Begin!
~Normal POV
7/25 - Tuesday
The next day Akira woke with a familiar soreness that comes from being summoned to the Velvet Room. It had something to do with how it made him restless in reality. But that was the least of his worries. As far as he knew, nothing strange was going on, so it was best to not think about it. Right now, all he wanted to focus on was preparing for the trip. (That's also why he chose not to tell Morgana what happened. He didn't want to worry his friends without proof first.) The two met up with Ryuji in Shibuya.
"Wassup!" Ryuji greeted, "Come on, we gotta hustle to the store, it's way too damn hot out."
"You know where it is, right?" Morgana asked, perching himself on Akira's shoulder.
"Uh… no- But we can ask the app." Ryuji took a moment to ask EMMA for the store's location. (With some hesitation since he was new to it.) "Ok, we got our map, let's go!"
They started walking towards the Shibuya 705 building. Along the way they discussed what kind of foods they wanted at the buffet, and where they might go first when they leave. Upon reaching the building however, their conversation was halted by the sound of a cheering crowd blocking their path.
"What the hell is going on?" Akira asked.
Ryuji looked around and spotted the source of the commotion. "Oh, Alice Hiiragi."
Akira blinked in confusion. He'd never heard the name before. "Who?"
Ryuji gave him a shocked look. "I'm surprised you haven't heard of her yet! Half the city won't shut up about her! It's kinda annoying. She's a new idol."
Akira sighed. "Ah. Say no more, I got it…"
"What's an idol?" Morgana asked, curiously.
"Simply put, a famous person involved in fashion and music, among other things. In other words, I couldn't care less." Akira answered, dryly.
"Yeah, but they're blocking the store so we don't have much choice. Might as well pretend that's why we're here," Ryuji grumbled.
From the front of the crowd a cheery woman's voice spoke through a mic. "Hi, folks! Thanks for coming!"
Alice Hiiragi was standing on a small stage at the front of the crowd. She was quite a short, cheerful-looking woman; she didn't seem to be much older than Makoto or Haru. She had long dyed light green hair, done up in curled buns, with lavender streaks in it; with wide, dark purple eyes. Akira's first impression of her however was… to wonder what the hell was she wearing?
On her head was a light blue bow with white stripes. A lavender ace of spades card was clipped over her bangs on one side. In one hair bun, she had a small white teapot stuck in it. And the other had a small capped bottle full of a turquoise liquid, and two differently colored balls attached to the bun; one yellow striped and one turquoise. She had a blue choker around her neck. Her dress was blue and white striped with a shorter front side, short puffy sleeves, and light green ruffles, a blue top layer, and a pink heart on her chest with a dark grey and white striped ribbon. She had a clock clipped to her right side with a gold chain, and on the left she had an image of the Cheshire Cat sewn into her skirt. Under the dress, she had lavender bloomers, covered in diamond and clover shapes, and a light blue big heart at the bottom on each leg, with light green leggings, and white boots with multiple colored ribbons tied on them. And to complete the ensemble, she had two blue and white striped bows on her wrists, and two more tied behind her ankles.
Akira didn't know much about the fashion business, aside from what he learned from being with Ann, but there was one thing he did know: He was so glad Ann never had to wear anything that looked like that. It looked absolutely ridiculous.
"A shop that carries one of my very own brands is opening here today!" Alice continued. "Have you ever dreamed that you could be somebody else, even if just for a little while? Well, I know a place where that dream comes to life! A wonderland where you become whatever you want to be! Now, I've got one question: Does anyone want to visit this wonderland with me?"
She paused while most of the crowd cheered excitedly in response. Akira and Ryuji shared side glances of disinterest and impatience for this to end sooner.
"Aw, thanks!" Alice chirped. "Then I have a surprise for you… I'm giving away 100 invitation cards as a special present! They're magical cards that will make you have an even better time in Wonderland!"
She went around passing cards out to the audience herself. Akira took notice of how she seemed to be favoring the males in the crowd. And the way people were reacting to this in-person interaction was honestly disgusting. They were the kind of fanboys he detested. Eventually, Alice got to where the two of them were standing in the back.
She looked Akira up and down momentarily. "Ooo, those are some quality specs!" She pointed at his glasses.
Akira kept his face impassive, despite how the look in her eyes made him quite uncomfortable.
"Sorry, that was weird!" Alice giggled. "Hope you like the store, cutie!" She winked and held out a card for him.
Akira contemplated declining the offer, but had a feeling that doing so while surrounded by her crazed fans would probably be a danger to his health. He politely took the card without a word to appease her. (He could always throw the thing away later.)
Alice went back up to her stage and finished her speech by saying. "Let the white rabbit guide you to Wonderland! Have fun there, everyone!"
~...
"Sheesh, that took forever…"
"Yeah, but we got what we came for. We just came on a bad day," Akira said, shrugging.
"Did you see what that crowd was like? What was up with that?" Morgana asked.
"Don't worry about it. They're just obnoxious fans. We've got a few of those too," Akira replied.
Morgana shuddered. "Yikes… I'm not sure I want that… Hey, that card she gave you, it's for Wonderland, right? Isn't that from some book?"
"Oh, yeah. Then you probably know all about that shit, huh, Akira?"
Akira snorted. "I hate Alice in Wonderland."
Ryuji's jaw dropped. "For real? You hate a book?"
"Just as with you and your manga, I may like reading, but that doesn't mean I like every book I've read." Akira replied, simply.
He glanced at the card he'd received. It was light blue with, as expected, a white rabbit on the front. It said, "Alice Hiiragi's Wonderland!" He should toss it before they get back to the hideout. Ann wasn't typically the jealous type, but he didn't want her making any assumptions.
"There's some fine print too." Morgana said, reading over Akira's shoulder. "It says, 'Here's my EMMA keyword. Please become my friend!'"
"...Sounds weirdly desperate…" Ryuji muttered.
"It's the hard-sell. Didn't Futaba say something about keywords yesterday?" Akira said.
Apparently, along with being a virtual assistant, EMMA was also equipped with social media functions. Such as friend lists, messaging, and other things. Unsurprisingly, Alice's friend-keyword was Wonderland.
Considering how crazy the girl's fanbase seemed, it would probably be a bad idea to simply toss the opportunity. Especially aloud. There were likely still many nearby who wouldn't take kindly to the gesture. Those kinds of fanboys are quite easily offended when you dismiss their goddess- or "celebrity." Besides, plenty of people add and follow famous people on social media, even if they've never met them personally and will never have any affiliation with them.
"Well, I'd rather not bother, but it's not like I'd actually have to do anything with her." Akira got out his phone and opened the app. "Ann might get a little annoyed, but she trusts me."
"True… Haru would have the same reaction… What was it again? Wonderland? What does that even mean-"
"Keyword successfully entered, beginning navigation."
The three barely had to register their shock at the sound of EMMA's voice before a familiar feeling of hazy, lightheadedness engulfed them…
~...
Once the feeling went away, they found themselves in the now empty street they were in previously. Except it was night time. And the Shibuya 705 building looked… different. It was the same shape but had a massive ornate crown on top of it held down by very large chains attached to other areas of the city. But the most noticeable thing about this situation was the feeling of freedom that came from donning their Phantom Thief attire.
"What the hell?!" Ryuji shouted, looking at his clothes in confusion. "How- This is impossible! I thought we destroyed the Metaverse!"
"You call this impossible?!" Morgana shouted, pointing at himself. He was back to his cartoonish, bipedal, form.
"Oh… Yeah, if Mona changed, then there's no doubt about it…"
Akira looked down at his thief suit. He had to admit, he missed it. (He even bought a similar looking trenchcoat in reality. Not that he wore it often.) But the feeling of wearing the suit again was quite welcome, even if it was also attached to one very unfortunate condition.
"This must be Alice's Palace…" Akira muttered, looking around.
Strangely, aside from the crown on the building, most of the area looked roughly the same. The surrounding buildings looked the same, the screens attached to them were unchanged. The fact that it was night time here was odd, but that was usually a thing with the Metaverse in their previous experiences. Something about this place felt different from normal Palaces…
"Hey, look…" Morgana said, pointing at a sidewalk close by.
Standing there were a trio of familiar looking boys. They'd seen boys who looked exactly like them at the store opening earlier. They were watching one of the screens on a building above them. On the screen was an image of what could only be Alice's Shadow. They could only see her head but it didn't look that different from how she looked in reality. She had pink hair with blue streaks, and very gaudy, thick, purple eyeshadow, with a light blue heart drawn on her left cheek. Instead of hair buns, she had two strangely colored eye decorations on her back. On her head was a purple queen's crown with a gold heart on top.
"Hey, everyone! You love me don't you?" She said, smiling brightly. Her three fans answered in agreement to the question. "Oh, yeah?" Alice's face shifted to a sinister grin. "Then you can give me all your Desires!"
The thieves watched in horror and confusion as Shadow-guards approached the three fans and captured them. They then magically reached into their chests and yanked out small pink diamonds that must have been their Desires in physical form.
They didn't have time to dwell on this as more Shadows approached them as well to do the same thing. And thankfully, being in the Metaverse had one major advantage over reality: They could fight here.
"Skull, I hope you haven't gotten rusty in your retirement," Akira said, smirking.
"I was about to say the same thing about you, Joker! Let's kick some ass!"
~End of Chapter
Does anyone else think Alice is kinda like Ember from Danny Phantom? They're both involved in music and want to make everyone adore them using enslavement and mind control… I can't be the only one who thought of that.
