The Phantom Thief Request Board was a niche anonymous website that had quietly blown up in certain corners of the internet. It had been up and running for over two years.
The site chronicled various urban legend cases over the years, weaving a mythos around a mysterious phantom thief who roamed society's underbelly righting wrongs.
But this thief didn't steal money or valuables.
He stole hearts—causing wrongdoers to turn themselves in or make amends with their victims of their own volition.
From hit-and-run incidents to violent home invasions, from school bullying to embezzlement by high-ranking officials, the thief's shadow was said to lurk behind many unsolved injustices.
To most, it was an outrageous urban legend—nothing more than a fun story.
After all, none of these real-life cases could ever be officially connected to some caped crusader figure straight out of a comic book.
And yet, as the site grew in popularity, more and more users began leaving comments like "I think the Phantom Thief helped me once," or "I don't know if it was really him, but I was definitely saved."
Which only made the legend harder to ignore.
Even the person running the site appeared to be a skilled hacker.
In two years, it had become explosively popular among students and younger internet users—but had never once gone down under the barrage of cyberattacks it attracted.
That alone made it legendary.
"..."
Asakura Rinto quietly munched on his bacon, deliberately avoiding Kasumi's expectant gaze.
But she wasn't ready to give up just yet.
"Rinto-nii, maybe you could—just this once—go help…"
"I'm retired," Rinto replied evenly.
"And if I answered every message, I'd never sleep. A phantom thief isn't some kind of divine being people can pray to and get a miracle every time."
"I guess that's true…"
Kasumi pouted, clearly dissatisfied with his answer.
The Yoshizawa sisters already knew about his identity as a phantom thief.
Back when he saved them, he'd used his ability—and brought them along to witness a heart-stealing firsthand.
They'd seen exactly how he accessed people's inner worlds. There was no hiding it.
Sure, part of their admiration came from him saving their lives.
But some of it was probably also the awe of encountering something otherworldly—something that shattered the boundaries of their everyday reality.
Rinto only hoped that, with time, they'd adapt… and let that excitement fade.
…Still, there was something off about that request site.
He snuck a glance at Kasumi's phone.
He definitely hadn't made the site himself—most likely some overenthusiastic fan had taken the initiative.
But the weird thing was… he couldn't remember ever revealing his identity to anyone.
The cases listed on the site really were ones he'd solved using his heart-stealing ability. But somehow, none of his personal details had been exposed.
The anonymity was oddly airtight.
He couldn't tell whether the person running it actually knew who he was, or just had good OPSEC instincts.
Back before he retired, he'd occasionally browsed the forum for leads. There'd been a few times where his actions loosely aligned with posts from the site.
But now that he'd stepped away from that life, he had no reason to keep checking.
That this modern myth had lasted two years was already impressive enough. It'd fizzle out eventually, like all urban legends do.
At least, that's what Rinto thought—but the twin sisters sitting beside him clearly didn't agree.
"..."
On his other side, Sumire glanced between her sister and Rinto, catching the pleading look in Kasumi's eyes.
She clapped her hands together and chimed in, cheerful as ever:
"A coach harassing a student—that's really serious stuff! We're lucky our coach is a gorgeous woman, so we don't have to worry about that… But if we'd been assigned a male coach, maybe we wouldn't have gone into gymnastics at all~!"
"Exactly~!" Kasumi joined in eagerly.
"That's fate's cruel misdirection, huh? Reading a cry for help like this… I can really relate. If that ever happened to me… I think I'd literally want to die… Ah—ouch~! (.>_<.)"
She let out a squeal as Rinto rapped her lightly on the head, making her clutch it with exaggerated dramatics.
"That's not called misdirection, you mean a narrow escape. And Kasumi, even if you got into school as a sports scholarship student, you can't just ignore your academic subjects. How many classes did you fail again during your entrance exams?"
"Huh? There are different types of failing?" Kasumi blinked her big, knowledge-untouched eyes, looking genuinely confused.
Rinto and Sumire both sighed and facepalmed.
There's no helping this idiot…
Despite how identical they looked on the outside, it only took a short conversation to realize how different the twins were on the inside.
At the very least, unlike her wildly unbalanced sister, Sumire managed to maintain solid grades while also excelling in gymnastics—a true all-around honors student.
Too bad Rinto's attempt to derail the conversation didn't work.
Instead of digging further into Kasumi's grades, both girls simply stared at him with their big, shining, ruby-red eyes.
The pressure was immense. Rinto suddenly felt like he was the one who'd done something wrong.
"…We're not trying to force you or anything, Rinto-nii."
Kasumi finally relented, placing her delicate hand on Rinto's thigh.
The gesture was ambiguous enough to make any man's heart skip, and in Rinto's case, it wasn't a misunderstanding.
She leaned lightly against his shoulder, voice soft and content:
"To me and Sumire, you'll always be a hero. We don't know why you chose to retire, but whenever you're ready to tell us, we'll be here to listen."
Sumire nodded firmly and gripped his arm, her voice more forceful than her sister's—as if she wanted to show him her soul from the inside out:
"If you hadn't saved me, Rinto-senpai… I wouldn't be here now. Whatever you decide to do, my sister and I will always support you! …And if possible, we'd like to be your home."
Kasumi: "Aww~ Sumire's blushing! You're turning as red as a tomato! ('＞＜)☆"
The mischievous older sister immediately switched to teasing mode, prompting a flustered Sumire to chase her around the bar counter.
The house filled with laughter, warm and lively in the morning light.
Rinto smiled.
He really was happy like this.
"…But even if I went back to being the Phantom Thief—would that really change the world for the better?"
He stared at his phone, where the request board continued to flood with new posts from people clinging to the myth.
Mixing those chaotic thoughts into the fried egg on his plate, he took a bite.
The soft yolk broke on his tongue—flavored with the affection of the two girls beside him.