Tokyo Trickster

"Your tone is so desolate, like a farewell between life and death."

"Well... in a sense," Lavenda raised a bloodstained Beretta 92F pistol and pointed it at Amamiya Ren's forehead, "Trickster, this memory is now in your hands."

"Wait, I haven't reviewed my linear algebra yet."

Lavenda pulled the trigger.

"I......"

Bang. A gunshot rang out.

In response, Amamiya Ren fell onto the desk.

Boom, boom, boom. It's a heartbeat.

Boom. A heartbeat like a drum. A heartbeat like thunder.

It seemed as if a group of crows were cacophoning, flapping their wings and flying from the treetops into the sky, as dark as clouds and fog.

The bushes grew, the wind howled, and the clown's rampant laughter lingered in my ears.

Huh. Heavy breathing, the whole body is burning like fire.

He opened his eyes.

This is the top floor of Tokyo Skytree.

The prism-like glass had been shattered, and the ground was covered with blood, corpses, burnt advertising papers, and TV screens riddled with bullet holes.

"Amemiya Ren" was standing a little further away, dancing the Breaking dance steps with his back to Amemiya Ren. Then at a certain beat his whole body stopped like a machine brake. He raised the Beretta 92F pistol in his hand, aimed at the armed police at his feet and pulled the trigger.

Blood flowers bloom.

He turned around mechanically and looked at the Phantom Thief.

"Changed again?" A sinister chuckle.

"Why did you choose the weakest one this time?"

Boom. A thunderous heartbeat. The entire Tokyo Skytree is shaking, and the sky outside the window is a psychedelic color.

The silver young man fell onto the platform, his body covered in blood, and behind him was a huge figure holding a sword and a spear.

"This is your last chance," the strange yet familiar young man said to Amamiya Ren, "Don't let him kill you, go back quickly."

This guy...Amamiya Ren seemed to have seen him many times in dreams and hallucinations.

"Naraka Yuu," he introduced himself in a hurried tone, "Go back to your world and find me in Yasinaba City. A special knife has fallen there. You must hurry up..."

A hoarse voice sounded at this moment, "Chronos."

The sound of the clock hands being stopped.

But at the moment when the clown summoned the personality mask, Ming Shangyou had already stretched out his hand to block Amamiya Ren like a conditioned reflex, and shouted, "Tens of thousands of proverbs!"

The magnificent divine light spread in all directions the moment time was paused.

When Amamiya Ren regained consciousness, she felt a piercing burning pain in her retina and could hear nothing except the sound of the explosion.

Then someone pushed him hard, and he was pulled by gravity, falling into the water, his bones screaming, his muscles torn, and water poured into his mouth and nose and into his ears.

I was drowning, and every breath was heavy and my lungs were burning.

call.

Amamiya Ren opened her eyes again.

"Chronos!" He shouted, imitating the clown in his memory.

In the classroom, everything came to a standstill.

The math teacher's glaring eyes, Sakamoto Ryuji's running away in fear, the students' gloating, and the flying chalk in the air.

No one heard Amamiya Ren calling out for Persona.

But in just a moment, time resumed its flow.

With a snap, the chalk hit Ryuji Sakamoto's forehead accurately, accompanied by strange screams and laughter.

The math teacher's scolding came to an abrupt end when he saw Amamiya Ren stand up.

"I'm going to the bathroom," said Amamiya Ren, and left the classroom.

In fact, everyone knows that this guy usually never comes back after leaving the classroom.

The instructor who was smoking at the door of the men's restroom shuddered when he saw him and hurriedly put out his cigarette.

A published novelist, whose fame was rising, walked to the sink and splashed cold water on his face.

Time really was paused, he thought, but only for a few tenths of a second.

That is the time it takes to blink inadvertently.

Perhaps it is enough in the ever-changing death battle.

This is a personality mask named [Chronos]. It is taken from the primitive god in the Orphic religion and ancient Greek mythology. It is the highest god worshipped by the Orphic religion. It is said to be the supreme god who created chaos and order and controlled time. The image is an old man holding a sickle with the zodiac floating around him. In the Velvet Room Tarot system, it has the symbol of [World].

Amamiya Ren does not understand how this personality mask came into being, but it is undeniable that the series of strange changes in the Velvet Room were caused by it.

Narukami Yuu, Yasoinabashi, a sword from another time and space...

He thought that he must find an opportunity to go there.

Yasinaba City is located in the central part of Honshu Island, a long distance from Tokyo.

It takes most of the day to go back and forth, so you need to plan your trip carefully.

Amamiya Ren returned to the classroom.

The math class, which was already coming to an end, had ended. The homeroom teacher, Sadayo Kawakami, was announcing something, and the classroom was filled with cheers.

"Hey, what happened?" Amamiya Ren grabbed Sakamoto Ryuji who was holding up his homework book and was about to rush out of the classroom.

"Study trip! Study trip!" Sakamoto Ryuji had a look of relief on his face, even happier than eating Kaiseki cuisine at the celebration banquet after conquering the Hall of Fame. "It's really great, five whole days! Training camp, hot springs and so on. After I come back, I only need to go to classes for another week before it's spring break!"

"Um..." A timid-looking girl carefully handed over a piece of printed paper, "Amamiya, this is... uh, this is the registration form for the study tour. If..."

Amamiya Ren ignored her, but took the registration form and glanced at it casually. She didn't dare to talk more, as Xijian Qinyin was standing next to her, staring at her eagerly.

Hmm? The place we are going to for the study tour is...

Yasoinaba City?!

17-year-old Ace: 140. Cong Yu Chapter

A rare pastoral scenery.

It is not time for snow yet, the sky is high and the clouds are light, and the winter wheat has just sprouted, showing a lush green color on the black soil. With the distant sea breeze, the green waves sway.

Occasionally, you can see transmission towers in groups of three or two on the roadside, pulling the sparse lines straight and cutting through the blue and lush green. The background of the fields is rolling mountains. The trees on the mountains have lost all their leaves, and their bare branches are pointing to the sky.

In the bus, boys and girls were chatting, while Kawakami Sadaya was sitting in the first row correcting Chinese homework.

"I heard that the second-year seniors are also going to Yasuoba City."

"Do you want to live together?"

"Hey, hey, hey, Mishima, what weird things are you thinking about? Could it be..."

"Freeze said!"

"Haha, it would be nice if I could take a comfortable hot spring bath in the winter."

"I really hope that men and women can have mixed baths..."

"Well, I think so too—"

"Disgusting! Disgusting!" The boys' conversation soon reached the collective ears of the girls and began a round of verbal criticism.

Amamiya Ren was flipping through a book on Greek Mythology in the last row. Shiomi Kotone was leaning beside him, and out of boredom she was using the card-building simulator downloaded on her phone to preset her own anti-pearl deck.

Hasinaba is not a city with developed industry or commerce, and its animal husbandry, agriculture and forestry are only average, but fortunately it has a beautiful environment and has recently been actively transforming towards the tourism industry.

The bus finally arrived at the rest stop after nearly four hours of bumpy ride. A group of students got off the bus with sore backs and wandered along the street, eating some very common snacks, such as fish balls or taiyaki, with starch and fish rolling in the boiling sauce.

The air quality is much better than Tokyo. Amamiya Ren stretched lazily, and seeing Sakamoto Ryuji walking by with a hunched back, she punched him lightly, "Did you play games all night last night?"

"Hey, my mom is still in the hospital, and I've been taking care of her the whole weekend," Ryuji Sakamoto yawned.

"Really? You've worked hard," Amamiya Ren glanced at Shiomi Kotone who had her arm around him, "Would you like some fish balls? It's my treat."

"Don't ask me? Don't ask me? Don't ask me?" Xi Jian Qinyin bared her teeth at him.

Amamiya Ren poked her forehead and asked, "What are you holding in your hand?"

Shiomi Kotone looked at the wooden sticks in the paper cup and said, "I've finished eating."

"You didn't even want to leave one for me," Amamiya Ren said in a sad tone.

Sakamoto Ryuji's teeth were about to fall out from the sour taste. "I'd rather not eat fish balls."

Amamiya Ren squeezed his shoulders and said, "You are not allowed to leave."

"Let me leave! I don't want to see you two showing off your affection anymore!"

"Ah, where is that..." Xijian Qinyin was actually a little shy, and Amamiya Ren was sure at a glance that this guy was pretending.

Then Xijian Qinyin stood on tiptoe delicately and pecked the corner of his mouth lightly.

"I'm going to vomit!" Ryuji Sakamoto shook off Amamiya Ren's hand and ran away.

The Phantom Thief deadpanned, "You chased him away."

"Humph, I filled out the application form because I wanted to spend time with you," said Shiomi Qinyin, enjoying the time when Lavenda was away. In fact, Lavenda could find a corner at any time to open the door and come out of the Velvet Room to give her a Megid Laon. In the end, she had to endure it even though she was so envious that her teeth were about to break.

As the saying goes, a little impatience can ruin a great plan. Lavenda is playing a big game of chess.

She must first ensure that the girls in the Phantom Thieves always attract Amamiya Ren more than the boys, so that there will be a chance for a date in the future -

Haha, the more I think about it, the angrier I get. It was Christmas that year, and it was snowing heavily. The girls in the secret base were silent, and the atmosphere was even colder than the heavy snow outside the window. The video game store on the next street was brightly lit, and the boys were clinking glasses and drinking, enthusiastically discussing the latest games.

That day, the date spot was given to Fang Zexia.

Lavenda remembered that the red-haired girl squatted on the sofa with her knees hugged, waiting for the whole night.

When the windows were covered with white frost, Amamiya Ren was still praising "Baldur's Gate 3" at the table.

Oh, I'm not bad either. It was Valentine's Day, and she read books all day in the Velvet Room. Amamiya Ren lost one round after another in Street Fighter 6. She kept saying on the phone that she wanted revenge and would not go home until she won a round.

When it comes to fighting games that require reaction and micro-control, Amamiya Ren's level is the best in Ginza arcades and she has swept through Shibuya game halls. There is no reason for her to be beaten up by Kitagawa Vsuke and Sakamoto Ryuji in turn.

The girl's shyness and anticipation gradually cooled down, and finally turned into a speechless state.

It’s so hurtful!

In fact, Amamiya Ren also has his reasons for not being able to go back... He is not made of iron, but flesh and blood. His holidays and weekends are all fully booked with classes. In the first month, he felt that he was really enjoying the blessing of having many wives and was worthy of the title of Tokyo handsome guy. In the second month, he started thinking about when he could take a vacation. In the third month, he started staying out all night.

Unfortunately, the competition among the girls for the various places has reached a fierce stage. They all feel that each of them has occupied one more day of Amamiya Ren, so they think it is unfair and keep scheduling the shifts.

This was no longer a dispute that could be resolved by Amamiya Ren's complaints and persuasion, as it involved the fact that he did not know the technique of creating multiple shadow clones.

Even Lavenda, who doted on him the most, would often sneer and say, "You deserve it."

If not everyone really liked him, and if Amamiya Ren's fighting power was not equal to half of the Phantom Thieves, he would probably have been cut into pieces by the blackened girls one night.

Okay, now I gather Amamiya Ren's left leg, right leg, left hand, right hand, and torso in my hand and declare victory in the game directly -

Shiomi Kotone shook her head and dismissed the strange thoughts.

Amamiya Ren also enjoyed the quietness without being disturbed. How could a teenage boy remain indifferent to a beautiful girl of the same age? Every time he thought of this girl as his girlfriend, walking down the street hugging her would inevitably feel a bit like showing off, and his vanity was quite satisfied.

"Ah!" someone exclaimed. It was the owner of the bakery, a woman with some wrinkles on her face. She was mixing cocoa powder into a piece of toast. When she saw Amamiya Ren, she forgot the dosage and spilled it all over the table.

"You are the one..." she said stumblingly.

"Kurisu Akatsuki, or Amamiya Ren," the Phantom Thief greeted her politely.

He thought that even in such a remote place, someone could recognize me. It seems that I am really famous.

It was already free time, the bus needed to refuel, and our class teacher, Sadayo Kawakami, was also communicating with teachers from other classes about the itinerary.

With a bag of butter bread in her hand given by the boss enthusiastically, Amamiya Ren met a guy at the door of a noodle shop who shouldn't be there, but whose presence seemed reasonable enough.

A weirdo wearing only a Hawaiian shirt and flip-flops even though it was winter. He is one of the most authoritative experts on ghost stories in this country, Oshino Yoru.

17-year-old Ace: 141. Cong Yu Chapter

White steam filled the glass panel directly opposite the curtain.