Tokyo's Phantom Thief

"…Sumire? You think you could maybe let go of me now?"

"..."

Rinto asked the question carefully—but it was like tossing a stone into a deep lake. No response at all from the girl in his arms.

If not for the way she kept snuggling a little closer every so often, or how she let out dramatically long sighs every few seconds, Rinto might've thought she'd fallen asleep.

Even he was starting to get flustered. His back was damp with nervous sweat.

To be honest, this situation wasn't exactly ideal for a guy's mental well-being… It really wasn't.

It's not like Rinto had reached some enlightened, ascetic state of mind.

They were only a year apart, and he was still a teenage boy swimming in hormones. No way he could sit in this position forever without reacting.

And Sumire's body… slim and perfectly proportioned, dressed in nothing but those thin pajamas—wherever he happened to touch was soft, smooth, and warm with that gentle elasticity…

Fresh meat from the morning market probably didn't feel this tender. It was getting harder and harder not to notice.

For the sake of preserving his willpower, Rinto gently pulled her away a little.

"You must be tired, Sumire. Let's not talk about anything heavy right now."

He lightly rubbed her flushed face, smoothed out her tangled hair with all the care of someone handling a small, delicate animal.

"We can wait until your sister gets here tomorrow, then talk more about everything—including that app. For now, just get some sleep, okay? You'll get dark circles at this rate."

"…Okay. I got it."

Sumire obeyed him without protest.

After everything in the Metaverse, her body felt thoroughly exhausted—more so than even her most intense training days.

And right now… she felt incredibly happy. Her heart and soul were full of her beloved senpai.

If she had one complaint, it was that her senpai was a bit too dense.

…In this kind of situation, wasn't it normal for the guy to take a hint and make a move, even if the girl didn't say anything?

She'd been wrapped around him for ages now, shifting positions just to make it easier for him to… do something. Anything.

But not a single reaction.

Senpai, you dummy. You blockhead. You chaste little saint… I love you so much.

Her head was already blooming with pink petals. But she didn't want to ruin this fragile, happy moment by pushing it.

She just wanted to stay here like this, safe in his arms, with nothing else in the world to think about.

Originally, Rinto had planned to let Sumire take the bed and sleep on the floor himself.

But, predictably, the girl—still stuck in that rose-colored dreamscape—freaked out the second he tried to lie down on the floor. She clung to him like he was abandoning her.

Faced with her teary, trembling puppy-dog eyes, Rinto caved.

And also—he really didn't want to give her dad any reason to send prosecutors to his door.

So he obediently climbed into bed with her and let her snuggle into his arms.

And then, trying to cut the tension, he had a flash of inspiration:

"Hey, Sumire. Look—my watch glows in the dark."

"…Huh? ( ???)"

She stared at him, utterly blank.

Didn't get the joke at all. Rinto felt personally attacked.

So this is the generation gap…? Even if they were only a year apart…

Oh well. Even if she didn't understand his cheesy attempt at humor, Rinto had other ways of staying calm.

Just like every morning, when he'd wake up with Sumire's older sister, Kasumi, in his arms.

Only tonight, it was Sumire in his arms instead… and he was probably going to be holding her all night.

All he had to do was focus on comparing the subtle differences in how the two sisters felt while cuddling. That way, he wouldn't start thinking any dirty thoughts!

"Rinto-senpai… Your body… it's so warm…"

She mumbled it into his chest, smiling dreamily, and Rinto couldn't help chuckling. She was honestly too adorable.

He stroked her silky hair and said gently:

"Promise me—don't ever activate that app on your own again. Don't make your family… or me… worry about you, okay?"

"…Mm."

Sumire nodded hard, her voice thick with emotion as she clung to him tighter.

After a moment, she asked in a small voice:

"If… I mean, if I had been caught by those monsters… what would've happened to me? And those people you mentioned—others who ended up in that world… what happened to them?"

"That world is formed from the collective unconscious," Rinto replied immediately. "Even though it looks empty, it's full of fragments of people's minds—and the psychic projections of everyone who exists."

He chose his words carefully, trying to keep it simple.

"Like that Palace—it belongs solely to its ruler. If someone falls in and gets captured, they're at that person's mercy. Could be locked up, tortured… Worst case, they die. They vanish entirely."

"If they don't fall into a Palace, but just get lost in the upper layers of the Metaverse, there's still a window to escape. If they can suppress the darker parts of their psyche—their Shadow—they might return to reality."

"But if they can't hold it together, and start spiraling in fear, more Shadows will close in. Those creatures crave the vitality of the living most of all. They'll consume you… and your dark Shadow will take your place. You'll become one of them—just another being filled with resentment and jealousy toward the material world, waiting to attack the next person who gets lost in there."

Ugh…!

Hearing all this laid out so brutally, Sumire could only cling to him tighter, burying her face in his chest and trembling.

She'd fantasized so many times about the Phantom Thief life—

Daydreamed about standing beside Rinto, fighting for justice like some kind of comic book superhero.

But tonight, just facing the twisted hostility from a handful of minor enemies in that castle… it had been enough to shake her to her core.

She wasn't cut out for that world. It was far too different, far too dark, for someone like her.

Still, she buried the fear inside her—choosing instead to focus on the warmth and safety she felt in his arms.

"I'm sorry, senpai… Thank you for saving me… I love you. I love you… I really love you. Love you, love you, love you, love you…"

The emotional overflow spilled out of her in a breathless string of confessions, filling her heart to bursting.

Rinto didn't say anything back. He just gently patted her head, his touch full of quiet affection.

Soon, her voice grew softer and softer—until she drifted off to sleep.

Rinto smiled faintly to himself.

I wonder if she'll remember confessing in the morning… or if she'll be so embarrassed she runs for it.

Honestly, it'd be better if she chalked it all up to the "suspension bridge effect."

He didn't want her current attachment to him taken too seriously.

Once she calmed down and processed everything that had happened today, she'd realize just how dangerous the Metaverse really was.

And likewise… she'd understand that he, someone so deeply entangled with that world, was dangerous too.

She shouldn't get too close to him. No one should.

…But even so, Rinto couldn't help but wonder:

I've never revealed this much about myself to anyone before…

If I had someone who truly understood me, someone I could trust as a teammate… could I really keep being a Phantom Thief?

If only there were someone else who shared his abilities… someone who could fight alongside him in the Metaverse.

Rinto felt a quiet loneliness as he drifted into thought.

He'd never met anyone like that.

Not even once.