Tokyo's Phantom Thief

"By the way, I really owe you one. If you hadn't recommended that clinic doctor to me, Shiho might not have gotten help in time."

After the initial excitement had passed, Takamaki Ann lowered her crossed long legs and bowed her head seriously to Asakura Rinto.

She was talking about the drugstore incident. Back then, Rinto had introduced them to a private clinic doctor who could write up medical exemptions.

Shiho—the volleyball club girl—hadn't been injured that badly, not really.

But thanks to Rinto's quiet arrangements, the clinic doctor, doing him a favor, had exaggerated the diagnosis enough to issue an official statement excusing Shiho from club practice.

Of course, neither Ann nor Shiho had any idea.

Rinto just smiled and brushed it off casually.

"It was nothing. Just a small favor. Has everything gone smoothly since?"

"Mhm!"

Ann nodded vigorously. "Shiho and I sent the medical certificate over, and that pervert teacher didn't bother us again. I heard from the other volleyball girls that Kamoshida was feeling under the weather around that time. He even switched practices to self-study. Total karma if you ask me."

As expected, Rinto wasn't surprised.

He hadn't told the Yoshizawa sisters yet, but what happened in a Palace did affect the corresponding person in the real world.

The cognitive world and reality were two sides of the same coin—what happened in one bled into the other.

Rinto had caused a huge commotion in that Palace, practically leveled half of Kamoshida's castle.

He hadn't yet confronted the Shadow Kamoshida directly, due to certain perception issues—but the psychological damage had already been done.

The destruction of that castle would reflect back on Kamoshida's mind.

The violation of one's personal mental domain—anxiety, insecurity, and fear—could lead to very real stress symptoms in the body.

No need to explain that to Ann. Rinto just smiled.

"As long as things are going well. But... if you all hate that teacher so much, why not just quit the volleyball club?"

"Mm..."

Ann's energy dimmed all at once.

She furrowed her brows, running a hand through her blonde hair.

"Rinto-kun, you transferred here this year, right? So you don't know what Kamoshida's like. You don't get how much influence he has at this school."

"He's just a P.E. teacher, technically, but even the principal defers to him. The other teachers? They don't stand a chance."

Ann tapped her manicured nails sharply against the desk, face darkening with anger.

"He's like the king of this castle. Once you're in his volleyball club, quitting means facing pressure from the whole school—teachers and students alike. It turns into mass bullying, basically! The worst part is that there are still so many clueless students who worship him."

"Shiho started playing volleyball in junior high. She just naturally joined the team when she got to high school—didn't think twice about it... Who would've guessed she'd end up with a freak like him?"

The more she spoke, the angrier she got. Her white teeth clamped down on her lip so hard it looked like it might bleed.

Her anxiety was real. This wasn't just about tough training or strict discipline.

The real problem was that most students—those outside the volleyball club—had no idea what Kamoshida was really like.

To them, he was just a successful former athlete with a volleyball team that racked up wins. To parents and faculty, he was a role model.

Any student who spoke out was dismissed as being difficult.

Worse still, those who had something to gain from siding with Kamoshida—like the school's higher-ups, including the principal—actively protected him. They silenced dissenting voices.

Rinto had seen this kind of thing over and over again in his past life as a Phantom Thief. The road to justice was always a long and painful one.

He offered Ann a few quiet words of reassurance and tucked all of this information away in the back of his mind.

Once the homeroom teacher arrived, the classroom chatter finally began to quiet down.

She looked to be a young woman in her mid-twenties, with a lazy, worn-out demeanor.

Her hair was a mess, clearly unbrushed. Even makeup couldn't hide the heavy circles under her eyes. Her whole vibe screamed "couldn't be bothered."

Her voice matched—low and lethargic—but her handwriting on the board was surprisingly neat and clean:

"Settle down, everyone~. As you can see, I'll be your homeroom teacher. My name is Kawakami Sadayo, and I teach classical Japanese. I'll be looking after you for the year."

"Just this one year, though. Next year you'll probably get some senior teacher. No way I'm taking a senior class—I'd never survive."

Is it really okay to say stuff like that in front of your students, Kawakami-sensei?

The students chuckled, amused by her lazy honesty. The atmosphere in class stayed light and easy.

After roll call, Kawakami lined the students up and marched them off to the auditorium for the principal's opening ceremony speech.

On the way, though, a minor detour cropped up.

Rinto noticed Kawakami chatting briefly with a teacher from the next class over. Her face twisted in clear annoyance.

Then she scratched her messy head and made her way to Takamaki Ann, who was lined up at the very end of the girls' row—right next to Rinto at the back of the boys'.

"Takamaki-san, you were in middle school with Sakamoto Ryuji, right? Do you happen to know where he is? Hasn't shown up yet—any idea why?"

"Huh?"

Ann blinked, then shook her head. "I haven't talked to Sakamoto in ages. He hasn't come to school yet? Seriously, late on the first day?"

Hmm...

Seeing that Ann had no clue either, Kawakami quickly dropped the subject and went back to report to the other teacher.

Ann blinked again, then turned back toward Rinto when she caught his curious look.

They just so happened to be the tallest girl and boy in the class, so they always ended up at the back of the lines together.

She waved him closer, beckoning with her hand:

"Sakamoto's a delinquent. Total thorn in the teachers' side. But back in middle school, he was actually a really serious track athlete. Had amazing results, too."

Ann's voice was close to his ear, carrying the unfamiliar scent of a shampoo Rinto didn't recognize.

He was used to the scent of whatever brands the Yoshizawa sisters and Momoka liked, so this one stood out.

Ann didn't have the kind of reserved body language most girls had—she casually leaned on Rinto's shoulder and kept talking:

"Sakamoto and Shiho are both victims of that bastard Kamoshida. First year of high school, he got into it with Kamoshida... and the guy stomped on his leg, broke it. His athletic career was over, just like that... I honestly think that whole thing was Kamoshida's fault too."

"Rinto-kun, you'd better be careful. Stay away from that piece of shit."

Her eyes were filled with sincere concern as she gave him a firm nod.