Chapter 30: Our next target is what?!

(Marinette's pov)

June 14th, Tuesday, on the roof of Shuji Academy, after school. Akira, Ryuji, Ann, and I stood together, facing Makoto, Morgana in Akira's bag.

"I was thinking you might not show..." Makoto mused.

"So, whose heart do you want us to change?" Ann asked, cutting to the chase.

"A Mafia boss..." Makoto answered. My friends and I did a double-take.

"I'm sorry, what?" I asked.

"I want you-" Makoto started, but Ryuji cut her off.

"We heard you, but why?" Ryuji asked.

"A group calls themselves a Mafia. They seem to be the cause of the recent rise in phishing scams. What's worse, once you're in their sights, they won't stop threatening you until they get what they want. They'll force you to take part in their scams, threaten your family, and ultimately destroy your life." Makoto explained.

"Holy s***..." Ryuji breathed.

"How cruel..." I said, putting my hand up to my mouth.

"It appears that their victims include some of our students," Makoto added.

"No!" Ann gasped. I was starting to get angry.

"They primarily target juveniles." Makoto finished.

"Alright, Makoto-senpai. Can you give us the name of the boss?" I asked, praying that my rage did not show.

"Nobody knows. The victims are being threatened not to testify, so even the police can't get a grasp of the situation." Makoto answered.

"That's where you want us to start?!" Ann asked angrily.

"You should be able to pull it off... if you're really the righteous Phantom Thieves. Or is Akechi-kun correct when he says you act without justice?" Makoto asked. This is getting on my nerves.

"Can't you say something witty back to her?" Morgana asked Akira quietly from his bag.

"Something witty," Akira said without missing a beat. Why do I like this guy?

"I knew you were going to say that..." Morgana sighed. I decided to intervene.

"Makoto-senpai, we can't get much from "Mafia boss that targets kids," We need a name and other information. We don't want to target the wrong person." I explained.

"Their main hub of activity is in Shibuya. That's all the information I have." Makoto said.

"You have two weeks. Once that has passed, I'll submit all the evidence I have to the police and the school. I hope you don't let me down..." Makoto told us before leaving. I let out a sigh. What are we going to do?

(Timeskip! Brought to you by Morgana's Tuna!)

The next few days were full of information gathering. We questioned students, people on the street and surfed the internet. Then... on June 19th... we found something... We got a name! Junya Kaneshiro! I don't know how, but Akira managed to get his name! I don't know where he got it, but something tells me I don't want to know...

So, there we were. Standing around in Shibuya, waiting for Ryuji. When he arrived, he looked mad.

"I can't believe you guys ditched me yesterday! I almost entered a world I want nothing to do with!" Ryuji yelled at Akira and Morgana.

"Huh? What happened? Are you okay, Ryuji-kun?" I asked, walking up to Ryuji.

"These guys- never mind! Yusuke, open the app!" Ryuji said. Yusuke pulled out his phone.

"Okay, I entered Kaneshiro's name into the nav.- and just as expected, it's a hit," Yusuke said, looking at his phone.

"Now for the other keywords... any ideas?" I asked.

"The only information we have is that he has control of Shibuya..." Morgana said.

"A place he has total control over... a garden?" Ryuji suggested. The Nav didn't react.

"He likes money... maybe a money bath? I've seen people on the internet with things like that!" Ann said. No reaction...

"No... not even close..." Yusuke said, looking at his phone.

"Any ideas, you two?" Morgana asked Akira and me.

Let's see... He likes money... he has total control over the city... the man doesn't care who gets hurt as long as he gets his money... maybe...

"A bank?" Akira and I said at the same time.

"Well, aren't you two in sync?" Yusuke asked. The Nav then reacted.

"Oh! We got a hit!" I said, trying to ignore what just happened.

We then tried to think of a location. After a few minutes of discussion, Ryuji got frustrated.

"Where in all of Shibuya is this guy's Palace?!" Ryuji raged. The Nav reacted to his words.

"Huh? Did the Nav-?" I started.

"Yes... it did!" Yusuke said.

"Did I do something?" Ryuji asked, looking confused.

"That you did!" I told him.

"Indeed, The place Kaneshiro thinks of as his bank is... All of Shibuya..." Yusuke said.

"... lovely..." I muttered.

"Will it be okay if we just disappear in a big crowd like this?" Ann asked, looking around nervously.

"Nobody will notice if a piece of trash goes missing in a trash can. It'll be fine." Ryuji reassured her.

"In that case... let's go," Yusuke said, pushing a button on his phone. I felt the familiar sensation of being transported to the Metaverse all around me. As soon as the feeling left, I looked around and... what?

"What am I looking at?" I asked, pointing in the direction of my line of sight. My friends turned to look where I was looking and also looked shocked.

"Walking A.T.Ms... that must be his cognition of people... so this is what Kaneshiro considers his bank..." Fox said, looking at the stream of A.T.Ms with arms and legs walking by.

"I'm gonna be sick..." I said, holding my stomach. I felt someone pat my back soothingly. I looked up to find Joker patting my back.

"Better?" He asked.

"Yeah... thanks..." I said, looking away and trying not to blush.

"I never thought it would be the entire district," Mona said, stepping closer to the walking machines. He then turned to us.

"Look around us... this distortion is affecting all of Shibuya." Mona said with a serious face.

After some talking, we decided to explore. I was very unnerved by the surroundings. The city was covered in a green tint, and A.T.M machines with human limbs are creepy. It sickened me to the core, knowing that this man saw other human beings as objects to get money from. We talked to ones who looked broken, and they weren't much help. They just cowered and mumbled... looking so sad... one just downright keeled over when we talked to it. It did tell us that it had "fallen" somehow.

After that, we stopped and talked for a little trying to decide what to do next. We were discussing what the A.T.M human meant when Panther and Skull saw something in the sky. We all looked up, and... why am I not surprised? A giant floating U.F.O-looking thing was flying above the city, sucking up the money floating in the air.

"Is that it?" Skull asked.

"Up in the air... no wonder we couldn't find it..." Fox said.

"It... kind of looks like a Roomba..." I said. Panther snickered at my comment.

"Yeah~ it kind of does!" She said.

"Take this seriously, you two!" Mona scolded.

"Ahem... sorry. How will we get up there? Mona, can you turn into a helicopter or something?" I asked.

"Nope... I can only transform into a car..." Mona said sadly.

"Agh!! Come on! You're useless! Can't you just pull out a gadget or something?" Skull said.

"Calm down, Skull... Maybe we can use the Miraculous to help..." I suggested.

"Maybe... but we need to pull back..." Joker said.

"Yeah... let's go back..." Mona agreed. We all nodded. Another palace to raid... oh, what fun~