Tokyo Heart Thief's Daily Life

Wearing a costume-like phantom thief outfit and a fox mask, he really looks like a fox demon in disguise.

However, Futaba immediately complained about his lines:

"No, no, no, as the saying goes, 'There's no fake that can't beat the real thing.' Even fakes have their own romance! Compared to pirated goods, I think scalpers deserve more death!"

Taoxiang: "Who would understand what you're talking about? Besides, the atmosphere of that sentence is completely different from here, okay? That golden old man across the street clearly looks more like a rich man using the real thing."

Nina: "Mmmmm... What weird things are you saying that I don't understand? I think this is really unkind. Please don't say things that only a few people understand in front of everyone! Sumire, please enlighten me!"

Yoshizawa Sumire: "Huh? Ah... Uh? Sorry, I don't understand either... I'll work hard to catch up on my 2D meme culture. Sorry, Nina-senpai! (＞人＜；)"

Wow...

Seeing that Renai could only vent her anger on Kojin, the most well-behaved girl and the only one present who treated Renai as an older senior, the girls all showed subtle disdainful looks.

This made the unsympathetic "Tin Woodcutter" Rencai blush and quickly changed the subject:

"Those monsters are coming again, let's fight! Watch my Rock-Breaking Unparalleled Fiery Sky Slash!!!"

Everyone: "'You really only know how to repeat this one move!'"

Seeing that Renna used her physical, group, and large wheelchair skills again, the members of the Phantom Thieves also cleared out the shadows that appeared around them.

Although the strength of these shadows is not high, their number far exceeds the scale of Kamoshida Hall, and the consumption of them is not small.

Especially in front of Madarame who felt a sense of crisis, he had hysterically summoned the largest number of shadows, as if he wanted to overwhelm the Phantom Thieves with numbers.

"Can you do this to your own adoptive father?"

Luo Zhen came to Kitagawa and asked about the new member who had just awakened.

Kitagawa has no idea about the setting of the other world and just follows his emotional impulses.

At this moment, he sneered proudly:

"Of course. Go ahead, Goemon!"

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Thanks to the heroic efforts of Yusuke, the surging sea of ​​shadows was finally held back.

The shadows in the palace also depend on the mood swings of the palace master, and it is impossible to endlessly draw them out from the depths of the other world.

Madarame's shadow finally felt exhausted and finally retreated in anxiety and fear:

"[Damn bandits! And Yusuke, you unfilial bastard disciple!]"

"Just wait! You're done! Don't think you can survive in this industry after disobeying a leader like me, the master of the Japanese art world! I can easily pin the blame on you, so just expect to go to jail!"

Kitagawa Yusuke immediately sneered, "You can't face the fact that your crime was exposed by your disciple, so you can only become hysterical like this! You thief!"

"A heartless father is never worthy of his children's filial piety! What's more, you are nothing but a scum who is out to kill for money! I will kill you right now—Ugh!"

Just as Kitagawa was shouting that he wanted to catch up, his knees suddenly became weak and forced him to kneel on the ground.

Luo Zhen, who had anticipated this, grabbed him and watched the dark shadow with spots on his face dive into the black mud and disappear.

The Phantom Thieves, who had fought off the Shadow Wave, surrounded them.

Sakamoto Ryuji: "Boss! That golden Daimyo has escaped, shall we go after him right away?!"

"Don't worry."

Luo Zhen shook his head. "We're not here to attack the palace, so there's no point in chasing after him. Madarame Ichiryusai should be brought to justice, not end up committing suicide out of madness. That would put everyone who was in his house at the time in trouble."

Ah this... Luo Zhen's very realistic narration cooled the enthusiasm of the young people present.

In order to make the hall master change his mind, you must steal the treasure. Simply defeating the shadow is meaningless.

Especially if Shadow is really killed completely, it would be equivalent to directly extinguishing the spirit of the person involved, which would literally make him a "disabled person".

Madarame Ichiryusai cannot die yet, especially not in such an unclear way.

Luo Zhen supported Kitagawa Yusuke, who was sweating profusely, and gave instructions to everyone:

"Let's stop here for today. Yusuke is exhausted, we need to take him to a safe place to rest."

"By now, Madarame's subconscious must have developed hostility towards Yusuke and is determined to make him take the blame. It's too dangerous to leave him alone at Madarame's house..."

Sakamoto Ryuji volunteered: "Let him come to my house!"

"Just say he's my friend and that he skipped school or had a fight with his parents. My mom will understand, and we can take care of him."

Oh oh...Everyone present looked at Ryuji Sakamoto in surprise. They didn't expect him to be so stubborn at the critical moment.

"Okay, we'll take you back first."

The group then left the palace first.

In order to prevent any accidents from happening in the other world, Luo Zhen chose to send everyone home one by one in a group escort, and then leave the other world navigation.

After saying goodbye to Ryuji and Yusuke, who was supported by him, Luo Zhen sent the Yoshizawa sisters home, who were reluctant to leave but had to abide by the curfew.

...Then what's left are the bad kids.

As the only ordinary person present, Futaba looked around, and finally pushed her round glasses with a disdainful smile:

"Then I declare! The Phantom Thieves' music party is now open—"

Luo Zhen: "No. Go home obediently, Aunt Ruoye will be worried."

Wow~(.>?<.)

Luo Zhen forcibly sent the throwing a tantrum Futaba back to her home in Shigenjaya and threw her out of the other world.

In order to prevent this girl from abusing the navigation of the other world, Luo Zhen even asked Morgana to stay at her house to monitor her and prevent her from messing around.

As for the remaining An and Shiho, they really had no intention of going home.

Luo Zhen sighed as he saw them following him as if it was natural.

"You can come if you want, but please don't worry your parents and family. The same goes for your housekeeper, Xing. She won't be exposed, will she?"

"It's okay, it's okay~"

Ah Xing waved her hands with a playful smile. "I've already told Auntie that I've been spending the night at Zhifan's house quite often lately. Zhifan also told her parents that she was staying at my house. We can corroborate each other's testimony, so there's no problem!"

Why do I feel like the problem is so serious... Luo Zhen was speechless.

They were deceiving both sides like this. What if they were exposed and found out that the two girls actually went to another man's house to spend the night together...

Luo Zhen was a little scared. What if Zhifan's parents came to him directly to blame him? It would be so embarrassing to change his mind in front of their parents.

We'll talk about it when the time comes. Luo Zhen has also given up.

But before returning to reality, Luo Zhen still mentioned:

"I'll be staying in Madarame's palace tonight, so there won't be much fun for you guys to do even if you come."

"Huh? Luo Zhen, what are you doing?"

Taoxiang and the others were all shocked.

Luo Zhen thought for a moment, then said:

"I suspect there's something wrong with that woman, Akechi Tamako."

"So just in case, I will be keeping watch in Madarame's palace to prevent any accidents from happening."

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After finally being able to calm down in the second half of the night when it was like a raging storm.

Kitagawa Yusuke, who was taken to Ryuji Sakamoto's house, finally woke up.

"I'm sorry to trouble you."

Sakamoto Ryuji: "Oh, you're awake?"

Ryuji turned on the night light and climbed out of bed.

He deliberately smiled heartlessly at Yusuke who looked miserable:

"Don't worry, I've been bringing my friends from the track and field club to visit since middle school, so my mom won't mind. I told her you have a jerk dad too, and she understood right away."

"Ah, come to think of it, I haven't introduced myself properly yet. I'm Sakamoto Ryuji, a second-year student at Shujin Academy. We were the only ones to get to know you in Madarame's hall, but now I'm paying you back."

Hmm...Kitagawa nodded gloomily without saying much.

Of course, this was his first time coming into contact with things in another world.

However, the feeling of despair he felt when he turned into a monster still remained in his heart, and the facts he later learned from Madarame's Shadow shattered his three views, and he had to accept many things even if he didn't want to.

Long Si looked at his silent and miserable face and couldn't help scratching his head.

"I'm telling you. I can't say I understand how you feel, but it's not like your life is over."

"Rather, it's the opposite. You've just gained the power to take control of your own life. Everything starts from here, just like when we killed Kamoshida."

"...?"

Yusuke looked up with a gloomy look, somewhat confused.

Ryuji briefly told him about how the Phantom Thieves had recently made Kamoshida repent.

This includes how he and Takamaki Anne met Luo Zhen, and then the Phantom Thieves were quickly formed. A group of high school students (and vagrants) with super powers formed a group and made their debut, deciding together to do heroic things.

Kitagawa Yusuke doesn't care much about the hot topics among young people, and he even learned about the existence of the Heart-Stealing Thief for the first time.

So when he saw the Phantom Thief Commission website that Ryuji showed him, he was indeed very surprised:

"By fighting within someone's inner world and stealing the secret treasures of twisted desire, you can actually change their minds...it's truly amazing."

"And you said the Phantom Thieves started their activities three years ago... Does that mean Luo Zhen has been taking action against those criminals who have escaped justice since three years ago?"

Kitagawa Yusuke is incredible:

"But at that time, he was only a junior high school student, right? ...Where was his family?"

Long Si shook his head: "I don't know."

"The boss never mentioned it, and I didn't ask. He always seemed cool and mature, not like a high school student at all... I guess he must have been through a lot."

"But I can sense that he loves the Phantom Thieves. He saved us all one by one. If it weren't for him, we would all have died in those halls."

That's true, Kitagawa nodded in agreement.

He still clearly remembered the feeling of being swallowed by the black mud.

It was as if a huge hole had been drilled through my heart, all my emotions had drained away, leaving only empty despair.

Even the despair itself began to expand, as if it was going to devour his entire personality, eat away all his memories and emotions, leaving him with nothing but to watch himself disappear bit by bit.

The feeling of being gradually replaced was so terrifying that Kitagawa's fingertips still tremble when he thinks about it now.

If Luo Zhen had faced the ugliness of human nature alone for three years before this... then it's no wonder that he has a maturity far beyond his age.

The strong emotion she saw in his eyes, that expression that was almost like "maternal love", might be the reason why he became a Phantom Thief.

And Ryuji was right: everything had just begun.

Ryuji: "My dad was also an alcoholic and abusive scumbag. He made me understand how hard it is to be desperate and have no one to turn to for help. Although I'm not as miserable as you, I will do my best to help you get justice."

"And even though it might sound strange to say this... I honestly feel like this isn't the first time we've met. We've both awakened the absurd powers of our Personas, so that means we're destined to be together, right?"

Yusuke: "It's fate... Indeed. It's a once-in-a-lifetime encounter. Everything in the world is fate."

But the fate with Madarame is simply a bad fate, Yusuke chuckled in a complicated manner.

His eyes brightened a little:

"Thank you, Ryuji. By the way, could you please ask Boss Luo Zhen if I can join the Phantom Thieves?"

"Even if we ignore my mother's personal vendetta, if I don't make Madarame repent, he'll definitely frame me as the main culprit in the smuggling case. With Madarame's influence in various circles, I don't think a high school girl claiming to be an investigator from the Special Investigation Department can be easily convicted... By the way, what's the story behind that woman? Does Luo Zhen know?"

Ryuji: "Ah, you mean that Akechi Tamako? I don't know her, but I bumped into her father last time when we were having a buffet at the Hilton Hotel."

—Hilton Hotel buffet! (???)

Yusuke's attention was immediately drawn away, and he forgot the previous topic in the blink of an eye.

Ryuji had to explain that that was where they held their celebratory party after they took over Kamoshida's palace last time.

This made Yusuke laugh happily immediately:

"A high-end hotel buffet with tons of seafood, even prawns and king crabs...this is amazing! I've always wanted to sketch those high-end ingredients!"

"Let's make Madarame repent quickly, and then have a celebration party! I'm going to sleep to recover my strength, good night!"