The Mask Shatters
Chapter 13
Part III
"To walk this path, he must delve into skullduggery. Stalking, investigation. A watchful eye is needed, and his logic will solve the rest…"
A boat, drifting listlessly along a slow river.
The air was chilly, the oncoming of fall.
Cluttered inside the boat were fishing rods.
Lures, bait, a cask for bass and brim, perhaps even crappie should they get lucky.
At the head sat a young man, with light brown hair that fell to his shoulders, and eyes that gleamed in the dark like freshly-cut green sapphires.
He donned a lifejacket and a small grey t-shirt underneath, with a pair of cargo shorts and prescription sunglasses which illustrated to him and all those who cared to look upon his character the self-made tailored image of a young, budding fisherman. And, just to top it all off, he even wore a water-themed camouflage boonie cap.
Arthur, at a mere age 14, sat atop a chair as he slowly directed the boat to a nice clearing.
At the bow sat a very young girl, aged five. Red hair like his mother's, green eyes like his own, and amazement and wonder filling her mind.
She wore vestments similar to his, minus the boonie cap, but instead she wore a scally cap that Himura had bought for her - with her rather long hair tied up in a bun underneath.
And they seemed to be on a fishing trip.
The motor buzzed and hummed ever so quietly, all the while his sister kept her back to him, gazing deeply into the murky water below.
She always had an affinity for it. For water.
"We're coming up on my favorite spot." Arthur said, in his native Irish accent, slowing their already gradual approach to a mere snail's pace. "Bunch of largemouth bass over here around this time of year."
She didn't answer. She simply remained quiet as she slowly dipped a curious finger into the water below.
"Remember what I told ya." He added, smiling as their little boat stopped in its entirety. "We catch 'em and we release 'em… Just like you wanted." He took his hands off of the wheel, stepping from the captain's spot to rummage around their supplies at the stern. "Let's see here…"
Suddenly, out of nowhere, a stark cold feeling pinged itself to life in the back of his mind.
A sharp, frigid sensation deftly overcame the warmth he previously felt.
The air was chilly, sure.
Fall was, after all, a cold time for Washington state.
As it was for most of the northern states.
But this… This was almost unrealistic.
In only a short few seconds, his breath became material, white blasts escaping between his now-chapped, freezing lips.
"What the…?" Arthur gasped, his accent returning to an American facade.
He turned around, and suddenly his freezing unease became a maelstrom of dread.
Before him sat not the young girl, but instead a pile of dust - atop laid a raggedy scally cap, one that looked to have been locked in a cycle of neglect for years and years.
Her vestments, gone.
Her body, vanished.
Nothing but dust stood in her place.
One second she was there, and the next she wasn't.
He tried calling out, stepping forward towards where she once sat. But in that instance, he could no longer even remember her name - nor even who she was.
He then paused, a frightening sound echoing from underneath the boat.
The water around their little boat began to crack and harden, freezing into solid, thin ice.
He could spot the fish far below, frozen in time everlasting.
And his skin began to mutate into a snowy complexion.
The warmth he once felt was gone.
Replaced with fear, dread, and anxiety.
Somewhere, he heard a voice call out to him.
But the words withered and fell apart long before they reached his ears.
All he heard was a garbled voice of a young, familiar sounding girl.
And his own panicked breathing.
"Thou still blameth thineself…"
"What happened was out of thine own control…"
"Not a single sawbones, nor a parish priest, could offset what fate had wrought…"
"Chronic means difficult to eradicate…"
"But thou refuseth to accept the truth of the matter…?"
"Thou hideth behind thine false sense of pragmatism…"
"But thine own actions betrayeth the "you" that thou used to be…"
"Betrayeth the true "you" that thou refuseth to acknowledge…"
"To accepteth…"
"To embrace…"
"But thine mind requiteth not thine dull, ragged mask…"
"I am thou, and thou art I…"
"I am thine true self…"
"And this is our battle…"
The day was a quiet, cloudy afternoon, the 16th of June.
The forecast called for rain, but that wouldn't begin until later in the evening. Supposing they were accurate in their estimations, that is.
However, due to the forecast, Shibuya found itself rather vacant compared to the usual hustle and bustle of the big city.
Students quickly found their way home.
Tourists stayed in their hotels.
Police and other civil servants beat their patrols in their vehicles - with the stark exception of two officers who found themselves unlucky enough to have been provided not even a raincoat.
As Arthur glanced over at them, he watched one unfold a small umbrella and hold it high above his head, like a young woman from an old black-and-white movie. He gave a cocky grin, and his partner gave him a look that conveyed the desire to smack him.
Indeed, the only people that prowled these streets now, while numerous compared to a small town, were miniscule by Tokyo's, and indeed, even Seattle's standards.
A few students roamed about, from various local schools such as Shujin and Kosei. Some vagrants continued to loiter around out in the opent, hoping to garner a few extra yen before slinking off to the subway station for shelter. Employees of the various shops that littered Central Street preparing for the coming rainfall, and indeed even a few station attendants, in their slick black uniforms, flat-foot shoes and their caps, waltzed off to Big Bang Burger for a quick lunch.
Such a series of events, tangentially connected as they were, worked well in Arthur's favor.
Because in such a rather comparatively empty street, he could spot his quarry from front to back, from the Station to the theatre, without much in the way of trouble to be found.
Not to mention he wouldn't stick out too much. Not with the coming rainfall at least. No one could, and hopefully, would blame him for wearing a hoodie during the topical height of a summer's day when they were all equally set to be faced with such otherwise increasingly dour weather.
The fact it was dark, however, wasn't really doing him any earnest favors.
Perhaps for the first time in a long while, Arthur's body was entirely caked in sweat from something other than the soul-crushing wails of recurring nightmares or the venomous threats of moronic now-dead yakuza. Although, in simple truth, the experience itself was by no means less oppressive. The young American knew well before coming to the ancient land of the rising sun that the seasonal heat in Japan could be…
Well, downright tyrannical at the best of times.
Himura himself had even mentioned so during one of his many topical visits to the U.S. It was simply a natural consequence of ever-changing geography and extensive climate development. However, despite his own innate scientific leanings, the evidential truths of reality did little to dissuade Arthur from feeling like a giant human-sized paper towel that had just recently been used to clean up the piss off of a public bathroom floor.
Still, he bore the sheer unpleasantness that was his current situation with all the gusto he could personally muster. After all, he knew he had to maintain a certain level of anonymity if he were to catch what he sought.
Evidence that they were who he, and Makoto, thought them to be.
Despite the fact that doubts still plagued him - doubts over whether or not they were truly associated with such a group - he pressed on. Igor and, indeed, whoever this disembodied newcomer was, spurred him forward.
Arthur, even though he didn't like to accept it, knew he had no other option.
And so, he followed the trio as they left Shujin. He had kept his distance, wary of disturbing or spooking them. He had his hoodie flipped up, and even had his phone out and tapped away to look as if he were engaged in a rather unassuming conversation over text.
It worked like a charm.
He had followed them from Shujin to the station, boarded the train only a car down so as to keep them in sight, but remained a decent distance from the group.
Ann, Ren, and the rough blond with the limp.
Along the way, they talked. They chatted amongst one another.
But there was no laughing nor casual conversation to be held within their number.
Instead, serious faces and downtrodden words stalked them, like a certain brown-haired, red-eyed girl.
They spoke lowly to one another, and kept everything on topic.
The few bits and pieces he could overhear pointed to their destination.
Central Street.
Where they were to locate something.
But what was this something?
When they arrived at Shibuya's station, they swiftly exited the train with little hesitation or leisure. They were focused now. Arthur had followed, doing his best to blend in with the crowd around him. It was there they had united with another, someone who was unfamiliar to the young American at a distance, but up close Arthur realized had seen him somewhere before.
"But where…?" Arthur couldn't help but wonder, watching them from the corner of his eye as they all spoke with the stranger as if they had known him all their lives.
A lanky, well-dressed young man with blue hair and bangs that parted on the right. Clad in an ultramarine button down, his sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, fitted well within a pair of black trousers and equally dark loafers.
The young man looked awfully blue-blooded for someone in this day and age, and stood out well amongst the busybodies within Tokyo's undercroft.
How he held himself, how he spoke, and how the others interacted with him told Arthur all he needed to know of their relationship.
"Guess he's a friend…" He deduced, raising a hand to stroke his chin as he observed idly. "Must be associated… Why does he seem so familiar…?" His eyes then widened as he turned, and they began to follow him. "They're leaving together now... Better be quick before I lose them."
And that led him to where he is now.
Central Street.
Clouds above, the silent voices of those around him, and his idleness, alone on a bench as he watched the group dally around Central Street - dispersing and reconvening whenever it appears that they separately accomplished or failed in whatever it was they aimed to do here. This itself went on for almost an entire hour, all the while Arthur watched from his little bench in front of a local convenience store.
He kept his head down, occasionally seeing fit to play with his phone while he waited and observed. Whenever he spotted Ren or Ann, or even the rough blond boy, he would endeavor to silence himself and open his ears - moving his eyes well to the floor in order to remain inconsequential.
He knew he stuck out, but he also knew that if he made his presence known, then there went any secrecy he had.
He knew those three would recognize him on a dime, but the newcomer? This new, lanky blue-haired boy?
Arthur doubted he would even know about the young American's affiliation with Ann or Ren.
But even so, he would sequester himself to total silence just the same.
He wanted to remain as anonymous as humanly possible.
However, that was challenged when eventually, as dark clouds began to approach from further uptown, the sounds of well-heeled shoes click-clacked towards him.
For a moment, Arthur wasn't sure what the sounds meant. Then froze when he thought one of the nearby beat cops had gotten suspicious of him and was on the way to interrogate him. The distinct sounds their shoes made only further exacerbated this growing sense of nervous suspicion within Arthur.
He grunted, slouching lower in his seat as the individual approached. "Oh, great… Act like you have headphones in…"
Then, rather expectedly, a pair of feet entered his vision, stopping before him. The figure, from what he could tell, wore a matching set of black loafers, attached to a pair of well-dressed black pants.
But it was the voice that set him at ease.
"Pardon me." The figure spoke up.
It was a rather eloquent voice. Of that, there could be no debate. Masculine, but soft. Young, but determined. As if it had a purpose to exist in the first place. The sheer determination that Arthur detected also spoke volumes of the man standing above him, and when the young American raised his eyes to meet the windowless greys of the newcomer, he couldn't help but sigh in relief that he wasn't truly on the police's radar.
Before him stood the blue-haired young associate of Ren and Ann.
The familiar, blue-haired young man...
"I apologize for the intrusion, I won't take but a moment of your time." He said, betraying a genuine sense of poshness that Arthur wouldn't expect from anyone around here.
"Oh, uh…" Arthur stammered, concerned as to the reason why he was approached out of everyone on the street. He slipped his phone into his hoodie's pocket and nodded for the man to continue.
"Well, you seem to be a rather unassuming fellow." The young man crossed his arms, gazing down at Arthur with a set of pretentious eyes that seemingly studied his every fiber. "I mean, even that jacket is clearly designer work, yet you wear it like the common man." He noted.
Arthur glanced down at his jacket, obviously confused as to what the young man meant. "Designer?" He asked quizzically as he failed to locate any insignia on the front.
"Yes." The blue-blooded teenager confirmed. "That jacket is clearly from the "Chic Emporium". Their work does not come cheap. You must have a decent paying job to have been able to afford it, yes?"
Arthur glanced back up at the blue-blooded stranger, unsure of both what to say and what the young man was doing."Uh…"
"I ask because I'm in dire need of some pocket change myself, really…." He continued, ignoring the obvious confusion that was blooming to life upon Arthur's face. Meanwhile, the American simply looked up at him, befuddled and unamused. "Your employers wouldn't happen to be hiring part-timers, would they?" He asked as his lips curled into a seemingly innocent, pleasant, and warm smile.
Arthur, meanwhile, just maintained his confused stare before slowly shaking his head. "Errrr….." Arthur groaned, unsure of what to say. It was obvious this young man had the wrong idea. "I….do not have a job…?" He winced, unsure if that was even the right response he could've given.
The lanky Japanese boy maintained his uneasy gaze for a moment, his eyes opening wide as he allowed the words to sink in. Seconds later, he lowered his arms. "Oh." He said, a pinch of defeat in his voice. "My apologies." The young man nodded. "I thought… Well…. Nevermind. Enjoy the rest of your day, sir." He said as he turned away.
"Wait a minute!" Arthur called out, stopping the man dead in his tracks. His eyes were widened once more, a brow being arched in curiosity of what more Arthur wished to say.
But, for the young American himself, he had one simple question. There was something eerily familiar about this strange blue-blooded man, a feeling that hasn't left Arthur since he first laid eyes upon him. There was a distant sensation which obsessively tugged at the boy's mind, and as he twisted his head - looking the man up and down, it soon hit him who exactly this was.
Arthur hummed, unsure of his deduction. "You wouldn't… you wouldn't happen to be… Yusuke Kitagawa… Would you?" Arthur asked, recognizing the man's face from a news article he read a week or two ago.
The man turned to face him fully, nodding his confirmation as his composure relaxed slightly. "I am."
"Oh, wow…" Arthur chuckled, snapping his fingers as Yusuke confirmed his suspicions. "Yeah, yeah. I knew it!" He continued, giddy in part that he's meeting the young man himself, and in part to the deductive connections he's making. "I-I saw your picture online during that Madarame fiasco I... Oh…"
Yusuke deadpanned, silent as a mouse.
"Oh.. Uh…" Arthur calmed himself, slouching back in his seat and he winced at what he just said. The full realization dawned on him quickly, and all that remained of his giddiness was a guilty verdict. "I'm… I'm sorry." Arthur bowed, understanding well that he was out of line bringing up what was possibly a painful memory.
After all, the news was voracious in displaying Yusuke's life with Madarame.
But Yusuke, his expression softening slightly, nodded at Arthur's humility. "Well, since you apologized, then I guess I can forgive you." He said, crossing his arms as he spoke. "It's history. Best for it to remain there…"
Arthur nodded, but let out a small sigh of frustration as the guilt of bringing up such terrible memories hit him like a brick - understanding well what he meant. However, it was clear that Yusuke did not wish to discuss the matter any further as he quickly shook his head and righted his posture, stepping away from Arthur whilst speaking.
"Now, I must be going." He turned away, before looking back over "You have wonderful green eyes, by the way. You should consider modeling." He added, casting a short-lived glance over his shoulder towards Arthur before silently and gracefully walking away.
Arthur, with how the city usually was, expected the young man to simply vanish within a crowd of busybodies and faceless adults, but today was unlike any other day.
He watched the young man walk a short distance before pulling out his phone from a back pocket.
He seemed to fiddle with it a moment, apparently tapping away through what Arthur assumed were text messages.
And it didn't take a rocket scientist to deduce who he was texting.
Arthur hummed, tapping his feet idly as he observed for a moment, waiting to see if Yusuke would acknowledge him further. Or even attempt a knowing glance in his direction, as the young man seemed far more perspective than most of their age. However, as the seconds dragged on, it appeared that the blue-blood was no longer interested in him.
Arthur rose a brow, surprised. But no less intrigued.
He crossed his arms, dissatisfied ever so slightly. "Huh…. I wonder just what they're up to…" He asked himself,
For a moment, hiz gaze remained unbroken - even by the people slinking by, few in number - then, with a click of his tongue, a thought occurred to him.
One that he rather agreed with.
"I better go. I've been made, and it won't take long for Ren or Ann to recognize me if Kitagawa-san points me out." He deduced.
Grunting, and dimly concerned over a distant thunderclap, Arthur placed his idle hands on his knees and staggered to his feet, and he quickly found himself stiff as a board. Stretching and groaning as his bones popped into comfort, he kicked a leg forward - ready to beat a hasty retreat.
"But, this is progress." Arthur thought as he lowered his head from view, wary of both being recognized and the dark clouds forming overhead. "They're up to something… and Kitagawa-san is involved…"
But he couldn't help but grin.
The pieces of the puzzle were forming within his own mind.
"Yusuke...Madarame… Change of Heart… and the Phantom Thieves…"
Doubts, however small they may have been, still lingered in the back of his mind. But even so, he power-walked his way from Central Street, passing the cop duo, the street vendors who harassed his passing, and the odd pedestrian heading for shelter, and disappeared into Shibuya proper without anyone being none the wiser.
The day was June 17th.
A quiet, cloudy Friday.
School had gone on almost completely uneventfully.
Barely anyone spoke to him.
No one paid him any mind.
Not even Ren nor Ann seemed particularly concerned regarding Arthur, and Makoto was abundantly silent for once.
She no longer seemed to look at him in distrust, nor did she outwardly appear to even harbor a single sentiment of ill-will.
But even so, she avoided him as best she could.
Today, when Arthur found himself eating in the courtyard, Makoto was there in his go-to spot.
Alone, and seemingly enjoying her meal in sheer solitude.
Yet, when she finally noticed him, she had hastily packed up her things and decided to find a new place to relax for the recess.
"Apologies." She had said. "But I do reckon I remember this being your spot. I'll be going."
Arthur barely protested. He still didn't trust her, and her seemingly changed demeanor towards him only furthered this distrust.
All he could do was wonder:
"What changed?"
Even Mr. Sakutaro had noted this sudden change in behavior, mentioning as much to Arthur when the latter was called up to hand out a pop-quiz.
"She seemed to have softened up around you…" He had told Arthur quietly. "She always seemed to have an evil eye trained on you… And now? Huh…"
In the meanwhile, no rain had befallen Tokyo, at least for the time being.
Such a mercy, Arthur thought it to be, to be allowed a dry walk home.
Along the way, he had time to think.
Had time to process everything.
No random buzzing to distract him.
No disembodied voice to plague him with unbidden truths.
Just him.
Alone with thoughts.
"Igor wants me to find these Phantom Thieves…" He had thought. "I can't say for sure, but all the evidence points to Ann being at least an associate."
He went over the evidence again and again in his head.
From her reaction to Madarame's change of heart to her association with Yusuke - a student of Madarame.
The Aficionado Website echoed evidence as well, with one person deep within the history of requests practically begging the Phantom Thieves for help, and even spilling the beans on what exactly Madarame did to his pupils behind closed doors.
"Yusuke left that request…" Arthur had concluded. "He asked them for a change of heart."
However, even with the conclusive evidence, doubt still continued to plague his mind.
As it had been for days now.
And it was these doubts that fueled him to avoid Ann and Ren further. If either of them were truly associated, as his hypothesis suggested, then he knew the best course of action to take was to avoid giving them cause to suspect he was on their trail.
Arthur, even with his immense grasp on logic, did not trust himself to give off red flags so early in this game of cat and mouse.
"But if she's not...?" He had wondered.
He scratched his chin, humming as he then toyed with the idea of being wrong.
Indeed, it was a reality he was open to.
"If she isn't associated and I'm just thinking too much on this… Well... I could say that I'd be relieved…" He thought. "She's such a nice girl. I would hate to see her on the path of the criminal."
Furthermore, he couldn't help but wonder on his end exactly what role Ren played into it all.
But the pieces were there.
And he was steadily, if shakily, putting them together.
Compounding it all with the pupil of Madarame's sudden association and visible friendship, it only complicated matters further for him.
Associates or no, he knew he was not done yet.
Something big was about to go down.
And, as his logic dictated, it was to happen on Central Street.
Eventually, his train stopped, and he found himself at Station Square, in the undercroft of the bustling city.
Yet, as he stepped off of the train, he felt a sudden burning insecurity.
A heat that rose from his feet to his head, a sudden hyperthermic tsunami that caused him to give a wary glance to his surroundings.
Eyes were upon him, but he had no interest in seeking them out.
Instead, he walked on.
One foot in front of the other.
Determination glowering in his head.
He strolled all the way home, within a noisy city.
Nothing occurred Saturday nor Sunday aside from some brief and steady investigation…
But when Monday rolled around.
He had dawned his hoodie, and a pair of denim shorts.
Another day of silent stalking was upon him.
Monday felt weird for the young American, truly.
Having been bedridden for a week prior, the sudden feeling of waking to a new week of school felt alien.
Almost as alien as this country.
And once school had ended, he immediately departed.
Clad in a black hoodie and a pair of khaki shorts that he had brought from the home country, he stepped onto the bustling attraction that was Central Street.
He hadn't really spent much time here in the past, mostly due to the fact that he never had a reason to.
The stark few times he had shown his face in public, it was usually with Ichisake dragging him practically by his legs to whatever the American-enthusiast wanted to show him at the time.
It was all obvious attempts to purchase Arthur's friendship, and that alone flattered him to no end at the mere thought that someone would try so hard to garner his attention. But even so, Arthur was never the most social of butterflies. Never had a reason to.
And thus never had a true reason to come to Central Street.
Even now, as he walked among foreigners and natives alike, he couldn't help but bat an eye to the various things he noticed around.
The other day, he had been here - true. But everything seemed dead at the time. Quiet. And in some cases, even beyond silent. Few patrons and tourists were earnestly walking about then, milling their day away either through shopping or perusing the many avenues and topical landmarks of Central Street.
Even the beat cops were scarce, secluding themselves away in patrol cars or perhaps just indoors in preparation for the coming rain.
But today was different entirely.
It was the first time he had found himself on Central Street alone.
Without the giddy Ichisake or the sweet-toothed Ann.
It was only a quiet early afternoon for him on this twentieth of June.
And, even on first glance, he could tell that Ren and Ann haven't passed through yet, which wasn't entirely expected on his part.
He folded his arms in for a moment, casting wary eyes around the crowd as he tried to spot blonde pigtails. But, try as he might've, he couldn't have even spotted a nail within this haystack of constantly moving bodies.
After a few moments of idle observation, he concluded in full that they weren't here yet.
"Hmph." He unfolded his arms, flipping his hood to his shoulders. "Alright then… I'm early... Fun…" He nervously muttered, glancing around towards the attractions. To his right, the sign spoke of a DVD rental store.
To his left, a convenience store sporting probably the cheapest things he could realistically find on the street.
Vending machines littered the walls all around, benches with people of all sorts of backgrounds and nativity lounging about, chatting and laughing, reading newspapers and books, and at one point, he even spotted a man in a sharp blue hoodie, with piercing yellow eyes. He paid the American no mind, and was seemingly invested within the rather thick-looking novel in his hands.
"Huh…" Arthur huffed, amazed by the man's unique eyes.
Further around him stood lamp posts awaiting nightfall, connected via sensors and mini- solar arrays.
"Heh, not even my neighborhood had poles with working sensors…" Arthur murmured, smiling warmly at the technological marvels Japan sported.
Bike racks littered the sidewalks, and as expected, they were chained up and down with bikes, scooters, and even some had skateboards tied to the sides.
Seattle was bustling, but this took it to a whole new level entirely.
And, for more than a good moment, Arthur felt like a fish out of water.
Not just for his western looks, either.
People passed him, laughing and giggling. Some spoke English, some spoke French, some galvanized with Russian or Chinese, and others German.
But, of all the voices he heard, Japanese reigned as king and queen both - which was to be expected in the capital of Japan. He understood none of it, however, as everything mixed together in a sort of gibberish that gave Arthur a slight heeby-jeeby feeling.
"Oh God…" Arthur said, taking a step back with a sudden feeling of anxiety. It was different when he was with Ann or Ichisake, friends who could guide him through the maze of society. However, without anyone there to keep a vigil over him, he suddenly felt like a lost little lamb.
"Smile, girls!" He heard someone shout out in English. Turning his head, he spotted three young women of western appearance standing close to another, with the girl in the middle holding up what looked to be a selfie stick.
They paid him no mind, but Arthur - for a moment - was surprised to even hear something coherently familiar to him within all the noise of this rather overcrowded street.
"OK." Arthur hummed, breaking his gaze with a reaffirming shake of his head. "If you could move amongst everyone with Ichisake or Ann, you can do it now…" He told himself, placing his hands within his jacket pockets. "You can't back out, either. Something's going down on Central Street… You just need to wait for Ren and Ann… They'll lead me straight to the answer…"
"Come on! We're heading back to the hotel for some relaxation, and then it's off to Kichioji!" Someone had shouted, this time in sharp Japanese.
Arthur sighed, ignoring the conversation as he took a wary step forward. "But what am I going to do until then…?"
For the next few hours, he walked Central Street by himself - for the first time since he came to this foreign land.
He walked the length of it first, just observing and learning the lay of the land. He watched and noted the shops - even remembering Rocinante and Big Bang Burger from his times with Ichisake. He quickly found the crepe stand, and across from it was the bench he and Ann sat upon - their friendship blossoming in the English language, over some broken spirits.
A romantic way for a friendship to start, truly.
Then there was the diner. A place where Ren and Arthur exchanged an intellectual debate over a steak dinner.
Yet, when he was with the three of them, he ignored and practically didn't even see everything else Central Street had to offer.
Some, he had heard from rumors.
But rumors did none of them the proper justice they deserved.
He found a movie theater, packed with hits from both this country and beyond. Yakuza flicks, sci-fi movies like Wars of the Stars and Extraterrestrial, both in English and Japanese; there were posters for upcoming and current anime films and, much to his earnest surprise, there seemed to be a movie coming out soon that was canonically titled: "The Ancient Scrolls - The Great War."
"No. Fucking. Way." Arthur had stared at the poster, having not even known of such a movie adaptation coming to grace the world.
Eventually, he found himself elsewhere, standing before what seemed to be an arcade.
An arcade, as it happened, inappropriately named "Gigolo Arcade".
"Huh… " Arthur huffed, staring rather incredulously at the name. "OK… I...I guess arcades are still alive, it seems." He had murmured, daring a wary peek inside. It was dark, the walls painted a deep purple with many games and shooting galleries lining the walls. A pool table sat idly in the back, ignored by the gamers all around, as did a ball pit that seemed to be just for the kids.
He had lost his interest rather quickly here, and moved along.
The name eliciting chuckles as he thought further on it.
Soon he found himself passing a pharmacy, and even further a bookstore. The latter caught his eye, and soon he found himself inside eagerly glossing over their rather unique selection of stories, novels, and documentaries.
At the front, they even had a small stand filled with CDs ranging from language learning techniques and lessons to simple musicals and more.
However, he found not only books, but a sense of security.
It's only been about an hour or two since he arrived, and the whole time he had a burning feeling within his stomach, and with each unguided step he took, he found that his chest would tighten and tighten even further the longer he had milled about.
The anxiety of being around so many people got to him, but he held out as best he could. He knew he had to. It was his only recourse for the moment.
He knew people were looking at him. His brown hair, light as chipped wood, and his eyes the color of a mature shamrock in addition to his western looks only made him a visible peculiarity to the natives of the city. Sure, there were other westerners out and about, but no one stood out as brightly as he did.
It probably didn't help that the kid looked like he was about to keel over whenever he wasn't gawking at something.
To compound the problems he suffered even further, his eyesight was seemingly getting worse. At a distance he could see as clear as day, but the closer things got, the more fractured they became in his vision.
For instance, he even had trouble reading the movie posters, but he still managed to work out those in the end with enough effort - strenuous as it was - on his part. But everything was beginning to give him a headache that only became worse and worse the more he continued to strain his already increasingly-tired eyes.
He cursed himself for even trying to extend his friendship to that turtle.
"I try to do something nice in this country, and it backfires on me…"
Through the venom of such a memory, he reminded himself to have Himura set him up an appointment to receive new opticals.
Eventually, he found something he was somewhat interested in.
It was sitting atop a rather neglected pile of books within a blue tub, at the back of the small store.
A small pocketbook the size of his fist: The cover was smooth with some sort of fabric dyed the color of a sandy yellow, with a nice little built-in blue velvet bookmark.
It looked to have been relatively brand-new, minus the plastic wrapping, and a quick skim showed that the book was written entirely in the English language.
It was a book titled "The Pyramids of Old - A Study".
He smiled, feeling triumphant to find even one thing of any true particular interest - so that he may call this day a success no matter how it ended. With it in hand, he approached the counter where a young, brown haired woman greeted him.
"Hey there! Found something you like, yankee?" She asked, smiling warmly at the young American as she glanced at the book in hand.
"Uh, hahah…" Arthur awkwardly chuckled with a rather obvious hint of monotony in his voice upon hearing the usage of the word "yankee". "...Yeah, yeah. I did…. How...How much is this?" He asked, checking to see if there was a price tag. "There isn't a price sticker or anything."
She clicked her tongue, shaking her head rather disappointedly. "They're at it again, huh?" She asked upon hearing that. "No price tag means it's free to take. It's not even ours, really."
Arthur arched a brow. "Not even yours?"
"Yeah." She shrugged before casually leaning forward on the counter. "People come in all the time thinking we take donations, leave their books here, and walk out. It happens so often we have a blue tub where we gather them before sending them to the library." She explained, surprising Arthur. "You got it out of the blue tub?"
Arthur nodded rather slowly, completely taken aback when he quickly realized he's getting it for free.
"Then, yeah. It's free. Take it, yankee." She motioned to him, maintaining her genuine-looking smile. Arthur blinked, then chuckled rather victoriously.
"Wow! T-thank you!" Arthur chortled as he slipped the pocketbook inside his back pocket.
"No problem. Come back any time!" She tapped at the counter before leaning away, evidently returning to whatever task she was performing before Arthur's interruption.
And with that, he turned away, ready to return to his exploration of the tourist hotspot. He knew he hadn't even seen everything yet. There were still a few stores and local hotspots about the area he had yet to even visit, let alone look at.
Including the one he's been interested in finding for quite some time.
But he stopped himself dead in his tracks at the door.
In fact, he practically jumped back two feet, wary of being spotted by the sudden group of four that were sprinting and pushing past everyone.
"H-hey!" Someone shouted as a blond, vulgar-looking boy shoved them aside.
"Pardon us, but this is an emergency!" A lanky, blue-haired young man had shouted as he brushed shoulders with a smaller woman.
"Watch where you're going, you hooligans!" She countered him, glaring at him as they put distance between themselves and her.
"You alright, hun?" The clerk asked, glancing at him with a rather surprised look on her face.
Arthur threw his hoodie.
It was Ren, Ann, Yusuke, and their blond friend, at Central Street as expected.
And, funnily enough, Ren's pet cat as well.
All sprinting by as if in a hurry.
"Looks like whatever's to go down is doing just that… Gotta move!"
"I'll be back eventually!" Arthur said over his shoulder as he prepared to move out. "Thank you!"
And with that, he broke into a power-walk, making sure to do his best to keep the group within sight. The victims of their brisk run staggering as they tried to make sense of what just happened.
"Goddamned kids…" Someone cursed, brushing his coat off as he looked around.
"Honestly, what is this country coming to?" Someone else complained, helping their friend that the blond boy shoved back to their feet.
"Anarchy, that's what." The friend had said.
Arthur moved past them, craning his head where he could to keep them in focus. And quickly, they turned and vanished down an alley across from the diner.
He even caught a glimpse of Ren's face, and he looked absolutely frightened.
Arthur huffed. "Something tells me they're not out for an after-school jog…" Arthur thought, and sped up his pace to a jog. "I better catch up! I'll lose them!"
He ran, doing his best to weave by everyone in his way. His far-sightedness played to his detriment, however, and running into people was unavoidable. But he ignored it. Even when they were cursing at him and shouting, he pressed on.
This was it.
He knew it, and he knew he had no time to waste.
As he reached the alley, he froze in place for a moment before jumping back out of sight as he realized the group was standing still within the alley, crowding around Ren as he held his phone up for everyone to see.
Every single one of them looked to be in an extreme state of distress.
Confidant that he wasn't noticed, he inched forward slightly, peeping past his choice of cover as he tried to make sense of what was going on.
"What are they doing…?" He wondered, arching a brow in their direction.
They were close enough that he could hear them speak, however to their discredit, they weren't exactly being quiet.
"Is she still on?!" Ann asked, looking up at Ren rather worriedly.
Moments passed as they stood in silence, staring at Ren's phone. For a moment, Arthur wasn't sure what to make of the scenelet. They were just standing still, quiet as could be.
But then it occurred to him that they were, perhaps, listening in on a message of some sorts.
Yet, whatever was being said, Arthur could not hear it from that far. Not with the sounds of a lively city drowning it out.
Ann's eyes narrowed, and she spun around on her heels. "We gotta go after them, guys! Come on!" She shouted, her worried voice morphing into a determined, angry one.
The blond boy nodded. "Let's get those assholes!" He agreed.
"Who's 'them'?" Arthur asked himself, watching as Ann led the charge further down the alley. He followed, only stopping when he got halfway as they themselves had stopped further down. He quickly ducked down behind a nearby garbage can, peeping over as he tried to see what they were doing.
Yusuke pulled out a pen and paper and seemed to be…
"...Sketching…?" Arthur said, confused as to why everyone was panicking but he had decided it was time to draw.
Suddenly, the blond boy hopped out into the road without any hesitation or any concern for his own wellbeing, stopping a taxi as he shouted loudly for all to hear "Stop!"
"Ryuji, goddammit!" Ann screamed, shocked at this 'Ryuji's brash action.
"Shut the hell up and get in!" He responded, motioning for them to move. And they did so, all the while Ann seemed to chastise Ryuji for his life-threatening daring-do. Ryuji sharply ignored her, and instead shouted an order to the driver. "Follow that car! We'll be happy to pay whatever!"
The car door slammed shut. "Shit!" Arthur shouted, rising from his hiding spot to move in. However, by the time he got to the end of the alley, they had taken off. "Fuck! What the hell's going on?!" He grumbled, raising his arms high as he looked around for a way to follow them.
But, unfortunately, no more taxis were in sight.
"Williams?" Someone called out to him, and he quickly spun around on his feet, nearly stumbling over in his haste.
Nearby, leaning upon a rather fancy, rather expensive looking, open-roofed, emerald green car, was a young woman that he almost didn't recognize in his haste.
With a black ponytail, a white tank top and cargo pants - topped off with a pair of boots - with a lit cigarette in her hand. Passing through her lips was a puff of smoke, and some unamused brown eyes trained directly on him.
It was Kae Wakaizumi. His peer.
Arthur, shocked, approached her.
"W-Wakaizumi-san….?" Arthur cocked his head, surprised to see her smoking.
"Yo." She offered him, taking another puff of her cigarette with the deepest inhale Arthur's ever seen a person take. For a moment she lingered, as if basking, before letting the smoke escape into the winds. She grunted, shaking the cigarette off as she glanced back up at Arthur. "What's got your panties in such a knot?"
"Y-you…. You smoke?" He asked her, practically almost shouting it aloud for all to hear. "You know that's ill-Agh! Whatever! Whatever! I need your help!" He said, turning quickly in the direction Ren and his friends went. "Is this your car?!"
She nodded, shifting her eyes briefly between Arthur and her car as she took another puff of her cigarette.
"OK! That taxi that stopped just a few moments ago! I need you to follow them! Please!"
She deadpanned at him a moment, as if this request was - in of itself - a bother through and through. However, after another puff of her cigarette, Kae shrugged. "If you pay me for gas, plus a taxi fee, you got a deal." She said, tossing her cigarette to the ground before promptly stamping it out with a loud thump.
As she continued to stomp on it, Arthur practically grunted in annoyance with her demands, but ultimately relented. "Fine, fine, how's two thousand yen sound? That's all I have!" Arthur cried out loud, but Kae shook her head.
"Make it eight."
Arthur blinked. "W-what?! Eight?!" He echoed, his voice increasing in volume. "I don't have eight!"
She shrugged, turning away towards her car.
"OK." She said, waving him off. "See ya." She said, taking a step onto the street to enter. Arthur's eyes opened wide as he realized quickly she was already willing to just leave him.
"W-wait! Wait!" Arthur said, jumping forward to try and stop her. It worked, as she suddenly stopped and looked over her shoulder at him. "I-I don't have eight on me now! But, I can get eight! I'll pay you, I promise! I'm a man of my word, or let me be struck down by God himself!"
Kae, unamused and rather visibly annoyed, just idly glanced him over. Her eyes trailed him up and down for a moment as she sized him up, apparently gauging if she could trust his word. But, apparently, she decided she could when her expression softened up and she motioned to her car with a jerk of her head.
"Deal, get in."
The drive was swift for the both of them.
They barely spoke to one another.
Not out of spite for each other, but rather out of different objectives.
Arthur held on for dear life as she sped through the streets attempting to catch up with the taxi. She asked no questions, but instead she dawned a determined look on her face as she bobbed and weaved through traffic - garnering loud protests from the cars all around.
"Jesus! Watch out!" Arthur shouted as she passed a large freight truck, nearly clipping his bumper in the process.
"Relax, American" She brushed him off as if it was of no concern. "I know what I'm doing."
Arthur rolled his eyes, keeping his head down as they sped further.
She eventually slowed down when she spotted the taxi, and without Arthur even having to ask, she kept her distance as best she could.
As if she knew exactly what Arthur was wanting.
"I got 'em in my sights." She said.
Arthur blinked, raising his head above his own little safety net. "How do you know it's them?" The young American asked, squinting to try and spot any features. The effort was fruitless, however, as he could barely see through the rather tinted windows of the taxi.
"Trust me." She shouldered him, maintaining a direct line of sight as best she could with his prey. "I know."
Eventually, their quarry stopped and so did she.
At least, a few car lengths down the road, out of practical sight and out figurative mind.
The group got out, with Ann throwing some Yen to the driver for his services while everyone else quickly vanished into a nearby, classy-looking building marked with red lights, red kanji signs, and red awnings.
They said nothing, shouted nothing aloud to one another, and made no apparent notice of Arthur's pursuit.
Whatever was going down, it seemed to be of a severe urgency that had caused even Ren to break his natural bearing.
Arthur arched a brow, lingering still for a moment until Ann had, too, disappeared inside.
"What is going on…?!" Arthur rubbed his chin, unsure of what Ren and his friends would want from such a seedy-looking establishment.
"So." Kae spoke up, noting Arthur's sudden hesitance with narrowed eyes. "You gonna get out?"
Arthur blinked, casting his gaze upon Kae as he realized he was beginning to overstay his welcome.
"Oh, uh!" Arthur stammered as he scrambled to unbuckle himself. "Yeah, yeah! S-sorry!"
Kae, evidently unamused, waved him off as she cranked her car back into drive. "Whatever. But you owe me that eight grand, but keep the two for now. I'll come to collect later." She told him, to which Arthur nodded profusely. "And keep quiet about the cigarettes, OK?"
Arthur sighed as she stepped out of the car, shutting the door behind him. He was now in debt to someone, a fact that he did not like. Not at one bit.
"Good ol' fashioned American debt… Fuck!"
But it was a fact he quickly came to accept. A necessary sacrifice, he deduced, to figure out who the Phantom Thieves were.
And in conjunction, what Igor wanted him to do with such robbers.
He nodded to her, a glum "Got it. Thank you so much, for what it's worth."
"Yep." Kae monotoned. "See ya in school, turtle-boy."
And with that, she drove away, performing a u-turn just a little further down the road before speeding back towards Shibuya proper.
Arthur watched, quietly, as her shiny car sped down the narrow street, turning off some quarter-mile down and out of sight completely.
He could still, in the uneasy silence he experienced all around, hear the loud engine squeal and spur - even from the distance he stood. And it remained so for a few seconds after, until she was truly gone in every sense of the word.
Leaving Arthur alone, in the dusk of Tokyo's bitter-looking nightlife.
"Goddamn, where'd she learn to drive?" He crossed his arms, turning away to learn about his new situation. "She's worse than my goddamn mother."
The sun was setting, and fast. The street lamps had buzzed to life only minutes prior, and Arthur slowly spun around, attempting to get a bead on everything around him.
And from his quiet vigil, he could already see that there were very few residents, if any, slinking about the sidewalks and alleys of this little desolate neighborhood. There was an overpass situated above a small patch of wasteland, where the train no doubt sped by with alarming frequency - filled to bursting with barely even a chunk of Tokyo's population.
A few vagrants stood around, clad in patchwork clothing and headwraps, speaking with one another as if they had known each other for most of their lives. This, alone, caused Arthur to stiffen up as he realized he was no longer within familiar territory.
And, even worse, he had no idea where he was.
"Oh boy... " Arthur winced, cutting his eyes briefly to the ground as he only now realized that Himura would be home soon. "I'm in serious trouble…."
This was definitely the edge of Shibuya, and for Arthur?
The edge of his little world.
But he cut that thought out of his mind quickly. He knew he still had some life left in the battery of his phone, and all he would have to do was call Himura for a pick-up and explain himself.
"But how the hell am I going to explain this?" Arthur asked himself, shaking his head swiftly as he gradually dragged his hands down to his sides.
He shook his head once more, attempting to force away the new anxiety he was feeling.
Turning about, he faced the shady-looking building they had all bursted into, as if they were all invited to a party he had no prior knowledge of.
"Wishful thinking." He took a step forward, placing his hands in jacket pockets as he once more looked about the area. "No party inside, though. At least none I'd want an invitation to, considering the locale."
Cars were strewn near and far around the building, where parking seemed to not have been a concern to any - despite the fact there sat a parking lot right across the street.
Arthur huffed. He's never performed a stake-out before, but he knew that going in would just be asking for trouble.
"Especially in this seedy neighborhood."
And so he resolved to wait around outside. Common sense said that if they went in, they eventually had to come out .
He took one final look around.
Satisfied that he was to be left alone by any and all who might approach him…
He took a seat at the edge of the sidewalk and decided to wait.
And wait, he did.
One minute, he was there.
The next, he wasn't.
They were there.
And then they weren't.
One minute, he heard the frightened voices of several others.
Ren, Makoto, Ann…
A loud cat that refused to be silent.
Mentions of money and apologies given to all.
By no less than Makoto herself.
They left.
He followed.
The last thing he had heard:
A set of words that confused him at first.
And then froze him
"Junya Kaneshiro?"
"All of Shibuya?"
"Bank…?"
Time seemed to halt once more, like when the familiar disembodied voice chose to speak with him.
And then it resumed, almost a full second later.
The warmth of summer's night, vanished.
Nothing but a cold, icy grip pulling him. Tugging at him.
Dragging him into a freezing, gloomy air.
At first, a sharp gasp escaped his lips, and the lights from Tokyo's streetlights had evaporated into nothingness.
Replaced by an eerie, green fog that only subsided when his vision corrected itself to favor the newfound blindness.
The noise of a city crawling under the sheets for another night?
Replaced by a silent, soft wind. Breezing by his face, tickling it ever so slightly.
The soft, gentle, clean air that Arthur had become accustomed to?
Replaced by something stale, and worse.
"Wha-what…." Arthur coughed out into his fist, glancing every which way for an answer that never made itself clear. "Where is-AGH!" He cried out in surprise, a large brick-like object slamming into his chest, knocking any ability to breathe right out of him and darkening his vision in a brief flash of white.
He crumpled to the ground, blind as a bat, sending pebbles in every direction with a loud clamber.
Wheezing and coughing, spitting out nothing but silent pleas that reached not even the Almighty's ears.
His vision returned in a blur, and he found that his eyes were forced skywards, and suddenly he noted - through slow pulsating vision - the polluted-looking clouds high above, a stark contrast to what he remembered the Tokyo night sky to look like.
Something you would only see in a post-nuclear apocalypse video game.
"Aaggh…." He mewled, shutting his eyes briefly as the pain surged through his body. He was more worried about the pain he felt rather than the anomalous sky, at least for the time being.
It was almost as if he had been gutted by the sharp corner of a brick going lightspeed.
But, gradually, the pain subsided.
Subsided enough for him to muster enough willpower to roll over onto his stomach.
He battled the vicious pounding in his lungs, and his sudden teary vision, dragging himself onto his forearms with a heavy grunt; trying to gather what strength he could to stand back up. "Oh… fuckin'...God!" He groaned, the pain something he could relate to on only one occasion.
Suddenly, however, as he trembled and clenched his eyes tightly shut - teeth gritted and breathing slow and troubled - his vision darkened.
But it was a natural occurrence.
As natural as it felt.
He opened his eyes, noticing the sudden change in both feeling and luminosity.
And he noted a precipitous dark shape, a blob really, creeping towards him like a demon in some bad campfire story - only mere inches away from his face.
A shadow, slowly lumbering over him and obscuring what light his eyes could possess.
"What…. The…." He muttered, trailing his pupils to its origin.
Above, in the polluted clouds high in Tokyo's sky, sat an anomaly.
An anomaly that only inspired more than anxiety in Arthur.
A sudden dirge of fear.
Fear of the unknown.
Fear of the unexplained.
His xenophobia.
Pinging noisily in his gut.
A true sensation of dread.
Above him, looming over the city, was what looked to be a floating bank.
Distantly, he heard a familiar voice - screaming out in what sounded like fear.
"M-Monster cat!"
"Heheheh…."
"It has begun…."
"The new variable, cast into the fray…"
"Into the dreg heap of humanity's fraudulent desires…"
"Oh, what will he do….?"
Post-Chapter Author's Note
The moment you've all been waiting for. This slow build-up, the character development, everything. From Kae to Ichisake, Arthur to Himura. The problems without solutions, some clear cut, others rough as burlap. Kiwa and Sakutaro, unclear visions that'll be ventured later down the line...
It's built up to this point.
It's so beautiful. *cue tears*
Can't forget the editors, Frozen Foe and Kabuto S. Inferno for the amazing work they've done so far!
Why don't we keep it going? See you all in Chapter 14. :)