The Phantom Thief Presentation
“No way. What do you mean by that?”
Layered looked a bit flustered. And he had every reason to be. He’d just stated what he thought was obvious, but Yulia’s reaction was extremely over the top.
Honestly, even I hadn’t expected her to be so firm about it.
“It’s hard to just label Raven as an outright bad criminal.”
“···That sounds pretty weird.”
As the protagonist said, her claim right now was something straight out of a phantom thief fan’s mouth. Of course, once you knew the full context, you could understand her intent, but taken out of context, it really did come off as radical logic.
“Raven donated all the money to the orphanage and the church.”
“Yulia. That doesn’t erase his crimes. And there’s no proof that was all of it anyway.”
An irrefutable fact. It was a straight fastball of sound reasoning, and even Yulia couldn’t counter it easily.
“Well···!”
“Both of you, calm down.”
In the end, I stepped in to cool the heated atmosphere. If we kept going, Layered would probably come around to Yulia’s side—he was the protagonist, after all, with a kind and gentle heart deep down.
But the timing wasn’t great. We were right in the middle of the class, with everyone’s eyes on us, and class was about to start, so dragging it out wasn’t an option. Leaving it like this would just hurt feelings.
“······.”
They both looked dissatisfied, but they seemed to realize a prolonged argument here would backfire, so they grudgingly accepted my intervention.
Yulia let out a sigh as she watched Layered head back to his seat. Who would’ve thought these two would clash over this issue? It wasn’t even a real fight, but the fact that my presence as an original-story extra was altering their relationship felt strangely intriguing.
“Really··· Why can’t he understand?”
“Don’t take it so seriously. Layered doesn’t know the details.”
“Then if I tell him everything, will he get it?”
Who knows. Even looking at just our group, knowing all about me hadn’t changed much—Rachel was indifferent, and Sharon practically despised me. People’s minds just don’t align, I guess. Strictly speaking, maybe Yulia’s the one with the unique tastes.
“Hard to say. But it’d probably increase the odds.”
“Good. Then during our group presentation, I’ll convince him properly.”
Wait, how’d we end up there? Not that it was a bad direction.
“The presentation has to be neutral,” Sharon warned, but Yulia brushed it off casually.
“Of course I won’t add personal opinions. Even just objective facts should win people over. Definitely.”
Somehow, that felt a bit burdensome. She wasn’t really going to evolve into a full-on phantom thief stan, was she?
Time flew by after that, and two days passed in a flash. For the record, I hadn’t done any phantom thief activities in the meantime. My top priority was securing a fake identity to handle the donations first.
I still had to wait one more day for the ID to be ready. And even then, setting up the foundation as planned wouldn’t be simple. Until then, I decided to take it easy, like a well-deserved break.
That said, I couldn’t fully relax. Today was the day for our week-long group project presentation.
During the last break before class, we gathered one final time to review the material.
Rachel stretched with a big yawn, grumbling nonstop.
“Stayed up late last night prepping, and it’s still such a pain···.”
“Project grades affect our overall scores, so we’ve gotta give it our all.”
The Academy wasn’t exactly a stage brimming with youthful dreams and hopes. It was an endless grind of cutthroat competition. Fall behind even a little, and you’d drop out of the race.
Me? I was just coasting. No plans to join a magic tower after graduation anyway—I’d keep living as a phantom thief.
“Everyone worked hard this week.”
“You and Sharon did the most.”
“Hey, nerd. Why’d you conveniently leave me out?”
Why leave her out? Because Sharon and I hadn’t really done much. Our one trip to the police station for an interview was it.
Spending more time with Rachel had taught me how to handle moments like this: ignore her completely.
“Hey! Ignoring me? Again? You arrogant little nerd.”
She poked me teasingly, but when I steadfastly ignored her, she gave up first, as usual.
“Hehe. It was tough, but so much fun. Especially making new friends.”
How could Yulia’s words sound so angelic? Standing her next to Rachel really highlighted the contrast.
“Even after the project’s done, let’s hang out like this more often! Right?”
“Hmph. The nerd’d love that.”
“Why am I dragged into this?”
I was the star of every punchline.
Rachel smirked obnoxiously at my protest, playing innocent.
“Huh? I just said ‘nerd,’ didn’t name names. What, hit a nerve?”
“You only ever call me nerd!”
“Then I call nerd ‘nerd’—what else would I call it?”
“Haha···.”
Ignoring her wasn’t easy anymore. Just as I’d figured out countermeasures, she was developing ways around them.
And Sharon, watching our chaos from a step away with cool detachment. The perfect quartet.
We kept bickering until the bell rang.
“Merlin, the brilliant aide to King Arthur and insightful mage···.”
The other groups’ presentations were pretty much as expected: famous historical archmages or current big names. No overlaps with our topic, at least.
After several groups, it was finally our turn.
Yulia strode confidently to the front with our materials. Public speaking like that took real guts.
[Is that something a phantom thief would say?]
‘Yeah, you’re right.’
Funny thing—I never got nervous during actual phantom thief jobs. Was this innate talent?
Anyway, Yulia stood before the class and began calmly.
“The mage our group investigated is the most infamous one right now: ‘Phantom Thief Raven.’”
The class erupted in murmurs. Their reaction to her opening line was intense—not total shock, more like “No way they actually went there.”
A slight misstep could unleash a storm. Even unflappable Yulia seemed a bit rattled, her carefully built momentum disrupted by the unexpectedly strong response.
Her eyes wavered, then turned our way.
I mouthed silently: Fight on!
Nothing profound, just simple cheer. But she instantly steadied, slipping back into her composed self.
Worked better than expected? Must be her rock-solid mentality.
No other explanation. I wasn’t anyone special to her.
[Hmm.]
‘What’s with that creepy hum?’
[Nothing. Hehe.]
Regaining her poise, Yulia dove into the presentation proper. She covered every detail from our hard-gathered research meticulously. Even as the subject himself, I was impressed—it was purely objective facts.
Just listing facts could’ve been dry, but the phantom thief’s heists were inherently thrilling, so no issues there. Plus, the interviews—like Sister Theresia’s—were exclusive scoops not even the press had.
The initially buzzing class soon fell silent, listening intently.
‘Nice! Total success!’
[Good for you.]
I’d worried it might flop, but no need. Even the teacher nodded approvingly.
The perfect quartet’s fun rebellion had begun!
“That concludes our presentation. Thank you.”
Applause broke out with Yulia’s crisp finish. Flawless victory—no flaws whatsoever. Peak perfection.
The teacher clapped too, praising us generously.
“Excellent. Truly a great presentation.”
“Hehe, thank you!”
“This group seems ready for Q&A. What do you think?”
Q&A? The others had just presented and sat. Guess we impressed the teacher enough for an impromptu addition.
“Yes! We’re good.”
Yulia accepted without hesitation. A twinge of unease, but it’d be fine.
“Alright. Any questions?”
Scanning the room—no hands. Sudden Q&A wouldn’t spark instant volunteers···
Except one.
“Yes. Layered. Go ahead.”
Of course, it was the protagonist. A subtle glance passed between him and Yulia.
Moments later, Layered spoke his question.