The atmosphere in Leblanc was tense. It was very clear that nobody in the establishment wanted Zenkichi's presence at all. But, since he was a paying customer who technically had yet to cause any trouble. Sojiro decided to serve him. That didn't mean he had to like it, though. So he approached the table where Zenkichi was sitting, setting his cup of coffee down a little harder than he normally would. "Enjoy." He said with an unfriendly expression before walking off.
"Sorry about that." Haru said with a sweet smile. "We just absolutely despise the police is all."
Zenkichi was starting to feel the uncomfortableness with Haru's words. "It….It's kinda weird when you say it with a smile on your face like that…"
"So? Why'd you 'rescue' us?" Ryuji asked. The sooner they got information out of Zenkichi, the sooner he would leave.
"We'd appreciate it if you get to the point." Ann said while narrowing her eyes.
"Fine, fine. I'll skip the runaround and just tell you." Zenkichi could sense these kids weren't in the mood for a long winded explanation, so cutting to the chase was the best option. "I'm Zenkichi Hasegawa, an investigator on loan to Tokyo's Public Security Branch. I'm officially an Inspector. It's not a rank to sneeze it."
"Inspectors are not to be sneezed at. Okay, I've got it." Sophia said from Sumire's phone. Sumire forgot Sophia was in there and tried to act like the noise wasn't coming from her pocket.
"..." Sumire was silently sweating. She was not good at this. Just one look and Zenkichi would be able to tell she was hiding something...!
Zenkichi heard this, but he wasn't sure who actually said it. It didn't sound like a voice he recognized from these kids. "Uh, who said that?"
"Did you stop by just to pull rank on us..?" Hifumi asked, attempting to move the conversation away from the noise and to Zenkichi's true reason for being here.
"Ah, whatever. Amamiya, I wanted to speak with you." Zenkichi looked over to Ren. "Did you hear at all about that mess on the chat show the other day? With Alice Hirragi?"
"Yeah." Ren simply replied. There was no reason to tell Zenkichi he was actually there. "It was….pretty crazy."
"Hah, right?" Zenkichi replied. "Of course you've heard of it, it was a huge disaster. Now listen to this: there's already been a full investigation into the incident. There was no indication the MC was planning to propose – everyone questioned said he didn't even know who Alice was before this week."
"Truly…?" Hifumi was surprised. If that was the case, then…
"Not only that, he'd already been engaged to his co-host for however long. There isn't a hair of a motive to be found." Zenkichi continued. "So the police have concluded…'doesn't this sound like the work of the Phantom Thieves?'"
Everyone's eyes widened at this leap in logic. "Wait…you're saying…!" Makoto began.
"A whoooooole lot of similar cases last year, no?" Zenkichi asked. "Sudden personality shifts, abnormal behaviors, psychotic breakdowns…if that MC went bonkers from a change of heart, you're gonna be suspect number one." He told Ren. "Ren Amamiya: the leader of the Phantom Thieves of Heart. We don't know if it's drugs, or hypnosis, or what, but they wanna charge you with criminal mischief. It's only a matter of time until you're arrested."
"Are you kidding me!?" Ren shouted. It was only natural that he would react first and loudest.
"But why!?" Futaba asked.
"You can't do that…!" Sumire objected. "Senpai just got back in town. He couldn't possibly…!"
"I agree, this is outrageous!" Yusuke exclaimed. "What proof do you have?!" Or were the police going to try and cook something up just like they did in the past?
"Sure, it's outrageous. But we don't actually have any proof yet. That's why I'm here." Zenkichi replied calmly. "So. Level with me…are you?" He asked them.
"Erm…what?" Hifumi tilted her head.
"Are you the ones doing this?" Zenkichi asked.
"Hell no, dude!" Ryuji shot back.
"He's telling the truth." Ren said.
"Yeah, yeah. That's what I thought." Zenkichi's tone implied he was amused. "Just a second." He pulled out his phone and began talking into it. "Ah, hello. Commissioner, yes. I'm with the Phantom Thieves' leader. I just asked for a confession, but he says he's innocent. Yes, that's right, hahah. Huh, kidding? No, no, this is all real. That's enough nonsense. Oh, okay. I'm on my way to the office." He hung up and looked at Ren. "Well, I reported what you said to my boss. But if you ask me, I don't think she's convinced."
Ann stared at Zenkichi, wide eyed. "Did he really just call his boss?"
"Holy shit…What is up with this dude?" Ryuji scratched his head.
"What are you trying to prove here?" Makoto asked. Zenkichi's methods were bizarre to say the least.
"No matter how hard you claim to be innocent, there are people out there chomping at the bit to arrest you." Zenkichi explained. Their word alone wasn't going to be enough to prove their innocence. "If that ever happens, you're done for – and I'll be done for too, 'cause then this case'll never be solved. So I wanted to make you an offer, or maybe a deal."
"A deal with you?" Morgana remarked.
"I want to solve this case. To do that, I need the intel you've gathered." Zenkihi looked directly towards Ren. "At the moment I don't have anything that even resembles a lead. You though…you just don't wanna get arrested. I can do what needs to be done so that won't happen."
"….." Hifumi's stance shifted a bit and she crossed her arms.
"Bureau men are a trustworthy lot in the force. There won't be any problems. Sound like a fair deal to you?" Zenkichi said.
"You seem pretty shady." Ren said with blunt honesty.
"Hah, that makes two of us." Zenkichi fired back.
"We don't have any reason why we should trust you." Ryuji said.
"You know how they said the wise cat hides its claws? That applies to me too." Zenkichi said smugly, but his words only made the those around him even more suspicious of him.
"I've literally never heard that." Futaba groaned.
"I think I dislike him more." Haru said with that smile on her face. She was silent for most of this, but her remark did succeed in making Zenkichi slightly more wary of her. Just what she wanted, actually.
"What do you think?" Morgana asked. "You don't have to do anything until you decide whether you trust him or not."
"Man, that's a noisy cat…." Zenkichi glanced Morgana's way. Because he didn't know the cat was actually speaking, he just heard a lot of meows. Morgana also forgot that Zenkichi wasn't going to understand him. So to cover himself, he just made a few more cat noises.
"You truly want to make a deal with us?" Sumire questioned.
"I don't need an answer right away." Zenkichi then stood up from his seat. "You can give me one when you think it over. I hope you see things my way, Phantom Thieves." His attention then went to Sojiro. "Thanks for the coffee, Boss. I'll be back soon for some curry."
"Sorry," Sojiro began. "The curry's eight-sixed. For you."
Zenkichi recoiled from this. "Oh, now that hurts…" Defeated with the promise of no curry, Zenkichi left.
Once Zenkichi was gone, the Phantom Thieves took a moment to digest the information he left them with, and… "Ugh, what is WITH that guy!?" Ann groaned.
"He appears to have a great many bats in his belfry…" Yusuke shook his head.
"Zenkichi Hasegawa. What a cool name for such a dweeb." Futaba grunted.
"But if he was telling the truth just now…they're going to arrest Ren-kun?" Haru looked towards Ren worriedly. This was looking to be a bad start to their summer vacation.
"We can't let that happen…!" Sumire exclaimed. "We know it's not his fault. How could any of these things be happening long after the Phantom Thieves initially disbanded?"
"Ugh, what a bullshit deal! More like a threat!" Ryuji scowled.
"Without a doubt, it still beats having Ren arrested. Walking into a trap isn't wise, but at least we know the police are onto us. The intel could be nice." Makoto was looking on the bright side of things.
"Yeah. We've already benefitted from that guy knowing the police are onto Ren. But now, the big question: how much can we trust him?" Morgana said.
"…It's hard to say…" Hifumi had her eyes closed, tapping her foot against the floor. "I will say, he can weave an interesting narrative. I don't doubt that the police are indeed beginning to eye Ren, as much as I loathe to admit it. That being said, I can tell he was withholding information from us...what it is, I don't know. The truth of the matter is…I'm certain he wants our help in solving this case. I just don't know how far that goes. That's just from what I was able ot gather with my power, though."
Hifumi did put things into perspective. Ren closed his eyes and thought it over for a moment. "I don't trust that guy either. However…I think he'll be useful to us. He's probably thinking the same thing. If this problem is only with Alice, I think we should be able to take care of it without too much of his help."
"So, fess up. What'd you do this time?" Sojiro was listening to the conversation. While he was missing a few of the details, he understood the general idea.
"N-N-Nothing…!" Futaba stuttered, not wishing to get Sojiro involved in the situation. "Don't worry about it, Sojiro."
"This is about that Alice girl, right?" Sojiro asked. They didn't realize he was paying attention. "You're suspected of causing that whole mess on TV somehow, is that it?"
"Agh…" Futaba groaned.
"But it's totally bull!" Ryuji said.
"I'm sorry, Boss. We really didn't want to trouble you again." Makoto sighed. The last thing she wanted was to be some kind of burden to Sojiro after he went through all the trouble of hosting them.
"But you didn't do it, right?" Sojiro was on their side. "So keep your chin up. If it's totally bull, then it's up to you to prove it."
"Boss…" Haru smiled.
"Chief really nailed it there." Morgana said.
"If you need anything, just let me know." So he'd walk off for now. He didn't want to intrude on their conversation anymore.
With Sojiro gone, they had to plan their plan of attack on Alice's Jail. "First things first, we take care of Alice. We can respond to the detective later."
"If things go well, we shouldn't have to, right?" Sumire asked. As far as they were concerned, they could handle this situation since it was just Alice. "If we change her heart and she publicly admits everything…"
"Oh, right!" Ann blinked. It had been a while so that detail slipped her mind. "If she does that, we wouldn't even need to make a deal with him."
"Nevertheless, we've yet to find a way to get closer to Alice's castle." Yusuke mentioned.
"Ah, right…" Hifumi closed her eyes. "That wall that emerged is barring our progress. I doubt it is the kind of thing we can smash through as well."
"In trouble? I can help." Sophia spoke up, and Sumire pulled her phone out so everyone could see her.
"We're tryin' to figure out a way to get past that dang wall." Ryuji said.
"I'm sorry, I don't have a solution for that." Sophia shook her head. "How about hacking it, Futaba?"
"I probably could if it was connected to a terminal, but…" Futaba trailed off.
"There is a control panel on the other side of the wall. It was saved in my memory when we first confronted it." Sophia replied.
"Really?!" Futaba didn't even notice.
"That's some eye!" Ryuji grinned.
"It's AI." Sophia corrected.
Sojiro walked back over, curious at the voice he swore he could hear. "Hm? Who are you talking to. Have a friend on the phone?"
"Erm…" Sumire froze. Was she going to have to explain the living AI in her phone? She didn't want to lie to Sojiro!
"It's nothing, Sojiro." Futaba said.
"She lied!?" Sumire was not very subtle with her shocked gaze at Futaba.
"Hm…" Sojiro closed his eyes. "It almost feels like I've had my shop swiped from under my butt." He turned to Ren. "That means you can lock up for me, right? I'm about to head out, and don't stay up to late either, got it?"
"Yeah, got it." Ren nodded. Now Sojiro left for real.
"So, now we have to find a way to bring Futaba over that wall…" Morgana said.
"Perhaps we could climb it with her? I don't think it's too high for us…" Haru suggested.
"There are too many searchlights in the area. We'd be quickly surrounded." Yusuke said. The idea itself wasn't bad, but the danger was too great.
"We're going to need a decoy to attract the enemy's attention…" Morgana said.
"One decoy? Who do you think could actually pull that off?" Ryuji asked.
"Who could be a decoy…by themselves…" Morgana was already looking towards Ren.
"Seriously? Again?" Ren thought to himself.
"Wait…but isn't that a little dangerous?" Ann shook her head. Sure, Ren was pretty good even by himself, but a mass horde against one person? "Shouldn't we have someone back him up?"
"I don't like the idea of Ren-senpai going alone." Sumire was in agreement with Ann.
"I will accompany him." Hifumi said with a nod. "We have sufficient numbers to make a divide and conquer strategy work."
"And I will go as well." Sophia said. "I can divide the enemy's attention between Ren, Hifumi, and myself. This should ultimately lighten the burden placed upon them."
"Then I'll go with Sophia," Sumire said. Even though it was clear that Sophia was perfectly capable of handling herself, she still wanted to keep an eye on her. "The last thing I want to do is leave you out to dry."
"Thanks, guys." Ren gave a smile.
"Then it sounds like we have a plan." Morgana said. "Now we just have to give roles to the rest of the team…"
.
.
July 28th.
"Almost time…" Panther said.
"Yeah, let's do this!" Skull was ready to get this show on the road.
With the plan set, everyone separated into teams for their assigned roles: one team to deal with the searchlights, one team to get Futaba behind that wall, and two teams to draw the enemy's attention. Two figures leapt across the rooftops of the Shibuya Jail in the dead of night. Police cars were scattered about in the streets blow, and the two of them were clearly moving to avoid a direct confrontation just yet. Joker and Dragon came to a stop atop one of the tallest buildings, looking over at the cityscape. "Are you ready to begin, Joker?" Dragon asked.
"Of course. Just waiting for the signal." Joker replied.
"Careful, you two!" Oracle exclaimed via communication. "You've got one coming up!"
One what? A shadow that took the form of a large helicopter, both hands mounting a minigun that took aim at the two Phantom Thieves. "Looks like they've noticed us already." Joker said with a sly grin.
"It's started!" Fox said.
"Right, let's go!" Noir exclaimed.
"In that case, let us begin!" Dragon exclaimed as she and Joker leapt off the building, sliding down the side of it the moment their feet touched the windows. The Shadow pursued them and began opening fire. Dragon drew her staff and began twirling it around, using this to block and deflect the bullets. "Go forth!"
"Got it!" Joker ran past Dragon while the Helicopter was focused on her. He used his grappling hook to latch onto one of the legs, flipping around to jump onto its back. His gloved fingers proceeded to grip onto the Shadow's mask, forcefully tearing it off its face. The Shadow fell from the sky, its life ending in an explosion that Joker landed in front of. "Still got it."
Dragon landed shortly after he did, still keeping a hold of her staff. "I'm sure that got their attention. Oh…!" From the police cars, numerous shadows started to crawl out of the, quickly surrounding the pair of them.
"There's a lot of them…" Sophie remarked.
"But there's a lot of us too!" Violet said confidently.
"It's time to get started!" Queen said.
"They're all yours, Joker and Dragon!" Mona declared.
"Heh…." Dragon couldn't help the small grin that crept on to her lips. The rush of being a Phantom Thief…it felt so nice to feel it again. It was an excitement that never truly got old. Dragon and Joker exchanged looks, and she then pointed her staff in the direction of the horde of Shadows that approached them. "I would be lying if I said I wasn't looking forward to this. Now then, let us begin!"
