5/27

A thump, and Akira's eyes shoot open. He sits up, and Morgana, draped across his chest, topples onto the floor, and wakes with a yowl.

He turns and finds Yusuke at his desk, standing, gloved hands raised in the air, fingers splayed. "They are complete," he states.

Akira shakes the fog from his mind. "Oh man, I'm sorry. I must've fallen asleep."

"Yes, I noted your snoring some time ago," Yusuke says, and folds his arms across his chest.

"I don't snore," Akira protests. He glances down at Morgana. "Do I?"

"Oh yeah," the cat replies, licking his paw and wiping it over his face. "Like, all the time. I usually just hit you a few times until you stop. Seriously though, you might want to get that checked out. Sleep apnea is no joke, from what I've heard."

Akira's eyes narrow. "You've heard of sleep apnea?"

"Hey, I hear things. I keep my ears peeled."

"It's eyes, and-"

"Pardon me," Yusuke interrupts. "But as I stated earlier, I have finished my assigned task."

Akira pushes himself off the couch, and rubs his shoulder. He hadn't meant to fall asleep, but watching Yusuke work had been so... exhausting.

He walks over and looks down at the desk. "Whoa," he says.

It is covered with calling cards, dozens and dozens of them. Stylized in red and black, each card holds a single image of a crimson top hat, beneath which fire burns. In blocky English letters, he reads, "'Take Your Heart.'" He smiles at Yusuke, and pats him on the back. "They're perfect."

Yusuke nods. "Excellent. Now, if you'll excuse me, I am going to descend into the void." He walks past Akira, and plops down on the couch. In a moment, his eyes are shut, and his breathing becomes slow and regular.

"Whoa," Morgana says, staring at him. "Is he asleep, already?"

Akira pulls his phone from his pocket and checks the time. "Damn. It's no wonder. He was up the whole night making these." Carefully, Akira reaches into his desk and pulls out another pair of gloves. He begins to collect each calling card, and stacks them atop one another, making sure to keep his hair away from them. "So," he says. "Are you ready for your mission?"

Morgana beams up at him. "After the storage unit yesterday, this'll be easy!"

"Sure about that?" Akira asks.

"Do you doubt my skills?"

He shakes his head. "No. It's not that. It's just..." He sighs. "Yesterday was risky. It worked, but it was risky. I don't want to see you hurt."

"Risky?" Morgana asks, and hops up onto first the chair, and then the desk. "It was your plan, Akira."

"I know, I know," Akira replies. "Just, be careful today, okay?"

Morgana rolls his eyes. "You know, for a daring Gentleman Thief, you worry way too much."

"Right," Akira grumbles, and starts to place the cards in a pouch. "Because we've never had anything we've needed to worry about."

#

Madarame paces the office. "No, no. You're not listening to me. Put your boss on!"

"I told you," comes the voice on the other end. "He's not here. I will relay your message if-"

"Do you understand what this all means? Do you? Someone knows about the storage unit. Someone is talking to someone and that someone needs to be held accountable."

"Would that be the first someone? Or the second someone?" There's an amused lilt to the voice on the phone.

"Is this funny?" Madarame shouts. "This concerns your business as well as mine. Don't you care? Don't you care that someone in your organization is sharing information about the storage units?"

"Listen, man. You need to calm down. When my boss gets back, he's going to talk to you, and you're going to have to be a lot calmer than you are right now. Hysterics aren't going to get us anywhere."

"This isn't hysteria," Madarame squeals. "This is figuring out where your leak is."

There's a knock on the office door.

"Not now," Madarame shouts at it. He turns his attention back to the phone. "I need to speak with him. I need to make him understand. If I have to move things out of-"

"Whoa, whoa," the voice says. "Move things? That's a big no-go there, buddy. You move things when we tell you it's okay to move things, not before. Never before."

"But if its location has been leaked and-" He's cut off by another knock at the door. "Goddammit! I said, 'Not now!'"

"M-Madarame-sama?" Comes a voice on the other side of the door. "It's urgent, I'm afraid."

He growls and shouts into the phone. "Hold on." Then he marches to the door, yanks it open and glares at the young gallery attendant on the other side. "What?"

The young man pales, and with trembling hands, holds out a small, red and black card towards him. "Th-this was found outside. There's more of them. A lot more, actually."

"The hell?" Madarame asks, and snatches it out of his hands.

He reads it, and his eyes widen. He shuts the door on the young attendant without saying a word, and lifts the phone back up to his ear. "I need to talk to him. Please. There's been a... um, complication."

#

When Makoto walks into the diner and spies Haru sitting at their usual table, she feels as if she's released a long breath held too long. She storms across the diner's floor, and when Haru sees her coming, the girl stands up and says, "I'm sorry Mako-chan, I-" but she can't finish because Makoto hugs her.

"Are you okay?" Makoto asks, without breaking the hug. "Are you okay?"

"Um," Haru replies, a light quiver in her voice. "Yes, Mako-chan. I am." Makoto holds on. "Um," Haru continues. "Not that I don't appreciate this, but people are staring."

"Oh," Makoto says, and releases her. Haru's face is beet red, and her own cheeks feel hot as well. "You weren't in school yesterday or today," she blurts. "I didn't know what had happened."

Haru gestures the seat across from her and Makoto sits. Haru joins her. "I'm sorry," Haru replies, with a soft shake of her head. "Things just got out of control, and I didn't know what to do, and I never meant to make you worry. After what you saw, I just felt like I couldn't face you and-"

Makoto leans over the table towards her. "Haru," she says. Haru lifts her eyes to stare into hers. "Who was that man?"

Haru sighs, and is silent for a few moments. Then, "His name is Sugimura. Rin Sugimura. And, well, he's my fiancé."

Makoto isn't sure what keeps her eyes locked in her head. "Fiancé?" She spits. "That... that asshole?"

Haru winces a bit, but nods. "Yes. It's all been arranged by our respective families. It makes sense, in a way. My family has pull in the business world. The Sugimura's are influential in the political world. So..." instead of continuing on, Haru just slowly brings her hands together until they clasp one another.

Makoto has of course heard of this kind of thing before. It isn't uncommon. Sae had tossed around the idea of finding a match for Makoto a year or so back, but nothing had ever come of it. She's heard the wealthy and influential play these kind of games with one another, but to actually see it in reality, writ across the face of her friend?

Makoto shakes her head. "I... Haru, I'm sorry. I'm at a loss."

Haru smiles. "I know. It's not ideal. But it's the hand I've been dealt." And she shrugs her shoulders, and Makoto's heart breaks a bit more.

So, she shakes her head again. With more force this time. "No. We've got to do something. You can't marry that jerk. We're getting you out of it."

Haru's eyes widen in surprise. "I can't, Mako-chan. It's pretty much official at this point. It won't be finalized for another few months, but this is how it's going to be."

"Unacceptable," Makoto says, frowning. She thinks. "My sister knows people in the law. Maybe we can-"

"Makoto," Haru says, cutting through her train of thought. "Please. Enough." Makoto watches her friend as her eyes get all misty. "I appreciate this. I do. But can we just drop it? Can we just pretend that it didn't happen? I don't want to think about this anymore than I have to, and I don't want the last few months I've got left before I have to marry him to be spent trying to get out of the whole thing!" Haru's voice rises as she speaks, and at the last word it nearly reaches a shout. She casts a nervous glance around to the other patrons, and whispers, "I'm sorry, but can we please just go back to the way things were? I convinced him to let that thing that happened with you go. I just don't want to think about this anymore. Please?"

And Makoto almost caves. Almost relents. She almost lies and tells Haru that she'll drop it. That things can return to the way they were. She opens her mouth to do so, and then she shuts it again.

When she opens it next, she says, "No." Haru blinks. "No, I'm not going to lie. I'm not okay with this. I'm not going to accept this. I'm not going to let you marry that jerk. You're my best friend, and I'm not going to just watch this happen to you." It doesn't take long to realize what she's said. When she tries to find her way out the hole, all she manages is, "Um... you see, I, uh-"

And then Haru, eyes wide, a big smile on her face, asks, "I'm your best friend?" Her voice is small, but delighted.

Makoto's mind works overtime. She had not intended to admit that. She tries to figure out a way of rephrasing, but eventually just stops, blushes and says, "Well, of course. Who else am I going to investigate magical thieves with?"

Haru beams. "So you admit they must be magic!"

Makoto rolls her eyes. "I will admit to the remote possibility of it. Nothing more."

The two girls look at each other, and both start to laugh. It grows and grows, and before long the two can't stop.

"Thank you, Mako-chan," Haru replies, once she can.

Makoto nods. "I'm serious, you know. We're going to find a way to get you out of this." When Haru opens her mouth to protest, Makoto states, "We will."

Haru doesn't say anything for a time, then she whispers, "Alright. But what about-"

"The Phantom Thieves?" Comes a voice.

Both girls blink, and look over at the table next to them. Two older girls sit there, staring at their phones. One looks up at the other and says, "Is this for real? This is like, really close by!"

The other girl shakes her head. "It's gotta be, right? They've struck again."

Around the diner, the people, be they older or younger, take their phones out, and begin little whispered conversations amongst themselves. Makoto hears the words, "Phantom Thieves," and "Calling Card," again and again. Then, people start to leave. First, it's the two girls. Then, an older couple near the back.

"What's going on?" Haru asks.

"I don't know," Makoto replies. She looks out the diner's window. The typically crowded Tokyo streets are just that, crowded. But there's an energy to their movement, and they all seem to be heading in one direction, looks of wonder and excitement mixed across their faces.

"Come on," Makoto says, and stands. Haru follows suit and the two girls dash out of the diner and join the throng of people as they slide forward, down the road.

They wind their way through the street, and find themselves in a huge crowd outside an art exhibit. Makoto and Haru try to peek over the heads of the people in front of them, but to no avail. "Excuse me," Makoto says, tapping the man in front of her on the shoulder. "What's going on?"

He flashes her a smile. "It's those Phantom Thieves. They just left a calling card for Madarame!"

Makoto blinks and searches her memory. "The painter?" The man nods.

Haru straightens. "My father has a piece of Madarame's in our study. He's famous worldwide!"

The man turns his attention away, and Makoto frowns. "Come on," she says, and grabs Haru's hand. Together, they start to cut their way through the crowd.

It takes a few minutes before they're able to reach the front, and they spy a large line of police tape, and scattered across the front of the exhibit, are many black and red cards. Makoto squints, trying to read them from a distance.

"Look, Mako-chan," Haru says, and points at a second story window. It's a small ledge, and on it, sits another batch of the cards. The window next to it, contains a batch as well. Makoto lets her eyes travel across the entire building's façade. Every ledge, every sill, contains a small pile of the Calling Cards. With every breeze of the wind, more scatter into the air and blow out into the crowd. People laugh and reach and jump for them when they get close.

Makoto's eyes narrow. "You know, that's a pretty narrow ledge. I don't think a person could get up there."

Haru nods. "But a cat?"

The two girls look at each other. "That's a different story."

#

Junichiro Maki runs his eyes over the woman sitting next to him one more time, sighs, and takes another sip of his drink.

She turns to him, finally, and says, "Is there a reason you keep doing that?"

He fixes a partially confused look on his face and replies, "Sorry, doing what?"

"That sighing," she replies. She doesn't sound upset by it.

"Oh," Juni says, and shakes his head. "Sorry. I didn't realize I was being so obnoxious about it." He offers a weak smile, shrugs, and says, "But hey, if you can't sigh in a bar, where can you?"

She frowns, and averts her gaze, so he can tell she's not apologetic, but regrets snapping at him. "Well, I suppose you're right."

He looks past her, and feigns surprise at the lack of someone next to her. "You're alone?"

Her turn to shrug. "I just came for a drink."

He smiles. "And I'll drink to that." He lifts his drink and angles the lip towards her. She smiles a bit, takes up her own, and they clink glasses. He nods at her business attire. "Did you just get off work?"

"I did. And in," she checks her watch, "twelve hours, I've got to get right back there." She's young then. Not used to the daily slog. He can work with that.

He brushes some of his hair out of his eyes. "What'd you do?"

"Oh, I work for Okumura Foods."

He smiles. "Last time I checked, Big Bang Burger waitresses don't wear clothes like that."

She rolls her eyes. "No, smart guy. I work in the corporate office. In accounting."

"Really?" He asks, turning to her.

She blinks. "I have to say, telling a guy that I'm in accounting rarely gets that kind of response."

He allows a faint bit of color into his cheeks. "Oh, well, you see, I just love numbers." He chuckles and pats the air with his hands. "I know that sounds weird, but I do."

She cocks an eyebrow at her. "What do you do, exactly?"

"Actually," he says, and pretends to be embarrassed. "I do consulting work. Primarily with numbers. Mostly for tech companies. Biopharma guys, and whatnot. I come in, talk about algorithms for an hour, and a bunch of guys who have no idea what I'm talking about kind of nod their heads and act like they do."

"And people pay you for that?" She asks, grinning.

He lets out a nervous laugh. "That they do. But, then again, that's why I'm here. I'm tired of doing it. Tired of people who don't get it. My buddy and I, we went to college together, we're actually talking about setting up our own company."

She blinks. "Really?"

"Yeah," he says, getting into it. "See, what we're looking to do is-" A hand clamps down on his shoulder. He twists without thinking about it, and lifts the hand away without even leaving his chair. He turns to face his attacker with something approaching a snarl, and then sees who it is.

A slight, middle aged man with chestnut hair, a face of all angles, and a crew cut. "Juni," he says. "We need to talk."

He turns back to the woman. "Speak of the devil, here he is! I'm so sorry, but what you excuse me for a moment?"

She nods, and he stands, patting his friend on the back. "Buddy," he says, friendly. "Good to see you."

"We need to talk," Akio reiterates. They walk towards a booth near the edge of the bar.

When they're both seated across from one another, Junichiro folds his hands atop one another, leans forward, and asks, "What are you doing here, Aki? You know how we do this."

"Something's happened."

Juni sighs, drops the last vestiges of the act, and sprawls himself across his seat. A strand of hair falls across his face. It's jet black, and actually touched up with some dye, but he'd never admit that. "Fine. What's so dire?"

Aki leans forward himself. "I'm passing you something under the table."

Juni steals a peek. In his left hand, Aki is holding out small card towards him. He snatches it and brings it to his lap. "What's this?" He asks.

"Just read it."

Juni rolls his eyes. "Take your heart? Aki, you know I'm strictly a ladies' man."

"Turn it over, genius," Aki growls.

He does, sees the words, and begins to read.

Sir Ichiryusai Madarame, the talentless, greedy, exploiter: You're finished. We know about the droves of students you've turned to the streets, the hordes of children who adored you that you betrayed. We know you've done nothing but pilfer and plagiarize. No longer will innocents feed the machine of your greed. Tomorrow, you will confess to your sins to the world, because we will have stolen your twisted desires straight out of your heart. See you soon. Yours, The Phantom Thieves of Hearts.

Juni reads it, then reads it again, and again.

He looks up at Aki and asks, "What the fuck am I reading?"

"What it looks like," Aki replies. "A Calling Card."

Juni groans and leans back in his chair. "You've got to be kidding me." Then, he stiffens. "I've heard that name before. The Phantom Thieves of Hearts."

Aki nods. "They were on the news recently. There was an asshole gym teacher or something over at Shujin Academy, in Aoyome-Itchoma. These calling cards showed up one day, and the next thing you know, the guy's on stage at a school assembly, blubbering about how he raped some poor kid, and beat up a bunch of students."

Juni darts his eyes towards the table top, indicating the card below it. "And this? Are these the same guys? They go from gym teacher to world famous artist?"

Aki shrugs. "Don't know. At first, I figured it was some kind of student revenge thing, but now? Who can say?"

Juni taps the card in his hand. "Where was this?"

"Outside Madarame's exhibit. There were a bunch of them. Some have already gotten out and circulated online."

Juni's eyes narrow. "It said he was a plagiarist."

"I caught that."

"You think they're talking about the Sayuri's?"

"Again, don't know. But they could be. I'm having Dunk look over the footage. See if we missed anything." Aki frowns. "This could just be a coincidence."

Juni chuckles. "A coincidence? Seriously? Aki, how long have we been doing this?"

Aki sighs. "Long enough to know coincidences never work in our favor."

Juni spreads his hands. "Precisely."

He shuts his eyes and takes a deep breath. Breathe it in, he thinks, and drifts off to his own little world. Breathe it in.

He sits there for a few moments, thinking. Then he shrugs, opens his eyes, and says, "Call everyone and let them know it's off."

Aki's mouth drops open. "Off? As in off?"

"Yes, the opposite of on."

"We're close, Juni. Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"Regardless, we'd be laughing stocks." He taps the card one more time. "How would it look, if one day after the Phantom Thieves send Madarame their little calling card, we send him ours as well?" He shakes his head. "Nope. It's off. They struck first, called dibs. Let's let them run it. See how they do." He smirks. "I'm interested to see if these Phantom Thieves can pull this off. Getting someone to confess their own sins? Quite the heist."

Aki sighs and stands. "I'll let the others know. They won't be happy."

Juni smiles and lifts up his drink. "They know where to find me."

Aki nods and walks out of the bar.

Junichiro Maki, the leader of Tatterdemalion, takes another sip of his drink. "Alright, Phantom Thieves. Let's see what you've got."

##

A/N: Did you guys enjoy yesterday's little thing? Turns out I spelled 'Kobayakawa' wrong, which I suppose takes some of the oomph out of the big reveal, lol. I'll have to fix that. Anyway, looks like the PTs have some new folks to contend with! Will they be able to steal Madarame's heart? What will Makoto and Haru do about Sugimura? What's up with Tatterdemalion?

I suppose you'll just have to keep reading. ;)

Just a reminder, next week, the week of 1/29, I'll be going on a brief hiatus. Probably for one week, definitely not more than two. Grad school, man. Ugh. But, rest assured, Friday's chapter will go up without a hitch. And, of course, Crimson will continue.

As always, thank you very much for reading!