Chapter Text
Nijee opened the small yet dense closet door swirled with classy designs that led to his sleeping quarters. It was small, about half the size of a two-person dorm room at a large university excluding any amenities like a kitchen or the possible powder room, so it fit a small twin-sized bed and a vanity that was similar to the one Ageseine had. The vanity resembled those used backstage in theaters, which only make sense because, well, it was a theater. The cramped room most likely had props and stage setting pieces a long time ago as the closet was located near stage left of where Nijee was last interrogated by Usonoir for his failure.
He sat himself at the old director’s chair that stood in front of the vanity, the dim lights illuminating his pale, slightly sickly skin from a lack of sunlight and his magenta eyes that seemed to sparkle with a pale yellow gleam. He looked miserably back at himself, wondering… why? Why didn’t he bring back the Makoto Jewels? How? How did he lose? That runt of a fairy was so close to dying from his attack, but somehow an unfortunate turn of events led to his demise. Damn Precure, he almost died because of a couple of teen girls. The only thing that saved him from Usonoir’s wrath was the information about “Cure Answer”, the girl from the future.
He turned his head solemnly to the ticking mantle clock of a warm, burgundy wood, which had a display that showed the month and year. April of 1999. He turned back to the mirror, removing his hat to brush off the sand collected on the dust-prone fabric and into his lap. He sat his hat down on the desk of the vanity, then used an alcohol-soaked cotton ball to wipe off the diamond-shaped makeup beneath his right eye. He didn’t think it was supposed to do that, but a lot of strange things have happened since the Precure that are much livelier – and much more truthful – than Luluka showed up. A rip in space-time continuum made his mark of the Phantom Thieves' Guild disappear, surely that was it. Only Usonoir had that answer. Lies were Nijee’s expertise, like everyone in the guild, so he was set on disguising his strange disease. Nijee did not want to be “sent to the trap room” for his betrayal.
—
“Lie lie, sir.”
In hopes of redeeming himself, he hid his thieving persona beneath that of a fourteen-year-old girl with brilliant blue hair pulled into butterfly-shaped clips and bright cyan eyes. His plan was to search the city in which the Star Detective Precure resided in for either the girl from the future, “Cure Answer” or the girl from today’s time, “Cure Mystique”, and commission the star detectives to help the made-up girl find her grandmother’s lost ring. It was a mildly sunny day that was still recovering from its cloudy sickness with an intermittent light breeze, bustling with Saturday foot traffic to small shops and groceries. His stroll after approximately 20 minutes had him at a rolling suburban street where a small building was titled “CUREtto Detective Agency” by a sign that hung over the door. Seriously, could it be any more obvious?
The atmosphere around the detective agency was floral and sweet, most likely from the cosmetics shop that was connected to the building. Shallow steps trailed up to the door, surrounded by trees and other bright foliage. He walked up the stairs with a slight sense of urgency to make his acting more believable, turning the cool brass knob on the front door.
It’s showtime.
“I’m sorry, is anyone here?”
Footsteps stormed downstairs and into the foyer. It was the girl from the future, excitedly shaking “her” hand and enthusiastically introducing herself. “Good morning! My name is Akechi Anna, Star Detective!” The girl pulled a business card from her pocket that had her name, photo and occupation.
Nijee faked a sigh of relief. “Thank goodness… My name is Sato Misaki, and my grandmother’s heirloom ring has been lost, possibly stolen.”
Anna perked up, the cowlick on top of her head matching her body language. “Ah! I need to write this down!” Anna scurried around for her journal that she referred to as a “Pre-kit book”, whatever that was supposed to mean. Her attention focused back to Misaki, asking her for details after sitting her down in the commonspace. “So, please tell me more about yourself.”
Nijee knew he had to respond quickly to avoid suspicion. “I’ve been visiting Makoto Mirai Town since this Wednesday to visit the bakery that was said to have the best donuts in Japan, according to a magazine. I bought myself a donut to eat in the nearby park to watch the sakura on Thursday, but when I finished, the ring I was wearing was gone. The ring is irreplaceable, since it was my grandmother’s.”
Another girl who instead fit today’s time walked out of the kitchen with a silver platter adorned with cups and a teapot. “Good morning, a case already?”
Anna turned only her head to look at the girl. “Mikuru! Yes, Ms. Sato Misaki has lost a precious heirloom ring.”
Mikuru set the tray on the coffee table in front of Nijee. “Leave it to us, Ms. Sato. I personally have some knowledge in jewelry if that reassures you.”
Anna continued her questions. “What did the ring look like?”
Nijee focused his attention away from remembering details about the girls and back to his lies. “It was an emerald-cut sapphire set in sterling silver. The sapphire was about half a centimeter in diameter.”
Anna finished scribbling down her notes in her book and showed Mikuru the page. Mikuru held the book and perused through the hiragana and katakana characters, furrowing her brow as if something was wrong. “Anna, you write like a child. Surely you’ve been taught kanji at your school.”
Anna pouted, her cheeks slightly puffing. “I was making sure to get as much information down as possible!” She turned her attention back to Misaki. “Ms. Sato, could you follow us to the patisserie? I think that’s a good place to start.” Mikuru nodded in agreement.
“Misaki” softly smiled. “I will. You may lead the way.”
—
Mikuru continued to review Anna’s notes, trying to make sense of what the words were saying. Anna innocently hummed, carrying a pink bear-shaped purse that Nijee recognized to be the runt fairy from earlier that week. He trailed behind the miraculous duo, listening closely to what they said in order to gather as much information as possible.
“Anna, when you wrote ‘diameter’ to describe the stone, did you mean up-and-down or across the sapphire?”
Anna stopped humming to look at Mikuru. “Hm? I don’t know, that’s what I was told about the gem.”
Mikuru slyly grinned and side-eyed Anna. “Gee, do they not teach geometry in the future either? Those are called diagonals.” She giggled to make sure Anna knew it was a light joke.
Anna frowned, the wrinkles on her chin becoming visible. “Meanie! They do too!”
Mikuru was immediately distracted by the warm, pillowy smell of baked goods near where she and Anna solved their first case as star detectives. Mikuru asked, “Ms. Sato, is this the bakery you’re referring to?”
Nijee nodded, recognizing the bakery as the location where he first encountered the two of them. “Misaki” replied, “Yes, isn’t the atmosphere just lovely? I wish donuts were as good back home as they were here.”
Anna looked uncertainly to Mikuru, to which her reply was a shrug assuming that Ms. Sato was just trying to make small talk and relate to locals.
The door’s bell chimed lightly as Mikuru was overwhelmed by the sweet smells in the light air, and Anna had focused her attention on the display case full of freshly-baked eclairs lined in formation like an army of sugar waiting to be consumed, as well as traditional sweets from early Japanese culture. Mikuru couldn’t help but remark, “is this what heaven is like?”
A girl slightly older than Anna and Mikuru stepped out of the employees-only section of the bakery and greeted the two detectives. Her hair was a slightly more indigo tone than Misaki’s, and her eyes gleamed like amber stones that observed them with grace. “Detectives, good morning.” The girl looked at Misaki, not greeting her as if she knew who Misaki was. “Another case involving our bakery?”
Anna nodded with confidence. “Yes! This is Ms. Sato Misaki, and she says that she lost an heirloom ring after coming to your bakery on Thursday to eat a donut.”
The girl cocked her head. “A donut?”
Anna and Mikuru looked at each other, confused. Mikuru turned back to the girl, stating, “Yes, a donut. Do you not serve donuts here?”
She shook her head. “We have eclairs, similar in fashion, but no donuts.”
After Anna scribbled down more notes including kanji to avoid Mikuru’s jokes, the duo and Misaki left the bakery and headed towards the park. Anna and Mikuru discussed the information they had on the case.
“I’m telling you, Anna, something isn’t right. The girl that works there had never seen our client before, and Ms. Sato claims she had a donut there.”
Anna thought about it, but then the two paused on the sidewalk and faced each other, excited. They exclaimed in unison, “That’s it! I have the answer!”
Nijee stopped in his tracks, shocked that they would figure out a fake case so quickly.
Mikuru built tension by keeping her stance.
“The culprit is… you!” She pointed to Nijee.
Nijee was taken aback. “Excuse me? How could I have stolen my own family heirloom?”
Mikuru shook her head. “The ring never existed. You referred to a square-shaped emerald-cut sapphire as having a ‘diameter”, when diameter is a feature of a circle. That’s common geometry.”
Anna added her findings. “Also, the bakery you claimed to have read about in a magazine having donuts was completely false; no one working there identified you as a previous customer. Plus, if you read about it in a magazine, you would know they were eclairs!”
Mikuru continued. “Ms. Sato, why would you make up a fake case?”
Nijee stood there in silence. He wasn’t shocked by the fact the disguise to spy on the star detectives was figured out, in fact, he almost wanted his cover to be blown. “Misaki” chuckled, revealing her true identity as Nijee, the phantom thief and master of disguise. “It was me all along, baby!”
Anna was confused that Pochitan had no Makoto Jewels to lead her to when the case started. The detectives assumed the worst, using their Jewel Cure Watches to transform.
The miraculous duo shone with truth, blinding Nijee temporarily as Cure Answer declared, “I’ll show you my answer!”
Instinctively, Nijee pulled out one of the many roses he kept in his coat pocket, only to realize there was no Makoto Jewel to envelope in lies and summon a Hanninda. He shuffled for any defense in his pockets.
Cure Mystique let her stance loose seeing that Nijee was doing absolutely nothing to attack them or get away. She saw as he marinated in his huge mistake, with no plan to defeat the Precure. Cure Mystique could tell that he probably didn’t specialize in hand-to-hand combat.
Cure Answer finally said something as she also let her stance loose. “Um, aren’t you going to do something? Like, attack us or have us fight a Hanninda?”
Nijee stood still, looking moderately horrified.
Cure Mystique shared her plan to Cure Answer since Nijee still seemed to be processing what was happening. “Well, he’s pretty weak without the Hanninda… and Jett-senpai told us he’s a fairy… maybe we could hold him hostage at the agency?”
Cure Answer put her thumb and index finger to her chin. “Jett-senpai will probably be really mad,” she reasoned as she set her hands on her hips. “But that sounds like a plan!”
Nijee realized that he was about to get kidnapped by some teen girls. What an un-fabulous way to disappear. Before he knew it, they were running at him full speed, absolutely determined to make this gold-star plan work.
Nijee, having some knowledge of combat, was able to fight off the cures for a while. Cure Answer used her Pre-kit light to draw a stiff rope to tie Nijee up as Cure Mystique distracted him by jumping around him. His entire torso was restrained and he fell on his rear to the ground. The duo high-fived, knowing their plan was excellent. “So, Nijee, do you have a favorite kind of donut?” Cure Answer cleverly asked as Cure Mystique tried not to laugh too hard.
Maybe the fate of being hostage of the Precure was better than facing Usonoir after his failure of a plan.
Suddenly, a dark aura with wispy blonde hair slid silently in front of Nijee, blocking him from the Star Detective Precure. Deep sparkling eyes leered at him, a soft voice speaking to him as the ropes restricting him fell into purple-flamed ashes.
“Go.”
The last thing Nijee remembers seeing is the horrified faces of the “protagonist” Precure witnessing what seemed to be a fellow Precure defending him.
—
Nijee regained consciousness on stage where stage lights coldly shone upon him. He looked around the theater, noticing no person nor a fairy was there except Usonoir observing him through opera glasses, which was unusual since the other thieves usually witness everything from their respective seats. Nijee was sweating horribly, knowing that a fate probably worse than death awaited him.
“Sir, I can explain—”
“Silence.”
Usonoir’s voice boomed, their silhouette shifting slightly. “You are an embarrassment to the Phantom Thieves' Guild, going without a solid plan and blowing your cover.”
“But you see, I gathered information as to where the Precure reside, and their names—”
“Which is why I will keep you here.”
What?
“Sir, I don’t quite understand…”
“I will keep you as a Phantom Thief, but I will not let your actions go without consequences. You see, Ageseine and Goemon are easier to punish with their physical things, like threatening to burn Ageseine’s makeup or hide Goemon’s shoes where he’ll never find them… but you are fueled by your internal pride. That is not as easy to destroy.”
Nijee shivered at the thought of what Usonoir would do. They were mysterious, cold, Nijee didn’t have any idea if Usonoir was a man or a woman or neither, a child or an adult, human or alien, but he did know one thing.
He’s so cooked, that’s what they say in 2027, after all.