The True Face of Phantom Thief Midnight

Unable to shake the events of the previous night from her mind, Koharu Hoshikawa greeted the morning sun without having slept a single wink.

Her footsteps were heavy as she trudged down the hill toward school. She was so lost in thought that she drifted right past her family's bakery without even pausing to take in the sweet, warm aroma of fresh melon bread.

"Koharu, all you do is sigh-pock. Was that silver strand from yesterday really that big of a shock-pock?"

Pocke poked its fluffy red head out of her yellow rain cape's pocket, looking up at her with worried eyes.

"...I just don't want to believe it. That Kanata could really be the phantom thief stealing everyone's memories..."

When she stepped into classroom 5-2, Kanata Yomi was already seated by the window, looking exactly as he always did.

Silky silver hair, calm slate-blue eyes. Resting his chin in his hand, he gazed out at the crisp winter sky. It was almost impossible to believe that he was the very same masked phantom thief whose mask had torn away on the hospital roof just hours ago.

"Good morning, Koharu."

Ayame Kujo called out gently as she approached.

Ever since their tearful reconciliation with her mother last night, Ayame had stopped calling her "Miss Hoshikawa," speaking her name with genuine, tender warmth.

"Good morning, Ayame..."

Her violet ribbon swaying, Ayame discreetly cracked open her leather-bound Unforgettable Notebook.

"I cross-referenced last night's circumstantial evidence, his height, his build, and that silver hair. The mathematical probability that Yomi is Phantom Thief Midnight stands at ninety-two percent."

"N-Ninety-two percent?!"

"Whoa, hold your horses, President!"

Taiga Inukai cut in with a booming voice, scratching the bandage on his nose with an incredulous chuckle.

"There's no way the new kid is a phantom thief! Remember yesterday in the rain? He turned bright red because he couldn't even ride a bicycle! A swashbuckling phantom thief who leaps across rooftops, but can't balance on a clunker city bike? That's completely impossible!"

"...That is likely attributable to an uneven athletic aptitude or psychological trauma," Ayame countered calmly. "Evidence never lies. And Koharu saw his unmasked face clearly with her own eyes last night."

"Y-Yeah..."

Koharu bit her lip.

She desperately wished Taiga were right. But the freezing chill of his fingers, and those wide, shocked slate-blue eyes beneath the moonlight... they were unmistakably real.

"After school... I'm going to ask Kanata directly."

"What?! By yourself?!" Taiga's jaw dropped.

"It is far too dangerous, Koharu," Ayame warned, knitting her brow.

"I know, but I don't want to run away. I want to know why Kanata is doing this. I need to understand his true feelings!"

Seeing the steady, radiant light in Koharu's amber eyes, Ayame let out a quiet sigh of surrender.

"...Very well. We will keep watch from a safe distance. Promise me you will not do anything reckless."

---

After school.

The brief winter daylight was already beginning to fade, casting long, chilly shadows across the hillside town.

The moment the final homeroom bell rang, Kanata gathered his things and left the classroom without uttering a single syllable.

Koharu followed his silhouette alone.

Kanata traversed the shopping arcade, climbed a steep stone stairway, and made his way to the scenic overlook at the very peak of Tsukimizaka. It was an open plaza equipped with weathered wooden benches, offering an unbroken panoramic view of the twilight sea.

"Kanata!"

Panting for breath, Koharu called out his name. Kanata stopped and turned slowly around.

Hands shoved into the pockets of his long navy coat, he fixed her with his cold, unreadable slate-blue gaze.

"...I believe I told you not to follow me, Hoshikawa."

"There's something I have to ask you."

Koharu took a firm step forward.

"Last night on the hospital roof... that was you, wasn't it? You are Phantom Thief Midnight, aren't you?"

A freezing gust of wind whipped between them, sending Kanata's silver hair dancing across his brow.

Without answering, Kanata reached into his inner pocket and drew out his antique silver pocket watch.

Its hands remained frozen at five o'clock, motionless.

And that was when it happened.

Dong, ding — chiming softly...

From every speaker in town, the gentle melody of the five o'clock chime rang out.

Twilight time had arrived.

With a low, subterranean rumble, thick black mist coiled upward from around Kanata's boots.

His silhouette wavered and blurred within the darkness.

When the mist parted, standing before her was a figure in a black silk top hat, a pristine white mask, and a swirling cape of living night fog.

"Phantom Thief... Midnight...!"

Koharu's heart thudded violently against her ribs at the transformation unfolding before her very eyes.

Squeezing her trembling hands into fists, she cried out:

"Leave that lost thing to me — I'll bring it home!"

"Pocke, let's go!"

"Leave it to me-pock!"

"Star Glass, open!"

Pocke transformed into a shower of light, snapping onto her left hand as the red mitten. Cloaked in her orange detective cape and star beret, Koharu raised the Star Glass.

Atop the windswept overlook where sunset vermilion clashed against murky darkness, the two faced each other head-on.

"...Yes. I am Phantom Thief Midnight."

Behind the mask, Kanata's voice rang low and bitter. It was no longer the theatrical, polite tone he used on his heists; it was his raw, unvarnished voice.

"Why... Why would you do something like this?! Ayame's mother, little Mina's rain boot... You know how much people suffer when their memories are taken! You must know how painful it is!"

"...Of course I know."

Kanata squeezed the pocket watch until his knuckles turned white.

"But I have no other choice. If I gather one hundred memories... my own memories, and my family, will be returned to me."

"What...? Your memories... and your family...?"

Koharu's eyes went wide.

"I remember nothing prior to five years ago."

Gazing out at the sunset-stained sea, the masked thief began to speak in a quiet, hollow voice.

"Beyond my name, 'Kanata,' and the surname 'Yomi,' I have no idea where I came from, who my family was, or how I lived. I remember nothing. When I awoke, I was wandering aimlessly through the Land of Twilight, clutching this stopped watch."

"That's terrible..."

"Even when I returned to the real world, my home was completely empty. I asked everyone in town, but not a single soul recognized me. It was as though I had never existed in this world from the start... Every single person had forgotten who I was!"

Kanata's voice fractured into a desperate cry.

His silver hair lashed in the gale, and the eyes behind the mask filled with a dark, suffocating despair.

---

"And that's why... you're stealing memories?" Koharu's voice trembled.

"The ruler of the black fog... Wasurena approached me with an offer: 'Bring me one hundred of humanity's most precious memories, and I will restore your past, and the family that once remembered you.'"

"That's a lie!"

Koharu shouted before she could stop herself.

"Stealing the memories of others will never bring true happiness! When you rip memories away from people, it leaves a hollow, aching void in their hearts! You felt that pain yourself yesterday when you looked at Ayame's mother!"

"......!"

"And besides, you always left behind hints so we could recover the keepsakes! Deep down, you never truly wanted to steal their memories, did you?! You were hoping someone would stop you!"

Kanata's shoulders flinched.

She had struck the nail on the head. Even while carrying out his dark orders, Kanata had intentionally left behind clues, desperately trying to preserve a sliver of hope so that the owners might reclaim what was lost.

"So please... stop stealing people's memories!"

Koharu spread her arms wide, pleading with all her soul.

"I'll help you find your memories! The Detectives will search for your family together! I will never, ever give up on you!"

"...Silence."

Kanata's voice dropped like a guillotine of ice.

"What could someone like you possibly understand? Cherished by your parents, raised in the warm embrace of a bakery, never once forgotten by a single soul... What right do you have to speak of my pain?!"

"Kanata..."

"Even if you lose something, you have people who come searching for you! You have a family waiting to welcome you home! ...I have no one!"

With that agonizing scream, Kanata swept his midnight cape wide.

"Do not interfere with me again. The next time you stand in my path... I will show no mercy."

The black fog exploded outward in a blinding vortex, swallowing Phantom Thief Midnight whole.

"Wait! Kanata—!"

Koharu lunged forward, but her grasping fingers caught only the biting winter wind.

Silence returned to the vacant overlook.

Koharu sank to her knees on the stone pavement, tears of frustration and sorrow spilling down her cheeks.

"...Koharu."

Slipping free from her hand, Pocke floated softly into the air.

Gazing into the empty space where Kanata had vanished, Pocke twitched its knitted nose.

"What is it, Pocke...?"

"Koharu... when he whirled his cape to escape just now, a scent drifted out of his right coat pocket. It was the exact same scent as me-pock..."

"The same scent as you...?"

"Yeah... the scent of old red wool, baked in the warm sunshine-pock. And whenever I get close to him, my threads tingle so hard it feels like they're going to tear apart-pock...!"

Pocke touched its little chest, murmuring in confusion.

Did Kanata possess something made of the very same yarn as Pocke?

Right now, there was no way to know.

---

In the clearing atop the hill, cutting through the twilight shadows, the red-brick mansion manifested into reality.

The Taisho-era lost-and-found station—the Lost-and-Found Hall.

When Koharu, Ayame, and Taiga pushed open the heavy wooden door with a gentle chime of the brass bell, Shiori stepped forward from behind the counter to welcome them, her wisteria hair tied in an arrow-patterned ribbon over her hakama.

"My, my, children. Welcome in from the freezing wind."

Shiori set out warm black tea and freshly baked biscuits on the parlor table.

"Yummy biscuits-pock~!" Pocke immediately dove for a treat, and Taiga stuffed his cheeks, mumbling, "Delicious!"

Yet Koharu and Ayame couldn't bring themselves to touch their cups.

Koharu recounted everything Kanata had confessed at the scenic overlook.

How he had lost all memories prior to five years ago.

How he had been forgotten by everyone and left utterly alone in the world.

And how he was serving as Phantom Thief Midnight to gather one hundred memories in exchange for his stolen past...

When the story concluded, Shiori lowered her gaze behind her round spectacles, letting out a heavy, sorrowful sigh.

"...So it was true after all."

"Lady Shiori, do you know something?" Ayame asked, leaning forward.

Shiori stood up and walked toward the deepest corridor of the hall, stopping before a massive, reinforced iron door.

The door was bound in multiple layers of heavy iron chains, secured by a formidable brass padlock.

"What is this place...?"

"The underground archives."

Shiori placed a mournful hand against the cold iron.

"Within this hall sleep a hundred years of lost articles. However... among them are countless items whose owners never came to claim them, no matter how long they waited."

Her gentle voice trembled faintly.

"The fathomless loneliness, grief, and darkness of those abandoned items... Over a century, they accumulated within this basement, giving birth to a monster—my very own shadow, 'Wasurena.'"

"Lady Shiori's... shadow...?!" Koharu gasped.

"Wasurena possesses but a single desire: 'If all humanity forgets everything, no one shall ever suffer the agony of loss again.' ...Manipulating Kanata to harvest the town's memories is undoubtedly Wasurena's design."

"No way... What happens when one hundred memories are gathered?!" Taiga cried.

"I do not know... But I fear it will bring about catastrophic ruin."

Right then—

CLANG! RATTLE-RATTLE!

The heavy iron chains binding the door thrashed violently from the inside!

"YAAAGH?!"

Taiga jumped back in terror, and Pocke dove beneath Koharu's cape.

Through the narrow seam of the iron door, a bone-chilling plume of black vapor billowed out.

Deep within the dark mist, countless spectral forget-me-not blossoms glowed with a cold, eerie blue light.

And then—

...Hehehe... Ahahaha...

A chilling, beautiful chorus of overlapping young voices drifted up from the abyss below.

...Very soon... Only thirty remain...

When one hundred memories are gathered... this entire town shall sink into the painless, beautiful sleep of eternal oblivion...

A creeping frost crawled up their boots. Ayame clutched her notebook tightly against her chest, her face pale.

"Only thirty left...! Kanata has already gathered seventy memories...!"

The rattling of the chains ceased, and the black fog slowly retreated behind the iron barrier.

Yet the biting chill left behind pierced their hearts far more deeply than any winter frost.

"Kanata..."

Koharu squeezed her fists tight.

If thirty more memories were stolen, something irreversible would happen to this town.

She had to save Kanata from Wasurena's suffocating darkness, no matter what it took.

A quiet, unwavering resolve flickered to life deep within Koharu's heart, burning like a steady flame.