[June 7th, afterschool, Shujin's rooftop]

To say that Akira was shocked to his core… was a great overstatement here. Instead, he just had a deadpanned look at the man before him. It was Ren, crossing his arms and looking like he was waiting for someone.

"So, the admin of that Phantom Aficionado Website is our classmate…" Trailing off, Akira took another look of the rooftop around him. "But why are we meeting him here?"

"It's fun to play it like some kind of secret meeting," Ren shrugged, as a small 'Joker-like' smirk crept up. "Which to be honest, we're talking about Phantom Thief stuff here, so…"

"But still, we can just uh… not meet him here?" Pointing at the rain showing the area that wasn't guarded by the roof, The amateur writer deadpanned. "It's raining…"

"We got a roof on our head, it's fine."

"…I guess you have a point here," Giving out a long breath, Akira leaned against the wall behind him. "Anyway, when is that 'admin' gonna show up? We've been here for…"

"Seven minutes, and seven minutes too long," Morgana chimed in, poking its head out from Ren's bag. "Ren, you should call him if he's coming or not."

"I know, but that'd ruin the suspense-"

"It's not the time to build any kinds of suspense," With a deadpan look on his face, the feline sighed. "I know you LOVE to be extra on everything, but now's really not the time to do that."

"And I doubt there'd be any shock in me when I finally meet that admin," Akira added, shaking his head.

Thankfully, his doubt was proven wrong, exactly two seconds later.

As someone suddenly burst through from the door next to the two leaders, panting heavily and resting his arms on his knees. "I-I'm sorry, some girl was asking for help, and I can't really refuse it…"

Trailing off, he looked up and stared right at Akira's gaze. For a few long, long moments, an aura of awkward silence filled the group. Until both Akira's eyes widened in shock, as the cogs in his head started turning.

"Wait, You're the admin?!" And he exclaimed, the genuine disbelief was very, very clear.

"…Huh?!" Responding with the same shock, Mishima turned his gaze to Ren. "Wait, why is Ichijo here? I know you two are friends, but this is…"

"Don't worry, I was going to explain why," Somehow ignoring the deadpanned gaze from Morgana (and Akira to some extent), Ren pushed his glasses so the lens flare happened to cover his eyes. "So, Akira, this IS the admin for the Phan-site. And Mishima, let's just say he's a… co-leader of a sort."

"Technically, he's handling his own team, but that's beside the point."

Snapping his head to Akira, Mishima opened his mouth wide and hung open. "W-wait, you're also a part of PT?! O-or you're the newest member or something?"

"Uh… Yes and no?" With awkwardness and unsureness clear on his face, Akira answered. "I mean, I'm not 'new' like I just joined, but… Well, basically, I'm the leader of a different group of Phantom Thieves."

In response, Mishima's eyes were on the edge of popping out from his eye sockets. "H-huh?! A-an different group of Phantom Thieves?!"

"Yeah… basically that," Rubbing the back of his neck, the leader of The Fools cast an awkward glance at Ren before turning back. "Anyway, now that you know about it, you can send some requests to me instead."

For a few long moments, nothing came out of the admin's mouth. "W-wow, I…" As he finally said or struggled to, Mishima's whole demeanor suddenly changed into a more 'serious' one. "Of course! As the admin of the Phan-site, I will continue my work and look for more requests!"

"…Okay?" Weird out and with how his body leaned away, Akira sweatdropped. "Uh… nice to work with you then. I guess."

With a wide grin on his face, Mishima grabbed and shook his hand with a surge of enthusiasm. And on the other side, Akira just kept a polite but awkward smile on him, casting glances at Ren and Morgana.

Enthusiasm toward something was usually a good thing, a very good thing.

But in this case, it was the opposite.


[June 8th, lunchtime, Class 2-D's classroom]

As the rain outside continued on from yesterday, Ren and Ryuji found themselves staying in the classroom. Which was a rare thing ever since Akira's team finally revealed themselves.

However, a small talk between two other students caught their attention. As the name 'Madarame' popped up.

"Hey, did you see that meme edit of Madarame's press conference?"

"Of course I have, it's just like that Nonomura guy a few years ago…"

"Yeah, that one was gold, but definitely not as good as the Madarame one," Unable to hold his laughter from memory, the male student decided to switch his subject. "But seriously though, you think it was really those Phantom Thieves? Y'know, the whole 'I'm gonna steal your heart' thingy."

"That… There's no way," Shaking his head, the other male student tried to refuse it. "But then again… it just seems too convenient for it all to just be a coincidence."

Hearing it all in, Ryuji and Ren just shared a smile of victory. And Ryuji couldn't help but pumped his fist.

Just as Ann came in. "Hey, how's it going? Have you found our next big target?"

"If only we'd find one this quick," With that previous look of victory disappeared into nothing, Ryuji just frowned. "Ain't that right, Renren?"

"Yeah, Mishima did send a few small Mementos stuff over, but that's pretty much it," Covering his mouth and trying to hide his yawn, Ren took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. "And he just had to always send them over in 4 in the morning…"

"Ah… that sucks," Ann winced, nodding in sympathy. "But hey, I think you brought him to meet Akira, shouldn't he just divert some requests over to him?"

"That's the problem, he did just that," Giving out a long breath, the delinquent leaned back against the wall. "And my phone kept waking me up from text notifications."

"To make it worse, I always tell him to go to bed too," Morgana added, keeping his voice just loud enough for Ryuji and Ann to hear. "So it's not like he's staying up late either."

"Yeah, I feel bad for Ichijo too, he's gonna have his sleep destroyed," Glancing over to the empty seat behind Akira, Ann gave out a small sigh. "By the way, ready for the trip tomorrow? After all, everyone's gonna be there."

"Ugh, don't remind me of that," Ryuji said, his shoulder slumped. "A whole day in the TV station… I really should just ditch it…"

"Too late, Ryuji," Ren chuckled. "And as Morgana said, we're gonna keep up the 'good student' images for a while. Even if you still had your hair dyed blonde."

"…Ren, aren't we bro?"

"We are, that's why I'm not letting you live this down."

"I hate you, Renren."

"You two stooges…" Ann facepalmed, glancing over to the graffiti on the blackboard of the back. "Hey, at least we got to choose, I'm really not in a mood for a museum after that…"

Following her gaze and landed on the graffiti about Madarame's excessive crying, Ren and Ryuji sighed and nodded in unison.

"Yeah, it really sucks out the mood from goin' to one," Ryuji said, crossing his arms. "I just hope there will be some actress tomorrow…"

"Or just sleep through it, I'm planning to do just that," Ren added, ignoring a subtle deadpanned glance from Morgana. "But seriously though, just think of it as a day-off from our work. I bet Akira feels the same too."

"Maybe," Stretching his arms, the ex-runner stood up straight. "But… I think I'm gonna head back, the bell's about to ring anyway."

With that said, he walked over to the backdoor of the classroom, leaving Ann, Morgana, and Ren. And as he watched the door close, Morgana couldn't help but gave out a sigh. "I hope nothing happens…"

"He'll be fine, I'm sure," Ann replied, as a small smile emerged. "Don't look at him like that, he's… dependable."

"That's rare, coming from you-" Cutting off his own sentence, Ren noticed the gaze she had. And it didn't take him too long to recognize what it was.

Without a word, Ren chuckled to himself. And chose to switch the subject. "…Yeah, but it's really just a trip to the TV station... I don't think there's gonna be anything big happens there," He said. "I'm probably more worried about getting bored over there than anything else."

"It should be at least interesting though…"


[June 9th, TV Station]

Unfortunately, Ren was wrong.

Even though they expected nothing big from the social trip, somehow… someway, the trip was even more boring than they expected of. Like, way, way more boring than what they expected.

"…And that's why we recruit sponsors to help make TV shows," Upholding a sense of professionalism and friendliness, the PR woman for the TV station said. "I'm sure you know about commercial breaks? Well, those are actually sponsor-related product placement."

"To sum things up, ratings are vitally important for a station's production funding, and…"

"…The rating is decided by how much viewers watch the show," With a deadpanned stare toward nothing, Akira muttered the rest of the sentence. Perfectly in sync with the PR woman as well. "…I regret not going to the museum now."

"But… it's a bit interesting," Shiho tilted her head, her arms crossed. "It's something new."

Meanwhile, Keigo just kept his gaze on everything but what was being told to him, his brow furrowed. "Jesus, the color is more obnoxious in person than on TV…" He murmured. "I guess the Camera Control Unit did their best to fix this…"

And near them, as in right behind the trio, Ren sighed. "Everyone knew that…"

"Chill, man," Glancing over to him, Ryuji rubbed the back of his neck. "She probably didn't want to do it either…"

"For example, soap opera reruns are shown in the day, whereas alluring newswomen are broadcast at night." Unaware of the muttering from the thieves, the PR woman continued. "Thus, the scheduling department is where we decide what time we broadcast which program."

"I suppose you could say it's the place where the scheduling is determined."

"Huh, a 'scheduling department' is handling the program's schedule," Deadpanned, Ann sighed and turned to Shiho. "Could this get even more obvious?"

"C'mon, she's trying to make a joke here," She replied, trying to spin this into more of a 'positive experience'. "It's not a good one, but she's trying."

"That doesn't mean it's worth it though," Ryuji sighed, crossing his arms and turning to Ren. "Hey man, you're alright?"

"…So sleepy…"

"Wow, he's not even listening to what you said…" Trailing off, Ann turned to Akira, who just clearly let his mind wander off to somewhere far, far away. "And… same for him too."

Meanwhile, and still didn't (or chose not to) notice the murmurs, the PR woman continued. "So, the best parts are taken from the footage in order to cut down the program to the desired length. The place…"

"…Where this filmed footage is edited would be the editing room," Finishing what she said again, Akira could feel his soul leaving him. "I really should've chosen the museum…"

Meanwhile, coming back from his rant about the decoration, Keigo cast a shocked glance at the PR woman. "…Wait," He blinked, stepping back and standing next to Ryuji as he asked. "She's still going?"

"Yeah..."

And on top of it all, Morgana hopped out from Ren's shoulder bag, frowning. "Hey, how much longer does this go?"

"I wish I know…" Ren trailed off, adjusting his glasses.

However, just as the torture seemed to continue until the end of time, a middle-aged man barged in with a clear scowl. And in the process, knocking Ren aside like he's merely an annoyance.

"What's going on?" The man asked, clearly displeased. "I can't stand all this noise."

"Hey, asshol-"

Before Ryuji's comment could be heard or finished, the PR Woman hastily bowed to that man. "My apologies! I'll have them leave right away!"

Turning back to the students, she hastily put on an awkward smile. "Now then, it's time for a bit of hands-on experience!"

With groans (some sighs of relief) echoing among the students, they all started moving away and talking to different staff members. Some were cameramen, some were handling the microphone…

And once the middle-aged man left the scene, Ryuji turned back with a scowl. "Dammit… Who does that jerk think he is?"

"He's probably some famous talk-shot host or something," Akira sighed, giving him a sympathetic gaze. "Those older guys always got a lot more power than the staff."

"But that doesn't mean it should be the norm," Ren murmured, frowning.

However, just as the girls were about to join in the discussion, another man in his mid-thirties approached Ann. "Hey there," He said, as his gaze scanned across the model. "You wanna be on TV?"

"Huh?"

"You've got a smallin' bo-" Before the man could finish his words, Shiho stepped in between them, and gave the man the angriest gaze she could give. Just like that same gaze she gave to Kamoshida's shadow.

"Don't you dare finish that sentence," She said, as the man just took a step back in slight fear. "We're not here to get ogled by some disgusting perverts like you."

"W-what, no," Shaking his head, the man tried to play it off as casual as possible. "I'm just asking her if she wants to be on TV."

"Do I look like I'm gonna buy your weak excuse?"

"I-I…"

Watching how the tension rose, Ryuji gave his fellow boys a glance. Without another word, both he and Akira walked over and pulled the girls away from that man.

With Shiho's rage-filled gaze switched to meet Akira, he responded with one that was filled with sympathy. Thankfully, she calmed down soon after, but still gave that man a death glare.

As for Ryuji, he stepped in front of Ann protectively, also giving that man a death glare.

Noticing even Kawakami turned over at the scene, panic quickly surfaced on the man's face. "W-well uh…" Trailing off, a million thoughts ran through his head. "L-let's have you see what it's like to be an AC… O-oh, I mean 'Assistant Camera'."

"W-when we're moving the cameras, we need people who can keep the cables from getting tangled up…" He trailed off, as his gaze scanned over to the boys here. "Uh… you four would do, it seems like you all got the energy to spare."

Feeling the gaze of Kawakami next to them, the four boys sighed in unison. And at that moment, all four of them shared the exact same thought.

They should just pick the museum option in the first place.


[Afternoon, a hallway outside of the studio]

"Well… this trip sucks. And we still one more day of this."

As everyone agreed with what Ren said, they all gave out a tired sigh.

After the fight with the cables for almost the entire day, a break was finally upon and blessed the thieves. And they immediately rushed to the restroom to wash off the dust and the black stain on their hands.

So much for a 'social study' trip.

"I know it's not easy to be a Phantom Thief," Morgana said, sharing the sigh everyone else did. "But man… it's way worse than I thought…"

"Oh, I definitely learned a lot of social stuff, like how selfish people are," Leaning against the wall behind him and arms crossed, Keigo let himself be angry for once. "We're supposed to be guests, not some goddamn free labor…"

"Nah, it's just that asshole bein' salty because he can't get Ann," Stomping his feet, Ryuji furrowed his brow. "Effin' creep… We sure got some 'hands-on' experience."

"Don't remind me of that," Ann sighed. "He just came in from nowhere…"

"And you should let just me beat him up," Chiming in, Shiho's face darkened, again. "I would've taught him a lesson or two."

"O-okay everyone, just calm down and think of something else," Akira said, stepping into the middle of the group. "At least we can go home straight from here, and not with a long trip back to school."

"Yeah, and we don't spend much time in this area either," Ann nodded, as an idea popped up in her head. "Why don't we relax and check out some shops or places beforehand."

"Ooh, speaking of that, I remembered a pancake-looking place on the way here!" As his mood also brightened from a while ago, Morgana said with clear glee in his voice. "It looked delicious, what was it?"

Exchanging glances with each other, it didn't take them long to figure out what Morgana was describing. "Ohhh…" Trailing off, Ryuji nodded. "You mean Dome Town?"

"The round part is a baseball stadium, then along the outside they've got an amusement park."

"Oh yeah, I remembered that park," Akira chimed in, nodding in agreement. "I don't know how much it had changed from back then, but it's an awesome place to go to."

"It's right in the middle of a business area, but I heard that it got some hardcore ride too," Ann added, her eyes widened in recognition.

Taking out his notebook from his pocket, Keigo flipped through the pages before adding in. "It's also in my 'place to visit in Tokyo' list too."

"Then all right… Let's go!" Morgana exclaimed, as determination suddenly filled his gaze. "I'll show you how courageous I am!"

"I don't think going on a scary ride is gonna prove any kind of courage though," Shiho deadpanned, raising an eye. "Besides, I don't want to hurt your feeling, Morgana… but you're a cat."

"And it's not like a cat can get on anyways," Ryuji added, crossing his arms.

"Really?" The not-cat asked.

"Really. You might be able to sneak in if you stay in the bag, but you'd totally puke if you did that," Nodding, the blonde delinquent couldn't help but let a faint smirk creep up. However, it only lasted for a split second. "But uh… let's just go to Dome Town! I'm really feelin' it now!"

"Me too!" With a beaming smile, Ann agreed with a nod. "My stomach's ready for roller coasters!"

"It's gonna be my first time riding a roller coaster too!" Shiho added, mimicking the beaming smile on Ann. "I've always wanted to try that!"

"Uh… I think I'll pass on the puke rides…" Morgana said with a frown, or as clear as one on a cat.

However, just as the conversation was about to continue on, someone showed up and approached them. From the first glance, that man… no, that boy was around their age, a year or two older than them at max.

Carrying a steel suitcase with a giant "A" engraved on it, he was wearing a uniform that the thieves couldn't recognize. It was somewhat similar to the normal uniform's format of shirt with blazers. Just that it was clad in tan instead of some other color like black in Shujin's case, and with a logo that they didn't recognize.

Besides, with his slightly unkept, neck-length hair… Akira and Keigo couldn't help but recalled Light Yagami at the first glance of him. And that polite, but somewhat unsettling smile only strengthened the comparison between them.

"Excuse me, I couldn't help but notice your uniforms," The boy said, and his voice oozed pleasantry and friendliness. "Are you students of Shujin Academy?"

Exchanging a confused glance with one another, Ryuji nodded. "Yeah, whaddya want?"

"I happened to be passing by, so it seemed polite to greet you," Holding that smile, the boy took a few steps closer to them. "We'll be filming together, after all."

"Filming together… huh?" Couldn't help but ask out loud, Akira exchanged glances with Shiho, who just shrugged.

"Ah, where are my manners?" As if realizing something out of order with what he did, the boy quickly introduced himself. "My name is Goro Akechi, it's nice to meet you all."

"Akechi?" Ann blinked, just as Ryuji followed.

"Filming? What, you a celebrity?"

"Only to the extent of appearing on TV a couple of times," Shaking his head, Akechi let out a soft chuckle. Thankfully, this seemed to knock some realization into some members of the thieves.

"Oh, yeah," Ren nodded casually.

However, just as Akechi was about to continue, he felt his phone vibrate and pulled it out to check. "My apologies, I truly was just passing by, I must be going," He said, with a slight frown appearing. "There's a briefing for tomorrow's recording that I have to attend."

"So, you're going to have cake now?" But just as quick as that frown appeared, the friendly smile returned. "I missed lunch today, so I'm quite hungry myself…"

"…Huh?" Blinking in confusion, Ren exchanged more glances with his fellow Phantom Thieves. "Did… we talk about cake?"

"…No?" Answering in perfect harmony and unison, Shiho and Akira shook their head as well.

"Cake? W-what're you talkin' about?" Ryuji added, as his brain scrambled to understand.

With all the gazes falling upon him, Akechi stopped for a second. Before his eyes widened. "Oh, am I mistaken? I thought I heard something about delicious pancakes…"

"No matter. Welp, see you tomorrow."

With that said, he gave them a polite bow and left the scene. In all and all, this whole… run-in just ended up like any other day. A mere encounter and nothing more.

However, what he didn't notice was how Keigo's gaze at him was. Piercing and suspicious, the half-French couldn't help but feel an aura of… weirdness around that boy. There was something off with this whole conversation, his friendliness… everything.

It seemed fake, like a performance.

(To be continued)


Preview:

As the painful trip continues, The Fools find themselves meeting a different celebrity.

On the next day, another surprise appearance made their life harder.

However, in the meanwhile.

Danger closes in for a particular Kosei student.

Next Chapter:

"Encounters (Part 2)"

Stay Tuned!


So... how long has it been? *Checking the time* Shit, it's been over a month since that.

First, I'm very sorry about the long wait, and you readers probably could feel how short this chapter is (and the title too). So as the chapter's title implies, this is just part 1 of the original planned Chapter 38. But as I continues to write, it got way longer than I originally anticipated.

It'd be the second chapter that crosses that 10K words mark, thus I chose to split it into 2 parts. Since to be fair, there is a good cliffhanger to end on.

Anyway, Part 2 will be out tomorrow (or around half a day later, judging from the timezone.)

Anyway, here's some trivia for this chapter:

So, during the second scene with the small talk, the 'Nonomura' guy is actually a real person who is called 'Nonomura Ryutaro'. A politician who was revealed to use the public fund for Hotspring trips.

In his public apology (in 2014, so the timeline makes sense too), he just broke down mid-way through the conference talking about stuff like trying to fix the low birth-rate problem, and putting 'changing Japan for the better' as his duty.

Overall, this is so absurd and funny that people just meme the shit out of this guy.

This includes the remix the students mentioned. It's real and you can just look it up on YouTube. Not only that, there are guitar or piano covers of that apology. No cap here, it is real.

It is the second result when you searched 'Japanese man crying meme'. I'm serious.

Also, this actually is what Madarame's apology was inspired from. You can watch the real apology and compare it to Madarame's.

Anyway, Trivia section is over.

And either way, I hope you enjoy the story so far, and comments and favorites are welcomed!

Especially Part 2 soon!