Chapter 16: Planning

(A/N: Welp... Here goes nothing!)

(Third-person pov)

After talking things over in Marinette's apartment, The Phantom Thieves agreed that they had to do something. As Marinette put it:

"This situation is getting out of hand, fast."

The Phantom Thieves were also worried about Yusuke. None of them liked how Yusuke said that he needed to submit something to Madarame. To them, that proved the abuse claim.

And so, after some discussion, calming down Pollen, and Morgana being a simp (wait, what). The Phantom Thieves left Marinette's apartment, agreeing that the passageway in the Shibuya station will be the new hideout. Before he left, however, Akira was stopped by Marinette.

"Hey, Akira-kun..." She said.

"What is it?" Akira responded.

"I just wanted to say... thank you..." Marinette said with her usual bright smile.

"For what?" Akira asked.

"You've helped me out in a lot of ways... you listened to my story and gave me the courage to tell it to the others. You are slightly unusual, but I'm glad I met you. You are a marvelous friend and a great black cat." Marinette said. Akira felt his cheeks go warm at the praise.

"Speaking of which, how's Plagg adjusting to his life with you?" Marinette added. At her words, the Kwami in question flew out of Akira's bag.

"It's been okay... I get my cheese fix from the cheese-flavored chips this guy gives me. And the curry that the guy Akira lives with makes, Sojiro, I think, is pretty good. Akira sneaks me spoon-fulls of the stuff whenever he eats." Plagg said a smile on his face.

"Never thought I'd see the day when you would eat something other than cheese..." Tiki commented from her place at the Kotatsu table where she was eating some cookies.

"Yeah, yeah... love ya too, sugar-cube!" Plagg said before diving back into Akira's bag. Tiki face-palmed and went back to her cookies. Marinette giggled at the Kwamis' antics, and Akira gave a small smile. He then bid farewell to his bluenette friend and walked out of the apartment.

That later that evening, he got a call from Mishima about Nakanohara. He apparently wanted to share some information about a target with the Phantom Thieves. "What perfect timing!" Akira thought.

(Marinette's pov)

I was eating dinner with the Kwamis (minus the ones with my friends) when I suddenly got a notification on my phone. It was Ryuji on the group chat for the Phantom Thieves. I took a sip of some pleasant, green tea as I read the text.

~~+~~

Ryuji:

I found out something insane about Madarame!

Ryuji:

Sounds like a student of his offed himself when he couldn't speak up about Madarame stealing his work.

~~+~~

I spat out my drink as soon as I read Ryuji's text. Did I read that correctly?

~~+~~

You:

WAIT, WHAT?!

Akira:

Is that true?

Ann:

I could be...

Ryuji:

Someone died, though.

Ryuji:

No one's talking about it... I bet it was covered up.

Ann:

I wonder if Kitagawa-kun has heard anything...

You:

If he has, he won't tell us.

You:

You saw the way he acted when we were questioning him...

Ann:

Right... it would be great if he could help us out, though!

Ryuji:

isn't that asking for a bit too much?

You:

In any case, let's meet up at the hideout tomorrow.

Ryuji:

Right! It'll be our first time there!

Ann:

It's the passageway at Shibuya station, right?

Ann:

Got it! See you guys tomorrow!

~~+~~

The next day, May 18'th, Wednesday, after school, we were on our way to the hideout when we ran into someone I thought we would never run into. It was Natsuhiko Nakanohara, the stalker whose heart we changed in Mementos. Apparently, he had reached out to the creator of the Phan-site and had arranged to meet Akira. He then proceeded to tell us more details about Madarame.

He confirmed that a pupil of his did commit suicide because he couldn't bear to see his work under Madamrame's name. He told us that after that, he ran away from Madarame and tried to start a new, but failed. He then asked us to change Madarame's heart to save his remaining pupil, Yusuke. He told us that Yusuke feels like he has no choice but to stay with Madarame and that Yusuke would leave if he could.

"Nakanohara-san, I can't promise success. But what I can promise is that we will do everything we can to save Yusuke-kun and change Madarame's heart." I said with a polite bow. Nakanohara smiled at me and walked away.

"Marinette! Why did you do that?" Morgana hissed.

"Well, I figured since we heard the evidence that confirmed our suspicions, and he personally requested us to change Madarame's heart. I thought we would change Madarame's heart without hesitation! Am I right?" I responded.

"You're right... sorry. You just surprised me with that promise." Morgana sighed.

"It's okay!" I told my friend.

So, after more discussion, we agreed by unanimous vote that we would steal Madarame's heart. At the new hideout, Akira said we would go to Madarame's Palace to see what we could do.

(Time skip! Brought to you by Simp-gana!)

I knew it was a bad idea to touch the golden vase. I tried to warn the silly cat, and so did Joker. But, Mona stepped on a sensor, and luckily Joker and I moved out of the way before the lasers trapped our friends. I gotta say, Joker, is a good athlete! How was able to backward handstand flip (A/N: I don't know what it's called)? I just somersaulted away from the lasers.

"Mona, I told you that was a bad idea!" I scolded the cat from outside the laser cage.

"Sorry! I couldn't help myself!" Mona replied.

"Nevermind that! Just get us out of here!" Panther yelled.

"Will do! Come on, Princess! Let's find the control panels!" Joker said to me. I agreed, and together, with the use of the Cataclysm and Lucky Charm, we freed our friends and discovered a rare shadow that Joker managed to capture. He said it might be useful, and I wondered what he was talking about because the thing wasn't very combative.

(Time skip! Brought to you by Xuppu and Ryuji eating Ramen together!)

So, after more exploration, we discovered where the treasure is kept. Only problem: the security is impenetrable...

"Maybe I can Cataclysm it?" Joker suggested.

"That could work... but it might raise alarms..." I said.

"Perhaps, but I recognize this door!" Mona said.

"hmm?" Panther said.

"There is no doubt about it! That is the same door I saw earlier! I think I know what door this one is based on in reality! There might be another way to open it! I'll explain later, come on!" Mona said. We then Hurried out of Madarame's palace and appeared outside of Madarame's house.

There Morgana explained what he meant. Thanks to his scouting of the house last time we came, Morgana discovered an unusually large lock on a brightly colored door.

"So what you're saying is... that door is the real-world equivalent of the door in Madarame's palace?" I said.

"Indeed! We just need to change Madarame's cognition about the door so that it'll open!" Morgana confirmed.

"I'm still not gettin' it... is this gonna work?" Ryuji asked.

"It's worth a shot," Akira answered.

"But from what you said, the lock is really hefty. How would you unlock it?" Ann asked.

"That's the easy part! Give me a hairpin, and I'll handle it!" Morgana responded.

"But it'll take some time. Doing everything by myself in front of Madarame would be impossible. If only there was someone who could distract him for a while..." Morgana continued... I don't like where this is going...

"Huh?" Ann said.

"Oh... Ohhh!" Ryuji said, realization on his face. Yep! I don't like this!

"Man, how are we even gonna get into his house? We'd get reported for sure if we forced our way in..." Ryuji said, a smirk on his face.

"What?" Ann said.

"I guess the only way in is... havin' you go nude," Ryuji said.

Oh, my God...

"WHAT?!" Ann exclaimed.

"Fancy you say that, Ryuji. I was just thinking the same thing..." Morgana mused.

"Hell no! Mari-san, is there a Miraculous that can help us out here?" Ann asked me.

"Well, there is the Fox Miraculous. It can create illusions. But, I don't know how we'd be able to use it..." I thought aloud.

"There is a Miraculous that can create illusions?!" Morgana asked.

"Well, yes... each Kwami can give specific powers to their holders. I happen to be lucky enough to possess some powerful Miraculous." I said.

"Wait... that implies that there are more Miraculous out there..." Akira said.

"Oh! There are." I said casually. The others looked shocked at that statement.

"Really?" Ann asked.

"Yes. There are some in America, and similar jewelry called the "Prodigious" in China. They are with trusted guardians and are used for good. Speaking of which, I need to contact them soon..." I said.

"Aside from that, I don't think it is a good idea for us to use the Miraculous..." Morgana said.

"Why not?" Ann asked.

"I don't have anything against the Miraculous. It's just that if we rely on the Miraculous too much, we will lose some of our more useful abilities. We can't treat them as a crutch! I suggest we use them as a last resort!" Morgana proposed.

"You know... I agree with Morgana! We can't abuse the Miraculous, no matter how easy a situation will be made with them." I said.

"... fine... it'll be a pain in the a**, but I suppose it makes sense..." Ryuji groaned.

"I agree with Ryuji... If it is for the better, I can't argue." Ann sighed.

"It's unanimous then..." Akira said.

And so, we all agreed that the Miraculous will only be used for emergencies... looking back, that was the right decision.