CHAPTER 20:

PORTRAITS OF A PLAGIARIST

It was on Saturday that they intended to push further into Madarame's Palace. It was, admittedly, something of a slog, but they managed to get into the Treasure Room, a vast display area where the Treasure was behind a small cage of laser sensors, with many guards, as well as Madarame's Shadow standing right near it. Security was tight, but they soon found ways around it.

They'd found a control room for the security. They could disable the lights briefly, and potentially use a crane to lower one of their number down to steal the Treasure once it had manifested. But then, Harry and Sirius realised that they could use a Levitation or Summoning Charm from the gantry above the painting instead, thus minimising the risk. For that part of the operation, anyway.

Kitagawa opted to create the new calling card, using his artistic skills to create a rather snazzy logo. Not that Ryuji's was bad, but Kitagawa's new logo gave the concept a certain elan it had been lacking. And Morgana was the one to deliver them, helped by a spell applied to him by Sirius to help him avoid being noticed while he left the calling cards.

The message, mostly written by Kitagawa, albeit with input from Sirius, ran as such…

To Sir Ichiryusai Madarame, a great sinner of hollow vanity whose wellspring of talent has long since run dry, a blackguard who shamelessly passes off his students' works as his own…we come for you. We will ensure that you confess your crimes with your own mouth. We will take your distorted desires without fail. We solemnly swear we are up to no good.

The Marauders, Phantom Thieves of Hearts.

"He called me up not long afterwards," Ann said, as they met at Sirius and Harry's home on Sunday afternoon, ready to undertake their heist. "He's threatening to sue me, albeit after the exhibition ends, as he wants to avoid bad publicity."

"We'll stop him, Ann, we're doing the heist today," Akira said. "However, before we do so, I want to decide a few things. For now, I think we should change where we do our planning of our heists of. Here is a good place, assuming Sirius and Harry are fine with that. Makoto Nijima is getting a little too nosy about Morgana, Ryuji, Ann and I meeting on the rooftop, and I'm not sure meeting in a public place would help."

"I'm fine with that, and I'm glad you've got the Marauders name out there. Ah, James would be proud," Sirius said. "But make sure you call in advance, or if I'm not here, Harry is the one to let you in. If Sae makes a house call, I don't want her getting any suspicions."

"Dude, we could say we're doing a study group," Ryuji said. "And besides, if she asks about Kitagawa, we could just say Ann's his muse."

"…That's actually quite a good cover story, Ryuji," Morgana said. "Well, broken clocks are right twice a day."

As Ryuji scowled, Harry flicked the cat's head with his finger. As Morgana yelped, Harry said, "Hey, stop giving Ryuji grief. Who was it who went for that vase when we knew it was suspicious? We're meant to be a team, Morgana, and if Ryuji can offer good ideas, then accept them without any lip."

Morgana pouted, as much as a cat could. "…Fine, but that flick hurt, you know. And Ryuji has made more than a few howlers."

"You startin' something, cat?" Ryuji snapped.

Akira held up his hands as Morgana hissed. "Guys, enough. We've only got a limited time to steal Madarame's Treasure. And if it's anything like what happened with Kamoshida, we need to expect things to go south. We need to work together. So, Ryuji, Morgana, please keep antagonising each other to a bare minimum, okay?"

Thankfully, despite the heightened security, snatching the Treasure, which appeared to be some covered painting, went off without a hitch. Suspiciously so, in fact. Once they escaped to the garden square just outside the peacock-decorated doors, Morgana insisted on taking a peek at the Treasure. However, they all stopped and stared at the revealed painting.

It wasn't a painting at all, but rather, a cartoonish face made of Japanese hiragana. "This can't be his Treasure," Akira said flatly. "No way is that henohenomoheji(1) his Treasure."

Kitagawa, who now went by the name of 'Fox' in the Metaverse due to his mask, noticed something. "Away from it! Now!"

The Marauders saw the poles emerging from the ground, and leapt away, narrowly avoiding the electric barrier that sprang up around the caricature. And then, they heard a familiar, and unwelcome, voice. "Looking for something, you meddlesome troglodytes?"

They whirled to find Shadow Madarame, flanked by a pair of Shadows as his guards, one of which was holding a painting under its arm. "So…you had a fake prepped," Akira muttered. "I should've realised."

"Answer me, Madarame," Kitagawa said, going up to Shadow Madarame. "What happened to you? Don't you understand how much it pains me to do this? To dig into the sordid deeds of the man I looked up to as a father?"

Shadow Madarame, oddly enough, looked to the portrait in the guard's grasp, his expression thoughtful and pensive. "…It was happenstance I took you in, Yusuke. It was only because of your mother being my student. Despite what her lover, someone she considered a husband, did to her, let alone her family, she never lost her passion for art, not even after she was disowned. Your father died not long after you were born, actually. Kotome was one of a kind, or so I thought."

Futaba, who wasn't in Necronomicon for now, glared at Shadow Madarame. "…And yet, it didn't stop you from claiming her work as your own." As the Shadow's gaze snapped to her, she continued, "The Sayuri…that was Kotome Kitagawa's self-portrait, wasn't it?"

Shadow Madarame looked to her, before he chuckled. "Sharp little thing, aren't you? I suppose I should give you all a gift before the final curtain…a glimpse of the true Sayuri."

The guard took out the portrait from beneath its arm, and showed them. It took a moment for Harry to realise what was different to the original: a baby being cradled by the woman in the painting. In the versions shown elsewhere, that part of the painting was obscured by a mist.

"…Mother…" Kitagawa murmured.

Shadow Madarame nodded, gently caressing the painting, a wistful look entering his eyes. "Indeed. Painted as the last declaration of her love for the son she would leave behind. Kotome knew she was not long for this world, Yusuke. All those critics could not decipher the true meaning behind her enigmatic Mona Lisa-esque smile."

"Because you painted over him, you bastard!" Ryuji snapped. "It was meant for him, and you stole it, you overpainted douchebag?!"

"Exactly! You painted over Yusuke just to preserve the mystique, and to use it for your own worthless career! Between that and your profiteering not only off your students but those forgeries…you don't love art at all! Just the wealth and fame it brings you!" Ann yelled at him. "You're treating both mother and son like cattle, no worse than cattle, like fucking objects! You're disgusting."

Kitagawa then chose to look at Shadow Madarame, his eyes glistening with tears. "…Tell me…they claim you use up your students once they're of no more use. Did…did that include Mother?"

"…She happened to have a bad seizure in front of me," Shadow Madarame admitted, a deranged grin touching his lips, even as his eyes moistened. A maddened chuckle escaped his throat. "I realised, if she died, it could be an unfortunate accident, and I could get the Sayuri with no strings attached. She was physically weak and already had a history of seizures, after all. All I needed to do was claim I was too late to save her. And it was certainly serendipitous that Yusuke inherited his mother's talent. Of course, I needed to keep him around to ensure he never learned the truth about his mother's painting, but his talents were a happy accident I could exploit at my leisure! I actually came up with the idea of exploiting the young for their ideas, so I guess I should thank you, Yusuke, and…"

He was interrupted by a low chuckle from Kitagawa. "I must thank you, Madarame."

"Whatever for?"

"Because you have just destroyed ever reason I could ever have to forgive you," Kitagawa said, a vicious scowl touching his own lips. "Far from being a merely corrupt artist, you're little more than a vile demon who wears the skin of one!"

"Yusuke…you don't get it," Shadow Madarame sneered, even as an ominous aura gathered around him. "You and your little coterie of vandals fail to realise that those with connections, fame and money make the rules, and those without must follow them without fail! And I make all the rules in the art scene." He began laughing insanely, even as his eyes glistened with tears, his voice warping and distorting more, and soon, so did his body and face. "I AM THE GOD OF THE ART WORLD! BOW DOWN BEFORE ME AND DESPAIIIRRRR!"

"Get back!" Morgana yelled, and they promptly did so.

Suddenly, Shadow Madarame burst into a shower of black gunk, absorbing the Shadows into the amorphous mass that became a quartet of paintings, each with a facial feature, a caricature of Madarame's face. Two eyes, a nose, and a mouth with a bushy moustache leered at them. "THERE IS A WORLD THE MEDIOCRE CANNOT UNDERSTAND! I'LL MAKE SURE TO EDUCATE YOU BEFORE YOU DIE!"

However, to Harry's astonishment, Futaba actually cackled. She summoned Necronomicon, and after she was drawn into the UFO-like Persona, she called out via the PA of the Persona, "Guys! Hold him off! Mona, you deal with battle strategies in the meantime. I've got a plan!"

"Got it," Akira said.

As much as she knew Shadow Madarame was a major threat, Futaba had a moment of inspiration when she saw the Palace Ruler change into paintings. It was a sheer moment of serendipitous genius, and hopefully, she wouldn't need long to carry it out. "Necronomicon," she called out. "Does this Palace have any Cognitions of solvents? Turpentine, acetone, benzene and the like?"

"Scanning. REPORT: Yes. And for the record, this should affect Madarame's Shadow. In fact, it'll hurt like a bitch."

"Right…well, let's hack the Cognition. Necronomicon, give the others whatever support you can while I'm doing this. At the very least, I want to cripple him. And make sure I'm not affected by the fumes."

"Confirmed. Don't want you to get high off the fumes either, Futaba. You're bad enough when drinking Red Bull."

"Great, my Persona is sassing me."

In the dark space behind Futaba, a metal drum appeared, and a mixture of liquids began to appear within it, filling it up. She grinned. "Mweheheh…hacking the Cognition of a Palace is so much easier when there's stuff already present," she said. "Okay, look like it's ready. Necronomicon, grasp that thing in your tentacles, and then dash the contents in that bastard's face!"

"Confirmed. A nice little cocktail for the plagiarist artist, courtesy of Judge Doom..."

Harry grimaced, even as he washed the black paint off Morgana, who'd been splashed by it. Ryuji had been hit by it earlier, and had been hit harder by a subsequent attack from Madarame, so he and Sirius were cleaning up the gouts of black paint Madarame spewed. The portraits also absorbed certain attacks depending on the body part.

But then, Futaba called out, "Get back everyone!"

They did so, only for Necronomicon to swoop down, using her tentacles to splash the contents of a large metal barrel into the paintings making up Shadow Madarame's face. Instantly, the monster began to scream in agony, smoke rising from the paintings, paint running down in grotesque ways. "Whoa, what the fuck was that?!" Ryuji yelped.

"Have any of you guys seen Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" Futaba asked, a smug smile evident in her tone, even if they couldn't see her face. "I just managed to hack the Cognition to create some Dip."

"Nice thinking, Oracle!" Morgana called out.

The dissolving paintings flopped to the floor, and then dissolved into black muck, which then reformed into Shadow Madarame's original form, wiping at his skin, panting in fear and agony. "No…no…what did you do?!"

"Quickly, while he's weakened!" Akira yelled. "All-Out Attack!"

The Marauders launched into action, attacking Madarame's Shadow in quick succession, until Futaba yelled, "Outta the way! I've got a new little surprise for him!"

They leapt out of the way as Necronomicon hovered overhead, and dropped something on the head of Shadow Madarame, knocking him silly. It looked like a huge, cartoonish bomb, with green symbols on it. The fuse seemed to fizzle out though, and Futaba dropped out of Necronomicon, before knocking on it. The bomb suddenly exploded, sending her flying into Harry, who caught her, tumbling to the floor.

"Git gud," she said woozily. "GG EZ." She shook her head. "Wow, what a rush!"

"Fut…I mean, Oracle, that was reckless!" Harry snapped.

"Uh, actually, no. The bomb can't actually hurt us," Futaba said. "I made this little puppy with Necronomicon since our last sojourn into this Palace. Disabling friendly fire was the first thing I did. Still has a few bugs to work out, though. Besides, you're one to talk about recklessness."

Before Harry could retort, Akira cleared his throat. "Save the lectures for later. We still have this guy to deal with."

Shadow Madarame was sobbing, both in pain and anguish, clutching at the side of his body with one hand, while holding onto the Sayuri with the other. Kitagawa was approaching, his gaze cold. Despite his fear and pain, Shadow Madarame looked up at his student, utterly broken. "…Yusuke…nobody truly cares for art anymore," the Ruler said solemnly, even as tears trickled down his cheeks. "Just money. And without money, you can't rise up beyond misery."

"…What do right do you have to speak of misery, Madarame?" Kitagawa asked quietly, his tone quavering with barely-suppressed fury and hatred, drawing his sword and placing it next to Shadow Madarame's throat. "More than what misery you inflicted on me, on my fellow pupils? Ars gratia artis, that is what you branded into my head, art for art's sake! And yet, this abomination of a world exists inside your heart."

"…Are you going to kill me, Yusuke?" Madarame asked, shaking in fear.

"…I must admit, I am sorely tempted," Kitagawa said. "But no…" He grabbed the Shadow of his guardian, and hauled him to his feet. "Death is a release, not a punishment. Go back to your other self, and confess your sins. All of them." He then viciously snatched the Sayuri away from Shadow Madarame. "Because if you don't…I will inflict the misery you inflicted on myself and my peers, with interest."

Shadow Madarame recoiled, before emitting a bitter, sorrowful chuckle. "…I should have known this day was coming…when my sins would come back to haunt me. I…Yes. I will confess. I know you will punish me if I don't, I see it in your eyes, Yusuke." Suddenly, his eyes widened, and he hurried over to Kitagawa. "Yusuke…" he hissed urgently, "there was another one in this Palace, another intruder, with a black mask. Not like the one that boy is wearing, but one that concealed almost his entire head. He's dangerous, and scary!" He had indicated Harry briefly while mentioning this other person, given his own black mask.

Before they could interrogate him further, though, the Palace began to quake, and Morgana yelped, "We're out of time! We've got to leave, now!" He transformed into his van form, and the others piled in, before Sirius drove off.

As they fled, they heard Shadow Madarame's pleading for Kitagawa. But they drove on, even as the world once more dissolved into crimson ripples…

…And then, they were just outside Madarame's 'atelier'. Kitagawa was holding onto the 'original' Sayuri. They soon left, returning to Sirius' house for now, using a Portkey once they had gotten out of view.

"Ugh, I'll never get used to those things," Ann said, gagging slightly.

"I know, right?" Ryuji asked.

"I don't know, despite the inelegance of the means, I found it quite bracing, actually, rather like a roller coaster," Kitagawa said, before his expression became solemn. "Now, to see if my sensei has had the so-called 'Change of Heart'. And this…" He indicated the portrait he held in his hands. "Even though it is technically only a Cognition of the original…it's a wonder to behold. And to think, this was at the core of my teacher's warped desires. At least my mother has not witnessed what has transpired."

"It's a bitter irony that, even though the genuine painting is still at the 'atelier', that portrait is the only true version of Sayuri," Morgana said solemnly.

"It's a wonderful painting. I see Madarame's point about making it more enigmatic, but…it feels better this way, Kotome's expression of love towards you," Ann said gently to Kitagawa. "It's in your hands where it belongs now, Yusuke."

"And I am truly thankful for that, though having it acknowledged by society would be impossible, for obvious reasons," Kitagawa said. "She died when I was but a toddler, so I have little true memory of her. Still…the emotion I felt on seeing it was no mistake."

Harry, however, noticed Futaba looking pensive. "Futaba? What's wrong?"

"…The person in the black mask Madarame's Shadow mentioned," Futaba said. "I've got a bad feeling about him. I just realised something. I dunno if it's true, but…if my hypothesis is correct, then we've gotta be careful."

"Why's that?" Ryuji asked.

"…I've shared my theory that the Mental Shutdowns and Psychotic Breakdowns have been caused by another Metaverse traveller," Futaba said. "I doubt it involves anyone you mentioned from the Velvet Room, Akira, and I didn't get psychotic murderer vibes from José. But…what if this person in the black mask is linked to the Mental Shutdowns and Psychotic Breakdowns? Look, this is just a hypothesis, not even a theory, but apart from the people I've just listed, who else has actually had dealings with the Metaverse? This person may even be the one who caused the death of my mother."

At this, the rest of them fell silent, before Akira said, "It's an interesting hypothesis, but as you said, it's nothing more than that. Madarame's Shadow said nothing about this person in the black mask aside from them being 'scary'. We have no evidence, just a line of inquiry. However, that also means we will have to remain cautious. If we're very lucky, this person in a black mask may be an ally, and not the one responsible for the Mental Shutdowns…but I'm not convinced we will be that lucky. For now, we lie low until we confirm a Change of Heart from Madarame. But we did good today, if nothing else. Take heart from that…"

CHAPTER 20 ANNOTATIONS:

So, Madarame has been stopped, and Futaba has begun joining the dots.

I have to admit, I forgot that Madarame mentions Yusuke's father in passing as having died in canon, so I had to hurriedly amend Madarame's speech to Yusuke, to show that his mother still held a torch for the man and considered him to be a husband. Whoops.

Also, while Futaba isn't going to find uber-brilliant solutions to every Palace Ruler, you've got to admit, hacking the Dip from Who Framed Roger Rabbit? into existence and using it against Madarame is pretty awesome. Plus, I hope I humanised Madarame a little here. Don't worry, I'm not doing anything more than canon for Kaneshiro. Not so sure about Okumura, though.

Speaking of bosses, you know how I said that I wanted to mix things up for the boss themes? Well, I reckon, instead of Blooming Villain, Madarame's battle should have The 13th Struggle from the Kingdom Hearts games.

Review-answering time! Pecan Crisp: Futaba spoke to Harry about her condition. And Futaba was diagnosed shortly before the DSM-5 was released, when Asperger's was relegated to being part of the autistic spectrum disorders.

Akasha Drake: Agreed, and I'm not sure the 'barely' part applies to Sinyk's take.

Kael Hyun: Only in the anime. I prefer the manga name, Akira Kurusu.

Bag of Holding: There's no confirmation that Goro Akechi overheard Morgana in the Metaverse prior to the 'pancakes' scene, so I honestly believe it applies to all Metaverse travellers, which would make things interesting if characters from previous games showed up…

1. That's the name of the cartoony face made of hiragana that is in place of the Treasure. This cartoon face is ubiquitous in Japanese culture: it's used as a placeholder for the emotion 'speech bubble' for characters in Okami until you get close enough, and the character 'Scarecrow' from Tokyo Ghoul: Re uses this on his mask, like Japanese scarecrows…