It was the dawn of a new day, and Raphael knew what that meant in store for him. As he dressed up, he saw another letter was there for him. It read 'You are to head to the shopping district and follow a group of girls. You will have to look around the different shops in order to find them. They must not know you will be following them so it would be best for you to be unseen by them. You must find a document. This document will answer some of your questions that you may or may not have. After this, only one trial remains.'
Raphael had now changed into his alter ego once-more, The Rhythm Thief, Phantom R. "Nothing like a good infiltrating a building unseen! Isn't that right Fondue?" Fondue happily bark back in response to show how excited he was. Phantom R began to leave his 'house' with Fondue tagging along with him.
It taken Phantom R quite some-time to find the shopping district, but he had finally found it and was now exploring the shops to find the group of girls he had to find. He first enter a Ramen shop for two reasons. One was to find the girls, the second reason was because he had left the house without eating breakfast and was hungry. As Phantom R began to eat, he was joined by a familiar looking blonde-hair girl. As he ate, out of nowhere she began to talk to him.
"Hey cutie, I never seen you here before. Is this your first time eating here?" Phantom R was shocked to hear what she just said to him. "What do you mean by that?" He said back to her in a worried tone. "Which part? Me calling you cute or me not knowing you?"
"Both." He said back quickly back to her. "Well I mean you are cute and I can feel like you're some kind of mysterious hero. Also I come here almost everyday so I know everyone who comes to eat here and I know I haven't seen your pretty face here before." She says to him as she presses her breasts on his arm. This of course cause Phantom R to blush because never in his wildness dreams would he ever thing of a girl doing that to him. She of course saw this and knew he was breaking him because for some reason, she love to do this to others and making them uncomfortable.
He tried his best to ignore the girl that was bothering him, until she asked "By the way, what's your name? I'm Katsuragi and if there's on thing I love the most, it boobs!" This caused Phantom R to panic which didn't fit him at all since in most situations, he would be cool-headed and had no problems whatsoever. However having a girl saying she likes boobs is one thing, its another when he had to tell her his name or his alter ego's name. "I go by many names, but the one I prefer most is Phantom R." Of course when he answered Katsuragi's question, she asked him another question. "So why are you Phantom? Do you like to see girls naked when they sleep?" Phantom R had begun to panic again because he disliked being like someone's else's toy, but he couldn't just say 'No, I'm Phantom R because I'm a thief who is always hiding from the police and I saved Paris from a crazy guy claiming to be Napoleon.'
"Let's just say I like to hide in the shadows and help others without them knowing it was me." Katsuragi was to ask another question to Phantom R, however he quickly ate his bowl of ramen and left the store. As he left Katsuragi thought to herself, 'I feel like I had seen him before.' However that thought didn't last long as she continued to eat more ramen.
Phantom R couldn't help to look around some more given the fact he still didn't find his target group and also enjoyed visiting the other stores. He walked into a hat store next and was looking at the different variations of hats. As he tried on other hats, he couldn't part with his fedora and he decided that he felt that Fondue needed a hat. As he made Fondue try on different types of hats, he liked the beret the most. However as he went to pay for the beret for Fondue, he ran into yet another familiar looking girl, this time she had pink hair. "Oh hi! Nice to meet you! My name is Hibari!" She says as she puts her hand out to shake Phantom R's hand.
Phantom R without hesitation shook her hand. He could tell just by looking at her she was a friendly person. "May I ask, why is someone lie you talking to a random stranger like myself?" Hibari without hesitation said back to him, "I like making new friends. Plus I feel like you're a good person, just look at your dog."As she points at Fondue who just barks back in response. They talked for a while until Phantom R decided it was time to leave and bought Fondue the beret.
"Is it me Fondue or do we keep seeing the same people we saw when we first came to Japan?" Phantom R said to Fondue, his response was just a simple whine. "I think so to buddy." However as they were walking, they were approached by a man who seemed like he ran a cafe. "Excuse me sir! One of my waiters walked out on me at the last possible minute! Can you please help me out?"
"Well I had been a waiter before, so I guess I can lend you some help." The man quickly grabbed Phantom R's hands and said, "Thank you! However I need you to change your clothing. Come with me." The man said as he pushed Phantom R was pushed into the changing room. He was now Raphael once-more and was dressed as a waiter and was taking people's order.
As he did that, he ran into another similar girl. She had long black hair and he remembered that he saw her with the other girls he had previously met. "How may I help you Mam?" Raphael asked the woman. She responded back saying, "Please, call me Ikaruga. I'll have a tea for now."
"Alright Ikaruga, one tea coming up." As Raphael began to walk to the kitchen to place the order. There weren't many people in the café, so he was surprised that Ikaruga called him over to have a conversation with him. "Excuse me, but aren't you that boy who we gave directions to that address?" This of course scared Raphael, however he felt that she was a good-willed person. "Yes, and I thank you and your friends for helping me on that day."
"I'm just happy to help." She said back to him in a cheerful tone. "Oh that reminds me, I wanted to ask you for quite some time, where are you from?"
Raphael had a negative reaction to what Ikaruga said, however he felt that it was ok to tell her. "I'm from Europe, Paris to be exact." He says to her as he pushes his glasses upwards. "Wow, it must be lovely to live in a city such as Paris! Hopefully I could go there one day."
"If you do, make sure to tell me, I am acquainted with the area after-all." He said back to her, which caused her to smile. However, Raphael was called out by the owner due to him no longer needing his services. As he left, Ikaruga began to think to herself. 'That boy seems to nice to be evil, but I must keep a close eye on him."
As Raphael, who was now dressed up as Phantom R exited the café, he ran into his faithful dog once-more. "Is it me Fondue, or is there something missing?" However as he finishes his statement, Fondue began to growl at a figure in the trees. Phantom R turned around, but unfortunately, he only saw the mysterious figure jump out of a tree and was gone. All he noticed is that the figure had white hair and an eye-patch.
Of course Phantom R wasn't going to let anyone escape that easily and tried chasing the figure, but ending up failing to catch them. He had end up in front what seems to be a restaurant and it was a few hours past noon. As he began to walk away to investigate the are again, Phantom R heard to what seemed a chef who sounded very saddened. "Where am I going to find another staff member! The lunch rush is about to begin and I'm low on staff members!" This time, Phantom R wasn't being begged to help someone out, however one thing changed his mind in a matter of seconds. He not only saw the group of girls he met while looking through the various shops, but also the ones who tried chasing him and Fondue the previous day.
"Excuse me sir, but I have worked in a kitchen before, so if I may be of service and help you?" The chef wasn't sure of Phantom R, but he wouldn't reject help, especially during a time like this. "Alright, you're the newest chef. Welcome aboard! Now get in there and change into something else because the lunch-rush is about to begin very soon!" And without any hesitation, Phantom R quickly ran inside the restaurant.
As Raphael was setting set up to cook, he saw that both group of girls had entered the restaurant. Unfortunately for Raphael, the customers were able to see the chefs cook their food, which in turned worried Raphael. However he knew if he was able to keep a cool-head and cook their orders without failure, they wouldn't notice him.
As everyone they all gave Raphael a look, some were menacing, they all had made their orders. As both groups began to talk to each other, Raphael was able to hear bits of their conversation like, "Didn't we see him before?" and "He looks very familiar. But where have we've seen him before?" Of course before cooking, Raphael insisted that he does not know any of them and they must be confusing him for someone else.
"I want to see what you got!" The main chef yelled at Raphael as he was returning to the stove. He then began to throw numerous foods towards him without any warning. Luckily Raphael only needed to fry the dishes that were thrown at him for a specific amount of time. He saw many types of foods such as pancakes, steaks, and broccoli. He of course had cooked before twice and had no problem while cooking.
Seeing this, the main chef was jaw-dropped and said to Raphael, "Not bad, but the real test begins now." As he begun to throw more food towards Raphael, he saw more variations of food such as squid, chicken, fish, teriyaki, and eggs. Raphael had never fried any of these foods when he was working as a chef, however he was able to cook everyone's food with no problem.
"I might have to hire you for full-time!" The chef said as he slapped Raphael's back. As the two group of girls began to eat what they had ordered, Raphael slipped out of the restaurant undetected. "Man that sure was a close one." Raphael said to himself out-loud as his faithful companion walked out of an alleyway to greet his master. "Now I wonder which group I should follow?" However he was cut of as he saw one of the group begin to leave the restaurant. "Looks like we're going with them. Come on Fondue!" This caused Fondue to whimper, but then bark with excitement.
Phantom R was know following the group of girls and hid either in the shadows or behind any objects when any of them had look towards his direction. It took him a while, but he finally reached to what looked like a high-school and saw the girls enter the building.
"Looks like we're going in. You ready Fondue?" Phantom R said to his partner, which to his surprise, Fondue didn't give an answer. The duo walked behind the girls very quietly only to see them reach a dead-end. However instead of turning back, they walked through a hidden passageway in the wall. Phantom R approached the passageway, only to stop in his tracks. He knew if he go through the same way the girls did, he would be caught in a matter of seconds.
He walked around the school until he had finally found another passageway that was on the other side of the school. However unlike the one he previously saw, this one had a lock on it. Of course Phantom R saw many locks in his day and with no problem, he had opened up the passageway.
Phantom R and Fondue were now inside the building and roamed around looking for any clues. As he walked around through a set of halls, a girl, specifically the blonde who he ran into the ramen shop in the morning had heard his foot-steps. "Is someone there?" She yelled out as she walked towards to where she heard Phantom R's foot-steps. He jumped up towards a beam on the ceiling and was able to avoid being seen.
He had finally found another room that had multiple documents scattered throughout the floor. "One of these have to be the one I'm looking for." Phantom R said to himself out-loud. As he look through the names of every files, none of them was the one he was looking for. He was about to give up until he saw a safe in the corner of the room. As he approached it, he saw it had another lock. However for some weird reason, this lock was a rhythm-based lock. However this didn't stopped Phantom R and was able to open the safe on his first attempt.
He saw a single file in the safe that was labeled 'Phantom R.' Phantom R gave a little chuckle and said, "I guess this person must be related to Inspector Vergier if they put the same file name like him." He opened the file, however in a split second, the room began to fill up with a heavy gas. "Uh... What's going? And why do I feel sleepy?" Phantom R said as he yawned and fell to the floor. As he drifted into a heavy slumber, he could feel the presence of others surrounding him.
AN: Finally I got this chapter finished and I feel this is my best yet personally. I would like to say two things, one being that if I say Phantom R/ Raphael, that's what they look like to everyone else except in certain situations like with Fondue. Second is that I will not be putting Fondue's bark and whining will be described because unlike in the game, in the story you can't just tell if Fondue barking is out of joy or anger. With that said, this story will be slow, however thanks to school, I can type some parts of the story little by little. So yay for school... I guess. Anyways, I will see you all in the next one and leave any advice/suggestions.
