Tokyo Psychic

The gang leaders were seen kneeling on the ground crying. Some of them were slapping their faces with their hands, while others took out their cell phones to call the police and tearfully confessed the crimes they had committed.

Amidst the wailing and howling everywhere, a handsome but messy-haired boy sat on the sofa with his hands tied, his face full of helplessness and fear.

There was an empty envelope on his collar.

The letter had been taken away and lay open on the coffee table. In red and black, it was filled with judgmental words:

"Mr. Kamo Saizo, you are a great sinner who has committed many crimes. The wealth you have amassed through extortion, loan sharking, and gambling inducement has been built on the corpses of countless victims. Therefore, I have decided to have you confess all your crimes today."

[——Psychic Thief, see above. 】

Next to the letter, a man named "Kamo Saizo" was kneeling with a hesitant and confused look on his face. He looked down at his hands stained with red wine at a loss, as if regretting why his life had come to such a dirty state.

But before the woman who was escorting Toyokawa Shoko out could report the situation to him.

Suddenly, Kamo Saizo slapped himself hard, then rushed into a conference room, unlocked the safe, and randomly grabbed a handful of "evidence" that was enough to get him shot for ten minutes. Finally, he rushed into the elevator without saying a word... He was going to surrender himself.

As the elevator door closed, the woman suddenly felt a chill.

Crazy, everyone is crazy.

She looked at the ballroom filled with cries and shouts of regret, and immediately turned around and frantically punched the button of another elevator, wanting to escape from this place that seemed like it was about to turn into a horror movie set at any moment.

Her heart was filled with panic and fear, and she didn't notice that the space around her was distorting, as if she was being sucked into another world belonging to "consciousness".

Then, a young man wearing bright red gloves, a black windbreaker, a gray collared shirt, and black trousers slowly stood up behind them. A white bird-shaped mask covered most of his face, making him look like a common "Phantom Thief" in various stage plays.

Then the Phantom Thief slowly approached.

He whispered in the tattooed woman's ear, "I accept the sin in your heart."

*

The elevator went up.

The tattooed woman who was originally holding Toyokawa Shoko's hands was unable to take even a step inside.

Shoko Toyokawa widened her eyes. She looked at the woman in disbelief as she saw that the woman, whose face was filled with madness and fear just now, suddenly knelt down in front of her and kowtowed to apologize continuously, not stopping even though her forehead was bleeding.

On the sofa nearby, Kurusu Akatsuki, whose hands were still tied, couldn't help but yawn.

He waited quietly until sirens blared outside the window.

023. The Legend of the "Mind Thief" (Two-in-One)

In the dark underground garage, the elevator slowly descended.

The rescued Kurusu Akatsuki and Toyokawa Shoko were led out of the elevator by a gloomy-looking investigator.

The sound of sirens could be heard outside, and gang members were constantly being taken away. The victims who were forced to work in this hotel due to debt problems were comforted and escorted in batches to the nearest Metropolitan Police Department for evidence collection.

The investigator took out his car keys and pressed a button into the darkness ahead.

A pale cluster of car lights immediately lit up from deep within the dark garage, dispelling the silent atmosphere.

Accompanied by the sound of the car door lock opening——

Click.

The light, the lonely light shone on the boy's face.

It's like a powerful flashlight in an interrogation room.

It makes people subconsciously close their eyes and shrink back to avoid it.

"Name?"

The police officer in charge of collecting evidence was still the somewhat gloomy-looking investigator. While adjusting his suit collar, he questioned the boy in front of him who was rescued from the scene of the "out-of-control incident".

"Amamiya Ren."

Kurusu Akatsuki lowered his head, looking exhausted and ready to fall asleep at any moment... This was to prevent his eyes and expression from being seen by the investigator opposite him.

"Age?" the investigator continued to ask.

"Seventeen."

Kurusu Akatsuki suddenly took a deep breath and continued speaking.

"I live in the loft above LeBlanc Cafe in Yokenjaya, Setagaya Ward. I attend Shujin High School and get home from school no later than 6 p.m. every day. I'm a law-abiding person and don't smoke or drink. I go to bed by 11 p.m. and get a full eight hours of sleep. I work on my exercise books for an hour before bed, then do a 8-minute workout before showering and going to bed. I usually sleep soundly until dawn. Like a baby, I never carry fatigue or stress over until the next day. Even my doctor says I'm normal."

After a brief silence, the investigator unexpectedly picked up the joke, "Isn't that a line from Kira Yoshikage in 'JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Season 4'? My daughter also likes to watch this anime."

Then, he revealed a somewhat helpless smile, "I know you're very tired and don't want to recall your experiences anymore, but could you at least explain the whole story behind your kidnapping?"

"Are police officers the ones who specialize in handling 'out-of-control incidents'?"

"Yes," the investigator didn't care about the high school student's question. Instead, he took over the identity and continued to ask about the details of the case.

"So you have to tell me what happened to you. Only then can the Metropolitan Police Department find a way to help you and help more victims who may be caught in 'out-of-control incidents'."

"Then I'll...try to recall as much as I can."

The investigator nodded and asked enthusiastically, "Would you like me to make you a cup of coffee?"

"Okay, please, uncle."

"Tsk, 'uncle'?...Young people nowadays really don't know how to be polite," the investigator's expression suddenly darkened. He was clearly a recognized urban handsome man in the system.

Even so, he quickly walked out of the interrogation room, went to the hot water room next door, found a pack of instant coffee and a disposable plastic cup, and began to make coffee for Kurusu Akatsuki.

At this time, the thief in the interrogation room raised his head, looked at the infrared camera opposite him with a flickering red light, and began to recall the appearance of the investigator.

With his jet-black medium-length hair, square-rimless glasses, and beard, he looks a bit like John Wick, the protagonist in John Wick. I have to say, he is indeed quite handsome.

He wore a standard black suit, paired with a light-colored shirt and a black tie. Perhaps to facilitate the mission, he replaced the trademark leather shoes of the workplace with a pair of white sneakers, giving him a very capable look.

This kind of mature old man with a bit of dark temperament might be very popular with young girls?

(017.webp)

Kurusu Akatsuki took off his glasses and rubbed his sore eyes.

The investigator returned soon with a cup of hot coffee...

Kurusu Akatsuki looked at the cup of light brown liquid in front of him and was reluctant to admit that this sloppy sugar water could be called "coffee".

"Let's continue with the topic we were discussing."

The investigator sat down and asked, "Why did you get entangled with the underworld?"

"It seems my family owes them a large sum of money..." Kurusu Akatsuki paused, then shook his shoulders in fear. "They threatened to kill me if I didn't get to the hotel by the appointed time."

This was a lie! However, due to Kurusu Akatsuki's current situation as a victim and her exhausted voice, it was impossible to hear any flaws in it.

The investigator's eyes immediately turned sympathetic. "You were probably at the crime scene. Did you see how those guys suddenly started to repent?"

"I, I don't know, they suddenly seemed like different people... Oh, right! Before that, they seemed to have opened a very strange letter!"

"A letter! Oh, that's it! Do you know the Phantom Thief of the Mind? Did you see how that letter appeared?!"

"...I have no idea."

The investigator, who had an excited look on his face, quickly regained his composure, with a hint of disappointment in his eyes, but he was not going to continue questioning Kurusu Akatsuki.

Neither the suspect nor the victim could explain how the letter appeared. When the relevant content was mentioned, it was as if there was no corresponding memory at all, not to mention where this "Mind Thief" came from.

That letter was amazing. Although it was made of ordinary printing paper, the handwriting and color on it were like the effects of magic. There was no trace of any machine or human effort. The only DNA residue came from the leader of the "Kamo Group", Saizo Kamo, who had already surrendered to the Metropolitan Police Department!

It's like... the product of some supernatural power.

"Well, let's end this topic here."

The investigator stood up and could faintly hear a father and daughter arguing next door.

He looked at the empty disposable paper cup in front of Kurusu Akatsuki, walked over, picked it up, and threw it into the trash can in the corner of the room. "It's very late now, and the tram will definitely not work. Let me take you home."

"Wait a minute!" At the same time, a hurried voice sounded outside the door.

A gray-haired old man stood at the door of the interrogation room. "Inspector Hasegawa, could you please send this child home as well?"

Behind the old man, the blue-haired girl was wiping her tears with her sleeves.

*

Inspector Hasegawa, or rather, Hasegawa Zenkichi.

He walked out of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department with Akatsuki Kurusu and Shoko Toyokawa.

Feeling the solemnity emanating from the two people along the way, he casually found an unimportant topic, trying to ease the tension and fear in the hearts of the young boy and girl who survived the disaster.

"Are you two from the same school? Did you know each other before?"

"I'm... a first-year student at Hanaoka Girls' Academy."

"Shujin High School, second year."

"What bad luck! I'm still studying, yet I'm involved in a gang dispute. Is it because my family borrowed money from those gangs?"

As soon as these words came out, Toyokawa Shoko, who had just stopped crying, fell silent. Kurusu Akatsuki clearly saw that tears were gradually welling up in her eyes again.

The investigator realized that he had accidentally stepped on the other person's inner minefield, so he smiled awkwardly and said, "It's okay, everything will be fine. As long as he's alive, that's good."

As soon as he finished speaking, Kurusu Akatsuki's expression became strange.

Hasegawa Zenkichi immediately shut his mouth and wanted to slap himself in the face.

I deserve to die.

The three of them walked in silence for a distance in the night wind. It was already very late and there were no pedestrians on the street.

All the houses he saw had black windows, and dozens of doors and windows arranged up and down were like dead people's eyeballs, staring quietly at Hasegawa Zenkichi who was walking in front, making his heart beat fast.

Only the emergency lights were emitting a pale light. I walked past the intersection ahead and turned left, where I could see an imposing-looking jeep parked on the side of the street.

"Get in the car, I'll take you home." Hasegawa Zenkichi let out a breath and looked at Kurusu Akatsuki and Toyokawa Shoko with some guilt and apology in his eyes.

"Also...I apologize to you for what I just said."

"Before I left, I specifically asked the colleagues in charge of related matters for help. Don't worry, your experience today will definitely not be spread to the school, and it will definitely not affect your normal life!"

Hasegawa Zenkichi never expected that he would meet these two children with such serious family problems.

He was so upset that he wanted to light a cigarette...

Shoko Toyokawa lives in Akabane-cho, Kita-ku, Tokyo.

Kurusu Akatsuki lives in Yokenjaya in Setagaya Ward.

The two places are quite far apart, so Hasegawa Zenkichi plans to give priority to sending Toyokawa Shoko home.

The car started, and the scenery outside the window quickly blurred into a large black curtain.

Kurusu Akatsuki turned his head to look at Toyokawa Shoko, who was sitting in the back seat with him. The girl had fallen asleep leaning against the car window, and her pretty face, which was full of fatigue, had an expression of bitterness and pain.

After going through so much, I am indeed tired.

He thought about making an appointment to meet her in a few days, and then secretly steal the sin in her father's heart.

The operation in the hotel was so hasty that many details were not taken into account, such as missing the big creditor who escaped in the chaos and was then surrounded by the police outside the hotel.

After all, I changed my body and my skills became a little rusty.

Well, if it were in the past, the entire hotel would have been cleared out before the police arrived on the scene.

Just 352 little thugs could actually waste so much of my energy.

It is necessary to increase the time budget allocated to fitness.

Thinking in this way, Kurusu Akatsuki, whose mental and physical strength had long been exhausted, fell asleep leaning against the back of the chair without realizing it.

......

Shoko Toyokawa had a dream.

She dreamed of a young man dressed as a thief moving very quickly in a hotel filled with filth and evil.

The thief wore bright red gloves, a black windbreaker, a gray collared shirt, and black trousers. A white bird-shaped mask covered most of his face.

The Phantom Thief comes and goes without a trace. Whenever a gang member wants to attack him, he takes certain things from their bodies and puts them into a huge cloth bag.

Immediately afterwards, the big hands or cadres of the underworld stood there in confusion, no longer moving, and then tears of regret began to flow on their faces.

Shoko Toyokawa understood that those messy objects such as rings and samurai swords should be the "sins" in their hearts.

The thief started from the first floor of the hotel and continued to attack from the upper floors. The sack he carried became bulger and bulger until it was filled with all kinds of items.

Finally, he reached the top floor and approached me, who was standing motionless by the elevator door...