(T.A.K.E.Y.O.S.H.I)

I couldn't believe that we actually saved Monigami from being his dirty self! I felt sympathy for my own enemy, I didn't even feel like killing him after the pep talk everyone gave me, without them, I'll be feeling like a criminal. But I guess without me, they couldn't have pulled off the heist or even told Monigami that bullying was a bad idea. I still feel kinda bad for leaving behind Doll-Hakaru, but that's okay. If everyone else has my back, I'll have theirs! I'll never forget Doll-Hakaru, but we weren't going to let that upset me!

So we decided to hit Big Bang Burger as a celebration for all things right in this world. It's this fast-food place where we go to eat giant burgers and stuff, isn't that amazing? My friends caught wind of Monigami confessing his crimes to his own parents, and they came with our big group as we got to know each other better, except for Naruki, he stayed at the clubhouse for some reason. We chowed down on burgers and Akiyo ate a salad as I introduced the crew!

"Oh you guys are going to love my little club, Reo and Yuki, this is Hakaru, Jin'ichi and Akiyo." "I'm assuming that Yuki is the smart one?" Hakaru guessed. "Exactly Hakaru. My real name is Yuki Amadoe and here's Reo Cooper, an ex-bully." "Howdy." Reo went straight back to eating as Jin'ichi was smiling for having friends all my own: "Wow, you have quite the team you've got going here." "Oh I'm so proud of my little child, your friends are truly incredible!" Akiyo says delightfully.

"Y'know, I've always wondered why you hang with these guys." Yuki says a bit puzzled. "Yeah, are you saying that we aren't as special as they are?" Reo said pointing at himself. "I don't know why you want to hang with a coward of a brother-" I interrupt Junko because I knew Hakaru's weak spot! "Shh! He hates being called a coward…"

"Huh? I didn't know that!" Junko sounded surprised, she's been with him for so long, but she never knew Hakaru was a coward? That's awkward… "Don't worry Junko, you were only trying to impress yourself, I guess…" Hakaru was blushing and scratching his head.

"You still haven't answered my question, why are you hanging with these guys?" Yuki asked. "Well, they sorta roped me into the affairs of their job…" I answered. "What job?" Reo was getting suspicious, and I couldn't expose my secret identity as Scalawag yet: "A job as an official member of the Phantom Thieves… fan club!"

"You run a fan club of Phantom Thieves?" Junko asked her brother, who was still embarrassed: "Well kinda… I've never actually seen them in action, but I know what they can do!" "What the heck are Phantom Thieves?" Reo asked. "This question even boggles my mind…" Yuki tried thinking about it, but to no avail. They don't know who the Phantom Thieves are? In that case…

"Oh you guys will love em! They are super fantastic based on what I've heard about them!" And so, we spent the rest of the hangout talking about the Phantom Thieves and how cool they are!

Nobody told my friends anything to give us away, but we had good times all around! It's such a pity everyone else will be busy next week, including myself. I still have some valuable time to catch up with my friends, and Junko! I have cards to trade, games to finish, and more training to do! With my school out for the summer, maybe I'll find love with Junko somehow.

My name is Takeyoshi Winslow, I'm only eight years old when I started the Phantom Crusaders. Being on that team has really changed me for the better, it's made me learn things I've never learned before. All of a sudden, I'm starting to act like a responsible adult! My knowledge keeps growing as I felt that being dragged into someone else's job was the best thing that's ever happened to me.

I can't wait for the next mission to start, I hope that we get to see race cars or dragons and stuff like that! I'm also expanding my knowledge on almost every visual aid I could find, so that way, I won't have to rely on the whale 24/7. If being a Phantom Crusader requires a lot of practice and studying, I guess that I shouldn't give up the real world life entirely. I have my mother and father to back me up, and if things go right for me and my new friends, we could even change the world!

(A.K.I.Y.O)

Those kid friends of Takeyoshi were so cute! I couldn't help but smile the whole time! But alas, all good things must come to an end, as did our first mission as official Phantom Crusaders. You know, when I first joined the Crusaders, at first I just wanted the entire world to be less corrupt. But I guess corruption has its time and place, and if we were to continue without HEX's guidance, then we'd go too fast to worry about the real world around us.

All my life I've been sensing auras of other beings, so when I joined the Crusaders, it made the job for man hunting plenty easier. There are more corrupt beings nowadays, and pure beings are a rare delicacy for me now, but regardless I see the light in corrupt beings proving to myself that not all humans are pure evil.

This reminded me of my first charm crafting lesson I took when I was 13 years old. I learned a special kind of charm that was made from pure emotion. At first, I had my doubts about this, mostly because I didn't feel happy that I made a happiness charm from scratch, but after my corruption, I could truly craft what my heart desired. All the power of corruption and purity, right in the palm of my hand, I couldn't resist this opportunity to give them all away to spread my love and hate in the form of charms.

I guess without the Crusaders, I wouldn't have become pure again in the first place. All this time, I was corrupted, and yet I never paid attention to myself. I couldn't sense my own aura, so I assumed at the time that I was so pure that I never got an aura like the others. I'm far beyond that now, and I'm sure I'm doing what's truly just now. But still, I wanted to make sure that I would be given a second chance by God. He does forgive all you know, and if what Jin'ichi said was right He'll surely understand what I'm doing is for the best...

"Dear God, I am very sorry for all the corruption I've caused... I was corrupt myself and I didn't even know it, and for that I have forsaken you my Lord. All those mindless ramblings I had before I met someone special? They were just me being corrupt. I hope you have the heart to forgive me for what I've done. What I'm doing now is pure justice, nothing else. Bless Hakaru, Jin'ichi, Naruki, Takeyoshi, Reo, Yuki and Hakaru's beautiful sister Junko. And Monigami, he deserves forgiveness too you know... Amen."

I am very religious, I believe God will lead our team to victory. He smiles upon us whenever we do something right, and frowns whenever we don't follow His orders. What anyone corrupt says about Him is not true in the slightest, that's why I think people like Shido, who's been growing in popularity lately, will say anything about Him to get their way. I don't think He likes people like them very much either, and luckily, ever since I was 5, only I truly know how He works…

He is a loving and gentle God who supports everyone around him, for those who have sinned, He wants to give a second chance. At first, I thought He hated sinners during my period of corruption, which is why the corrupt charms were made. Because I awakened to my own truth, I now know better than to mindlessly judge people based on their auras. I have sworn to never use any of the 13 corrupt charms again until the day I've died. I'll never even make one of the corrupt charms ever again.

My name is Akiyo Chi. My judgement is no longer important to the world, that is determined by the will of the world. As soon as HEX gives us our next mission, I'll do my very best to help others in my own special way. But for now, I rest easy knowing that while others are busy with school life, I have my own job to take care of. I also take some time out of my work so that I can take a look at some cognitive science in my spare time.

The more I learn about the human mind, the more I want to help others become the best they can ever be. As long as I hope for the future for the Phantom Crusaders, I'll happily stay in the real world once more, so I won't forget all the fun I've had with my first ever friends.

(J.I.N.I.C.H.I)

Damn, who would've thought a nice guy like Harry could lead to me eventually finding the truth about my mother. I'll never forget the smile her doll made at me as she truly recovered from her mental state. I don't know why she smiled, or why the dolls agreed to rebel against Monigami, I guess as we were fighting, his paranoia and fears started to spring up again. Turns out his own little collection turned on him, and he took the message the other self told him too hard.

But still, being a Phantom Crusader was pretty much the craziest thing that has ever happened to me. I got to lash out against things besides regular humans, I can build and tear up whatever I want in there, and there's no problem being someone who disrespects the rules. Although I have to admit, the alcoholic foods I didn't see coming, but hey, you win some you lose some.

I was chowing down on my meat as fast as I could, while saving some food on my plate for Naruki, when I heard the doorbell ring. Kaito says he'll deal with this as I keep chowing down. I couldn't help but look as he found the parents of little Monigami. They seem taller than my dad, but that's because my dad is short. They look regretful about something, which was way different from their obsessive attitude, that's when I knew: We got em.

"Huh? It's the Peroskis? What are you doing around these parts? Ria is gone because of your son, are you aware of that? Have you come here to arrest me too?" Yep, my dad's still pretty stiff from losing his wife, so basically he's doing his best to drive the Peroskis away ever since he witnessed his wife get taken away. But, instead of fighting back, Mr. Peroski had something to say…

"No… that's not the problem. We came here to apologize for the actions of our son." "Huh? Why are you apologizing now? You were the ones who dropped him off, you even ruined my son's life!" "I know. It's just that… earlier in the afternoon, he was crying about something…" The Mrs. said he was crying? That's exactly what Kamoshida did when he fell apart...

"You know how crazy we were to think that Monigami wasn't bad, and how we went nuts trying to distract him from the incident…?" Said the father. "You mean the captured liger incident? Don't worry about that, he's in safe hands now." said Kaito, winking at me, I winked back for kicks.

"Yeah… for the longest time we've been trying to keep Monigami happy by distracting him from the crimes I did." The father said grieved. "But, just a while ago, it turns out we made him too pampered." Said the Mrs.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Kaito asked. "He was crying as he told us everything he did to his babysitters and the students at his school. It turns out our actions made him into a spoiled brat…" The father said in pain. That means it definitely worked, I don't want to ruin this moment, so I keep my mouth shut.

"Really? So all of that guilt mixed with endless pleasure wasn't the best combination?" Kaito shrugged. "Yes, he's in a timeout now, but all we really wanted was for him to be safe…" The Mrs. started crying herself, she loved him the most, because what mother doesn't, and she couldn't handle the pressure of her efforts being for nothing.

"All we wanted was for him to forget my time with those bounty hunters, but apparently he never forgot, and it was my idea to take the baby with me! I just couldn't leave him home alone when he was so young, I thought if I took him with me, he would pick up a few things to defend himself…" Now the father looked regretful.

"But all he got were bad things… we didn't have to argue because we knew we both messed up!" The mother said in tears. "We are so sorry about your wife, can you ever forgive us…?" I would Mr Peroski, but I don't think you should've messed with a kind guy like Kaito...

"I don't know, you guys raised that child to be like this… I guess I will forgive you, but please never come here again." But nevertheless, he forgives them anyway. That's what I like about him, he's always so positive even when he knows someone did wrong.

"Understood." The father nodded. "I hope your son's doing okay, it must've been hard losing his mother like that…" The mother felt blue as she wiped a few tears away. "Oh, I can assure you that he's doing superb right now! It feels like she never left us now that my son's the tough guy!" Kaito smiled, you got that right pops, I am the tough guy.

"Ria was always a tough girl in her class wasn't she?" "Yeah Mr Peroski, back when she was his age, but I guess all that toughness must've rubbed off on him. Have a good day! And if I see your son again I'll spank him." "Oh trust me, you won't, we'll make sure of it…" The mother says with the best of intentions, I'm not taking it the wrong way, so my guess is he won't get any more babysitters from now on.

But damn, my mother was that tough in her youth? I asked my dad about it just a few moments later, and judging from his point of view, and the scrapbook I salvaged in an old book pile, she was apparently so rough on the edges that she was forced to be homeschooled during her youth.

Damn, I never thought my mother was so aggressive in her youth, as a matter of fact, I've never thought of my mother so much before now. All of this thinking was especially good for me, but I won't soften up, no, quite the opposite actually. Now that I knew my mother was this fierce, I will live on as the toughest man she wanted to be. And it was all thanks to Harry, he may be a bit of a fraidy cat but still, he's the nicest guy one could ask for.

They call me Jin'ichi Sumula, son of Kaito and Ria. I may be just a psycho on the outside, but as long as I hold Takeyoshi's baseball cap on my head, I'll be glad to help Harry through a steady path in a not so steady world. It's the least I could do after he saved me from the depths of despair. Because if I know anyone who is going to lead us to victory, it's my number one best bud Harry.

Oh yeah, while the others are worried about studying for exams, I'll personality randomly guess, I'll take this spare study time to help dad fix machines. I wore a worker's orange jumpsuit so nobody knows it's me, and if they spread more rumors about me, that's fine. I'll just bounce back and tell anyone picking on me that if they think they can poke the bear, you'd be surprised to know that this bear skipped hibernation.

(N.A.R.U.K.I)

I've got to say, I've never thought someone like a coward, a punk, a holy woman, and a child could teach me so much about life. When I first started out as a wildcat, I thought I wasn't cut for the harsh reality of mankind, but man did that 'other world' give me a slap in the face! I'm now convinced that I died and lived on as a muscular cat, but when I turned back to normal and everyone could understand me then, I then thought I was dreaming like crazy!

Every moment from then on felt so real, I was convinced I was hallucinating. But it was real, and now I wish I could turn into that muscle-bound cat again. And let me tell you something, I am not going to get used to turning into a monster truck every dang mission we go on. But, if it beats doing nothing 24/7, I still do that in my spare time, I'll do it for the love of it.

I sleep like all the time nowadays, there's no annoying kids, nobody to piss me off, and most importantly, no millionaires. By now I've gotten sick of them, so I sleep as I endlessly dream my cares away until the loser club wakes me up for something. I now eat once a day, drink thrice a day, and then occasionally go to the litter box Jin'ichi brought over. It's no different than the way I was living before, only without anyone to push me around.

I'm stuck at the clubhouse until the next mission anyways, if I make too much noise then people will think I exist. Then again, Jin'ichi seems to be hard at work most of the time making some quality of life improvements to the clubhouse. He's a nice guy, despite his cocky attitude, I have to say he's not too bad of an owner to me. I kinda like this new life I was dragged into.

And so, I am apparently named Liger, what a stupid name. I could've gone with 'Rick' or 'Deathstone', but no, these guys picked the most generic name for me and now I'm stuck with it. Luckily they only call me by my real name when I'm normal, or only occasionally in the Cognitive World, but hey, if these guys know what the fuck are we doing, I guess I'll tag along. But for now, I might as well get back to that dream I had about me wearing a bow tie and accepting awards. Goodnight.

(H.A.K.A.R.U)

Man, I never felt so good about myself in my life. I just helped save both the innocent and the dangerous from disaster, and this warm feeling in my heart won't go away. But I need to bring myself back to reality: Next week is the big exams week and I can't screw this up.

I knew exactly how to bring myself back too, and it involves a nice trip on a train. It was almost night-time when my dad works, so I took my sister to the coffee shop Akira Kurusu told me about. You may think it was just a coffee shop, but I heard from dad that he comes here to drink the pain of a long night away in the morning after work. I also have to let Akria know about the Phantom Thieves and how awesome their lives must be.

We opened the door as we heard the bell ring from inside. We saw the nice brown interior complete with a TV, a bunch of wooden seats by the bar and the booths, it's even got that old-fashioned café feel to it. One sniff of the place and I smell curry and coffee ready for human consumption. My sister was like 'Whoa…' like when we first moved in, but I stood there accomplished of my actions, and regretful for some of them.

Junko and I scored seats for ourselves and to our surprise, Akria was tending to the coffee shop all by himself! There's also a black cat who looked very cute to my sister, but I sat down on one side and my sister sat down at another as we prepared to take our order. I picked up some pocket change from Monigami's mansion, and a couple of treasure chests I opened there, so naturally I could afford all this.

"Welcome to Leblanc, can I-huh? Hakaru Yumasu, this is your second visit isn't it?" Akira said as he looked at me like I was a regular. "Second visit?" my sister wondered. "I went there with my dad one time when he had the day off, and he treated me to some of the best curry and coffee money could buy." I told her as she sprang to life, like I've said the magic word: "Curry! I'll take curry!" "Just give me the vanilla and I'll be good to go." I say scratching my head as my sister bounced in her seat.

"Coming right up. I'm assuming that this is your sister?" Akira asks. "More than that, I'm his special partner for cheering him up when he pours his heart out." She says overconfident as I just get embarrassed as usual: "Yep. That's her alright. Oh, and by the way, have you ever heard of the Phantom Thieves?" I've always wanted to ask Akira that, and now seemed like a good time to spring it on him.

"Can't say I have." Akira shrugged like he knew them, but just didn't want to bring up a conversation. "Takeyoshi told me that the Phantom Thieves are superheroes! They go around changing people's hearts and stealing desires, whatever that means…" What the!? My sister just flat out told him who they were, and he seemed surprised!? Apparently, I think Akira had some history with the Phantom Thieves, because right after he heard that, he went straight back to work...

"Oh. Well I'm sure that whoever these superheroes are, they seem to know what to do. If anything, I feel like these so-called Phantom Thieves just might be the heroes that society needs." You can say that again, which reminded me of another question I wanted to ask: "Hey Akira, how did you feel when Kamoshida almost expelled you, Ryuji and Mishima?"

"I pretty much hated the guy. He claims he's the king of his own castle, treating everyone like slaves and abusing other kids." Akira pretty much summed up what Jin'ichi knew about him, and this drove me to complain: "And did you see what he did to Shiho, I mean oh my God, this guy got what was coming to him!" "Big bro, what happened to Shiho?" "If I told you, you would wake the neighbors!" Junko quickly understood that Shio almost died, judging from my tone of voice and my sad attitude from the day I came back from that… but she quickly ignored it and did a coloring page. That's my girl...

"Yeah, and because of this, and Ryuji almost trying to kill Kamoshida again, the pervert almost expelled us. We weren't entirely sure if we were going to make it, but then a miracle came out of the shadows. The Phantom Thieves had their first target, Kamoshida, and they struck him down just before the deadline. And this act of heroism inspired Mishima-san to create a website dedicated to the Phantom Thieves." I knew Akira was happy about this, but one thing caught our eye: "They have a website!?" Me and my sister cried out.

"It's more like a Phansite, literally. You should check it out when you have the time. Here's your vanilla and your sister's curry. Shouldn't you two kids take it to go?" I drank the vanilla coffee a bit, and boy did it taste great, and Junko ate a bit of the curry as she told me about tonight's plan: "Good idea! It's getting real late anyway, we're going to miss out on reruns of Circus Fantasy!"

"Aw come on sis! We never eat out together on our own." "You just ate burgers this afternoon with me, that still counts." Junko may be a little rambunctious, but she has a good point, this was technically the second time we went to a restaurant to eat today, and apparently we had to get back before we got too tired. "Thank you, I'll tell Sojiro Sakura about your visit." Akira waved as I took out my leather wallet ready to pay for the curry and the coffee.

I tipped Akira, and we went back home just in time for a rerun of the classical circus episode. For some reason, either because of the coffee or my sister getting overwhelmed with spice, this episode inspires me to do what's right! If these guys can do anything their way, I can do anything in my own way. Fortunately for me, the coffee gave me enough energy to work on my studying for exams. I was only able to work for about an hour or two before I got tired and went to bed.

My dreams went crazy with the thoughts of me becoming a Phantom Thief unlike any other. All my life, everyone thought I was a coward who couldn't do anything right, and for a while I accepted that I was. But now that I have a new secret identity to call my own, I'll take whatever I can to be a hero to all the world! As Hero, I've managed to keep everyone out of danger for nearly the entire time I was there! As I begin my exams for next week, my mind almost wandered into dreamland again before Jin'ichi woke me up with a snap of his fingers.

My name is Hakaru Yumasu, AKA Hero! And I intend on protecting the world with all my might! Ordinary student by day, super powered hero by night, it's a cycle I can't wait to begin! The Phantom Thieves have definitely dealt with big stuff like this for a while, and even if I had my doubts about all this at first, I couldn't help but feel excited for the future of my life! Criminals beware, as long as the Phantom Crusaders are around, we'll do everything we can to protect those who can't protect themselves!

End of Chapter 1.