Tokyo's Phantom Thief

"Then I'll leave it to you, Captain! I believe in you!"

On the other end of the call, Takamaki Ann accepted Asakura Rinto's help without hesitation.

There was a quote Rinto had always agreed with deeply:

A truly good person is someone who can genuinely say: "Thank you," "I'm sorry," and "Please help me."

Someone who can ask for help sincerely, and who knows how to accept it — that's someone worth helping.

From the background of the call, Shiho could be heard calling for Ann — she'd finished her shower. Their private conversation time was up.

Rinto and Ann exchanged goodnights and hung up.

"Hhh… Haaah."

Rinto took a long, deep breath and flipped the switch in his mind.

Before him stood the closed gates of Shujin Academy.

Surrounded by nothing but darkness and stillness, the chill slowly seeped into his fingertips.

If he wanted Ann to be able to grow stronger without guilt, to use her Phantom Thief powers freely and without hesitation—

Then he had to do something selfish with those powers first.

A school at night — always a breeding ground for ghost stories. The eerie contrast from daytime's bustle made it all the more terrifying.

Rinto stared into the black void before him and took a single step forward.

In the next instant, the world shifted. He slipped seamlessly into the Metaverse — into Kamoshida's Palace.

He didn't even need his prop gun to trigger it. With just his mental focus, he killed himself metaphorically, and entered the other world.

"Aaaaaugh...!?"

At the deepest part of the Palace, inside the treasure vault, Shadow Kamoshida, in his monstrous form, was launched backward into a pile of gold and jewels.

He writhed and twisted as he reverted to his original shape.

Wounded head to toe, trembling and broken, Shadow Kamoshida crawled out of the mound of treasure.

The physical manifestation of his desires — now completely useless to him.

No matter how deep his greed ran, there was no saving him against such overwhelming force. He was no different than a prepper stockpiling food — only to get raided by someone who saw him as the food source.

Even a Shadow — a being of pure instinct, incapable of lying — could now clearly sense the power gap between them.

Shadow Kamoshida collapsed, groveling and pathetic, repeatedly bowing his head before Rinto:

"Please, hero! Sir! Don't kill me! I'm begging you—please don't kill me!"

"I'll give you anything! My treasure? My slaves? Take them! Take it all! Just spare me, and I'll do anything—"

"I like Shadows better than I like people, in some ways."

Rinto cut him off, looking down at him coldly.

Then he kicked him again — hard — sending him tumbling with another howl of pain.

"Shadows don't lie. You're just raw desire. Like how humans need to breathe — you can't betray your own craving."

"That makes you easier to deal with. I don't have to guess what you're thinking. I don't have to worry that saying the wrong thing might hurt your feelings — and force you to smile like it's fine even when it's not."

"But the flip side? You never grow. Your survival instinct kicks in now, sure. But once I leave, you'll forget all of this. By tomorrow, you'll be back to that smug, arrogant self."

"Taming you guys is a pain — like trying to train goldfish with seven-second memories."

Thud—!

Rinto stomped down hard on the Shadow's back, pinning him in place as he writhed.

The Treasure at the core of Kamoshida's Palace hadn't appeared yet, which meant his desires couldn't be stolen just yet.

But there was another way to shut him down — by destroying the Shadow directly.

That would effectively erase Kamoshida's mind. His real-world body would suffer the consequences.

In severe cases, he'd hemorrhage and die on the spot.

At best? He'd be stripped of all desire and turn into a lifeless husk — little more than a vegetable.

Rinto wouldn't lose sleep over it… but Ann definitely wasn't ready for that.

If she ever found out that being a Phantom Thief came with the burden of possibly killing people — she might never want to use her powers again.

And that won't do, Rinto thought, instinctively resisting that outcome.

He needed a workaround — a way for Ann to fight without carrying that emotional weight.

Behind him, his Persona appeared — Eros.

The radiant god — one of the primordial deities of myth. The origin of desire itself. A symbol of all emotional and romantic longing.

This had been Rinto's very first Persona.

His beginning. The Fool who had set out on a journey.

And over the course of that journey, from the pure longing of Eros, Rinto's desires had branched out like tendrils — reaching into every quadrant of the human soul.

Along the way, he had learned to wield all kinds of emotions.

Some were positive. Others… not so much.

Most of them, he had mastered. They had become tools — Personas he could summon at will.

But there were still a few… even Rinto kept tightly sealed. Masks he deliberately refused to wear.

Now, he was about to release one.

—Crack!

Like shattering glass, the sound came from within the core of radiant Eros.

Hairline fractures spidered across the god's glowing form. A red-black miasma seeped out — a color utterly out of place amid the warm golden light.

Rinto reached up and gripped the birdlike mask on his face.

Like he was ripping his soul in half, he tore it away, the motion leaving blood in its wake.

"Come forth — Hypnos."

A withered hand, veins bulging and dry like old roots, tore out from within Eros, ripping the radiant god apart.

Like a hatchling bursting from its shell.

Born of Rinto's inner loathing, his avoidance, his refusal — this was his most reclusive Persona.

Even his stylish silver cloak turned a brooding red-black in response to this psychological shift.

Because sometimes, certain things could only be done with negative emotions.

Hypnos — the god of sleep from Greek mythology.

Not aggressive.

But absolutely closed off to the outside world. It rejected all intrusion, isolating itself completely. A pure symbol of withdrawal.

At Rinto's silent nod, the god extended one hand and reached for Shadow Kamoshida, still groveling on the ground.

Veins pulsed grotesquely along its arms as it began to drain something out of the Shadow.

Shadow Kamoshida screamed in panic:

"No! No no no! Don't take it—don't take my desire! That's mine! Mine—!"

Then he fell silent.

Under the god of sleep's oddly tender embrace, Shadow Kamoshida dissolved into a cold, coffin-like shape in the palm of its hand.

He wasn't dead.

But he had fallen into complete withdrawal — a comatose state.

This wouldn't collapse the Palace, but it did leave the real Kamoshida incapacitated.

His spirit, completely subdued.

Until Rinto chose to release him, he would remain catatonic — a ghost in his own body, sealed in a room, forgetting even how to want to live.

Haaaah…

Rinto let out a long, relieved breath.

Hypnos' eerie form faded. The light of Eros returned to fill the chamber.

At the center of the treasure vault stood the coffin that had once been Shadow Kamoshida — now the cornerstone of the Palace's stability.

Now I can start Ann's beginner training. Until she's strong enough to clear this Palace herself… we'll take it slow.

Just the thought of being able to explore the Palace alongside a new partner filled him with warmth.

He'd been soloing this game for too long.

Three years — and finally, a new player had joined the party.

He was going to spoil her rotten.