Chapter Text
It's Lupin’s birthday, so the gang decides to take him to a magic show. It’s not his kind of thing. He’d rather be at a bar somewhere getting drunk, but getting drunk during a magic show is good too--at least he’s not paying.
“Why’d you guys take me here, anyway?” Lupin takes a sip of his whiskey.
“Just wanted to do something different, I guess.” Fujiko replies, engrossed by the magician in front of them.
“Every time we celebrate each other’s birthdays, all we do is get drunk at a bar then go to another bar and do the exact same thing.” Goemon says, also fascinated by the magician.
“As long as we have alcohol, I’m okay with this.” Jigen’s about to take out a cigarette but sees a 'no smoking' sign and begrudgingly puts the cigarette pack back in his jacket pocket.
“I’m with you, Jigen.” Lupin finishes his glass of whiskey and orders another glass. “Besides, magic is a bunch of phooey. We do illusions like those all the time during our heists.”
“Now I, Zontag the Great, will perform my last trick: a hypnosis trick. But please, I’ll need a volunteer.” Zontag the magician looks at the crowd for volunteers. “How about you, sir? The one with the blue jacket and red tie.”
Lupin looks at the crowd. He’s the only one wearing a blue jacket and red tie.
“No, thanks. I’ll pass.” He said to the magician.
“Aw, come on, Lupin. Be a sport and just do it.” Fujiko starts nudging Lupin.
“Yeah, Lupin! Go for it!” Jigen slams the bottle of beer to the table and starts to nudge Lupin as well.
“Not you too, Jigen.” He can’t believe his friends are turning on him like this.
“It would be amusing to see you take part in this magic trick.” Goemon smiles at him
“Et tu, Goemon?” Lupin says sadly. “Fine. I’ll do it.”
Lupin climbs on stage much to the excitement of his friends. They even start yelling and cheering for him.
“I shall hypnotize you with this,” Zontag takes out a jade diamond on a metal chain and holds it in front of Lupin. The thief is captivated by the diamond. It looks like a real gem and not some shoddy rip-off diamond one would find elsewhere. He quickly starts planning a heist in his head for that jade diamond. “Now, I’m sorry, what’s your name?”
Lupin breaks out of his trance. “Oh. Um...Arsene.”
“Now, Arsene. Look at this diamond and just let your mind relax.” The magician starts swinging the diamond of Lupin and his eyes start to follow it around, surprisingly lulling him to a hypnotic state. “Listen to my voice and only my voice. When I say ‘Constantinople’, you will do as I say. Do you understand?”
Lupin nods.
“Constantinople.”
Lupin is completely in a trance. The gang is pleasantly surprised that Lupin is being a good sport and is playing along.
“Arsene, you look like a monkey, go act like one.” Zontag tells Lupin. Lupin follows what he’s told much to the amusement of everyone in the gang, especially Fujiko, who decides to record this in case she needs it for blackmailing purposes later on.
“That’s enough monkey business, Arsene.”
Lupin stops acting like a monkey and stands still again.
“Arsene, get your drink and throw it in on the ground.”
“What an odd request.” Goemon says.
Jigen walks up to the stage and hands Lupin his glass of whiskey. He doesn’t even hesitate for one bit and throws the entire glass on the ground.
“Excellent! Now, Arsene, at the count of three, you will wake up from this trance and you will forget everything that happened while you were in this state. One...two...three.”
And just like that, Lupin is out of his trances, his face clearly confused at what just happened. He walks down from the stage and towards his table. Zontag takes a bow while the crowd applauds him.
“That was some sportsmanship you showed there, Lupin.” Goemon pats his friend at the back.
“Yeah…” Lupin is still quite dazed from the hypnotism. He reaches for his glass but it’s not on the table. “Where’d my drink go?!”
“You threw it on stage.” Fujiko said, pointing at the broken glass on the stage. “You don’t remember?”
Lupin shakes his head.
“You don’t have to play with us anymore, man. You’re a great actor and a good sport.” Jigen takes the last sip of his beer and stands up. “Now come on, let’s get out of here.”
The others follow Jigen while Lupin is trailing behind them, still very confused over the magic trick. He doesn’t believe in hypnosis, so it shouldn’t have worked on him and yet, it did. He thinks this over on their way back to the hideout. Is magic real or is the trick more science based? Did the jade diamond have anything to do with it or is it just for show? These questions keep on circling around his head, never seeming to leave his thoughts.
The gang finally make it back to their hideout and Lupin enters first and walks straight for his room.
“I’m tired. I’m going to bed early.”
“Already? But it’s only 11pm.” Jigen says looking at the time.
“I said I’m tired. Goodnight.” Lupin slams the door and lies on his bed. The thoughts of suddenly being hypnotized pop in his head again. He tries to drown the thoughts out with memories of past adventures, but no matter how hard he tries to drown the intruding thoughts out, they seem to come back. He eventually gets tired from all the thinking and falls asleep.
At around 3am, Lupin’s cell phone rings. He drowsily answers his phone, but before he could even get a word in, a strange but familiar voice speaks at the other end.
“Constantinople.”
The thief snaps back into the hypnotic state he was at a few hours ago.
“I want you to break into Marie Corleone’s mansion and steal me her finest jewels…”
After a few minutes on the phone with Zontag, Lupin does what he’s ordered. He gets dressed and drives to the Corleone mansion for an impromptu heist without telling anybody. And then Lupin’s mind just... blacks out.