[5th May, Shibuya Station]

Under the blazing sunlight above, Shiho groaned in annoyance as she wiped more sweat from her forehead. Besides her was Ann, lazily browsing her phone as they leaned beside a wall behind them.

"Where is Sakamoto?" Sighing to herself, the volleyball player glanced at Ann and Ren. "Ain't he should be here ten minutes ago?"

"Ryuji just called me," Ren answered, resting his hands in his pocket. "He's on the train right now, so he's probably close by now."

"...That's ten or fifteen more minutes for me, Amamiya," Shaking her head, Shiho rested her head on the wall, closing her eyes as she endured the heat. "If there's a god, please have mercy on me..."

"Shiho, just take off your windbreaker," Ann deadpanned, scanning the white windbreaker she's wearing. "Anyway, why are you wearing it?"

"W-well, there's AC over in Wilton..." Trailing off, the volleyball player shook her head before pulling down the zipper of her windbreaker, revealing a white T-shirt with the word 'Swan' wrote on the chest area.

Taking the windbreaker off and tied it around her waist, she noticed the strange gaze both Ann and Ren gave her. "Uh... What's wrong?"

"Well, Suzui..." Trailing off, the delinquent cleared his throat as he glanced at her t-shirt. "You have some... interesting choice of T-shirt."

"Uh... yeah, Ren has a point..." Ann shuttered, quickly giving Ren suspicious glances. For a split second, she could see Swan taking over Shiho's place and... it didn't seem odd.

Noticing how awkward the atmosphere between them was, Shiho realized what's going on and decided to act stupid for now. "Interesting choice of T-shirt? Thank you for the compliment, Amamiya," She answered with a smile, noticing a certain blonde boy running toward them.

"S-sorry guys! I slept over..." Ryuji said between heavy breath, holding his knees as support as he rapidly breathed. "How late am I?"

"Ten minutes," Ren deadpanned, pulling out his phone to double-check on his words. "Yeah, ten minutes."

"At least it's not like half an hour later, amirite?" The ex-runner shrugged, earning a hard smack from Ann. "Ow! What's that for, Ann?"

"How dare you to say that, Ryuji," The model glared at him, taking out her phone and checked the time. "Thankfully, we still have some time before the time we booked."

"Then let's not waste more time then," Ren announced, pushing his glasses that it reflected the light from outside.

Nodding to each other, the group was about to go on their way and went to Wilton when Ryuji suddenly stopped and raised an eye on Shiho.

"Uh... Suzui, Ichijo's not comin' with us, right?" He asked.

"Yeah, he told me he had some 'personal business' he had to deal with," Shiho nodded. "What's the matter, Sakamoto?"

"Nothin' too serious, I just saw him when I was comin'," Ryuji answered, shrugging. "He was bringin' some flower with him, I thought he was goin' to give it you or somethin' like that."

"Well... I did ask him to come with us," The volleyball player sighed, resting her hands in her hot pant's pocket. "Akira just said that he would only bring down the mood, on top of his personal business."

"That's weird," Ren commented, pushing his glasses. "But anyway, we really need to go now."

With that said, the four continued their way to Wilton.


And just as she hoped and wanted, Shiho was having the meal of her life in Wilton.

Taking a deep bite of the chocolate cake on her plate, the volleyball player couldn't help but moan in bliss.

"It's SO GOOD!" She exclaimed, followed by another bite to the chocolate cake. "Ann, try this one!"

"I know!" Ann nodded in return, pointing at the waffle on her own plate. "But I had to finish this one first! Then there's that one, and that one..."

Scanning the plates of dessert right in front of the model, Ryuji just cringed in response. "Dude, how can you even finish that?"

"The same goes for your meat collection!" Shiho retorted as she pointed to the huge piece of pork resting on his plate, and Ann nodded in agreement. "You're just as bad as ours."

"In Ryuji's defense, he was an athlete, thus he needed more calories to burn through." Ren shrugged, feeding Morgana another Sashimi. "But... Ann, shouldn't you maintain a good body shape? You're a model, after all."

"Nah, she's that type of person that has a bottomless pit of a stomach," The runner deadpanned, glancing at Ann's stomach for a split second before returning to his bro. "I remember that she used to love to consume chocolate, but never saw a bit of fat on in her body."

Morgana raised an eyebrow on Ryuji's comment, but didn't fully comment as Shiho's here. However, Ann widened her eyes in total shock, almost dropping the waffle on her lap.

"Uh..." Hanging her mouth open while a deep shade of crimson crept onto her face, Ann awkwardly laughed and looked away. "...Never thought that you're this focus on me, hehe..."

"...Sakamoto, you're walking on that line between 'romantic' and 'creepy', y'know?" Shiho deadpanned, unintentionally shivered from the thought of someone being this focused on her as well.

For a brief second, Akira's face suddenly popped up in her mind.

"Huh, you have a childhood crush on Ann or something?" Ren casually asked, trying his best to hold the smirk on his face as Ryuji visually blushed.

"Wha-"

"...I'm going to get something to drink," Sighing to herself, the volleyball player stood up and went to grab some drinks, leaving the four thieves alone.

Looking around and found the drink machine, Shiho sighed and filled her a cup of water and drank it all in one go. Yes, coming to Wilton with Ann was great, but... seeing that everyone other then they were wearing luxurious dresses and suit, she just felt out of place here.

"I guess the reality is always worse than your imagination..." Murmuring to herself, she was about to fill another cup when someone else came to her side with his own cup.

"At least now I know how does it feel to be a staff member..." The person- a boy similar to her age with dark-brown mid-length hair and in the staff's uniform filled his own cup with water and drank it all at once as well. "...O-oh sorry, I didn't see you here."

"I-it's fine, it's not like you bother me or anything..." Trailing off, the volleyball player took another full look on the boy before widening her eyes in realization. "Oh wait, you looked familiar..."

"Hmm?" He replied with a raised eye.

"...I think I saw you on the TV or something before," Shiho said, nodding to herself as she tried to remember the name of that person. "I think his name was Yanagishita something..."

"You mean Yanagishita Hajime?" The boy asked with an awkward smile, rubbing the back of his head. "Uh... that's me."

"...Wow, I didn't expect to meet a celebrity here," She scanned Hajime's entire feature again, noticing that he was wearing a staff's uniform out of anything. "But, why are you wearing a staff's uniform? Aren't you... 'the detective prince of the cooking world'?"

"God... that sound so stupid... At least call me 'the cooking prince' or something like that..." Trailing off, the boy avoided her curious gaze, kept rubbing the back of his neck. "Anyway, I was here because they need help and short on staff, and the main chef here was a friend with Gilles... So now I'm here."

"That was unfortunate," Shiho giggled, covering her mouth with her hand.

"Yeah, very unfortunate..." Trailing off, Hajime glanced at her clothing raised an eye. "But it's unusual to see someone around my age to be here, this place is usually filled with... those people." He shrugged, gesturing to the others around them.

"Um... I did feel a bit out of place here," She sighed, pointing at the T-shirt she's wearing. "It was me and my friend's dream to come here, but now..."

"I know that feeling," The cooking prince smiled, crossing his arms. "Feeling disappointed for something you've desired for so long, or just out of place in general-"

"There you are, Hajime!"

However, before he could finish his words, another staff walked up to them out of breath. "The chef's hand just got burnt, we need you to help us with the cooking department!" He exclaimed, using his knees as support.

"Huh?! You're serious?!" Hajime blinked, staring at his temporary colleague shocked. "Well, I guess my shift ain't gonna end for a while..."

"But being burnt..." Trailing off, he tried his best to hold his hand's shiver, but Shiho could still notice it.

Sighing out loud, he gave Shiho a sheepish smile. "I guess I was needed, but also, I'm sorry for taking your time." He apologized, following the staff member and left the hall.

Returning the same sheepish smile to him, Shiho watched Hajime left with the staff before realizing something. "Great, I forgot to ask him for a selfie or a signature..." She facepalmed, returning to the table.

However, as she returned to the table, the volleyball player overheard Ann talking with Ren and Ryuji, with Ryuji showing them a website on his phone.

"I think most people don't believe it, but some of them actually seem grateful. Look at this." He grinned.

"The Phantom Aficionado Website...?" Ann looked at the phone with a curious glance, typing the same URL on her phone too. "Wow, I never expect someone would even make a website about us."

"Yeah," Ren agreed with a nod, scrolling through the comments with a smile. "Looking at the comment... it's just... wow."

Inwardly smiling on their conversation, Shiho quickly pretended that she didn't hear their conversation and approached them. "What're you all talking about?" She asked, surprising everyone.

"O-oh! We're just talking about some website we found about the Phantom Thief," Ren hastily lied, showing her the website on his phone. "Here, someone just made a website about it."

"Really? That's interesting," Raising an eye in curiosity, the volleyball player took a closer look at the website. "'Thank you, Phantom Thief', 'Thank you for giving us hope.'..."

Inwardly smiling at those comments, she opened the website on her phone and saved the link to show it to Akira later. 'How would Akira react to those comments?' She thought, imagining the joy on his face when he saw those supportive comments.

However, her train of thought was interrupted as Ann suddenly stood with widened eyes. "Wait! I forgot about something!"

Startled at her sudden action, Ryuji almost spat out his drink in shock. "Stop scarin' us like this, 'kay?"

"What is it, Ann?" Ren calmly asked, raising an eye in confusion.

"We have a time limit for the buffet!"

"Time limit?!" Shiho exclaimed, staring at the model in a dumbfounding manner. "Why didn't you tell us before?!"

"I forgot about it!"

"Oh great..." Ryuji sighed, glancing at the time on his phone. "How long was it?"

"One hour to be exact, and I still have a lot of desserts to try out!" Facepalming at her own forgetness, Ann hastily grabbed her plate and rushed back to the main hall. Leaving the others staring at him with a deadpanned look.

"...I have nothing to say about this," Shiho plainly commented.

"Me neither," Ren facepalmed, followed by a nod of agreement from Ryuji.


Watching the amount of food Ryuji and Ann brought upon the table, Shiho couldn't help herself but gulp. "Ann, are you fine with eating it all?" She hesitantly asked, pointing at the desserts she got.

"No, I brought some for you as well!" The model responded while shaking her head, taking a huge bite to the fifth chocolate waffle. "Besides, we're on a time limit here!"

"It's a once in a lifetime thing!" Ryuji agreed with a nod, enjoying his steak with the most joy they've ever seen from him. "This is delicious!"

"Yeah! So happy…" Ann moaned as she took in another chocolate cake, a wide smile crept onto her face.

Ren just looked at them with an amused look, pulling out his phone and took a photo of the scene before him. "Ahh, the good old clueless duo..." He murmured to himself, struggling to hold his giggling.

"Seriously, Amamiya?" Shiho deadpanned. "You're being too kind, 'Idiot couple' sounds better."

Ann and Ryuji only widened their eyes at them, their mouth hung wide open in shock. "Shi-Shiho! You're so mean!" The model exclaimed with a big pout.

"But it's real, Ann," The volleyball player just shrugged, shifting her gaze onto Ryuji. "After all, Ryuji dyed his hair just to keep the attention away from you, right?"

"Wha-" Feeling a heavy blush crept onto his cheeks, the ex-runner shuttered for a few moments. "H-how did you know that!"

"Akira told me, and it's not his fault," She replied with another casual shrug, taking another dip to her water. "We're talking about meaningless things, and he just mentioned it."

Observing the entire event played out before him, Ren raised an eye at Shiho's words. "...Never thought you're this close with Ichijo."

"U-uh... We just clicked," Shiho awkwardly laughed, hastily shifted her gaze between the three. "I don't know, he just has some kind of awkward energy that... was... attractive?"

"Attractive, huh?" Ann smirked.

"Sh-shuddup," Murmuring to herself, the volleyball player glanced at the clock above, trying to divert the attention away from her. "Oh wait, we're still on our time limit, right?"

Widening their eyes, the... clueless duo nimbly returned to their trays of food, also shoving some of them to Ren and Shiho as well. However, there was a thought that kept lingering in her mind. And Ren's comment only worsened it.

Even though now they're both close as friends and as partners in the Metaverse, there was still too much she didn't know about Akira. And his weird attitude for these today's just... made her more concerned for him.

It just felt if she still didn't know who Ichijo Akira was.


[About fifteen minutes earlier, Aoyama Cemetery]

Walking down the road covered with Sakura pedal, Akira looked down at his flower. White Rose snd Azalea, just the same as his last month's visit, then the month before, and another month before that.

"Devotion and patience..." Murmuring to himself, he couldn't help but gave out a short sigh. "...Quite ironic for me, visiting her every month."

The scenery beside him was beautiful to say the least, the cherry blossom was just flourishing and the petal dropping from the tree... It did remind him of that day, the day Minato mysteriously passed away six years ago.

"Well, at least I did have some good news for her..." Pulling out his phone and switched the song his earphone was playing, Akira continued his walk. "But... why am I still going to her every month? At this point... it's just stupid."

Sighing to himself as he knew that no answer was going to pop up, he decided to change his mind into something else for a distraction. "I wonder how's Shiho doing? She's probably having fun with everyone else."

"After all, a buffet in Wilton is a once in a lifetime thing to do."

Arriving at the place he visited monthly, Akira gently placed the flower beside the gravestone. 'Akashi Kimiko, 2000 - 2015' It craved, clearly visible from the grey marble stone.

Resting his hands in his pockets, Akira stared at the gravestone for a few long moments. "...Hey, Kimiko," He greeted with a faint smile. "I know you must be annoyed to see me this often."

Receiving no reply, he continued his own monologue. "Well, I just don't want you to be lonely."

"It must be lonely, right? Stuck in this place, seeing your end wasn't justified..." Trailing off, the amateur writer stared at his own feet for a few seconds, trying to come up with a proper way to respond. "But at least, now Kamoshida is behind bars, paying for his sins."

"After all these times, I finally have something positive to say." Akira stopped for a second, recollecting his thought. "On top of that, I got myself a puppy, her name is 'Paff'."

"She's really cute! Like... she always curled up on my laps when I was on my laptop, when she calls me for food," Widening his smile, he awkwardly swayed from side to side. "I just wish you could meet her, Paff had the same shade of brown with your hair, y'know."

"And don't worry about Shiho, I... she's doing alright," Nodding to himself, he looked down onto his shoes. "I'm so happy that I can see her smiling again, with Takamaki by her side."

"Kinda ironic, isn't it? I saved her, but couldn't save you," Laughing at the irony of his own words, Akira stopped again. "But... well... you guessed it, I was a part of bringing Kamoshida to justice."

"Even though I thought that I did it for Shiho, for everyone..." Looking at the vast view of the cemetery, his lips slightly trembled. "But... it felt empty. It felt... bittersweet at best. I didn't tell this to anyone else, of course."

"You see, ever since Kamoshida's confession of crime, I've been thinking why did I felt empty," Clutching his hands in the pocket, Akira bit his lips to keep his voice from cracking. "I found out why."

"Bringing Kamoshida to justice won't bring you back."

Feeling a single teardrop tracing along his chin, he hastily wiped it off with his arm. "Remember that stupid band you wanted to make with me, Shinji and Naoko?"

"I wished I agreed with you."

"As someone once said, 'Happiness is only realized when there are only memories left'... I ju-just..."

Feeling the emotions overwhelmed him, Akira broke down and wept. Yes, the reason for their suffering, Kamoshida was brought to justice and paying for his sins, but... it just felt empty.

Deep down, he knew why he was feeling this way. Kimiko was dead, and nothing could bring her back, and those possibilities were just what it meant, 'possibilities', a What-if. And it's just like what happened before.

He couldn't do anything for his family, for Uncle Takeharu, for Minato-San, for Kimiko.

However, his train of thought was cut off when a girl's voice rang behind him. "It's embarrassing, Akira."

Looking up, and through the tears, Akira saw a girl with neck-length chocolate-colored hair, the same shade as Kimiko's hair. However, the purple glasses and the bandages on her face set her apart from Kimiko. And Akira quickly recognized her.

"N-Naoko..." Hastily wiping the tears with his arms, he awkwardly stood up greeted her. "Why are you here?"

"Because I was dead-set that you're going to be here, and I wanted to apologize," She deadpanned, switching her focus to the Camellia and Aster laying beside the gravestone. "Even though it's a bit too much to visit her every month, but I appreciate the effort."

Akira only nodded in response. "I-yeah, I just... sorry."

"Don't apologize, it's not your fault," Naoko sighed, adjusting her glasses. "It should be me to apologize, blaming everything on you and Shinji."

"At least... thank you for making Kamoshida paying for his crime," She said softly, giving him a grim smile. "I heard about that 'Phantom Thief of Heart', is it you?"

"No, it's not me..." Akira trailed off. "But... Kimiko's still dead, I still failed her. It's my fault-"

Before he could finish his word, Naoko stopped him with a harsh glare. "You didn't, it's all Kamoshdia fault."

"Now he's behind bars, just stop blaming everything to yourself."

"I know, you wanted to say 'it's unhealthy', right?" The amateur writer nodded subtly.

"No," She denied, hesitantly patted his shoulder. "Do you think sis would want you to do just this for her?"

"Huh?"

Closing her eyes for a few moments, Naoko adjusted her glasses again. "You did it for that 'Shiho' girl, and she probably meant a lot to you."

"R-right, she..." Akira trailed off, unintentionally avoiding her gaze. "To be honest, I don't know. I mean, I did care about her, but-"

"Don't give me a 'but'," She interrupted him, staring right into his eyes. "If you care about someone, don't you dare to give yourself any excuses."

However, seeing no response from him, Naoko awkwardly looked away. "...That was a quote from sis, by the way."

"...Sounds like something she would say," Akira shrugged, a hint of a smile crept on to his face before falling down. "But... what about Shinji?"

"We... we haven't talked since he transfers to Kosei, and it's mostly my fault," She said with a grim look, glancing at her watch for a moment. "I'm still looking for a time to properly apologize to him, but... mom told me she needs help for the shop."

"Just... don't disappoint sis," With that said, she gave Akira another glance before leaving. Now alone again, Akira looked up with an uncertain expression, into the blue sky above.

"'Don't you dare to give yourself any excuses'..." Murmuring to himself, the amateur writer just shook his head, slightly widening his smile. "Even you are encouraging me to go after Shiho... to move on."

"It's not easy to do, you know?" Resting his hands in his pocket, Akira was about to leave when someone else walked up to his side, also holding her own set of flowers.

"Just as I thought..." Hinaki murmured, standing by his side and gazed at the gravestone.

"...Higashikuni-San? Why are you here?" Akira questioned, raising an eye at her choice of flowers. "Sunflower and Jasmine? It's a bit too expensive to spend on-"

"It's fine," The student council president interrupted him, placing the flower by the grave. "And before you ask, those sunflower is for the radiance between you and Akashi-San, I apologize if you misunderstood it."

"Well, I didn't misunderstand it or anything like that," He shrugged. "But, why are you here? There's no reason for you to be here."

"I wanted to ask for some advice from you, Ichijo-San," Hinaki explained matter-of-factly. "It is about Izumo-Kun."

"Shinji? W-what did he do?"

"No, he didn't do anything wrong," Shaking her head, the student council president kept her gaze at the ground. "I thought asking you to transfer to Kosei would help Izumo-Kun's mental state to improve a bit, but it just did the polar opposite."

"Oh, that talk..." Trailing off, Akira gazed at Kimiko's grave for a few moments before turning to Hinaki. "And um... I don't think talking about this in front of Kimiko is appropriate, maybe we-"

"Maybe we should talk somewhere else?" Hinaki finished for him, nodding in agreement. "I know a restaurant nearby, and I assume you still haven't eaten anything?"

"Yeah, didn't have time," He nodded, shifting his gaze back to the gravestone with an uncertain expression.

'It's never easy to move on, Kimiko...' Akira thought bitterly, tearing his glance away from the gravestone and followed Hinaki as they walked through the cemetery, and toward the restaurant she mentioned.

(To Be Continued)


Preview:

With Higashikuni Hinaki's sudden appearance, Akira came face to face with a question.

"Tell me, who is Izumo Shinji?"

As the buffets ends, The Phantom Thieves is formed.

So as The Fools.

As they step into another chapter of their fate.

Next Chapter:

"A New Hopeful Start"

Stay Tuned!


So after exactly a month (Um... maybe a day more than a month), chapter 13 is finally done and it's here!

Unfortunately, since how the event works out and the fact that it would be a bit too much just for one chapter, I had to split both Akira and Shiho's events into another chapter.

However, the next chapter would be both the official founding of the Phantom Thief, Akira's talks with Hinaki, and some tease for the characters in the next arc as it would be the closing part of Kamoshida's arc.

It's really funny that it took about half a year to finally finish Kamoshida's arc... it's going to take a LONG time for this fic.

Also, I'm happy to introduce the third and final main new OC (there would be more, but they're not as center-staged at these three for now) that RosyMiranto18 introduced- Yanagishita Hajime!

Anyway, I hope you like the story so far, reviews are definitely welcome!