Phantom Thieves of Hope - A Danganronpa X Persona 5 Story.

Chapter 74: Livestream Lunacy

Beneath the Beautiful Mask - Everything Fantasy

"Wow...Get a load of this one," Komaru couldn't help but scoff, ""My classmate keeps taking the best seat in the cafeteria. Can you make them stop?" Psh..."

"What is wrong with some of these people?" Hajime rolled his eyes, "The Phansite is for reporting real threats and problems, not dealing with your petty school problems."

"I mean this is hardly a new thing. The PhanSite's been this way since it was established. It's what's known as a first world problem, you know?" Toko said, "When it's your problem, it feels like the end of the world, but from a distance, you can't help but think that the person's just being dumb and whiny."

Though he didn't want to admit it outright, Hajime was still a little worried about Komaru after everything she'd been through recently. On top of freeing herself from a harassment case and having to say goodbye to her beloved foster sister, he was sure that Komaru would need time to get over it all.

She seemed to be managing fine, though, and after the Phantom Thief meeting that day had been adjourned, he, Toko, and she were casually hanging out while she surfed the Phansite, filtering out the petty or otherwise ridiculous requests.

"Oh, look at this one," she shook her head, her posture reflecting her annoyance as she waved the phone, "this person's sister apparently keeps borrowing her clothes without asking, and she "wants revenge," as they put it."

Hajime clicked his tongue.

"Is it rude to say that some of these people aren't worth our time?" he asked.

"Maybe, but you're not wrong," Toko sighed, "If they don't have the guts to take matters into their own hands, then they probably don't deserve help in the first place. Give these morons a platform, and they'll air their every trivial grievance like it's the end of the world."

"There's tons of people out there like Towa and Tsumura, making people's lives a living hell...I guess I just expect more...serious stuff from the follower base," Komaru leaned back in the beanbag, staring up at the ceiling, "We've seen how bad things can get. Like, REALLY really bad...But it doesn't stop these guys from complaining about the color of the paint in their school or how the teacher doesn't do anything when some kid is being mean to them."

"Yeah, exactly," Hajime nodded, "plus, while I know this isn't something that anyone, even ourselves, takes into consideration, we're humans too, and we have our own human problems."

"But the people who follow us don't know that," Toko pointed out, "I'm not defending this stuff; don't get me wrong, but we're an anonymous vigilante group that has shown the world we have the mystical power to change the very essence of horrible people. Why would people want to deal with their own problems when they can just ask us to work our magic?

Komaru shook her head.

"We do what we do to give people a chance and to inspire them to step up for themselves," she said, "What's the point if people are just gonna rely on us to do everything for them?"

"Well, it makes me happy to know that people appreciate what we're doing," Hajime replied, "but in the meantime, I'm still in desperate need of a job and an IC card. I won't be helping anyone if I can't get around Tokyo..."

"IC card? You mean for the trains or something?" Komaru asked, "I remember Kyoko and Shuichi mentioning they would help you out with bank statements and official documents or some junk. Not sure how it all works, but how's that coming along?"

"It's...coming..." the ex-Reserve student sighed, "but not as fast as I would like it to. I get that they need to run this stuff through all the outlets, but I haven't had a single reply or update since I sent them all the information they wanted. It's frustrating..."