Heart of Justice Chapter 1

The world is not as it should be.

It's filled with distortion,

and "ruin" can no longer be avoided.

Those who oppose fate and desire change...

From time to time, they were referred to as "Tricksters".

You are the Trickster.

Now is the time to rise against the abyss of distortion...


Helicopters swooped in.

Numerous cars and vans gathered about.

Their focus, a large and imposing casino, its gawdy lights illuminating the sky and the city around it.

Inside, crowds of patrons filled the billiard and craps tables, roulette wheels, and slot machines, others stood around shady dealers serving games of blackjack, but all of them caught up in an endless game driven by an insatiable hunger for the chance to win big, no matter the time or cost to see it.

Above, a figure sprung across the catwalks, shaking the hanging lights as it seemed to glide across like a seasoned acrobat, stirring some of the patrons and arousing murmurs of what it could be as some looked about in curiosity and confusion.

The front doors flew open, and the crowds parted as men in black suits stepped into the room, their faces locked in stern glares as they sought out their prey as it continued to elude their gaze.

The figure above landed on a massive chandelier, and stood up, illuminated by the light of the fixture it stood on and the moon shining through the skylight behind it, and soon the crowds below had their answer.

"Hey! Look! Up there!"

It was a girl, a teenager, with long flowing hair a silvery shade of pink with a braid on her left side tied in place with a black silken ribbon, with intense violet eyes that gazed behind the white mask framing them. She donned a peculiar costume consisting of a high-collared white dress shirt, with a purple necktie, black gloves, a black pleated skirt and leggings, and a pair of matching black thigh-high, heeled boots. Completing the look was a dark purple, open peacoat that fell down to her knees adorned with wide lapels and gold buttons.

The girl wore a neutral expression as she looked down at them, her hair and coat billowing from the fans above as she held a briefcase under her arm.

"She's here! Move in immediately!" one of the men in the suits said into his earpiece, leading the others down a nearby hallway. By the girl's deductions, she had several minutes before they'd make it upstairs and have any way of getting to her. She would need to hurry.

Turning around, she continued on her way, leaping from the chandelier to a nearby platform and out of sight from the crowds below...

"Good! Now get running!" a high, childlike voice spoke urgently into her head.

"This is our only chance!" a softer, male voice stated with identical urgency immediately after.

"Stay calm, you can get away, now!" she heard a young girl's voice say.

"We'll retrieve the briefcase on our end," a more mature female voice said. With a nod, the girl carefully lay down the briefcase down and immediately moved to the end of the end of the platform.

"Suspects not confirmed... hold your positions!" a male voice cracked through a transmission broadcast.

"What was that?" the younger female voice inquired.

"Don't worry about us, just concentrate on getting away!" the childlike voice ordered, and the girl immediately leapt across to a glass platform suspended by several chains before running across it to another hanging light fixture.

"...Buuuut I have to say, showing yourself above that crowd earlier was an excellent move!" the childlike voice congratulated in the girl's ear. "Nice work as always, Ace."

"I bet Skull wouldn't have pulled it off that smoothly," a perky female voice said with a laugh.

"Excuse me?" a crude male voice said.

"It's because you have no sense for aesthetics," a more reserved male voice replied.

"Nobody asked you, Inari!" the crude voice replied angrily.

The faintest of smiles formed on the girl's face briefly as she continued her way across, with any luck this mission would be a success and her teammates would escape with their lives.

"THERE SHE IS!" A suited man shouted, several more emerging from the doorway onto a balcony just up ahead.

"Stop right there!"

"Remember! Alive!"

"Just run! Get out of there!" the younger girl's voice cried out. Looking to the side, the pink-haired thief turned and leapt to another hanging platform and made her way across as quickly as she could, ignoring the angry shouts of her pursuers.

"Looks like the enemy's focus is on her. We can slip away, now." the childlike voice said.

"Everyone remember where we're meeting up?" a soft female voice asked.

"No worries, I can guide you all," the younger girl's voice responded.

The young thief, meanwhile, continued with her own escape, leaping across several arches and making it to a nearby balcony booth with several slot machines adorning it.

"Got her!"

"You won't get away!"

Two men in suits suddenly rushed onto the balcony and blocked the way, stopping the girl in her tracks, when suddenly, the two men began to convulse, as if in pain as they let out inhuman screams and their bodies began to shift and morph into now only vaguely humanoid figures with inky pitch-black bodies and glowing yellow eyes peering through strange metal masks. They lurched towards her in an unnatural, almost zombielike gait. The girl was about to turn when another appeared behind her, wielding a baton. The girl was surrounded.

But there was no hint of fear on her face. None of this was new to her.

"You got this! Take 'em out, Ace!" the perky female voice cheered. The girl immediately leapt forward, performing a gliding flip through the air that would normally be thought as impossible to even those who witnessed it as she landed on the third humanoid creature's back and grabbed ahold of the mask on its face. The creature howled in pain as she pulled, before ripping it clean off.

The mask vanished, and the creature's body began to... liquify, as it then exploded into a burst into a puddle of black and red smoke and ooze with a sickening splash. From the puddle rose a towering beast, its lower body an imposing upper half of a suit of armor, and where its head should have been grew the entire upper torso of a humanoid with the head of a bull, its hands gripped tight to a pair of levers on the armored suit's shoulders. The creature snarled at the girl while the other two humanoid creatures stood back and waited, as if to see if this would be enough to subdue her.

"Comparing power levels. No threat. Get 'em, Ace!" the younger girl's voice ordered.

Hardly worth it, The girl thought to herself as she dashed forward, drawing out a knife as the monster let out a ferocious roar and a blast of fire suddenly burst from the ground right where the girl had been just a brief instant ago, her speed allowing her to avoid being incinerate as she reached the creature, leaping onto its chest and plunging the dagger into its face. The beast cried out and fell backward, toppling to the ground and the girl used the momentum to roll off and onto floor, landing on her knee as the creature exploded behind her in a burst of smoke as she stood back up and sheathed her blade.

"More of them?! Be careful, Ace!" the younger girl's voice cried out.

The thief turned and saw the other humanoid creatures, seeing her emerge victorious, rushing at her, several more arriving on the balcony behind them. One dashed forward swinging an electrified baton at her but the girl expertly weaved out of the way before backflipping on to a column and up to a higher balcony. She scowled. Weaklings or not there were too many of them and not enough time. Escape was the only option.

"Ace! Quick! Through the door behind you!" the younger girl's voice ordered. Sure enough, a doorway leading to a set of stairs waited behind her. Without a word, the pink-haired thief made a dash for it.

The stairs lead to a dimly-lit passage, obviously one that'd be off-limits to patrons, cages kept access away from large pipes, the halls ahead quite possibly offering her only way out.

"You should be able to get out that way! Hurry!" the younger girl's voice commanded.

"Dude, can she even hear us?" the crude boy's voice inquired.

"Don't worry! I'm picking up everyone's voices!" the younger girl assured. "Now get going, Ace!" she ordered.

Before the pink-haired girl could continue however, the younger girl's voice stopped her in her tracks.

"What the...? Ace! I'm picking up a weird reading heading your way! C'mon, run!"

She wasn't sure whether it'd be good or bad but her experiences throughout her life had always told her to prepare for the worst. The young thief immediately rushed down the hall and pushed open the door ahead, leading her down another set of stairs that led her further in to the back rooms behind the casino's more extravagant areas.

"-Tch!- We got away from those guys in the black suits," the crude boy's voice said in her ear as she continued to make her way through the halls. "...But there's still loads more of 'em."

"We still haven't confirmed the intruder's location!"

The thief stopped in her tracks, ducking behind the corner and peering to the side at a nearby window, where another agent was looking around in a neighboring hallway.

"Where'd they go, damnit?!"

Waiting until the man continued his search further down the hall, the girl slipped by unnoticed.

"Wait, stop!" the younger girl's voice cut in suddenly. "Hide quickly!"

The thief paused and ducked behind a nearby crate when she saw an agent facing away from her at the foot of the stairs up ahead. She'd never escape if she fought every one of them, but it'd do no good just keep waiting here, either. She noticed several large crates stood between her and the agent at the stairs.

Hm...

In almost a blur, the girl darted from one crate to the next, and soon she was right near where the agent was standing, though his back remained turned to her as he did not appear to notice.

"Hey, you sure she came this way?" the agent asked into his earpiece.

The girl remained silent, unmoving from her spot as the man stood there a moment, listening to whatever was being told to him.

"Understood. I will continue the search," he finally said, running down the hall, unaware he'd gone right past the person he'd been looking for.

"All clear! Make a run for it, now!" the younger girl's voice spoke again in the thief's ear, and she promptly rushed for the stairs.

...Another agent stood at the end of the hall, forcing her to hide once again.

"Everything okay?" the softer male voice asked. "Security level will only rise if you take too long," he warned.

"Hang on, let me find another route!" the younger girl's voice replied. "Oh! Ace! Look up!"

The thief complied, and sure enough there was a catwalk above. The agent had his back turned, it was now or never...

Reaching into her coat, the young thief pulled out a small device and aimed it at the catwalk's guardrails, firing a long cord that wrapped around them and reeled herself up, flipping over it and landing expertly on her feet in a crouched position. Turning right, she saw the bridge lead to a hallway with another set of stairs at the end. Taking a breath, she ran fast as she could into the hallway towards the stairs.

"Ace! Stop! Enemies! All around you!" the young girl's voice shouted. As if on cue, bursts of smoke exploded all around the young thief, and from them inky-black humanoids in suits and masks like those she'd run into earlier appeared. Leering angrily at the pink-haired intruder, the creatures began to advance on her, trapping her in a circle before she could make a move.

Damn! Too many of them! She thought to herself as she coldly stared them down in defiance. She knew wouldn't be able to slip past them and fighting them all at once would be out of the question, now...

"Ace! That weird reading! It's closing in on you!" the young girl suddenly shouted.

The thief's gaze flickered to the doorway up ahead. At the stairs, a lone figure began to advance, the monstrous beings surrounding the thief, however, did not seem to notice right away. Stepping into the light, the figure revealed herself to be a girl about the thief's age, donning a black leotard and black heels over thigh-length stockings, with red gloves and a silver belt with a roselike buckle on the side. Completing her look was a long black bolero coat with ruffled sleeves, and her vibrant red hair tied in a ponytail with a ribbon. Her face was hidden behind a black eyemask.

"I'll end this right now..." she said softly as she continued to advance, unsheathing a rapier from her belt and pointing it at the creatures, who now granted her their full attention.

The thief let a faint smile come to her face.

So she found her way here? Impressive.

The younger girl's voice began ranting in her ear about the costumed girl being the weird reading, and the new arrival had already sprung into action as the creatures moved to engage her.

With a swing of her arm, the redhead flung her blade into the chest of one of the creatures, causing it to collapse to the ground. The others, enraged, immediately rushed at her. The girl suddenly, with all the skill of an Olympic gymnast, cartwheeled out of the way of the first one's attack, before jumping backward into a flip to avoid the next, a rifle appearing in her hand as she spun around and shot it in the chest, then leaped into the air as she took aim to fire once more, tagging another in the face and landing on one knee. The girl had handled herself well the last time they'd been in such a situation, and it was evident she'd improved significantly since then. With that being the case, the odds had shifted significantly into the young thief's favor.

"My weak self relied on you so much..." she said, approaching the pink-haired thief as the creatures around them begun to twist and contort, their forms shifting into far more monstrous ones while the other girl came to her side. "...That ends today!"

Taking up her sword from the collapsed humanoid and watching it burst apart in a cloud of black smoke, the girl turned and took a fighting stance alongside the thief. "Let's do this, senpai!"

Before them, the transformed monsters had become a pair of cheetah-like humanoids and a huge red eagle-like creature. With a terrible shriek, the latter swung its wings and a powerful gust of wind flew at them, both girls however leaped aside and dodged the mini-cyclone as it billowed past them.

"It's been a while since we last fought side-by-side," the redhead said with a confident smile as she got back into her stance, their enemies began to advance. "...but this time, it's my turn to come to your aid, senpai! Let's win this! PERSONA!"

Grabbing the end of her mask, blue flames burst from the redhead and rose above her to form a humanoid figure with a luminescent body seemingly made of blue glass. "Vorpal Blade!" on the girl's command, the entity raised its arms up and the enemies were suddenly struck multiple times as if by invisible blades, knocking them all to their knees. Perfect.

As if on synch, the two girls promptly leapt into the air, weapons drawn, and struck the fallen creatures in a blur of motion, silencing them for good as they crumbled apart in bursts of black smoke. The pink-haired girl stood back up and adjusted her gloves while the redhead did a graceful spin with her landing after the job was done.

"Impressive," the thief said. Her tone was soft and almost neutral, but the redhead could certainly tell the praise was there.

"Thank you. I think that's the last of them?" the redhead inquired.

"I have no clue what happened but I take it you're okay?" the young girl's voice asked in confusion in the thief's ear. A second later, however, she spoke up again, but far more panicked. "Wait! Bad news! Enemy backup heading your way! Book it! Now!"

The redhead glanced at the doorway ahead and looked back at the thief. "Please go. I'll keep them busy. You still have something to do as a phantom thief, right?" she asked with a smile.

The young thief gave a solemn nod. "I do."

"Then I won't stop you," the redhead replied. "I'm not exactly a member of the Phantom Thieves, so it's not my place to interfere,"

The redhead looked ready to say something else, but stopped herself. The pink-haired thief blinked in curiosity, but got no response as the redhead leapt high into the air and landed in the rafters on a duct pipe.

"However..," the redheaded girl stated as she looked back down at her. "Please don't forget the promise we made, okay?"

She didn't wait for a response as she leapt away once more and was gone from sight.

"Ace! Get going! Go, go, go, now!" the young girl's voice shouted into the thief's head before she could say or do anything else. "Up the stairs and you're practically home free! GO!"

The thief nodded and immediately made a dash for the stairs. Continuing down the halls and sneaking past a security office, the girl could hear the faint voices within barking orders to find her and the others. She continued running, coming to a stop at the stairs as several agents ran by and immediately ran up. An agent, spotting her, called the others and the chase was on.

Moments later, the thief burst through a staff door and found herself on a balcony overlooking a vast dining area.

"Ace? Is something wrong? The exit should be just up ahead!" the young girl's voice inquired.

"All the commotion and now the bottom floor's just closed off," the more mature female voice remarked.

"Hey, you think you can make it?" the younger voice asked.

"Freeze!" an agent shouted from down the hall. The thief turned, and the man wasn't alone, several agents stood there, guns all drawn and pointed at her. "There's no where to run!"

The thief did not respond. Surveying the room, the windows caught her attention and an idea formed. Pulling herself onto the guardrail of the balcony and dashing across it to the other side, leaving the agents staring agape as she reached a large stainglass window.

"Farewell," the thief said with a chilly smile as she then leaped backwards, smashing through the window behind her. Spinning through the air with a graceful twirl, flowing pink hair billowing all around her, the thief landed unharmed on the darkened street and rolled onto her knee.

She barely had the chance to stand when dozens of lights cut on all around her.

"The enemy's here?!" the young girl's voice cried out.

"How did this happen?!" the mature girl's voice shouted.

Dozens, at least fifty or more by her count, policemen, all heavily armed stood around her guns drawn.

"An ambush?! Ace! Can you get away?!" the childlike voice asked in a panic.

"Capture her! Now!" the leader of the squad shouted.

Immediately the thief fled as the police rushed at her. Finding a nearby fire escape she made a dash for it and began to scale it, the police gathering around at the bottom as she continued her ascent...

...Right into a group of cops in riot gear standing on the ledge where the ladder led to. Before the thief could react, one raised his gun and slammed it right into the girl's face, causing her to fall to the ground below.

"Don't struggle!" one cop snarled, pinning her to the ground before she could get up.

The crowd parted as the head inspector approached, gazing down at her with a dangerous grin on his face. "Didn't expect to find some kid," he sneered. "You have your teammate to thank for this..."

The man grabbed the girl by the back of her head and pulled it up roughly. The girl winced in pain from the tug of her hair being pulled so hard as the man leaned closer, his spiteful smile spreading.

"You were sold out."

Shoving the girl's face into the ground, he got up and began to walk away. "Cuff her."


The girl, now in her school uniform, endured the degrading frisking. The mugshots. All of it. Her icy glare was unwavering the entire time.

"Defiant little bitch arent'cha?" The inspector growled as she was once more cuffed and brought out of mugshots and down the halls into an isolated interrogation room. "We're gonna be havin' a little "chat" in here, and I'd pick and choose your words carefully if I were you... wouldn't want to end up in the hospital before your court date, right?"

"Don't I get a lawyer?" the girl asked coldly, glaring back at the man. The man let out a dark chuckle.

"Oh, sorry, did I hear ya right? You're asking for a time-out?" the inspector answered, smirking dangerously. Before the girl could respond the inspector swung his fist into her stomach, winding her. Collapsing to her knees and choking for breath, the inspector chuckled darkly as he grinned down at her. "Get the truth serum. We're gonna make sure this brat cooperates."

The girl heard footsteps come behind her, but was still struggling to catch her breath that she could not manage any resistance as her arm was forcibly grabbed and a painful pinch was felt as whoever had come up behind her injected something into her, and everything started going black.

"Was that too much, sir?" another voice, presumably the other man's, asked.

"Does it matter? She'll survive," the inspector responded, grinning smugly down at the girl as his voice began to fade and her eyelids grew heavier.


The girl was awakened with a sudden splash of icy water. Shaking her head off, she felt groggy, barely able to think straight as she looked around. Two men stood behind the inspector, who looked down at her with a cruel sneer fixed on his face.

"No dozing off," the inspector said.

The girl felt her hands, she was still cuffed, seated in a chair. She struggled a little, gritting her teeth as the cuff's metal dug hard against the skin she concealed under her gloves. The inspector chuckled.

"You still don't get it, do you?" the inspector said as he approached. "I'm not gonna go easy on you because you're a girl... So GIVE IT UP!" he shouted, raising his leg and kicking the girl hard in the stomach, knocking the chair back and causing her to fall to the ground.

Sprawled out on the floor, the girl struggled again, the pain on her hands unbearable when she landed on them after the fall before the chair tipped to its side, leaving her helpless on the ground. The inspector let out a laugh.

"Aw, c'mon!" he said as he walked over, before digging the heel of his foot into the side of the girl's head. "Just cooperate, or ya want another shot?"

"Ever hear of... Criminal Procedure Code, Article 319...?" the girl asked, still struggling to regain her breath.

"What was that?" the inspector asked, moving his foot and leaning closer.

"Any... forced confession... acquired through intimidation or torture... is inadmissible," the girl hissed, her gaze falling on the camera in the corner of the room. She looked up at him with a cold, defiant glare despite her pain and grogginess. "...Or are you... that incompetent?"

The two other men looked concerned. Not for themselves, but for the girl as the inspector looked absolutely livid from the insult as he abruptly grabbed the girl by the hair and slammed his fist into her stomach.

"Shut your mouth, you little brat!" he shouted, storming behind her and stomping his foot on one of her hands, causing her to scream out in pain, only for it to quickly turn into a coughing fit after the earlier haymaker she'd received.

"I saw why you wear these. Can only imagine how much this stings right now," the inspector said with a chuckle as his gaze fell on the camera as well. "Oh, what about the camera? Were you thinking that'll be used as video evidence?"

The girl couldn't respond, the abuse she'd already been put through had winded her too badly and she could feel things start to blur again.

"ANSWER THE DAMN QUESTION!" the inspector snarled, grinding his foot into her hand. The girl struggled to cry out again but there was no wind in her lungs. "...That's what I thought," the inspector replied with a scowl as he moved his foot and walked over to one of the men, who took out and handed him a clipboard which he took.

"Obstruction of justice, blackmail, defamation, possession of weapons," the inspector looked back at her with a condescending smirk. "Manslaughter, too, huh? Talk about the works! To think a little brat like you could have been behind all of those."

His smirk spread dangerously. "And you seemed to be enjoying every second of it."

The girl shook her head as her mind suddenly became groggy again. The pain probably the only thing keeping her awake, now. She struggled to think, thinking was something she did a lot of in her life, but the thoughts just suddenly stopped coming to her, all fading in a jumbled haze.

"I... was... enjoying it...?" she stammered aloud, any coherence she'd had earlier lost at the moment.

"You should know your place," the inspector warned as the two men that had accompanied him came over and unlocked the girl's handcuffs and sat her up. Quickly, the girl adjusted her gloves, as if it were an instinct of hers she'd long since developed. Right as she did, the inspector shoved the clipboard in front of her, a pen in his other hand. "Sign here. It's a confession under your name."

The girl took several breaths, her thoughts briefly coming back to her as she looked down at the blatant lies scribbled on the so-called confession and coldly swatted it away.

The inspector chuckled darkly. "I see. I was hoping it'd go this way after that little crack you made earlier," he said, his tone dangerous and threatening. "I may need what's left of your hands to sign it. That said...!" He immediately slammed his foot down on the girl's leg, causing her to cry out in pain. "I don't care if you end up losing a leg!" he explained, his eyes widened with tranquil rage. "Now SIGN IT!"

The inspector dropped the clipboard on the girl's lap and held out the pen to her. "Don't think you're getting out of here in one piece, kid," he snarled, his glare implying he was more then certain he could kill her here and now and it wouldn't make a difference to him.

The girl quietly accepted the pen and picked up the clipboard. Everything written on it was a lie, but continuing to defy him would only make things worse... her head throbbed as she tried to think her body ached with pain that it hurt to move her arm and hold the pen as she signed her name.

Kyoko Kirigiri

Looking over the name as he snatched the clipboard away, the inspector laughed as he returned it to his associate. "Kirigiri? The grand-daughter of the esteemed detective? Daughter of some private school's headmaster? Too bad for you, you didn't go there, might'a learned to behave yourself!" The inspector got in her face, his sneer spreading into a deadly grimace as he cracked his knuckles. "...Because trust me... much as I wish they could be here to see what their family name's come to, it's not worth a thing, here..." He grabbed the girl's chin and pushed her head up so he could look her in the eyes. "...We are going to make you understand: One must take full responsibility for their actions..."


What were they thinking?! Did they expect to just steal this case from me after all the time and effort I've put into it?! We'll see about that...

A tall, dark-suited young woman in her mid-twenties stormed down the hallway as she headed towards the interrogation room door, where a guard and a detective waited.

"Excuse me, but this area's off-" one of the detectives started.

"I'm Niijima, from the Public Prosecutor's Office," the woman said, her tone firm and professional. The detective, however, did not seem threatened or impressed.

"The Prosecutor's office?" he asked. "What business do you have here?"

"Just let me through," the woman called Niijima replied sternly. "...It's urgent. There's something I need to confirm with the suspect."

The detective scoffed. "Niijima-san? I believe this case is no longer in your jurisdiction," he responded. "Besides..."

Another, older detective came up behind the woman, looking at her disapprovingly. "Are you Prosecutor Sae Niijima?" he asked, his tone dripping with annoyance. "I just got off the phone with your director. Hurry and get it over with. To be frank, you're being an inconvenience..."

Before the woman could respond, her phone hummed in her pocket. Taking it out and looking at the name on the screen, she switched it on and held it up to her ear. An older man's voice sighed in irritation on the other end.

"I thought I ordered you to stand by," the man's voice grumbled into her ear.

"I'm responsible for this case, yet I'm not even allowed an interrogation!?" Niijima snapped, her patience wearing thin.

"I'm calling because I knew you'd bring it up," the man on the other end responded flatly.

The woman shook her head. "I will not be convinced unless I confirm it for myself! This is MY case!" She could hear the old man sigh again.

"Good luck to you, then," he responded. "I won't be expecting much, though."

Hearing him hang up, the prosecutor pocketed her phone as the older detective spoke up again.

"Ah, Prosecutor. I forgot to mention something important," he explained. "Your time will be cut short. We can't permit you to talk with her long. For your own sake."

Niijima sighed in annoyance.

"The young lady seated in that room may not look dangerous, but with the charges she's managed to rack up, as well as the fact that her methods are completely unknown to us, we can't even been entirely sure it's safe to speak with her... Who can say what she's capable of?"

The prosecutor nodded. "I understand..."

Without another word, Niijima turned and opened the door and stepped inside, ignoring the detectives' murmurs of disappointment they could not change her mind about this.

Needless to say, the woman was rather shocked to discover the familiar face seated in the interrogation room. Of all people... she thought.

"I didn't expect it'd be you," she stated, sitting herself down across from the pink-haired girl. Folding her arms, the older woman gave a stern look. "You'll be answering my questions this time..."

Looking at her, the prosecutor noticed the bruises on the girl's face, her strained breathing, the way she seemed like she could barely sit straight, and the way she seemed to be nursing her left hand despite it being covered with a glove. A far cry from the stoic, composed young lady she'd seen last they met. My god... she thought to herself. She's just a kid! Why does she look so...

Her answer came when she noticed a discarded syringe on the floor nearby. Truth serum, if her deduction was correct. Likely too much...

"Those bastards..." Niijima muttered, shaking her head in disgust before looking back at the girl before her.

"Can you hear me? It seems like you've been through a lot," she said, leaning in to get a better look at the girl's face. She seemed to be struggling hard to keep herself coherent. "You know, almost anything can happen in here, and I can't stop them," she warned.

The girl looked up at her, still nursing her left hand with her right but saying nothing.

"...That's why I need you to answer me honestly. I don't have a lot of time," the prosecutor explained, folding her arms again and her stern gaze returning. "What was your objective? Why did you cause such a major incident?" she shook her head. "I didn't think it was a prank from the get-go, but I couldn't assemble a case for prosecution."

The girl remained silent, her gaze falling on to the surface of the desk separating the two of them as she listened to the older woman talk.

"It's because I couldn't figure out the methods behind it...," the prosecutor explained, pausing to give the girl a chance to answer.

Dead silence passed for a moment, the girl finally, slowly looked up, her violet eyes meeting the woman's crimson gaze with a gaze of her own, an impassive frown on her face that seemed to be somewhat forced, likely, Niijima gathered, from the girl's struggle to keep her thoughts straight from the drugs those men pumped into her system.

"...You expect me to tell you?" she asked, nursing her hand, still. "It's unlikely you could."

The prosecutor scoffed. "True. I couldn't be convinced that such a "world" exists simply from these reports." she gave a sigh of relief. "At least you seem to be coherent again, so let's begin..." Her expression hardened again. "...When and where did you first find out about that "world"? How is it possible to steal another's heart? Now, tell me your account of everything from the beginning..."

Kyoko brushed back her messy hair and folded her arms as she allowed herself a moment to gather her thoughts again. Even with her intellect and deductive skills, the overdose and the abuse she'd endured from the inspector and his goons were proving formidable now to the point she was feeling dizzy just sitting up straight. What she did know, however right off the top of her head, was that there was so much to tell between then and now.

"...You are held captive," a soft voice spoke in her mind. Kyoko looked around, noticing the interrogation room, the prosecutor, and everything else seemed to have vanished, leaving her alone in pitch blackness, illuminated only by the silvery butterfly that fluttered around her.

"...A prisoner of fate, to a future that has been sealed in advance," the voice continued. "This is truly an unjust game... Your chances of winning are almost none. But if my voice is reaching you, there may yet be a possibility open to you..."

The butterfly fluttered before her, glowing ever brighter as light shimmered from its body.

"I beg you, please overcome this game! Save this world!" the voice urged. "The key to victory lies within the memories of your bonds-the truth that you and your friends grasped..."

The butterfly began to drift away from her, the voice growing more and more distant with it as the light grew brighter

"It all began on that day, when the game was started half a year ago..."

"For the sake of your world's future, as well as your own, you must remember!"

As reality began to return to her, so, too, did her memories of those past months when her life was changed forever...