Now, I know I just recently started a few other fics, but this is one I've wanted to do for some time. It was only that I hadn't played Persona 5 yet to be able to write it. I see that there are fics crossed over with Detective Conan with the Persona series just not P5 even though there's quite a bit of fanart of the two together. I thought it'd be fun to write something, but since I haven't finished the game yet - I'm currently on Niijima's Palace on November 7th, waiting to send the calling card. So, therefore I'm only setting this after Medjed was caught, so before Haru joins and so on.

This is just something I wanted to write for fun. It wasn't going to be a continuation of the game with chapters and all, but if people want it to continue because it's 'interesting' then I'll think about it. As I said this is just something I wanted to do and it wasn't meant to continue the game. Also the title of this fanfic is based off of what I called my Phantom Thieves in my own playthrough.

Also, sorry, if Kaito is OOC, but it's for story relevance and if people want this to continue (which I bet they will) then its kind of been revealed why already, but the who will be later. I also apologise if it's rushed. I tried to fix as much of it up and add as much as I could, but it's the best I could do at the moment.

Hope you enjoy.

'Speech' - (Thoughts)

"Speech" - (Nearby Conversations)

[Speech] - (Text Messages)

"Speech" - (Normal Speaking)

"Speech" - (Persona and Shadows Speaking)

Phantom💎Mask

Chapter 1: Shujin's Newest Convict

"Did you hear? Kaitou KID finally got caught!?"

"No! Not KID! His heists are the only thing I can look forward to!"

"How'd the Police catch the guy? He's quite the slippery one and doesn't he hand everything back? He's no real threat..."

"I heard they got a tip-off from someone."

"A tip-off? I wonder if KID's identity will be revealed..."

September 2nd - Early Morning - Shujin Academy Front Gates

It was the beginning of September and everyone was talking about the recent news of how the Phantom Thieves took down the hacktivist group; Medjed. It was all over the news and the Internet. A teenager with frizzy black hair and glasses, wearing the Shujin Academy summer uniform made his way to the school gates from the train station.

A slow, annoyed sigh made him look up and slow his pace to a stop to see two girls near the vending machines by the main gates. "Did you see the news? It's terrible..."

"What? About Medjed? How's that bad?" The other girl questioned, sounding confused.

"No. I'm talking about the other big news!" The girl stomped her foot in annoyance before looking down at the ground. "They caught him ... Kaitou KID..."

The other girl seemed taken aback by this news and stared at her friend in shock. "W...What? S...Seriously?!"

"Yea, I watched all the news specials about it that had Nakamori-Keibu in them. He said that KID's identity won't be revealed because he's still a minor and it wouldn't be fair to him. They basically placed him around here on probation since theft isn't that high of a crime as larceny and whatnot," the other girl explained.

"So, then he's here like the other transfer is only for theft and not assault." The girl was beginning to get giddy. "I can't wait to meet KID in person!"

"Whoa! So someone else has been sent here on probation?" A black cat came out of the teen's bag and leant on his shoulder. "Who is this Kaitou KID anyway?"

"A Phantom Thief that uses illusions and trickery to steal his targets which are usually priceless gems," the teen explained to the cat.

"Ooh! He sounds like someone we could definitely have on our team!" The cat exclaimed in excitement as he went back into the bag; allowing the teen to continue on his trek towards the school gates.

September 2nd - Morning - Shujin Academy 2-D Classroom

"Class is noisy today, huh, Akira?" The black-haired teen turned to look at the pig-tailed blond in front of him with piercing aqua-blue eyes. "Everyone's talking about what happened to Kaitou KID."

"He is a famous jewel thief after all. He's never been caught and then suddenly he is. I guess hearing that he's a minor and supposedly coming here for probation has lots of people excited," he replied with a simple shrug.

She gave him a smile and a nod of her head. "I guess if people knew we were the Phantom Thieves they'd react the same way, huh?"

Akira simply gave a nod as the teacher entered the classroom with an annoyed look on her face. She had messy brown hair and eyes and wore a simple bright patterned sweater. "Alright, I believe you have all heard the news by now. However that doesn't mean you should give the student any grief for any crimes he did in the past."

"Why would we? He's Kaitou KID after all!"

"He's as good as the Phantom Thieves!"

"Alright, quiet down!" the teacher exclaimed, before turning to the doorway to the classroom and sighing. "You can come in now."

The class quietened down as the student came in; he had messy brown hair and piercing blue eyes that shone like sapphires. He wore the Shujin summer uniform like everyone else only it was unbuttoned and he had a light blue shirt underneath. His hands were currently occupying his pockets as he fidgeted; eyes searching the room for any possible escape routes.

"Hi there, my name is Kaito Kuroba. I hope we get along..." His eyes finally shifted to the floor; he was used to the attention, but when it leaked out that people could figure him out just from small bits of information it worried him.

"Kuroba-kun, go sit behind Kurusu-kun." The teacher looked towards the black haired teen and before she could ask him to raise his hand; Kaito caught on to where she was looking and followed her gaze. She blinked as he walked down the row and sat behind the teen, rather quietly.

"Are we sure this guy is KID? He seems rather distant..."

"I'm sure he's planning something amazing! He's KID after all!"

Kaito turned his head to look out the window, closing his eyes and trying to drown out the voices of the students and his new teacher. The teen sitting in front of him turned his head to look at the 'so-called' Phantom Thief with a frown on his face.

'There's something more to how he ended up here ... I know it...'

September 2nd - After School - Shujin Academy 2-D Classroom

As classes ended for the day, Kaito was still staring out the window; almost looking listless. Akira was standing near the entrance to the classroom with the blond along with another short haired blond with brown eyes and a red shirt instead of the uniform one. They were accompanied by a messy dark-blue haired boy with brown eyes wearing the same uniform as them.

"Do you think he's alright? He's been doing that all day..." the girl questioned, worry tinting her voice.

"Maybe we should go and ask him!" The other blond exclaimed in a loud voice; causing many students remaining in the classroom to stare at him.

Akira's gaze was on the other teen at the other side of the room, obvious concern on his face. "He looks troubled."

"No shit!" exclaimed the blond boy.

A glare was pointed at him from the girl, "Ryuji, we're at school!"

"As if it matters, Ann!" He protested, sounding annoyed and tired.

"I think what Kurusu meant was that maybe he's troubled by what's happened to him. I mean I heard that the reason he was caught is because someone leaked his information to the police," the blue-haired boy explained.

Akira nodded as if to affirm this. "That's what I was thinking, Mishima." He looked back over to Kaito; a hand going to his chin as if in thought. "Maybe it was someone he trusted deeply and he's having a hard time processing it all."

"That's very plausible. After all, Phantom Thieves usually work alone, so if KID did then he'd hope the person he trusted with his identity wouldn't hand him over to the police," the cat spoke up from his placement in Akira's bag.

'Morgana has a point. If that happened it would take him time to trust people again, especially after how he refused to talk to anyone today.'

"We should try talking to him." Akira turned to face Ann; who had spoken while he gave a slight blink of his eyes. "Everyone that's tried to talk to him has been fangirls who just wanted him to put his 'KID' persona on. He's not an actor, but a human being and he's currently going through some sort of mental issues that no one else is bothering to notice."

"Yea, because he's just been through shit and people just want attention from him; not caring at all that he could be hurting," Ryuji tsked in irritation.

The four nodded at each other and decided to head over to the teen, noticing how he was finally coming out of his stupor and picking his bag up. He looked up, noticing the four before standing from his desk with a sigh. "What? If you're going to ask me to put my 'KID' persona on; I'm not." He shook his head before looking away. "Never mind ... I need to go..."

"Kuroba-san, we're not here to ask about KID," Ann began trying to coax him to talk to them. He stopped himself from leaving and frowned at them in suspicion.

"Then what do you want?" He asked, sounding annoyed yet also distrustful.

"You were caught because someone you had trusted leaked your identity to the police didn't they?" Mishima asked, his brows knitted together in concern.

This question caused Kaito to remain silent, turning his head away from the other teens in shame.

A thought crossed Akira's mind and he decided to voice it, "The way you're acting ... it must've been someone close..."

Kaito's hands clenched by his sides yet he made no move to do anything.

He just took in breath after breath.

It looked as though he was trying to keep himself calm and it looked like it was working, but the four standing behind the magician could see his trembling stance.

He was having trouble controlling his emotions...

"Poker-face ... remember Poker-face..." He kept muttering to himself.

This confused the other teens as they all looked at each other. Mishima took out his cell phone; looking something up as Kaito turned his head to look at the four. Akira could see the distrust yet the yearning for that which his trust had been broken by, "It may take time, but you can trust us. We have more in common than you'd think."

Kaito seemed apprehensive about listening to Akira; his eyes going for the open window beside his desk which Akira noticed, but kept his cool. "Yea, if anyone understands you it'd be Akira. He's on probation too..."

This caused Kaito to turn his head in surprise back to the black-haired teen in glasses. The pig-tailed girl frowned at Ryuji, slapping him on the arm. "Ryuji! That's not your business to tell!"

Akira rubbed behind his head, shaking it with a hint of shame. "Does it really matter? The whole school knows anyway."

"Thanks to that bastard Kamoshida for blabbing!" Ryuji growled out.

The teenage magician blinked at the teenager in glasses standing before him. "You're on probation too?"

He nodded, however it seemed he didn't like talking about the subject. "We can discuss it more at Leblanc if you'd like?"

"There's a place called Leblanc here? Seriously!" Kaito exclaimed, sounding excited, but calmed down almost in an instant. "I mean ... that's cool..."

The four smiled at each other; realising that mentioning the cafe had peaked Kaito's sudden interest and made him look genuinely happy for a moment just because of the name.

'Let's hope that we can help him...'

September 2nd - After School - Yongen-jaya - Leblanc

The four left Yongen-jaya Station and headed towards the cafe; Leblanc. They had said their goodbyes to Mishima once they got to Shibuya. The three Phantom Thieves had noticed how Kaito was eyeing his surroundings with unease as if expecting someone to pop out at them.

He seemed tense.

On edge, even.

"Do you think that he's been out in just as much danger as we have in the Metaverse?" Morgana spoke up, causing the three to look at the cat. "If he does the same thing we do by sending calling cards then stealing his target ... it'd be normal for him to be uneasy about his surroundings, especially after he was caught."

"Yea, who knows if some moron at school will leak his identity online just for attention not knowing the consequences...?" Ryuji stated, looking back at the other teen in worry.

"If that's the case ... then we have to help him. He's a fellow Phantom Thief after all," Ann spoke up, yet also trying to keep her voice down so only the three beside her could hear.

Akira gave an affirmative nod as his agreement with their statements. 'He's just as much as a victim as we are in this society. We don't know his goals for stealing jewels, but we could still learn them from talking to him.'

The four finally reached the small cafe and Kaito marvelled at the name before following the others inside. He frowned at how empty the interior was; there was nobody in the cafe except for a man behind the counter and someone sitting on one of the stools that Kaito thought he recognised with his short, neat dark brown hair and blue uniform.

"Oh, you're back," the man said before blinking at seeing him. "Oh, you're the boy I heard about from Nakamori-Keibu. So, you'll be staying here with Akira up in the attic, alright?"

Akira, Ryuji and Ann looked at Kaito in surprise. "You're staying here? How come you didn't say so?"

"I didn't think it was important..." Kaito muttered out before looking at the man and bowing. "I'm sorry about the inconvenience..."

"It's quite alright. Just so long as you don't cause any trouble for me," he told the teen and Kaito stood back up straight, looking relieved yet also still unsure.

"Why don't we go upstairs? We can talk there," Akira said, turning Kaito's attention to him once more. The magician nodded, slowly before following the three through the cafe.

The three passed by the only customer that had been served as he turned his head and let a smirk work its way across his face. "I thought I recognised that voice." This caused the teens to stop and turn around; Kaito however didn't. He didn't turn to face who had spoken to him. He knew who that voice belonged to. "I didn't think they'd send you all the way out here. It's so far from Ekoda, don't you agree, Kuroba?"

"Hey, who the hell are you, man!" Ryuji exclaimed, sounding frustrated that someone was being so nonchalant with Kaito.

"Kudou, what are you doing here?" Kaito asked, still not turning around to face the other teen.

The name caused the other four in the room to stare at the teenager in the blue blazer and green tie in shock. "W...Wait! You don't mean, Shinichi Kudou, right?!" Ann exclaimed as Ryuji took a step back as if ready to fight. "As in that teenage detective from Beika!"

"Great another one!" Ryuji grunted, annoyed.

Shinichi just shook his head; ignoring the comments of the teens and returning his oceanic orbs on Kaito. The magician felt the gaze, but still didn't budge. "Kuroba, I'll only say this once..." His eyes narrowed at the other teen. "...I wasn't the one who gave your identity to the police."

"Aren't detectives meant to for their self-righteous 'justice'? That's all Hakuba goes on about..." Kaito spat out seeming to be getting annoyed with the current pace of the conversation.

"True. My motto is 'One Truth Prevails', but KID heists have always been relaxing and going up against an opponent that is equal in intelligence to my own is astounding. I also want to find out the truth behind KID's heists and why he steals and I can't do that if he's behind bars, now can I?"

Kaito finally turns his head to look at Shinichi with a lifted brow. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that there's more to the heists, your ambition and also..." Kudou's eyes narrowed once more. "...possible sniper attacks." This caused Kaito to freeze. Shinichi's expression changed to a smile as he looked to the shocked man behind the counter. "The atmosphere here is lovely, so calming. I might come back for another cup."

This caused Kaito to narrow his eyes and tsk. "What are you ... my babysitter?"

"Tantei, actually. You should know that by know." Shinichi gave Kaito a smile, hoping he'd return it with his usual bout of friendly banter, but the teen just turned his back and headed up to the attic. The detective watched this with wide eyes, surprised, putting a hand to his chin in thought. "I guess what happened bothered him more than I thought..."

The teenage detective gave a nod to Sojiro before grabbing his school bag and heading out the door. The man sighed, mumbling to himself about teenagers before Ann, Akira and Ryuji decided to follow Kaito upstairs. They found the teen lying on the couch, staring at the roof; arms covering his eyes.

"Kuroba-san, are you okay?" Ann questioned him as she sat down at the desk while Akira and Ryuji sat on the mattress that was Akira's bed.

He didn't answer.

"How do you know a detective?" Ryuji asked, curious to know how KID's real identity knew the detective.

"He comes to heists every so often as a stress reliever as he said. As repayment for not giving me to the police I've helped him solve murder cases using my 'methods'," Kaito explained to the three.

"Your 'methods'?" Ann questioned, raising a brow. "You mean the hacking information and disguising to infiltrate places?"

The teen thief nodded at the answer which caused the three to stare at him. "Do you really think he'd go back on his word?" Akira asked his own question.

"He's a detective! They uphold the law and they don't care about us!" Ryuji exclaimed, scoffing while folding his arms.

That response from Ryuji caused Kaito to frown, sit up and look at the three. "What do you mean by 'us'? As far as I'm aware of I'm the only Phantom Thief here." A sarcastic smile spread Kaito's lips at his own next words. "Unless you're those rumoured Phantom Thieves that steal hearts, but I doubt that." The teen looks away from them just missing their looks of shock. "You can't steal someone's heart. It's against logic and...and..." He gave out a soft sigh. "You just can't ... I've tried..."

He lay back down on the couch, covering his eyes once more. The three others in the room looked at each other before sneaking downstairs and outside the café.

Akira got his phone out while Ryuji scratched behind his head and Ann sighed. "He's got a lot of troubles. That's for sure..."

"Do you really think he has a Palace, Morgana? I mean, he's not bad, so why should he?" Ryuji asked the cat still in Akira's bag.

"I've explained before that it's to do with one's cognition. If it's strong enough it'll create a Palace. We just have to check if it comes up in the Nav first," Morgana explained, a frown set on his features.

Akira nodded as he brought up the red and black eye-ball app before bringing up the search bar and looking back at his friends. "What would his cognition be?"

Ryuji sighed, scratching his head as if wondering the same thing. "Well, he's staying at Leblanc, so could that be the location?"

"His name is also important; Kaito Kuroba it was," Ann added.

A ripple went over the four, causing them to look around before a female mechanical voice spoke up from Akira's phone. "Palace located!"

"He's got one?!"

"Now we just need a cognition!"

The four looked down as though in thought before Ryuji looked back up with a smile on his face. "Hey, he's a magician that's also a thief, right? Maybe it's got something to do with either of them?"

"That's impressive for you, Ryuji..."

"Shuddup!"

"How about a 'Circus'?" Ann suggested.

"No matches found," the Nav responded immediately.

Ann looked down; bothered that she didn't get it right. Akira thought about it, frowning slightly before an idea came to him and decided to give his own suggestion, "A Theatre?"

"Accepted!"

The four looked at each other in surprise as ripples swirled around them, pulling them into the Metaverse.

September 2nd - After School - Metaverse - Kaito's Palace

The four appeared in front of a large broken down theatre that looked as though it had not aged well; windows were broken, curtains were torn and the roof was collapsing in on itself.

The thieves stared at the Palace before them with mouths agape before closing them again and looking at themselves, realising they were still dressed in their uniforms.

"It's the same as with Futaba. He doesn't see us as a threat yet," Morgana explained, wincing as he looked back at the old theatre. "However ... what could cause his Palace to look ... like this?"

"A memory..." The four were put on guard almost immediately at the sudden voice before turning their heads to see a figure in white. They donned a white suit, cape and top-hat along with a monocle. The yellow gaze of the being pierced the four below him. "...A truly tragic one that leads to redemption, revenge and also death."

The four below the figure stood up straight as they listened to his words. "Wait, are you ... Kuroba-san's shadow!" Ann exclaimed, eyes widening.

"Maybe..." They looked at each other with raised brows at the vague answer yet knew this was in fact Kaito's shadow. "You wish to pursue answers, correct?" They nod and notice a vague glint of a smirk work its way over the shadow's features. "Very well, I must warn you now ... the deeper you go the harsher it will be for you to come to terms with what a Phantom Thief must be burdened with..."

After saying that he threw down a smoke bomb and disappeared into the night. The four looked at each before turning their gaze back to the ruined Palace. "How about we come back with everyone tomorrow? We can explain it to them on the chat briefly."

The other three nodded at Akira's plan before taking out the Nav app once more and allowing them to leave the Palace of their newest target; Kaito Kuroba or also known as ... Kaitou KID.

What do you think Kaito's Persona will be? That is if he even gets one to begin with. Now before you comment on this question, remember what Persona's the characters have as their own and what the theme of the game is. That should help.

LdR OUT!