In the dim, narrow bedroom, the phone screen lit up, casting a faint, hazy white light on the girl's face, a nearly sickly pallor.
"Phantom Thief Channel?"
Togawa Sakiko looked at the web page on her phone, somewhat troubled.
Although the girls in the band all knew that Kurusu Akira was in the late stages of chuunibyou, with graduation still far off, directly forwarding an urban legend like the "Phantom Thief" in Line... was indeed something even ordinary chuunibyou couldn't do.
Anyway, after hearing about the "Phantom Thief Channel," no one in the band, except for Togawa Sakiko and Iseri Nina, took it seriously.
Iseri Nina knew Kurusu Akira's true identity, so she immediately bookmarked this seemingly strange website.
As for Togawa Sakiko, she had personally witnessed how that black and red calling card unfolded, and she had experienced the "mass uncontrolled" incident of the Kamo Group in Shinjuku firsthand.
While the internet was largely questioning the authenticity of the "Phantom Thief" urban legend, she firmly believed in the existence of that legendary Phantom Thief and was genuinely grateful for his help.
The browser successfully loaded the Phantom Thief Channel.
Against a spacious black background, a dazzling scarlet color block slowly emerged with a bubble explosion animation, and then dark characters twisted and writhed within the scarlet hue:
[Do you believe in the existence of the Phantom Thief?]
[Are there evil people with twisted desires around you?]
[Has your life taken a sharp turn for the worse because of this?]
[No matter what, please write down their names, write down those vexing things—]
[Every time night falls, mysterious calling cards unfold among the tall buildings.]
[The Phantom Thief will steal the evil hidden deep within people's hearts.]
A large input box almost filled half of the phone screen.
Togawa Sakiko looked at the input box on the screen, and the various thoughts flashing through her mind were interrupted just as she was about to act, a vexing indecision.
Suddenly, she heard loud crashing sounds from the living room, separated by a wall. The drunken man seemed to have woken up, cursing something unintelligibly. His voice was loud but incoherent, probably complaining about everything or chewing on some unspeakable regret and vexation.
Immediately after, there was a loud bang as the front door opened.
Silence returned to the living room.
Togawa Sakiko quickly put on her slippers and ran out of the bedroom. The living room, which she had just cleaned an hour ago, was again a scene of utter chaos.
Overturned ashtrays, broken beer bottles, expensive watercolor paints from junior high that hadn't been used up scattered everywhere... Her school bag was opened, all its contents emptied, and thrown on the sofa. Her textbooks and workbooks were casually tossed on the floor and coffee table, the open, inverted zipper like a twisted smiling face, mocking the bewildered girl and her life.
Togawa Sakiko clutched her collar tightly, making sure there was no gap between the neckline of her pajamas and her neck, as if this could slightly stop the surging coldness in her heart.
At that moment, shuffling footsteps sounded outside the door, then a key was inserted into the lock and turned. The heavily drunk man burst through the door and immediately noticed Togawa Sakiko standing in the living room.
His bloodshot eyes were filled with an ugly sense of resentment and vexation, combining into a desperate, hysterical frenzy.
"You still have money, right?"
He asked his daughter in a low voice, his posture so humble that Togawa Sakiko felt immense disappointment and sadness.
The scruffy man repeated his question, "You still have money, right?"
His eyes gradually took on a color that made Togawa Sakiko feel fear.
Togawa Sakiko subconsciously took two steps back, which made his expression instantly turn somewhat terrifying. "Your scholarship for the new semester and the money you earned from your recent part-time job, you should have kept them well. Lend me a part of it... I'll pay you back tomorrow."
Such conversations had happened many times in this family.
And all the money "borrowed" from her simply vanished without a trace.
Togawa Sakiko forced herself to remain calm, "That money is for paying off debts. A few days ago, Okazaki even specifically reminded me on the phone that if the debt continues to be delayed, the Togawa Family's credit will become worse and worse..."
"How can I pay off so much debt just by working part-time and studying!" The man angrily waved his hand, casting chaotic shadows in the darkness.
Togawa Sakiko's lips trembled, but in the end, she couldn't bring herself to accuse or refute her own father.
The man's face became increasingly blurred in the darkness, "It's precisely because there are too many debt collectors that I have to find a way to make money... make money."
The words "make money" were repeated over and over by him, as if doing so could make him genuinely believe it himself.
"So, quickly give me the money! Can't you listen to me properly!"
Togawa Sakiko's mouth was open, but she couldn't say anything. All sorts of painful emotions seemed to choke her throat, as if to suffocate her.
She could only helplessly retreat continuously, while the person standing in the darkness quickly moved forward, then roughly pushed his daughter aside and burst into her room.
"Please don't do this!" Togawa Sakiko finally lost her patience and loudly pleaded with the man's back as he rummaged through her room.
Cosmetics, pens, or school uniforms and dresses were constantly being thrown onto the floor.
Drawer after drawer was pulled open, and the money she had carefully hidden was finally found by the man.
"All of this adds up to almost 800,000," he tearfully exclaimed, pulling out a thick wad of banknotes from the innermost part of the desk drawer. "There's a way, there's a way... I'm saved!"
Togawa Sakiko could only watch helplessly as the money she had painstakingly saved from her part-time job, various scholarships from school, and the portion Kurusu Akira had returned to her were all effortlessly taken by him.
The man didn't give Togawa Sakiko any chance to explain or persuade him, almost fleeing as he stumbled out of the apartment.
Only Togawa Sakiko remained, staring blankly at her bedroom, where almost all cabinets and drawers were pulled open, and study supplies and cosmetics were scattered everywhere, like a broken puppet motionless.
As the door opened and closed, the space in the apartment quickly became silent.
It was so quiet that she could even hear distant car horns rising and falling.
It was clearly late spring transitioning into summer, yet the corridor was filled with a coldness that made one shiver uncontroll immensely.
The heat in her body seemed to gather in her eyes, then slowly flowed out.
Then hot tears streamed down her cheeks, dripping from her chin onto the floor with a crisp "pat" sound.
It was as if the thread of her sanity snapped in an instant, like a flood breaking through a dam. No matter how Togawa Sakiko wiped her eyes with her sleeve, she couldn't stop the emotions pouring out.
She bent down and squatted on the floor, tidying up the messy room.
After she had carefully folded all her clothes and placed them at the foot of the bed, the still-lit phone screen with the scarlet input box of the "Phantom Thief Channel" was so dazzling.
In a trance, it seemed as if the Phantom Thief she had once met in a dream was extending his red-gloved hand, leaning over the edge of an abyss, waiting for her to take it.
It seemed that just by holding his hand, she could be easily pulled out of this nightmare.
Togawa Sakiko wiped away her tears.
She walked over somewhat sluggishly, looking at the floating hiragana and katakana on the screen, and reached out her cold hands as if grasping at a lifeline.
Although she was the only one in the room, it felt as if her cold hands were completely enveloped by something hot, a warmth of being held tightly, and then she found the courage to confide everything.
...
[Thank you.]
Kurusu Akira looked at the Line private message Togawa Sakiko sent him at 1:00 AM.
He rubbed the Siamese cat rolling by his bed, then typed on the numeric keypad with one hand to reply to her, [Although I don't know what you did, I'm not yet sure about the authenticity of this website. Remember not to reveal too much personal privacy.]
After typing this advice, which was enough to temporarily free him from his "chuunibyou" identity, he didn't receive a reply on the screen for a long time.
And it remained in the "unread" state.
The Phantom Thief's mouth twitched, then he quickly switched pages and clicked on the account in his contacts that would never be recorded by the operating server, an account noted as "Sakura Futaba."
[The great cosmic being is so scary: Miss Sakura, quickly help determine Togawa Sakiko's location.]
A few seconds later, Sakura Futaba sent a location message.
[NAVI-S1mple: She has been gone from home for thirty minutes.]
Kurusu Akira didn't have time to care how Sakura Futaba knew Togawa Sakiko's residential address. He opened the location information and saw, how did this girl suddenly get so close to the Police Department?
At this moment, he was in such a bad mood that he wished he could gather ten Akechi Goro's on the spot for a free-for-all, and then give them a brutal beating...
He had done this in his previous life after settling accounts with Shido Masayoshi. The battle-hardened Phantom Thief sought out the "handsome boy detective" who marketed himself daily on TV shows. Even though the opponent held a handgun, Kurusu Akira disarmed and subdued him in an instant, followed by an unrestricted office brawl.
He beat Akechi Goro so badly that in the court trial regarding the "culprit of the uncontrolled incident," he bowed his head and admitted that he had accidentally fallen down thirty-something steps while fleeing, resulting in bruises all over his body, a bloody head, and two broken ribs.
The Phantom Thief stared at the motionless location on the screen and quickly continued to question Sakura Futaba.
[The great cosmic being is so scary: Can you mark out her entire movement trajectory?]
Sakura Futaba quickly sent new location information.
[NAVI-S1mple: She seems to have not moved for ten minutes.]
[NAVI-S1mple: Moreover, many special communication signals have been detected around Miss Togawa!]
Kurusu Akira anxiously put on his tracksuit, then his shoes, and finally hastily grabbed his phone and rushed down from the attic.
[The great cosmic being is so scary: I understand, thank you for your help.]
Then he turned off the screen, put his phone in his pocket, and walked neatly into LeBlanc's washroom, locking the frosted glass door.
Kurusu Akira looked at himself in the mirror, and then his consciousness began to sink into Tokyo City's Mementos.
Crimson patterns flickered around him, and the Phantom Thief almost immediately rushed out of his "maintenance workstation," leaping onto the rusty railway.
When a jet-like white light appeared in front, he jumped up, grabbed the handrail of the train car's sliding door, then flipped onto the roof, moving extremely quickly with the train through the extensive Tokyo Mementos.
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