Part 1

It was a busy afternoon in the subway, like the previous days. It was indeed crowded, people were pushing each other to stay on their tiny space. That was nothing different from the group of teens, trying to make their way through their destination.

Despite the situation, each of them were focused on their goal in hand.

"What did Yusuke say?" Morgana asked.

It was just after Ann contacted the young artist they just met. Apparently, the boy specifically got inspired by her, and asked her to be his model.

If Ann will be honest about how she felt, she was definitely flattered.

However, the backfire was pretty quick when now, she's forced to accept it in order for the group to be able to get some intel. No matter how much she tried to escape the situation, just like how she tried to get Kyoko to sub for her, well... seemed like fate was not in favor of that.

"When I texted him about the modeling job, he sent me an address. He said it's Madarame-sensei's studio." Ann replied, and she seemed to have moved on from the fact that she had to take the job.

She was just supposed to model for him, right?

Still, something doesn't feel right.

"Right, he said he lives here." Ryuji said, causing Ann to snap out of her thoughts. The blonde then wandered his eyes around, noticing that Kyoko was out again. "Speaking of which, where's Mochizuki?"

"She said she has an appointment," Ren answered. "Probably for her job."

Part 2

The same afternoon, in a certain office──

A man wearing his formal attire who seemed to be a worker for the government, there sat on a chair in his office. He was looking through his papers and was deep in his thoughts. However, a ringing sound from the phone interrupted his thoughts.

"This is Nakanohara speaking." The man said after picking up the phone. "You want to make an appointment for... an interview?"

Part 3

"I'm sorry to keep you waiting."

The voice of a certain teen girl caused the man to turn his head in the direction of the voice. His eyes met the figure of the girl, and she was undoubtedly familiar.

"The traffic was quite heavy." The white-haired girl continued her previous statement. She then sat on the chair of the opposite side where the man sat.

Stifling through her pocket, her petite hand laid on a black wallet with thin white stripes to its sides. She opened it which unveiled her ID as a high school detective in the Tokyo District Department. The teen detective turned it facing the man.

"I'm Kyoko Mochizuki, a high school detective. It's a pleasure to meet you, Nakanohara-san."

Kyoko introduced with a plain expression. She was wearing a formal attire─ a black sleeveless polo with white collar along with red necktie. She was wearing a black skirt that lengths up to her thighs. A white hoodie jacket was worn by her to cover her arms, while dark brown stockings were worn by her to cover legs. She was wearing black wedge heel as her footwear.

"A, h-high school detective? Aren't you the one who's recently on the news before the Phantom Thieves?" The man stuttered in his reply with a shock.

"Indeed," Kyoko replied. "I'll get straight to the point."

The teen detective started, in which the man gulped in reply. Was it because of a recent activity in his work? Was it because he was stalking his ex? Or... was it possibly because this detective is curious about his past?

"As a pupil under Ichiryusai Madarame's care, how was it? I want every bit of the truth."

Seems like the latter was right.

The cerulean eyes of the high school detective pierced through the eyes of the man. Her entire expression was dark, as if she was obsessed with finding the truth. Her lips were curved into a dark smirk, which caused shivers down the spine of the man.

Part 4

"For real?"

Just by listening to his tone, the blonde's shock was evident. His eyes were quite widened, similarly with his friends. Well, it was a shack, so what were they supposed to expect?

All of their eyes were locked at the shack. By the looks of it, it was old, even to the point it seemed like a place you can't live in. The varnish on the walls seemed like it wasn't retouched recently, some paint peeling off. It truly stand out in the neighborhood.

"The address is right." Ann answered despite being shocked herself.

"And 'Madarame' is on the door plate." Ren pointed out, causing the others to look at what he referred to.

"People really live here?" The troublemaker asked in disbelief.

"Maybe." As a response, Ann shrugged.

Among the group, the white-haired seemed to be too preoccupied to even care. She gazed afar, probably still caught up with the conversation she had yesterday.

'That boy is... suffering,'

"Ann." Ren spoke, his voice causing Kyoko to snap out of her thoughts.

"R-Right." Ann hesitantly replied, but proceeded to ring the doorbell anyway.

"Who is it?" A smooth manly voice was heard from the intercom.

"Um, it's Takamaki-"

"I'll come right out!" Yusuke's voice said in a rushing matter, probably excited to see the girl.

With that said, hurried footsteps was heard from the house. Soon, the door slid open quickly, revealing the young artist's excited face, as his eyes met the blonde's.

"Takamaki-san..." Yusuke called, still wearing the excited smile on his face.

However, it soon faded, turning into a frown.

"... and you two, as well?" He frowned, seeing the two boys.

"Sorry to disappoint." Ryuji said casually, not caring about the complain dripping in the other's tone.

"I don't recall inviting you." Yusuke said, as he let his disappointment and unwelcoming aura be felt by the two.

It seemed like a bad situation, even intense. Clearly, the artist didn't have any intention of letting the two inside. But how about her?! Ann felt troubled by the thought of going inside the house on her own without the others.

More importantly, they have another matter on hand.

"U-Um, actually..." Ann tried to speak, in an attempt to ease the rising tension.

"Are the rumors about your teacher true? The plagiarism? The abuse? It's all online." Ryuji pulled his phone out, showing the teen artist some comments the netizens left in the Phan-Site.

Great, he added fuel to the fire.

Much to their shock, Yusuke's response was far from what they thought- his lips had curved into a smile, letting out a chuckle before letting out a loud laugh escape him.

"You're swayed by some stupid rumors?" Yusuke asked in a serious tone.

"B-But..." Ryuji had a cold sweat in nervousness.

"If he despised children so much to harm them, he would never allow pupils into his house. I'm the one residing here, and I say it's not true, so it's beyond a doubt. I had no family when Sensei took me in and raised me into what you see now." The young artist explained, before his expression turned around.

His eyes were sharp; as if threatening them.

"If you continue to ridicule the man I owe my life to, I'll make you pay."

"Wait. We were just..." Ryuji trailed nervously, unable to determine what to do in the situation.

And it was when-

"Back off," Kyoko suddenly spoke. Among the group, she behaved quite differently, almost not affected by Yusuke's words.

She then stepped up, with her phone turned on. In her phone was a picture of a man, wearing a formal attire. His hair was styled to a bowl haircut, and glasses were worn by him.

Yusuke felt overwhelmed. Not just from the sudden appearance of the girl, but also from the picture she showed.

"Do you know him?" Kyoko asked, looking straight to Yusuke's eyes, watching his reactions.

That man was surely familiar.

"Natsuhiko-san?!" Yusuke gasped in disbelief.

'He is doing fine!' The artist quietly thought, a small serene smile on his face. 'This is such a good news...'

"Yusuke."

A voice interrupted his thoughts, as all of them shifted their gazes. They saw the same old man that was from the exhibit, making his way out of the shack.

"What's going on out here?" He asked, turning his head to the young artist.

"Sensei!" Yusuke exclaimed, quite shocked at the arrival of his teacher

"Yusuke, what is this?" The Master Artist asked once again.

"I'm sorry." The teen hesitantly replied, taking a small glance to the white-haired who, thankfully, was able to hide her phone in time. "These people are slandering you with baseless rumors."

"Rumors?" Madarame confirmed, earning a nod from the teen. Then, he shifted his gaze to Ryuji, causing him to gulp.

The master artist's response caused fright for most of the group, considering that he was a powerful and famous man. He had great influence among the media and the mass in Tokyo, so who would have known what he could do in this situation? He surely had a variety of choices, but he chose to-

"Forgive them."

These words came out of Madarame's mouth, bringing shock to the group. They didn't hear it wrong, right?

"I've heard of rumors that cast a poor light on me." Madarame continued. "They must've heard and came in worry for their friend's safety, whom you asked to model. I can understand that."

The man's words was beyond their expectations. Normally, someone would be defensive and explain their sides, but this man was clearly different from such.

"But..." Yusuke tried to speak, but his teacher spoke over him.

"Even I doubt that a cranky old man like myself could be liked by everyone." Madarame said, a bitter smile on his face as he looked at Yusuke.

Then, he shifted his gaze to the group.

"But Yusuke has done nothing wrong. Would you look upon him favorably? I beg of you." The Master Artist suddenly bowed in front of the group, and seemed to show sincerity.

His words and actions brought shock to them, at least, to Ryuji and Ann. Both Kyoko and Ren kept their poker face, though, without a doubt, they were pretty shocked at the turn of events.

"Please stop, Sensei! You don't have to..." The teen placed his arms on his teacher's shoulders urging him to stand up.

"But enough chatting at the doorstep. Come in, everyone. Now, if you'll excuse me..." The teacher excused himself before walking inside the house.

A moment of silence enveloped them.

"Do you believe that someone like that would plagiarize or abuse people?" Yusuke asked the group, breaking the silence.

"This is actually perfect. I want to show you something." The teen said before turning his back to the group.

Part 5

The young artist lead the four inside who walked carefully, afraid to destroy the house. It was only a short travel when they arrived to a certain room. Immediately, Yusuke slid the door open as he entered it, followed by the group.

"When you see this, I'm sure you'll forget of these idiotic rumors." He said confidently, pulling out an album from the drawer.

While the artist was occupied, the sneaky cat jumped out of Ren's bag, earning a call from his lady Ann.

"Where are you going?" Ann whispered cautiously.

"I'm just gonna have a look around." Morgana smirked stubbornly before exiting the room.

"Morgana!" The blonde tried to call the cat, but to no avail.

"Takamaki-san?" Yusuke called, after retrieving the album.

"Y-Yes?" The girl replied nervously.

"This is what I wanted to show all of you."

The teen artist said, as he flipped the pages of the album. He earned anticipated looks from the group, their eyes locked to the album, patiently waiting to see what the thing was.

"Sensei's maiden work, his masterpiece."

With that, Yusuke showed the specific page where the said 'masterpiece' was in.

It was a painting of a gorgeous woman wearing red, a bitter smile on her face. Her gaze was locked at somewhere at the bottom of the painting, but it was hidden under a purple smoke. Without a doubt, it gave a mysterious feel, since it will forever be a mystery to the viewers as to why her expression was like that.

There was no doubt why it was called a 'masterpiece'.

"'Sayuri.' This was the painting that inspired me to become an artist. Although the original was stolen, its whereabouts unknown..." Yusuke trailed passionately, hinting sadness and frustration.

"Beautiful." The blonde-haired girl said sincerely, completely entranced by its beauty.

"I don't know all this art stuff, but even I can tell that's impressive." Shockingly, Ryuji was amazed as well.

"After I was orphaned, Sensei took me in and raised me. I respected him as a person and as a teacher. When I first saw you, I felt the emotion as when I saw this painting." The teen artist said with sincerity, his gentle gaze fixed at the beautiful lady.

"Eh?" Ann blushed shyly.

"I wish to pursue beauty like this. Please become my model." Yusuke bowed before turning his back. "Pardon me, but now I must assist Sensei. I hope to continue this conversation another day."

Suddenly, he stopped his tracks, much to the group's shock. It was when he remembered what the white-haired showed him-

"Actually..." Yusuke trailed, looking back at Kyoko. "If you allow me, I would like to talk to you privately, Mochizuki-san."

Hearing this, the three immediately stood from their seats, heading outside to leave the white-haired. Though hesitant, the group had high hopes on its end.

If the detective talks to him right now, she will most likely hear true and unsorted thoughts. The day seemed like a roller coaster for him, that's for sure.

As much as the detective wanted to stay to know what he was supposed to say, she-

"Sorry, but I don't think I can stay for long." Kyoko said politely. "I still have something to take care of,"

She chose not to.

'Meh~ I'm pretty curious whether he will cover up facts after giving too much thought on what he'll tell me,' Kyoko thoughts mischievously to herself.

"That's..." Yusuke paused. "That's too bad."

One by one, the group passed by the artist who was unusually staying on his place with his gaze lowered. The white-haired was the last one to leave, but stopped in her tracks.

She placed a hand on the artist's shoulder, then leaned on his ear.

"Don't worry, he's doing well now." Kyoko reassures, bringing shock to the boy. "And, you're next."

That made him... hopeful?

Part 6

After the events, the group was walking along the quiet streets. The sun was setting, as the rays and warm breeze touched their skin.

"I'm kind of taken aback." Breaking the silence, Ann spoke, her gaze lowered.

"Yeah..." The troublemaker agreed.

"Was the painting that good?" The cat-who was away during their interactions with the teen artist-suddenly joined in the conversation, signifying his return in the process.

"Morgana, when did you get back?" Ann asked the cat with her shock evident.

"Being elusive is a phantom thief's duty." Morgana answered proudly, then jumped on a railing.

"It seems like Madarame-sensei really is a good person. I can tell Kitagawa-kun sincerely respects him." Ann said, then brought more emphasis in her words. "Someone who's been on TV bowed to us! Maybe the rumors were mistaken?"

"Maybe." Ren hesitantly replied.

"We were off the mark this time. Let's go home." The troublemaker said, and seemed out of character because of his change in demeanor. "But it really was a shack."

"Yeah, right?" The blonde girl followed.

It was such a peaceful walk within the group, and each of them seemed to be taken aback. For them, it was quite an unexpected turn, almost convinced that they were wrong about the seemingly innocent old man.

However, something disagreed with their thoughts.

The ravenette got alerted when he heard his phone rang. It was definitely not a message nor a call, since the people he gave his number to was limited. Apart from that possibility, there could only be one reason-

"You have a hit."

Such words that came out of Ren's phone the moment he pulled it up to see what it was brought shocked expressions on their faces. On the screen was the word, "HIT" across it.

"The Meta-Nav reacted,"

The black-haired teen lifted his gaze from his phone, a serious expression on his face. It was only him and Kyoko who behaved differently among the group. The others were shocked, unable to believe that such innocent-looking old man has a palace.

"A hit?!" Ryuji gasped in disbelief. "No way!"

"How?! Was it picking up our conversation?" Similarly to the blonde, Ann was shocked.

"Seems like it." Ren replied.

"But if this is true, Madarame's desires are warped enough for him to have a Palace of his own." Morgana spoke in a serious way.

"That old man?" The troublemaker confirmed once again, still in the state of disbelief.

"I don't believe it." Ann said in denial.

"As expected, he was telling the truth,"

Kyoko suddenly stepped up once again. However, her words brought confusion to the others. Who was she referring to?

"Don't let kind words drop your guard," Kyoko began as she gained the attention of the group. "In this world, almost everyone has their own masks, hiding their true selves behind it."

"However, I don't blame you guys for being unable to see through him. Had I not known the truth beforehand, I would be pretty much deceived." The teen detective continued. "That old man's impressive. There's no doubt that he has a crime or two that no one knows of,"

"I agree," Ren said, his gaze locked on the girl.

"We must be really cautious this time! This case is a lot bigger than Kamoshida." Morgana added, a serious look on his face.

Everyone knew that it was the ugly reality they are dealing with.

A/N: Chapter 19 is finally done! It took me a week and a half, I suck. XD Exams week really sucked!

How was it? Did you enjoy it?

Welp, I haven't proofread it even once lmao, apologies for the grammatical errors. I'll check them tomorrow, but for now, I gotta sleep.

Thanks for reading! Don't forget to vote and leave your thoughts!

xoxo,
Eth.