Tokyo Trickster

Amamiya Ren raised her head and continued to listen to Madarame's monologue.

"It is impossible for me to stay inspired alone in this desert..." Is this what he said? How ironic.

With the insight of the [Eye of Fool], Amamiya Ren quickly found the direction to leave the painting. The Phantom Thieves shook off the yellow sand covering their bodies, and what came into view was the vast sky and sea with layers of clouds.

The vermilion torii gate stands alone.

Ding-ling-ling. The wind chimes tied with paper ribbons under the torii gate swayed, making a crisp sound.

Thunder rumbled in the sky.

"The gods sit back and reap the benefits, enjoying the admiration of the masses. People spontaneously gather under the torii, throw in money, and go home satisfied. This is no different from art, it's all people's wishful thinking." Madarame Ikryusai said in an arrogant and disdainful voice.

He believes that "the pursuit of money, fame and fortune" is also an art.

The world-weary smile is like a big skirt, just like an umbrella and ride on it.

When Amamiya Ren thought of the mistress this guy kept in the villa, she couldn't help but nodded in approval. The old man really knew how to have fun.

They passed through the torii gate and entered a quiet forest.

"The young tree grows and flourishes not because of its own efforts. So young people do not understand the value of youth. How foolish!" Madarame said indignantly, "What's wrong with me showing its value skillfully before it is wasted?"

Morgana smiled awkwardly, wiping the non-existent sweat from his forehead. "To put it simply, he is jealous of the youth and talent of young people? I would still fight even if I were turned into a cat, but I am jealous of others just because of my age. It's ridiculous."

Kitagawa Vsuke covered his forehead and said, "I have been completely blinded these years. I actually listened to the orders of such a person..."

"Now that you have faced the reality, take on the hatred of your fellow disciples, and for the sake of those stolen ideas, take gorgeous revenge on this utilitarian 'adoptive father'." Amamiya Ren said cheerfully the lines about Mordred's Noble Phantasm release in "Fate/grand order".

They climbed up the hill towards the sunlight.

It was bizarre again, with waves rising and falling in all directions, matching the rumbling thunder in the sky.

The ship tilted, and the hideous monster used its tentacles to strangle the deck. Its mouth full of sharp teeth trembled, ready to swallow the Phantom Thieves at any time. The sea was covered with dark clouds, and Madarame's voice sounded again.

“When a ship is sailing in the vast ocean, will it worry about the fish under the water? Whether it is art or life, it is always drifting with the flow. Only those who push away the sea water and float to the surface are the winners!”

The old man's inner thoughts are so abstract. He seems to be disguising himself with art, but in essence he is a beast who purely respects the principle of the survival of the fittest.

"Oh, isn't this just treating young people as stepping stones for oneself to ascend to a higher position? It sounds so nice," Amamiya Ren scratched his head, shouted [Orion], and punched the empty sea monster to pieces.

They jumped from the stern into the Japanese-style room at dusk.

"Beauty is nothing but people's wishful thinking..." Madarame's voice was no longer as loud as thunder, but intoxicated and obsessed, "Only when it is exchanged for money and fame, can it be transformed into tangible happiness."

"Only the chosen ones can live in a comfortable mansion. Only when I can achieve this kind of life, my art will be complete!"

Kitagawa Vsuke looked around and this should be the luxury house that Madarame bought in the Kita Ward.

"The studio was chosen to be in such a simple home. It's really all fake..." As a disciple, he felt indescribably disgusted. "It's really, disgusting."

"After seeing a few paintings, I realized that he has absolutely no passion for art in his heart," Amamiya Ren commented sharply.

"The things here are not paintings at all," Kitagawa Yusuke clenched his fists, "They are just superficial self-expressions framed in frames!"

"We are already looking forward to what his expression will be like after he repents!" Morgana sneered.

Amamiya Ren opened the paper door, and things changed again. What she saw before her was a magnificent corridor.

They had officially made their way into Madarame's inner world.

Getting closer and closer to the secret treasure.

(PS: I changed campus today, so this chapter is a little late. I only have two easy courses on the 7th and 8th, so I can try to update twice a week. I will start to pay off my debts after the holiday. #Dark Creeping #Twisted Creeping)

Dry weather: 095. Self-portrait, No.

Gold in a solid-liquid mixture flowed like a river in the corridor, and the brilliant jewels made it difficult to open one's eyes. Vertical banners with the words "Madamame Art Exhibition" hung in the air, and there were so many of them that they looked like groups of hanged corpses in an execution ground.

The corridors on both sides are lined with Japanese paintings with red and green backgrounds, they are "Sayuri".

“How twisted,” Amamiya Ren twirled the auxiliary pistol with his index finger, “The origin of the alchemy technique is actually a painting.”

"These are all fakes." Kitagawa Vsuke squatted in front of those "Sayuri" paintings. Countless times of copying and appreciating them allowed him to identify the authenticity at a glance.

"Are there any authentic works mixed in?" Amamiya Ren looked at the twisted corridors. The crooked roads dissolved and solidified, forming a flowing shape like metamorphic rock. There are hundreds of doors in the entire spiritual palace, but there is only one leading to the main hall. He guessed that Sayuri, as the turning point that distorted Madarame Ikryusai's desire, its uniqueness should be closely related to the solution of this puzzle.

"I haven't seen any yet," the art student answered after careful consideration, "but those fakes give me a very strange feeling...under the empty and false coloring and composition, it seems to correspond to a certain emotion, just like...a key?"

In this case, the idea of ​​conquering this corridor is very clear. Amamiya Ren overlooked the entire corridor and said, "As long as we find the real thing, we can find the only 'door' that leads to the deepest part of Madarame Ikryusai's cognition."

"What if we find the wrong one?" Morgana asked timidly.

"?" Amamiya Ren and Kitagawa Vsuke looked at it. Morgana was on the corridor on the first floor above.

The big cat explained, "Just now I was a little curious, so I touched the painting here, and a voice asked... if it was real."

"Did you answer wrong?"

"We... run!" Morgana roared, jumped down using all four limbs, was caught by Amamiya Ren, and then the thief started running without hesitation.

Kitagawa Vsuke didn't understand why, but he still ran along.

He glanced behind him with the corner of his eye, and was terrified. The molten gold was like a rushing river, carrying a terrifying high temperature and hitting the ground. Dozens of heads with different expressions rolled down with the river. They were all disciples in Madarame's studio.

This is the [Infinite Fountain] displayed in the exhibition hall on the first floor of the art museum.

It came alive at this moment, truly fulfilling the meaning of the word "infinite". Endless liquid gold poured out from a door in the sky with heat waves of thousands of degrees Celsius. Infinite gold and silver treasures contained endless greed, and countless ideals burned to ashes mixed in, containing the resentment of countless shattered dreams.

"Morgana! What did you answer him?!" Amamiya Ren shouted in the deafening noise. He added the physical fitness of [Orion] to himself, carried Kitagawa Vsuke on his back, and ran quickly in the corridor with the big cat in his other hand.

"Madamame Ichiryusai is an old dog!" Morgana was furious. In fact, he didn't hear what Amamiya Ren was asking. He thought the other party was scolding Madarame, so he followed suit.

The river behind them became even more turbulent, like an enraged beast, roaring and rushing towards the thieves.

"Are you crazy? This is the deepest part of the palace master's cognition. You were just talking to his subconscious mind!"

"What?!" Morgana still couldn't hear clearly. All around him was the sound of molten gold hitting the ground and then solidifying.

Amamiya Ren was too busy to deal with it. She leaned over to avoid the flying gold and, relying on the superhuman boost brought by her personality mask, she jumped to the corridor more than ten meters away. Kitagawa Vsuke only felt a strong sense of weightlessness, and the next moment he was thrown under a row of Sayuri along with Morgana.

"Are there any genuine goods here?!" Amamiya Ren followed closely.

The Infinite Fountain was still chasing them.

Kitagawa forced himself to calm down, and tried his best to identify the portraits. "It's not here."

He began to fly again, and Orion's terrifying body functions reflected every move of Amamiya Ren. The sound of the wind raged in his ears.

"【Ishikawa Goemon】." Kitagawa Vsuke called out his personality mask in time, blowing out a cold wind comparable to liquid nitrogen, which slightly hindered the flow of the "Infinite Fountain".

"What about here?"

“They’re all fakes!”

"Where are these?"

“They’re all fakes!”

"......" Repeat the above steps dozens of times. The Phantom Thieves fled in the corridor, and Amamiya Ren's energy was quickly consumed. After nearly half an hour of full-speed movement, he was thinking about a decisive battle with the big guy behind him, when Kitagawa Vsuke, who was already exhausted and unconscious, finally gave a relaxing report.

"This is the real Sayuri!"

Amamiya Ren rubbed the corners of her eyes which felt a little sore, her brain felt like it was burning.

As Kitagawa Vsuke identified it, the painting of "Sayuri" disintegrated into a pile of golden dust and disappeared, accompanied by a gate in the distance that suddenly changed color.

The golden waterfall stopped quietly, and it solidified in an instant, but the remaining warmth made people feel palpitating.

The Phantom Thieves looked back at the magnificent palace. The corridors became increasingly twisted, and the face of Madarame Ikryusai in the vertical banner seemed to be sneering in a haughty manner.

They closed the door, probably never to return.

......

There was a thunderstorm outside the manor.

Suddenly there was a loud bang, and the night sky was lit up by lightning, which instantly became a bright white. The glass windows were covered with small white snakes, climbing and dancing, making noisy hisses.

During the dinner, the celebrities were talking to each other in a buzzing manner.

The camera faithfully reflects the scene in the display cabinet to every dinner guest through the mobile display screen installed in the aisle.

Madarame Ichiryusai stood at the center of the topic. He looked at the preview letter that covered the face of the woman in Sayuri with a gloomy expression. Finally, he calmed down and turned around calmly, "Everyone, this is really a small accident. Thank you to the notorious thief in the news for presenting us with a low-level acrobatic performance in the rainstorm..."

"Everyone, rest assured. As the inheritor of Japanese painting, I, Madarame Ichiryusai, will never bow to these lawbreakers," he waved his fist righteously. "I will punish those criminals who wantonly commit crimes and trample on art in broad daylight. This is my determination as a public figure and a member of the Yamato nation! Although I was timid at first, I thought that if I backed down here, they would continue to go unpunished. So, I am willing to be a victim and lure them into the execution of the public security organs as bait to purify the security of this country!"

Madarame Ichiryusai bowed deeply to everyone in the banquet hall, "Please everyone, lend me a hand!"

Dry weather: 096. Self-portrait, end

"Please give me a helping hand!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the whole manor became quiet, with only the sound of rain outside the window.

Madarame Ichiryusai bowed deeply, the wrinkles on his face deepened a little, and there was an impassioned determination and perseverance in his eyes.

"Akechi, what do you think..." A plainclothes policeman with gray hair asked the young detective beside him. His real identity is an employee of the General Affairs Division of the Public Security Bureau of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, and he is also a strong supporter of the popular congressman Shido Masayoshi.

The boy called "Akechi" is named "Akechi Goro". He is now a well-known figure in Tokyo. In the past year, he has solved many vicious social incidents one after another. With the media's publicity, he is known as the "Reincarnation of the Detective Prince" and is called the "New Three Heroes of Our Store" together with Edogawa Ranpo, the "King of Reasoning" who was active in Kita-ku, Tokyo earlier, and Shirakari Naoto, the "Detective Prince" of Meguro-ku.

The case of Kamoshida's sudden death in prison caused quite a stir within the Metropolitan Police Department, so the Public Security Department commissioned the most active Goro Akechi to assist in the investigation.

This young man lived up to everyone's expectations and quickly put forward the speculation that "Madarame Ikryusai is the next target."

Akechi Goro stared at Madarame Ikryusai in confusion for a long time, "I feel like something is wrong."

"You think he might be connected to the Phantom Thieves? Directing and acting himself?"

"......" Akechi Goro did not answer, he felt that his CPU was going to burn out. The Phantom Thieves, Madarame Ikryusai, Kamoshida, the notice letter, Nakanohara Natsuhiko... Countless pieces of information were strung together, involving too many people, and the chain of evidence was all intermittent. In the end, he still did not understand the other party's motives and purpose. He could not find any specific suspects.

"Forget it," the police officer shook his head. "I won't ask about your affairs with Shi Tong. As long as he can fulfill his promise in his speech, I will pretend that I know nothing."

"The Phantom Thieves..." Goro Akechi pinched his forehead in distress, "What exactly do they want to do?"

"They are just a bunch of criminals who claim to be righteous but actually commit illegal acts. We should help Mr. Madarame. This is a rare clue."

"Indeed, I'll leave it to you," Goro Akechi thought that Amamiya Ren and Kitagawa Vsuke might be related to the Phantom Thieves of the Heart, but after further investigation, he found that these two people had no chance to be present in the memory space, and he couldn't do anything about them in reality, even calling them to the interrogation room for questioning...

The young detective looked gloomy. That damn lawyer.

Every time he found some clues and was ready to call Amamiya Ren to the Metropolitan Police Department, Naruhodō Ryuichi would sit across from the desk in a suit and tie, carrying a briefcase. He had a sunny and cheerful smile, but his mouth was full of lies mixed with facts. His natural acting skills were matched with just the right emotional foreshadowing. He emphasized "according to the law" countless times and then listed the witnesses and evidence, leaving Goro Akechi helpless.

Don't let me catch you failing... He can only keep this in mind.

*

In the main hall of the art gallery, in the huge display cabinet, the secret treasures of this palace slowly appeared.

The shadowy Madarame Ichiryusai stayed by the display case, and there were cameras everywhere. Electronic fences with infrared lasers went around in all directions. Guards with electric batons patrolled the intricate corridors outside the hall.

Amamiya Ren sneaked in silently, wielded a Nepali army knife and cut the throat of a guard. In front of her was the distribution room of the main hall.

He took off the guard's pass and swiped the induction lock, looked up at the surveillance camera facing him, gave a thumbs up to the shadows who were spying on him, and then turned and walked into the switch room.

The shadows of the entire hall are gathering here.

In the corridor, a guard with crimson air swirling around him broke into the switch room and immediately chased after Amamiya Ren.

Clang. The door closed. There were crackling footsteps outside the room. A few seconds later, the wind shield of the ventilation duct on the wall was pushed open, and Kitagawa Vsuke and Morgana came out from inside.

......

"Are the thieves finally impatient?" After listening to his subordinates' report, the shadowed Madarame who was guarding the display cabinet sneered and said, "Go and set up a circle first, I'll be there soon."

Before Madarame Ichiryusai could finish his words, a loud explosion was heard.

"What's going on?!" he shouted in shock and anger.

"Madarame-sama, there's a guy in black coming in!"

The gorgeous moonlight condensed into arrows at the fingertips.

This is a familiar scene. The boy wearing a white bird mask threw off his windbreaker and stood at the end of the corridor with a bow and arrow.

Madarame Ichiryusai pinched his chin and smiled coldly.

"Do you think this trick can still work on me?"

Amamiya Ren did not answer. He loosened his fingers that were taut with the string, and a flash of moonlight rushed towards Madarame Ikryusai in an instant.

"Huh," a hoarse voice and countless ink-like strokes tightly entangled the arrow.

With Madarame Ichiryusai as the center, the entire main hall is moving away... No, this space formed by cognition is distorting. He is deliberately moving the battle venue away from the secret treasure.