Chapter Text
It was as black as night. In Tokyo, Japan, a church had its mass in full swing.
Three men, dressed in armor from the crusader era marched into the room. Curiously, their armor was painted like it was a police officer's uniform.
"Where is the intruder?" One demanded, pulling out his sword.
Up above them, a man leapt between the rafters. The worshipers looked around, panic starting to settle in among them. The man stopped and stood proudly in the moonlight, his shadow cast for all to see.
"Up there! In the rafters!" Another one cried out, pointing at the man.
The man smiled, turned, and continued on his way when he heard a voice buzz in his ear.
"Dealer? This is Pariah. Are you alright?"
"I'm fine. Didn't expect the Shadow to pull that. How are the others?" the man known as 'Dealer’ replied as he made way to an exit directly ahead of him.
"Most of us are too injured to try again. Siren and Rook volunteered to make sure they get out. Monarch probably won’t do anything to help us. What about you?"
"I'm fine, got some Shadows chasing me. But I'll shake them. If what you said is true, then that only leaves you, me, and Ace to try and take on the Shadow. I don't like those odds." Dealer replied, climbing up the building, carefully ignoring the crusaders. He found an open window and went through, now on the ledge of a very narrow stone walkway.
"We have no choice, Dealer. If he doesn't have a change of heart, then we'll all be dead by tomorrow.
was shimmying the church from the outside, watching a silhouette of a crusader run by through a stained-glass window. He hid behind a pillar, waiting for the guard to pass.
"Where'd the heretic go?"
"Stay out of sight Dealer. You'll never get back to the Shadow if you have to fight the whole way up." Another voice told him.
"Paon? What happened? You dropped out of contact, and I feared the worst."
"Shadows attacked my position. I was able to lose them, so I can help you out. At least for now."
Dealer simply nodded and, like he had before, began to climb the massive cathedral in order to reunite with what was left of his team. He entered the church again, and now found himself in the bell tower, and there were several bells of various sizes. As he walked along the wooden beams wide enough for three people side-by-side, he heard a voice behind him.
"STOP RIGHT THERE CRIMINAL SCUM!"
Dealer turned around and saw a crusader. Dealer smiled, sprinted to him, and before the guard could react, leaped high above his head, his feet landing firmly on the guard's shoulders. Dealer's clawed gloves grabbed the part of the helmet that shielded the face and pulled hard. The face mask was ripped off and Dealer kicked with all of his strength, launching the crusader forward. The guard hunched over and began to twitch, and soon his entire body dissolved into a puddle of tar. A puddle that soon reformed itself into a minotaur with mechanical legs.
"Analyzing… this opponent is weak. Take him down, and fast." Paon ordered.
Dealer smiled, and reached for his mask, removing it from his face. When he did, a figure materialized behind him.
"Tear him apart!" Dealer ordered.
The figure raised his weapon and the air crackled as electricity surged and gathered around the blade as if it was an antenna. Once the blade was coated with enough lightning to power a city, the figure slammed his weapon down, a cascading wave of electricity surging towards the monster in front of Dealer. Once the energy hit, the minotaur let out a scream of agony and vanished into ash.
"Good job, now hurry! The Treasure will dematerialize in a few hours, and the heist will be a failure. Ace, Rook and Siren are already there and waiting for you."
Dealer shook his head.
“Go. Change the Director’s heart.” He commanded. “I should take these Shadows down. It’ll help draw out the traitor.”
“But you’ll…!” Paon’s voice hitched, and Dealer couldn’t help but smile. How odd. Despite all of their differences, for some reason, he actually cared.
“We don't have any other choice, Paon.” Another voice interjected. “If we don’t get to the Director soon, his Treasure will dematerialise, and everything we've done will have been for nothing!”
With one long, last look at his back, Paon took a deep breath in. “Fine. Good luck, Dealer.”
Dealer turned. There stood a man dressed like Zephyrman, of all things.
“… Very well. Let’s do this together, Zephyr.” Dealer smirked,
Zephyr’s eyes sparkled brightly despite the odds they faced, and he nodded firmly at Dealer’s words. “Together.”
Dealer couldn't remember most of what happened next. I think my brain immediately purged the memories out of my mind due to how traumatic they were.
He only remembered the start where he reached out for his mask, and then suddenly came back to find himself being slapped by a man.
“Silence, Ango! Your name is not Dealer.”
Ango Natsume looked down at his hands. He was not wearing his mask anymore.
As pain coursed through his body from numerous bruises.
As the injected drug began to take effect.
As he drifted in and out of unconsciousness…
“I said wake up!”
He gasped as ice cold water splashed onto him.
He shivered as the water soaked through his uniform.
Glancing upwards, he saw a police detective glancing down at him, glaring.
The detective began listing his various crimes, handing him a sheet on a clipboard for her to sign.
He gave him a defiant glare, which only seemed to make him angrier.
He slammed his foot down into his leg, causing him to cry out in pain.
“We need your arm to sign this… but I don't care if you lose a leg.” the man threatened. “You’ve caused us a lot trouble, makin’ us look bad…”
So that was it. Revenge. He knew all too well the many morally questionable interrogation methods that didn't involve violence. But this man was just taking his anger out on him.
He glanced upwards, spying a camera in the room, filming them.
The detective scoffed. “Do you really think that's going to help you?”
“No, I don't.” He muttered. “I know that you won't be held responsible for anything that happens to me.”
As if to prove her point, he slapped him across the face- hard. That was the second time.
“Glad you understand.” the man sneered. “I could have a little fun with you right now, and you wouldn't be able to do anything about it.”
He held out the clipboard once again.
“I would suggest that you cooperate.” the detective said. “We’ve already captured all of your teammates, and one of them already sold you out!”
He couldn't help but let a little bit of fear show on his face.
Had they really captured the others? Grail, Monarch, Knight, Sheriff, Paon, Siren, Oracle, Ace, Sleuth, Pariah, Blanc, Zephyr and even Rook?
“I can’t let him get to me…” he thought. “He could be lying to me. I just… need to… stick to the plan.”
The plan…
What was the plan again?
He needed to remember.
He took the clipboard from his hands, writing his name with a shaky hand.
Ango Natsume.
The detective snatched the clipboard from his hand, looked it over, and roughly sat him down at the table.
He already knew what would happen next.
Someone would come in and interrogate him, and he would need to convince that person that the Phantom Thieves were just, and to help them with their crazy plan.
As he continued to think about it more, he could have sworn he heard a voice in his head, and a blue butterfly flying near him.
What on Earth did they put in those drugs?
The door to the interrogation room opened, and he nearly froze when he saw who entered.
A middle-aged man.
“Obstruction of justice, possession of weapons, defamation, blackmail, murder, terrorism, sedition, and treason. It's hard to think that an author from Sendai, much less a famous one, could be the mastermind behind all of those crimes, yet you were enjoying every second of it." The man said. “Where are my manners? Hasegawa Zenkichi, PubSec." He held out his ID, before returning it to his pocket. Leaning forward, he eyed him appraisingly. "I'd like to make a deal with you, Natsume-kun."
… Natsume-kun? Natsume wrinkled his nose. What sort of nickname was that?
“Thank you!” He said, despite himself.
"Oh, don't act like YOU'RE the saint here!" Zenkichi snarled.
Natsume stiffened. "Wh...Huh...!?”
"Oh you know EXACTLY what I'm talking about." Zenkichi spat, in a voice dripping with venom. "You're not just letting that get brushed under the rug."
"W-wait a second, what!?" Natsume exclaimed. "Zenkichi, what're you talking about!?"
"Let's start from the beginning, Natsume-kun. Or should I call you Dealer? For months, you led a terrorist group that called themselves the Phantom Crew. They went after increasingly high-profile targets. The official story is that you blackmailed your victims. But that doesn't add up. They really did have changes of heart, didn't they? And then there are all of those other incidents…. So how did you do it? Answer me!"
“You wish to know the whole story? Fine.” Natsume said with a nod. “It’s a long one, though.”
A very long one, he thought.
“The sooner you cooperate, the sooner you can leave.” Zenkichi said. “I can't protect you from the police, so I suggest you answer my questions.”
“What do you want to know?” He asked.
“Names.” Zenkichi said. “I want the names of your teammates.”
“If you're asking for their names, I assume they all got away?” He asked.
“...Yes, they did.” Zenkichi admitted. “So, you’re not going to tell me who they are?”
“I won't betray my team.” Natsume said.
Zenkichi let out a sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose before bringing out a file.
“Then we’ll get back to that later. Moving on, the first target of the Phantom Thieves was this man.” Zenkichi stated, opening the file. “Ryuji Sakamoto, age 32, was an Olympic medalist turned PE teacher at Shujin Academy, of which he is also an alumnus." He spoke with no hidden undercurrent of resentment in his voice. "His confession hardly lined up with his motives. It was as if there was some sort of external influence that made him confess his crimes. In particular, this only happened, and only had signs of happening, after he received a 'calling card' from the Phantom Crew. You remember that, don't you?”
Zenkichi had a look of disgust on his face as he went over the incident, although whether it was for him or their target, he couldn't tell.
“And you targeted him in April, correct?”
“That's right.”
“Then I want you to tell everything, from the beginning, on how exactly this incident occurred.” Zenkichi requested.
Natsume nodded. “Okay…”