Yusuke is Madarame’s prized pupil. He knows this, and is proud of it.
It’s pride that churns in his stomach whenever he sees his work hanging in an exhibition. It’s pride that spurs him to keep working through the night to fill one of Madarame’s deadlines.
Madarame teaches him that a good artist is humble. The pride Yusuke gets from hearing his work praised-- even if it’s under the wrong name-- sustains him. If it doesn’t than he’s a failure. He’ll get himself thrown on the streets, abandoned just like the others.
“I am proud,” Yusuke tells himself every morning. He’s proud and grateful that Madarame allows him to be homeschooled. That he doesn’t go out often.
“I am proud.” he whispers to himself, wandering alone through an ethereal museum of shifting colors and guards appearing out of nowhere. Because the gazes of the paintings lining the walls eat into him, asking him what he’ll do if it isn’t.
Yusuke doesn’t know how he got here. The last thing he remembers clearly was waking up in the courtyard, the before that falling, and before that...
Amamiya.
Yusuke had considered asking him or one of his friends to model for a piece when they’d come to the atelier, but decided against it. Madarame wouldn’t have liked him having people over. Besides, they were too much like these paintings. Making Yusuke ask if his pride was enough.
“Yes it is.” Yusuke had insisted. Many great artists were humble, and that’s all Yusuke’s ever wanted. To be a great artist. He wants his art to reach people the way the Sayuri reached him, and it doesn’t need to be under his name to do that.
Why couldn’t they understand that?
Still they’d come back, and Amamiya’s dumb cat had had the nerve to dart into the atelier, and Amamiya the nerve to follow Yusuke to go retrieve it.
“You know Nakanohara is worried about you. You told him you’d leave if you could, didn’t you?”
“I fail to see how any of that is his business, or yours.”
“You have to see that this isn’t right.”
“All I see is an outsider who knows nothing and has the audacity to make baseless accusations.”
Then it’s blurry. There’s flashes of Madarame catching them, of yelling, of the Sayuri? Then Yusuke’s running, then he’s falling. Then he’s landing and pain shoots through his head.
Spots dance across Yusuke’s vision as he traverses the almost labyrinthian halls, and vaguely recognizes the sensation.
Madarame's private doctor shines a bright light in Yusuke's eyes.
“Can you tell me what happened?” he asks.
"It's my fault," Yusuke says, his default reply since as long as he can remember. He doesn't elaborate. Sensei's taught him he doesn't need to. People don't need to know what Yusuke did that caused Madarame to strike him, just that it's his fault. "I was careless."
The doctor nods."It looks like he has a minor concussion. Just avoid anymore blows to the head. Let me know if anything changes.”
Yusuke shakes the thought from his mind at the sound of footsteps. He doesn't know where he is, so he probably doesn't want to be caught by the guards.
.
..
.
Yusuke doesn’t know how long he spends wandering this place. It at once feels like an hour and an eternity.
Yusuke still hasn’t found an exit that doesn’t have guards all over it, but there are areas. Small rooms where Yusuke can stay unperturbed. He moves between them trying to find out where he is.
Yusuke isn't sure what happens. One second everything's calm, then suddenly the alarms start blaring.
“Intruder! Get him!”
Guards that weren’t there a second ago rush towards him and Yusuke tries to escape down the hall.
Unfortunately, another guard appears in his path.
Rough hands grab Yusuke by the arms. He tries to wriggle out of their grip as he's more or less dragged through the museum.
Eventually, they arrive at their destination, and Yusuke is forced onto his knees.
“Lord Madarame, we found him sneaking around the artworks.”
Madarame?
Yusuke raises his head to see his teacher but…
“Sensei? What are you wearing?”
Madarame is dressed as a shogun, wearing gaudy golden robes.
He’s also fuming. “Yusuke! What are you doing here?”
“I-I got lost.” Yusuke says, dropping his gaze to the floor.
“Do you know what you've done? I've been worried sick thinking that something had happened to you!”
“I'm sorry.”
“I was worried I’d have to make a scene by filing a report against your friend-
Yusuke’s head snaps up. “Amamiya? He didn’t do anything wrong!”
Madarame scoffs. “He was filling your head with nonsense. As if you could ever manage without me. He needs to learn what happens when you try to steal from the master artist Madarame, him and those Phantom Thieves.”
Yusuke just stares. “What does any of that mean?”
“It’s nothing you need to understand.” Suddenly Madarame gives a grin sends a shiver down Yusuke's spine. “Although, I suppose there is a way you can help me. Kill two birds with one stone. Guards!”
There's a blow to the back of Yusuke's head, and everything goes dark.
.
..
.
Yusuke's head is pounding. He slowly blinks his eyes open to see soft black curls framing handsome features.
"Oh, an angel." He murmurs.
The figure above him chuckles. "Thanks? You're nicer than I expected a treasure to be."
"'M a treasure? Heh, you're not bad yourself." Yusuke slurs out. He's slightly more aware now, and realizes that he's being carried bridal-style by whoever he's talking to.
"Wait." The person carrying him stops, giving Yusuke a chance to take in more of him and their surroundings.
Yusuke's heart drops when he realizes they're still in the museum. They seem to have arrived at a courtyard with a familiar looking blue door.
"Joker, what's wrong?" A voice ahead of them calls. Some sort of cat-thing approaches them, and Yusuke bursts out laughing.
"Oh. A talking cat! This is all just a dream after all!" None of this was real. Everything was fine.
(Nothing was remotely fine)
“Wait a second. Are you... Yusuke?” Handsome asks.
“Of of course I'm Yusuke.”
“No, that's not what I mean I-” Handsome sighs. “Let's try something else. Do you know where you are?"
Yusuke shakes his head. "A museum? I don't know how I got here, I… I remember following Amamiya and then falling and I... hit my head? That must be it.” Yusuke sighs in relief. “I tripped and hit my head and this is all a delusion."
"You must have been knocked out and we ran right past you." The cat-thing says.
"Wait." Another person approaches them, this one with twin-tails. "If this is where you’ve been the whole time, h-have you been in here for three days?" She gasps.
"I… guess?" Didn't feel like he hadn't eaten in three days. More evidence for the dream theory.
"For real?!" Someone else with a pipe says.
Yusuke winces. Did dreams hurt quite this much though? He buries his face into Handsome’s chest to try and get away from the noise. "Please don't shout. I think I have a concussion.”
“So… what do we do now?” Pipe-guy asks. “I mean, if he’s the real Kitagawa, why’d we find him in the Treasure room?”
“Madarame tricked us!” Cat-thing shouts. Yusuke winces. “He must have found real Kitagawa and left him in place of the treasure.”
“But why go through all that trouble?”
“Madarame wants him back.” Handsome says. “His shadow was hoping we’d take him to the real world and leave him at the atelier.”
Twin-tails nods. “That explains why there aren’t any guards. He’d get Kitagawa back, and we wouldn’t be able to steal the treasure. Two birds, one stone.”
“Please don’t take me back.” Yusuke whispers, surprising even himself. But it’s true, he doesn’t want to, he can’t go back. He’d run away in the first place hadn’t he? The Sayuri. The Sayuris. Madarame had been duplicating them, and Amamiya had rightfully called him a criminal. Then Madarame had threatened him, and Amamiya and his cat ran and then…
Then Yusuke had hesitated. Madarame was gripping his arm, saying that his private security team would handle Amamiya, and Yusuke would be punished and going on about how awful it was that Yusuke would do this to him. Yusuke had stood there for a good few seconds. Amamiya couldn’t have gotten that far. If Yusuke followed…
If Yusuke followed he’d end up where he was now.
A soft face with a white mask fills his field of vision. “Hey, calm down.”
Huh, Yusuke hadn’t even realized he was hyperventilating. When was he placed on the ground?
“You don’t have to go back. In fact, we’re going to make Madarame confess his crimes.” Handsome says and Yusuke tries to compose himself. Allowing himself to breakdown like this is disgraceful. He focuses on the words.
“Make him confess?”
Handsome nods. “That’s right. We’re the Phantom Thieves. That’s Mona, Panther, Skull, and I’m Joker.”
“Joker. Nice name.” Yusuke mutters.
“Thank you.” He has a nice laugh. ”You're a lot more complimentary today.”
“Hm? Have we met before?” Yusuke asks. “The only person I've met recently as attractive as you was Amamiya.”
There's a long pause as everyone in the room stares at him. Slowly, Yusuke's addled mind puts the pieces together.
“Oh.”
Amamiya laughs again. “It’s fine. Anyway, this is a Palace. It’s a manifestation of someone’s distorted vision of the world.”
“So this… this is what Sensei truly feels.” Yusuke doesn’t know what to say.
“You knew, didn’t you.”
Yusuke sighs. “I am no fool. The abuse and plagiarism were everyday affairs, and strange people have been coming by the shack for years.”
“Well, we can change that.” Mona says. “At the center of every Palace is a Treasure, the source of someone’s distorted desires. If we steal that, then Madarame will be overcome with guilt and confess his crimes on his own!”
Yusuke considers it. “Is… is there anyway I can help?”
Amamiya offers a hand and helps Yusuke up. “Right now, we need to focus on getting you to a Safe Room or the exit.”
The others nod, but Yusuke frowns. “But…”
“You can help us by staying safe,” Amamiya insists, “I was really worried when I’d heard you’d run away, it’d be a weight off my chest to know you’re safe.”
Before Yusuke can respond, laughter rings out from the other end of the courtyard.
“Such a shame.” Madarame calls. “I was going to be merciful. All you had to do was return Yusuke and you would have been allowed to leave here alive.”
“There you are.” Skrull growls. “How ‘bout you take us to your Treasure and we won’t give you as much of an ass-whooping?”
Yusuke is only half paying attention to the exchange. His attention is drawn to the person with Madarame, surrounded by guards.
“Is that your treasure?” Yusuke asks.
Madarame grins. “Now you see why I need you returned to your proper place.”
Yusuke can’t help the chuckle rises from the pit of his stomach.
It’s him.
Standing oh so obediently behind Madarame is Yusuke’s splitting image, save for the clothing. The treasure is wearing robes that more closely match Madarame’s.
Yusuke’s head is pounding.
“I took you in after your mother died so you wouldn’t find out the truth of the Sayuri. The art skills you inherited from her were a delightful miscalculation. You gave me the idea to take on pupils. It’s much easier to steal from brats who can’t fight back than adults. I owe all of this” he gestures to the whole museum, “to you, Yusuke.”
“It’s always my fault.” Yusuke mutters. Every pupil adorning the halls of this twisted place, Natsuhiko, who even after everything still wanted to help him, the body. All of it was because of him.
“No, it’s not.” Amamiya - no, Ren- says. “Don’t let this bastard off the hook, you didn’t ask for any of this.”
“We’ll take care of this,” Ann says, “then the person who’s really responsible will admit it.”
Yusuke watches them step forward and prepare to fight.
His head is pounding. Not like before though, now it feels like someone is taking an pickaxe to his skull.
Have you finally come to your senses?
He can’t let them fight this battle for him. He’s staring down the true form of his teacher, a corrupt despicable man, and despite what the others said, it is sort of Yusuke’s fault isn’t it? He lied to himself in the mirror every morning to get by to please this man, and stood by as he stole the futures of the others for what? To avoid the same fate? Because Yusuke owed him? But if Madarame really thought of Yusuke as his Treasure, then he must need Yusuke a lot more than he realized.
So no, Yusuke isn’t letting them fight Madarame without him.
This world is filled with both beauty and vice, it’s time you showed people which is which!
.
..
.
“So what about him?” Ryuji asks, nodding at the Treasure.
Yusuke stares at his double. “He’s not really one for fighting back,” he says finally, “he won’t do anything.” Yusuke grabs the treasure’s hand and leads him back towards the others. “What now?”
The museum starts shaking violently. Mona transforms into a bus and shouts. “Shove him in the trunk and let’s go!”
Once they return to the real world, Yusuke fined an old sheet of paper. “This was the first piece I ever made. I was 3.” Yusuke hadn’t thought about this in over a decade, just barely remembered making it. It’s decent, he supposes, but to think so much suffering had been caused by something so… amatuer.
Yusuke frowns. Now that the adrenaline of awakening and doing battle is gone, his entire body feels heavy.
“Is it normal to…”
His vision starts to tunnel.
“Ah shit, someone catch him!”
.
..
.
Ren’s doctor friend shines a bright light in Yusuke’s eyes.
“Care to tell me what happened?” She asks.
Yusuke doesn’t know how to respond. After a minute she shrugs. “Well, he’s got a concussion, and is showing signs of exhaustion and light anemia. He needs food and rest.”
“I can handle that.” Ren says.
The doctor leaves, and it’s just Yusuke, Ren, and Mona in Ren’s attic room.
“So, what now?” Yusuke asks.
“What do you want to do? I was serious when I said you don’t have to go back.”
