The next day, inside an apartment in Shibuya…
"Are you done putting on your disguising clothes because I'm already done with mine, Rise." said Souji (who's wearing a long sleeve dark grey button-up shirt with the sleeves roll up to his elbows, a red necktie around his neck, long black pants with a black belt around his waist and black loafers on his feet) as he sat and waited for Rise in the living room.
"I'm done now and I'm showing you my disguise now, senpai." said Rise's voice from inside her bedroom before Rise walked out of her bedroom and stepped into the living room to showed Souji the result of her disguise. "So… what do you think, senpai?" asked Rise hesitantly to Souji (who stood up, turned and saw Rise wearing simple short sleeve light blue shirt with a long sleeve, burgundy open coat over it, long black jeans on and black flats on her feet, a long burgundy scarf wrapped around her neck, a pair of sunglasses on her face and a black hat on her head).
"Uh…" said Souji as he scratch the back of his head.
"That bad, huh? In that case, I'll go back to my room and change into a different disguise…" said Rise as she look down with a sad look on her face.
"N-No, that's… Alright, I apologize for my earlier reaction and I admit that this disguise you put on to hide yourself is quite bad but as long as it does it's job then why not, Rise? Plus it's only for one day." said Souji calmly to Rise.
"Senpai…" said Rise as she glance up to smiled at Souji and just as she's about to leaned forward and press a kiss to Souji's cheek, the sound of someone knocking outside the front door halted her.
"Hello, are you 2 senpais done in there? Please hurry up if you 2 don't want to be late for Madarame's art exhibit." said Naoto's voice slightly impatiently to both Souji and Rise outside their apartment, which make Souji briefly roll his eyes and make Rise let out a small sigh at Naoto's impatience before they walked out of their apartment and Souji locked the door before he, Rise and Naoto went and meet up with both Minato and Ken before they make their way toward Madarame's art exhibit.
XXXX
A few minutes later…
Minato, Ken, Souji, Rise and Naoto meet up with Akira, Morgana, Ann (who immediately recognized Rise under her disguise once she saw her) and Ryuji (who surprised and a little awed to see Rise with them) in their rendezvous point in Central Street before they make their way toward the art exhibit together, stopped outside the entrance of the art exhibit and saw that a lot of people are already inside, looking, admiring and talking about the various arts hanging on the walls.
"Woah, it's only the first day and already there's a lot of people in there." thought Souji with a slight surprise look on his face.
"So crowded…" groaned Morgana.
"That's to be expected since Madarame is a famous elderly artist, Morgana." said Akira as he patted Morgana's head.
"Yeah, you're right about that, Kurusu-kun." said Ken in agreement with Akira.
"It'll be a pain in the ass if someone sees you, so don't stick your head out too much, alright?" whispered Ryuji as he scowled at Morgana (who scowled back at him before he listen and went back inside Akira's bag).
"Excuse me, why are you 2 talking to the cat inside the bag?" asked Naoto in confusion to both Akira and Ryuji.
"Uh, well…" said Akira with a slight nervous look on his face.
"Heads up, Minato. Your brother's coming." said Pharos to Minato, who noticed and saw Yusuke coming toward him, his cousin and his friends.
"You came, Aniki!" exclaimed Yusuke happily to Minato as he approach and stopped in front of Minato.
"Of course I came because didn't I already say that I will, Yusuke? Also I've told my friends to come with me and Ken and gave them the tickets to this art exhibit that you gave me and Ken yesterday and that's not all, do you remember her?" said Minato as he smiled and nodded to Yusuke before he gestured with his hand at Ken, Akira, Morgana, Ann, Ryuji, Souji, Rise and Naoto standing with him.
"I see. It's nice to meet you all. I'm Yusuke Kitagawa." said Yusuke as he glance and nodded politely and introduced himself to Akira, Morgana, Ann, Ryuji, Souji and Rise (who also before he glance and widened his eyes in surprise at Naoto). "It can't be… Itoko?" added Yusuke in surprise at Naoto.
"Huh? I haven't heard anyone call me by that word since… Don't tell me… Yusuke, is it really you?" asked Naoto in surprise at Yusuke.
"Yes, I am, Itoko." replied Yusuke as he smiled happily at Naoto.
"My goodness, it is you and why didn't you tell me that we're going to see Yusuke today, Minato?" said Naoto accusingly at Minato.
"Simple. I want it to be a surprise for you, Naoto." said Minato teasingly to Naoto.
"Of course you would and did, you jerk." thought Naoto in slight exasperation at Minato.
"Nice to meet you too, Kitagawa-kun. I'm Akira Kurusu and this is my cat, Morgana." said Akira as he introduced himself to Yusuke while both Minato and Naoto are talking.
"Yo, the name's Ryuji Sakamoto." said Ryuji.
"Hi, you already know me and Shirogane-san but not these two. They're Souji Seta and his girlfriend Rise-san." said Ken as he helped introduced both Souji and Rise to Yusuke.
"And I'm Ann Takamaki. It's nice to meet you, Kitagawa-kun." said Ann politely to Yusuke. "Minato-senpai told me that the reason you follow me is because you wanted to ask me to be a model for your art, huh?" asked Ann.
"You did?" said Naoto suspiciously at Yusuke.
"Yes, exactly, Itoko. And I'm glad that you told her about it, aniki." said Yusuke as he smiled and nodded to Ann, Minato and Naoto before he glance at Akira, Ryuji, Ken, Souji and Rise. "Make sure that the 5 of you don't get in the way of the other visitors." added Yusuke dismissively to them before he glance back at Ann, Minato and Naoto. "Come now. I'll show you three around. I'd like to speak more about the art I'd like to draw of you and I wanted to show you and itoko the arts in here, aniki."
"Of course, lead the way and next time, be more nice instead of dismissive to my friends, Yusuke." said Minato coolly to Yusuke.
"Minato's right and I agreed with him, Yusuke." said Naoto in agreement with Minato.
"I'll remember that, aniki, itoko." said Yusuke as he nodded to both Minato and Naoto before he turned and walked into the art exhibit.
"Well, see you guys later." said Ann as she, Minato and Naoto briefly glance at Akira, Ryuji, Ken, Souji and Rise before they followed Yusuke into the exhibition.
"Will Lady Ann, Minato and Naoto be alright with him, you guys!? What if he brings Lady Ann away from Minato and Naoto into the farthest corner of the exhibition, drags her behind some paintings and tries something funny on her!?" said Morgana worriedly to Akira, Ryuji, Ken, Souji and Rise from inside Akira's bag.
"What!? Now you're just being paranoid and ridiculous, Morgana! There's no way that he would do such a thing to Ann with his brother and now his cousin watching, so calm down and stay quiet inside the bag!" whisper Akira in annoyance at Morgana (who reluctantly calm down and stay quiet).
"Well, there goes Ann, Minato-senpai and Shirogane-san." sighed Ryuji before he glance at Akira, Morgana, Ken, Souji and Rise. "Are we really gonna "appreciate" the fine arts? Can't we just go home already?" added Ryuji boredly to them.
"And leave Minato-senpai, Shirogane-san and Ann behind in the exhibition? No. Why don't we take a look around, at least?" said Akira.
"He's right. We just got here after all." said Ken in agreement with Akira.
"Yeah, I agreed with them, Sakamoto-kun." said Souji sternly to Ryuji.
"Fine. I guess we could do a quick pass through it once…" said Ryuji as he slumped down a little before he look up and around the exhibit. "Uh, which way are we supposed to start?" asked Ryuji.
"Seriously, you don't know?" sighed Ken as he shake his head at Ryuji.
"Let's just go in, you guys." replied Akira coolly to Ryuji and they went into the exhibition. Soon after Akira, Morgana, Ryuji, Ken, Souji and Rise stepped in (with Souji telling Rise to stay close to him, just in case), they stopped when they saw Madarame standing and talking to a reporter, journalist and cameraman a few feet to their right and they decided to get closer to eavesdrop on their conversation.
"We continue to be truly surprised by your imagination." said the female reporter happily and politely to Madarame. "You have such expansive styles, it's hard to believe that it all stems from one person… Where in the world does all your inspiration come from?" asked the female reporter.
"Well… It is rather difficult to put into words… They naturally well up from within my heart like bubbles rising one after another in a spring." replied Madarame as he grasped his chin thoughtfully to the female reporter.
"Naturally, you say?" repeated the female reporter.
"What's important is too distance oneself from worldly desires such as money and fame. My atelier is a modest shack, but it is more than enough to pursue true beauty." said Madarame as he slowly nodded to the female reporter.
"…A shack?" said Ryuji as he crossed his arms and with a frown look on his face.
"I see… so the act of emptying one's mind gives rise to inner beauty. Still, to think we could hear the word "shack" coming from the great artist Madarame." said the female reporter.
"You would understand if you saw it, Hahahaha…" chuckled Madarame.
"Wasn't the word "shack" something…" said Ryuji.
"Odd?" said Akira.
"It could be that or it could mean something else, you guys." said Ken as he frown at Madarame.
"Something else? Like what exactly, Amada-senpai?" said Ryuji as he glance at Ken.
"What're you all talking about…" asked Rise curiously to them before she got cut off by a visitor.
"Madarame-san is actually here!?" said a sharp-eyed female visitor excitedly as she suddenly approach Madarame and the news people interviewing him.
"He's over there!" said another excited man.
"I'm so glad I came on opening day!" gushed a fangirl as well before a horde of excited admirers rushed forward past Akira, Ryuji, Ken, Souji and Rise while they uncaringly shoving and elbowing them away.
"Hey, stop pushin'…! There's way too many people!" yell Ryuji.
"Ow! They sure are a bunch of excited ones if they want to see Madarame-san's this much." said Ken as he winced in pain a little from someone elbowing him.
"Geez, what's wrong with…" said Souji as he rubbed his arm and scowled at the guy who bumped hard at his arm only to fell silent and a worry look appear on his face when he saw another person bumped hard at Rise, which caused her hat, sunglasses and scarf to fell down to the floor and exposing her face.
"Hey, isn't that Rise Kujikawa?"
"Rise Kujikawa? She's here?"
"Oh my god! It is her and she's really here!"
"Quick! Turn the camera so it shows her!"
"Oh no, not good! Thanks a lot for bumping and exposing her to the people here, asshole!" thought Souji angrily in his mind at the person that bumped into and exposed Rise as he quickly grab and pull Rise close to him to protect her from the people staring at her now. "Hey, we need to leave now, all of you!" said Souji concernly to Akira, Ryuji and Ken.
"Yeah, we know! Come on, we've no choice but to head for the exit now, you guys!" yell Akira as he, Ryuji, Ken, Souji and Rise shoved their way past the people toward the exit. "I hope Ann, Minato-senpai and Shirogane-san won't be too mad at us when they saw that we're not in the exhibit." thought Akira concernly in his mind.
XXXX
Back to Ann, Minato, Naoto and Yusuke...
"What an expansive exhibit and the various arts contain within it are quite different and beautiful, Yusuke." said Minato as he, Naoto, Ann and Yusuke walked and look from one painting to another in the exhibit.
"I agreed with Minato-senpai. Each one of them is different and beautiful in different colours, textures and styles." said Ann as she nodded in agreement with Minato.
"Yes, they do look amazing." said Naoto with a small nod of her head.
"Usually one concentrates on their own style. However, Sensei creates all of these by himself. He's special." explained Yusuke.
"Is that so?" said Minato as he raised his eyebrow skeptically at Yusuke.
"There you are, Yusuke." said Madarame as he approach and stopped near Yusuke.
"Sensei!" said Yusuke as he quickly turned and bowed to Madarame (who smiled and nodded to him before he glance at Minato, Naoto and Ann, who also bowed to him).
"Ah, you must be the estranged older brother that he mention to me yesterday. Nice to see you again and she must be the model that he wanted to be his model for the art. And you are…" said Madarame as he smiled politely at both Minato and Ann before he glance at Naoto.
"I'm Naoto Shirogane, nice to meet you, Madarame-san." said Naoto as she introduced herself to Madarame.
"Ah, I see and nice to meet you too, Shirogane-san. Are you three enjoying the exhibit so far?" asked Madarame after he greeted Naoto.
"Yes, we do and I don't know how to put it into words… but it's really amazing." said Ann in an awed tone of voice to Madarame.
"Yeah. Although I get the feeling that these artworks is done by others because of how different each of them look, Madarame-san." said Minato coolly to Madarame.
"I see. You two are sensing something from the artworks… That alone is enough to give us artists satisfaction." said Madarame as he smiled quite happily to both Minato and Ann before he glance at Yusuke. "I hope this becomes a wonderful piece, Yusuke. Well then, if you all will excuse me." Madarame told Yusuke before he turned around and take his leave.
"I hope this becomes a wonderful piece, Yusuke?" I wonder what does he mean by that?" thought Minato with a suspicious look on his face about some of Madarame's words to Yusuke.
"Whatever it is, it sounds suspicious, Minato." said Pharos warily to Minato.
"Seems like Minato's have the same thought as me too judging by the look on his face." thought Naoto as she noticed the suspicious look on Minato's face.
"You'd imagine artists would be difficult to approach… but he seems really friendly." said Ann as she smiled at Yusuke.
"Indeed and shall we resumed and move on to the next one, aniki, itoko, Takamaki-san?" said Yusuke as he turned back and smiled slightly at Minato, Naoto and Ann, who nodded in unison to him before they walked on, stopped and glance at another painting of a mountain in the distance with both sides covered with thick-looking trees while grasses and dozens of different coloured flowers stands in the middle of it.
"Oh, this is it-the painting I wanted to see in person." said Ann happily to Yusuke.
"Wow, what keen eyes you have, Ann. This painting is an impressive one." said Minato approvingly to Ann about the painting that she just mentioned and wanted to see.
"…This one?" said Yusuke as he walked up and glance uncertainly at Minato and Ann.
"May I ask why do you want to see this particular painting, Takamaki-san?" asked Naoto curiously to Ann.
"Yeah, senpai. This one's impressive like you said and the reason why I wanted to see this painting, Shirogane-san is because I can sense a strong feeling of anger and frustration emanating from it. It's hard for me to think that someone as polite and cheerful as Madarame-san could paint and produce such a painting…" said Ann as she, Minato and Naoto glance at Yusuke (who clutched his chest with his fist and had an almost pained look on his face).
"What's wrong, Yusuke?" asked Minato concernly to Yusuke when he saw the almost pained look on his face.
"Are you feeling unwell, Kitagawa-kun?" asked Ann concernly to Yusuke when she noticed as well while Naoto watched him in silence.
"Don't mind me, you three." replied Yusuke calmly and reassuringly to them (which deepen the suspicious feelings inside both Minato and Naoto). "There are much better pieces than… this one. Come now, this way, you three." Yusuke added to Minato, Naoto and Ann before he turned and swiftly walked away from them to the next painting.
"H-Hey!" yell Ann before she followed him.
"Yusuke!" said Naoto as she followed him and Ann as well.
"Hm, I wonder. Could it be that…" thought Minato as he glance back and forth at the painting and at the retreating form of Yusuke before he decided to dismiss his suspicious thinking for now and went after Naoto, Ann and Yusuke.
XXXX
In the station walkway...
"We finally got away from those excited crowd. Are you two okay, Ryuji, Ken?" asked Akira concernly to both Ryuji and Ken as he leaned his back against the tall railing.
"I'm fine, Akira. Thanks for asking and for your concern and I hope that Souji-san and Rise-san managed to get away from them too." replied Ken reassuringly to Akira then concernly about both Souji and Rise.
"You're welcome and I hope that they managed to get away too, Amada-senpai." said Akira.
"Not really for me, Kurusu, Amada. One of the old ladies totally elbowed me…" groaned Ryuji as he sat down on the ground next to Akira. "But thanks to that, I remember now."
"Hang on, Ryuji. Before you tell us about what you remember, what about Lady Ann, Minato and Naoto?" said Morgana as he popped his head out of Akira's bag and furrowed his brow at Ryuji.
"I'm sure like Seta and Kujikawa, they'll be fine too, Morgana…" said Ryuji reassuringly to Morgana about Minato, Naoto and Ann.
"There you guys are and glad to see and know how much you care about us, Sakamoto-kun." said Souji in a deadpan tone of voice to Ryuji as he and Rise (who managed to disguise herself again) walked toward and stand beside them.
"Hey, nice to see you two safe and sound from those people. Anyway, it's about a post online." said Ryuji as he search for the Phantom Aficionado Website on his phone, found it and he turned his phone around to show the post to Akira, Morgana, Ken, Souji and Rise. "Here, look at this, all of you." said Ryuji.
"There you guys are!" snapped Ann as she stomped up to them with an annoy look on her face while both Minato and Naoto walked in silence behind her. "Why'd you guys leave without us!?" added Ann in more annoyance to them.
"No, we didn't!" said Ken as he shake his head.
"He's right! You got it all wrong; we got dragged into this huge crowd and-" said Ryuji as he sweat-dropped a little at Ann's harsh words before he briefly shook his head and show the post on his phone to them both. "…Eh, anyways. You three gotta look into this too. This post might be about Madarame."
"A post about Madarame, huh? Elaborate." said Minato.
"What's it say?" asked Ann.
"A master of the Japanese arts is plagiarizing his pupil's work. Only his public face is shown on TV." replied Ryuji.
"Plagiarizing!?" gasped Ann as she took several steps back while staring at them with a shock look on her face.
"Are you sure it's true, Sakamoto-kun?" asked Naoto.
"I'm sure it is although I didn't think much of it when I first saw it, but hearing "shack" and "Madarame" triggered it." said Ryuji as he nodded to both Ann and Naoto before he glance back at his phone. "His treatment of the pupils who live with him is awful. He teaches nothing and bosses them around. He treats them inhumanely, as if disciplining a dog…" Ryuji continue reading the post from his phone to them.
"That's terrible of him!" said Ann, starting to feel a bit angry at Madarame.
"If this post about him and what he did to them is true then he's truly an asshole." said Ken.
"Abuse on top of plagiarism, hm…?" said Morgana with a scowl look on his face.
"If this is real, it'll be a huge scandal." said Ryuji with a wide and excited grin on his face.
"We need to look into this more and find out if it's true or not, Naoto." said Souji.
"We will, senpai." said Naoto as she nodded at Souji.
"Oh, come on! Not you too!" groaned Souji mentally in his mind at Naoto calling him senpai like Rise did.
"I wonder if Kitagawa-kun posted this. I mean, he IS a pupil of Madarame." said Ann as she grasped her chin with her hands thoughtfully.
"I doubt that, Ann-san. It could be someone else who hated Madarame and who posted that on the website." said Akira with a shake of his head.
"Kurusu's got a point, Ann. It's anonymous and all…" said Ryuji.
"In that case… It's possible that the Madarame we heard about from Nakanohara in Mementos is referring to the same one." said Morgana.
"An elderly man like that doing such a thing…?" said Ann sullenly to herself and to them.
"It just goes to show that we can't judge a book by it's cover." said Akira.
"Yeah, Akira-kun's right and without a doubt." said Minato.
"I wonder if we can ask that Shadow from earlier about this." muttered Ann to herself and to the others. "Oh. Actually, we just need to talk to him in reality."
"And how do we go about that? Are we gonna explain it all, startin' with Mementos?" said Ryuji in a deadpan tone of voice to Ann.
"Excuse me, Mementos?" asked Naoto with a confused look on her face.
"I'll explain and tell you later, Naoto." said Minato.
"Fine, you better." said Naoto.
"Besides, if we make a move out in the open, there's the possibility that Madarame will find out." said Morgana.
"Oh… Yeah, right…" murmured Ann in disappointment.
"Hey, what do you think about Madarame, Kurusu? Doesn't he seem suspicious?" asked Ryuji as he glance at Akira.
"Yeah, he does seem suspicious, Ryuji." replied Akira as he nodded to Ryuji.
"I know, right. This all fits way too well to just be a coincidence." said Ryuji in an agreeing tone of voice to Akira. "If this post is legit, ain't this the kinda target we're been waitin' for?"
"Well, yeah but… Is it really true…?" said Ann doubtfully to them.
"We just have to assumed that it is true, Ann-san." said Minato.
"I see…" said Ann.
"By the way, what'd you do about the whole modelling thing?" asked Ryuji.
"Oh yeah, the modelling thing. Kitagawa-san gave me, Minato-senpai and Shirogane-san his contact info and also the address to his sensei's atelier." replied Ann.
"He did? That's good then." said Souji with a smile on his face.
"He did said he lives there, right? Perfect timing." said Ryuji as he stood up with a wide smile on his face. "Let's try goin' there tomorrow! We're off to Madarame's house right after school!"
"Huh? You want me to model tomorrow!?" said Ann as she gaped in shock at Ryuji for suddenly saying that to her. "This is too sudden…"
"No kidding." said Ken in agreement with Ann.
"What? We're just gonna talk to Kitagawa, that's all. Isn't that right, Arisato, Shirogane?" said Ryuji, giving Ann an odd look before he glance at both Minato and Naoto.
"Yeah, I guess, Ryuji-kun." said Minato.
"Guess that settles it then." said Naoto.
"Oh, that's what you meant…" said Ann in a relief tone of voice to Ryuji before all of them bade farewell to each other, split up and went home.