Chapter Notes
~ New characters!
~ In the game, Àrsene has a skill limit. I will add others to balance with Zorro.
~ There's a drawing of mine in AO3.
~x~
Luck seems to be by my side. It's weekend and I decide to help again in the Katsukis restaurant, after learning with Professor Katsuki to create Lockpicks. I buy some medicines at the local pharmacy, both for my bruises and for the navegation. It should be like some other night, but to my astonishment, Hiroko-san takes me to a table where a tall, thin woman with brown hair stuck in a coke and makeup on her face feeds.
"Lilia-san, this is Yuuri-kun, of whom I told you before." Hiroko-san says, making me embarrassed. "Can you take a look at his bruises?"
The woman looked me up and down and hold my breath.
"Very well, we'll go soon." She says, and I feel more relieved.
Then I walk with her to her clinic, in silence.
"Who hit you?" She asks, taking me by surprise.
"Someone." I answer, with a smile on my face.
"You're still a minor. Did you complain?" She asks, looking at me.
"I can't."
"Why?"
"Because I'm a criminal." I answer with a shrug.
"You are?" She asks, frowning at me.
"Who knows?"
...
Lilia-san is actually called Lilia Baranoskaya. On the wall of his clinic, I realize several diplomas and certificates. I look around, taking advantage of the fact that she is preparing to meet me, and I feel strangely comfortable in that place.
"Come on." She calls me and I accompany her.
When I tell her I bought random medications, she gave me a hard time.
"You should not go out buying medicines like this, at random, without first visiting a doctor." I sell better medicines, so come to me whenever you need me. You're too thin for my taste, so here you take vitamins and whey powder. " She speaks, handing me a bag with the pills in question, after I pay for it. "Tell Hiroko and Toshiya to feed him well, boy."
"Thank you very much." I say, satisfied.
Suddenly, her cell phone rings and I say goodbye. But before closing the door behind me, I finish listening.
"... I do not care! I need funds for my research, you know it! Do not do this, please ..."
I take a deep breath and pull away. It's getting late and I do not want to worry the Katsukis.
~ x ~
Sunday arrives and today, I decide to ask Toshiya-san to teach me how to cook. When I go downstairs, I see him getting ready to make our breakfast.
"Toshiya-san, Ohayo." I mean, getting closer to him. "Can I help make breakfast?"
"Sure, come here." He speaks, opening a drawer and holding me a folded red cloth ... An apron?
"Eh?" I ask, surprised.
"It's yours." He says and I take it, opening it.
"Thank you very much." I say, excited.
I wear the apron, with a little difficulty. Soon, Toshiya-san teaches me where are each ingredient and utensils, and starts to prepare rice, miso soup, omelette and fried fish. "You can use the kitchen in the mornings before you go to school. As you are starting now, it's likely that your food will not go out the way I do, which has years and years of practice. " He says, and I nod. "Now, why do not you try to prepare your breakfast with what I've taught?"
"Hey, Toshiya-san." I mean, looking at the table full of ingredients. "I'll work hard here in the restaurant, in exchange for using your ingredients."
"Yuuri-kun, you do not have to." He says, seriously.
"I need to, Toshiya-san, I need to."
...
As Toshiya-san said, the food I prepared did not taste the same as his, but according to him, I did better than he expected. When Hiroko-san knew that, she screamed with happiness. And then, I see it rise on the table.
Arcade Update: The World ~ Level 02
The rest of the food I put in a pot and the soup, in a thermos. Back in my room, I open my backpack and put the pills, the Lockpicks, the bottle and the pot inside. I take my phone and activate the navigation application.
"Phichit Chulanont, Leblanc Coffee House."
"Three floors cleared, starting navigation."
~ x ~
Morgana and I advanced through the Shadows, defeating them easily. With the Lockpicks, I open the treasures and access locked doors. I get stronger and stronger, with Morgana's support.
And then I finally reach a bright door.
"Good work, Eros. Behind this room is the palace treasure." Morgana says, satisfied. "To access it, we need permission from the palace owner in the real world. You said you had something in mind."
"And I have." I say, showing him a medium rectangular paper, red, with the design of my mask, and the name Phichit Chulanont written. "This is a Calling Card, an invitation that famous thieves use to invite themselves when they intend to mug something. Usually they give it to the police or the owner of the place to be stolen."
"What a brilliant idea!" Morgana shouts excitedly. "You just have to deliver now."
"You can leave it with me."
~ x ~
It is dusk and even tired, I take the card and put it inside his book, and I leave towards the cafe, which is open. I enter, being greeted by a man with long brown hair trapped in a ponytail and green eyes.
"Welcome to Café Leblanc." He says to me, holding out a cup of coffee to a man sitting on the silver-haired counter.
"Good evening." I mean, sitting down at one of the coffee tables and putting the book on top of her. "Coffee with milk, two spoons of sugar and a cheese sandwich with ham, please."
"Immediately." Listen, I get my cell phone and my earphones, already getting ready to watch new episodes of Kaitou Kid.
"Here it is." I listen, seeing the man serve me what I asked for and notice the book on the table.
"Thank you very much." I speak, noticing that the man looks at me.
"You ... were not involved in the accident at the train station days ago?" He says, turning around.
I recognize him as the man outside the station that day, and nod.
"Oh, I was worried about I left you at the hospital, I did not have any more news, but you seem to me much better."
"Yes I am." I mean, bowing to him. "Thank you so much for taking me to the hospital and sorry for any inconvenience I may have caused."
"inconvenience?" He asks, surprised.
"Yes, inconvenience." I say, sipping his coffee, enjoying the taste of it.
Suddenly, his cell phone rings, releasing a long sigh.
"Da, da." He says, getting up. "Celestino, here's the money from my coffee."
"Thank you for your preference!" The man, named Celestino, beckons to the other, who leaves the cafe.
He then looks at me and crosses his arms.
"You're new here, are not you?" He asks, looking coldly at me.
"My name is Yuuri Kunogi. I am living with the Katsukis and transferred to Shujin school." I said, finishing the sandwich. "I found this book inside my desk and after talking to Professor Katsuki, she told me who the book was and where he lives, and I'm just here to give it back, nothing more."
"Leave the book there, which I will give it to him." Celestino says, I smile.
"Thank you very much." I mean, drinking the rest of the coffee and leaving the money on the table. "It was delicious, I'd like to learn how to make coffee like that sometime."
He raises his eyebrow at me in surprise.
"Thank you for your preference." He says, and I get out of the cafe.
~ x ~
Celestino climbs the stairs to the attic of the cafe and leaves the book on a table.
"Someone from your school came to leave it. A transfer student, who apparently sits at his desk now." Celestino Cialdini says, to the boy who is concentrated in one of the screens of his computer.
Without seeing any reaction, Celestino lets out a long sigh and descends the stairs, leaving him alone. Hours later, the boy gets up and notices the book, getting scared. He opens it and sees the red card, taking it and turning it.
"Dear Mr. Phichit Chulanont,
You are lost in the dark, not knowing which way to go. You are isolated, blind, and you can not see your hands reaching out to you, ready to help you. Do you want to continue like this? You can. The choice is entirely yours. But if you want to change, so can you. Let me steal from you this pain that haunts you every day.
If you want to change, approach the window.
Phantom Thief Eros. "
...
Phichit looks hesitantly from the letter to the window. He holds his hands to his ears, hearing again the voices that blame him for his mother's death. Voices that disturb him daily.
Phantom Thief Eros ... Can he really help me?
Slowly, Phichit Chulanont approaches the window. There, he notices someone looking at him. Someone who waves to him and walks away, to his surprise.
~ x ~
I attend classes normally, lacking only Physical Education because of my injuries. I go out of school, seeing that it's raining and I take my umbrella back from the backpack. But before I could open it, I see a student with oriental features and strange bruises on her face looking from side to side.
"Are you alright?" I ask, scaring her.
"Oh, I ... I am." She says, and I notice she shakes.
"Don't you have an umbrella?" I ask, opening mine.
"No, I just forgot." She says, and is surprised when I extend mine to her.
"Take it." I say, watching her shake her head. "Take it."
She timidly takes the umbrella from my hand, smiling.
"Thank you very much." She says, taking two steps forward and turning to him. "My name is Chihoko Nakamura."
"Yuuri Kunogi." I say, watching her walk away.
Not knowing that someone was watching us too.
Back to the Katsukis' house, I lock myself in the room and start navigating.
~ x ~
Finally I was able to access the fourth floor, which according to Morgana, is the owner of the Palace and the Treasury. Treasure this is a strange CD, which makes me frown.
"Who dares invade my treasure room?" I listen, looking around for the owner of the voice. "Oh."
"Eros, look there!" I listen, and then I see a ... giant hamster ?
Jumping to the right, deflecting from his attack.
On my shoulder, Morgana assists me with healing items while I concentrate on attacking him straight.
"Eiga!" I scream, using one of the new abilities of Àrsene, already exchanging for Zorro. "Garula!"
Facing the Boss Hamster(?) is not easy, I soon realize. I feel that if it were not for Morgana, I certainly would not have survived. I need to get even stronger. More and stronger.
And then, after much sweat, I finally defeated him.
"Splendid, Eros. Now, let's get the treasure." Morgana speaks.
Suddenly, a loud sound of several people screaming echoes around me, scaring me.
"Stop yelling!" I hear, noticing a dark-skinned boy with black hair on his knees on the floor crying. "I already know it's my fault that Mom died!"
"Phichit Chulanont?" I ask, seeing him lift his face and look at me with bright golden eyes.
"Are you ... Phantom Thief Eros?" He asks and I smile.
"I am."
"You said you were going to help me, but how, I do not want to continue suffering." He and I take a deep breath, coming up to him and kneeling.
"I can not help you with the voices, they will certainly disturb you for a while, but I can help you face them if you want." I mean, looking at him firmly. "If you agree to be my friend."
"Do you want to be my friend?" He asks, surprised.
"I want." I say, reaching out. "Now, do you want to be my friend?"
"I ... I do not have friends." He says, crying again.
"And me neither." I mean, scaring him.
"So ... Can I be your friend?" He asks, making me laugh.
"Of course!" I mean, and he smiles.
"Great." He gets up, picks up the Treasury and hands me over. "Give it to my true self, so I can join you."
"Eh?" I ask, surprised.
"Eros, the Palace is crumbling!" Morgana says and I keep running toward the exit.
"Completely shutting down the navigation for Phichit Chulanont, Cafe Leblanc and Home for Yuuri Kunogi user. Transposing user to the real world together with unknown entity."
What...?
~x~
Chapter final notes
Status
Compendium active
People: 02 - active
Arcana Bonds: 04
Masks: 04 - Max Person Limit
Hearts Changed: 00
Arsene - end of the day
Level: 18
Powers: Eiga (Curse), Cleave (Physical), Sukunda (de-buff), Dream Needle (Physical), Invigorate 1 (Passive), Maeiha (Curse), Counter (Passive)
Zorro - End of the Day
Level: 17
Powers: Garu (wind), Diarama (Cura), Me Patra (Cura Status), Media (Cure), Lucky Punch(Physical) and Magaru(wind)
