The Children of Thieves

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The reason I gave this chapter that name is because this chapter is about Futaba, and I feel this song fit. Also, this chapter won't be nearly as long as the previous two, since nothing as lengthy happens in it. I'm also delving into a bit of backstory for Ren. Bear in mind, the backstory at this stage was vague, because I wrote a terrible prequal to this series on AO3, which made me have to completely change my original plans for Ren's past. Anyway, enjoy.

Futaba Sakura wasn't Cho's biological aunt. Her father, Sojiro, adopted Ren when he came to Tokyo on probation. But when Ren's decision to permanently move to Tokyo, on top of the tension with his probation in the first place, caused a huge falling-out between him and his parents, Sojiro took a 19 year old Ren under his wing. When Cho asked Makoto why Ren's parents cut them out, she answered, "I guess they blame me for his desire to move to a completely different city. They wanted him to stay in Inaba forever. But when Ren was adamant about moving to Tokyo, they had a falling-out."

Because of the family turmoil, Ren just found it easier to call Sojiro his father and Futaba his sister. And as such, Cho called Sojiro her grandfather and Futaba her aunt. And since she married Sumire Yoshizawa, that made Sumire her aunt as well. Cho had a basic knowledge of computers thanks to Futaba, and she was somewhat decent at gymnastics thanks to Sumire. But still, despite Futaba's lessons, Cho's computing skills left much to be desired. So with 19 days left until Yuta was expelled and possibly killed, Cho paid her aunt a visit.

"So," said Futaba, sliding her glasses up her nose mischievously when Cho showed up to ask for help. "The soon-to-be infamous Children of Thieves require my assistance." That woman watches way too much anime, Cho thought to herself. "How did you know?" she asked nervously, "Did Ren tell you?" Futaba shook her head. "The Children of Thieves," she commented, "Could you have been anymore obvious?" Cho blushed slightly. Futaba laughed at this. "I'm messing," she reassured her. "It's a cool name. I just figured it out really quickly since you're copying our methods quite a bit." "That's why I'm here," said Cho. "I wish to do things as differently as possible, and avoid a friend getting caught." Futaba sat up in her chair and looked at her curiously. "You mean you have your second target?" she asked. Cho nodded. "And we need to send the Calling Card to him."

Futaba smirked at this. "How do you plan on doing this?" she asked. "Well, the target is Ondai Kyoei," Cho explained, "and we want to hijack the pads that play his stolen music. We want to put the Calling Card there." Futaba slid her glasses up her nose again, and did her signature "Mweheheh", then cracked her knuckles and began typing on her computer. "And here I thought it was going to be challenging," she gloated. "Just bring me your Calling Card this evening, and I'll have it plastered all over the presentation before Sumi gets back with dinner." Cho thanked her and left.

Cho and the rest of the Thieves spent the next hour plotting what they'd write on the card. They'd decided to have Yuta give most of the ideas for the Card, but Mubo was going to write it, so that Kyoei wouldn't recognise the handwriting. They wrote the card in the same colour-scheme as the website Sapoto made. At last, they were satisfied with what they'd written, so Cho stuffed it into her bag and headed to Sumire and Futaba's house in Yongen. When Futaba read what had been written, she beamed with pride. "Now that is Phantom Thief level intel!" she told Cho. Futaba pulled out her phone and took a picture. Then, she Emailed it to her Laptop and started hacking into Kyoei's tablets. It took her just over 30 minutes, but she was able to successfully transfer the Card onto the tablets. Cho hugged her when she proclaimed it was done. "No worries kiddo," she told her niece. "But next time you need my help, give me more of a challenge." Cho promised she would, then left.

18 days to go:
Yuta: When Yuta arrived at the mansion after school to help with the presentation and finish up his and Cho's piece, there was an excited buzz all over the presentation area. People were gathered round all the tablet and gossiping frantically. Yuta considered ignoring the tablets in order to play innocence, but then he realised that it would probably make him look guiltier if he did, so he feigned curiosity and approached. Looking over a man's shoulder, he read what was written on the Tablet.

To Ondai Kyoei; the murderous teacher of Vanity. We are coming for your desires. You; who plagiarised your students works and discredited them when you no longer have use for them. Who killed numerous people that once called you sensei. We will force you to confess all of this with your own mouth. From, the Children of Thieves.

Yuta couldn't help but feel a small sense of pride in that Card. Kyoei was standing over a tablet, clutching it so hard that his knuckles had gone white. Then, he spotted Yuta and rounded on him. He grabbed the boy by the scruff of his neck and pulled him away from everyone else. "You did this, didn't you!" he demanded. His voice was so cold that it made Yuta feel scared. But still, he kept his cool, and responded, "You know full well how little I know about computers. How could I have put those on every device here?" Kyoei didn't answer. Instead, he glared at Yuta and said, "Well, it matters not. Come next month and you'll be out of hear, and that lovely friend of yours will take your place." Then, as a last show of how untouchable he felt, he whispered in Uta's ear, "And you'd better watch what you say if you know what's good for you. After all, it would be a terrible tragedy if something were to happen to you, don't you think?" Yuta froze and stared daggers at him, but Kyoei just smirked and walked off.

Back to Cho: When the rest of the Children of Thieves arrived at the mansion to see their handiwork, Yuta met them with a look of fear in his eyes. "What's wrong?" Cho asked him. "That man just threatened me," he told them, "By telling me that if I squeal, he'll kill me!" he told them. As a response, she pulled out her phone. "Well then let's make him do it for us" she replied, pushing the button on the Nav and sending them into the Metaverse.

That backstory would've gone better if The Phantom Matchmaker was written better (that's the prequal I mentioned, don't read it if you haven't. It's utter shite). I had to change a one or two minor things, since I later retconned them by mistake. But if you hate Kyoei, I've got one last surprise in store (Pardon the pun). Hopefully you liked how I wrote the Calling Card. I'll see you next time. Feedback is greatly appreciated.