Hikaru sat up, rubbing his back. The phantom pain from Budi's strike was still fresh, but the real damage?
His pride.
He flicked the Joker card between his fingers, reading the note again.
Nice try.
He smirked. "Cocky bastard."
The fact that Budi had left this behind meant only one thing.
He wants me to chase him.
Hikaru exhaled through his nose. He had been outplayed. That much was clear.
But what made this interesting wasn't the fact that Budi had won.
It was the way he had won.
The mask switch.
Hikaru had fought illusionists before. He had fooled adventurers, manipulated perceptions, tricked people into seeing things that weren't real.
But Budi's ability wasn't just an illusion.
It was something else entirely.
One second he had been there. The next, gone.
Not hidden. Not invisible.
Just… removed.
Like a card flicked from the deck of reality.
Hikaru pushed up his glasses.
"Alright," he muttered, pocketing the card. "I'll bite."
Back at the Adventurer's Guild, the atmosphere had shifted.
The bounty board now had an updated notice for the Phantom Thief, and word had spread fast.
"That masked guy's still on the loose?"
"I heard he stole from the royal treasury."
"Nah, that's just a rumor. No way he's that crazy."
Hikaru sat at his usual table, idly shuffling his deck. He wasn't interested in the guild's version of the truth.
He was interested in what wasn't being said.
So far, Budi had only targeted people who deserved it. He wasn't stealing from random merchants. He was hitting corrupt nobles, underground dealers, and questionable figures.
It was too precise to be just chaos.
He's gathering something.
But what?
Hikaru flipped a card over. The Ace of Spades.
That settled it.
He needed to find Budi.
Not as an enemy.
As a player in the same game.
Step one? Get his attention.
And the best way to do that?
Make a move he can't ignore.
Hikaru glanced at the bounty board, smirking.
If the Phantom Thief was a problem for the guild, then what would happen if Hikaru actively worked against them?
Time for a little theatrical misdirection.
That night, Hikaru made his move.
The guild had put together a "hunting party" to capture the Phantom Thief. A group of adventurers—mostly overconfident mid-rankers who thought they'd get rich if they caught him first.
They planned to set up a fake treasure deal—something to lure Budi out.
And Hikaru?
He let himself get recruited.
It was almost too easy.
They set up in a quiet warehouse near the docks, laying out a fake shipment of enchanted weapons—something valuable enough to make a thief bite.
Hikaru sat with the group, acting like just another hired hand.
The leader, a burly warrior named Garrick, smirked. "Stick close, Bronze-rank. If you're lucky, you might see what real adventurers do."
Hikaru smiled back. "Oh, I'm counting on it."
They waited.
An hour passed.
Then another.
Then—
A whisper of movement.
A shadow flitted past the high windows.
Hikaru resisted the urge to grin. There you are.
Garrick stiffened. "Positions."
The adventurers braced themselves, weapons ready.
Then—
The lights went out.
Darkness swallowed the warehouse in an instant.
Someone cursed. "Damn it! He's here!"
Metal scraped as swords were drawn. A lantern was relit—just in time for everyone to see the bait pile was already empty.
Garrick roared. "Find him!"
Chaos erupted.
Hikaru, still perfectly calm, slipped away from the group.
He wasn't here to help them.
He was here to talk.
And he already knew where Budi was.
He found him on the rooftop.
Budi was sitting on the edge, casually tossing one of the stolen daggers in the air. The moonlight gleamed off his mask—the same oni design as before.
Hikaru leaned against the railing. "You know, they're gonna be really pissed when they figure out you were never actually in the warehouse."
Budi caught the dagger without looking at him. "They're adventurers. They'll be fine."
Hikaru smirked. "Could've just met me normally, you know."
Budi finally turned his head. "Where's the fun in that?"
Hikaru exhaled, folding his arms. "Alright, I'll bite. What the hell are you doing, Budi?"
Budi twirled the dagger once. "Gathering pieces."
Hikaru frowned. "Pieces?"
Budi flipped the dagger over, staring at its blade. "You ever wonder why we were summoned?"
Hikaru raised an eyebrow. "Sure. Kingdom needed heroes, world's in danger, blah blah."
Budi didn't smile.
Instead, he reached into his cloak and tossed something at Hikaru.
Hikaru caught it.
It was a page. Old, yellowed, written in a script he didn't recognize.
And in the middle—
An illustration of a mask.
Almost identical to the ones Budi used.
Hikaru felt a chill creep up his spine.
"…What is this?"
Budi exhaled. "That's what I'm trying to figure out."
Hikaru's grip on the page tightened.
There was more going on here.
More than just summoned heroes and corrupt kingdoms.
Something bigger. Older.
He flipped the page over.
At the bottom, a single phrase had been scrawled in the common language.
Beware the Forgotten Ones.
Hikaru met Budi's gaze.
Budi smiled.
"Still think this is just a game?"
Hikaru exhaled.
"…I guess I just lost the first round."
Budi stood up, flipping the dagger once more. "Don't worry."
His grin widened.
"The game's only just begun."