[May 14th, Lunchtime, rooftop]
The exam today was... alright for Shiho. After the last few days being either straight hell or a breeze to go through, today's exam was surprisingly normal. It wasn't so hard, nor was so easy.
However, the thought of Madarame's investigation occupied her mind for the entire time. And the fact that Ann looked downcasted didn't help either. Maybe something happened to her?
"Hey, Ann," Seeing the said model just keep poking her bento and not taking a bit, Shiho couldn't help but gave her a look of concern. "Something's wrong? You looked weird today."
"I know... it's just..." Trailing off, Ann sighed tiredly and rest her head on her palms. "Some guy from another school came to me this morning, and he asked me to be his model."
"Oh, so... the typical modeling scam?"
"Nope, he sounded serious," Shaking her head, the blonde girl sighed again as the memories of this morning's event played out again.
[Earlier, outside of Aoyama-Ichitome Station]
Instead of a middle-aged man they expected to see, it was a boy at their age level. And even without the dark blue hair that made him stood out, he looked... normal, or even on the handsome side.
But the said 'pretty boy' just tilted his head in confusion. Acting as if there's nothing wrong with it.
Ryuji just blinked in slight confusion, before shifting his sight back onto Ann. "Hey, uh... are you sure it's him? Or are you just that self-conscious?"
"Are you serious, Ryuji?" Ren deadpanned.
Ann, on the other hand, groaned in annoyance. "I'm not that-"
"Is there something you want?"
"Huh?" The trio blinked unanimously as the pretty boy suddenly spoke, and the feeling of annoyance surfaced inside Ann again. Shoving both Ren and Ryuji aside and pointed at him, keeping an angered look for the entire time.
"That's my line!" She exclaimed. "You were the one stalking me!"
However, out of anything to use as an excuse or just admit to his fault, the said blue-haired boy blinked and just looked around. And he acted like... Ann was talking about someone else instead of him.
And this hypothesis only got confirmed as he parted his lips.
"Stalking you..? That's outrageous."
Gasping in surprise, the irrigation inside Ann just grew further like a fire. For a second, she could feel Carmen's urge to burn him to shred too. "I know you've been following me! Ever since the train!"
"It was you, wasn't it?! Even before today!"
Narrowing his eyes, Ren also remembered that Ann looked wary a day before too. "So it was you..."
"You have some real balls to say somethin' like that, y'know?" Ryuji said with a threatening undertone, crossing his arms and stared at the boy's eyes.
"That's because…" The boy trailed off, looking away from the model.
Before anyone could react, a car horn suddenly interrupted them as a dark luxurious car approached.
"My goodness...I had wondered why you left the car. So this is where your passion lead," The front seat window rolled down, revealing an elderly man with a low ponytail. He was also wearing a homely looking kimono. "All is well that ends well."
Nodding at the elderly man, the blue-haired boy suddenly turned back to Ann with an oddly sincere look. "I saw you from the car...and I couldn't help myself from chasing after you."
"O-okay..." Ann shuttered.
"You're the woman I've been searching for all this time!" Ignoring how the trio was reacting to his words, the boy continued his monologue with an odd sense of pride and passion. "Please, won't you-"
"W-Wait a minute, I-" She stammered, taking a step back.
"Wait a sec, who gave you the permission to confess to some stranger!" Ryuji almost screamed, crossing his arms and glared daggers at him.
"-be my model for my next art piece?"
...Now that's a question that didn't cross anyone's mind.
In response, the trio just stared at him with their mouth hanging, still trying to process the sudden turn of events. And if looked closer, steam was even visible from their head as their brain overheated.
"...Model?" Ren and Ryuji asked in unison.
Still ignoring the two boys, the pretty boy held up his hand and looked at Ann pleadingly. "All that I've drawn till now has been lacking, but I feel a passion from you unlike anything else."
"W-what?!"
"Ain't this a recruit for some shady business?" Ryuji took a step closer, glancing at him with anger and suspicion.
Still ignoring them, the pretty boy held out a hand as if it's a performance. "Will you cooperate with me? What do you say?"
Unintentionally gulped in unease, Ann hastily shook her head and deadpanned. "I don't even know your name, why should I agree to it?"
"Oh, where are my manners?" Widening his eyes in realization, the boy straightened his posture and properly introduced himself. "I'm a second-year at Kosei High's fine-arts division. My name is Kitagawa Yusuke."
"I'm Madarame-sensei's pupil, and I am being allowed residence at his place. I'm striving to become an artist."
Back to the present, Shiho just stared at Ann in disbelief. This tale of her was just too bizarre to believe. If the situation was different, it could be something out from a cheesy romance novel, or straight out from a horror movie.
"It's just... wow," After a few long moments of silence, this was all Shiho could say. "So... that Kitagawa guy just stalk you for days, and still have the audacity to ask you to be her model..."
"What the hell is he thinking?!"
Shocked by Shiho's unintentional outburst, Ann physically took back an inch with an uneased smile. "I uh... well, he gave me some tickets to Madarame's exhibition, and I asked him to give me one more for you."
"Tickets to Madarame's exhibition?" Glancing at the ticket in her hand, Shiho only gave Ann a confused look. "What's that for?"
"So you can watch over me during the exhibition," The model sighed. "Maybe you can keep me safe from him... or when something happens."
"...W-whatever," Reluctantly accepting the ticket, the two friends decided to continue their lunch.
[Afterschool, Big Bang Burger]
As the exam came to an end, the sole three members of The Fools decided to meet up at Shibuya's Big Bang Burger. Even though it was mostly because Akira forgot to bring his lunch (it was Elizabeth's fault), but they just didn't want to care.
But there was one thing that all of them had, the relief of finish mid-term.
"It's finally over..." Trailing off, Akira gave out a sigh of relief and slumped down in his seat. "I can finally get back on business now."
Shiho, who was sitting next to Akira, giggled in response. "I guess our study session actually work, right?"
"Yep, it worked!"
Keigo, on the other end (both figuratively and literally), only kept his deadpanned stare at the two before him. These two were acting as if they're a couple, a bit too real in Keigo's eye. Were they too shameless to publicly show it, or they're just too clueless to realize this fact?
Anyway, these two were straying away from what they're supposed to talk about in the first place.
Clearing his throat and grabbing the duo's attention, Keigo pinched his nosebridge in annoyance. "So... Madarame's pupil wanted Takamaki to be his model," He summarized the entire situation as Shiho recalled, crossing his legs as he thought about the situation.
"Yeah, and I got this!" Shiho nodded, holding out the ticket she got from Ann earlier. "They're tickets for the exhibition, Ann wanted to me come with her."
"Ah, so that's one less ticket to buy then," Akira said, stretching his arms and took out his phone. "So a ticket for me, and Kamisaki, right?"
"Yes, this seems to be the case."
"Okay, so it's settled then," The leader of The Fools nodded, searching for any place to buy the tickets. "I'll put it in business expense, Mitsuru would probably be fine with that."
"Seriously?" Shiho deadpanned. "Ain't you have two hundred thousand yen each month?"
"Yeah, but it's for our infiltration business, so... it should be fine?"
"I wholeheartedly doubt whether this would work or not," Keigo plainly commented, taking a sip to his cup of water.
"Well, Mitsuru always has a soft spot for me, it should work," Akira shrugged, glancing over to Shiho. "Anyway, Shiho, just go with Ann and look after her. Kamisaki and I would deal with investigating the matters."
"...O-okay."
"Also, if this rumor is real..." Keigo trailed off, rubbing his chin in consideration. "We might need a person in the art world to help us, we need to give those paintings to their original owners."
"A person in the art world..." Repeating to himself, as if a lightbulb sparked on his head, the amateur writer grinned as he leaned forward. "Oh right, I can get Chidori-san to help us!"
"That would be splendid," The half-French nodded, adjusting his glasses. "Then it's settled then."
"Yeah," Akira nodded, glancing at Shiho and smiled. "I'll call you to meet up after the visit."
"Okay," Shiho nodded.
[15th May, morning, Shibuya station]
Looking up at the sky shrouded in a shade of grey, Shiho secretly applauded herself that she did bring an umbrella here. In the worst-case scenario, she'll just use it as a weapon of self-defense. Or to defend Ann from that Kitagawa guy when she needed to So... there's not really much to lose here.
Seeing Ann, Ren, and Ryuji waiting for her in the station square, she hastily cleared her mind and gave them a wave. "Ann!"
"Oh Shiho, there you are!" Giving a smile in return, the said model took a step aside to make space for her. "Now we're all here, we're good to go, right?"
"I guess," Ryuji plainly said, trying his best to hold a snicker. "But if that Kitagawa guy even dare to lay a finger on you, I'm going to-"
"Okay, you can stop here," Ann interrupted, gesturing to Shiho. "Shiho's protecting me this time, it'll be fine."
"Yeah," Shiho nodded, her feature suddenly darkened into the line between 'normal' and 'creepy'. "If that Kitagawa guy even dares to lay a finger on Ann, I promise that I'll..."
Noticing the horrified look from the trio, the volleyball player hastily shook her head and snapped out from her darkened look with the sweetest smile she could pull off. "O-oh, sorry about that. I might have gone a bit too far here... hehe..."
However, the trio only had one unanimous thought as they sweatdropped. 'She's scary!'
With that said, the four went on their way in awkward silence, Shiho's display of her horrifying side basically brought the mood between them to the ground. Actually, it might be even lower than the ground.
And they reached the gallery before they realized it.
Just as they expected, the whole place was filled with people. There's one crowded line for people who wanted to buy the ticket, and there's another one that was for entering. And unfortunately, the four also had to deal with waiting in line too.
After about fifteen minutes (at least), the four Persona users were greeted by Yusuke, the man himself.
"You came!" He happily greeted, noticing Shiho by her side and gave him a suspicious gaze. "And you are..."
"Suzui Shiho, Ann's best friend," She introduced herself, keeping her glare steady and pointed at him. "I think Ann asked you for another ticket, right? That's for me."
"Oh, nice to meet you, Suzui-san," Nodding and keeping his smile, Yusuke held out a hand and the two shook. For a second there, Ann could see a slight wince on Yusuke's face as Shiho grabbed his hand.
Of course, she figured out why instantly.
However, behind those two girls, Ren pushed her glasses so light reflected it and hid his narrowed eyes. And Ryuji kicked the ground with an annoyed look, glaring at him with a clear threat.
In return, the pupil just dropped his smile and gave the two a deadpan. "You really came."
"What'd you expect when you left us those tickets?!" Ryuji retorted, shoving his hand inside of his jacket.
Deciding not to respond to Ryuji's words, Yusuke turned back to Ann and Shiho. "Suzui-san, Takamaki-san, can I show you and your friends around? I'd like to speak more about the picture I'd like to draw too."
"Yeah, sure," Shiho huffed, crossing her arms and narrowed her gaze. "Just a bit of fair warning, don't even think about anything out of the line."
"Of course."
As Ren and Ryuji looked around for any clue about Madarame's rumors, Akira and Keigo were examining the painting on the other end of the gallery. Since Keigo figured that the entire gallery would be filled with visitors, he asked (read: forced) Akira to come with him early.
With this being the first time Akira saw Keigo wearing anything other than his school uniform, Keigo's casual outfit actually reminded Akira of his Metaverse outfit. He wore a black t-shirt with a red-brown blazer over it, a pair of deep brown jeans, and his camera hanging on his chest.
However, for some odd reason, the half-French took out a different camera (more specifically, a digital camera) and took a few pictures of the paintings.
"So... Kamisaki, any clues or abnormality from these paintings?" Akira asked, letting out a tired yawn and hastily covered his mouth. "I should drink some coffee before coming..."
Keigo only pressed his glasses in response, "Actually, I found a lot of them," He said, pointing at one of them. "Look at how the brushes are."
Raising an eye in curiosity, the amateur writer took a step closer and examined the painting. Upon close inspection, the trails of brushes on the background were from left to right. Also, the brushes next to any objected in the foreground circled around it.
"It was going from left to right, and clearly move around any object," The half-French said, gesturing to another painting on the left. "However, look at this one."
"Not only the brushes are from right to left instead, but it was also much wilder and not working around the subject," Keigo continued, crossing his arms. "Catch the abnormality here?"
"Uh..." Trailing off, Akira processed the information Keigo dropped, widening his eyes in realization. "The brushes didn't look like Madarame are doing any experimentation, it looked like... they were drawn by two different people."
"Yes, and the coloring style is different too," The half-blooded blonde nodded, pointing at two paintings showing the same landscape. "Even though they're showing the same scenery, the shade of blue is different. And it looked like more a style choice instead of anything else."
"Yeah..."
"From the look of it, the rumors might be a reality," Keigo concluded. "Especially with what Miyano's shadow said before, the evidence seems to be piling on."
"Then... I'll text Shiho about this," Rubbing the back of his head, Akira took out his phone and messaged Shiho about the discovery. "Let's hope that Kitagawa guy didn't act too suspicious around Takamaki..."
"You worried about Takamaki?"
"Not really..." The amateur writer shrugged. "I'm actually worried about Kitagawa, who knows what Shiho would do..."
"Okay, but that information didn't relate to our purpose to come here."
"I know-"
"We continue to be truly surprised by your imagination, Madarame-sensei."
Stopped in mid-sentence, the duo turned around and saw a TV interviewer interviewing the man himself. Just like how he looked online in their research, he wore a homely looking kimono and had a low ponytail.
"You have such expansive styles, it's hard to believe that it all stems from one person..." Trailing off, the TV interviewer kept her modest smile and politely pointed the microphone to him. "Can you tell us where does all your inspiration come from?"
Narrowing his eyes, Keigo took out a small notebook from his jacket's pocket. Opening a new page, he unclipped the small pen and readied to write down any useful information.
Humming thoughtfully, Madarame answered with the same modest smile. "Well... It is rather difficult to put into words..." He trailed off, tapping his chin. "But... They naturally well up from within my heart like bubbles rising one after another in the spring."
Covering his mouth to hold his cough, Akira pinched his nose bridge and gave Keigo an apologetic look. "Sorry, I'm allergic to bullshit."
"It's not funny, Ichijo." Keigo scowled, keeping his gaze at his notebook. "And you're not doing any favor for our investigation either."
"I just want to lighten the mood..." Trailing off, the amateur writer sighed and continued to listen to the interview.
"Naturally, you say?" The TV interviewer pressed on, nodding her head thoughtfully.
"Right," Madarame nodded. "What's important is to distance oneself from worldly desires such as money and fame."
"My atelier is a modest shack, but it is more than enough to pursue true beauty."
Upon hearing what Madarame's atelier was, the two members of The Fools exchanged a look of agreement. If Madarame didn't lie, the location of his palace would most likely be that exact shack.
However, as they returned to listen to the interview, Akira noticed another pair of Persona-Users also listening to what Madarame was saying. Thankfully, either they were gifted actors, or just this oblivious, Ren and Ryuji didn't notice them.
"Wait, they're here too..." He murmured under his breath, widening his eyes in realization. "So you four are also investigating in this matter."
"I see..." The interviewer nodded thoughtfully, giggling in the process. "So the act of emptying one's mind gives rise to inner beauty. Still, to think we could hear the word 'shack' coming from the great artist Madarame."
"You would understand if you saw it," The said artist responded with a calm smile.
Sensing that there's no real information that he could get from Madarame's word, Keigo closed his notebook and glanced at Akira. "I think we got enough information, at least enough to form a possible keyword."
"Keyword... that's good to hear-"
"Madarame-san is actually here?!" Before the amateur writer could finish his sentence, a yelp from a bystanding woman surprised them.
And before long, more and more attendants started to gather around Madarame, practically squeezing every inch to see the artist himself. Thankfully, Keigo was able to drag Akira out of the crowd before it became too much.
[About a few minutes beforehand, about Shiho and Ann]
Even she was suspicious of him at first, but after going around and listened to Kitagawa introducing the paintings... Shiho had to admit that Kitagawa didn't seem too bad of a person.
Maybe... he was that... weirdly artistic person?
Feeling her body physically cringed at this thought, the volleyball player hastily shook her head to clear her mind. She was looking after Ann, not spacing out.
And Ann's words helped her snapped out from her thought too.
"Oh, this is it!" Finding herself standing in front of an extremely abstract painting, Ann turned back to Yusuke with a smile. "That's the painting I wanted to see in person."
The painting showed a mountain in a distance, covered by trees. Usually, it would be a plain-looking painting of a view, but the heavy uses of red and black, espeically on the sky and sun... It created a weird contrast and conflict between the two images.
It almost looked like the painter wanted to paint something normal at first, but gave in to his rage and frustration...
Wait, rage and frustration?
Glancing over to Yusuke, Shiho could clearly notice how tense he was. And there was some small twitching from his arms and lips. It was subtle, but noticeable.
It didn't need too much to connect the dots between them. It wasn't Madarame's work, it was Yusuke's.
Nodding to herself, she took out her phone and took a picture to the painting.
However, Ann was unaware of how uncomfortable he was and took a closer look. "I guess it's the painter's anger? I'm not sure, but I sense this...strong frustration from it," She wondered, tapping her chin thoughtfully. "To think such a cheerful and gentlemanly person could make such a piece…"
Noticing how the apprentice stiffness worsened at her word, Shiho decided to distract her from this topic and stood out. "Well, Madarame-sensei was famous for a reason, right? Art is supposed to always step out of the comfort zone, after all." She said, glancing over to Yusuke with a faint smile.
"R-right, that's right," He hastily nodded in response, gesturing over to other paintings. "Then let's move on, shall we?"
With that said, the three continued on their way through the gallery, with Yusuke introducing and giving them insight into each exhibit. However, as their tour almost came to an end, Shiho could feel her phone suddenly vibrated. It was a text from Akira.
Akira: Hey Shiho, let's meet up at the station square after the exhibition, okay?
Shiho: You got any clues?
Akira: Not just clues, we might have found the first two keywords to his palace.
Shiho: That's great!
Shiho: Okay, I think Kitagawa's tour is about to end as well. I think I can make an excuse and meet with you guys.
Akira: Got it.
After Kitagawa finished his small tour, and formally asked Ann to be his model (from what she'd said, it was the second time Kitagawa asked her). Shiho decided that it was the right moment to make an excuse and met up with Akira.
"Oh, um... Ann," She said with a sly smile, awkwardly taking a few steps behind. "I uh... Sorry Ann, I have to go now, mom's calling me."
"Huh?! This early?"
"Yeah... I'm really sorry, See you tomorrow though!" With that said, Shiho hastily turned around and left the exhibition.
It didn't take her too long to meet up with Akira and Keigo, just an elevator ride and a few more steps. With where the exhibition was set, the department store was literally just a few minutes of walk away from the station square.
Glancing up from his phone, Akira hastily waved at her with a smile. "Here!"
"Sorry, did I make you two wait?" Walking up to the two, she rested her hands inside the pockets of her windbreaker. "Kitagawa's tour got a bit longer than I expected."
"No, it's fine," Keigo reassured, adjusting his glasses. "Actually, as we're waiting for you, I've found... a different request we might have to look into."
"Another request?"
"Yeah, if not for Kamisaki, it might be buried under a mountain of posts," Akira nodded, showing her the Phan-site from his phone. "Here, that's the one."
"Dear the Phantom Thieves,
I do not know whether this request would ever reach out to you, but it is an urgent one. It is about my mother.
I apologize that I could not delve into the personal details, but she has been fixing Shogi matches in order to push me into idol status. However, she has also been heavily depressed.
I wanted to help with her emotion by not exposing the fact that I knew about her fixing my matches. But her condition has not improved in the slightest bit.
To be honest, I am scared of her condition. I do not want to see another loss in my family.
Her name is Togo Mitsuyo and Phantom Thieves, if you do notice this message. Save my mother, Please."
"...Togo Mitsuyo?" Shiho blinked, faintly remembering that she had heard this name somewhere before. "That sounds familiar... Where did I hear it-"
"She was Togo Hifumi's mother, and her manager," Akira explained, gently taking his phone back from her hand.
"O-oh, Togo Hifumi!" She exclaimed, widening her eyes in realization. "No wonder she's familiar- Wait, does that mean..."
"From the look of it, it seems to be the case," Keigo nodded, scrolling through his phone and showed another website. "Besides, the post mentioned that the original poster didn't want to see 'Another' loss in her family."
"Concidentally, the same happened to Togo Hifumi herself," He said, showing a news article from four years ago. "Four years ago, Togo Hifumi's father, Togo Mamoru died from a car accident."
"Breaking news: Shogi star Togo Mamoru passed away from fatal car accident."
Akira sighed in response, seeing someone else losing her family... It never got any better. "But Kamisaki, there's something more important, right?"
"Something... more important?"
Noting Shiho's questioning glance, Keigo nodded and leaned against the public flower pot behind him. "...Togo Mitsuyo might have a palace of her own, instead of a Memento chamber."
"Huh?!" Realizing that she was gaining attention from bystanders, the volleyball player hastily covered her mouth and leaned closer. "B-but why are you so sure of it, Kamisaki?"
"Time," The half-French plainly said, opening another tab on his browser. "I did some research on Madarame and Kamoshida. And I found a common point between them."
Showing the phone screen to the two, he continued his explanation. "Kamoshida started working in Shujin three years ago, a year after his disastrous game in the London Olympic game."
"Rising Star Kamoshida Suguru announcing retirement after the disastrous play from last month's Olympic game..."
"...Okay?" Akira nodded, crossing his arms and raised an eye in slight confusion. What was Keigo trying to point out? And 'Time'...?
"Not only that, when did Madarame's first breakthrough to the art world, Ichijo?" Keigo pressed on, swiping to a wiki page about Madarame's artworks.
"Madarame-sensei's breakthrough painting, 'Sayuri', was painted and published on March 8th, 2000..."
Noting that the two still somewhat confused at where he's going, the Shadow Operative member couldn't help but sigh. Maybe it was his fault, after all, he always had a hard time following his father's explanation on his cases...
"Anyway, I noticed a difference in the color of Sayuri," Keigo continued. "The grey mist in the painting has a... extremely cold tone, and it was contradicting the overall warm on the rest of the painting."
"This was one of the heaviest criticism of this painting, right?" Akira suggested. "I heard about this a while ago, when I was researching for a scene in my novel."
"Akira, what in the world is your novel's about?" Shiho deadpanned.
Before Akira could even answer, the half-French took over by his explanation. "Yes, you're right, Ichijo," He nodded. "However, since we already have evidence on Madarame's plagiarism... as much as I hate digital camera..."
Giving out a soft sigh, he took out his digital camera and showed the pictures he took during the exhibition. "By this, we can assume that... Madarame's plagiarism started in the year 2000, or even before that."
"I've checked the Meta-Nav, Madarame did have a palace of his own," Akira added.
Shiho, on the other hand, furrowed her brow and pondered. From what Keigo said, everything makes sense right now, but... what about the Mementos target they fought beforehand? And that Nakanohara guy Ren's group dealt with?
As if he directly read what she was thinking, Keigo opened the old post about their old target and Nakanohara. "In the post about Miyano Karou, the original poster mentioned that he'd been like this for half a year."
"And for Nakanohara, he stalked his ex-girlfriend for two months."
Seeing that Shiho had nothing to say anymore, the half-French pressed glasses. "From how little information we have right now. The difference between Memento targets and Palace owner is time."
"And by this logic, Togo Mitsuyo is possibly a Palace owner."
With that said, an aura of seriousness surrounded the trio, especially Shiho. If what Keigo said was right, that means they were dealing with two palaces at the same time. How... how should they do that?
However, her thought was cut short when Akira suddenly said, "I remember I saw Ren and Ryuji in the exhibition though. So they might also be looking into Madarame's palace as well."
"In this case, we might have time to deal with Togo's palace," Running his hand through his hair, the amateur writer suddenly stood up, a determined look filled his eyes. "But either way, let's check out Madarame's shack first. Then we'll look into Togo's palace."
With a nod between the trio, they walked over to the direction of Madarame's shack (according to the map). However, they didn't notice a certain Shigo player watching them from aside, her eyes widened in shock.
Togo Hifumi was just walking by when Shiho's gasp caught her attention, and she didn't expect to hear them talking about her request on the Phan-site. She already thought that her request got buried by other posts, and went unnoticed by then.
"...D-did they just talked about my request?" She murmured to herself, keeping her gaze at the trio. "And from how they talked about it... No way..."
"There is no way that they're the Phantom Thieves..." Trailing off, she was about to turn around and leave when something hit her mind. "Wait... did they call that guy 'Ichijo'?"
"Yes, you're right, Ichijo,"
"Akira, what in the world is your novel's about?"
'Ichijo Akira... That's the name Hinaki mentioned before!' Hifumi widened her eyes in realization, a short memory between her and Hinaki played in her mind.
Sitting at the spot right in front of Hinaki, Hifumi couldn't help but be worried about the rumor about her. "So Hinaki... I heard some rumor about you going to Shujin... Isn't you..."
The said student council president nodded. "I am, but I was asking someone to transfer to Kosei."
"Huh?! That was really out-of-the-blue, Hinaki." The Shogi player raised an eye at her answer. "Why is that person?"
"Ichijo Akira, a old friend of Izumo." Giving out a long sigh, Hinaki kept her stare into nothing. "I thought that bringing his friend to Kosei would help... but I just making this worse..."
"Don't be too hard on yourself, Hinaki."
"I know," Hinaki sighed. "But the thing is... his reason to refuse my offer is to 'protect those he cared about'..."
Hifumi didn't answer, just keep listening to what she had to say.
"I understand where Icijou's coming from, but I couldn't just let Izumo..." Trailing off, she stopped for a moment before continuing. "Either way, I might have to find him again in the upcoming Golden Week. Maybe he would give me more insight into Izumo..."
Snapping out from her memories, Hifumi hastily checked her schedule and saw that her next interview was at least two hours away. Without hesitation, she picked up her pace and followed them.
Just like what they said before, the trio stopped in front of Madarame's shack and talked. Even though she couldn't hear them clearly due to their distance, but she had heard enough from them.
"...So, if we didn't see The Phantom... we might need to change Madarame's and Togo's heart..."
'That was it, they were talking about changing mother's heart!' Widening her eyes, Hifumi hastily covered her mouth so they wouldn't hear her surprised yelp.
However, her shock only intensified at what happened next.
Right before her eyes, the trio disappeared in thin air.
She couldn't believe it, but... she just stumbled into the Phantom Thieves. And they noticed her request...
And they accepted it.
(To be continued)
Preview:
As they venture into a dark corner of the art world, The Fools are shocked by their discoveries.
As Togo Hifumi's curiosity rises, she is one step close to the crossroad of her life.
"To face the thieves or not to"
With a deep breath, she made a decision.
Next Chapter:
"First Visit"
Stay Tuned!
So... after three weeks, chapter 19 is here!
And sorry for ending it on a cliffhanger XD. It's just a perfect spot to end it on.
Anyway, now The Fools had unknowingly leaked their identities to a certain Shogi player. Well... I guess they needed to have a better awareness of their surroundings XD. At least it wasn't because of Ryuji's loudmouth. It's literally just coincidence.
Anyway, what will happen between Hifumi and The Fools?
Review Responses:
Gordita2020: Thank you so much for liking the story so far! :)
JamminApples: Thank you so much for placing my fic as one of your top fic so far! And for the time when they figured each other out... (more like The Phantoms finally figured out their identities XD.) Well, it might be arc ;)
Anyway, I hope you all like the story so far, reviews are definitely welcome!
