Tokyo Trickster

The art student calmly raised his head and looked at the electric baton that Madarame Ikryusai was hitting him with. He saluted gracefully without dodging, "Very interesting."

He chuckled at himself, and invisible resistance pushed away everything around him, including the guards and Madarame Ikryusai.

"The wonders of the world are better than those in books. I regret that I do not understand the doubts in front of me..." The tone was as bizarre as that of a Noh actor reciting his words.

"I always tell myself that this is impossible. For so many years, I have been blinding myself... I can't even see through people's true colors. The so-called blind eyes must be referring to my eyes."

"Have you finally seen the reality?" A mysterious voice sounded in the void.

"......Ouch!" Kitagawa Vsuke fell to his knees, covering his forehead with his hands, and bloodshot eyes instantly covered his eyes. A fox mask grew out of his face. He pierced his fingers into the junction between the mask and the skin, and plucked it hard, making a sound similar to cloth tearing, blood splattered everywhere, and he roared in pain. The intense pain made his other hand clasp the ground tightly and scratch, the nails turned up and bleeding, and the joints turned white. Then, with blood all over his eyes and face, he tore off the mask that had grown flesh, threw it to the ground and broke it.

"You who are unwilling to face the truth are the worst fakes... But now, you have to say goodbye!" The voice said in a chanting voice. "The contract is signed at this moment. I am you, and you are me... How to distinguish the true beauty in the world... This time, it is up to you to tell those mediocre people!"

"【Ishikawa Goemon】!" When Kitagawa Vsuke read out his name, he shook off the blood on his hands.

He raised his head and looked at Madarame Ikryusai, who was dressed as a daimyo.

The shadow of a chivalrous thief from Japan's Azuchi-Momoyama period slowly solidified behind him, striking a pose for a Noh play.

The awakened person of the personality mask stamped his feet on the ground to a beat, and pointed his palm downwards at the old man who raised him.

No more hopes or expectations.

His voice was as cold as a mountain spring.

“It’s… breathtaking.”

Dry weather: 087. Sheltering homeless artists

[Ishikawa Goemon] waved his hand and a sharp gust of wind blew, causing more than twenty guards to retreat.

"Although the imitations are not as good as the originals, they are still magnificent. Even if the sinful flowers bloom all over the grass, the vulgar and ugly ones will die."

Kitagawa Vsuke chanted a chic haiku and walked forward, quite like an ancient celebrity, "You are such..."

Before he could finish his words, Orion approached, grabbed him by the back of the collar and threw him towards Amamiya Ren.

Madarame Ichiryusai gave a playful smile...and before he could say anything, Kitagawa Vsuke and Amamiya Ren disappeared from his sight with the sound of crackling footsteps.

Only then did Kitagawa Vsuke realize that his whole body was weak and he couldn't even exert the slightest strength.

The Phantom Thief picked up Kitagawa, who had just awakened his personality mask and showed his outstanding qualities, and ran away without hesitation while the guards around him had not yet reacted.

Amamiya Ren is not ready to take on an entire maze alone...she would definitely die.

Fortunately, Madarame Ikryusai had been waiting for them for a long time, and the nearby electronic fences were all closed, making it convenient for the daimyo to parade with his attendants.

Amamiya Ren ran away without looking back, fearing that if she was a little slower she would be surrounded.

"Amamiya-san..."

No one answered. Kitagawa Vsuke opened his eyes with all his strength, and the surroundings were moving as fast as lightning.

"Orion!" Amamiya Ren shouted out his own personality mask, and the hunter in Greek mythology swung his fist in an instant, shattering the shadow blocking his way.

Driving this power with all her might, Amamiya Ren was almost exhausted.

He picked up Kitagawa Vsuke and was about to throw him to the special exhibition hall in front.

?！ !Amamiya Ren's eyes widened in disbelief. The expected empty scene did not exist. In the hall with the words "Construction ahead, no passage", the ropes that had been put in place were actually removed manually, and the shadow guards with extraordinary momentum were on guard here.

That's impossible...According to the operating logic of the Soul Palace, his arrangement should be completely harmonious.

At the moment when she was about to fight the enemy, Amamiya Ren could only think of one possibility: someone else had entered Madarame's mind palace before and changed the operating logic here.

This also explains why Madarame Ichiryusai was guarding the first floor with his attendants.

Damn, who is it?!

He was a little upset. According to the content of Lavenda's "Velvet Room Class", only the contractor who mastered the other world navigation APP could bring people in and out of the impression space.

That is to say... In this city, there are other people besides me who have "Other World Navigation"... The sneaky guy didn't even leak any information! Could it be that your boss is not Philemon?

That's not right. Wasn't the Velvet Room the place where Philemon signed the contract? I haven't heard Lavenda mention such a person... While he was daydreaming, [Orion] had already smashed the chest of the shadow blocking his way with one punch, but it was obvious that both the speed and power of his punch were gradually weakening.

Amamiya Ren put down Kitagawa Vsuke with a pale face. This art student who had just awakened his personality mask was far from being comparable to Amamiya Ren in terms of physical strength and mental quality. Moreover, he unconsciously squandered the last bit of strength and was completely exhausted at this time.

It seems that I am isolated and helpless.

The owner of this palace was on high alert, constantly creating new shadows in every corner. Since entering the palace, Amamiya Ren had defeated three-digit shadows.

His fatigue value is accumulating at a high speed.

The open skylight in the special exhibition hall was also sealed again with foam glue.

Are we finally surrounded?

Amamiya Ren was thinking about his own trump card.

The [Clown] that consumes a lot of energy but is equivalent to being able to adjust your own state perfectly?

Or maybe it takes Orion a lot of time to collect the special arrows made of moonlight?

Neither, it’s me, Morgana!

"Zorro--" A childish voice sounded above his head. The black cat took Zorro to break the skylight and threw down a rope.

"Joker! Come up quickly!" Morgana operated his own personality mask and swung out a magical rain of blades to block the shadows that tried to approach Amamiya Ren.

Amemiya Ren felt relieved. He grabbed the rope with his other hand and held Kitagawa Vsuke with his other hand. Then he stepped on the wall and climbed up to the dome with neat movements like a stuntman in a movie and crawled out of the hole in the skylight.

After doing all this, mental and physical fatigue swallowed him up. Amamiya Ren took out the medicine developed by Takemiya Miao from his pocket and stuffed it into his mouth, and then he regained some strength.

He high-fived Morgana who came to his aid in time, and the man and the cat smiled at each other.

"It's been such a big help."

"Hey hey..." Morgana felt very pleased and became elated. It was obvious that he really liked being praised by Amamiya Ren.

"Can you still walk?" The thief looked at Kitagawa Vsuke.

The man supported his knees and stood up shakily. "Suddenly I have no strength left."

"The Personality Mask will consume both your physical strength and your energy. It is very dangerous to use it without restraint like you did at the beginning. If you are exhausted and surrounded by the enemy, you will have no means of resistance."

"Yes...Is that so? I'm glad to hear your advice."

They left the art gallery with great difficulty with the help of Morgana.

The sound of continuous rain actually became beautiful in the ears of Kitagawa Vsuke who had experienced the trip to the art museum. It was like he had just had a nightmare and now he was awake and had to face a crueler reality.

The boy next to him was still in his school uniform, and his red and black Phantom Thief costume disappeared like a bubble.

The surroundings are no longer the familiar studio.

Turbid rain water stained with dust flowed out from the cracks in the iron stairs.

The voices of the security company's salesmen shouting can be heard outside the alley.

This heavy rain came just in time, and it became increasingly violent, making all the suspicious ways of Amamiya Ren and Kitagawa Vsuke's escape relatively easy to understand.

The next step is to find a way to stagger the timing of the Phantom Thieves' actions with them...

When the noise on the street died down a little, Amamiya Ren and Kitagawa Vsuke rushed out of the alley in the rain.

"You can't go back to the studio anymore?"

"Yes, Madarame-sama..."

Kitagawa Vsuke considered his words carefully, "The old thief Madarame won't tolerate me hanging around him now."

Amamiya Ren led the way to the old residential area across the street from Madarame Ikryusai, "Then you can stay here."

"Ah, it would be great to have grilled fish and miso for breakfast."

"There are some ingredients in the fridge, you have to make them yourself."

Two people and a cat sat at the dining table.

It was only then that Kitagawa Vsuke thought of asking, "Come to think of it, who are you guys?"

Amamiya Ren snapped her fingers, pulled out a Joker card from under a disposable paper cup and showed it to him, "The Phantom Thieves of the Heart."

Dry weather: 088. Naruhodō Ryuichi

The main group of the Phantom Thieves has seen its first increase in members in an unexpected development.

After listening to their ideas and action guidelines, Kitagawa Vsuke chose to join without any hesitation.

This guy didn't even ask for any compensation. He nodded to everything Amamiya Ren said, and then couldn't wait to sign the contract and became a member of the Phantom Thieves. The rental house was small, but it had all the necessary office facilities, even if they were all bought from the second-hand market for the sake of cheapness.

In the future, this temporary base will belong to Kitagawa Vsuke, who will not charge rent, but only asks him to pay for water and electricity. This is considered an employee benefit.

After tidying up the bedroom, Kitagawa Vsuke lay on the small hardwood bed and suddenly realized something very important:

Did the black cat speak?

I seem to have seen it talking in the palace of Madarame...

The new thief inexplicably fell into deep thought.

The heavy rain outside the window did not stop at all, as if all the resentment and sadness that had been suppressed for a whole summer were now being released.

The rain is getting heavier.

The weather forecast said that a typhoon was about to hit Japan.

When Amamiya Ren, soaked all over, returned home, Lavenda's originally bad mood was immediately replaced by joy and heartache.

"Teacher, are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?" The girl wiped Amamiya Ren's hair with a dry bath towel.

"I was just very tired, and then I got caught in the rain," Amamiya Ren unbuttoned his shirt, revealing his well-proportioned, sculpture-like, delicate and standard body. He just wanted to take a hot bath. The rainstorm in late autumn had a chill that penetrated into the bone marrow, and even people with excellent physical fitness would inevitably be afraid to start and end.

"Keep warm and be careful not to catch a cold." The thoughtful secretary sat next to the bathtub and tapped his shoulders and arms.

Then the next day, Amamiya Ren caught a cold as expected.

The intensive use of the personality mask caused him to be severely overdrawn physically, and coupled with being caught in the rain and staying up late, a combination of skills successfully sent him to the Takemi Internal Medicine Hospital next door.

Wu Jianmiao had never expected that he would meet his "boss" again in such a dramatic situation.

"Can people with super powers catch colds too?"

"If you are a human, you will get sick, unless my ability is to prevent bacteria and viruses from invading the body."

She lifted up her long white legs and said, "Okay, then I won't try the medicine today. I have to cure your illness first..."

Knock, knock. There was a knock on the door outside the clinic.

"Hello, do you need to see a doctor?" Wu Jianmiao opened the door and saw a middle-aged man in police uniform. The gentleness on his face immediately turned into coldness.

She said, "I'm sorry, but our store does not support intrusion into patients' privacy."

"I'm not here to cause trouble for you, Dr. Takemi. Please make way." The policeman walked into the room forcefully, and his eyes immediately fell on Amamiya Ren, who was lying half-dead on the bed.

"Your name is Amamiya Ren."

So that's it, the old man from Shibuya is starting to exert his strength.

The patient thought of Madarame Ikryusai, stretched out his hands helplessly, and let the police handcuff him with silver bracelets, "Before you came to arrest me, did you know my identity?"

The policeman politely helped Amamiya Ren up, as if he didn't care at all about the possibility of her catching the disease. "A popular idol, a famous published author, Kurusu Akatsuki."

"I want a lawyer."

"Of course you can, but you need to come to the Metropolitan Police Department first to talk to them." The police were very sensible. They knew that none of the forces centered around this case could be easily provoked by the Metropolitan Police Department.

"Well... Doctor Takemi, I'll see you tomorrow."

“Yeah,” the other person just buried his face behind the shopping list and shook his shoulders as if he was scared to sob.

After a while, Wu Jianmiao raised his head. It was a close call. He almost couldn't help laughing.

The moment Amamiya Ren "surrendered", he opened the recorder hidden in the sleeve ring, which was important evidence to refute Madarame Ikryusai.

But the power of one person is too small, so he needs to pull in a few big shots who are important enough to help.

After all, he was still carrying the punishment of "assaulting a government official", and Amamiya Ren was sure that someone in the Metropolitan Police Department would do something to disgust him.

In order to prevent the misinterpretation of various statements in the detention room and the beatings from all walks of life.

After some discussion, the police car just stopped on the side of the road. Two policemen squatted in a backlit corner smoking, and Amamiya Ren stood at a distance where others could see their figures but could not hear their voices.

He dialed the number to a contact account with the name "Alice" on it.

"What are you doing?" It seemed that she had stayed up late again. It was quite uncomfortable to be woken up by someone. She had only slept for five hours.

"I'm Amamiya Ren."