[Comprehensive] Phantom Thief · Phantom Thief

Kaito suddenly regained consciousness from the memories, and what he saw before him was still the unique decoration of the reception room in the style of retro European villas.

Even, because of the drizzle that did not know when to float outside the house, the fireplace that was originally thought to be just a decoration was lit by the staff.In the flickering light and shadow of the warm orange flame, the occasional crackling sound of burning firewood seemed to be infinitely amplified in the strangely quiet reception room, and it sounded...extraordinarily clear.

——The atmosphere suddenly became a little weird for some reason.

Kaito, who unknowingly fell into the memories of the past, Yu, who was not used to talking a lot in front of outsiders, manager Uzuki, who seemed a little anxious and silent because he was worried about his own artist, and a teaser who played with a smile that was not a smile. With the teacup in his hand, the beautiful young detective Loki who doesn't know what is going on in his mind...

The four of them fell silent for their own reasons, so before they realized it, the silence of the room had spread out quietly and became... not so easy to break.

...This is really troublesome.

When he came back to his senses, he found that the atmosphere had become so stiff before he knew it. Kaito sighed secretly. Although he had all kinds of reluctance in his heart, he had to be the one who took the initiative to break such a strange silence. ——

After all, You's matter hadn't been resolved yet, and if they continued to sit down without a word, it wouldn't be of any help to solve the problem.

"Just now I mentioned that You received a threatening letter before, so... can you tell me the specific content?"

The black tea on the table no longer had the original temperature, but it was not too cold to drink. Kaito used the movement of drinking tea to cover up his uneasiness when he suddenly opened his mouth. He has completely adjusted, and the smile on his face is calm and composed: "Miss Uzuki, of course I know that as an ordinary high school student, I am afraid that even if I figure out the ins and outs of the matter, I may not be able to help you, but Yuu is me. My friend, it doesn't make sense that he has been troubled so much, and my friend still doesn't care about it after knowing about it."

"I just want to do something for You within a limited range, otherwise... I really can't feel at ease."

Turning his head and smiling, he glanced at his dark-haired friend who was staring at the corner of the table expressionlessly, and Kaito thoughtfully pretended not to notice the other's small and delicate ear tips that had been quietly dyed with a touch of light pink.

--really.

Youzhen is easily shy and awkwardly cute.

Pursing his lips and forcing the corners of his mouth to turn up, Kaito turned his gaze back, intending to look at his manager, Miss Uzuki, but unexpectedly, an unintentional deviation of the angle made him bump into a pair of deep green eyes. eye pupil.

Kuai Dou's eyes were even filled with a gentle smile that was too late to hold back, reflected in the pair of quiet blue eyes that looked like a deep pool on the opposite side, it seemed indescribably peaceful and beautiful...

It's like... It was instantly frozen into a peaceful and meaningful picture scroll.

—Although almost in the next second, Kaito quickly looked away.

The expression on his face also returned to the elegant and decent smile that he habitually hangs in front of outsiders. The black-haired young magician looked calmly at Uzuki, as if just now...in fact, nothing happened.

"Miss Uzuki?" He whispered a reminder to the hesitant manager.

"Heiyu-kun, it's not that I can't tell you about it. It's just..." The mature woman with brown hair bit her lips, raised her eyes and took a peek at her baby artist who was still sitting on the side with a blank expression, "only……"

"It's just that You said that you are not allowed to tell me about this?"

Kaito, who is that?I have been a magician for two lives, and in this life, I have worked hard to learn how to be a successful phantom thief since I was very young. Whether it is the ability to read people's hearts or see through a person's thoughts, it is beyond the reach of ordinary people.

So after Uzuki's performance, how could he not understand?

Reaching out his hand and gently pinching his friend's arm, Kaito comforted his friend who was cold-tempered but absolutely sincere enough to treat friends, while showing a more gentle and kind smile to the manager lady: "If it's because of this , That's really not Miss Uzuki's fault. Who told you that this guy is like this, awkward and stubborn..."

——While speaking, he also made a clear expression of "you know and I know".

And sure enough, under Kaito's invisible comfort, Uzuki quickly regained his composure.Thankfully, he smiled at the young man in front of him, who was strangely involuntary in a feeling of dependence and trust, and the brunette woman who had regained her shrewd and capable traits no longer hesitated and entangled with Kaito. Telling about the ins and outs of the threatening letter incident...

"The first time I received a threatening letter was on the third day after the film crew moved into the villa. On that day, the director and the production manager had greeted in advance, saying that in the morning and afternoon, we would shoot the rival scene between the heroine and the second male lead first. It starts in the evening, so the daytime is free."

"Heiyu-kun also knows that Youping-kun is relatively quiet. When there is no shooting task, he usually stays in the room alone to read scripts or novels. Sometimes even three meals are settled directly in his room. , originally... is the person who shouldn't be entangled in trouble."

However, the depth of water in the entertainment industry, sometimes even if you are not walking by the river, there are still many ways to get your shoes wet.

"It was the same that day. Mr. Youping was reading the script alone in the room. I had to go out for a while because I had something to deal with. Before I left, I also asked my assistant to remember to deliver the meal to Mr. Youping on time."

"But at noon that day, under You Pingjun's lunch plate, there was a threatening letter made of cut-and-paste words, to the effect of...'Stop filming and get out of here, or there will be blood disasters'."

"Because neither You Ping-jun nor other crew members have encountered such a thing before, so we didn't pay special attention at first until..."

Until Youping received the second and third similar letters one after another.

"In fact, when the second threatening letter came out, no one could think of it as a prank anymore."

Because, along with the threatening letter, there was also a bloody... cat's body.

"At that time, the president and I found the Sparrow Detective Agency not far from here, and asked Mr. Rocky to come to the crew to investigate."

Hearing this, the beautiful young detective with blond hair nodded slightly.

——Kaito decided to pretend he didn't see it.

"The investigation is not going well, because almost half of the crew members are unable to provide the corresponding alibi." In other words, everyone is suspected.

"And just this morning, we found the third threatening letter in front of Mr. Youping's room, and... the dead body of another cat."

After all, as a woman, even if she is a strong and courageous professional woman, when it comes to the innocent and tragic death of the poor little animal, there is still an uncontrollable flash of unbearable on Uzuki's face.

"Because of this incident, the work of the entire crew has been forced to stop now, because I don't know when the guy who sent the threatening letter will do it again..."

"Wait! Will you do it again...?" Kaito couldn't keep silent after hearing this!

——He noticed that Uzuki said "again".

That is to say, there has been at least one accident in the crew before?

"There was an accident where the spotlight suddenly came loose and fell off when shooting a group of shots. It was later confirmed that someone deliberately loosened the screw of the spotlight bracket in advance. Fortunately, there were not many people present at that time. The actors and nearby staff The response was also timely, so there were no casualties."

But it is certain to scrap a spotlight and add some miscellaneous props.

"Because of this, the filming work of the crew has been postponed. Fortunately, this villa is specially provided by one of the sponsors, so there is no need to pay any rent, otherwise..."

The loss must never be just that.

But from this point of view, the director of this movie is quite clear.

Because the loss is not big, so decisively decided to temporarily slow down the shooting progress and vigorously investigate the suspect?

If so...

"Then why are no police officers involved?"

Although there were no casualties in the incident where the spotlight fell, the plot was already very serious after all, right?

"Ah... that is..."

Uzuki opened his mouth to say something, but paused, and finally showed an embarrassed smile with apology: "I'm sorry, Hei Yu-kun, this involves the privacy of the crew, so..."

"It's okay, I understand."

To put it bluntly, there seemed to be something tricky about it, it was nothing more than the right and wrong of the entertainment industry, Kaito didn't want to care about this matter, so he smiled and exposed it.

But even so, there is one thing that Kaito has to care about——

"Why... target You?"

According to Uzuki, the real purpose of this mysterious person who sent threatening letters one after another should be to stop the filming of the movie, so why not just send the letter to a person with real power like the director or producer?Even if You Shi is the leading actor in this movie, this reason may not be justified...

Here, Kaito is frowning slightly, thinking hard about the reason why his friend was being targeted, while on the other side, the door of the reception room was suddenly pushed open——

"Miss Utsuki! Mr. Yuhei! Are you here?" A brown-haired young man in a blue staff uniform ran in with a panicked expression.

"Antian, we are here, what happened? Why are you in such a panic?"

"Miss Uzuki, I found you and Mr. Youping! A strange man wearing a bartender uniform and a strange hood came downstairs, saying that if we continue to make this movie, he will tear down the whole thing. A villa! Come down with me to have a look! The mermaid on the fountain seat in the yard is about to be torn down by him!"

……==‖∣

——Kaito thought, now he knows why the mysterious prisoner sent a threatening letter to his friend...