It is I!

Once again, I've returned to update this story with the second part of the Prologue! And naturally, this means we'll be meeting potential future victims and murderers, mwahahaha! Now, one thing I want to address is that the order of introductions may be a bit different compared to the older version of Despair's Shopping Center.

In addition, I'm going to be experimenting a little with this chapter and chapters after this one. Specifically, there will be moments here and there where the story is in the point of view of another character other than our main protagonist, Kai. I've done it before in the older version of Despair's Shopping Center, but I decided to take the opportunity to expand on this concept more in this rewritten version.

With all that said, I'll stop talking here so you can get on to reading. There will be more Author's Notes at the end of the chapter so be sure to read those, too.

Prologue - Despair Behind Closed Doors II:

"Silence. An atmosphere fitting for a bookstore..."

A young woman narrated quietly to herself as she walked down an empty aisle, gazing at the dozens of books lining the sturdy, wooden shelves on her right. "Shoppers would usually keep their voices low, so those who loved to read novels galore could enjoy their stories in peace..." She paused when her eyes caught a glimpse of a personal favorite book resting on the top shelf. She reached up for it, but lowered her hand and decided against picking it up now. She would come back for it later, however.

"However, this silence was not due to the respect and courtesy of shoppers, but due to the puzzling lack of patrons. The gorgeous female detective, Emica Ogasawara herself, mysteriously awoke in this bookstore tied uncomfortably to a chair. After freeing herself from her bounds, she had aimed to find eager book fanatics, but alas to no avail."

Emica came to a stop in the middle of the shop. "Logically, she has come to the conclusion that the shop was completely deserted."

From a few aisles away, she could hear a soft, muffled groan.

"Well, almost completely deserted." She corrected herself.

Emica followed the sound to find a young man securely tied to a wooden chair. His arms were tied to his back, and a strip of silver duct tape sealed his mouth shut. What truly struck her as odd, however, was the ridiculous costume the boy was wearing. It was as if he had stepped out of a comic book convention.

What was even more odd was that he didn't seem remotely phased by his current predicament. He simply stared at her, calm and composed as if nothing was out of the ordinary.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" Emica asked as she approached him. "It appears that the beautiful ace detective has discovered what seems to be a cosplayer lost in the bookstore. He has found himself in a situation rather familiar to her, too. How unfortunate."

The boy's brow furrowed. He tried to speak, but the duct tape muffled his words into an incoherent mess.

"Hm, pardon? I'm afraid I didn't quite catch that." Emica giggled, reaching for the duct tape. With one quick swipe the tape was ripped clean off, earning a yelp from him.

"Ouch! Who are you to call me, the Phantom Kitsune, a mere cosplayer? Oh, your words wound me so!" The boy pouted, faking tears.

Emica's lips curled into a grin as she processed what he had said. "Oh? Did my ears deceive me or did you just say you were the Phantom Kitsune?"

"In the flesh, darling." He nodded with a wink.

Emica's grin only grew wider as she cupped her chin. "Well, I suppose that does explain the ugly costume, hm?"

"U-Ugly?!" The boy's playful expression faltered and turned sour. "Well, I'll have you know that this is my Sunday best!"

Emica laughed. She was having fun with this exchange. She leaned forward, arms behind her back. "So, if you are the Phantom Kitsune, that must mean you are Noritaka Fukuyo, yes?"

Noritaka's flustered expression vanished, and once again he reclaimed a calm, maybe even cocky, composure. "You should know just how priveleged you should be feeling right now, to be standing in the presence of the Super High School Level Thief himself. Yes, I am Noritaka Fukuyo, but I am better known as, drumroll please, the Phantom Kitsune!"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"...I would...um...flaunt my magnificence, but as you can see I am a bit...strung up at the moment..."

Noritaka Fukuyo

Super High School Level Thief

Although he was currently seated, Emica could tell that Noritaka was around the same height as her. He was slender, yet he had a fair amount of muscle mass to his physique. It wasn't hard for her to identify an aura of mischief, but she couldn't deny just how hard it was to look from him. His light, peach-colored skin was complimented by his rounded face and dimpled cheeks. Sharp, emerald eyes glinted mischievously behind a face mask, and his light blue hair was well kept with most pulled back into a ponytail.

For his supposed "Sunday best", his outfit was a lot for the detective to take it. He wore a violet, short-sleeved shirt over a red vest. Over both of which he had on a dark purple waist coat with elbow-length sleeves with ends reaching down past his ankles. His lavender jeans were held up with a brown leather belt and fuschia boots were secured comfortably with silver buckles. True to namesake as the Phantom Kitsune, Noritaka wore a headband with two furry, fox-like ears that poked through his hair. Slung over his shoulder was a satchel. To complete the look was a long, grand cape that draped over the back of the chair and was flooding over the floor.

"Very well." Emica nodded, peering into the distance. "The young detective now knew that the mysterious figure before her was the nefarious Phantom Kitsune himself. Despite his infamous reputation, she could not help but feel fascinated in what felt like a once-in-a-lifetime encounter with one of the greatest thieves in history."

"Yes, yes, you flatter me all to well, nee hee hee!" Noritaka snickered. "Now, if I may, what would your name be?"

Emica snapped back into focus. "Hm, the young boy asked me for my name. I did just as he asked, as there was no reason to deny him. I am Emica Ogasawara. You may call me the Super High School Level Police Dick."

Noritaka snorted. He looked ready to burst into laughter at any moment. "Super High School Level P-Police Dick?"

"Well, I am officially refered to as the Super High School Level Police Detective. However, I prefer Super High School Level Police Dick. It has more of a...Sherlock aesthetic to it, yes?"

Emica Ogasawara

Super High School Level Police Detective

Noritaka could tell from a single-second glance that Emica was a very attractive woman. She had a fair complexion dotted heavily with freckles. Bright blue eyes shined like diamonds in the light and contrasted beautifully with her radiant, shoulder-length scarlet hair. Noritaka could also notice that she possessed a rather large...chest. It's not that he was staring, of course! Yeah, he definitely wasn't staring. He just happened to catch a glimpse, is all! Yeah...moving on...

Emica wore a black button-up dressed that stopped just above her knees. The dress had bright red buttons and sleeves, as well as a breast pocket that held a magnifying glass. To add onto the black attire, she also wore black high heels and a pair of black leather gloves, the fingertips of such were covered in a white powder. A black bracelet was clasped around her right wrist. Both ears were pierced, with two small teardrop-shaped earrings that were also black. Goodness, that's a lot of black, am I right?

"Well, now. I've had the honor of encounting loooooads of cops, but never one with the title of...pfff..." Noritaka held in another laugh. It was becoming harder for the thief to contain his laughter. "...Super High School Level Police Dick. Well, Miss Dick, do you think you'll have me locked away behind bars?"

Emica smirked. "Well, it should be too hard. I did find the supposed untouchable Phantom Kitsune tied up right in front of me, haven't I? All there's left to do is carry you right into a jail cell, no?"

Noritaka's cockiness didn't seem to fade. In fact, he looked more proud than ever. "Ah, you do have a fair point. Although, as much I would love to stay and chat with you as you do carry me off..."

Noritaka stood up, the ropes falling to the floor at his feet.

"I've got to go before you get a little too handsy with the merchandise. Toodles!"

"Wait, what?!"

Before Emica could react properly, a dozen small pellets hit the ground and exploded into a thick cloud of smoke. She was thrown into a coughing fit as the smokescreen surrounded her, obscuring her vision. She tried her hardest to fan away the haze, but it was not an easy task as the smoke swallowed her up.

Eventually, the smoke did clear, but by the time it did Noritaka had vanished. Emica was, once again, alone.

"Hmph." She pouted and crossed her arms. "It appears I've made a critical error in underestimating the Phantom Kitsune. They are quite the slippery character, but this shall be the one and only time they manage to outwit me. For now, I will bide my time and plan a way to capture him."

"Wow, Hope's Peak Shopping Center..." Kenji clapped his hands together excitedly. "A shopping district as magnificent as the prestigous high school that's funding it! We haven't even seen everything, and I'm already getting an article ready!"

Kai rolled his eyes. He really wanted to get away from this impromptu traveling companion. He wasn't one to judge, but the journalist's enthusiasm was starting to become frustrating.

Unfortunately, he couldn't just walk away. Kenji would follow, and he'd be back at square one. Not to mention the fact he didn't even know where an exit door was.

The only possible solution he had was to drown out Kenji's rambling with his thoughts. He found it much more bearable to hear himself think than Kenji going on and on about the Hope's Peak students that were coming to attend the grand opening. Good for them.

But that did beg the question.

"Where is everyone?"

Walking down the long corridor with Kenji, Kai expected there to be eager shoppers everywhere. He saw a large crowd waiting outside the building, pushing and shoving to be the first one to breathe the mall's air, which is why it was so confusing to find the hallways completely empty. He thought back to the voice from the pawn shop. "We just needed some time to get a few things in working order."

"What does this all mean?" He did not have an answer, and it was worrying him.

"Hello? Earth to Kai?"

Kai snapped out of his thoughts to see Kenji waving his hand in front of his face. They were stopped in front of a sporting goods store.

"Hey, you looked lost in space for a moment there. You good?"

"No. No I am not."

Kai scribbled down a response. "Am I the only one here who is even mildly worried about what is going on? We wake up trapped inside a pawn, then there is a disembodied voice talking to us like this is some form of game, and there is no one here but us. You, especially, should know that there was a large crowd of hundreds if not thousands at the mall's grand opening. That many people do not just disappear without a trace naturally."

Kenji bit his lip once he finished reading. "You're really that concerned, huh?"

Kai nodded without hesitation.

"Alright, I know that is a little strange..." Kenji paused, running his hands through his hair. "Okay, yeah. That definitely is strange, but standing around here and asking questions we don't have answers to is not going to get us anywhere. Believe me, I'm just as worried, and I want to know what's going on, too."

"That's a little hard to believe." Kai grimaced/

Kenji pinched the bridge of his nose. "Okay, sure. I know I'm not vocal about my suspicions, but as I said it won't help the situation to just worry all the time. I'm also so excited to finally walk these halls and marvel about all of this. We need to find someone or something that could give us clues before we can really know what's going on. Okay?"

Kai nodded after a long pause.

Kenji's expression softened. "Thank you. Come on, let's keep moving. There's gotta be someone around here that could give us some help..."

THUD!

Almost as if on cue, the door behind them budged, knocking against the door frame. Kenji let out a rather high-pitched squeak, nearly leaping out of his skin as someone appeared on the other side of the glass door.

"H-Hello?" A boy called out, clearly distressed. He calmed a little once he saw Kai and Kenji. "Ah, h-hey! Can you help a guy out, please?"

"What happened to you?" Kenji asked. "How did you get in there?"

"I-I don't know! I woke up here not too long ago, but when I tried to leave the door was locked. I don't want to break the glass, though, and you shouldn't either! Just help me out! Please?" The boy stammed, clearly in a panic.

Kenji looked over to Kai, scratching his head. "I'm not sure what to do. The door is electronically locked, and neither of us have a key card to unlock it. The only solution I've got is...well..."

"You better not!"

"Uwah?!" Kenji jumped.

"Huh?" Shun turned around.

Kai perked up, and then he saw it. A monitor, just like the one in the pawn shop, had turned on. Just like the last one, it was filled with static, hiding the smiliar silhouette he had seen before.

"You really don't seem to follow basic directions, do you?" The voice grunted. "If you really wanted to let this kid out, you could have just asked!"

"Well, can we have this door unlocked?" Kenji asked slowly.

"I don't know. CAN you?"

Kenji sighed and grit his teeth. "MAY we have this door unlocked?"

"Gladly! Just let me find the right button, and..." The lock clicked. "Open says me!"

The door opened, and the boy quickly ran out. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" He was now shaking Kenji's hand energetically.

"Hey, aren't you forgetting something?"

"Eh?"

"I unlocked the door, the least you could do is thank me."

"Thank you?" Kenji looked puzzled.

"You're welcome!"

"Wait, no that's not what I meant-"

Too late. The voice had stopped talking, and the monitor had turned off.

"Okay, can someone please tell me what is going on?!"

"Who...who was that?"

"No clue." Kenji replied. "Whoever it is, they really don't like me..."

"Probably for good reason." Kai looked over at Kenji.

Kenji looked back with a glare. "Now what is THAT supposed to mean?"

"H-Hey, come on, let's not get heated!" The boy quickly put himself between the two. "Shouldn't we be introducing ourselves instead of fighting, anyway?"

Kenji held his glare for a few more seconds before putting back on a smile. "I'm Kenji Yonezawa, Super High School Level Journalist, at your service!"

The new face grinned. "I'm Shun Tetsudai! I'm the star libero for my high school volleyball team! Oh, and the Super High School Level Libero, cuz that might be relevant to our situation."

Shun Tetsudai

Super High School Level Libero

Shun was noticeably shorter than Kai, but he made up for it with a light, muscular build. Though with his short stature and rounded face, he looked more like a child than a high school student, let alone one with the title of a Super High School Level Libero. His light, tanned complexion was complimented with two bright, orange eyes. His short, brown hair had two faint blue streaks across it, and it was styled in a ducktail fashion.

He wore a plain white tee shirt above a black, long-sleeved undershirt. Blue and orange arrows crossed over each other across the front of the shirt. He also wore a pair of black athletic shorts over matching sports tights and orange running shoes. There were also a few bandages around his fingers, and a single one across the bridge of his nose.

"No way..." Kenji's eyes widened. "You can't be serious right now...I'm talking to THE Shun Tetsudai! Oh, you have no idea how much I've been wanting to meet the greatest volleyball star in all of Japan!" He was glowing, beaming like a kid locked in a candy shop.

"Ah...hahaha..." Shun scratched his cheek, glowing pink. "Ah, stop. You're making me blush..."

"You have got to let me have an interview later! There's so much that I want to ask you!" He was visibly gushing.

"Oh, of course! I'd love to answer your questions later!"

"That's great! I'm looking forward to it, so much!" The journalist looked ready to burst from excitement. It made Kai uneasy.

Shun turned and faced Kai. "Nice to meet you, too! What's your name?"

"Kai Shiguro. No talent."

"No talent?" Shun looked surprised. "You look the part of one, though?"

"Kai told me he hasn't been personally scouted by Hope's Peak." Kenji interrupted. "But he's said that people have called him the Super High School Level Mime Artist before, so I'm going to call him that as well."

"Oh, is that the case? Well, I'll do that, too!" Shun smiled. "I'm sure that Hope's Peak would scout you soon! I've heard good things about you from players on my team, really good things!"

Kai gulped, his pale face lighting up a bit. He need to change the topic, and fast. "Anyway, we were going to look around some more. Right, Kenji?"

"Oh, right. We still don't know why we're here. Is that what you mean?"

Kai nodded.

"Urgh." Kenji groaned, tugging at his collar. "We should really get to that, right?"

"D'you need any help?" Shun offered. "I think I can help you guys out. I've got plenty of special skills! Mostly dodging, receiving, avoiding bullies, not faceplanting, not bumping into people, choosing the right types of bandaids…" Shun kept going, counting more miscellaneous skills on his bandaged fingers.

"Yeah, of course!" Kenji grinned and gave a thumbs up. "Come on, let's get moving!"

"Upupupu..." Came a low, ominous giggle.

"Everything's coming along very nicely." They commented, reaching into a small ice cooler. Pulling out a bottle of champagne, they popped the cork and poured a small glass of the bubbly drink. "And so far, no property damage OR casualties! Man, I'd hate to BEAR a loss on my paws before the game's even begun!"

After a celebratory spin in their swivel seat, the shadowy figure turned back to eye the cameras. They watched silently as Kai, Kenj and Shun disappeared from one screen and reappeared on another. They appeared to be moving towards the food court.

On another screen, they could see Noritaka lurking silently in the shadows around a jewelry shop. A few cameras over, Emica was seen strolling about, talking to no one but herself as she tried collecting clues about her capture.

"Hm..."

The figure set their wine glass by the panel in front of them. He looked into shops that still had sleeping occupants, before letting out another ominous giggle. Reaching out, they pressed a few buttons, grinning as the doors opened up with a loud click.

"Upupupu, it's time to get this party started..."

I don't have much more to say here, but I hope you enjoy this new take on the Prologue so far.

Hope you all have a good night, and I'll see you all in the next chapter! Bye bye!