7 months after the phantom thieves event, inside an apartment in Kichijoji…
"Perfect and all done." thought a fair-skinned, short brown-haired, brown-eyed boy named Ken Amada wearing a short sleeve black T-shirt, long grey trousers and white shoes on his feet as he inspect with an approving look on his face at the traditional Japanese-style breakfast that he prepared and cooked for himself, his half-brother, his 2 roommates and their Shiba Inu friend.
"Arf! Arf!" barked an albino, red-eyed Shiba Inu named Koromaru as he glance at Ken.
"Yeah, I know. I'll go wake them up now while you stay here and watch over our breakfast, alright, Koromaru?" said Ken as he glance and nodded at Koromaru (who let out another bark at Ken) before he walked out of the dining room, make his way down a hallway toward his half-brother room first and knock on the door. "Good morning and wake up now, Goro! It's time for breakfast!" said Ken.
"… Yeah, yeah. I hear you and I'm getting up now, Ken." groaned Goro's slightly irritated and drowsy voice to Ken from inside the room.
"Good." said Ken before he turned and knock on the other 2 doors of his 2 roommates rooms to wake them up too before he went back to the dining room, unaware that one of his 2 roommates isn't inside his room.
XXXX
Inside Goro's room…
"You heard my half-brother. It's time for us to get up and have breakfast with him and Kitagawa, Minato-san." said a fair-skinned, shoulder-length brown-haired, red-eyed guy named Goro Akechi wearing a simple light blue shirt and knee-length dark grey pants as he stared softly and lovingly down at the pale-skinned, short dark blue-haired guy wearing a simple white shirt and long dark blue pants (that match his hair colour) sleeping and cuddling close to him.
"Mm, give me a few more minutes since I was up quite late in doing the last scene of the new Mahoutokoro movie in Odaiba last night, Gocchan…" mumbled the dark blue-haired guy named Minato sleepily to Goro as he move to cuddle even closer to him.
"L-Look, I know and as much as I wish I could let you sleep longer but I can't and you already know how Ken is so wake up, Minato-san." said Goro as he raised and put his hand on Minato's shoulder to gently shake him to wake him up.
"Fine. I'm getting up now." groaned Minato as he slowly opened his eyes, woke up and sat up from the bed before he rubbed his still sleepy eyes with the back to his right hand.
"Good morning, Minato-san." greeted Goro politely and happily to Minato.
"Yeah, good morn-Mhm!" greeted Minato sleepily and politely back to Goro only for Goro to cut him off by suddenly leaning forward to pressed a quick and soft kiss on his lips, which fully woke Minato up before he quickly turned his face away from Goro to covered his mouth with his hands and with an embarrassed look on his face now.
"Heh. How cute and amusing to see and know that you're still as embarrassed as ever at the love and affections that I gave you, Minato-san." chuckled Goro before he gave a triumph smirk at Minato.
"Geez, you really…" said Minato as he scowled at Goro only to fell silent, sigh and shake his head at him before he and Goro got off the bed, left the bedroom, met and greeted Yusuke Kitagawa (another pale-skinned, short dark blue-haired, grey-eyed tall and slim pretty-looking guy (who's the younger brother of Minato and Minako Arisato and cousin of Naoto Shirogane) wearing a simple dark blue shirt that matched his hair and knee-length black pants) after he woke up and came out of his room and who greeted back to them before they take turns in having their morning showers in the bathrooms, dry themselves up with towels then put on their summer clothes before they turned and make their way to the dining room to have their breakfasts with Ken and Koromaru and after Minato, Goro, Ken, Yusuke and Koromaru finished their breakfasts, they heard and felt their smartphones vibrating with incoming messages and take out their phones to see and read the messages that they received from their friends, reply back to them before they put their phones back into their pants pocket, stood up and picked up, washed and dry up and put their cleaned cups and plates back in the cupboard before Minato, Goro, Ken, Yusuke and Koromaru left their apartment to meet their friends.
XXXX
Meanwhile, inside a train…
Inside a train heading from Saga to Tokyo and filled with passengers, Akira Kurusu (a young slightly fair-skinned, short wavy black haired, dark grey-eyed guy wearing a short sleeve black and white shirt with long dark grey jeans and black shoes on his feet and with a huge white and blue bag hanging on his left shoulders where Morgana slumbers inside) is currently standing and staring out the window at the passing scenery of the dark tunnel that the train drove into before he felt his smartphone vibrating with incoming messages in his left pants pocket and he take his phone out to see and read the messages.
KK: Good morning and greetings to you students.
TM: Good morning to you all too.
RS: Yo, been a while, teach, doc and you too, buddy!
AT: Since you're always the last one and forgetting to reply, Ryuji.
RS: That so? I've been pretty busy myself.
HZO: Oh really? Busy doing what, Ryuji? Do tell.
GA: Most likely he did something worthwhile for the Track team or something useless like playing video games at home, Hanzo-kun.
MA: Really, Goro?
RS: Oh man, eff you, Akechi!
GA: No thanks, I may be gay but you're too vulgar and crass for my refined taste in guys unlike Minato-san, Sakamoto.
MA: GORO! How could you say that!?
GA: Why not? It's the truth, Minato-san.
HZO: Ugh! TMI, you two, TMI!
HRO: There, there, Hanzo.
AT: Geez, enough with the mushy attitudes already, you two.
KK: Yeah, seriously.
MA: Sorry about that, Ann, sensei.
HRO: Has it been a while for me too?
YK: I as well. My lack of money has caused my line to shut off.
RS: How!? I thought that Minato-senpai's, his sister and his cousin's helping you with your money problem.
MA: We did but sometimes it still happened, Ryuji.
HRO: Oh, poor Minato-san…
AK: Sounds like you guys and girls are still the same as ever and how are you guys and girls?
MN: We're all fine and a lot of time has passed since we last met. But is it okay for you to talk to us and have you been studying for finals, Futaba?
FS: No worries, I'm a-okay. Unlike Ryuji.
RS: Stop! My life's already at zero! More importantly, the main topic! It's almost summer vacation, why don't we all get together for once?
FS: Summer vacation, huh?
MN: That sounds good.
TM: Then that's what we'll do.
AT: Agreed! Should we all go on a trip?
HRO: It sounds like fun!
YK: If it's a trip then Kyoto is the place.
KK: Seriously, Kitagawa-kun? Kyoto?
FS: You think this is some kind of field trip!?
GA: You need to think of other places besides Kyoto for summer vacation, Kitagawa-kun.
KA: Yeah, I agreed.
RS: Ok, it's settled! For now, let's get together and have a meeting.
AT: Where at?
FS: The answer is clear, Ann.
AK: Let's all meet at our usual place and hideout, of course.
SY: Wonderful! I love the curry and coffee cooked and brewed by Boss there!
TM: Of course you do, Yoshizawa-san. Leblanc, huh? Very well.
RS: Roger that, leader!
HZO: See you then, Akira.
After Akira's done with messaging with his friends, he put his phone back into his pocket and resumed looking out the window with a happy smile on his face, looking forward to seeing his friends, his teacher and his former counsellor in Leblanc.
XXXX
Meanwhile, inside a conference room in a police station…
"Continuing with the incidents that have been occurring these past months, this is a report of similar cases." said a male director standing in front of a podium and next to a huge white screen showing several pictures of the incidents that he's been talking about to the detectives sitting and watching in their seats while the shoulder-length dark brown-haired, goatee detective sitting at the back had a pondering look on his face about the cases.
"First, Hoshimoto, the vice-president of the ministry of finance. As all of you are aware, during a nation press conference, he suddenly had an outburst and confessed to the forging of legal documents." said the male director as he raised his left hand at a picture of the man named Hoshimoto while a stern-looking woman watch in silence.
"Next, during a meeting in town hall in Sapporo, 3 city counsellors suddenly confessed to corruption during the meeting and resigned. After that, a famous novel writer called Mr S, he suddenly conducted a retiring interview, and gave up his Akutayama award. He denounced his works as fraudulent and began wailing, refusing publication. Continuing with a figurehead commercial caster. During a broadcast, he confessed his love to a performer and was turned down. And the last one… the police agency chief suddenly went nude, run around the agency and was arrested." said the male director, which make the goatee detective sitting at the back to laugh in amusement a little and make the other detectives glance in surprise and confusion at him.
"…Is something funny? Assistant Inspector Hasegawa." said the stern-looking woman as she scowled in disapproval at the goatee detective.
"No, excuse me…" said the goatee detective apologetically to the stern-looking woman.
"Ahem… Among these, only one is being treated as a simple isolated incident… All cases are acknowledged as being an extreme sudden change. Like I said before, all of these people had no known unstable mental states before their sudden change… Basically, it's hard to believe that these unusual mental derangements would have taken place without external factors." said the director to the detectives, who glance and began talking to each other about it.
"… Isn't it just a coincidence? You think someone control other people's minds?" said one of the detectives to the director.
"The previous few cases were only examples, similar cases have been cropping up throughout the nation." said the director.
"It must be… the phantom thieves of hearts." said the goatee detective, which caused the other detectives to fell silent and have surprise and confused looks on their faces at what the goatee detective just said to them before they resumed talking.
"… Order. Continue the report." said the stern-looking woman in a serious tone of voice to the detectives and the director.
"Thank you, administrator Kaburagi." said the director thankfully to the stern-looking woman before he glance back at the detectives. "Like a suggestion said, the relevant case is the one that disturbed the public. Suspected to be heart-changing incidents according to the top brass." added the director to the detectives (which caused shock looks to appear on their faces).
"Wha…" said a second detective.
"B-But isn't there a lack of context? It seems like it's been done indiscriminately." said a third detective.
"We can't even find a motive. It's almost like it's been done for fun." said the director.
"…We want all of you to investigate this incident. As soon as possible. There are 2 things I'm expecting of you all. The first is to pin them with substantial evidence that will hold them accountable. Second is to do it quickly." said the stern-looking woman as she stood up from her seat. "I don't know why, but the top brass is highly concerned about this incident. We must bring results. The suspect is this young man named Akira Kurusu, leader of the phantom thieves. Conduct a new and thorough investigation on him." added the stern-looking woman as she glance in cold disdain at the picture of Akira Kurusu now showing on the huge white screen.
"The phantom thieves is back, huh…" said the goatee detective to himself about the phantom thieves.