Into the Metaverse

Tuesday 3rd May

Haruto awoke that morning with a heavy feeling on his chest. Not for the first time since the beginning of the school year, he had absolutely no desire to get out of bed. On Friday he had to meet with Wakaba in her lab to finally take out that asshole politician in Shido's Palace—something that would exhaust him at best and seriously injure him at worst. And before then, he needed to wait on Yusuke to explain what had happened with Madarame that had upset him so much, and try and figure out the miscreant that had worked out how to use Palaces to their advantage.

It was going to be a long week.

***

His headache and general sense of malaise continued throughout the day as Yusuke continued to avoid him, and he tried to overhear as many conversations as he could about what had happened at Shujin. He had an ace up his sleeve with regard to that though, and he intended to make good use of it this evening. Until then, he just had to make it through the school day. Somehow.

By the time evening came his headache had become acute, and he was seriously considering going home and calling it a day but… he really did need to do this. Which was why, at about nine o'clock in the evening, he strode into the Crossroads Bar.

"Hey!" cried Ohya, her face lighting up as she saw him, "If it isn't my favourite source of juicy info!"

"Back here again, are you?" Lala asked bemusedly from behind the bar.

"How could I abandon my favourite reporter—surely languishing after weeks with no news from me?" asked Haruto, bowing exaggeratedly.

Ohya giggled uncontrollably, while Lala just rolled her eyes. "You're gonna be a heartbreaker when you're old enough, you know that?" she grumbled.

"I think I still have a couple of years of youthful innocence left in me, don't you think?"

Lala looked skeptical.

"Alright kid," said Ohya, still grinning, getting up and taking him by the shoulder, "let's go sit in the corner where Lala doesn't have to worry about us scaring all her other customers away."

She gently guided him over to her usual seat, before digging out her notepad and gazing at him sharply. He noticed she'd ordered water today. She must have been on the case already—but then—Ohya always had had an excellent sense of what would make a good news headline. That had been part of the reason he'd tried so hard to befriend her—after all, it wasn't like it'd do him any good for the press to be spitting rumours left, right and centre about the mental shutdowns. They still talked about it, of course, but as far as anyone knew, it was all largely due to a strange new neurosis spreading through the populace. Something he knew he could at least partially attribute to Ohya.

"So?" she asked, leaning towards him across the table. "Got anything good for me?"

"Well, good and bad," said Haruto, leaning back.

"Ah," said Ohya, the spark in her eyes lighting up, "one of those 'I scratch your back you scratch mine' kinda deals, huh?"

"Almost exactly," said Haruto, grinning at her.

"So my little bloodhound, what have you sniffed out for me today?" she asked, pen at the ready. He always gave his information first. It was tradition, after all.

"You need to keep an eye on the artist Madarame Ichiryusai—seems he's plagiarising off his students."

"Hmm," said Ohya, her eyes narrowing, "yeah, I've heard things like that before—but whenever any of my colleagues have tried to report on it they've always gotten shouted down. You might have stumbled on something dangerous there, kid."

"I think it'll be more dangerous for him," said Haruto, sipping his water. "What with this new disease going around."

"Ah, I see-so you're predicting he'll be the next hit?"

"I think he'll be hit sooner or later."

"Well, I can't deny that's useful," said Ohya, pursing her lips, "and if it turns out he does have a mental breakdown I'll be the first on the scene, so I suppose that's enough for your end of the deal… Well then, what do you want to know?"

"I think you've already guessed," said Haruto, smiling at her.

Ohya smirked. "Is it about that teacher at Shujin Academy?"

She always had been a sharp one.

"Got it in one."

"Why are you so eager to know?" she asked, raising her eyebrows. "Got a friend there or something?"

"No," said Haruto, "I'm just curious."

Ohya snorted. "You're never just curious, kid—I'm hitting on something big aren't I? I knew it!"

"We'll see," said Haruto. He didn't want her thinking too hard about it, after all—especially since it could so easily link back to him. "What have you heard?"

"All sorts of things," she sighed. "But I suspect the part you'll be most interested in is his weird change of personality."

"Yep," said Haruto, leaning forward. "What do you think? Is it like the others?"

"The other mental breakdowns?" she sighed. "Yeah, pretty much exactly like them—but this time with a big exception."

"Exception?" asked Haruto, raising his eyebrows.

Ohya leaned in to convey the information in a conspiratorial whisper. "I spoke to some of the kids from the school, and all any of them can talk about is how a few days before Kamoshida broke down, there were messages posted all over their school board from a group calling themselves the 'Phantom Thieves', claiming they were going to 'steal his heart'—of all things!"

"Steal his heart?" asked Haruto, narrowing his eyes.

"Yeah—seems they think these mischief—makers must have been successful given his breakdown. Oh and—this is interesting too—on the cards they accused the teacher of the very things he later confessed to—sexual abuse, assault, the works! I suppose they must have been victims of him—trying to play a prank on him since the school administration wasn't doing anything about him."

It all fit with what Haruto had already been thinking—a student at Shujin—likely a victim of Kamoshida. But why would they post their intentions all over the school? Were they an idiot?

But then, the fact they'd used the term 'Phantom Thieves ' suggested something very interesting indeed. That there might be more than one of them.

If so, that might explain why they'd figured out the Palaces quicker—two heads were better than one, after all. But even if several people had gotten in, did it make sense that such inexperienced scrubs would figure out the exact mechanism of stealing a ruler's Treasure and not killing their Shadow in order to brainwash them into eternal misery? Difficult… very difficult… He'd have thought if they were a victim they would have defaulted to killing Kamoshida—it was quicker, easier and equally as effective. But they'd gone to the trouble of brainwashing him instead. Why? Who were these people?

"Penny for your thoughts?" asked Ohya, still watching him intently.

Haruto shook himself. "Nothing, it's just… odd, that's all. Perhaps they were trying to push him into having a mental breakdown?"

"Now that's an idea," said Ohya. "It's not like the press have been quiet about this weird psychosis or anything—perhaps they thought the cards might provoke that last push needed? If they were right, it would have some very interesting implications, given most of the victims have been breaking down right at the peak of depravity."

"Think the kids could get punished for it?"

Ohya shook her head. "Doubt it—it would be incredibly hard to prove they actually caused it, and given their accusations were right, I wouldn't be surprised if the police deliberately overlooked it. Plenty of people see these shutdowns as a good thing, y'know. Weeding out the undesirables."

"Kind of a disgusting way of looking at it," said Haruto, trying to keep his stomach turning at the thought.

He was trying to help people trapped in the most desperate, impossible situations and free them from their chains—not commit some kind of genocidal social cleansing.

"I agree," chuckled Ohya, "but it's sadly not an uncommon point of view in this day and age. Too many people want their problems solved for them."

Haruto nodded pensively.

"So," said Ohya. "That scratch your itch for info?"

"Yes, thank you, Ohya," said Haruto, rising from his seat. "That's been very helpful."

"Ugh, don't say things like that," she said, wrinkling her nose. "Makes me feel like I'm talking to my boss."

Haruto chuckled, and Ohya grinned at him.

"Go on then, go home—I imagine Lala doesn't want you sticking around here too long—she'll get worried for your safety."

Haruto rolled his eyes. "I'll be fine."

"Alright macho man—go on then," she said, grinning at him.

"Bye, Ohya."

"Bye kid."