The Phantom Thieves begin their investigation into Madarame by visiting his exhibit. Meanwhile, the Tokyo Police come to Shujin in search of the Thieves.
Author's Notes (Beginning):Hello, it's me NN010 again! Apologies for the lengthy gap since the last chapter. I've had a busy few weeks due to a summer course I was taking wrapping up & I also ended up taking a weekend off writing due to getting sucked into multiple sports rabbit holes at once (no, I'm not going into them here. Although I'm willing to divulge more info in the AO3 comments if anyone is particularly curious) & being busy with IRL stuff. Fortunately, my partner Slimeboyo2 has been understanding of my situation & now we are both ready to get back to telling this story. If you haven't read Slimeboyo2's previous chapter in a while, I'd suggest re-reading it so that it is fresh in your mind. Certain events from that will come into play here…
I do have a couple of things to address before we start with the chapter though. First off, both Slimeboyo2 & I have made some more decisions on the shipping front, as you can see from the tags. But we'd like to hold off on going into more details on said choices until a bit later into the fic once certain events have occurred, and we're more or less out of the plot setup phase. So please be patient.
The other thing I want to announce now is that the next chapter will be by Slimeboyo2. To make up for how long I've taken to write this, I'll throw a tiny tease at what my partner's cooking at the end.
Also, we've passed 500 hits on AO3 & aren't too far from 500 views on FFN!
I do have one more thing to announce, but that would be best saved for the end. So for now… Enjoy the new chapter!
Chapter 6: Prelude to War by NN010The next day, after spending an evening helping Sojiro around Leblanc, Ren had an idea…
/
Joker: Want to hang out today?
Skull: Where? And didn't you say we'd start looking into Madarame today?
Joker: I don't know, somewhere. I'm just feeling a little cooped up at the moment. I'll mull over our options.
\\
Ren was thinking over what his options in the city were. Even with the restrictions of being a teen, there are a lot of options in this town. They could go see a movie, but that might be a little too passive. Arcade? No, he wasn't sure if Ann would be into that sort of thing. Eat out? No, it's a little too soon after the Buffet. Plus it would probably be best to save something like that for big occasions like clearing a Palace.
Wait… Ren remembered seeing yesterday when researching Madarame that he has an art exhibit opening today.
He opened his phone's browser & checked. And what do you know, he does have one in Shibuya opening today.
/
Joker: Guys, I know what we're gonna do today!
Panther: What would that be?
Joker: Madarame has an exhibit opening today. It's perfect timing! We can get a closer look at the guy's paintings and scout the guy's interactions with others without suspicion! It's exactly what we need to find a way into his Palace.
Skull: Damn, really? Sounds good to me.
Panther: Alright, if you think this can be our way into the Palace, I'm in.
Joker: Alright, we'll meet up at the station.
\\
Eventually, Ren got on the train & and ended up near Ann & Ryuji out of sheer luck. But as they rode the train to Shibuya, Ann started to get antsy. It was as if she thought she was being followed. Ren wasn't sure if it was leftover stress from midterms or something else at first, though. Eventually, Ren noticed the guy Ann kept glancing at in her panic. He looked like he was around Ren's age, but he was tall, had blue hair & looked skinny… Possibly unhealthily so. Does this guy eat much? He doesn't seem to be the type to be affiliated with the police, but Ren wasn't willing to rule anything out at the moment.
But Ren was snapped out of it by the train announcing that they were arriving at Shibuya. Ann got out of the train rather quickly, clearly still concerned about the guy that seemed to be tailing them.
"Oh my god, that guy got off! This is bad," Ann said in a panicked tone.
"Indeed. We have to try to lose him. Whoever he is, he probably isn't up to any good," Ren responded. They proceeded to walk their way up the stairs.
Eventually, though, once they got out of the station, he caught up to them. Hearing the rattling of the boy's keys, Ren & Ryuji silently stood between him & Ann, making it clear that he'd have to go through them if he wanted to get to her.
The boy, instead of making any attempt to get any closer to Ann, simply stayed where he was.
"Hey, uh… are you sure it's him? Or are you just that self-conscious," Ryuji asked.
"I'm no-" Ann said before being cut off.
"Is there something you want?" the boy asked.
"THAT'S MY LINE! You're the one stalking me! You've been following me since I got on that train," Ann countered.
"S-stalking you? I only wanted to-" the boy asked before a car horn cut him off.
The black sedan pulled up & rolled down a window to reveal Madarame himself.
"My goodness! I had wondered why you left the car. So this is where your passion led… All is well that ends well," Madarame said to the boy with an upbeat tone. The boy must be another of his "pupils"…
Madarame then proceeded to laugh to himself in a manner Ren found somewhat unnerving.
"I saw you from the car… and so couldn't help myself from chasing after you. I didn't even notice the calls from Sensei! But, thank goodness I caught up with you," the boy explained.
"OK…" Ann said, clearly less paranoid than before, but still on guard. He at least didn't seem to be a spy for the government if he was with Madarame…
"What?" Ryuji asked.
"YOU'RE THE WOMAN I'VE BEEN SEARCHING FOR ALL THIS TIME! Please, won't you-" the boy said before Ann cut him off by saying "W-wait, I," and Ryuji seemed prepared to punch the boy.
"-Be the model for my next art piece," the boy finished with a pleasing look in his eyes.
This surprised the 3 of them. Ryuji, in particular, seemed to think he was about to abduct her & indoctrinate her into a cult-like those Happy Science nut jobs. Ren remembered the time he and some friends from school watched a couple of their movies one weekend and laughed at how ridiculous it was that people believe in that shit! Ah, good times… ((Seriously, watch the Mother's Basement videos on their movies, they are hilarious!))
"… Model?" Ann asked, clearly taken aback by what the boy was asking.
"All that I've drawn until now has been lacking, but I feel a passion from you unlike anything else." the boy explained.
"This man's highly suspicious!" Morgana told Ren. He'd have to agree. Sure, the boy wasn't trying to arrest him, but maybe Ryuji's apparent suspicions of him aren't too far off. Ren quickly glanced at him & saw that he seemed to practically be glaring at the boy now.
"Is it just me, or does this seem like either a recruitment for some shady business or cult, or just an attempt to date Ann?" Ryuji asked Ann & Ren.
"Will you cooperate with me? What do you say?" the boy asked.
"Hold your horses! Who're you anyway?" Ryuji asked in return.
"Oh! Where are my manners? I'm a second-year at Kosei High's fine arts division. My name is Yusuke Kitagawa." the boy, Kitagawa, responded.
He moved closer to Ann to reduce the distance between himself & her, lightly shoving Ryuji.
"I'm Madarame-sensei's pupil, and I am being allowed residence at his place. I'm striving to become an artist," Kitagawa continued.
Bingo
"Huh!? Do you mean THAT Madarame?… The one who was one Good Morning Japan the other day?" Ann asked, avoiding mentioning their true interest in Madarame.
"The very same," Kitagawa answered.
Ren & Ryuji simply looked at each other and both knew this could be another way in. They'd just have to consult Ann about it first.
"That old guy's Madarame?" Ryuji asked, looking toward the car.
"Yusuke!" Madarame called, clearly wanting to get going, presumably to the exhibit.
Kitagawa walked up to Ann and said, "Madarame-sensei's exhibition begins at the department store near the station today. I'll be there to help out throughout the opening day. Please come by. It'd be great if you can give me your answer then," Kitagawa said to Ann.
"I bet you have no interest in the fine arts, but I'll give you tickets too," Kitagawa said to Ryuji & Ren.
"Funnily enough, we were actually planning on going to it anyway. So thanks for saving us some money," Ren responded.
"Great! Well, I hope to see you there!" Yusuke said before proceeding to get in the car with Madarame & driving off.
"Heh. That guy was as easy to read as a book… Are you gonna do it? Please tell me you aren't?" Ryuji asked.
"... I think I will. If nothing else, it will help us learn more about Madarame. Know your enemy & all that," Ann answered.
"Let's go then," Ren said.
"How dare he go after Lady Ann… I've memorized that face of yours, Yusuke!" Morgana said.
—-—-—-—-—- Ren, Ann, Ryuji & Morgana would arrive at the exhibition shortly thereafter.
The first thing they noticed upon arriving was just how busy the exhibit was. It really shouldn't be surprising though considering Madarame's fame.
"So crowded…" Morgana said, giving voice to what Ren was thinking.
"It'll be a pain in the ass if someone sees you, so don't stick your head out too much, all right?" Ryuji said to Morgana. Ren supposed Ryujij was probably right.
And right after Morgana retreated to Ren's bag, Kitagawa showed up.
"You came!" Kitagawa said to Ann.
"Um… yeah." Ann responded.
"You really came," Kitagawa said again.
"We said we were already going? Plus what did you expect when you gave us those tickets?" Ren responded.
"Make sure that you don't get in the way of the other visitors. Come now. I'll show you around. I'd like to speak more about the picture I'd like to draw too," Kitagawa responded, inviting Ann to come with him.
"Well, see you guys later," Ann said, a subtle hint of dejection in her voice.
"Will Lady Ann be all right?! What if he drags her behind a painting and tries something funny?!" Morgana panickedly said to Ren & Ryuji.
"I told you not to come out!" Ryuji responded in an annoyed tone.
Morgana proceeded to return to inside the bag.
"Are we really going to "appreciate" the fine arts? Can't we just go home?" Ryuji asked Ren.
"Nope. We're staying. Think of this as an opportunity to learn more about Madarame. We have to figure out what his distortion is and where it's located if we're going to steal his heart," Ren answered in a hushed tone.
"I guess we should do a quick pass through it once…" Ryuji acknowledged.
"Uh… which way are we supposed to start?" Ryuji asked.
"I don't know… Let's just go with forward," Ren responded.
But as they went, they spotted Madarame being interviewed by a TV news crew. Perfect. Ren silently drew Ryuji's attention to it.
"We continue to be truly surprised by your imagination. You have such expansive styles, it's hard to believe that it all stems from one person… Where in the world does all your inspiration come from?" the interviewer asked Madarame.
"Well… It is rather difficult to put into words… They naturally well up from within my heart like bubbles rising one after another in the spring," Madarame answered in a tone that felt a bit too practiced and artificial to Ren's ear. On one hand, that might just be Ren's jaded ass grasping at straws. But on the other… Nakanohara said that Madarame was abusing his pupils. Surely he isn't plagiarizing their work, using his name & prestige to get by?
"Naturally, you say?" the interviewer asked in an admiring tone.
"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," Madarame responded in the same tone as before.
"A shack?" Ryuji asked himself like he was putting some puzzle pieces together. Ren didn't buy it either. This guy's definitely hiding some skeletons…
"I see… 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," the interviewer said.
"You would understand if you saw it," Madarame said before proceeding to laugh to himself as he did in the car earlier that day.
"Wasn't the word "shack" something-" Ryuji started before being cut off
"MADARAME-SAN IS ACTUALLY HERE?!" one customer exclaimed.
"Over there!" another customer said.
"I'm so glad I came on opening day!" the first customer said.
And then an entire crowd flooded around them as they realized Madarame was present.
"Hey, stop pushin'! There's way too many people" Ryuji exclaimed to the crowd.
"I'm… getting… crushed!" Morgana also exclaimed.
"Anyways, we gotta head for the exit! Don't die on us, alright!?" Ryuji said to Ren.
—-—-—-—-—-
As Ren & Ryuji stood (well, sat in Ryuji's case) in a nearby walkway awaiting Ann's return, the two did some thinking.
"That old lady totally elbowed me… But thanks to that, I remember now," Ryuji said, clearly feeling some pain from the experience.
"About what?" Ren asked.
"Well, lemme get to it." Ryuji responded.
"It's about a post online… Here, look at this," Ryuji said as he pulled up said post on his phone. Ren didn't get much of a chance to read it, but it seemed to say something about plagiarization.
"Why'd you leave without me?!" Ann said in annoyance.
"You got it all wrong; we got dragged into this huge crowd and… Eh, anyways. You gotta look at this too. This post might be about Madarame," Ryuji responded.
That sent alarm bells through both Ren & Ann's minds.
"What's it say?" Ann asked.
"A master of the Japanese arts is plagiarizing his pupil's work. Only his public face is shown on TV," Ryuji said as he read the post.
Ren wasn't sure what to think.
"Plagiarizing?!" Ann said in shock.
"I didn't think much of it when I first saw it, but hearing "shack" and "Madarame" triggered it." Ryuji explained.
"His treatment of the pupils who live with him is awful. He teaches them nothing and bosses them around. He treats them inhumanely, as if disciplining a dog…" Ryuji said as he resumed reading the post for them.
So that's the exploitation Nakanohara alluded to… No wonder the guy broke like he did…
"Abuse on top of plagiarism, hm?" Morgana mused.
"If this is real, it'll be a huge scandal," Ryuji noted.
"I wonder if Kitagawa-kun posted this. I mean, he IS a pupil of his," Ann wondered.
"Who knows? It's anonymous and all…" Ryuji said. That was a good point. For all they knew, it could have been Nakanohara who posted it.
"I suppose the conclusions I drew after stealing Nakanohara's heart & initially looking into Madarame yesterday were correct…" Ren mused.
"A man like that, doing such a thing? I wonder if we can ask that Shadow from earlier about this. Oh, actually, we just need to talk to him in reality," Ann asked then realized.
"And how are we gonna go about that? Are we gonna explain it all, startin' with Mementos?" Ryuji asked Ann.
"Besides, if we make a move out in the open, there's the possibility that Madarame will find out," Morgana added.
"Oh… Yeah, right…" Ann lamented.
"Hey, what do you think about Madarame, Ren? Doesn't he seem suspicious?" Ryuji asked him.
"That interview of his earlier was setting off all kinds of alarm bells in my mind. So definitely," Ren answered.
"I know, right? This all fits way too well to just be a coincidence. If this post is legit, this really is the kinda target we've been waitin' for!" Ryuji exclaimed.
"Well, yeah, but… Is it really true?" Ann asked.
"By the way, what did you do about the whole modeling thing?" Ryuji asked her.
"Kitagawa-kun gave me his contact info. And the address to his sensei's atelier," Ann answered.
"He said he lives there, right? Perfect timing! Let's try goin' tomorrow. We're off to Madarame's house after school!" Ryuji said.
"Huh? You want me to model tomorrow!? This is too sudden!" Ann asked.
"What? We're just gonna go talk to Kitagawa," Ryuji responded, seeming very worried about what Ann was assuming.
"Oh, that's what you meant…" Ann responded.
And with that they would head home.
—-—-—-—-—-
The next day, Ren finally arrived at Shujin for what he thought was just a normal day before the Phantom Thieves would resume infiltration of Madarame's Palace… Only to find out that the Tokyo Police had come to investigate what happened with Kamoshida.
"The actual police are in here? Oh great, another day wasted over this damn situation," Ren asked himself before sighing in resignation. He was just going to have to be careful & prepared for any potential questioning he'll face. He should also probably give Ryuji & Ann a heads-up.
/
Joker: Heads up everyone: The police are here again. I'd have to guess that they're here to question the student body about Kamoshida.
Joker: As a word of advice from someone with some experience with being questioned by cops (albeit in a slightly different context): Just keep calm & stick as close to the truth without revealing our activities as Phantom Thieves and we'll probably be fine!
Panther: Probably?!
Joker: You can never be too sure what they do or don't know. Let alone whether or not they are just out to bury the case and use you as a fall guy… 😢
Skull: Damn… Guess we'll just have to do our best then.
Joker: Yeah, pretty much.
Joker: Best of luck to you two. You'll need it…
Joker: Meet me at the train station after school. We'll head to the exhibit together from there.
\\
Now that those two were sufficiently warned, Ren felt much more at ease as he went into homeroom. All he could do now is have faith in his friends to do their best.
It was during lunch hour that Ren would be called in for questioning. Ren braced himself for whatever questioning he may face. On his way to where the officers had set up shop, he saw Ann leaving. She looked rattled by whatever had transpired in there. That wasn't a good sign… He hoped it was just the situation and not something worse…
He walked into the room and sat down in the chair. The woman across from him, one Detective Satonaka if her name tag was correct, carried herself like he'd expect from an officer.
"Ren Amamiya, right," Detective Satonaka asked.
"Yeah, that's me," Ren responded, trying his best to sound neutral and keep his distrust of
Police out of his voice.
"O–kay. So, have you ever had any encounters with the teacher that seemed off-putting?" Detective Satonaka asked.
"Yeah, I don't know if you've heard the rumors, but that teacher revealed my record to the whole school and now I'm Mr. Criminal," Ren answered, his bitterness about the whole situation unable to be contained.
"I've heard, just don't give 2 craps about them," Detective Satonaka replied in a way that surprised him. Either this Detective Satonaka wasn't all that bad, or this was part of her strategy. And Ren wasn't sure which was correct. For now, though, he wouldn't complain about someone who can relate to what he's been going through.
"Right?! And now every time I sneeze, they're spreading rumors about me," Ren exclaimed in agreement.
"Sounds rough… Anyway, anything else?" Detective Satonaka sighed before proceeding to ask.
"Do you need anything else," Ren asked in a more defensive tone.
"If it can help me arrest the guy for longer, sure," Detective Satonaka answered.
"Well, they almost expelled me for noticing the entire charade… Good thing those Phantom Thieves got to work?" Ren slyly said, a little too confident that the Detective wouldn't catch on to his omitting of certain details.
Speaking of, this Madarame guy will probably be-
"Ok… Now, what's your relationship with the victims of this case?" Detective Satonaka asked.
Right. Still being interrogated. Madarame will get his time later.
"… Volleyball team, right?" Ren asked, the sudden push back to reality throwing him off a bit.
"Yeah," Detective Satonaka answered.
No reason to lie here. "Well, I'm pretty new here, so I didn't really get to know them well" Ren sincerely said.
"What could you tell me about Shiho Suzui?" Chie asked
"While I didn't learn much about her, only really talking once, she seemed sad. When I got here, she told me not to mind the hateful comments, and to this day, I haven't" Ren said.
"Ok, ok. I heard from this kid named Mishima that you had also confronted the teacher, so the data syncs up" Detective Satonaka said. 'FUCK! Did Mishima crack? I didn't even think to give him a heads up!' Ren thought to himself.
Detective Satonaka noticed Ren's shocked expression and said, "Don't worry, he's not blaming you to be a Phantom thief. Even though there has been a lot of shade surrounding those guys. Everyone has been blaming one another". 'PHEW! That was a close one,' Ren thought to himself
"That's why I hate rumors, they all spread and destroy the lives of others," Ren said instead.
"That would be all," Detective Satonaka finally said. Relieved that the ordeal was over, Ren started to get up to leave.
But before he could do so, Detective Satonaka interrupted him to say "Oh, and before you go: Say hello to the man with a pointy nose for me."
This shocked Ren to the core. This was no ordinary Detective. What kind of police officer is she if she knows about Igor?! How many other Wild Cards & Persona-users were out there? Is Detective Satonaka one of them?!
But before Ren could fully process this revelation, he had to get out of the Detective's sight. She definitely saw the shock on his face. And she definitely got what she was looking for. All Ren could do is hope she wouldn't connect the dots and determine him as the leader of the Phantom Thieves…
—-—-—-—-—-
Later that afternoon, he was finally able to meet up with Ann & Ryuji to discuss what had happened.
"How did your interrogations go?" Ren asked, trying his damndest to prevent fear from slipping into his voice.
"Not horribly," Ryuji replied.
"Badly! I think that Detective woman who questioned me figured out both that I was a Phantom Thief & our methods!" Ann answered.
"Same here! I'm not sure if she'll report this to the police or if she has her own agenda, but either way, we're going to have to be more careful from now on. Whoever that detective was, she is NOT a normal cop. I'm not sure how we'll proceed, but Morgana & I will figure something out," Ren responded.
Ann & Ryuji looked at him as if they weren't all that comforted by this. But they've spent enough time talking about this. They needed to start figuring out Madarame.
"Anyways, I think we've spent enough time dwelling on this for now. Let's go and continue investigating Madarame before paranoia cripples us," Ren declared.
Ann, Ryuji & Morgana silently agreed. With that, they would get on the train to Shibuya and make their way to Madarame's shack.
Author's Notes (End):Today's sponsor spot is brought to you by… ME! As (finally) the prologue for the NEW version of my Fallout 4 fic Two Sides to a Story has finally been posted to AO3 & ! If you enjoy this fic and are also into Fallout, I highly recommend you read it! As it's also going to be a pretty ambitious story involving so many factions & conflicting agendas, it's a Gambit Pileup waiting to happen & will feature multiple perspectives throughout! I would truly appreciate it if you gave that fic a chance. I'll also have a new chapter of that out in the next couple days or so, so keep an eye on it (ideally by subscribing to it on AO3 or following it on FFN).
Anyways, that's all from me for now. Slimeboyo2 will likely post the next chapter in the next few days & when he does, we're going to check in on a certain Investigation Team member who's gone unmentioned so far…
