Date: May 16

Location: Subway

Current Objective: Gather Information

It was Monday, so it wasn't like we could just wake up and go straight to Madarame's house. Luckily, the school day went by pretty quickly. Ann and Akira were sitting next to the door while Ryuji and I stood. Ann was nervous but, Akira made sure she was calm before we got on the train. Though Ryuji just seemed a bit upset.

"Phantom thieves goin' by train… This ain't any different from how I get home from school, y' know."

"The train is the fastest way to go." Ann was being very well composed as she responded to the bleach blonde. "Plus, we can bring pets on here."

"Hey, who're you calling a pet!?" Morgana immediately popped his head out of Akira's bag.

"None of the rest of us look like an animal, Morgana." I looked at Morgana with sympathy. "Besides, no one would have a way to know about you."

"Still!" The black cat loudly protested. "I deserve more respect!"

"Dude, be quiet!" Ryuji started to freak out a little bit. "We didn't pay the pet fare."

Morgana turned his head to Ryuji. "I'm the one guiding you to your destination! You should be calling me 'Master'!"

Before any of us could respond a young girl came up to us with a smile on her face. "Ooh, kitty!"

"Er, shoot…!" Ann was caught off guard, and we all quickly had to think of something.

"Is that your pet, Mister?" The young girl looked Akira in the eyes a big smile on her face. "I heard it meowing!"

Akira, ever the resourceful, quickly thought of a response and shook his head. "Sorry, it's just a stuffed animal."

"Yeah, it's just a toy." Ann warmly smiled back at the girl, though her voice was a little panicked. "It meows when you press on its head."

Yeah, it's a sensitive button, so we accidentally set it off." I won't lie my voice was also a little panicked. Though Ryuji seemed to like the idea.
"You heard her, Akira." Ryuji smiled mischievously at our leader. "Press on its head."

"This is ridic-" Morgana tried to speak but before he could speak Akira pressed on his head. Our guide seemed so disappointed as he meowed. "M-Mewww…"
"Wowweeeee!"

The innocent girl seemed so excited as Mona mewed. "Again! Again!"

Akira seemed lost in thought has he seemed to contemplate what he should do. After a quick moment, the bespectacled teen started to rapidly press on the cat's head. I took a quick step back as Morgana tried to keep up in shock. "Mew… Meowowowowowowowowowow…! Blerghhh!"

"Ahaha, that's so funny!" The girl jumped up quickly and clapped her hands. "I wanna hear it again!"

That was the moment I started laughing too. Then Morgana spoke up again. "I just threw up in my mouth…"

"Seriously…?" Ryuji nearly sighed at the car. Though it seemed our fun was at an end as a voice came over the intercom.

"The next stop is Shibuya. Shibuya. Doors will open on the left side."

Ann saw her moment and took it. She quickly turned to the girl and tried to be kind to the girl. "Oh, this is our stop! Well, see you later! Bye-bye!"

The little girl was still smiling and nodded. "Mm-hm! Bye-bye!"

There was a sigh of relief as the train came to a stop. We all quickly left with Morgana slipping back into the bag. We all stopped out by the gates pondering our next move. Ryuji was the first to speak up. "So, which line do we gotta transfer to?"

"Doesn't look like there are any stations close by to that address…" Ann put her phone away for the moment, and I started to pull mine out. "If anything, this is the closest station."

"What!?" Ryuji seemed to freak out now. "Then we gotta walk the rest of the way!? What kinda phantom thief takes the train, and then walks to their destination!?"

"The kind of thieves that are trying to blend in Ryuji." I checked my messages seeing one from Ali.

HoneyOTU: Hey, when you get home, we should take on that raid!

I smiled a quickly replied as I spoke up. "Besides a little cardio never killed anyone, right?"

SpectorYANA: Yeah! I hope your ilvl is up to date!

"It's supposedly a shack, but this is the neighborhood he lives in…" I was thankful for Ann explaining more. "As expected of a famous artist. Looks like the fastest route is to get to the station square and then go to Central Street. Let's move!"

"Yes, ma'am!" I saluted to Ann and winced barely as I felt a bit of pain in my arm.

"Hey, you okay?" Akira looked at me with a little worry. I sighed, I was gonna have to go speak to Takemi again soon.

"Yeah, just need to go to the doctor again soon." I rubbed my arm a bit and smiled at everyone. After a moment of looking at me, my friends nodded. After that, we all started to move to Central Street. On our way, all we could hear were people praising Madrame. It didn't take us long to get to the crossing to Central Street.

"You sure it's this way?" Ryuji seemed kinda confused now. "I don't remember seeing a house."

"It's supposed to be in a residential area past Central Street." Ann looked up from her phone as she continued to give us directions. "We'll have to walk a bit, though. Okay, let's get going!"

Take Your Time

After a little bit of walking, we finally made it to the residential district. Following Ann, we finally stopped in front of a small two-story shack made of what looked like metal, and not the sturdiest. Definitely not what you expect of a famous artist. A point to which Ryuji and I seemed to be of the same mind. "Is… that it?"

"We're at the right address…" Ann sounded almost uncertain. "The door plate does say 'Madarame."

"Uhhh…" Ryuji seemed a little on edge. "You ring the bell."

"Me!?" Ann suddenly jumped from shock. "The walls won't collapse when I do, will they…?"

"No one sneeze or we'll blow this house down, okay?" Morgana's smug retort seemed a little biased.

"If no one else is gonna ring the bell, I will." I sighed and led the charge to the door. I rang the bell and not but a moment later, Yusuke's voice rang through the speaker.

"Who is it? Sensei is currently-" As much as I wish to let Yusuke speak, we had a mission to accomplish.

"It's Gekido and Tamaki-san." I tried to sound as calm as I possibly could. Yet the moment I finished talking the response came.

"I'll be right out!" I could kinda hear some shuffling coming from the inside.

"People really do live here…" Ryuji seemed shocked by this revelation. Before I could reply to Ryuji, the door slammed open, the lanky form of Yusuke in the doorway.

"Takamaki-sa-" Yusuke sounded and looked excited, right up until he saw Ryuji and Akira there. "You two are here, as well?"

Ryuji smirked smugly as he saw the displeasure of the dark-haired artist. "Hey. Sorry, but we ain't here to talk about the modeling thing. There's something we gotta ask you."

I sighed… I knew this was going to happen and yet I couldn't help but worry about the possible friendship I was developing with Kitagawa-san. Yet, I let Ryuji continue. "Is it true Madarame's plagiarizin' stuff? He's abusin' people too, yeah?"

"Are you serious?" Yusuke seemed upset by this.

"We read about it online." Ryuji took a step or two closer to the door. Yusuke walked up to our blonde friend.

"This…?" Yusuke started laughing, and when he started talking again… he sounded pissed. "Preposterous! Not only is the plagiarism impossible, but abuse? If he hated children so much to harm them, he would never allow pupils into his home! And I'm the one residing here and studying under him. I'm saying it's not true, so it's beyond doubt."

Ryuji quickly stepped up to the dark-haired artist, getting right up in Yusuke's face. "You might be lyin' about it!"

"That…" The moment Yusuke hesitated, it made him certain that something was wrong. "That is utter rubbish. I had no family when Sensei took me in and raised me into what you see now! If you continue to ridicule the man I owe my life to, you will rue this day!"

Ryuji finally stepped down, but then Ann spoke up. "You really think that?"

It was at this moment that I finally spoke up. "Kitagawa-san we are just worried about you! I understand your frustration, but goddammit! We just wanted to make sure that you were safe and now it sounds like you are ready to physically fight us… They may very well be baseless rumors but we decided to take them seriously for worry about you!"

"I-I…" Yusuke back stepped as I clenched my fist hard enough that the pain returned in my arms and I clenched my teeth. It was the same anger that I had struggled with during the time Kamoshida was abusing me… "N-no, that doesn't matter!"

Before the tensions could raise any higher, from around the corner came the form of Madarame. "Yusuke? What's the matter? I heard you yelling."

"These people are slandering you with baseless rumors!" I nearly started to shake. I just wanted to help him! And yet, here he was throwing us under the bus!

"Forgive them, Yusuke." Madarame sounded completely calm, a small smile on the old man's face. "They must've heard some bad rumors and came in worry for their friend's safety."

I was shocked as I started to force myself to relax. The man's words seemed to reach Yusuke as well "Understood, Sensei."

"Well, even I doubt that a cranky old man like myself could be liked by everyone." Madarame shook his head and sounded like he was about to laugh.

"That's not what we meant…" Ann tried to explain to us but… it didn't matter.

"I'm sorry to have butt in on your conversation." Madarame seemed more serious but still fairly understanding. "However, I do have neighbors around. Won't you please keep it down? Now, if you'll excuse me."

With that Madarame walked back inside and Yusuke sighed turning back to us. "That was discourteous of me… I'm sorry. I know! I think you'll be able to believe in Sensei if you saw that painting. It's his maiden work as well as his most representative piece it's titled 'Sayuri.'"

Yusuke pulled out his phone and opened up a picture of a painting of a woman in red staring down into a mist that surrounded her. I sighed… I knew the piece. It was one of the most famous paintings.

"'Sayuri'...?" Ann seemed shocked at seeing the picture.

"This was the painting that inspired me to become an artist." Yusuke seemed to have a deep connection to the art piece, I couldn't blame him either.

"It's so beautiful…" Ann seemed awestruck by the painting.

"It is an amazing art piece." I rubbed at my arm before grabbing my camera. "I always admired it… It inspired me a bit to keep taking pictures…"

"I don't know all this fine art stuff, but even I can tell that this is impressive…" Ryuji seemed to take in the painting.

"When I first saw you, I felt the same powerful emotion as when I saw this painting…" Yusuke put his phone away as he started to speak to Ann again. Ann looked down upon hearing this.

"Me?" I sighed hearing the direction the conversation was going, and I put my hand on my camera.

"I wish to pursue beauty like this." Yusuke bowed slightly to Ann trying to be respectful. "And I believe drawing you will be part of that pursuit. I implore you: seriously consider my offer. I'm sorry that you took the time to come all this way, but I must assist Sensei today. I hope we can discuss this further another time. If you'll excuse me, then."

Yusuke started to walk back inside, but I took a step forward. "I'm sorry Yusuke… for… for getting angry at you."

Yusuke stopped and turned back to me. "It's alright Gekido-san, perhaps we can discuss our works at a later date."

I smirked and nodded. "I'd like that."

Once the door closed, we walked back across the street. Ryuji and Morgana sat down on the railing next to the street. "Those two… seem like nice guys, don't they?"

"Maybe the Madarame we heard about in Mementos is a different person." Ann rubbed the back her head in disappointment.

"Man, right when we thought we found a new target, too…" Ryuji sounded like he had given up, and to be honest, I couldn't blame him.

"I'm beginning to hope so." I started to look through my camera as we stood there, some of the old pictures in there were calming at that moment. Yet Morgana turned to Akira.

"How's the Meta-Nav?" Akira pulled the phone out and the sound of confirmation came through the speakers! That made all of us jump and look to our leader's phone!

"Hey, the app…" Ryuji seemed to be the most shocked out of all of us. I winced, to think that it was someone that I once looked up too…

"It must have been picking up our conversation." I sighed as I looked away, I mean we had figured that he had a Palace, but I was starting to hope that we were wrong. "It's a bit worrying that it can hear us like that."

Ann looked at Akira's phone in shock at what we had heard from the small device. "This display… it means Madarame has a Palace too, right!? But why!?"

"'Madarame,' 'plagiarism'... and then 'shack,' huh?" Our small black cat companion got his serious face on. "These seem to be the keywords."

"I honestly can't believe that we didn't try seeing if he had a Palace until now." I ran my hand through my hair, as my eyes went back to the shack trying to think about what could have made Madarame gain a distorted desire.

"Hisoka actually has a point…" Ann nearly sighed as she straightened her posture, and crossed her arms. I turned back to the model and nodded in appreciation.

"For real though, what the hell's goin' on!?" Ryuji seemed upset about this turn of events. "Does an old man like him really have a Palace…!?"

"We have the person's name and the location." Morgana tried to refocus us. "All that's left is the 'what' that Madarame mistakes this shack for to enter his Palace."

"So like how Kamoshida saw Shujin as his castle?" I gently crossed my arms as the ideas started to come to mind.

"That's right." Our thief teacher seemed a little happier with our progress. "Let's try saying some things. They can be random guesses."

"It's a bit sudden, though…" Ryuji sounded like he had just been put on the spot.

"Why don't we start with 'castle'?" Ann honestly had a good idea with starting from what we know. Yet the Metaverse app replied with a word of denial and our leader shook his head.

"Then, what about 'prison'?" Ryuji tried his hand at it next… no-hit. "Ugh, what a pain! 'Jail'! 'Warehouse'! And 'guidance counselin' office'! Might as well add 'farm'!"
Every single one was denied. Ryuji seemed to slump down in defeat. "Not a single hit…?"

"Should we come back another time?" Even Morgana stood up in defeat. Yet Ann seemed to not give in yet.

"A building that's related to artists…" Ann brought her hand up to her chin. "If we think from there, what would it be…?"

"I mean it could be an 'art exhibit.'" I felt like that was a good answer yet the phone denied my idea. Finally, Akira spoke up.

"It could be a museum." The moment the word left Akira's mouth we could feel the distortion around us and our frizzy-haired friend's phone screen changed. To which Ryuji was the first to react.

"'Beginning navigation…' Whoa, really!?" And before any of us could react…

All rights are reserved to their rightful owners.

Well, I know it has been a while, but I have a reason for the wait.

We are edging closer to the release of the Royal.

So part of my goal is to take my time and have quality over quantity.

That way I will have to finish P5R and will give me time until the Scramble comes out.

Yes, I will be doing the Phantom Strikers as part of the story!

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed!