VE PLAYED ENOUGH GRAND THEFT AUTO TO KNOW WHAT TO DO!" Yuri yelled back.

That caused everyone to panic more.

"WE'RE RELYING ON YURI'S GTA SKILL!?" Yuto screamed while everyone panicked more.

Strange how everything goes to shit so quickly.

"Forgive me father, for I have sinned…" Yuzu started muttering, she wasn't religious, but she was praying anyways.

Yuto swerved into the highway, something that was luckily completely empty that night.

Everyone fell over and crashed into the sides of the van with every turn.

It was funny, really, a cop car chasing a van full of panicking teenagers.

"Wait… am I hearing more sirens!?" Yugo yelled.

Everyone went silent as they listened to the sirens behind them.

"Well, bad news everyone…" Yuri muttered, "There are now five cop cars behind us…" He said bluntly.

"IM GONNA GO TO JAIL FOREVERRRR!" Yugo shrieked, earning him a slap to the face, courtesy of Rin, "No you're not!" She yelled.

"Daddy I'm sorryyyy!" Yuzu screamed out in a panic, Yuri looked at the rear-view mirror and saw the police slowly catching up to them, he also looked at the gas meter and realized that they were actually pretty low on it.

"Guys, we should have filled this thing up with gas before we did this…" Yuri said, "We're out of gas!?" Yuya yelled, "Almost! And relax! I got this!" Yuri yelled back, though in his mind he was screaming: "Shit shit shit shit shit shit SHIT!"

Yuri looked over at the other side of the highway, it actually had some cars driving on it…

"I can't believe I'm doing this…" Yuri muttered before he suddenly turned the wheel and headed straight for the other side of the highway, something that was only separated by a large patch of grass.

"HOLY SHIT, YURI WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" Yuto screamed.

"WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!" Serena yelled.

"GRAND THEFT AUTOOOOOOOO!" Yuri yelled at the top of his lungs as he swerved onto the other side of the highway.

"I am only sixteen…" Yuto started to say, "BUT YOU ARE GOING TO GIVE ME A HEART ATTACK!" He yelled.

"Stop being a wuss!" Yuri yelled back, he spotted an exit off of the highway and immediately turned into it.

"If I die, I want everyone to know that I regret nothing! Except this, I regret ever agreeing to make a store robbery our first crime!" Yelled Yugo.

"Nobody's gonna die! I got this!" Yuri yelled as he drove along the road.

Then they crashed into a tree.

---

They all sat in a daze, mostly on top of each other, really.

An airbag had inflated in front of Yuri's face immediately, probably saving his life.

Yuri shoved the bag away from him and gasped for air, "Alright, everyone alive?" He asked.

The number of groans he got back indicated that nobody died.

"Good…" He said, "now GRAB EVERYTHING AND BAIL!" He yelled, everyone immediately scrambled to their feet and grabbed everything, the airsoft guns, weapons, and the duffle bag.

Once they all exited the video, Yuri hit the reverse pedal and drove the partially wrecked car into the street.

"Right, GET BACK!" He yelled as he ran towards them with a remote in his hand.

"Wait, wha-" Yuya started to say before he and everyone else was tackled to the ground by Yuri.

"Cover your ears…!" Yuri said. Everyone did as he said.

Beep!

The car suddenly exploded into a burst of flames.

"WHAT DID YOU DO!?" Yuto yelled.

"I destroyed the car, and therefore, evidence! Explosives are easy to make! I learned thanks to the internet!" Yuri said back.

"Into the woods!" Yuya yelled, pointing to the mess of trees and forest behind them.

They didn't have to be told twice, everyone scrambled to their feet and dashed into the foliage.

"What's the plan!?" Rin yelled as they ran through bushes and trees, "Improvise!" Yuya yelled back.

"AH!" Yelled Yugo, suddenly vanishing from everyone's field of vision.

"Yugo!?" Rin yelled out with worry in her voice.

"I'm okay!" Yelled back his voice, they quickly ran over to the sound of his voice and found a deep pit of foliage in the ground.

Yugo's head suddenly popped out of it, "guys, get in here! It's perfect!" He said excitedly.

"What are you talking about?" Ruri asked. Yugo grinned at her, "it's big enough for all of us, and I couldn't even see it until I fell inside!" He explained, "we can hide in here until we're in the clear!" He said happily.

"Are you sure? I'm sure the cops have lost us by now…" said Yuto.

The sound of sirens filled their ears again.

"Oh god, no they haven't!" Yuto hissed, "everyone pile in!" He said.

And that's how eight people ended up huddling together inside an incredibly convenient (though dirty) hiding spot.

"Spread out and search for them, they can't have gotten far!" Yelled the voice of a police officer, everyone quickly shut themselves up.

"Well…" Yuya whispered, "not how we expected this to go… but hey… success?" He asked.

"I mean, it was a complete dumpster fire for an operation, but yeah…" Yuri whispered back, "mission complete…" he said.

"I'm gonna kill you all in the morning…" Yuto muttered. Everyone suppressed the urge to laugh.

"Everyone be quiet!" Yuzu hissed, they all nodded and didn't talk for the rest of the night.

At one point, they all ended up falling asleep.

---

"Hey… everyone get up!" Whispered the voice of Yuto.

"Ugh… five more minutes… muttered Yuri, a Yuzu shifted in her sleep, Yuya noticed that she had cuddled right up to his chest.

"No! This is our chance!" Yuto said, "The cops finally stopped searching the area! We can leave now!" He said excitedly.

"Huh?" Yuri said in confusion, "oh yeah… that happened last night…" he muttered, slowly leaning up and waking up everyone who was on top of him.

"Stick everything in the duffle bag…" Yuya muttered, the duffle bag was promptly filled with the airsoft guns, the single real gun Yuri had, the bat, the katana model, and the ski-masks.

Fairly simple considering that the amount of cash they got from the robbery hardly filled the duffle bag anyways.

They exited their hiding place, sure enough, the entire area was empty except for them.

"Damn… we look like a mess…" Yugo joked as they all stood up and stretched.

It was true, sweaters and pants were torn in some areas, dirt and mud covering a good amount of whatever was left, and twigs and leaves stuck out of their clothing and hair, something that was now in a complete and utter mess.

"I need a shower…" Yuzu muttered, "thank god, its a weekend today…" Serena groaned.

"Anybody's phone still got charge in it?" Yugo called out, everyone looked at their phones, most of them were either dead or close to it.

"Mine still has 20% left…" said Yuya.

"Good, now let's call an Uber and get out of here…" Yuri suggested.

"There's eight of us though…" said Ruri.

"We have extra money, I'll tell whoever we get that we'll pay him extra…" Yuri said as they trekked their way out of the woods and onto a sidewalk.

The car they had blown up was completely gone, "what time is it?" Yugo asked.

"3 in the afternoon… damn…" Yuri replied after checking his watch.

"Well, we DID stay up past midnight for what we just did…" Serena pointed out.

"The Uber is on the way… get the money ready…" Said Yuya.

Everyone took a wad of cash out of the bag and stuffed it in a pocket, their ride arrived shortly after.

"There is… eight of you…" the man said curiously.

"We'll pay extra if you let us cram in, we'll stick Yugo in the trunk if we have to…" Yuri replied, earning a dignified "Hey!" From Yugo.

"I'll take the extra cash, do whatever you want…" The Driver replied.

The result was Yuya, Yuto, and Yuri in the back with Yuzu, Ruri, and Serena on their laps, in that order, from left to right.

Rin was allowed to take the passenger seat, while Yugo (despite his complaints) actually did end up stuffed into the truck, they could hear him complaining to himself faintly from inside the car.

"What happened to you guys?" The driver asked.

"Let's just say it was an… exciting night…" Yuri replied, the driver chose not to ask anything else, "there's water in the seats…" he said before staying quiet for the remainder of the trip.

They guzzled the two bottles just by sharing it, they left half of one bottle left to give to Yugo later.

They finally arrived back at the dorms and they all walked in with tired eyes, Yugo guzzling the bottle of water they had given him.

"Everyone freshen up…" Yuya said as they walked the stairs to their rooms, "meet me at my room in an hour…" he said before shutting the door to his room behind him.

An hour and a half later…

"God… that was refreshing…" Yuzu said as she entered the room, her hair was damp as though she had just taken a shower, everyone else was in a similar state.

"So…" Yuya Said, "What did we learn last night?" He asked.

"That we suck at this?" Yuri replied. Everyone laughed.

Suddenly a loud knock was heard on their door, they all gulped as Yuya got up to answer it.

"Hello?" Yuya said through the door.

"Hi… yeah, I'm just going around and asking this to everybody…" Said a male voice from the other side, "has anyone seen my car? It disappeared last night and I'm afraid it might've been stolen…" he said nervously.

"Uhh… sorry no, haven't seen it…" Yuya replied nervously.

A loud sigh was heard from the other side, "Oh… sorry to bother you then…" Said the boy before walking away.

"I hope you find it!" Yuya called after him, Yuri had to suppress the urge to burst out in laughter.

When the boy was finally, completely gone, Yuya turned and looked at Yuri.

"You stole his car, didn't you?" He asked.

"Probably… pfft…" Yuri replied with a shit-eating grin.

They burst into laughter again.

---

Over the next month, they would continue working towards the goal they had set for themselves, it mostly consisted of watching and practicing videos of how to use weapons effectively, then practicing on each other.

They each took a crash course in self-defense, they performed more research on the man they were after, finding out his name and place of residence.

They went to a costume store and picked out different outfits that they liked and took them home, where they made their own customizations.

They made code-names for each other, and using Yugo and Rin's engineering prowess, along with buying already manufactured versions, made effective earpieces that would allow them to communicate no matter how far they got from each other.

They made their masks each look unique, something that matched them and their code names.

Yuya became Phantom.

Yuto became Knight.

Yugo became Wingman.

Yuri became Venom.

Yuzu became Diva.

Ruri became Nightingale.

Rin became Windwitch.

Serena became Luna.

After that was the decision of who the leader was.

It was a unanimous decision.

Yuya, or rather, Phantom, became the leader, and they named their group after him.

And thus, The Phantoms were born.

They signed up for Gymnastics, and a single month turned into two, they often goofed around, but they were serious about what they were doing.

They didn't know when though, but at one point Yuri had somehow learned how to HACK.

He had burst in one day, bags under his eyes, and yelled: "I'M A BADASS HACKER NOW!" And he proved it by giving each of them a USB labeled with their names on it.

Each USB had the entire photo gallery of each of their laptops on them, even the "embarrassing ones"

As far as they knew, Yuri had never gotten to their laptops physically, so they promptly praised him, then asked him to never look at their stuff ever again.

And then, they finally tried to commit another crime again.

They traveled to a shopping mall near a museum, dressed normally and disguised as simply a group of friends coming to hang out.

They left their car in a parking lot nearby and hung out until the sun began to set, and night finally fell.

The stores were closed now, they walked into an alleyway that Yuri had confirmed beforehand to have no cameras.

They donned their masks and outfits, as well as the alter egos they invented, and earpieces as well.

They could have gone simple, just simple outfits meant to blend into the shadows, but they wanted to be known, they wanted to be remembered, so their costumes had to be easy to remember after seeing it as well.

Yuya wore a red suit that made him look like a magician, the kind that stood up onstage and entertained people with incredible tricks.

He wore a white cape and hood to cover his hair, and simply because he wanted to have a "phantom-like" look when he was looked at from afar.

His mask was white with black lines near the eyes, stretching out towards the edges of the mask, which has a small red outline, a green gem was attached to the left side of his mask, and a red one to the right side.

He looked like a mix between an expert thief and a magician who performed for the crowd.

At his side was a fairly long dagger with a red and green gem at the bottom of the handle. At his other side was a small pistol, it was currently set to shoot blanks in order to intimidate, but if he needed to, he had a bit of live ammo equipped on him too.

He was the only one with a gun however, it was their only actual gun, and they were hoping to preserve the live ammo as much as they could, as they would have trouble getting more.

They would only shoot to intimidate or immobilize, they agreed on that, they'd all learned how to fire a gun accurately, so any of them could use it, but it was decided that Yuya would carry it.

Yuzu wore a black, skin-tight suit, something that embarrassed her a little bit, but it was easy to move around in, she let her hair down instead of tying them up, as well as adding extensions to the ends of her hair. There was also a small pink, handmade flower pinned to her chest to give her suit some more character.

This made it look like she had blue tips at the end of her now even longer hair, something that matched her eyes as well, it was impossible to tell it was fake.

Her mask was pink with floral designs at the ends, as well as flowing blue lines that ran along the edge of the mask around her eyes.

At her side, she carried a long black whip, something she had spent a good amount of time learning how to use beforehand.

Yuto decided to honor the name of "Knight" by making his suit as sturdy as something meant to be quiet could be.

Black metal plates adorned his arms, as well as his gloves, legs, and his chest and back.

He wore a dark-purple cape and the model katana at his side, the katana had been modified to become an actual weapon as well.

Unlike his friends, who wore masks that covered their eyes and nose, he went a little further, he wore square goggles around his eyes that you could hardly see through on the outside, but clearly on the inside.

He also wore a black mask over his mouth and nose, but you could still hear him clearly, and he could breathe easily as well unless he presses a little switch at the side which then filters the air and makes it a little hard to hear him.

So his face was really the most disguised out of all of them.

Ruri's costume had a similar color scheme to Yuto's, it was a mostly black and purple skin-tight suit like Yuzu's, except adorning her waist and wrists were handmade feathers of yellow and blue, with little black tips at the end.

Her mask was soft and feathery, a pale shade of yellow before going blue at the edges, and then extending out at the top edges with black.

Her hair was usually tied up into a bun, which then extended down into a ponytail (she had ridiculously long hair), but like this, she tied it in one long and large braid ponytail, reaching down to the middle of her back.

Yugo's was simple, but honestly a little flashy, it was a white tracksuit outfitted with a short green cape that was attached to his shoulders and arms, if Yugo spread his arms out, it almost looked like wings.

Like Yuto, he didn't wear a mask, well he did… it was a simple and thin white mask with green lines, but that was only as a precaution, his actual cover for his face was a white helmet with a large, blue visor, like Yuto's goggles, Yugo could see perfectly easily out from inside, but it was difficult to peer through the visor from outside.

A metal bat was decided to be too heavy and big for convenient usage, so Yugo found a smaller, but actually pretty thick metal rod that could be strapped to Yugo's back when not in use.

Rin's outfit was just as flashy, it was similar to a beautiful white dress with bluish-green accents along the edges, except it was really just a white skin-tight suit with white frills that turned to a bluish-green color. As for weaponry, Rin had decided on an extendable staff that could be attached to her back like Yugo's weapon.

There were questions about how they were going to "hide in the shadows' in a getup like that, to which they then replied by pulling a string at the sides of their suits.

Their suits suddenly darkened, turning into dark colors at the surprise of everyone else, they pulled the string again, and it went back to normal.

"How did you do that!?" Was a question they were asked, to which they earned the response of "Manufacturer's secret…"

Yuya found that his own suit had a similar mechanic of its own, but he never could figure out how it worked, and he stopped trying eventually out of fear that he would break it.

Yuri had donned a purple uniform with a red cape flowing at his back, similarly to Yuto and Yuya, his suit also had the same function Yuya's, Yugo's, and Rin's suits had, and even HE couldn't figure it out.

His mask was a slightly dark purple with green edges, it also had a bit of a longer nose, giving it a bit more of uniqueness in terms of shape when it came to the others.

He held a short sword at his side, a little longer than Yuya's dagger, but a little bigger in size as well, it had a purple hilt, and the blade looked like it was coming out of a snake's open mouth.

Serena's outfit was probably the simplest, she had said that so long as it worked, she was fine with it.

So, she had a pitch-black, skin-tight suit like Yuzu's, except that her friends had decided to give it even a little bit of character.

They gave her a cat-ear headband to wear, and she had her hair in its usual ponytail, except with a black ribbon instead of a yellow one, and like Yuzu, she added extensions to it, making it look like an even longer ponytail with yellow ends at the bottom.

As for her mask, it was a darker blue than her hair, along with white outlines, but it was in the shape of a cat's face, and Serena figured that was about as creative she was going to get with it.

As for her weapon, she had put on gloves and attached bits of metal to it, as she apparently felt more comfortable with her fists rather than a weapon.

At that moment, they placed their hands together and Yuya began to speak.

"We're going to follow three rules…" He said confidently, everyone else nodded.

We will refer to each other ONLY by our code-names while we work.

We will make sure that no lives are taken by what we do.

We will complete the mission, but we will not leave anybody behind.

They all nodded.

"Alright then…" Yuya said with confidence, "Let's move out…"

---

The alarm was blaring while Phantom and his teammates hid on platforms generously provided by the metal supports that held the roof of the museum up.

"Spread out and find whoever took it!" Yelled a large man, he was commanding heavily armed guards around him, to try and find whoever took the rarest artifact on display in the museum.

Phantom smirked with glee as he held a large pink diamond-shaped gem in the palm of his hand.

Something to note.

Some of their personalities changed a bit when they donned their costumes and alter egos.

Or at least, they become more "confident"

"I hope you guys know how we're getting out of this situation…" Knight muttered.

"Always the worrywart, aren't you?" Wingman replied with a grin.

"I'm not gonna take that from the guy who screamed the loudest on our first heist…" Knight replied.

"Hey! That was because Venom was driving!" Wingman shot back angrily.

"Yet somehow I can still drive better than you ever will…" Venom said smugly, earning a quick middle finger to his face.

"So… where to now, leader?" Yuzu asked with a kind tone.

Phantom grinned.

"Follow my lead!" He said confidently, everyone nodded and followed him as they began to move.

---

"Stop right there!"

A guard stood with a gun pointed at the thieves as they were about to leave.

A guard had spotted them.

They already knew what to do.

In a single instant, the guard's gun was knocked to the ground, multiple weapons now poised around him, ready to strike at vital areas.

The guard froze in place, he suddenly felt two slender arms wrap around his neck and pull him closer to the ground.

Diva was the one doing that, she placed her lips near his ear and whispered, "Sorry… but could you go to sleep now?" She said with a seductive tone, before she clapped a chloroform napkin around his mouth and nose, knocking him out effectively.

"Damn, Diva!" Windwitch said as they put away their weapons, "Where did that come from?" She asked.

Diva blushed, 'I-I don't know… I just suddenly felt really confident… and I just sort of moved without thinking and…" She started to stutter out.

Her eyes suddenly started to water, "I'm sorry!" She yelled out, "I'm an unfaithful girlfrieeeeeend!" She sobbed.

Phantom grabbed her hands and smiled at her, "Don't worry… I don't see it that way…" He said calmly, "I still love you… don't worry…" He said, calming her down immediately as she leaned into his chest.

Knight coughed loudly, "I don't know if you've realized it yet…" He stated bluntly, "But we need to go…"

About five guards now stood in front of them, each aiming a gun at them.

…

"Fuck, you're right…" Phantom said calmly.

"Open fire!" Yelled one of the guards, the group of eight immediately scattered and took cover.

"Oh shit… it's happening…" Windwitch muttered, the speed of her breathing starting to quicken, having bullets shot at you was actually a pretty scary experience.

"Don't panic!" Phantom yelled quickly, snapping everyone out of the slight panic that was instilled in their hearts when they just narrowly dodged gunfire.

"Everyone move!" He yelled, raising his arm and shooting a grapple at the metal supports for the roof above him and swinging up to it.

The rest of the Phantoms steadied their breath and quickly took their own actions to join their leader, whether it meant jumping from wall to wall until they reached enough height to grab onto the metal and climb up, or using a grapple similarly to what Phantom did.

In front of them was a large circle of stained-glass, arranged in a beautiful mess of colors.

A shame, really, what would happen to it.

Phantom took out his gun and loaded the live ammo into it, he ran forward, his team following him closely behind.

He fired three quick shots at the glass, shattering it completely and allowing the group to jump through.

Their forms were silhouetted by the shine of the moon above them as they flew through the sky.

They landed gracefully on the ground underneath them.

Suddenly, bright white lights were shone directly on them, nearly blinding them.

They were completely surrounded by police officers.

Not even the Phantom could smile in this situation, not that he had a reputation yet anyways.

"Drop your weapons and put your hands in the air!" Yelled a young man with grey hair, as well as a long red scarf flowing behind him, he held a megaphone in his hands as he stood above the army of officers around him.

The first time Reiji Akaba would meet The Phantoms.

Yet another operation has gone to shit.

The Phantoms nodded at each other before quickly jumping in different directions, as soon as they did, Reiji yelled out a single instruction.

"Open fire!" He yelled, and the sky was filled with the sound of gunfire.

"Whoa, SHIT!" Wingman yelled as he narrowly avoided bullets, quickly using his grapple to swing up to the roof and take cover, his teammates took similar actions.

His teammates weren't as lucky.

Phantom ran up the front of the building, using his grapple when he made some height to try and make the rest of the way up.

Two bullets, however, managed to strike him, one in the leg and the other managing to graze his arm.

It fucking HURT.

"Gah!" Phantom yelled out, he managed to swing himself up to the roof without any further damage, but the pain was nearly unbearable.

Most of his teammates suffered similarly.

Knight was spared a fair amount of damage thanks to the plates of metal adorning his arms and legs, but a bullet had grazed his cheek, damaging a part of the metal mask he wore to cover his nose and mouth, he was breathing quickly, clearly in a panic.

There was a bullet wound in Diva's left thigh, bullets had grazed Luna's side, but had hit their mark on her arm, Windwitch got lucky and escaped with simply multiple grazes to her arm, but she was still in a panic.

Venom took two bullets to his left arm and was now gritting his teeth while wrapping a white bandage tightly over the wound as quickly as he could, but the bleeding wouldn't stop.

"It hurts!" Diva yelled, her face contorted in pain, Luna's undamaged arm was clutching her wounded one tightly, her face contorted in similar pain, but she bit down on her lip tightly to keep quiet.

Windwitch looked like she was hyperventilating, and Knight was breathing similarly, Phantom cursed at himself as Venom quickly handed him the bandage roll.

He was the leader, he was responsible for everyone's well being, this was their first official heist and he had decided on something as big as this!? He felt angry at himself as he wrapped a bandage tightly around his leg, tossing it at the others when he was done.

"We can't stay here long…" Phantom said quickly, fighting through the pain emanating from his leg, "We have to move, so hurry!" He gasped out, he could see tears rushing down Diva's face.

They weren't ready for this.

How did they go from robbing a convenience store to robbing a FREAKING MUSEUM!?

They had gotten too cocky, and it was his fault.

"The door…!" Venom spat out, Wingman quickly ran to the door on the roof that they could hear guards storming towards, Knight followed him and they both shoved themselves up against the door to try and hold the guards off.

It wouldn't work, they all knew it wouldn't.

"Phantom… some of us have leg wounds… not all of us might make it out…" Windwitch said quickly, fear in her voice while bullets continued to fly overhead.

"Rule… number three…!" Phantom spat out as he gasped for air, "We will complete the mission… and leave nobody behind…!" He said desperately.

Wingman and Knight gritted their teeth, all of the efforts they put into this, and it would be over before just as soon as it began?

Phantom tried to stand, but the bullet in his leg caused him to fall over again.

"No… not yet…!" He spat out, "Father… I haven't gotten justice for you yet…!" He spat out as he struggled to get up again.

Loud banging struck the door that Wingman and Knight so desperately tried to keep closed, they wouldn't be able to hold it much longer.

Suddenly, a small object dropped down on the roof between them.

"G-grenade…!?" Phantom yelled out, his body seemed to move instinctively, to try and jump on top of it and save everyone else, his leg, however, wouldn't let him.

"Is… this how it ends…?" Phantom muttered as he stared at the object, on second thought, it looked more like a flashbang rather than a…

Smoke suddenly poured out of the object, spinning around rapidly, "A smoke bomb…!" Phantom exclaimed.

At that same moment, the doors were burst open, Knight and Wingman both blown back by the doors opening, only to fly straight into the white fog that now covered the entirety of the roof.

"Forgive me for my harsh treatment…"

The voice echoed in his head, "Who…!" Phantom yelled out before he suddenly felt a sharp strike to the back of his neck.

Everything went dark.

---

Yuya woke up with a start, sweat covering his body as he shot up in… bed?

…This wasn't his bed…

It was something similar to what you would lay on in a hospital, he looked to his left and saw all of his friends laying in similar beds next to him.

His leg and arm were bandaged, and he wore a hospital gown, much like everyone else in the beds next to him. With the exception of his pendulum necklace though, he had worn it underneath his suit to avoid people seeing it, but he refused to take it off.

Yuya noticed something though… his arm and leg hardly hurt at all, and on a table next to him were a pile of bullets, along with a note that said "it was a pain to remove these all, be grateful"

"Hmm… impressive, with the anesthesia I gave you and your friends, you should have been out for another hour…" Said a deep voice nearby.

Yuya's head shot towards the direction of the voice, a tall man with a few gray hairs among the smooth black hair atop his head, he read a book with the words "Arsene Lupin VS Sherlock Holmes" engraved on the front.

He wore a black suit, and a top hat laid on a coffee table next to him, he had a twirly mustache and a golden monocle on his left eye.

"Who are you!" Yuya yelled out, the man chuckled.

"I'm not obligated to answer that question truthfully…" He said with a smirk, "Phantom…"

Yuya stared at him intensely, still expecting an answer.

The man sighed, "Well, you should at least have something to call me…" he said as he closed the book and set it down.

"Hm… how about a name from the book I was just reading…" He said to himself as he walked over to Yuya's bed, "Hm… 'Arsene' is a bit too pretentious if you ask me… how about… Lupin? Yes… Lupin it is…" He said calmly as he held a hand out to Yuya, "Call me, Lupin…"

"Alright… Lupin…" Yuya replied, "Where are we, what happened, and just who are you…" He asked. Lupin chuckled.

"Yes… it is right that you have so many questions…" Lupin said with a chuckle, "I shall answer them… we are currently in the closest of my hideouts…" He answered, "It's not the cleanest, unfortunately, but it worked well for when I had to remove some nasty bullet wounds…" He said in a cheerful, British accent.

"So… you performed surgery on us?" Yuya said with a raised eyebrow, Lupin chuckled, "Yes, I guess I did… although it was really just dressing the part and then carefully pulling the stubborn pieces of lead out of the holes they dug into your bodies…" He said casually.

Yuya continued to stare at him.

"Hm?" Lupin said as he raised an eyebrow at him before he started chuckling again, "Relax young man, before I was a thief, I was, in fact, an expert surgeon…" He said calmly.

"You're a thief?" Yuya asked. Lupin chuckled some more, "My, you have even more questions now!" He said cheerfully, "Yes, although retired, I was a thief, and if I might add, quite the skilled one!" He laughed out loud.

"As for what happened… well…" Lupin started to say, "I'm sure you could guess it already, but I'll explain it anyway, you and your friends found themselves in a pinch, and I decided to help you…" He said calmly.

"Why?" Yuya asked.

"Well… your reason for becoming what you are now intrigued me…" He said, "Quite the hilarious stunt you pulled a few months back, I couldn't stop laughing as I watched you desperately evade the authorities!" He said, referring to the dumpster-fire-store-robbery.

"You've been watching us?" Yuya asked, "Yes… for quite a while actually…" Lupin responded, "Think of what I've done tonight as your one, free of charge, get-out-of-a-pinch-free card…" He said with a smile.

"As for who I am… well, I can only give you a vague answer…" Lupin said with a smirk, "Let's just say I'm a man who stole so much he could steal no more…" He said mysteriously.

"I took the liberty of repairing your costumes…" Lupin said with a chuckle, "Quite a way to get people to remember you… I have to say I like it…" He said cheerfully.

"Thanks…" Yuya replied nervously.

"Well… I suppose I can give you one more gift…" Lupin said as he picked up his top hat and book, "I don't use this hideout anymore… or any of my hideouts really…" He said with a smile, "So I give this to you, use it as you wish…" He said, tossing eight identical keys on the coffee table.

"And some advice…" He said as he turned to leave, "Thieves do not evolve unless they challenge themselves…" He said, "The target of your choice was given to you by the instinct of a thief that I sense within you…" He said with a smile.

"What do you mean?" Yuya asked.

Lupin grinned, "Though you succeeded…" He said, gesturing to the pink gem on the table next to Yuya, he hadn't even noticed it was there, "You still failed, you know that, correct?" Lupin asked.

Yuya bit his lip, it was true, though they had gotten away with the item they stole, he still felt as though they had failed.

Lupin smiled cryptically, "You have tasted the sting of defeat… now grow from it, young thief…" Lupin said as he left the room, closing the door quietly behind him.

---

Yuya had found that the room he was in was quite fancy, though admittedly dusty, he walked out of the door Lupin had exited, but he was no longer there, despite only having just walked out of it.

He saw that he had woken up in a mansion in the middle of nowhere, he saw a long spiral staircase leading to the bottom floor, where a table sat, along with all of their clothing, costumes and casual clothing as well.

He looked out of a window, he saw his car, a red sports-car, parked outside, along with everyone else's cars as well (provided they had a car in the first place).

He picked up the neatly folded pile of clothing and brought it up to the room his friends slept in, it took him three trips to get all eight pairs, but he managed it and placed everyone's clothing next to them as they slept.

Yuya started to put on his casual clothes, he noticed that a large scar now existed on his right leg, the leg that had been shot, as well as smaller scar where a bullet grazed his upper-arm.

He ignored it and put his clothes on, it confused him how the wound had been healed so quickly, but he was too tired to think about it right now.

Lupin had said he should have been out for about another hour, so he figured he had an hour to explore the mansion.

He walked around the upper floor, there were eight single rooms, along with four master bedrooms, all in all, the bathrooms were about as large as their rooms back at the dorms as well, which baffled Yuya.

He explored the top floor a little more and found a large media room as well, heck, it was large enough that it could probably be considered a small movie-theater already!

Downstairs he found a large kitchen that Yuto would probably like, he liked to cook after all, as well as a living room that was bigger than most houses, and a TV screen about half the size of the one in the media room, which is saying something.

He found a large, underground garage where a massive amount of vehicles awaited, there were sports-cars, vans, from expensive to cheap, there was a TON of cars, and keys to them each hung on a hanger in front of all of them.

He went back up to the ground floor and looked out another window, a HUGE field with a large fountain in the middle existed behind the mansion, it was incredible.

On the table, he found a note that read, "Leave the management of things such as taxes to me, treat this place as though it is your own home. Sincerely - Lupin"

Yuya could practically hear his friend's reactions in his head.

He found three vaults in a closet nearby, as well as a note on top of the middle one.

It read, "The code for the far-left vault is 2020, the middle is 0202, and the right is 0022"

Yuya opened the left vault, it was, unfortunately, empty.

The middle vault, however, held the equivalent to a small fortune.

The right vault was also empty, unfortunately, but Yuya was fine with that.

Yuya finally entered a room with a metal door, inside was a grey, concrete room, along one wall hung a variety of different weapons, guns as well, along with ammo to go with it. Multiple targets in the shape of the human body were propped against the wall.

"We're being given… all of this?" Yuya said out loud, astonishment in his voice.

He decided to go back and wait for his friends to wake up.

---

"So… basically our entire operation went to shit, and the only reason why we aren't in jail right now is because of some eccentric old man who is apparently a retired thief saved us?" Yuto asked.

"That is what happened, yes…" Yuya replied.

"How'd he fix our bullet wounds so quickly though…" Serena muttered as she felt the area where she was shot.

Everyone who ended up with bullet wounds that night now had scars instead, Yuri had a particularly nasty one on his arm considering he took two bullets to the same arm.

"He told us to grow from our defeat…" Yuya said, he stood up at the table the group now sat around.

"If any of you want to leave… do it now…" He said sharply, an uncomfortable silence filled the room.

"Honestly… I was so scared last night…" Yuzu finally said, "I thought I was gonna be caught, or even worse… die…" She admitted.

"But… while we worked together last night… I had fun… and I felt… brave… confident…" she explained.

She stared directly into Yuya's eyes, "I'm not leaving… I'm staying, and you can't say anything to stop me…" She said nervously, her eyes shining with nervous determination.

"You probably won't be able to do anything without me…" Yuri said calmly, "As if I'm just gonna leave you to scramble on your own… I ain't leaving…" He said.

"What Yuri is trying to say," Yugo started to say, "Is that he cares about you too much, and wouldn't want to stop anyways…" Yugo said despite Yuri's scoffs.

"And I'm on the same page… you're stuck with me whether you like it or not!" Yugo said cheerfully.

"This was always a dumb decision…" Yuto said with his arms crossed, "But it's a dumb decision I've decided to carry out, so I'll be sticking around…" Yuto said.

"Yuya, none of us are leaving…" Ruri said kindly, Rin and Serena nodded in response, "We were all scared last night, but we knew we were walking into danger when we agreed to make this team…" Rin said softly.

"We're with you all the way… Phantom…" Serena said kindly, Yuya smiled at his friends.

"Thanks…"

---

The next night, the gem had been returned to the museum with a note that said "thanks for letting us borrow this!"

It was quite a surprise for the people at the museum, surprising even the workers who were currently trying to wash off some pretty stubborn spray-paint on the inside wall of the museum.

Spray paint that read, "The Phantoms Haunt the Night…"

They became fairly popular on the internet, their name of "The Phantoms" was quickly understood, and they made a decision.

They would try again.

---

"We didn't even see them this time…" Muttered a police officer as he and Reiji stared at the wall of a prestigious hotel.

"The Phantoms have returned" was spray-painted on it.

Reiji clenched his fists, his failure to capture them the first time allowed them to learn from their mistakes, and now they've improved.

"What was stolen…" Reiji asked.

"The belongings of some of the richer guests… along with a large amount of their money…" The policeman replied, reading off of a list his hand, "One assault as well… the person staying at the penthouse suite…" The policeman continued, pointing at a man that wore a disheveled suit, he looked terrified.

"Why would they do that…" Reiji pondered out loud, the policeman shrugged, "We don't know, but he's started confessing to numerous crimes…" The policeman said.

"What?" Reiji exclaimed, "What crimes!?" He asked.

"Numerous bribes to officers, prostitution, tax evasion…" The policeman started to list off, Reiji stopped listening at one point.

"Did they know…? Is that why chose this place and this specific target?" He thought out loud.

Meanwhile, the Phantoms celebrated.

"Our first successful heist!" Phantom exclaimed happily, earning multiple cheers from his friends around them, to commemorate the occasion, they decided to stay in character and costume.

"What did you guys do to that guy anyways…?" Venom asked curiously, Luna grinned while Diva twiddled her fingers.

"Well… thanks to all of the dirt you found on him…" Luna said with a grin, "along with a little bit of persuading…" She said as she cracked her knuckles, "It was easy to scare him into it…" She said with a grin, Venom returned to her a similar grin.

"I feel a little bad though…" Windwitch said nervously.

"I don't…" Phantom said calmly, "According to Venom, he's apparently one of the most trusted men for the guy we're really after…" He said casually.

"Wait, seriously!?" Knight exclaimed, "Wouldn't that put us on his list of enemies!?" He yelled out.

"Technically we already were," Phantom replied, "He just didn't know it…" He said calmly.

"I found his name as well, you know…" Venom muttered, "The dickhead's name is Jean-Michel Roger," He said, holding up a picture of the man, "Politician, fairly liked surprisingly enough…" He spoke with a tone of disgust.

"That will change soon enough…" Phantom said with a grin, "That, I am certain of…" he said.

Over the next month, their fame would continue to grow.

People argued online about whether what they were doing was just, some said they were heroes of justice, taking the law into their own hands, others criticized them, saying their "methods" were wrong.

The Phantoms couldn't care less about it, when they were asked about what they thought of The Phantoms at school, they said that it was interesting, but they took no sides, not even their own.

Well, they did care, but they knew that no matter what people thought of them, they would continue doing what they were doing.

They slowly became more confident in themselves as they continued to commit crimes, even developing more confident personas while underneath their masks.

Phantom never saw Lupin during any of this, but he didn't find the need to, he was focused completely on his goal.

And finally, that day came.

"He's in there… I've confirmed it…" Venom said through a comm-link.

Each of them hid in separate locations around a large house that rested on the side of a mountain, numerous guards wearing crisp black suits and packing a LOT of heat patrolled the area, but they wouldn't notice the thieves.

"Then let's move out… Venom, disable their earpieces before we take them out…" Phantom said quietly, Venom nodded from nearby, he sat atop a tree that completely hid him while he typed away on his computer, he monitored all of his friend's locations, as well as the location of every guard, as well as the man they were after.

Specific guards suddenly and quietly disappeared from the area, the thieves hid in the shadows again.

"Alright, Roger has eight guards surrounding him, meaning once I cut the power, you have to immediately take all of them out, grab Roger, knock him out, and bail…" Venom said as he closed his computer and jumped out of the tree quietly, placing the computer in a case that hung on his shoulder.

He quickly joined the others near the entrances to the house, nobody inside knew what was about to happen.

Yuri looked at an electronic watch on his wrist, he pressed a few buttons before stopping and hovering his finger over it.

"Ready?" He asked. He heard quiet signs of confirmation.

"Alright… three, two, one…" He said as they prepared themselves.

"Go…!" Venom whisper-yelled, tapping the watch as he said it.

The lights in the house suddenly cut off, as well as all of the lights in the general area, plunging the entire area into pitch-black darkness.

The guards inside started to shout, but The Phantoms had already dashed inside.

On each of their masks, a night-vision visor had been installed, so while the guards were in the dark, they could see quite clearly.

Phantom moved around one of the guards and placed his palm on his face, shoving the guard to the ground, on Phantom's palm was also a chloroform napkin, the guard was out before he hit the floor.

Diva swept her foot underneath one of the guard's legs, causing him to begin falling onto his back, Diva moved swiftly on top of him and shoved a chloroform napkin on his face as well, promptly knocking the guard out, chloroform really WAS convenient.

The rest of the thieves took similar actions, knocking the guards over and promptly knocking them out with chloroform, except for Wingman and Luna, both had hit the guards so hard in the head that they were knocked out immediately.

"WAAAGH!" Roger screamed, Phantom immediately dashed forward and took the same action he had used on the guard, grabbing his face and slamming him to the ground.

Roger started to struggle, but he was met with a swift kick to his crotch (courtesy of Venom) and a chloroform napkin to his face (Phantom's doing).

Shouting was heard outside, Roger's scream had alerted the guards outside, but the guards continued to struggle to reach him while they relied on flashlights to make their way around.

"Time to go…!" Phantom hissed, Roger had already been tied up at his legs and arms using some rope and Diva's whip, and a white rag had been tied around his head to be used as a gag.

"And now we've added kidnapping to our list of crimes…" Knight muttered as he and Wingman picked him up and started carrying him, Phantom and Venom jumped from an open window and out onto the street, they turned around and waited…

Knight and Wingman suddenly threw Roger's unconscious body out through the window, Phantom and Venom quickly caught him before he hit the ground.

"Should've just let him hit the ground…" Venom muttered as they carried the unconscious body towards a black car nearby.

The rest of the thieves jumped out of the house as well, quickly running after them before the guards could pursue them.

They opened the trunk of the van and tossed Roger inside roughly.

The car wasn't meant to fit eight people, but anything was possible if you really tried.

Phantom dashed into the driver's seat, Diva managing to take the passenger seat while everyone else opened the back doors and crammed themselves inside, mostly laying on top of each other after they closed the doors and yelled "DRIVE!"

The tires screeched against the ground as they drove off, leaving the guards to search the area frantically.

"Guys, you're gonna crush my laptop…!" Venom yelled in annoyance while somebody's elbow dug into his side.

"Oh, shut up!" Yelled Luna as they took off.

The sound of frantic groans and struggling was heard behind them, "damn…" Wingman muttered as someone's foot smacked his face, "I thought he'd be passed out longer…" He grunted.

"Why didn't we take a bigger car!" Nightingale groaned as she felt her face press up against someone's back, "We needed to stay-OW-inconspicuous…!" Knight replied as he felt a fist crash into his face.

Phantom stared directly ahead, focusing on the road rather than his friends behind him, Diva stared at him with a look of worry.

"Someone please knock him out again when we get back to the hideout…" He said coldly as he turned a corner.

Diva slowly leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek, his breathing shook for a moment.

"…Thanks…" He muttered in response.

The man who killed his father was in the trunk of his car.

It was a strange feeling.

---

"Wake up!"

Roger woke up suddenly to a splash of cold water colliding with his face, he looked around rapidly in confusion, "Where am I!? Who are you!? What's going on!" He yelled.

His eyes finally landed on the group of eight in front of him, his arms were tied behind him, as well as to the uncomfortable chair he was sitting in, his legs were tied together and to the chair as well.

"You're… The Phantoms…" He muttered with a look of shock.

Phantom began to walk towards him, he suddenly grabbed the collar of the now-wet clothing he wore, his face was pulled close to Phantom's own, Roger could see the rage in his eyes.

"Answer me truthfully!" He suddenly yelled, "Did you kill Yusho Sakaki!" He spat out.

"W-Who… What are you talking about! I haven't killed anybody!" He yelled out in a panic.

"He's lying," Said Venom, "He's a bad liar as well…" He said bluntly.

Phantom suddenly threw him, chair and all, across the room, his face hit the ground painfully as he skidded along the floor.

"Phantom…!" Knight exclaimed, Phantom ignored him and walked up to the man who laid on his side, attached to his chair.

He roughly propped him back up again before grabbing his collar, "Lie to me again, SEE WHAT HAPPENS!" He yelled, Roger whimpered in fear.

Phantom gritted his teeth, he turned towards Diva, "Give me the whip…" He said coldly.

"W-What? Phantom, what are you…" Diva started to say as she unconsciously took a step back.

"I'll make him tell the truth! Give it!" Phantom yelled out.

"Phantom, a whip isn't necessary…" Nightingale said softly to try and calm him down.

Phantom took a step back, "Yes… you're right…" He muttered as he turned back towards Roger.

"I don't need a whip to get the truth out of him…!" He said angrily, taking out his gun and dagger, he put the knife up to Roger's neck, and his gun pointed directly at Roger's forehead.

"Phantom!" They yelled out, he ignored them.

"IT'S FUCKING LOADED, TRY ME!" Phantom yelled out, his eyes glowing a bit as he placed the front of the gun directly at Roger's forehead, he whimpered louder as the dagger's edge pressed up against his throat.

Phantom's finger was on the trigger, he claimed the gun was loaded with live ammo, and his dagger was poised and ready to slit the man's throat where he sat.

"I-I don't know what you're talking abou-" Roger began to say, Phantom pressed the gun harder into his temple.

"A-ALRIGHT! YES, I KILLED YUSHO SAKAKI!" He screamed out, "HE TURNED DOWN A DEAL I GAVE HIM, THEN I FOUND OUT LATER THAT HE HAD LEARNED TOO MUCH ABOUT ME!" He screamed in a panic.

"SO YOU KILLED HIM!?" Phantom yelled, "YES! I HAD TO! IF HE RELEASED WHAT HE FOUND TO THE PUBLIC, I'D BE RUINED!" Roger screamed desperately.

"WHO ELSE HAVE YOU KILLED?" Phantom yelled, "I DON'T KNOW!" Roger yelled, "I KILLED ANYONE WHO BETRAYED ME OR BECAME A DANGER TO ME! I DON'T REMEMBER THEM ALL!" He screamed.

The final straw broke in Phantom's mind.

Phantom kicked Roger square in the chest, he flew back against the wall, Roger coughed in pain.

Phantom stomped towards him and pressed the dagger and gun back into their original positions.

"I got that all recorded… I'll edit out Phantom's screaming later…" Venom said bluntly.

"GIVE ME ONE REASON WHY I SHOULDN'T KILL YOU RIGHT NOW!" Phantom yelled, the dagger and gun pressing against Roger roughly, Roger whimpered louder.

"THREE!" Phantom yelled, his finger curling around the trigger.

"Phantom!" Everyone yelled.

"TWO!" Phantom screamed, his grip on the dagger tightening.

"No, STOP!" Yelled Knight, the started running towards him.

"ONE!" Phantom yelled, blinding rage in his eyes, this monster took his father, and who knows how many others.

He didn't deserve to live.

"PHANTOM, STOP!" Diva yelled, wrapping her arms around him as she tackled him lightly.

Yuya's arms were quickly pulled away from Roger and was immobilized, "LET ME GO!" He yelled, "No! We won't!" Diva yelled, "Remember! We will never take another life!" Knight yelled as he struggled to keep Phantom's arms down.

"HE DESERVES IT!" Phantom yelled desperately, "HE KILLED MY-" He started to yell.

Diva quickly pulled his face to hers and kissed him, his eyes widened.

They separated, Diva stared into his eyes with a desperate look in her eyes.

"Please… don't do it… don't do something that you'll forever regret…" She said softly.

"If he's a monster because he killed people…" Yugo muttered, "Then killing him would make you a monster too…" He said calmly.

Phantom gritted his teeth before letting his arms go limp, his friends slowly let go of him.

"GRAAAGH!" Phantom suddenly yelled, throwing the pistol at the wall, and throwing the dagger into the ground, where the blade stuck in the concrete.

His breathing was quick and hard, he slowly turned towards the door.

"Get more information out of him… do whatever you need to do…" Phantom muttered as he left the room, Diva followed after him.

"Right then…" Venom said coldly, "What else have you done?" He said as he approached Roger menacingly.

---

Phantom sat at the large round coffee table in the middle of the living room, they had taken Roger to their hideout and had started interrogating him in a spare storage room.

He took off his hood and put his mask up to rest on his forehead, his breath ragged as he stared at the ground.

Diva sat down next to him, she put her mask onto her forehead as well and looked at him in the eyes.

"Yuya…" Yuzu said, sitting next to him and placing a hand on his shoulder.

"He killed dad…" Yuya muttered, "And who knows how many more…" He said, clenching his fists.

"I know…" Yuzu said softly, embracing him with gentle arms, "But killing isn't the way to go… and it isn't what you want either, is it?" She asked.

"No…" Yuya said softly, "It isn't… but for a moment, I thought it was…" He said.

"We understand that there's a lot of feelings going through you right now…" She said as she leaned on his shoulder, "but we'll always be here to pull you back to your senses…" She said with a smile.

"Yeah…" Yuya muttered with a small smile, "What would I do without you guys…" He said with a chuckle.

"Question of the century!" Yuzu said jokingly, Yuya chuckled.

"It's finally over, isn't it?" She asked, "All of our work paid off… and now he'll get exactly what he deserves…" She said as she gave him a peck on the cheek, Yuya smiled.

"Yeah…" Yuya muttered.

---

Yuya's mother cried softly, a smile on her face while she held Yuya tightly.

The news was on the TV, and the killer of Yuya's father had finally been brought to justice.

Yuya smiled, it took a long time, and involved a lot of trial and error…

But they had done it, by some miracle, they managed to pull off something of such an incredible scale without being caught.

Yuya would have been lying if he didn't think they'd end up caught on multiple occasions, but wouldn't you know it, luck was on their side.

Yuya felt like a weight had been lifted off of his shoulders, it felt… exhilarating.

But for some reason, he had the strangest feeling, as though there was something he yearned for, but he wasn't sure.

---

They had celebrated in their dorms, and life seemed to return to normal, but a question ran through all of their heads.

"What happens now?"

They never did ask that question, or rather, they didn't need to.

It was midnight and Yuya stood in the same alleyway they had changed in during their first proper heist as the Phantoms, the plan had ultimately failed due to inexperience, but thanks to Lupin, they had gotten away.

They had returned what they had stolen, feeling like they didn't deserve it.

But now, here he was, donning the look and name of Phantom once again.

He took a deep breath and thought to himself about whether this was really what he wanted to do.

It was.

He remembered something Lupin had told him.

He had the instinct of a thief.

He couldn't deny it anymore, every time he and his friends stole something, there was a rush of accomplishment that shot through his mind, at one point, it stopped being about the reward, it was about the experience.

He steeled his resolve and put his mask on, he hadn't asked his friends if they had wanted to join him, how could he? To them, The Phantoms was a one-time thing, a means to get to their goal.

As if he could drag them into more law-breaking simply because HE wanted to.

He took a deep breath in, and breathed out, he had no team, it was just him and a plan he had put together himself.

He readied himself to jump and climb to the top of the alleyway he was in, this was something he would do for himself, he wouldn't drag anyone in with him, if they asked him about it when the news declared another robbery by The Phantoms, he would tell them the truth.

He suddenly felt a hand place itself on his shoulder, he shot around and pointed his dagger at whoever had somehow managed to sneak up on him.

"Whoa!" Yelled the voice of Yuto, suddenly jumping backward in surprise.

"W-What are you guys…!" Yuya muttered in surprise, all of The Phantoms stood in front of him, each of them in costume, except for their masks, which they held in their hands.

"You think you're the only one who felt a rush every time we completed a mission?" Venom said with a smug grin, "Besides, it was obvious what you were about to do just by looking at you!" He said giddily.

"As if we'd let you go without us!" Serena said with a large smile, "The Phantoms are a group of thieves, not just a single thief!" Yugo said with a grin, "You can't just leave us behind, Leader!" He said loudly.

"I was hesitant at first…" Yuto said with a small smile, "But, it honestly became something I started enjoying at one point…" He said as he stood forward and placed a hand on Phantom's shoulder.

"Besides, without me around, you'll get way too reckless, and I'd rather you guys NOT get caught!" He said jokingly, everyone laughed while Phantom was at a loss for words.

"Guys… I…!" He started to say, trying to tell them not to join him on this path.

Yuzu cut him off with a hug from behind, Phantom blushed as she felt her arms wrap around him.

"We're doing this for us as well…" She said softly, Yuya looked at her with wide eyes.

"We're with you, always…" She finished, pecking him on the cheek.

Yuya grinned, he suddenly felt complete again, his heart felt as light as a feather.

"Yeah, let's do this then!" He said with an excited tone, his friends smiled and nodded.

He really did have the greatest friends.

And with that, they donned their masks and became The Phantoms once more.

A group with the goal of being written in the history books for the ages to come.

---

And now, we are finally back in the present.

In case you've forgotten, they had just decided on a group outing at an arcade after a successful mission.

"Haha! I still hold the high-score in Turbo Duelers!" Yugo yelled with joy, he was standing in front of a motorcycle game, and the name "Clear Wing" stood at the top of scores with a ridiculously high number compared to everything below it.

"God… you are too good at this game…" Yuto muttered as he walked over, the scoreboard listed…

ClearWing: 12795

OddEyes: 9855

WinterBell: 8987

CatDancer: 8301

Mozarta: 7055

About five other names of people they didn't know continued down the list until finally, at the bottom...

DarkRebellion: 3455

StarveVenom: 3450

"You guys just suck!" Yugo said cockily, acting as though his lead of about 3000 points in front of the second place meant nothing.

Meanwhile, Serena was currently beating Yuri's ass at a dancing game.

Yuri was frantically moving his feet to try and hit each pad on the floor, it probably couldn't be considered dancing at that point. He was getting multiple scores that either said good, not so hot, and great.

Meanwhile, Serena was actually full-on dancing, and getting constant "PERFECT!" Scores as well.

Both of them had shed their jackets and were both wearing matching black tank-tops, they were sweating profusely, but Yuri was breathing fast while Serena kept an eternal poker face as she made every extra dance-move possible.

"What… the fuck… are you…!?" Yuri gasped as his feet moved faster than Yuri was comfortable with, "What? Tired already?" Serena said mockingly as she jumped in the air, did a twirl, landed on two platforms perfectly (earning more PERFECT! Scores), and continued to dance.

"You're not… fucking… human…!" Yuri wheezed as the song finally ended, leaving Yuri struggling to stand, and Serena in an extravagant pose while her chest heaved.

"Why… do I keep saying yes… to your challenges…!" Yuri wheezed.

"Because you're easy to provoke…!" Serena said as her breathing caught up with her, now breathing almost as hard as Yuri.

Suddenly, a tall, blonde-haired man stormed into the arcade, Yugo's jaw dropped.

"It's him…!" He said as his eyes widened to the size of pie-plates, "The king! The master!" He squeaked out as the tall man sat down on the model motorcycle with a posture that looked… really uncomfortable, seriously, how does he keep his back that straight?

One game of Turbo Duelers later…

The top two at the scoreboard now read:

JackAtlas: 20000

ClearWing: 12795

"I stand no chance…!" Yugo said as he fell to his knees, "he's unbeatable…" he muttered as the man smirked as he got off of the bike.

"Who's he?" Yuya asked.

"Jack Atlas, he comes to this arcade once a month just to put his name at the top of the leaderboard…" Yugo muttered, "His name remains there until the high-score reset at the end of every month… he's a legend…!" He said breathlessly.

Suddenly, another tall man walked in, he had black hair with orange lines among it, he wore a blue vest and a black T-Shirt underneath it.

Yugo gasped, "No… it can't be…!" Yugo wheezed.

Another game of Turbo Duelers later…

YuseiFudo: 20001

JackAtlas: 20000

ClearWIng: 12795

"And who is that?" Yuya asked.

"An actual urban legend…" Yugo said breathlessly, "Yusei Fudo… sometimes, rarely actually, he'll come in shortly after Jack puts his name on the scoreboard, and intentionally puts himself on the board with only a single point more than Jack's…!" He said with his hand clenching his chest.

Yusei and Jack stared directly into each other's eyes.

They suddenly shook hands, grinning at each other.

"Such a beautiful rivalry…!" Yugo gasped before promptly passing out, Yuya sighed as he dragged him over to a wall where Yugo could stay until he woke up.

He looked over at the two as they were leaving, it seemed a little overly dramatic, but considering their costumes when they were thieves, they weren't ones to talk.

"Water…" Yuri wheezed as he stumbled over to Yuya, "Please…" He gasped, Yuya noticed Serena chugging a bottle of water behind him.

Yuya sighed and handed him some money, Yuri snatched it from him and dashed for a nearby vending machine where he quickly ordered a bottle of water.

"On your left!"

"Thanks!"

"Cover me!"

Yuya grinned as he recognized three other voices.

He walked over to a large shooting game with four plastic guns attached to it, three of them were in use.

"Hey, is that Ruri's brother?" Rin asked as she walked up to him, Yuya nodded.

It seemed to be a tradition at the arcade, whenever Yuto and Ruri went, Ruri's brother, Shun Kurosaki, arrived as well.

They were probably the most coordinated team in the world at the game they were playing, "Zombie Invaders From Another Dimension", a game where you played as a small resistance force that gunned down, you guessed it, zombies that came out of portals from another dimension.

"STAY BACK, YOU INTERDIMENSIONAL-UNDEAD SCUM!" Yuto screamed.

"WE WON'T LET THOSE FUCKERS TAKE THIS LAND!" Kurosaki screamed.

Ruri, meanwhile, didn't have much to say at the moment, so she was now just screaming at the top of her lungs.

Every time they played, they got so into the game that they scared off anybody who might have wanted to become the fourth player.

"Well, nobody else is gonna play with them, so I might as well…" Rin said as she walked over and inserted a coin into the machine, picking up the last remaining plastic gun.

"Oh, hey Rin!" Ruri said kindly before resuming her screaming fit.

Suddenly, Kurosaki's side of the screen flashed red, and the words "You died!" Flashed across it.

"FUCK!" Kurosaki screamed, throwing the plastic gun at the ground.

"SHUN, NOOOOOOOO!" Yuto yelled dramatically.

"I SHALL AVENGE YOU, BROTHER!" Ruri screamed.

Rin's face was blank as she calmly shot at the virtual enemies, her face gave off a physical representation of the sentence: What am I doing with my life?

Yup, they were a riot alright, Yuya genuinely hoped there would never be an invasion-from-another-dimension because then the people from the other dimension would have to deal with the trigger-happy trio of dark-haired friends.

He noticed Yuzu passed out in a chair against the wall, she looked as though she had just run a marathon, which indicated that she had just been utterly annihilated by Serena at "Lunalight Dancing"

"Y'all are chumps!" Serena yelled victoriously, Yuzu said nothing as she struggled to catch her breath, Yuri weakly held up a middle finger.

Serena smirked, "Sorry Yuri, nobody is gonna get to do that to me for a while!" She said with a smug grin, Yuri's face flushed red from exhaustion, rage, and embarrassment.

"FUCK!" Screamed the voice of Yuto, the sound of what could be assumed to be a plastic gun thrown to the ground echoed through the building along with his curse, some staff members ran up to him and warned him and Kurosaki that if they kept swearing so loudly, they'd be kicked out.

Yuya sat down next to Yuzu, she acknowledged him with an exhausted nod before her head fell onto his shoulder limply, Yuya chuckled.

This place was a nice place to simply hang out, it was fun, it was wild, and the occasional fully-grown men that entered the arcade was funny to watch.

Speaking of which, Yuya could hear two men at a table playing a card game, staring intently into each other's eyes, one had brown hair and had the smuggest grin possible, the other had hair that stuck out in at least five different directions, his eyes were closed as his hand hovered above his deck.

"Draw your last pathetic card Yugi…"

"My grandpa's deck has no pathetic cards, Kaiba! But it does have… THE UNSTOPPABLE EXODIA!"

"WHAT, IMPOSSIBLE, NO ONE'S EVER BEEN ABLE TO SUMMON HIM!"

Yuya found it a hilarious sight to see, the brown-haired man fell out of his chair while Mr. Spot-the-protagonist continued to recite a dramatic line as he placed all five cards in his hand on the table triumphantly.

"Serena is… a monster…" Yuzu muttered weakly, Yuya chuckled as she leaned into him, "You smell now…" He said with a joking tone, Yuzu hit him lightly, "Meanie!" She said as her cheeks puffed.

Yuya smiled and closed his eyes peacefully.

Yuya, and The Phantom.

Two sides of the same coin.

He was a thief, and his smile widened as the thought passed through his mind.

To him at least, and apparently to his friends, that wasn't so bad…

HOLY SHIT

THIS IS THE LONGEST THING I'VE EVER TYPED

AND IT ONLY TOOK ME WHAT, TWO DAYS?

Melodious: Why can't you write this fast with your main fanfics?

OddEyes: Two words, Writer's Block.

Melodious: Ah, I see.

What do I plan to do with this now? Well… probably just leave it here, this is a product completely unexpected and random inspiration, something that I have to act on or else I can't focus, I already have two other things like this (admittedly shorter) just sitting around in my documents (I don't happen to like how I did them though… perhaps I'll revise one of them after United Duelist's Academy finishes up…)

Heck, I might even make a series of this later, but for now, this shall say "Completed"

I might do things like this again, sometimes it'll be wholesome, it might even be lewd (if that's what the inspiration is, but then again, that'll probably go in the lemons fanfic).

I could suddenly get really depressing inspiration, or I might get a really happy inspiration.

Regardless, things like this help me take my mind off of a writer's block because sometimes I just need a break from that particular story before I can keep writing.

As for chapter length… considering this fanfic is technically ending right now, I figured it could be longer than my usual chapter length (I've only ever gotten to around 10,000 words before this, and it was usually somewhere between 7000 and 10,000)

Although the real reason for why this is so long is because I had ALL of this pop into my head immediately, and I immediately took out my laptop and started typing.

Anyways, here's the inspiration for everyone's costumes.

Yuya: Sleight Hand Magician, Design in the manga, a bit of Joker from Persona 5.

Yuzu: Simple, flower pinned on her chest and a flowery design for her mask for obvious reasons.

Yuto: The Phantom Knights archetype, his mask from when he was first introduced in Arc-V

Ruri: Like Yuzu's, except feathery like her archetype.

Yugo: Clear Wing Synchro Dragon, mostly the same as his Arc-V design with the helmet on.

Rin: Windwitch archetype.

Yuri: Mostly the same as his Arc-V design, except his red cape has a hood like Yuya's now.

Serena: Simple again, with cat-like features. to match her Lunalight Archetype and ace monster, Lunalight Cat Dancer.

Anyways, that's all everybody, see you later!